Attitude is everything and has such incredible power over how we see the world. When I take the time to choose the right mindset the world is a profoundly wonderful place, even when life is a little difficult. When I choose a poor mindset, especially over something minor, the world feels a little colder and I’m left feeling empty.
I’m currently chilling at the Charlotte airport, sitting at a countertop with my phone plugged in. I was supposed to be on my next flight by now, but that’s not how things worked out. Instead I’ve got a couple of hour delay before my last flight of the day.
It would be so easy to be frustrated over the added inconvenience, but that’s not the right choice. The better mindset is to see this as a blessing, some bonus time I’ve been gifted in order to work on a couple of projects. Over the past several hours I’ve both started constructing my presentation for the upcoming CVSHRM conference AND started working on an idea which could end up being my next book. The creative juices are flowing and I’ve now been given extra time to roll with it.
This may sound crazy, but I’m thankful for snowy roads today. My commute to Eau Claire was a bit longer than usual due to the road conditions. Between snow, ice, & wind the speeds in all directions were significantly slower than usual. This led to a couple of unexpected benefits.
Thanks to the slickness of the roads I knew I’d be in for a long ride. With that mindset I calmed way down, accepted whatever was thrown my way, and I could feel my blood pressure drop. It was so much more relaxing when I knew I was in no hurry. Instead I leaned into the slower pace and totally chilled while driving.
The extra time in the car also helped me make some serious progress on the next book I’ve been reading. With the added calmness I felt as if I were able to retain significantly more than usual which was great! There was also time to pause, reflect, plan, and then get back to the book itself. Bonus reading time!
Sure, it’s not ideal, but if I choose the right mindset there’s even something to be thankful for on snowy roads.
It’s been a great day, so many moments of joy, so much to be grateful for!
The morning started off as almost all Monday mornings do, an early morning run with Becky. Sure, I’d love to just roll back over and go back to sleep, but I’d miss the bonus “date time” we have with each other. The craziness of the week begins with consistency.
Seeing people collaborating to help each other grow makes me smile big. For so much of my life I’ve let my ego get in the way and try to stay in control. How dumb. How shortsighted. Helping people collaborate with others and then stepping back to let them work together within their strengths create so many more moments of joy for all. Today I got to see that on multiple occasions and each time I smiled.
Yoga. Ahh… yoga. Even on the best of work days there is a calm which yoga so readily provides. The focus on presence, the complete stillness, the peace, & the calm. Perfect!
At the end of yoga someone nearby asked if they could put my block away. Having someone offer a moment of kindness like that was perfect. It reminded me of how I should be more like that more often. It reminded me that an action like that creates two smiles – one for the giver and one for the receiver – and it takes both to make the moment joyful.
Consistency, collaboration, calm, & kindness… what a beautiful day!
There are sometimes when I just need to stand back and chuckle. Throughout the day there were a handful of moments in which I could sense my blood pressure rising a little bit. Something would happen which was totally out of my control. In nanoseconds I felt frustration building a bit and shortly there after I would almost have to laugh at myself. My brain would quickly realize that I had no control over the situation which I was grappling to take control of, but I had complete control over my response to the situation which I was letting run rampant with emotion rather than logic. How ridiculous!!!
What made it all the more crazy was the fact that the bigger the issue the more controlled I was while the smaller the issue the more I was letting emotion take control of the wheel. For instance, when my niece’s game was cancelled after we’d driven 75% of the way through crazy wind, snow, and ice I laughed it off and quickly let it go. Something infinitely smaller and less important – I got all bent out of shape and worked up. Again, how ridiculous!
While of course I’d like to have each day go perfectly smooth and without issue, days like today are where some of the most growth happen. I had several opportunities to grapple with my lack of control over events while also remembering to choose the correct response in knowing what I had control over. The Big Teacher Upstairs obviously saw the gap was a little too wide for me today and decided it was time for some lessons. I may have not done my best on the pop quizzes today, but I have learned many lessons which will help me out in my next round of exams. Not a perfect day of responses from me, but it was a wonderful day of practice, reflection, and growth.
