Over the past month I’ve talked often about going “Into the woods” as my theme of the year. Many of my favorite quotes and ideas involve going into the desert, the woods, or someplace else relatively alone. The point is focused on taking time in solitude and stillness to focus on the truly important.

A few days ago a friend of mine brought up the idea that completely disconnecting isn’t the correct answer either. There’s a balance to be struck between time “into the woods” and staying attached to what is happening in the rest of the world. I’d understood his point immediately but wasn’t sure how to tackle the balance.

Between yesterday and today my pre-“get out of bed” readings happened to be focused on this exact concept. How crazy is that? Here are the two highlights that really caught my attention and have been in my brain all day:

It’s not by eliminating outside influences or running away to quiet and solitude.  Instead, it’s about filtering the outside world through the straightener of our judgement.  That’s what our reason can do – it can take the crooked, confusing, and overwhelming nature of external events and make them orderly.

The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday

Epictetus is reminding you that serenity and stability are results of your choices and judgements, not your environment.  If you seek to avoid all disruptions to tranquility – other people, external events, stress – you will never be successful.  Your problems will follow you wherever you run and hide.  But if you seek to avoid the harmful judgements that cause those problems, then you will be stable and steady wherever you happen to be.

The Daily Stoic, Ryan Holiday

Today I’m grateful for the serendipitous solution to the riddle we’d been discussing last week. While the implementation is never as simple as the concept itself, I’m thankful for the opportunity to see the answer in a way that I can work on.

Last night Dominic went up to the workshop with Becky and I to help on a special project. For Christmas Dominic made me a set of three hexagonal shelves for my workshop. The three of us hung them up on the wall exactly where Dominic had envisioned them. I am very grateful for the thoughtful and handcrafted gift. Along with my toolbox they’ll be amongst my most treasured possessions. As someone who understands how much energy and love are put into the gifts we create for others I hold the value of his present higher than anything I could buy.

In addition to Dominic’s gift there’s been another Kreiling kid doing some additional woodworking over the past couple of days. Gavin decided that he wants to make his own wooden Catan board. Over the majority of the afternoon and evening he’s been working alone in the workshop sanding all 19 of his tiles and the number tokens to go inside them.

Both of the boys are seeing the joy that can be had while woodworking and I’m so happy for that. Seeing something that was a passion for multiple generations starting to take seed in the next makes me smile from ear to ear. Who knows, maybe they’ll dive deeper into it. Maybe they’ll tire of it and move on to something else. Either way, I’m glad they’ve been enjoying woodworking!

Thanks!!!

Over the weekend Gavin and I have had some time in the workshop. There are some projects that I’ve been working on recently and I really wanted to focus on them more than I did. As seems to almost always be the case there just wasn’t enough time in the day to accomplish all I intended to. The decision I was faced with was either making less progress on my projects or not helping Gavin with a project he wanted to start. Well, I wasn’t able to come to a perfect decision, but I was able to find a way to get both rolling AND enjoy some quality time with Gavin in the workshop.

Yesterday he helped me for a couple of hours on my project as well as again this morning for a little while. After I got to a good point more quickly than expected thank to his help we moved on to his next project. Over the span of another couple of hours we cut all of his “Catan” tiles for the wooden version of our favorite board game he is going to make. In that time we talked about and demonstrated table saw safety, building jigs for multiple cuts, and how to cut angles. He even got to use what he’s been learning in geometry to confirm the 30 degree angles we needed to cut for the hexagons.

Sure, I’ve got some catch up to do on the other projects, but that’s okay. Spending time with him and engaging him in both processes was well worth finishing the project a little later than expected. By spending time with him we were also able to get his project to the point where he can do much of the work himself over the next week or two. Time with my boys in the workshop is always the right answer.

