Knock out the to do list early and enjoy time focused on relaxing and recharging, preferably in way which works towards our goals and purpose.
Appreciation:
Becky mentioned it while we were snowshoeing today – “I’m glad you enjoy doing stuff like this!” Ditto!
Life is better when shared with someone while doing something you are both passionate about. Being outside, physically active, and appreciating all the splendor of nature together is one of each of our favorite activities. I’m grateful for sharing life with someone else who also feels a profound sense of wonder in experiencing the outdoors.
Presence:
Our almost two hours of snowshoeing was glorious!!! The sun was out, we had half of the state park all to ourselves, and got a nice sweat going while wandering the trails together.
I’m sticking with the theme you’re about to read in the next sections, I’m going with multiple growth moments and lessons.
Our presence can make a positive impact – pause, be still, listen, be present.
Everything is figure-outable.
Vision without action is a dream, action without vision is a nightmare.
When in doubt check in with a friend for another perspective.
Appreciation:
Today has had quite the combination of time alone and time with others. Both have led to many highlights and created a bevy of memorable moments.
It has been a full day in so many ways. So many life lessons. So many moments of right and purposeful action. So many shared moments. A full day throughout!
Presence:
There were a handful of moments today that really stuck out including hearing a new version of an old favorite song, a surprised smile, laughs with a team, moments of insight, family game night, and laughs on the couch with Gavin watching a movie. so many moments of presence and focus!
I’ve seen this before, but it struck a very different chord in me today and had a profoundly positive impact on how I chose to spend my day.
“No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself”
Seneca
This morning I started reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book, Be Useful. Honestly, it has been blowing my mind page after page. So many examples of what focus and hard work can create in our lives. My workout this evening was improved as a result of the stories he shared. This quote was one of the most concise ways to summarize the first half of this book.
Appreciation:
From the start today has been a day which was very much off balance – and somehow that helped make the rest of day a very productive one. There have been plot twists, changes in plans, curveballs, and any other cliche you want to toss out there. When I think back there are at least six different events which easily could have disrupted my day and caused serious challenge. Instead, I chose to adapt.
Early in the morning I decided I would flow with the day rather than attempt to impose my will upon it. I saw it as an opportunity to challenge myself to stay focused on my goals for the day while simultaneously flowing and bending like a sapling on a windy day. After the second change of pace I caught myself smiling and enjoying the struggle. How wild is that?
It’s bizarre, but even in a whirlwind of chaos and change there is a choice to make. Push back against the gusts and break, let go and blow away, or become one with the wind and allow it to shift us while still staying grounded. When we choose to stay grounded but flexible we can find ways to be productive towards our goals AND adapt to what’s going on around… AND enjoy the ride at the same time!
Today was a test, one I rather enjoyed. I never would have chosen the surprises along the way, but they really created an opportunity for me to learn and grow, a situation full of discomfort yet so full of opportunity. I chose positivity, flexibility, adaptability, and focus and I smiled the entire way. At one point I caught myself shaking my head while laughing to myself and asking, “what next” – not in frustration, but almost the crazy anticipation of the next opportunity to flex my “choose positivity” muscles. It was wild.
A topsy turvy day for sure, but one in which I grew, smiled, and made progress towards my goals.
Presence:
For a variety of reasons, my mind has gone back to Alaska today. Specifically, the day we helped Dad reach his 50th state. That moment shared with family, remains one of the most touching of my life. What a moment it was, a moment of both stillness, presence, and love.
Beyond grateful for having the wisdom to take a couple of days off before lifting again after tweaking my back! Hit the weights and treadmill today and felt 100%. More of a test tomorrow as I’m sure there will be some more back work, but so far so good.
Slow is fast sometimes, and this was one of those times.
Appreciation:
While on my laptop for a different project tonight I stumbled upon some videos Dominic recorded about seven years ago. I was laughing and smiling as I took a very unexpected trip down memory lane.
So glad we take so many pictures and videos, they are profoundly powerful memory enhancers. Going through so many old clips will leave me smiling as I fall asleep tonight.
Presence:
Quiet time at home watching old videos was priceless. Exactly what my soul needed even though I didn’t know it did.
