Month: March 2022

Day 1,992 – Thankful for Swapping Two Words to Swap My Attitude and Opportunities to Practice Stillness

Yesterday morning I was on an enlightening webinar featuring Dr. Cindra Kamphoff. While there were many notes taken there was one line which stuck in my brain. “Things don’t happen TO you, they happen FOR you.” Let that one sink in for a moment… “Things don’t happen TO you, they happen FOR you.”

With one little phrase the key to reframing our mindset can be changed. The key is to consider how whatever is happening can be used as an opportunity to learn. In many ways it’s a twist on one of my favorite questions, “What can I learn from this?”

Today I had more than a couple of opportunities to practice this. They presented themselves as mild annoyances. Someone driving 20 mph below the speed limit on the interstate a couple of miles from my exit with a line of over a dozen cars behind it. Someone parking in the second to last spot in the lot and parking about six inches over the line and into the last remaining spot. As I type this I know how lame both of those sound and it’s pretty disappointing to admit I was frustrated by both of those moments. I was stuck in the mindset of thinking about how each of those things had happened TO me.

As I was slowly calming my brain down and working back into a good headspace in yoga I could feel the stress fade away. I focused on my breathing and the stretching and all was good in the world. At the end of our practice we moved into final rest, a few moments of complete quiet and stillness, one of my favorite parts of the practice. Complete stillness…

…until someone coughed. Then a sneeze. Then some heavy breathing. The sound of a water bottle being moved. Someone nearby moving a little to adjust themselves. Distracting sound followed by distracting sound, one after another, after another.

As I lay on my back with my eyes closed and a towel over them I almost started to laugh. I could hear Dad’s voice in my head, “how’s the stillness now Mikey?” as he laughed along with me. Each time there was another noise I could feel my body starting to convulse as I fought back deep belly laughter.

While I was not in a deep state of calm and there was noise all around me I chose the right mindset. This was all happening FOR me. What an opportunity to remember how important it is to choose the right mindset, to choose growth over frustration.

One of my favorite quotes from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations was going through my head as I started to laugh quietly during yoga.

“Choose not to be harmed – and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed – and you haven’t been.”

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to practice swapping two words to swap an attitude and opportunities to choose stillness.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,991 – Thankful for Forced Focus, Making Progress, and Early Bedtimes

Early in the day there was quite the surprise awaiting my entire team and I. With no notice our email server and all our Express specific websites went down. Out of the blue one of our most heavily used tools was removed from our tool belt for the majority of the day. This was exceedingly frustrating for a couple of minutes as I quickly re-calibrated my plans for the day. Once I had a new plan set I went to work.

What quickly hit me was how relaxing it was to not even feel the gravitational pull of the email inbox. There was no option to check it or even be tempted by it. My mind had more capacity to focus on my task at hand, the extra brain power was greatly appreciated and immediately put to use. The forced focus was awesome!

Throughout the day I was able to keep making progress on a huge project. With my door closed, phone off, and no email I was able to put long strings of focused time into the project and even had a workable prototype by the end of the day. Not too shabby! Always feels great making progress.

And now I’m off to bed. Not gonna lie, I am ready to crash. After the crazy schedules over the past week I’m ready to get back into the swing of things and my normal routine. Ahh.. early bed times, how I hated you as a child and adore you as an adult. 😉

Thanks!!!

Day 1,990 – Thankful for Surreal Moments, My Brother-In-Law Curling in the Paralympics

I’m a huge fan of getting enough sleep each night. Sleep is one of my favorites, no question. Now, that said, I have not been sleeping well at all lately. And it has been 100% on purpose. Why on earth would I sacrifice my sleep when I value it so much? The answer is pretty simple and totally surreal.

My brother-in-law, Matt, is the Skip of the Team USA Wheelchair Curling crew in the 2022 Paralympics in Beijing! A couple of quick clicks and we had access to watch all of his Paralympic curling matches live and on our TV. Talk about wild, we are watching Matt curl on our Living room TV!

Being able to watch “Uncle Matt” living out his Olympic dreams has been awesome. Completely surreal, and totally amazing. We’re all having so much fun watching him and Team USA compete with best countries in the world.

Thanks for letting us hitch a ride on your dream Matt!!!

Thanks!!!

Day 1,989 – Thankful for Sharing Many Moments of Joy, Love, and Beauty

What a fulfilling day on so many levels. Seemingly around each corner was an opportunity to grow, to love, to support, to help, or to feel incredible sense of purpose. Not everything went as planned, but even the things that didn’t happen as expected presented opportunities for beauty, love, and joy.