The sermon at church last night has been at the top of my mind all day. The focus was on remembering that favorite place for The Big Dude Upstairs to hang out is in the heart of people. Not just people who think the same way, but all people. If I truly love The Big Dude Upstairs I need to remember to treat each and every person as if they were Him as they truly are. This was powerful in the wake of all that happened last week. I’ve got much practice to do on this, but I am thankful for the reminder.

Have you watched the movie The Sixth Sense? Just to be safe I’ll do my best not to spoil it for you. When watching the director’s cut of it with commentary from M. Night Shyamalan he points out this really awesome hidden fact. At each very emotional point of the movie he uses the color red to emphasize the point. When watching the movie over again I couldn’t help but see the red so clearly and wonder how I’d missed it the first time around. Once I knew what to watch for I saw it often. Before I knew to focus on it I never consciously noticed it.

In reading my 2021 framework each morning and night I’m keeping it at the front of my brain. Throughout the day I’m seeing more and more “red.” There are so many more opportunities for me to exercise the right judgement, to act the right way, to live into my values, and to move one step closer to my dreams. Seemingly around every turn I’m seeing “red” that I never would have noticed before. Like I’ve written about often this week – I’ve still got a long ways to go before I’m living perfectly into it, but I’m seeing progress and, more importantly, I’m seeing the opportunities for improvement and growth.

Thanks!!!

This morning I went through my new ritual as I have for much of the past week. I started with reading a stoic passage – this one was focused on remembering what’s truly in my control and what’s outside of my control. The one page contained enough wisdom to help point my day in the right direction. Afterwards I moved on to reading my 2021 goals and framework. This reminded me of the direction I want to stay focused. It started my morning with a deep seated level of serenity and purpose.

After doing some weekend stuff around the house we dropped off Dominic at Mount La Crosse for some snowboarding while Becky, Gavin and I went for a hike. We went to a trail not very far from the ski hill. Surprisingly, it was a trail I’d never been on before. I’ve lived here for over 20 years and done a lot of hiking but somehow I’d never ended up on this trail.

As I’ve written about often over the past months the peace of being in the woods is nothing short of awesome. One step into the snow covered forest valley and I felt at home. The quiet stillness of the woods had me wide eyed and smiling in awe. Sharing the experience with my family made it all the better.

Walking along the ridge provided astonishing vistas on both sides. One side was overlooking the forested valley. My eyes scanned the woods for signs of movement to catch a glimpse of wildlife like the few deer last weekend. This side looked like it was straight out of a painting and was exactly the view I’d love to have from my backyard each day (minus the winter wonderland).

The other side was a panoramic view of La Crosse and the Mississippi River Valley. We could see the majority of the city and multiple rows of bluffs in the distant background. The view was simply breathtaking.

What really caught my attention was that this was a new view of the same valley I spend the majority of my life in. It took a moment for me to re-orient myself as the view was different than I’d seen in the past. The valley was the same, the city was the same, it was my perspective that had changed. Seeing it from a different angle allowed me to see different parts and to observe the landscape from vantages I’d never used before. I was grateful for the opportunity to see the “same old” differently.

That got me thinking to the way my morning started. I am still living the same life I always have. I am still me. That said, the change to my morning routine has allowed me a different vantage point to view my life from.

In August of 2016 I wrote a blog post about the metaphor of a shoebox diorama (you can read it here). I love the metaphor of having a shoebox diorama with an entire scene put into it. When new eyeholes are put in I can look in on the same scene from a different angle and I’m able to enjoy the new view. It provides the opportunity to catch new details never seen before and to gain a deeper meaning based on the additional view.

While looking at the city from a new perspective on the trail I thought about that shoebox diorama. Then I thought of the diorama of my life. The new eye holes I’ve recently punched in to view my life – daily reminders of my values, daily reminders of my goals, living intentionally – have allowed me the opportunity to view my life from a different perspective and I’m very grateful for that.

Thanks!!!

