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!
Today marks an incredible milestone—3,000 days of introspection, appreciation, and growth. As I reflect on this remarkable journey, I’m compelled to share the invaluable lessons these daily reflections have bestowed upon me.
The Genesis of Gratitude
It all began on September 29, 2015, a decision to pause, reflect, and document at least one thing I was grateful for each day. What started as a year-long commitment grew into an integral part of my life, shaping my perspective and mental landscape.
Embracing the GAP: Growth, Appreciation, Presence
The ethos of Growth, Appreciation, and Presence became my guiding compass. Through daily musings on personal growth, moments of profound appreciation, and the power of being present, I’ve nurtured a deeper connection with myself and the world around me.
Top 10 Lessons from a Million Words
Daily Practice Builds Consistency: Small, daily goals culminate in significant achievements. How can we harness the power of consistent, incremental efforts in our own lives?
Create Space: By minimizing “dead time” and dedicating moments to reflection, I found ample time for gratitude amidst the hustle.
Reflection Soothes the Soul: In silence, clarity emerges. Time spent introspecting has been invaluable in navigating thoughts and emotions.
Give Myself Grace: Imperfections aren’t stumbling blocks but stepping stones for learning and growth.
Journaling is Timeless: These daily entries are a gift to my future self and loved ones, an autobiography woven with gratitude.
Appreciation of the Mundane: The mundane holds profound beauty when seen through the lens of gratitude.
Proactive Gratitude Creates More: Actively seeking moments of gratitude amplifies their presence in our lives.
Appreciation in Adversity: Choosing gratitude amidst life’s storms empowers resilience.
Appreciation Creates Intentionality: Observing recurring sources of gratitude helps shape a life aligned with joy and purpose.
Choose Growth, Appreciation, Presence: This triumvirate fuels an upward spiral of fulfillment even in life’s toughest moments.
The 11th Lesson: Endless Gratitude
There’s an abundance of gratitude in the world waiting to be acknowledged. It’s not just about seeing these moments; it’s about pausing to embrace and appreciate them.
Embracing Choice and Intent
Amidst life’s uncertainties, our response remains within our control. Choosing intentionality, growth, appreciation, and presence allows us to bridge the gap between who we are and who we aspire to be.
Join Me in This Journey
To all who have supported this odyssey, your encouragement has been the wind beneath my wings. As I look forward to continuing this voyage, I invite you to share your own stories of gratitude and embark on this journey together.
Let’s choose joy. Let’s choose gratitude. Here’s to 3,000 days and the countless moments of appreciation that lie ahead.
Almost 3,000 straight days of blogging! So many memories, starting to think of the best way to do day #3,000 and enjoying bonus smiles thinking ahead while thinking back. Once again I’m in awe of how much additional joy this practice has generated through the years. More details tomorrow I’d bet 😉.
Tonight I’m grateful for the night of my 39th birthday, 8+ years ago, when I took the first step down this path. What an awesome journey it has already been!
Appreciation:
OMG – such an amazing dinner with friends this evening!!! So many old memories, new ideas, and beginnings of future adventures! Spoiler alert, Iceland will be visited again soon 😉. For sure, beyond grateful for sharing dinner with close friends and sharing life!
Presence:
Such a beautiful day today! What really jumped out to me were two moments involving the outdoors.
The first was as I drove past Perrot State Park. A plume of smoke rose from the bluffs and when I looked close I could see a line of flames running a ways up the bluff. There must be a prescribed burn going on tonight to help the grassland restoration.
The second was while I was driving to the La Crosse office. As I drove the sky was slowly darkening, but the sun was just low enough below the horizon to totally light up the ittty bitty teeny tiny sliver of a thumbnail of a moon. It was gorgeous! So simple, so beautiful, so chill.
Day 2,999(a) – Due to a small accounting error I am officially one day off and will re-calibrate by calling today Day 2,999(a) and tomorrow Day 2,999(b). Back to our normal numbering on December 15, Day 3,000!
