Tag: life

Thankful for Dreams Taking Shape

Day 3,945

Whew – reality testing dreams, pretty wild when they truly start to form from the aether, slowly taking shape, starting to become something tangible. The moment in which they slip from concept to a working prototype, something that can actually be experienced rather than only imagined.

Today I had a couple of those moments, two very different, yet oddly symmetrical, dreams starting to transition from a mental concept to a tangible something to share. In both cases the sharing of the concept went better than expected, great feedback, a quick understanding of what it was and why it fills a gap that is present. One conversation specifically went down a very interesting path prior to sharing the idea, once that had concluded it folded perfectly and accidentally right into proving the effectiveness and “why” behind the dream itself!

So much more work ahead on both. One will take center stage shortly as I build up a critical mass towards it over the next few months, the other as a side project which appear when it’s ready – yet will continue to grow through the first project’s progress as well as through more experience of my professional life through that lens. These two fit so well together and have helped each other grow throughout their progression.

Very exciting day today, one that makes me want to put more focus into both, but I am also well aware of the season of life I am in, the work I need to do to pay for life as I grow towards these other two dreams. As the tedium and stress of the day job ebbs and flows I’ve got these two dreams continuing to build, allowing me to see ways to turn my current experiences into more than an income or a career, but an additional fuel that helps me narrow the considerable gap between who I am today and who I am called to be.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for a Trifecta of Goals

Day 3,943

Throughout the day I’ve adjusted and gone in several unexpected directions. Some curveballs, largely the good kind, but the types of adjustments that send us off in slightly different directions than what were initially intended for the day.

As I’m wrapping up a nice long chunk of creative time on my “side quest,” I’m reminded of the importance of setting goals for myself.

Thanks to the dream list I update at least annually I have a larger scale focus on what I would like to do, see, accomplish, give, and experience in the life I have remaining. These long term goals (many of which are completely unrealistic) help show me a path towards something larger than I would normally drift towards.

Thanks to the annual goal setting I do I have a short list of three specific goals I would like to accomplish. While I’d like to focus on all of them all the time, I’m reminded that there is usually one large focus and maybe one minor focus. They have to take turns depending on the different seasons of life. Regardless, these three annual goals give me a very pointed and direct focus towards a goal I am certain I am capable of accomplishing – should I put the appropriate energy and focus to it. These goals, reviewed daily, help me fight against the momentum of what life typically throws at me. They help me fight upstream.

Thanks to the daily intentions I set for myself I start my morning with a focus on one to three very specific minor yet impactful tasks I can accomplish that day to put me one small step closer to the larger annual goal. One small step at a time is so much easier than shutting down all of life for a month to get one specific things done. The compounding impact of a few small yet strategically important tasks is truly powerful!

That’s what helped me keep the focus today. All three of these worked together to allow me room to adjust and maneuver while still offering enough space to complete what needed to get done. While I adjusted my action I knew there was a map to get me back on the right trail afterwards.

Quick side note: If you’d like a little sneak peek into my “side quest,” just shoot me a note or drop a comment and I’ll be happy to get you more info.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Family Roots

Day 3,942

As time keeps flying by and Gavin’s college dorm move in date seems to sprint towards us more quickly than expected I am more and more grateful for the bonus moments we are able to sneak in. Today’s version was him riding to and from work with me as he did a bunch of yard work for our office building. Over lunch we hung out and shot the bull too, nice pockets of bonus time.

When the end of a season approaches it becomes so much easier to recognize the impermanence of all things. We can see the end of the season coming, each day as it gets closer those moments become more and more precious.

How much more fulfilling would our lives be if we realized earlier on that each day before it has the same opportunity, the same amount of time? When the end seems so distant it is so easy to lose sight of how precious each moment is. Shouldn’t we have that same mindset for each moment of our lives? Why must it take an impending (or abrupt) end to get us to pause and appreciate the time we have? Seems like we would all live much more fulfilling lives!

On the flip side, our relationship with Dominic also reminds me that while the season may change, it really is only a change, a shift. In some ways our relationship with Dominic has improved with the space between us while he’s in college. We talk regularly, our conversations often go deeper in some ways than they used to, and the time we all have together is made all the more precious moving forward as we understand that we only have a limited amount of time together. After the shift of him going off to college we’ve experienced the change itself as well as have had the understanding that we need to appreciate each moment all the more!

My heart is already starting to feel a bit of the loss of Gavin when he moves out soon, but I’m also very excited for the change in our relationship and the ways our friendship will shift. It won’t be what we’ve grown used to, but thanks to the roots of love and friendship we’ve cultivated in him and he in us I know we’ll somehow become closer than ever as a result. Thank you again to Dominic for helping me see that firsthand.