Hmm… last night’s blog seemed to work out fairly well so I’m going to roll with it and type as I think. Most often I have a general idea of the direction of my blog, tonight, not so much yet. I’ve got a handful of interlocking ideas that haven’t quite connected yet. Maybe as I blog they’ll come together into one cohesive whole… or this will be a bit of a rambler 😉 Either way, I am thankful for taking the time to pause and think in stillness.

Between the cold temperatures, the high humidity, and the stiff wind in my face I almost turned back within the first few moments of our morning run today. Instead I took a deep breath, shivered for a second, and then kept going. By the time we were on our way back home I ended up losing my jacket and t-shirt with well over a mile to go. I’d heated up by then and already was sweating. I’m thankful for sticking with it and pushing past the discomfort.

A friend texted me late last night after I was already in bed (I think it was at 8:30pm or so). He provided some pretty awesome insight into a concept I’ve been spending much time contemplating. It was spontaneous, out of the blue, and reminded me of the importance of maintaining a certain level of connectedness with the world. Interestingly, he texted me as I’ve dropped off of social media. By disconnecting I was still connected and able to have a conversation about connectedness. Kind of funny 😉

Gavin finally saw one of his dreams realized today… he got a cellphone. Becky upgraded her phone so we figured it was about time to get him rolling with one for contacting his friends. In almost no time he was online texting friends and using it to set up his Discord conversations with friends. There are drawbacks and things that make me nervous about it, but I’m grateful for the connection with his friends that he’s already enjoying less than 12 hours in.

In getting his phone set up I had a wonderful conversation with the customer service rep in the Philippines. His oldest son is Gavin’s age and before we got off the call we’d gotten to know each other well. His upbeat nature was great and he was very helpful. One of those conversations that remind me of how many wonderful people there are in the world.

Work was pretty awesome today. The biggest reason I was thankful for it are all of my teammates. We had some crazy conversations while also accomplishing a lot. I am so blessed to be surrounded by the awesome personalities on my teams!

I’m very thankful for the coaching and mentoring I received early in my Express career 20+ years ago. When I pause to think about how I’ve gotten to where I am I can’t help but pause and be thankful for the many gracious and encouraging leaders, coaches and mentors who were there for me. I’m so blessed to have had as much time with each of them as I did.

Family game nights happen quite often in our house. Once in a while I think back to all the craziness that would normally be going on during a usual Friday night. I wouldn’t change that for the world. Spending time chilling with my family, playing games and relaxing, and heading to bed well before 10pm sound amazing and exactly what I would like.

So what specifically am I thankful for today? Perseverance, connectedness, disconnectedness leading to connectedness, excellent customer service, wonderful teammates, great mentors, and family chill time… Doesn’t quite roll of the tongue but that doesn’t stop me from being thankful for it.

Thanks!!!

I’m not quite sure how this one if going to turn out, so here goes nothing!

One of the reasons I blog about something I am thankful for is that it is a tripwire to remind me to pause all the busy-ness of the day and think. There are no other looming projects, there isn’t a TV show on, there isn’t a game being played. There is only me pausing to think and reflect. To add perspective to all that has happened throughout the day. By making this behavior change of blogging daily I’ve been able to re-wire my brain to get back to doing something it should have been doing anyways. In these moments of stillness I’ve found deeper joy and satisfaction in my life.

My recently added ritual of reading my goals before I get out of bed and before I go to sleep has only been going on for almost a week. The impact it is having on me has already been shown in action on countless occasions. I’ve responded to situations differently. My reactions have been more of what I want them to be rather than what they had been when they were seemingly on auto pilot. The simple act of reminding myself of who my best self is and how he responds has caused me to live more into that person than the person I was.

That said, it’s also been very frustrating as there has been a huge increase in moments of cognitive dissonance as my will power and discipline haven’t always lived into the ideals of my best self – not by a long shot. In those moments I know what the right answer was or what action should have taken place, but I opted to act otherwise as I wasn’t able to stay disciplined. It’s interesting, much of it is behavior I’ve been doing for a very long time, but by priming my brain in the morning with the framework of who I would like to live into I can see all the imperfections so much more clearly than I did before. This brings the faults to light which stings, but also is beautiful as I’m seeing more clearly all that needs to change.