Growth:
This is what I saw when I checked the weather for our run this morning. 🤷♂️ Yup, it was too DANGEROUS for outdoor activity even though it only felt like 15 degrees. Huh???
I did the right thing and ran outside, in shorts. I survived and the run felt great!
There’s a huge lesson to be learned in here. Yes, we should heed advice and be smart, BUT we should work with a combination of advice AND our experiences. In this case I know I’ve run and been fine in temperatures below -10. I know how to bundle up safely for a cold weather run. The advice was likely focused on someone who does not.
Take advice, but act on a combination of that AND personal experience.
Appreciation:
While running today be my and I got into a conversation about how much easier it is to think when focused on a binary idea rather than one with a variety of solutions. When the choice is This or That it is so simple to decide which result you think is correct. When there is a scale of 100 options to choose from our brains struggle exponentially harder. What’s interesting is how many things should be more of a variety than binary (politics?). Yet we often choose binary so we don’t break our brains.
What I’m grateful for today is the awareness of my mind’s desire for easy. After our conversation I have been watching for the times when my brain attempts a binary shortcut and have been working on pushing for more variability in my thoughts.
Presence:
Running with Becky and diving into topics like the two above segments was an awesome ongoing string of moments of presence. Our run pushed us physically and we also talked throughout which led to those insights. Our time together is so much more impactful and meaningful when I’m fully present like today.
Remember to take pictures – lots of pictures! The key is in capturing a brief moment to bring back all the memories afterwards, but not in a way that distracts from the moment.
This picture from 12 years ago brought back soooo many memories from my night of playing with Legos with Gavin! We had a BLAST!!! While the pic took about 5-10 seconds to take in total the smiles it has created were well worth the investment in time.
Don’t miss life by looking through a camera, but remember life by occasionally snapping a future memory dividend.
Appreciation:
Where to go with appreciation today? There have been a handful of different directions to go and my mind has already started about four different posts but none of them have felt right. So now what? Go with my gut.
This morning I woke up feeling pretty stiff and sore from the workouts yesterday. It was sooooo tempting to just shut off my alarm and go back to sleep. Instead I got up, got on my bike, and got a nice little biking session in. Nothing crazy, but just enough to get a sweat going while loosening up my legs and body. As I think about it, the rest of my day was built on that foundation, the decision to get out of bed. My body felt better, my head was in the right place, and the rest of the day was improved as a result of that exercise.
Why did I get up? Because future 90 year old me wants to be hiking whenever and wherever he’d like. Present me has to keep getting his butt up and moving in order to let 90yo Mike reach his dreams. Here’s to dreaming big and making short term decisions based on long term goals!
Presence:
For whatever reason I happened to notice a recommendation that Apple Music put in the middle of my app yesterday – Instrumental Motivation Boost Soundtracks. What really got me this morning was the sensation of driving in the early morning with my moon roof open to allow the cool fresh air in while I listened to Time by Hans Zimmer from the Inception soundtrack (click here to view a live performance of the song).
The song is hauntingly mesmerizing and deeply moving. As I drove I just soaked up all my surroundings, gave thanks to be in that moment, and savored the moment. It was beautiful.
We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for sometimes. Today I was reminded of how much physical activity can be done in one day – and I’ve just started to scratch the surface! Between our morning run, a small group strength training, and our yoga date night I put in three workouts and am now feeling pretty exhausted. As of last week I would have though this was a ridiculous idea, but now I’m reminded of how much better I feel when putting in that much work into my fitness. That is the core of so much of everything else in my life and should be given more focus like that. Even though it may have seemed crazy a week ago and I would have questioned my ability to do it I did it and did it well. Excellent reminder for myself to just suck it up, trust that I can do it, and get after it.
