Day 3,015 – Another condensed blog due to spending time with family. I was having so much fun I kept going until I was exhausted and am now crashing quick.

Growth:

Awareness – the book I’ve read more than any other this year has helped increase my joy in more ways than I can count. Today was no exception. Definitely a book worth reading often.

Appreciation:

Time with family to celebrate the holidays is deeply rewarding, an opportunity to reconnect on a larger scale as d enjoy our time together. Very grateful for the opportunity for all of us to be together!

Presence:

So many moments today! Coffee conversations. Top Golf as a family. Board games and card games. Meals together. Family traditions. Walking the dogs. Chilling together. Playing pool. So many moments of presence with family!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,014 – Speed run tonight, too busy enjoying each moment to pause to write before bed!

Growth:

Days like this, full of life from rail to rail may lead to shorter blogs, but also to a full soul.

Appreciation:

Time with family in all of its forms has been the cornerstone of the day. Celebrating Christmas with Mom, my brother, and family has started off very well. So much smiling and laughing!

Presence:

A couple of awesome moments today have a common factor, they involved conversation about dreams. Taking time to engage in dialogue about our bucket lists let to some very engaging moments!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,012

Growth:

Get the workout in while the muscles are fresh! After our run this morning I headed into the gym to get my leg workout in. My legs were still feeling pretty good off the early morning run so I thought I’d hit it right away. No need for an additional warm up or stretch, I was ready to dive in right off the bat.

I think what’s possibly the more important lesson for myself was this – just get the work in right away as opposed to waiting until later. Later will always fill up with busy-ness, excuses, and reasons not to get the work in. Just knock it out first. Not only does this ensure that it will happen, but it also has such a positive impact on the rest of the activities throughout the day.

Appreciation:

One of my passions is travel. Hitting the road (or air, ocean, ice, or whatnot) to experience new environments and types of wildlife are some of the moments when I feel a profoundly deep sense of presence and awareness. Travel helps to make all of life seem to make a little more sense. As a travel magazine in a hotel in San Francisco once taught me:

Travel lets us see ourselves in a new way. With our minds free to dream, goals become clearer, moments grow richer, and we return home fuller than when we left.

– Unknown, from a Travel Magazine in a San Francisco Hotel

Over the past few days I’ve had the opportunity to line up the next small handful of adventures and I am so excited!!! Having travel on the calendar and the resulting anticipation is almost as exciting as the travel itself. Taking time to get everything lined up and in the books feels AMAZING!!!

Presence:

Getting out for a hike with Becky, Gavin, and Leia this afternoon was sublime! The weather was perfect, there were little spurts of sun through the clouds near us, and being on a weekday afternoon felt like we were getting away with something. ;)

That entire hike was an exercise in presence. We had engaging conversation, got a great sweat in, and enjoyed so many of the sights, smells, and sensations of the woods. At the end of the trail we paused and took in the view of the valley below us. Mount La Crosse lay all the way across, its two lonely snow covered paths the only swathes of white. Off to our right was an epic view of the Mississippi River Valley below the slowly setting sun. The picture below doesn’t begin to do justice to the majesty all around us.

Such an awesome way to spend an afternoon together!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,011 – Another short blog today. Long on life, short on words.

Growth:

The ways in which we as parents act under moments of stress become the models our children accept as “normal.” Remember this and live into the way I would want my sons to react. Remember the example of when Gavin put his first dents in the car.

Appreciation:

The boys and I spent the morning and early afternoon hiking in Pike’s Peak State Park in McGregor, IA. So many laughs, newly created memories, and moments of bonding while enjoying the outdoors. Truly some of my favorite times spent with the boys. Many memories of times in the woods with Dad, so many smiles with my sons. So grateful for making the space to be with them and share that experience with them.

Presence:

During our hike a doe walked across the trail a little ways ahead of us. As we watched her there was a flicker of motion off to my right. Bedded down and almost hidden away was a seven or eight point buck! We took a few minutes to enjoy the view of both until they walked away over the ridge. It was awesome!!!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,010 – Short one tonight, busy weekend and I am crashing hard!

Growth:

Oof!!! There’s a reason I’ve been working on eating better over the past couple of months. Over the past few days I’ve eaten anything and everything and I am definitely feeling it. Time to get back to what feels good. All the foods have been delicious, but they’ve also been useful reminders to eat more healthy more often.