Here’s to the roots, the grounding of love in a family which will continue to grow throughout the generations and time.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Another Question, Floating It Out There, & Our Running Ritual

Day 3,939

Growth:

Another question has been in my brain since a few nights ago when I was working on my project. It has been pushing me to look at the year from a different perspective, a view inspired by Ed Tom, the sheriff from the book No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.

It is a question that forces humility, that offers opportunity to see what we’ve misjudged, underestimated, or didn’t expect to face. In viewing it we are able to see a better route forward in the year ahead, to better prepare ourselves for what we may face.

Where did I encounter something this year that I was not fully equal to?

Appreciation:

The Universe is so ready to help us out to grow and expand. The more we float ideas and dreams out, the more often there are opportunities provided for us to take action. For sure, just wanting something doesn’t make it so, but I’m amazed at how often there is magic to be found after opening ourselves up, being humble and asking others for help or sharing our dream with them. In so many ways it’s almost as if we speak the magic into existence, it is only up to us to listen and take the appropriate action.

Today I took another step on my project (not quite ready to share it this openly yet) and it provided several new insights and ideas that really helped me see where this could continue to grow! So much more work to be done, but opening up helped me see a more clear path forward.

Presence:

Our morning run was amazing! I know, I use something form our morning run often, but I’m realizing more and more how sacred that ritual is to me. The time alone with Becky (and Leia). Physical activity to get my blood pumping. Quiet in the woods in the pre-dawn hour. Knowing that I started the day on my terms. Keeping my health the top of mind.

All those reasons and so many other little ones, the reason that time running is worth every ounce of energy and time many times over.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Remembering the Give and Take, Remembering Appreciation, & a Moment of Calm

Day 3,927

Growth:

Many days this task is to help focus my brain on what’s been most meaningful throughout the day. The appreciation I have for certain actions, people, things, happenings, and whatnot. Remember that this can also go in the reverse, helping to frame the frustration and stress of the day into a reason to be thankful. This blog is not for the result in of itself, rather, it is a tool to help me work to close the gap between where I am and where I am meant to grow. Reflection, direction, action, motivation – a tool to be used as needed based on the day.

Appreciation:

Interesting day for a handful of reasons – starting off with a super tight and sore back to a stressful work day to a transition from a difficult conversation to a productive one. Once home it was a dinner with Becky, slow stretching to get my back moving, a call with my brother to joke and laugh, and then some quiet time to blog as I heat my back.

The overall “joy” score of my day was very meh to be sure (likely a -1) and I really struggled to find a reason to blog tonight. There were so many moments to be grateful for individually, but the overall feel of the day was a bummer all around. By leveraging this habit of blogging every single day of why I’m grateful I was able to get my brain turned back around to the positives and to remember to focus more energy there. For sure, the day was still a bummer, but one I can struggle through as I know there are always things I can learn from these types of days, so long as I remember to be grateful for them.

Today that meant being grateful for the acts of kindness, for the opportunity to help others, for the time with Becky and the meal she made, for the time with my brother as we laughed. For the time I spent texting family for various reasons as we all laughed. For this moment of quiet respite to gather my thoughts and choose the better attitude… I am grateful.

Presence:

Taking a quiet moment to myself to get all the junk out of my head. Pressing the pause button on the stress, opening my mind to see the bigger picture. Enjoying the view of the leaves dancing in the wind outside the window, watching the ground squirrel scampering through the park across the street. Allowing my mind to clear. Calm.

Thanks!!

Thankful for Allowing Myself Space to Grieve

Day 3,904

Today was the re-charge and rejuvenate day I’ve needed for a while. Becky and I got in an invigorating hike this morning, enjoying one of our favorite hikes…

Yeah, and that’s where I stopped typing and just sat there staring at my screen for a while. My mind racing across many emotions and memories. Kind of like the act of pausing today really allowed all the emotion to leak in through the cracks. While moving constantly for the past few months there wasn’t time to really let the emotions saturate, today was a sense of release, of slowing down… in so many ways a sense of finality of a season of life.

Gavin sent a poignant message about his emotions about his track career officially being over today. That had started to sink in for me a bit last night, in the silence of relaxation today it really sunk in. The emotions of a tectonic life shift are being given the space to breathe, and I’m not sure how I feel about all of it.

