Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
— Dwight David Eisenhower
Last year, after Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer, Primetime aired Diane Sawyer’s interview of Randy, his family and friends. Much of the footage was of conversations that took place prior to Randy’s death. In addition to the phenomenal courage and the deliberate way that the Pausch family planned for and dealt with Randy’s death, one interchange between Diane and Randy’s wife, Jai, has stayed with me.
Diane and Jai were talking about how Jai was making it through each day. Jai replied that in therapy they had discussed how we humans tend to project into the future. When she watched Randy and kids play, she would go to Continue reading » Stay Here, Now!
Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding.
— Burt Rutan
At dog park the other day, my neighbor asked me if I had seen the latest Time Magazine. He explained that according to Time, the last decade, from 2000 to the present, had been the decade from hell. At first I didn’t want to read it but I decided that it might be interesting to see what had caused them to designate the last 10 years as the “decade from hell.”
Some of the things included in the article were:
- The 2000 election with its disputed results
- September 11th
- The war in Afghanistan
- The war in Iraq
- December, 2004 tsunami
- Katrina
- Recession
- Bernie Madoff
- Disintegration of Detroit
- Guantanamo
Yes, there definitely were some challenges in the last 10 years. AND there definitely is a bias to see things as only negative. Although none of us would have chosen these events if we were given a choice, I find the list to be hopeful – here’s why: Continue reading » The Decade of Testing
With confidence, you can reach truly amazing heights; without confidence, even the simplest accomplishments are beyond your grasp.
— Anonymous
As I sat down to think about what I should write today, I asked myself, “Self, what seems to be most lacking these days?” And into my head came “confidence.” If you don’t follow “the market” you may not be aware that there are certain statistics that are tracked weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly. And when the market runs – up or down – it is often the result of one of these statistics.
These days the market is obsessed with the strength of the consumer. 70% of the business that occurs in the United States is you and I buying products and services. When we decide that we’re going to stop spending and start saving or pay off our credit cards, the overall amount of money going into the economy shrinks. When you and I are no longer spending, Continue reading » Living with Confidence
Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
— Mary Anne Radmacher
Recently Ellie and I were talking about resilience and bouncing back and many of the issues that we try to address in this blog. As we talked, it became clear to me that our emotional set points are very different. Even in her sadness, Ellie seems to be a more naturally positive person than I am.
It is commonly accepted that there is a set point in weight loss. The set point is the weight range that your body is programmed to attempt to maintain. There also seems to be Continue reading » Finding The Starting Line
In the past several days I’ve been struggling with a mood problem. I really want to be in a good mood, and sometimes I actually achieve one for a short time, but then my negativism takes over again and I slump over in, if not despair, then despondency.
With all the writing that Ellie and I have been doing on choosing your reality, it feels worse because, after all, if I’m going to write about this stuff, I should be able to manage myself better.
Recently, I have been listening to Ask and It Is Given . The idea behind this book is that like the physical laws of the universe, for such things as gravity, quarks, speed of sound, light speed, there are principles that govern how our emotional/spiritual lives work.
Continue reading » Wouldn’t It Be Nice If…
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