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!
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.
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!.
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!!!
There were a few different ideas going through my head today on this topic. Several of the ideas all went in slightly different directions, but they each had a common thread. Clarity.
Clarity is one of the most profoundly powerful resources in our lives. From helping us focus on what is truly important to helping us get at the heart of what needs to be worked on to reminding us of where we should be at any given moment. Clarity can be elusive at times, especially when we don’t actively and intentionally pursue it. Once in our grasp clarity can so quickly point us in the right direction.
Today I was reminded of the importance and beauty of clarity on several occasions.
Appreciation:
I haven’t usually paid much attention to the Winter Solstice in the past. Maybe a passing comment about it being the shortest daylight of the year, but that was about it. Today it hit me a differently. It was the end, the closing of the solar year, the start of more light, the next phase. Something about the shortest day of the year hit me at a deeper level. It feels like renewal, a fresh start, the beginning of a journey or some sort. Ending the night with yoga encouraged that feeling all the more, an end to the noise, and busyness, a start to calm, relaxation, and a path forward.
Here’s to the Winter Solstice, the end of the darkness, the beginning of growth and light.
Presence:
This evening Becky and I went to a Winter Solstice Yoga Relaxation session and it was so chill. The scent of Christmas hung in the air, the lighting was deeply peaceful. By the time I laid on my mat I was already just about sleeping. The entire practice was so relaxing, a wonderful way to wrap up the shortest day of the year.
It is easy to start throwing out solutions and trying to fix things. The most difficult part of the problem solving process? Figuring out the exact problem that needs to be solved. This can be more difficult as I tend to want to skip steps, make assumptions, and sometimes don’t take the time to fully understand the problem in advance.
Today contained a wonderful reminder to pause and be sure to define the problem clearly before attempting to solve it. Pause, dig deeper into the issue. Find as much detail into the root cause of it as possible. Be sure to understand the timeframe we need to work within. Ask more questions than seems necessary, and then ask at least a few more. Frame the challenge as a question. Validate the definition with others involved. Attain agreement on the issue. Then, and only then, take action to solve the problem.
Appreciation:
What I’m most grateful for today are the ongoing additions to my dream list. The most recent addition came today as I telling Becky about a story from the book I’m currently reading – The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. Throughout the book the author shares several vignettes from around the world talking through everything from hunting to talking with spiritual leaders and scientists about happiness to crazy exercise tactics. One in particular got me all types of excited and I’ve added it to my list.
How epic would this be to see in real life? The country of Bhutan is one I would love to visit for a variety of reasons (including being one of the happiest nations on Earth) and this would be the crown jewel of the trip for sure!
My dream list keeps on growing and each time it leads to more dreaming and more smiles!
Presence:
There are a handful of paths I could take on this topic today, but the one that really sticks out the most is during my lifting workout this evening. My trainer has added many new exercises and lifts to my practice and it has kept me very much on my toes. Up until a week and a half ago I’d never done a deadlift. Today I worked on a different variation of it, the sumo deadlift.
While on the platform I situated my feet much wider than normal, only inches from the plates on the barbell. My hands grasped the bar in a much closer grip than I’ve become accustomed to. Without turning my toes in and while keeping my entire foot in contact with the floor with even pressure I bent my knees to get my butt as low as possible. With a very straight back I slowly lifted the barbell until I was able to lock out my hips. I then slowly reversed the position and settled the weight to the ground before doing it again.
This process of making sure I had everything in the right place and moving at the right time took all of my mental focus. Time almost seemed to slow as I thought through each portion of the movement, part of me walking through the checklist, another part of me feeling my body in space, and then another part of me watching my form in the mirror to adjust as needed to get the form right. All focus was in that one lift, one after another, until the set was completed. As I cycled through the remaining sets I duplicated the experience.
What a moment to stay so present, focused, and in a state of flow!
I am feeling pretty exhausted and wore out tonight. A younger version of me would have laughed it off, pounded an energy drink or two, and stayed up until the wee hours of the night not doing much of anything. The today version of me is wise enough to take a cue, head to bed early, get extra sleep, and be ready to kick tomorrow in the butt. Tomorrow morning the today me will feel leaps and bounds better than the younger me.