As I paused to breathe, to write my blog, I was reminded that it was nine years ago yesterday that Dad suffered his brain aneurysm. In taking a moment to reflect I also came across a video Gavin and Dominic recorded from nine years ago today wishing him well and hoping he feels better soon while also recounting their favorite memories of him. On that screen are my two sons who were eleven and eight years old who are no longer children, but men – talking about Dad, who was to be no longer less than a week after the video was created by Becky. In less than 45 seconds I felt the grief of losing both Dad and the childhood of my sons. Of course both Dominic and Gavin are a live and well, it’s just that their childhood seasons are now both complete.

When Dominic graduated I struggled, but Gavin was still at home, still a kid, and helped to soften the blow of the change. Now with Gavin graduating I am feeling very different, the loss – or better, a change – in my life as I’ve known it for the past twenty years. Through all the busy-ness of the past few months I’ve been able to keep the strong front, to say that it’ll be fine, to keep the smile. Today, with the release of stress, the relaxing of my shoulders, I can feel it so much more intensely. Almost as if it my heart knew I wasn’t quite ready to actually deal with this. Now, with a little space, I am.

I know it is not loss per se, it is a shifting of the season. I am looking forward to the next season – for myself, for Becky and I, and for the boys – we all have so much to look forward to! As I’ve learned, each change leads to the next adventures, each day seems to be better than the previous. It may be very uncomfortable as it all unfurls, but it will all work out as it always has.

All that said, today I’m grateful for allowing myself the grace to grieve the loss of this past season. It is okay that this shift hurts, it is okay that this shift is very uncomfortable, it is okay that I don’t want it to change, and it is okay that I have tears streaming down my face as I type. Change is difficult. The deeper the emotion felt the more that it has meant to us, the deeper the love we feel for all those involved.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Both Sides of the Glass, Being Human, & Sharing Thanks for Others

Day 3,871

Growth:

Funny how when pausing to consider how we can help someone else through a challenge we find a similar way that we could help ourselves through challenges we are also facing. Quite often this can quickly turn into a combination of a mirror AND window exercise – looking through to see how to handle a difficult situation AND seeing the sometimes ugly reflection of ourselves creating the same challenge for others that we ourselves are attempting to work through. As I pulled up this quote for someone this morning I caught myself on both sides of the glass – seeing both how I could have handled a situation differently had I followed the advice AND how I was simultaneously acting in poor judgement which also caused the same hardship to others who could have used the advice.

One friend, one piece of advice, two ways of seeing myself making poor decisions in the past, and two ways of seeing myself taking better action in the future. Cheers to the beauty of taking the third person perspective to help us heal what is broken within ourselves.


To feel affection for people even when they make mistakes is uniquely human. You can do it, if you simply recognize: that they’re human too, that they act out of ignorance, against their will, and that you’ll both be dead before long.
And, above all, that they haven’t really hurt you. They haven’t diminished your ability to choose.

Marcus Aurelius
Meditations: A New Translation (Modern Library)

Appreciation:

There certainly are interesting themes I am starting to see within the twenty five books I’ve chosen to read three times each this year. One theme which has been resonating very clearly recently is the concept of being truly human. Not putting up a false front, owning what it means to be human in all of its trappings – good, bad, uplifting, disappointing, beautiful, and ugly. Being okay with being human, being less than perfect, being fallible, making mistakes, allowing ego to overcome the betterment of the community and so on.

This morning it really hit me as I was moved to emotion by this quote from Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five:

“And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
So she was turned into a pillar of salt.
People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Presence:

Pausing to take a moment to appreciate the positive impact someone makes in our lives. Such a simple action, pause, write out our thoughts, share them with the person, yet so easy to say “I’ll do that later” only to have “later” slowly transition into “never.” In those moments of focus, of thinking about that person and the positive impact they have had on us, our souls are full and we are completely present in the task of appreciating them. Very grateful for taking the time to do just that this evening!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Data Tracking

Day 3,838

This may seem like a wild one, but I am very grateful for some of the crazy data tracking I’ve been doing which wasn’t technically intentional but has turned into a wildly insightful set of datapoints!

I’ve been blogging daily since September 29, 2015 about at least one thing I am grateful for. The intent was to strengthen my my appreciation muscles to live more joyfully. Throughout the years it’s transformed int a time capsule of my thoughts, emotions, observations, and memories. Thanks to the power of data aggregation I’ve got a plethora of data to analyze, over 3,800 posts encompassing 1.2 MILLION words I’ve typed over that time period.

