Thankful for Difficulties, People Who Push Us, & Running and Yoga

Day 3,808

Growth:

We are all capable of so much more than we think we are. For some reason it often takes big challenges and difficulties to help us see that. In the moment those experiences are difficult to be thankful for, but with the benefit of hindsight we’re able to see that those difficult moments were what led us to growth.

Appreciation:

Today I’m especially grateful for the people who push me and make me feel uncomfortable from a growth standpoint. They challenge our ideas, help push us to become better, and help us view the world from a slightly different perspective. It is especially effective as we know they want the best for us. Very thankful for those influences in life!

Presence:

A morning run and yoga, sweet yoga… Exactly what the doctor ordered while the body is stiff from a lack of sleep and a bunch of time on flights. Getting back into the normal rotation of activity felt amazing today, exactly what I needed to get back into the swing of things.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Getting Home

Day 3,807

Nothing like getting home after a work trip to be able to get back to normal-ish!

The work event was amazing, blew well past my expectations, and provided a ton of value – it was still time away from home, from my family. This evening I’ll be calling it an early night (the 2:10am alarm this morning was a bit extreme, even by my standards) and am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Reflection, So Many Gratitudes, & Celebrating Others

Day 3,806

Growth:

Pause to think. Get outside of our normal routine, break out of the cycle, step back, reflect. That time spent zooming out on ourselves leads to incredible growth, but we must intentionally choose it.

Appreciation:

So many thoughts on this one this evening. I’m grateful for seeing the world through the eyes of a novice. I’m thankful for going home. I appreciate the opportunity to celebrate with friends. Hearing clarity and aspirations of others is another thing I’m grateful for. I’m appreciative of the time we’ve created with our sons, the time away from our sons, and all of the ways our love for them seems to only grow, I’m grateful for the fun Becky and Gavin had today, the time Gavin and I have had, and the adventures Becky and I have had, realizing that each permutation and combination adds deeper joy to ALL of the relationships regardless of who is directly involved.

So many moments, so much to be grateful for!

Presence:

The celebration of the success of others always seems so much more fulfilling than celebrating our own success. Looks outwards to others, love them, through our shared love we somehow receive more love than we could’ve hoped for.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Internal Focus, instant Musical Gratification, & Time to Myself

Day 3,805

Growth:

From a recent session with one of my all time spiritual leaders my brain keeps going back around a very specific thought.


“Who “I” am often is answered in terms of what other people say about me.”  

As externally focused as much of my professional career is I can get so focused in an outward focus that I put off the difficult work of looking inward – and knowing this will most definitely improve my external interactions as well.

Remember to take time to enjoy the moments of calm cultivation of my soul.

Appreciation:

So grateful for the way technology has allowed us the opportunity to soak up new music so quickly. I still remember back in the day having to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to buy a new CD album – knowing there was only a small chance it would be available.

Today I hear a song I like, fire up the Shazam app, and I’m streaming the album from Apple Music within seconds… able to dive into not only that album but also to all of their songs, their videos, and their random versions. All within literally seconds. That access is amazing!

Tonight I’m taking full advantage as I keep diving into the ocean of Madeline Edwards’ music https://music.apple.com/us/artist/madeline-edwards/1127961228

Enjoy!

Presence:

Taking the time during a people filled couple of days to pause and spend time alone, sitting on a bench, relaxing while listening to music, letting my thoughts run free, allowing my souls to enjoy the calm and stillness. Time well spent, time invested in helping me grow more into myself, time to put together all of the pieces of the day which have been laid in front of me. Time to be.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Perspective, Connection, and a Banger of a Voice

Day 3,804

Growth:

Our perspective has an outsized impact on our lives. When we are able to nudge it a bit we’re able to see the same parts of world a little different, a little more clearly.

Maybe it’s our experienced eyes seeing through the eyes of a newcomer. Maybe through the eyes of someone we thought was larger than life, only to find they’re just as human as we are. Maybe we’re seeing the world through the eyes of an incredibly awesome human with an amazingly positive mindset.