Appreciation:
Several years ago our team started the “Christmas Wish Express,” a holiday themed opportunity for us to help others in the community. People are asked to nominate people who deserve a special gift on Christmas for all the awesome they have done throughout the year. Each day for two weeks we read one (sometimes two) on the radio and award a gift card to the nominee who is also then eligible for the $1,000 main prize we offer up to the top nominee. I want to share that backstory as it is the impetus for my gratitude today.
This morning was my opportunity to select the daily winner and read their nomination on the air. One of the nominations rocked me right in the feels for its simplicity and beauty. It hits upon the spirit of giving in such a profound way. The nomination was something along the lines of:
“I would like to nominate this family as they have taken me into their home and given me so much even though they don’t have much to give. I am nominating them as I want to give them something to show how much I appreciate them.”
Presence:
Last night there was a moment that keeps playing over and over in my head. Becky and I talked about it on our run and we both agreed that it was a pretty special moment, though it is one that probably has happened more than a handful of times and we were never in the right place at the right time.
Before I took Gavin to his concert last night he and Dominic said their good byes as Dominic’s train was leaving before Gavin’s concert was over. What we experienced was this:
“Love you Bro!”
“Love you too Bro!”
Followed by a hug.
Parenting gold right there. Might be one of my all time favorite memories of the two of them ever.
Awareness of my body and how it responds to different stimuli can be a very powerful tool when I pause to be attentive to it.
Which foods cause me to not feel well and in which ways?
What happens when I have a very sedentary day like yesterday versus a very active day like Friday?
How is my sleep impacted by eating after 6pm as opposed to eating later?
What happens to my resting heart rate when I get less than 7 hours of sleep?
So many little nuggets of info my body attempts to share with me. Easy to ignore, profoundly impactful when heeded.
Pause and listen to your body, it is trying to tell you everything you need to know.
Appreciation:
Nothing quite like a restriction to help us appreciate what we have but not quite as abundantly as we would like. When there is a limit or a clear definition of the finite-ness of something our minds seem to focus on it with more clarity. In many ways the shortage or scarcity causes us to pause and be more attentive. What a gift! It often seems as if we want infinite this and unlimited that, but when we have that – or, more accurately, we PERCEIVE we have that – it becomes so easy to take it all for granted!
That mindset was on full display today as I did my best to soak in and appreciate each of the limited moments we had with Dominic while he was home from school. Between lunch, our hike, and our dinner I did my best to be focused in each moment shared together. While I would of course like to have more time with him it was the restriction of how much time we had together that helped me make the most of the time we had together.
Not only did this mean I was more present with him, but I was also more present with my entire family and even with myself when I was alone with my thoughts. The clarity of scarcity kept me more focused in the moment for longer today than I would have been without it.
Scarcity created abundance. Such a beautifully simple yet complex paradigm. How can I create a sense of scarcity more often to help me better stay in the moment? Finding a way to harness the benefits of scarcity in a positive way like this would significantly improve my ability to be more fully in the moment more often.
Presence:
I was going to go in a different direction in this post as I was writing most of it while waiting for Gavin’s band concert this evening. In an effort to get a clear spot to shoot video of his duet and solo I arrived quite early and utilized the bonus quiet time I’d created for myself. When I heard his solo it changed the topic of this section.
Listening to him perform his solo was awesome on so many levels. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as he knocked out the notes on his trumpet. It was amazing! To have the courage to play all by himself for a brief moment in front of a crowd, to have worked hard to earn the opportunity to do so, and then to execute in the moment were all reasons I was so proud of him in that moment. While Gavin played I was enraptured. Such an awesome moment!
Totally breaking from my normal routine today. I am exhausted. Today saw 7-ish hours of car time, a funeral, some vacation planning, a Christmas party, and some knife throwing. It has been full of good stuff, difficult stuff, fun stuff, and lots of reflection. Throw in a lot of conversation with Becky throughout the car rides, conversations with family and friends during the funeral, and time with teammates at our Christmas party and it been awesomely interactive day.
Now I lay in bed and my thoughts swirl thinking back to all of the conversations from the day…. and my heart is full.
Thankful for Forty 