In tracking my daily joy levels it has become very clear that the more I live towards a purpose or goal the higher my joy. The more unfocused I am, the more distracted I am by meaningless things the lower my score. Tonight that logic propelled me to finish a project I’ve been working on for quite some time and I’m feeling so much more fulfilled.
Appreciation:
Today I finished reading The Wager by David Grann. It is a historical nonfiction about a British shipwreck in the 1740’s and documents the story of the sailors involved. At times I had to pause to remember that this really happened AND that many of those involved were less than a year older than Gavin is today. Such a difference between expectations from then until now!
It was also quite a contrast to the story of the Endurance under the leadership of Ernest Shackleton. So many leadership ideals and concepts to pull from both!
Gotta love mixing in history to see how much has changed AND how much has stayed the same!
Presence:
After dinner Gavin went to his studying and I folded laundry, packed my workout clothes for tomorrow, and prepared tomorrow’s lunch. I turned on my audiobook and went to town on my tasks. The calming sensation of working on the mundane with my hands was incredibly centering and caused a profound state of chill presence.
Take time to heal when necessary, but not so much time as to cause further injury. Today I let my tweaked lower back rest and heal. I skipped the morning run and the late day lifting to give it a little time off. I still went to yoga tonight to stretch and relax it. Tomorrow will see a light morning workout, but no lifting until Wednesday.
Just enough time off to let it fix itself, but not so much time off that I lose fitness. A delicate balance.
Appreciation:
During my work morning I had an awful downward spiral. I was frustrated and seemingly every moment saw a new reason to sink. When I realized what I was doing I paused and utilized a lesson from Awareness.
I sat in stillness and observed the thoughts in my head. I did nothing to change them, I just listened to them, became more aware of them. As I listened I saw patterns and started to trace where they came from. I wrote notes to myself about what I was hearing in my own mind.
Just like being scared of ghosts in a dark room, as soon as I started shining a flashlight on the rogue thoughts they all dispersed. I was left with my notes, a journal of the thoughts, to help me move forward in a more productive way.
So grateful for remembering to take time for awareness of my thoughts today, it made all the difference!
Presence:
Yoga, one of three best ways to pause, breathe, and be fully in the moment. My brain quiets. Stress dissolves. There is no ego. Only breath, motion, and calm presence remain.
Day 3,030 – written by audio recording and transcription as an experiment 😁
Growth:
What I think I’m most thankful for today is a feeling of complete and total discomfort. That’s right. It feels kind of weird. I keep feeling very uncomfortable doing something that I’ve done for 3000 plus straight days. You would think that I would feel pretty confident in my ability to do so, that this is kind of old hat, that maybe I’m stretching myself a little bit by trying to find something different to be thankful for every day. But this has been a really interesting one. For approximately the past 75 minutes, I’ve been on again, off again, thinking about writing my blog for this evening, and I just haven’t brought myself to do it because of discomfort. The discomfort is because I’m doing this in a completely different way than what I’m used to.
Typically I write my blog laying in my bed at night wrapping up the end of the day. Maybe sometimes you know before I go to bed sitting on the couch and typing away on my laptop. But it’s always written. It’s typed up. It’s put together that way. In this case I’m driving back from taking Dominic back up to Minneapolis. He’s going back to school and I’ve got two hours of drive time and I wanted to make the most of my drive time and then the most of my time at home when I get back because it’ll be about 7 30 or so. So I decided I was going to bring my voice recorder along with and I would do my blog as an audio version which I would then transcribe into a written blog post.
Again at the end of the day when you split it up it’s really the same thing right? I’m still putting together a blog. I’m still taking my thoughts and writing what I’m grateful for for growth. What I’m thankful for in general from an appreciation standpoint and a moment of presence that I’m very grateful for as well. Nothing has changed in the net result but everything has changed in how I’m doing so which led to discomfort. So first off I’m thankful for having this opportunity to to push through discomfort because that’s where the real growth always happens.
The second reason that I’m thankful for this is I keep thinking in my head why have I taken so long to start recording? What am I afraid of? What am I nervous about? I can delete this recording and start over. Nobody’s actually going to listen to the recording I have because I’m just gonna put the written transcribed version in anyways. Why am I so nervous? I don’t know. It’s been a great question that I’ve had brewing in the back of my brain now since, I don’t know, after I realized I was hesitant to type this.
