Archives for September 2021

Save the Thinker, Save the World

September 28, 2021 by

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

– Mark Twain

Think about the last time you attended a conference, workshop, retreat, sermon – anything that challenged you to think in a big way and effect a positive change in your life. At the time, you felt profoundly altered. You might have made checklists, voice notes, game plans – whatever. You were just ready to make life better for yourself and those around you.

If you are like most of us, you probably didn’t even get to lunch on the first day before some small thinker starting poking holes and planting doubt. Next thing you know, you’ve convinced yourself that you were crazy to even think that big, the whole plan was ridiculous, you were never enough to begin with and you crawl back in your box. The small thinker feels very accomplished and the world loses out on the wonderful impact you had planned.

How frustrating! Why do people do that? More importantly, why do we let them? We have let a person we wouldn’t trust to organize a book shelf dictate what we are and aren’t capable of. Seriously?

The amazing thing is that, while this sabotage is occurring, you probably had multiple folks who are way cooler than that other flake encouraging you. They know that you are capable of all that and more. They look for ways to help and support. Most importantly, they believe in you and they tell you so.

Today I want to encourage you get back out of your box and dare the small thinker to poke holes. Commit before you come out that you will not allow the small thinker enough face time to give his less than helpful opinion. Instead, seek out your fellow warriors. You already know who they are. Accept their encouragement. Resist the urge to shrug off the compliment. Look for opportunities to return the favor. With all this greatness running around, the small thinker never gets a foot hold.

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Invincible Summer Within

September 21, 2021 by

In the depth of winter,

I finally learned that

within me there lay

an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

I almost hesitate to mention again what you already know. Times, they are a’changing – and these are some bumpy roads. You know it, I know it. It goes on all around us and regardless of what the ominous “they” try to tell us, we don’t know what is really going to happen next.

Albert Camus

I hesitate because honestly, who needs world wide circumstances to make for a difficult situation? Even in the best of times, we each experience challenges and heart break. There is little to be gained by blaming a circumstance or cycle. It takes nothing more than being human to guarantee the occurrence of strife and difficulty. We are not challenged because we live in these times. We are challenged because we live at all.

And we love to look at these challenges and tout, “Now we will see what we are made of!” And that is wonderful. A formed blade spends a great bit of time in the fire. And we take these obstacles and declare triumph at their conquering. The flag in the mountain peak. Thumb our nose at the valley. And our pride swells because we have been tested and found capable.

But in the throes of fear and anxiety, we forget the adrenaline of the start and the satisfaction of the finish. When the battle has waged longer than planned and the difficulties more than anticipated, the excitement of the sport wanes and our fragility becomes more apparent. It is in that exposure of our frailty that we experience doubt of success.

Today I encourage you know that regardless of the sensitivity of the fragility, the warrior within you is still invincible. Invincible. It cannot be broken – only sacrificed or abandoned. We have within each of us the perseverance to maintain, thrive even, in the most destitute of circumstances. Easy? Probably not. But possible. The way is often shrouded in overgrown brush and is hard to find and navigate. But it is there. The summer, the fire, that passion, is indeed invincible. Get your dancing shoes ready. We are going to need them.

Thanks for the coffee,

Filed Under: Turn Around Tuesday Tagged With: ,

Wishbone or Backbone

September 14, 2021 by

Stop wearing your wishbone
where your backbone ought to be.

~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Over a fantastic Mexican lunch, a girlfriend was telling me of folks she knew. They were “granola crunchers” – feel good spiritualists who relied heavily on good energy and positive thinking. They were mediators and crossed legged hummers.

“You probably wouldn’t like them,” she says between burrito bites.

After the initial surprise of her comment, I suppose I can concede how one might assume that. I tend to toe a hard line when it comes to personal responsibility and action. I also tend to harbor quite a bit of disdain for lack of either – mostly in myself, often with others.

However, there is also a strong case to be made for my equal appreciation of positive thought and intentional attitude. Few things start a day off better than a strong cup of coffee and positive mental focus. I also do, in fact, have an affinity for granola and those who crunch it.

However, hanging out all day with the coffee, in your pjs, without forward motion makes all that positive energy worth little more than the used up grounds in the pot. It would be more accurate to say that while I do not prefer one without the other (positive thought and forward action), if had to start with one, I would certainly choose the latter. But that’s just me.

Regardless of which comes first, the truth of the matter is that only your gumption to put in motion that which you think to be beneficial to the surroundings will bring about effectual change. With the exception of the small population that can move things with nothing more than their thoughts, the rest of us are bound to produce through sleeve rolling.

Today, I encourage you to crunch granola while hiking up the challenge mountain. Remember that while it has been correctly stated that hope is not an action plan, it can provide the motivation and inner fortitude to move towards that thing hoped for. But, we must stiffen that backbone and get to moving. No matter what. It is not the difficulty of the road we are walking that breaks our stride. It is the willingness to allow our stride to be broken that creates disaster.

Thanks for the coffee,

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A Day to Remember

September 7, 2021 by

“Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.”
– Todd Beamer (1968 – 2001), US Airlines Flight 93

I remember exactly where I was on September 11, 2001. I was teaching a group of new Navy Sailors how to be Electronic Technicians in Great Lakes, Illinois. My cell phone rang. I didn’t typically keep my phone on during instruction, but today was the exception as my husband was taking our daughter to the dentist for an involved visit.

“Baby!” I hear on the phone. “You are never going to believe what just happened.” The first plane had just hit.

I put the class on break and went to the faculty room. We were all around the television when the second plane hit. Not good.

By the time I had regained my class in the room, minor panic had taken hold. It was obvious the accident was intentional. What would be done about it was yet to be seen.

“Are they gonna let us out early?” The question from a young Sailor surprised me. Then I realized – they didn’t understand.

“No,” I replied. “In fact, we may double up the schedule to graduate you early. This is why you are here. This is when your job starts.”

A day to remember, to reflect, to honor. Not in a passive way. But in a “this is when my job starts” kind of way.

I considered not writing anything today. Considered the idea of blank space in honor of Saturday, September 11th. Decided that was a bad idea.

I don’t think that honor is given in blank spaces. Honor lives in the action of what we do next to build upon what they did first and on what others continue to do today.

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