We’re not really a house of Valentine’s Day celebrants. The importance of the day is pretty much lost on us. Rather than the usual dinner and flowers we opted for something that was almost 100% our style. The only thing missing was outdoor activity, but we got that early in the morning in our pre-dawn run.
Yesterday we picked up some bison steaks to grill up tonight. As luck would have it our gas ran out just as I was about to put the steaks on the grill. Thank goodness a couple of my teammates had recently told me about broiling steaks instead so I had a backup plan.
After eating we headed out to yoga to get all namaste and shit – and it was awesome! Excellent workout, very chill and relaxing, and I even got a couple of strong ideas for work based on Nick’s coaching.
Now I’ve showered up and will be off for an early bed. Not the most exciting of nights, but 100% a positive day all around. Forget the restaurants and flowers, yoga and bison at home sounds perfect to me!
The temperature yesterday was a little chilly. The lowest I saw was -5 degrees with the windchill dropping the feel to about -16. A little cool, but nothing to get in the way of having a great time in the woods with my boys. We went for an outing with Scouts and the cold air only added to the fun and memorableness. We also learned a few lessons along the way, like the fact that butane tanks don’t like to stay pressurized in the extreme cold… and that the tanks can be warmed up to the right temperature by putting them against your chest inside a pair of bibs and jacket with a couple of hand warmers for about 15-20 minutes.
I’m always grateful for time in the woods with my family. Sharing my happy place with those I love is amongst my favorite activities. Whether camping, hiking, traveling, snowshoeing, running, or anything – time outside in nature with my family is always rewarding, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate or is less than ideal.
Last night we laughed, enjoyed time together, and stayed warm. While I rested in my solo tent with a double layer of tarps and a triple sleeping bag set up I kept smiling while listening to the laughing coming from the boys’ tent next to me. They were joking around and goofing off just the way kids are supposed to. Doing it outside in crazy weather made it all the more perfect. Times together like this will hopefully continue to instill a passion for time in the wilderness for both of them.
Not gonna lie, at one point it got so warm I had to unzip my sleeping bags and cool off!
Gotta love how timing works sometimes, right? The rest of this week has been relatively warm, why wouldn’t the coldest part of the week hit when we’re outside camping for Scouts? 😉
Yessir, here’s the forecast for tomorrow morning when we wake up:
We’ve got everything packed up and will be heading out soon, I’m glad I was thinking ahead and wanted to type my blog while I still had feeling in my fingers! Yes, it’s a goofy one to be thankful for today, but at about 8:00pm tonight I’ll be thinking about how I wrote this now and will be thanking myself for planning ahead.
I am a huge fan of the sensation that comes when crossing off the last of the items on a To Do list. That profound level of satisfaction was not to be found today and will most likely not come tomorrow either. The past couple of weeks have been rather stacked and it’s going to take some extra time to slug my way back to breaking even. No worries, I’ve got it under control and it will all be done in time.
While I may not have scratched them all off I made some serious progress today. Rather than feel overwhelmed by what’s ahead I’ve realized I need to savor the knowledge that I’ve chipped away at the list today. By knocking out what I did today I’ve made room to take on two of the bigger projects tomorrow. Get those finished and then I have time to work on another couple. All in time, one step at a time. Slowly but surely I’ll catch up and get back ahead.
One side note, it has been an awesome experience in another way as well. In order to get everything done I’ve got to stay focused on what’s truly essential. Everything else is getting pushed away. It’s also been an excellent opportunity to remember the power of getting other people involved and allowing them the space they need to be successful. Both are very valuable lessons for me to continue to learn and re-learn.
Without going into a ton of details today let’s just say that I got all types of frustrated with something I was working on. I get working on chilling out and calming down, but it just kept bubbling up for various reasons. After a while I thought I had it all figured out and was going to keep my blood pressure down.
I started talking with a teammate and the emotion boiled back up and let it all out. I was frustrated and did not live into the stoic mindset I’ve worked on.
Once I was out of gas my teammate calmly looked at me and proceeded to walk me off the ledge. They very politely helped me see both the solution to the challenge and how my frustration was not benefiting me in the least. There was no sense of anger, disappointment, or anything like that, only understanding and a desire to truly help me through the situation. They listened intently while I spoke, they showed me they cared, they walked me down the right path, and they didn’t pass judgement on my poor reaction.
