Reality and Hope

Ramparts, really?

The next time you hear the Star Spangled Banner, I implore you to contemplate the words.

 

 

We hear this anthem at sporting events, and certainly during the Olympics.  Sometimes we are moved to tears just listening to the familiar tune, watching as our fellow Americans reverently honor this land of the free.  Few people take the time to consider that this song is actually a poem about personal and communal sacrifice.

 

How great would it be if more of us today considered the acts of sacrifice that had to be made “through the night” while bombs burst in the air to protect our flag and our freedom?  I'm not necessarily trying to make a point about patriotism here, though I think that is a fine and noble characteristic.  Instead, my hope is that we could all do some translation and interpretation into our own worlds.

 

What do we sacrifice?  What comforts are we willing to forgo for a greater purpose?

 

Fortitude

One definition of the word fortitude is “strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage.” 

 

I am encountering more and more situations that call for greater levels of fortitude.  Mental and emotional grit are often all that is required to get through challenges.

 

Now I realize that some of you are in a really good spot.  If this defines you today, then by all means keep going – do not stop or allow complacency to creep in and block your forward progress.  Your action plan is to ride the wave of momentum that you have created. 

 

If, however, your current season of life is defined more by challenges, roadblocks and difficulties, then perhaps what you need is nothing shy of a dose of fortitude.

 

Thankful for my Horse

There is an old adage that states “you must get back on the horse that threw you.” 

 

The idiom implies that we have attempted to do something (like create a new habit or shoot for a big goal) and failed.  Sometimes the failure is more frequent than any of us would be comfortable to admit.

 

I have noticed that it takes a great deal of courage to get back on a horse after repeated failure.  If we are to become the people we were created to be however, we must continue to get up and we must keep getting back on our horse.

 

Sometimes I get sick of having to get up and back on my horse – but I am grateful that he is still around!

 

Counter Intuition

We have all heard of counterintelligence.  The FBI and other organizations in the US and abroad employ such agencies “thwarting the efforts of an enemy's intelligence agents to gather information or commit sabotage”.

 

Certainly that is a broad definition of what counter intelligence is all about, but lately I have found a need to share with many clients a plan for “counter intuition”.  I doubt anyone will go off and form a government agency over it, but counter intuition comes into play frequently in business and in life.

 

A perfect example of using counter intuition is in the realm of trust.

 

Beating the Enemy

I so desperately wanted to blog about Hope today.

 

 

I have this fear that if I don’t, I will have to re-title my blog “Reality and some more Reality.”  There is actually great hope in my message today – but you may have to stick around until the end to get it.

 

This week I was overcome with how many of my clients struggle with stress.  Stress is a silent killer and nobody can overpower it.  It will win in the end (or maybe even in the middle…) if you let it.

 

The frightening thing as a coach is, that I am working with more and more people for whom stress is becoming a part of their life.  So much so, they actually believe it is just something they live with – and they are becoming quite adept at handling it.

 

Risking repetition I must state again – stress will beat you and it may do it in a way that could catch you off guard.  You must look at the symptoms/byproducts seriously, have the courage to ask tough questions, and re-think courses of action that may have become commonplace in your life.

 

Planting Positive Seeds

You reap what you sow.

 

Consider this ancient piece of wisdom for a moment.  How does it apply to your life?  When you consider reaping and sowing – the planting of seeds and the subsequent harvest of a crop – do you think something positive?

 

Quite honestly this little saying has always carried with it a tinge of negativity for me.  I always think of it in conjunction with some negative event, in which I must consider what I did to create the series of events in the first place.

 

Today I want to invite you to take this quip of reaping/sowing and consider how it can be spun in your world for positive results.  What seeds can you be planting today that will yield a harvest of good things in your life?

 

Lose the Snooze

Throughout the week I have heard many great tales of victories early in the year.  There are a few heeding the call to be disciplined; getting out the door, doing what they should, whether they feel like it or not.

 

Ah... the very essence of leading a disciplined life, both personal and professional, is to do what you should when you should whether you feel like it or not.  However, all too common an issue that continues to raise its ugly head, is the ubiquitous face of procrastination.

 

How do we beat procrastination?

 

A More Lofty Pursuit

When our country formally declared independence 234 years ago, there was a document drafted and presented to the people of our country that still impacts us deeply all these years later.

 

 

Though it was a collective effort, it seems that Thomas Jefferson had quite a hand in its forging.  Today, one can scarcely make it out of the second grade without being able to recite the “unalienable rights” of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

 

I’m not quite sure what it is going to take for our country to realize that what the founding fathers meant by “Pursuit of Happiness” and our interpretation of this pursuit today are vastly different beasts.

 

Changes

I cannot remember if every year starts off with as much change as this one or not.  Substantial changes are happening all around us, on almost every front; job losses/changes, political changes, sociological changes, and legislative changes.  There are so many changes, that it can seem like life is swirling out of control.

 

It is interesting to observe how people deal with change.  Some embrace it, others abhor it.  Some are invigorated by it and others feel a tremendous weight as a result of it.

 

I have noticed, how we react to change is a choice.  It is all but trite to say that you cannot do anything to stop it and it seems inevitable that it will keep coming.  New laws, new regulations, new technology… my prediction (and I hardly claim to be Nostradamus) is that it will indeed keep coming.

 

Give and Take

The holiday season is past us and here we are again at the beginning of another year. 

Just think, what you do today, will be part of what you will be reflecting back on eleven and a half months from now!

 

Now that we’ve survived the major gift giving season, I felt compelled to write a blog about it all.  Every year my family and I have a discussion about not making the presents our focus, and yet every year we still kind of do.

 

I recently heard a speaker who kept referring to us (the general public) as “consumers.”  The more he said it, the more I got offended.

 

I understand that economically that is what we are.  But I kept getting put off by the idea that he was saying it as if it was our identity. We are consumers.  How offensive.