Day 3,625

What an epic Saturday it has been! Becky’s birthday was a huge success, so perfect of s day together.

From watching old home movies to hitting the trail for a hike to paddle boarding with Dominic and Caitlyn to dinner as a family and then finally wrapping up watching more old home movies was awesome. From start to finish it was a family filled celebration of Becky.

Off to bed, I’ll definitely need some rest after this one!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,624

List time for today’s blog!

• Laughs with my family to wrap up the night
• Spending time with one of our favorite Australians over dinner on our deck
• Sitting outside on the deck shooting the bull
• An awesomely productive day full of twists and turns
• Being surrounded by overachievers who’s assign and drive are palpable
• Coffee!!!
• Remembering that challenges are opportunities for growth

A full day!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,623

Always fun watching Gavin play football, even more fun watching him play while Dominic is there hanging out with us! Thanks to the game being up in Northern Wisconsin we also had some bonus family members hanging out and watching the game with us, also an extra treat.

We had a long drive with Becky, Dominic, & I on the way there – extra conversation time. Now Dominic is driving us home and we got some additional bonus time for conversation on the way home.

Dominic goes back to school on Monday, a pretty sweet way wrap up our time together, and was a tasty appetizer to start a weekend together as a family (after one more work day).

Thanks!!!

Day 3,622

Going a little off the normal script tonight… sometimes it’s helpful to change this up to keep it fresh in my brain.

First off is a quote from Awareness by Anthony de Mello. I know, bit of an ongoing topic recently, but there is so much wisdom to be found in that insightful book.

It will help, too, if you return to nature. Send the crowds away, go up to the mountains, and silently commune with trees and flowers and animals and birds, with sea and clouds and sky and stars. I’ve told you what a spiritual exercise it is to gaze at things, to be aware of things around you. Hopefully, the words will drop, the concepts will drop, and you will see, you will make contact with reality. That is the cure for loneliness.

Generally, we seek to cure our loneliness through emotional dependence on people, through gregariousness and noise. That is no cure. Get back to things, get back to na-ture, go up in the mountains. Then you will know that your heart has brought you to the vast desert of solitude, there is no one there at your side, absolutely no one.

At first this will seem unbearable. But it is only because you are unaccustomed to aloneness. If you manage to stay there for a while, the desert will suddenly blossom into love. Your heart will burst into song.

And it will be springtime forever; the drug will be out; you’re free. Then you will understand what freedom is, what love is, what happiness is, what reality is, what truth is, what God is. You will see, you will know beyond concepts and condition-ing, addictions and attachments.

Anthony de Mello

Today was the second day of training and it was EPIC!!! Nothing like having very engaged participants who ask a lot of insightful questions and dive deep into the topic. We got into some very deep topics and they soaked it all right up and showed how they can grow and implement the concepts. Such an awesome investment of time.

After lunch we all went up to Garvin Heights to look out over Winona, took a short hike to a cliff; and then got a walk in my favorite cemetery, the beautiful and scenic Woodlawn Cemetery. So much fun exploring areas you live with people who have never been there!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,621

Growth:

A wonderful quote hitting humility, awe, & wonder in one fell swoop:

“God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity. But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance of wonder renewed daily, the source of which is beyond all reason.”

Dag Hammarskjöld

Appreciation:

Over preparation takes a large amount of time, but the results are well worth the investment even if they are not used. Flexibility in learning is difficult to create space for, but it makes all the difference in long term success. The right combination of brutal honesty and overwhelming optimism help work through the most challenging of situations. Working alongside people you respect and admire makes a huge difference.

Here’s to a day that helped remind me of all of these!

Presence:

Excellent day and evening of bonding with teammates today! Nonstop focus on work, very much present in very positive ways, so energizing!

Thanks!

Day 3,620

Growth:

Interesting quote created in my brain while reading Awareness by Anthony de Mello this morning through connecting several dots and bread crumbs from throughout the past couple of years.

Much of our stress comes from the friction of our desired freedoms rubbing against the grain of the prisons we have created for ourselves. 

Mike Kreiling

Appreciation:

I usually read Awareness by Anthony de Mello once every three to six months. The book reads like a perfectly snug sweatshirt that is perfectly formed for my body after years of wear, only in this case I am the sweatshirt shaping around the book. Slowly but surely I find more and more understanding within its words. The more I take apart the concepts and test them the more they seem to play out true.

“What you need is to be free. What you need is to love. That’s it; that’s your nature. But what you’re really telling me is that you want to be desired.

You want to be applauded, to be attractive, to have all the little monkeys running after you. You’re wasting your life. Wake up! You don’t need this. You can be blissfully happy without it.

Your society is not going to be happy to hear this, because you become terrifying when you open your eyes and understand this. How do you control a person like this?

He doesn’t need you; he’s not threatened by your criticism; he doesn’t care what you think of him or what you say about him.

He’s cut all those strings; he’s not a puppet any longer. It’s terrifying. “So we’ve got to get rid of him. He tells the truth; he has become fearless; he has stopped being human.” 

Human! Behold! A human being at last! He broke out of his slavery, broke out of their prison.”

Anthony de Mello, Awareness

Presence:

Running in cool fall feeling weather! Stepping out of the car at work into a cool morning. Walking out from yoga into the perfectly chill air. Perfect weather day for sure!!!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,619

Throughout the past couple of weeks I’ve been wildly busy, but there’s also been quite a bit of room for introspection. Self-observation has been very enlightening as of late, seeing more and more of why I feel and do what I do when I do based on where my brain is at. The more I take that outside approach to seeing things as if they were happening in the third person the more and more I continue to learn about myself.

The more I recognize patterns and work to change my behaviors the more I can live into a better version of myself. These past weeks have been tiring, but so wonderfully eye opening!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,618

So many different directions to potentially go today, let’s see where this goes…

Awesome day spent with family / a walk and coffee with Becky, time with Mom, touring my brother’s new home, dinner and a campfire with my family. It was a day revolving around family with so much bonus family time.

While that was going on there was also time for introspection, time reading, a nap, and time for quiet reflection.

Today was a wonderful mix of large family time, pockets of smaller family moments, and a little time alone. A day of balance.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,617

Growth:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is faith! An openness to the truth, no matter what the consequences, no matter where it leads you and when you don’t even know where it’s going to lead you. That’s faith.  Not belief, but faith. Your beliefs give you a lot of security, but faith is insecurity.  You don’t know. You’re ready to follow and you’re open, you’re wide open! You’re ready to listen. And, mind you, being open does not mean being gullible, it doesn’t mean swallowing whatever the speaker is saying.  Oh no. You’ve got to challenge everything I’m saying. But challenge it from an attitude of openness, not from an attitude of stubbornness. And challenge it all. Recall those lovely words of Buddha when he said, “Monks and scholars must not accept my words out of respect, but must analyze them the way a goldsmith analyzes gold— by cutting, scraping, rubbing, melting.

Anthony de Mello

Appreciation:

Remember! You don’t have to haus an opinion about this.

Ryan Holiday

Presence:

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Marcus Aurelius

Thanks!!!

Day 3,616

I had an awesome time watching Gavin’s football game tonight for a variety of reasons!

Gavin started in a new position, his first time at guard, and he did a great job. So much fun watching him do something he enjoys! Watching them win was an added bonus too.

During the first half of the game we got to spend time with his Powerlifting coach, it was a blast catching up with him and hearing how excited he is for their team this season.

Dominic joined Becky and I for the game which was pretty sweet! All three of us had fun talking and joking while watching, an added bonus gif sure!

The day itself was a pretty solid day, capping it off with the fans like that was awesome!

Thanks!!!