I will continue to work on my composure when my emotions and frustrations get the best of me. I’d done so well over the past month and change, this was frustrating and humbling – but a wonderful learning opportunity. I learned how important it is to stay calm and collected, especially when the pressure is on. I was also reminded of how important it is to be surrounded by friends who care for me and are willing to have the very difficult conversations I need to hear… especially when I find out afterwards the additional struggles they may have in their lives.
A friend who sets their personal struggle aside to help you through your struggle first – what an incredible gift that is.
A conversation from earlier in the day moved my thoughts towards a song that has been stuck in my head for a few days, Starting Over by Chris Stapleton (check it out here: https://youtu.be/A3svABDnmio). My audiobook was focused on the power of stillness and something just seemed to click. I paused my audiobook and thoughts just before Arcadia and gave in to the urge to listen to the song.
Singing along to that song I started to focus on the colors of the sky, the rolling hills of the driftless area, and all the trees surrounding the road. I was lost in a sense of complete wonder. It was like I’d captured the essence of so many vacations, experiencing the beauty of the present moment more vividly than ever in an effort to drink in all of the details and burn them forever into my memory. I’ve driven this stretch hundreds of times yet this time felt like the first.
As my smile grew I realized what I was doing, I was taking a road trip for my soul, a soul trip if you will. I decided that the next twenty-ish miles would be a road trip for me, I’d use a traveling mindset and be 100% present. To help set the mood I loaded up my favorite travel playlist and hit “Shuffle.”
Almost as if on cue a deer crossed the road in front of me. I paused to let allow it safe passage and then saw another coming out of the woods and headed to the promised land on the other side… and another… and another… and another… and so on until eight of those brown haired beauties scampered in front of my car. I couldn’t help but laugh with childlike excitement like the first time I’d seen kangaroo live in Australia, it was awesome! Throughout the next handful of miles I’d see more than two dozen off in the distance and I appreciated each of them. Their presence made the soul trip feel all the more complete.
Not to be outdone, the sun and sky wanted to make sure they were noticed as well. Streaks of purple and pink crossed the sky as the clouds caught different lighting from the setting sun based on their height. The colors were spectacular! The pinks and purples opposite the orange and gold skies nearest the sun. The combination of clear skies above me and to my right was complemented by the scattered clouds to my left. The air seemed perfectly still as nothing moved in the wind. The cold air added extra clarity to the entire expanse of the heavens.
The bluffs stood by, quiet and majestic. The undulating hills covered in a layer of snow, brush, and cut corn stalks. The combination of the colors, the whites, the browns, the yellows, and and the tans of exposed rock all changed colors as the sun made it’s trip across the sky. The rocks of the bluffs jutted out at seemingly random angles and locations and yet all seemed perfectly structured at the same time. The views through the valleys were so beautiful as to almost make my eyes water.
I considered stopping to take a picture but there is no way I could gather all the expansive beauty in a way which would begin to do it justice. This was a moment to take in, breathe in, and remember without the distraction of a lens.
There was a perfect stillness in my soul, a joy which can only be reached by a true state of presence. There was a complete and total lack of noise surrounding me, only quiet calm. Occasionally a memory of a vacation would slowly appear, help me appreciate something I had been missing, and then slowly slide out of view. Time slowed to a standstill almost as if it were willing me to take in more detail, to savor each miracle surrounding me. The state of stunning solitude and transcendental presence felt both completely devoid of anything and completely full of life at the same time. The balanced paradox of emptiness and fullness felt more right than almost anything. In that moment I was being me, enjoying the gifts of The Big Dude Upstairs (or God, the Universe, Logos, or whatever name you’d prefer to use for the higher power – why argue semantics?).
Not from today, but you get the idea 🙂
The soul trip may be over for now, but we can access it at anytime. That calm and completeness will forever lay just under the surface. All we must do is pause and look for it. It is wherever we go, whenever we choose it, and ready to welcome us in with a giant bear hug of peace and serenity.
Thankful for Forty 