Appreciation:

This afternoon we worked on putting together our family vacation plans for this summer. Always nice having our next family vacation lined up and ready to go, even more fun doing it on Christmas Day together!

Presence:

Spending time with family walking around Rotary Lights this evening was a great experience together, one all the more memorable as it is likely the only we’ll experience with rain instead of snow!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,009

Growth:

When in doubt, get outside and be active. My hike this afternoon was exactly what I needed in a few different ways.

I got time outside in nature, time to soak up the outdoors and take in all the magic it provides.

I got exercise, an opportunity to get the blood flowing – especially with my forty pound pack on.

I got time with a small group as opposed to the larger group of family. The smaller group led to a different dynamic that I needed more than I realized.

All this for choosing to get outside and be active rather than sitting in front of a screen watching a game.

Appreciation:

While growing up my cousins and I used to have such a great time together for the holidays! The laughter, the playing, and the joking were so awesome? And due to the limited times we saw each other each year we did our best to maximize that time together.

Watching the boys with their cousins this weekend has brought back so many memories and has me so thankful for the experiences they get to share together. There’s a magic to spending time with family like this, so grateful they get to experience it AND rekindle so many memories for me!

Presence:

Today there were two moments that were so perfect in their extreme differences.

The first was a quiet moment outside while hiking along the river banks. The four of us were all spread out a bit and were all silent as we walked and took in our surroundings. It felt as if we were in the church of nature, all in quiet reflection.

The second was in the middle of our Christmas celebration, twenty three of us all in one large room with another four joining via FaceTime. It was loud, boisterous, chaotic, and magical all at the same time. So many family members all together celebrating Christmas together, laughing, joking, and enjoying each other’s company at a very loud volume.

Two moments of extremes, two moments of presence, two moments of joy.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,008

Sometimes the path is a little longer than expected, like maybe 10x’s as long and completely unplanned! 😂

After spending time out in the woods up north I decided to take the path less traveled. Thinking I knew where I was going I decided to trek through some thick brush. Somewhere along the way I got a bit turned around and wandered through a big that wasn’t supposed to be there. The area I was in is contained on three sides by roads and a river so I had a 75% chance of running into one of those markers.

What made it all the more interesting was that I had zero cell coverage and my phone battery was almost dead.

My destination was initially a quarter of a mile away, but by the time I got there I’d gone well over two and a half miles. Glad it was unseasonably nice weather for my bonus miles!

What’s wild was just how much bonus stuff I got to observe while being lost. There were bobcat tracks in the mud from what appeared to be a wild turkey dinner for the wildcat. I kicked up five grouse, their wingbeats sounding so much like a fast paced heart racing. Three turkeys took their own shortcut across some trails. There were also the remnants of an old deer stand in a tree that had died and broken in half. Throw in some picturesque views of the river and a panorama of wild mosses in the bog and it was quite scenic.

Sure, that was not at all what I’d had planned, but it turned out to be an epic bonus adventure!

Most likely more details to follow on this one, but today what was most important to me was the gratitude for the bonus adventure!.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,007

Growth:

There’s a fine line between pushing too hard and not pushing hard enough sometimes. If I don’t push hard enough there’s not enough work done to lead to success. If I push too hard I can wear myself out or break. The razor sharp line of balance of the two can lead to incredible breakthroughs.

After going hard for the past three weeks my body started to hit the wall. My legs felt flat on our run. My body feels lethargic. I’ve been working harder while also changing my diet and eating less. Put it all together and…

… Younger Mike would have pressed on, worked harder, and then either get sick, burn out, or hurt himself.

… Present Mike paused to give himself grace, take a couple of days off, and remembered that growth requires work AND healing.

Here’s to riding the balance and having the wisdom to correct the course as needed.

Appreciation:

Our care ride up north today was so awesomely engaging! Who ever would have thought that something as mundane as a long car ride would be a highlight of the day? For the four of us to have time together as a family made the ordinary nothing short of extraordinary! Bonus time with my family, especially without disruption, is always something I am grateful for.

Presence:

OMG – there were other moments to write about, but the one that takes the cake just happened a little bit ago.

On our way up north the fog got super thick. I could hardly mane out more than the center and fog lines. Out of nowhere two deer materialized right in front of us! Everything went slow motion as I maneuvered the car a little to the left. I just missed the at least eight point buck’s antlers by less than two inches!

The entire few seconds stretched into what seemed almost like moments. What a moment of total presence!!!

Thanks!!!