When we shift our perspective, just nudge it a little, their positive impact can make an outsized positive impact on our world.

Cheers to all the wonderful people who brighten my day through allowing me to see the world through their eyes.

Appreciation:

So many connections with so many amazing people within the Express family today! I didn’t realize how much I was really looking forward to our annual reunion! So many people rekindling connections, bringing each other smiles, spending time re-connecting.

Presence:

This evening we had a concert at The Ryman in Nashville and the voice of Madeline Edwards was truly a banger! Her vocals more than filled the concert hall, it was the best song of the night! Check her music out here: https://youtu.be/tHfdTpmXwg0?si=EMYxElX1IqzsZl8p

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Facing the Tides Correctly

Day 3,803

During a conversation today a teammate and I were connecting on a couple of pieces of news related to a couple of our clients. In very short order we both realized how many additional anecdotes we hadn’t shared over the past two days. By the time our conversation wrapped up I realized why my brain has felt so exhausted over the last business week…. The amount of large scale changes has been mind bendingly large in a very short period of time. The intensity of the changes are amongst the highest I’ve seen in a stretch of a couple months, let alone one week.

So what is one to do in a time like this? Hit the panic button and freak out? Pretend that all is well and don’t respond? Compartmentalize?

Over the past few hours I’ve realized just how hard I’ve been swimming against the riptide, it’s time to let go, to shift towards the side, to allow the tide to do what it will, to not push back, but to accept and adapt. Pushing harder won’t fix it, it will actually most likely drown me. Better to accept, adapt, and head for the edge – the time to swim for shore will be coming, don’t rush it.

It reminds me of this beautiful line from Golden Son by Pierce Brown:


“We all have our own tides inside.  They go in, out.  Not really ours to control.  The things, people that orbit us do that.  At least more than we’d like to admit.”

Pierce Brown, Golden Son

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Once a Runner by John L Parker, Jr

Day 3,802

This is a novel about running, but it is about so much more than running. This book is about the focus on a specific dream, the grit to make it reality, and the sacrifices needed to get there.

So many thought provoking quotes throughout…


“Let me tell you something about winners and losers and quitters and other mythical fauna in these parts,” Denton said. “That quarter-mile oval may be one of the few places in the world where the bastards can’t screw you over, Quenton. That’s because there’s no place to hide out there. No way to fake it or charm your way through, no deals to be made. You know all about that stuff. You’ve talked about it. It’s why you became a miler. The question now is whether you are prepared to live by it or whether it was just a bunch of words.”

On the surface this is about the track itself, but upon digging deeper this is so much more than that, it is the specific arena we live in – do we give it our all or are we just a small dog with a loud bark?


Over the course of several years at Southeastern, as Denton’s reputation grew, a number of undergraduate runners decided they would train with him, thinking to pick up on the Secret. A new man would show up the first day expecting all manner of horrific exertion, and would be stunned and giddy to find he could so easily make it through one of Denton’s calendar days. Showing up the second morning at 6:30 he would be of good cheer, perhaps trying to imagine how he would handle the pressure of his inevitable fame. That day would also go well enough, but he would begin to notice something peculiar. There was no letup. The tempo was always moderate but steady. If a new guy decided to pick up the pace, that’s where it stayed, whether he finished with the group or not. You showed off at your peril.


On the third day (assuming the new man made it that far) his outlook would begin to darken. For one thing, he was getting very, very tired. No particular day wore him out, but the accumulation of steady mileage began to take its toll. He never quite recovered fully between workouts and soon found himself walking around in a more or less constant state of fatigue-depression, a phase Denton called “breaking down.” The new runner would find it more tedious than he could bear. The awful truth would begin to dawn on him: there was no Secret! His days would have to be spent in exactly this manner, give or take a mile or two, for longer than he cared to think about, if he really wanted to see the olive wreath up close. It would simply be the most difficult, heartrending process he would endure in the course of his life.


At that point most of them would drift away. They would search within themselves somewhere along a dusty ten-mile tra or during the bad part of a really gut-churning 440 on the track and find some key element missing. Sheepishly they would begin to miss workouts, then stop showing up altogether. They would convince themselves: there must be another way, there has to be. The attrition rate was nearly a hundred percent.