My life has been full of rituals based on ruts. I can’t help but think of the Thoreau quote:

It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves.

Thoreau, Walden

By making minor changes to the daily rituals I’ve been able to increase my joy and happiness exponentially. In this past week I’ve already seen the gap between who I am and who I am called to be start to close a bit (even if there’s still many miles to go!). By changing my route ever so slightly I’ve become much more aware of all of the other rituals that I wish to break out of.

Thanks!!!

At this time last year I would have been running in many layers of clothes. A cold morning like this and I would have had on a light pair of long underwear, a pair of wind pants, a light jacket, and probably a sweatshirt. If it was cooler than 40 degrees (f) I would definitely not wear shorts.

Fast forward to today. This morning by the end of the run I was wearing only a pair of shorts, a hat, my gloves, and socks and shoes. That was it! Everything else was peeled off by then. The funny thing was that not only was I not cold, but it felt wonderful.

Over the past month and change I’ve been working my way up to this. Bit by bit getting my body used to being in the cold like humans used to be way back in the day. For sure, I’m happy to be warm and in my house right now, but for a brief period of time the cool fresh air felt amazing! I’m grateful for becoming more acclimated to the colder temperatures.

My focus has drifted to the events in DC more than I care to admit today. Earlier this morning I texted my little brother and shared how I was thankful I wasn’t in DC today and followed it up with the iconic Star Wars line, “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.” I never would have guessed it would turn out as it did.

Mentally, I’ve been struggling with balancing my curiosity over what has happened and is happening with some of the new behaviors I am trying to live into. Staying focused on what is truly important in the moment, living deliberately, and going into the woods all fly in the face of wanting to know what’s going on. The logical part of my brain tells me to shut it all off and if I really want to know what happened read about it briefly in my Wall Street Journal daily update email tomorrow morning.

What’s interesting is that I accidentally stumbled into a wormhole and ended up in a “news free” zone this evening. There are a couple of projects I’m working on in my workshop so I went upstairs and got rolling on them this evening. I turned on my music, set my phone aside, and got to it. An hour and change later I’d made progress on my project AND had completely stopped focusing on the news! Not only was I not getting any more updates or checking it online, but I wasn’t even thinking about it. When I finished up and came inside I was back to thinking about it and talking about it with Becky. That’s when it hit me that I’d found a news free zone.

While my workshop was my “news free” zone today, I’m thankful for the lesson it reminded me of. I chose to not focus on the news as I was 100% focused on something I love and was 100% in the present moment while doing it. I can create a “news free” zone anywhere and at anytime, it’s up to me to focus my thoughts and stay disciplined. There are times for me to set my curiosity free and there are other times when I need to bottle it up for a little while.

Thanks!!!

One of my favorite books shared the idea of creating lasting change feeling similar to pushing hard to get a flywheel moving. It takes a lot of effort to get the mass moving, but each step gets increasingly easier. After a little while the inertia of the flywheel is so powerful that instead of needing to push hard to make it move there has to be significant pressure pushing AGAINST it to get it to slow down. The initial push is the most difficult and the point when it is easiest to stop. Once momentum is on our side the action becomes so much easier.

Today it felt like I had momentum on my side. Don’t get me wrong, it took much work to keep as focused as I did, but I could already feel parts of life flow much more easily than yesterday. I kept the same pattern as yesterday, followed the framework, and accomplished more than expected. I feel I’m at the start of a long journey, but I’ve got the wind at my back and it’s helping to push me along. I’m grateful for the feeling of momentum – it helps me both see the progress being made while reminding me to appreciate these moments at the initial push and to savor the additional work they are taking.