Additionally, I’ve been tracking each book I’ve read in order going back to January of 2022. By following this trail of bread crumbs I’m able to see when certain ideas started to take hold as well as the impact that they made via my blog posts from that time. Awareness by Anthony de Mello was by far and away the front runner for me in that time period – both in total reads and in mentions in blog posts.

Last, in early 2024 I started a daily scorecard for myself on what I have found to be the most important measurements and daily questions to ask myself. While it didn’t maintain as a habit in 2024 it was something I did on over 85% of the days of 2025 and have been over 95% of the days so far in 2026. These points add a different level of depth, diving into everything from minutes of exercise to daily joy (-2 to +2), and so many more nuggets.

As I start to put all of these pieces together I’m getting a more and more clear view into who I am, what makes me tick, and how I’ve grown over the past decade. Just short moments of time to pause and blog, to keep score, to read a little – but so much wisdom to glean from those nuggets!

More to follow for sure, but today I’m grateful for realizing just how much data I’ve compiled for myself to review in order to live a more fulfilling live. Pretty wild!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Walking Away, Clarity, & a Difficult Yoga

Day 3,801

Growth:

Interesting to experience a situation in which we already know what our BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) is and are able to keep both ego and competitiveness in check to reach for the logical outcome. When that cannot be reached, it is often best to walk away. So often we get drug into a poor decision due to the gravity of ego and competitiveness pulling us in. If you doubt that, watch the last moments of an eBay auction and observe a “deal” quickly transformed into a poor choice.

Today we went into a conversation knowing what we were willing to do and what we were not. When it was made clear there would not be an agreement we walked away, quite possibly one of the best business choices we’ve made in a long while!

Appreciation:

With clarity of purpose and clarity of values comes clarity in life. When we take time to discern what is really important to us we seem to attract more of that similar energy and repel that which doesn’t match. The difficult becomes so much easier to do as the clarity helps to understand the why behind the difficult action. When we know the why the how becomes so much easier to tackle, even when it may seem hard.

Life was not easy today, in fact, it was exceedingly difficult, yet it was exceedingly easy as a result of clarity. Things may not have gone as I would have preferred, but they went exactly as they needed to. The actions which normally would have been difficult were much easier due to the clarity of purpose and values.

Presence:

Yoga this evening as outstanding! It echoed a quote from The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, “tough enough so that we feel we have really accomplished something, but not so tough that it wiped us out entirely.” So centering, so stretching, so invigorating, and so calming all at once!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Learning Through a Project, a Very Full Day, & Moonrises and Sunrises

Day 3,791

Growth:

Remember to use the tools at our disposal. Put in the work to learn the why behind the processes. Work through the difficulty, but take a quick breath when you need to. Ask for the help of others (so grateful for that being one of my Top 3 Lessons to Remember in 2026!), they’re happy to have an opportunity to help carry the load and will create something bigger than what could have been done solo.

So many lessons and reminders from the project that consumed much of my day!

Appreciation:

So many directions to go on this one this evening, what do I choose? Nice thing for me that this is my blog and I can adapt as I see fit 😉

As I wrapped up my fourth reading of Endurance by Alfred Lansing I found myself more moved than ever. For some reason I just connected with a few of the storylines a little more deeply and was moved to tears at the very end of the book. As I consider what was most different this time around I was truly struck by the ongoing optimism of the crew and and passion and love Shackleton had for his crew. Envisioning his reaction at the end was quite stirring for my soul.

At home this evening we had dinner as a family, played some Scrabble as a family, and then Gavin and I busted out a “Best of Five” one on one board game series. He won by a narrow margin, but we had so much fun playing, stretching our brains, and giving each other both a hard time and compliments. After what I’d written about last night with his powerlifting dinner this was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the time together that we have.

In addition to those there were so many other great moments I’m grateful for. To everyone who played a role in bringing so much joy to my soul today (even if you didn’t realize it) – thank you!!!

Presence:

Talk about a daily double to start the morning! While Becky and I were on the back half of our run we caught an epic moonrise, a sliver of the moon looming over the bluffs in an awesomely dark orange light. The short distance it had traveled past the horizon made it appear gigantic, while the little fingernail sliver of it looked so delicate at the same time. So fortunate to see such a spectacular sight right away in the morning!

As if that wasn’t enough, the sunrise told the moonrise “hold my beer,” and proceeded to put up a stunner of its own! While it was at my back I was able to watch it slowly lift above the Mississippi River Valley and change the colors of the visible world. I was even able to sneak in a quick pic of it in the side view mirror.

Beyond grateful to start the day with such incredible views, how could life be anything but enjoyable with those two rises filling my soul?

Thanks!!!