Appreciation:
Humans are a silly bunch, aren’t we? Sometimes it is so easy to hack into our own brains to better get the results we want. Case in point today is the Hawthorne Effect. This essentially states that humans react differently when they are being measured and/or monitored. One of the ways to take advantage of this is by doing things like tracking what we eat, measuring what we are doing and how often, and by finding some way to focus on something we want to change. Once we’ve got something picked out we become much more aware of it specifically because it is being measured. This then causes us to change our behavior without really doing anything about the behavior itself. Pretty wild!
I’ve recently started tracking more of the habits I want to cultivate in my life. At the end of each day I pause to track a handful of measurements – basically an accounting of how well I lived into being the best me I want to be for the day. Throughout the day the knowledge that I will be completing this task helps me make better choices in the moment to help me score myself better later in the day. Crayz, but it works!
Presence:
Today included a daily double! Sure, I prefer when the days are longer, but on days like today I don’t mind the fact that I get to experience both the sunrise and sunset while driving to and from our Eau Claire office. Both sunrise and sunset today were SPECTACULAR!!! The sky was light aflame with the reds, pinks, and oranges across the horizon. Both times I paused my audiobook to soak the entire experience up a little more clearly. What a breathtaking sight – both times!
A while back some one shared the best advice they’d received. “You can always say what hasn’t been said, but you can never taken back what has been said.”
Today I lived that advice. Rather than share my thoughts in the moment I paused and wrote an email to myself. I wrote unfiltered and said all I wanted to say. Tomorrow I will reread the email, change the verbiage, prioritize the points, and have a much more meaningful discussion. Had I just thrown my thoughts out they wouldn’t have landed as successfully as I would like. By pausing to think they will.
Appreciation:
Becky and I usually enjoy yoga date nights on Monday. Tonight that all changed. both of the boys joined us for yoga! All four of us went to yoga together for the first time!
I love time with my family, especially active moments like that. Sharing the experience with them was so awesome on a handful of levels and created the highlight of my day! Hearing how much they enjoyed it added to my smile.
Presence:
While driving from work to the gym I caught myself stewing over work stuff. Then I remembered that I was about to get my sweat on at the gym and I smiled. Nothing like lifting heavy stuff and getting the blood flowing to remind me to put the stress away and to focus on being present.
Life doesn’t need to be exciting and full of new adventures to be joyful. Tonight I found great joy in cooking dinner for the family and eating together. We watched a movie we’ve watched at least a dozen times together (Elf) and laughed as we enjoyed the shared experience.
Joy isn’t to be found in new and better. It is in the meaningful, the purposeful, and the shared. Joy doesn’t care about new models and the latest and greatest, it is to be found in presence and increased with appreciation.
Appreciation:
Some days the details are either not relevant or not something I want to share. Regardless of the reason that doesn’t mean I am any less grateful for the unshared things, they will just go unsaid. Today I’m especially grateful for an opportunity to live more closely into the person I would like to be. My soul is full on so many levels. If you’re feeling a nudge to live into your purpose, follow it. Truly amazing where it can take you.
Presence:
We went for a hike with our niece Leah today in Twin Bluffs State Park. Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather the woods still smelled like autumn. Every so often the breeze would blow a little and the scent of leaves on the ground would waft up. So many memories in each nose full, the aroma brought bake so many memories of time in the woods while growing up in the northwoods. Ahh… scent, such a wonderful sense!
Gavin’s powerlifting event today was an impactful reminder of the difference between perception and reality and the importance of form. As the competitors lifted there were so many who were shaped very similarly. By all visual cues they should be almost exactly the same from a performance standpoint. Once each lift was completed the results were wildly different.
Some had picture perfect form and lifted a lot of weight, others had a less refined form and didn’t do nearly as well,
There were some who were locked in and gave everything they thought they could give and others who more clearly locked in and gave as much as they could get from their body. The former were limited by their self perception, the latter only by their body.
Practice form, make the movement less work. Get all we can, push beyond mere perception.
Appreciation:
Hmm…. I’m now on Take #5 of this section. When I sum up all the past versions I’ve since deleted I think what I’m thankful for today boils down to one key insight. I’ve clearly mapped out my purpose and what I want to get out of this one very short and limited life and I act on it often. Today that has kept me on track, headed in the right direction, and more grateful for the experiences rather than wanting more. There was a deep sense of serenity as I drove through town for like the 8th time today as I realized I was doing it specifically because it was leading me towards all I want of life. Clarity, purpose, intention, execution.
Presence:
Watching Gavin deadlift 330 was pretty epic! Pretty awesome start to his powerlifting season!
Thankful for Forty 