When I stopped at Caribou Coffee to pick up some drinks for my team I was presented a new opportunity. The cashier was hearing impaired and smiled and pointed to the whiteboard. This was a first for me and it was an experience I’ll never forget.

Without spoken language we communicated the order for six drinks with various intricacies. We laughed together at various times, helped each other through hand motions, and shared so many smiles together as we proceeded through the transaction. At one point when she was trying to help me answer a question she resorted to wrapping her arms around herself and acting like she was shivering. “Iced!” I proclaimed with glee and a giggle. It was amongst the most pleasant and joyful customer experiences I’ve ever had.

As a writer and speaker I’m a huge fan of words to communicate. In many ways they are the tool of my trade, my most trusted implement. With the inability to use them it was interesting to see how quickly we were able to adapt and still make a connection. At a deep and primal level it helped me see that we are all truly wired for love.

There were so many other moments which touched my soul. Receiving coaching from teammates, listening to friends, seeing how past mistakes were translated into learning which was passed on as wisdom. Seeing how different we all are as people and yet how perfectly similar we all are. Recognizing our shared anxieties and helping each other through them. Realizing a profound sense of purpose in both helping others and in receiving help. Sharing in our humanity, sharing love and joy even in, and especially in, moments of pain and frustration.

If today were my last day upon the earth I would go into the next completely peaceful and knowing I’d spent much of my last day of this life witnessing the beauty, joy, and love we are all capable of.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,988 – Thankful for Another Gift Within a Gift at Yoga

Another Monday night yoga practice, another moment of profound insight nestled in the deeply calm state of presence.

The two biggest reasons I love hitting yoga are the physical workout as well as the focused presence. Put those two components together and I’m always grateful for taking the time to get all namaste.

While those two are the headliners there’s an awesome added bonus which sometimes appears when my mind is deep in that state of serenity. Occasionally an idea will hatch during the practice. A little nugget of wisdom worth more than one hundred times it’s weight in gold. A magical moment of clarity and understanding which help me understand some better than before.

Tonight that gem was the realization that when learning and attempting something I’ve never done there is no stress about anything else in life. The act of focused and intentional learning create a state in which there is no concern or anxiety about anything outside the task. If I’ve truly set my soul properly there is also no anxiety in what I am learning, there is only the bliss of play. How wild is that? When I find myself stressing or anxious I need only play a little game with myself – what can I learn from this – to transition from anxiety into calm.

That bonus lesson buried within a yoga practice was yet another example of how much can be gained by pausing the busyness of life and intentionally choosing stillness and presence. As Becky pointed out on Friday, the world would be a much better place if everyone paused for a moment to practice yoga. The entire world would quickly become all namaste.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,988 – Thankful for Another Gift Within a Gift at Yoga

Another Monday night yoga practice, another moment of profound insight nestled in the deeply calm state of presence.

The two biggest reasons I love hitting yoga are the physical workout as well as the focused presence. Put those two components together and I’m always grateful for taking the time to get all namaste.

While those two are the headliners there’s an awesome added bonus which sometimes appears when my mind is deep in that state of serenity. Occasionally an idea will hatch during the practice. A little nugget of wisdom worth more than one hundred times it’s weight in gold. A magical moment of clarity and understanding which help me understand some better than before.

Tonight that gem was the realization that when learning and attempting something I’ve never done there is no stress about anything else in life. The act of focused and intentional learning create a state in which there is no concern or anxiety about anything outside the task. If I’ve truly set my soul properly there is also no anxiety in what I am learning, there is only the bliss of play. How wild is that? When I find myself stressing or anxious I need only play a little game with myself – what can I learn from this – to transition from anxiety into calm.

That bonus lesson buried within a yoga practice was yet another example of how much can be gained by pausing the busyness of life and intentionally choosing stillness and presence. As Becky pointed out on Friday, the world would be a much better place if everyone paused for a moment to practice yoga. The entire world would quickly become all namaste.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,986 – Thankful for an Awesome Phone Call with Mom & Changing After 17 years

This afternoon I had an awesome phone call with Mom. Our lives are all pretty busy and sometimes it seems to be a little difficult finding times when we’re both available to connect for long periods of time. As such, we often end up having calls which are shorter than either of us would like them to be.