I think what it boils down to is there’s a probably an ego issue involved. I’m nervous that it won’t be the same. I’m nervous that I’m gonna feel uncomfortable and I’m not going to do as well as what I normally do. It’s change. It’s something different. All of these things I shouldn’t be afraid of. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to cause hesitation. Yet I still had hesitation to get this going.
And now as I’m recording this, not gonna lie, I’m smiling. I kind of laughed at myself a couple of times. It’s just how silly it is that I was nervous in the first place.
And so to tie this whole thing back together, what I’m thankful for today from the standpoint of growth is the opportunity to find some discomfort because that’s how I know that I’m growing. And thenalso to pause and take a look at the reason for that discomfort. And to realize that it’s just silly. And then think how many times in my life have I let something so simple become an obstacle that it does not need to be.
I’m afraid to think that it actually happens more often than I’d like. Though the next time I run into something that makes me feel uncomfortable I will think back to this and realize again so many great things come after we pass the point of discomfort. And again that’s that’s where the true growth really happens.
Appreciation:
This morning at church our priest had a fantastic sermon and it really boiled down to some interesting leadership ideals. What he spoke about was how as we think of our faith, quite often we we come to ourfaith as the result of knowing someone who has that faith. And we get to knowthat person. We get to see how they live their life. We get a chance to buildtrust with that person. And the more that we get to know them the more we can build a bridge of trust with that person. So we really have to pause and get toknow someone before we trust them. Once we trust them that’s when we can open up to some of those more difficult questions.
The second piece of it was looking at the fact that not only do you have tobuild that relationship with someone first, but then there’s also the fact that they have to themselves get to this point of curiosity. They need to ask a question. If we push the questions or we try to push our agenda, we kind of scare them away. We don’t let what needs to happen actually happen.
At a certain point, as we build a relationship with someone and they see something about us or in us, they might ask questions about it. Once they hit that curiosity, we want to satisfy that curiosity. We want to help answer their questions, but then be careful that we don’t just dump our suitcase of allof everything that we want to say about it or all of our thoughts on a certain thing. Rather, we answer their question and allow them to lead themselves to more questions. It was eye-opening for me, thinking from a leadership standpoint, how many times I want to be able to just point my team in the right direction and show them something, wheresometimes it’s something that they have to experience. I have to have done a strong enough job of building trust with them and deepening our relationship that they feel confident enough to be able to ask questions. Also, I have to remember that everybody comes to thatcuriosity at a different point. If I do my job well, maybe I can help them be a little bit more curious more quickly. But at the end of the day, it’s up to them. If they don’t have that curiosity and they don’t ask the question, I need to sit and wait until they do ask that question.
A little side note here. Kind of funny, I am running into one of the things that is more difficult about doing this audio versus written. When I’m typing my blog, I have the privilege of being able to think through each sentence. I can type the sentence and I can delete the sentence. I can change the sentence and I can cut down the windbaggedness of what I say,which when I’m recording audio like this, I don’t have the option to do until I transcribe it later. Just an interesting side note for future Mike!
So long story short, what I really appreciated about the sermon was it reminded me of a great lesson in leadership. We have to build trust with our teams. We have to build trust with individuals. We have to let them see how we live. And that also means doing our best to live into our best selves, right? That also means living into our values and doing things the right way. And then also they have to have their own curiosity that kicks in. And then once they exhibit that curiosity, then we can help start to satisfy that that hunger that they have.
All in all, it was fantastic to just have such a thought-provoking sermon that left me thinking about a handful of different situations and how I’ve handled them in the past.
Presence:
Today there was something in the natural world that I just don’t typically see. Sundogs. And it was really neat because I saw sundogs early in the morning and then also again in the afternoon. And those are those those rare times when everything just works out just right. That alongside the Sun, parallel to the horizon, there’s almost a halo around the Sun. A rainbow colored halo. And at the point where it’s parallel to the Sun, it brightens up super bright. So it almost looks like if you just glance, it almost looks like there’s three Suns. And it was such a beautiful natural phenomenon to see today.