After a quick search of old blogs I realized that I haven’t blogged about the song Rise by Eddie Vedder before. Crazy! It’s one of my favorite songs for so many reasons. You can check it out here – it’s a beautiful ear worm. Once momentum is on our side the action becomes so much easier.Once momentum is on our side the action becomes so much easier. https://youtu.be/kjDxxKMDf0Y

There are a handful of reasons why I’m grateful for this song, but this morning it just seemed to hit the right chord for me. As I focus on living more intentionally and striving to live my life the way I would truly like this song hits the nail right on the head. It’s a song about moving forward, finding the path, picking myself back up, and continuing to find my way. When I caught myself singing along to it in the shower I couldn’t help but smile.

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole

Eddie Vedder, Rise

Thanks!!!

How’s that for a funky title? Kind of like Back to the Future, but in its own unique way.

Each Monday I have a short call with one of my mentors and business partners, Norm. The purpose of the conversation is to quickly achieve clarity on what my most important three objectives for the week are. Each week I do some prep, shoot him a draft, and then we talk through my plan for the week. He listens to my strategy and then does a great job of asking questions and throwing out ideas from his perspective. The insights I’ve received through these calls has been outstanding and greatly appreciated. Essentially it is a tripwire to remind me to be intentional and to act upon my week instead of having the whirlwind act upon me.

On our call today I couldn’t hide just how giddy I was for this week to start. I love taking time off, but there’s a beauty in the rhythms of “normal” life that can only happen during “normal” weeks and I was very excited to get back into the usual routine. After a small handful of weeks of different routines I was pretty amped to get back at it.

What added to the joy of the day was that it was the first work day for me after putting together the framework I am choosing to live 2021 by. Before doing anything else I paused, reviewed my theme, values, goals, start doings, stop doings, and remember to’s. Intentionally preparing my mind for the day was a new twist to the “normal” routine and I was very interested in seeing the impact that it would have.

Not only did today get me back into the normal rhythm, but my day was very much enhanced by the practice of reviewing the framework. There were more than a couple of times in which I paused, thought about my plan, and then took different action as a result. So far, so good! It’s a long way from being perfect and from being an actual habit, but the first day has me even more optimistic.

What’s better than getting back into rhythm? Getting back into a better rhythm than ever before. 😉

Thanks!!!

Hmm… I’m starting to notice a theme happening here 😉 Another day, another post about something in nature I took time to appreciate today.

Our drive back home today wound the majority of the way though the Driftless. This fact in of itself makes it one of the prettiest drives we do with some level of regularity. Today there was an added bonus – the hoar frost covered everything outside. The further south we drove the more dazzling the whites of the frost were.

The frozen air already made everything seem a little more crisp than usual. Add in a layer of white frost and the vistas were brilliant! Everything seemed to take on an almost black and white visual feel while simultaneously causing some colors to just pop – like the red brick building outside of Stockholm. As we passed by Perrot State Park I whipped a U turn and pulled into a scenic pull out just to take a picture of the view… which still didn’t do justice to what were we seeing.

Another day into 2021, another day of the beauty of nature. Into the woods…

Thanks!!!

In keeping with the outdoors related theme from yesterday I have to pause and be grateful for an experience from our time outside late this afternoon. Sometimes the most awesome moments are the ones that happen every single day but I don’t always take time to pause and appreciate.

The sun was already on the way down when we started sledding. Each moment that went by it descended a little lower and turned a little more orange. At one point it seemed the same coppery color as the sun in Australia during the wildfires.

When it was just above the horizon I just stopped and hit the pause button on life. Watching it drop so slowly was flat out amazing. It seemed to grow bigger and shift to a deeper shade of orangish red each second as it kept slowly descending.

In pausing to watch the sun slowly set there was nothing else in that moment. I was able to be completely present and focused on the simple beauty of nature. What a wonderful moment of simple serenity!

Thanks!!!