Today everything lined up just right and we took advantage of the perfect timing. We talked about so many topics, shared great memories, talked about new projects, and so on. I greatly appreciate those opportunities to connect with Mom and have that focused conversational time. The boys and I are heading up next Saturday so we’ll have a little bonus time then too!

While cleaning the floor in our bedroom I had a crazy idea. Ever since we moved into this house we’ve had the bed in exactly the same place. The bed has changed but the location has been constant. Seeing as I already had the bed moved across the room for a good deep clean of the floor I thought I’d see how it looked in a different place. By the time I got everything situated it looked way better than I’d expected. I was pretty stoked when Becky saw the move and smiled.

Yes, I’ve reached the point when excitement can be found in something as simple as moving furniture. I’m not sure what that says about me, but I really don’t care. Sometimes change can actually be fun… though we’ll see if I feel the same way after I wake up in the middle of the night and see if I remember that I moved it around!

Thanks!!!

Day 1,985 – Thankful for a Workweek Bookended by Yoga

After getting home from being out of town for work for a handful of days I took Monday off. After our morning run early Monday morning (Becky was working so we stayed with our normal time) I took a little nap and then hit yoga at Root Down for the 8:30am yoga class. After getting home tonight Becky and I loaded up and headed out to Root Down for another awesome yoga session.

Yoga, work, yoga, weekend. Kind of has a nice ring to it! I might have to do this again sometime 🙂

Yoga as a tool to center myself before getting back into the swing of things was exactly what my brain needed. My mind was racing with ideas from the days of training as well as with everything I needed to do in order to catch up. By bending, twisting, sweating, and breathing I was able to calm my neurons down and re-focus on the present moment. A profound state fo chill to create space for me to get to work.

Throughout the week I flew at a crazy pace. The days blew past me quickly as they were each filled with very necessary activity from start to stop. Even with Monday off I cruised well beyond 40 hours worked. My mind was still racing as I questioned whether or not I could wrap up in time for yoga. I knew my brain needed it so I wrapped up with creating my task list which will be waiting for me on Monday early morning when I get back to the office.

Yoga as a path to chilling my crazy busy thought processes was the perfect switch to flip to move me from work mode to weekend mode. It pushed me to wrap up and find the end of the page, put the bookmark in, and then move on to some lighter reading. By bending, twisting, sweating, and breathing I was able to relax, reduce the stress, and focus on moving forward on what I want to accomplish at home. It was exactly what I needed.

Ahh… I’m now showered up, full from an awesome dinner, and wrapping up my day with my blog.

Yoga, work, yoga, weekend. Namaste.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,984 – Thankful for a Gratitude Filled Day with Think Days, Excellent Teams, Honoring Dad’s Legacy, a Book Causing a Visceral Response, Gavin’s Growth, and Uncle Matt on TV

Wowza, where do I even begin today? The day has been packed with so many gratitude filled moments, I’m definitely going with a conglomerate of appreciation. Even in this fashion my biggest hope is that I don’t miss one of the key moments.

My Winona team and I had our monthly Think Day and it was one I’ll remember forever. We helped each other work out some very important things and bond more as a team. Seeing the growth everyone has had over the past handful of months was incredible. There is a magic to teams in which you feel 100% comfortable being who you are, sharing emotions as you would with family, and supporting each other throughout all of life. I’m blessed to be a member of a couple of those teams.

In a moment of reflection I found an awesome way to honor Dad and help continue his legacy. Taking action on it this week has been more rewarding than I could have ever dreamt. More details to follow on May 26th. 😉

I finished reading 1984 today, fitting seeing as this is blog 1,984. This was the first time I can remember having a profoundly visceral wave of nausea strictly from reading. As I said a couple of nights ago, if you haven’t read it for a while you may want to pick it up. Mindblowingly impactful on numerous levels.

Gavin’s parent teacher conference this evening was incredible. During the last one he found a couple of things to work on and he totally crushed them over the past quarter. Hearing the glowing reviews of his teachers was music for my soul. Gavin’s leadership skills, focus, and growth make me burst with pride. Excellent work bud! Love you dude!

Becky’s brother, Matt, is in the Paralympics in Beijing for curling and I wanted to make sure we have everything set up to watch his matches live on TV. In doing so we happened to stumble across the preview pic for the match… and it was Matt!!! How wild is that??? Seeing someone we know and love on our TV was crazy! Super proud of him and so pumped to see how he and his team do.

Thanks!!!