And what it’s also reminded me isin the cold weather like this and in the snow, it’s so easy to get frustrated and think, ugh, this weather is miserable. But there’s so much cool stuff that happens. Cool. Dad joke. Gotta love that pun. Anyways, there’s so much awesome stuff to see. The sky is so much more clear. There’s just a different set of things. And it just, it feels so refreshing. The air just feels so full.
But again, this morning and then again this afternoon, to pause and to see sundogs, that was just really cool and a neat added moment, a couple of moments, to my day.
Day 3,029 – short one tonight, had a blast at a party for a friend, and now typing before bed.
Growth:
When in doubt, go outside. So much fresh air this morning, what an awesome way to start the day! Between snowblowing and a family walk in the woods it filled my soul.
Appreciation:
At the party tonight there were a handful of travel related conversations. I added new ideas to my bucket list, exchanged travel stories, and smiled the entire time. Throughout the night the concept of “memory dividends” kept popping in my head. I’m grateful for all the travel investments we’ve made and continue to make!
Presence:
So many full on belly laughs tonight! So many jokes, my stomach is sore from laughing. I’m grateful for laughs shared with friends.
I recently finished reading Same As Ever by Morgan Housel and witnessed so many of his “timeless” behaviors through my day, The premise of the book is that history largely repeats itself, we as humans do the same things over and over again.
Throughout the day I caught many of those repeated behaviors in myself and others and it reminded me of how predictable we all really are as people. Whether it was a type of response, a thought process, or something missed due to emotion over logic almost each scenario reminded me of almost exactly the same thing which had happened before. Part of what made it all the more interesting was that I was in multiple roles in the situations throughout.
Such an excellent reminder to pause, think, and then act intentionally.
Appreciation:
What a full day throughout! When I think of wasted actions the day was largely free of them. Almost every step was an intentional action or an action directed towards a purpose. Bonus time sleeping, hitting work hard, time with Becky, supper with Becky and Gavin, time with Gavin, time playing games with Dominic and Gavin. Time working out. Time talking with friends. Time in play. Time in thought. Time reading. Time relaxing. Such a full day, but one that leaves me feeling awesomely recharged!
Presence:
Gavin has been waiting patiently for weather like this specifically for driving. As he gets some miles under his belt he’s been excited to try new situations, like driving on snow and ice. Tonight he got his chance!
After supper the two of us headed out to some spots with pretty much zero traffic. He handled the car very well – especially in the moment when I intentionally gave him directions that caused him to drift. In that moment we were both giggling and laughing as the back end swung out from behind us.
I still remember the first time Dad did that with my brother and I in the car and we all laughed so hard we almost cried. So thankful for a similar moment with Gavin!
The five minute sand timer for the win again! This tool has really over performed over the past week. Today it helped me pause to think. With a specific challenge hitting me broadside the hourglass ⏳ became my life preserver.
Rather than take immediate action I took a deep breath. I reviewed all the information in front of me, closed my laptop and notebook, and busted out the five minute hourglass. For five minutes I let my mind wander wherever it wanted to go related to the topic. I allowed myself to feel emotions and gave myself grace to get frustrated. By the halfway point my mind was already moving towards deeper causes and starting to see possible solutions. When the last grains of sand dropped I was in a much better headspace than I had been.
The hourglass has become a fantastic visual and physical representation of the need for space and stillness. When the world spins out of control stillness can always be found if I choose to find it.
Appreciation:
I don’t know if there’s a better way to say this. There’s gotta be a less “bruh” paragraph out there, but I’m going to write it like I see it.
Sometimes lifting really heavy shit is exactly what needs to be done.
Today I did just that at the gym and it felt AMAZING!!! Such a rush, a focused presence, a sense of guttural awareness and accomplishment. No logic, no inner voice, no thinking. Breathe and lift. That’s it. So therapeutic!!!
When in doubt, lift heavy shit. The world becomes so much more clear and peaceful.
Presence:
For real, that moment of deadlifting was legit! I was 100% focused and concentrated on the one rep. Nothing else existed in the world besides the floor my feet were anchored to, the barbell my hands were gripping, the weight I was lifting, and my breath. All else fell away and my mind emptied itself of all the busyness and noise. There was only that moment, that breath, that strain… that joy!
Thankful for Forty 