Only Cassidy and Mizner made it through the process and finally accepted the Trial of Miles.

How often do we look for “The Secret”? The way to accomplish something without having to do the work? How long does it take us to realize that the work itself, day in and day out, really IS “The Secret?”

Soooooo many wonderful concepts hidden in a fiction about running. Beautiful in such an awesomely simple way.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Walking Away, Clarity, & a Difficult Yoga

Day 3,801

Growth:

Interesting to experience a situation in which we already know what our BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) is and are able to keep both ego and competitiveness in check to reach for the logical outcome. When that cannot be reached, it is often best to walk away. So often we get drug into a poor decision due to the gravity of ego and competitiveness pulling us in. If you doubt that, watch the last moments of an eBay auction and observe a “deal” quickly transformed into a poor choice.

Today we went into a conversation knowing what we were willing to do and what we were not. When it was made clear there would not be an agreement we walked away, quite possibly one of the best business choices we’ve made in a long while!

Appreciation:

With clarity of purpose and clarity of values comes clarity in life. When we take time to discern what is really important to us we seem to attract more of that similar energy and repel that which doesn’t match. The difficult becomes so much easier to do as the clarity helps to understand the why behind the difficult action. When we know the why the how becomes so much easier to tackle, even when it may seem hard.

Life was not easy today, in fact, it was exceedingly difficult, yet it was exceedingly easy as a result of clarity. Things may not have gone as I would have preferred, but they went exactly as they needed to. The actions which normally would have been difficult were much easier due to the clarity of purpose and values.

Presence:

Yoga this evening as outstanding! It echoed a quote from The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, “tough enough so that we feel we have really accomplished something, but not so tough that it wiped us out entirely.” So centering, so stretching, so invigorating, and so calming all at once!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Reading and Re-Reading, Deeper Perspectives, & a Happy Pup

Thankful for Reading and Re-Reading, Deeper Perspectives, & a Happy Pup

Day 3,800

Growth:

There is so much depth to some of the best books, be sure to read, re-read, and re-re-read them to start to really dive into them. Each re-reading should shine light in slightly different ways. Combine that with the changes in perspective we each bring to future readings and the experience should multiply each time through the pages.

Appreciation:

Throughout the past few days I’ve been very thankful for some of the ways I’ve read each book a little differently upon the second reading.

In The Snow Leopard I was struck by how differently he wrote as he started on his journey as compared to in the depth of his solitude and simplicity and as compared to he re-entry into the “civilized life.” The first reading was all an out the journey itself for me, but this next time through was seeing how he had transformed at a very deep level before being shocked back into his former life. This is a sensation I am well aware of to a much lesser extent from some of my experiences.

Of Mice and Men was a beautiful yet tragic story the first time through, a story of friends and dreams that don’t always end as hoped. This time I was more caught up in how lonely each person was, how the wanted desperately to hold onto a dream, and yet pushed others away and were pushed away at every turn. Still beautiful, but significantly more tragic and heartbreaking.

All of this, all of these levels, from the same books. All I needed to was to read them, set them aside, and read them again.

Presence:

Watching this pup live her absolute best life bounding through the snow! There was no way to not enjoy the moment as she ran all over in the snow.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Sleeping, Snowshoeing, Rugby, and Road Tripping

Day 3,799

Very full day, started off with waking up after eight and a half hours of sleep! Best way to start a Saturday is being fully rested.

Becky and I busted out the snowshoes and got a couple of hours of sunny outdoor time while Leia was bounding through the snow. Felt invigorating to get fresh air this morning!

We then road tripped three and a half hours to watch Dominic play rugby. He had a great game including a handful of tackles and a couple of scores! So much fun watching him do the things he enjoys, even if it makes for a long day of driving.

The driving itself as a perfect opportunity for Becky and I to get some chill time in the car. Yeah, driving can get old, but road tripping is well worth it! Had a blast in our almost eight total hours of drive time together!

Thanks!!!