Tag: Thankful Gratitude Appreciation Thanks

Day 1,800 – Thankful for the Patience of Mentors

I think I learned one of the essential skills that makes for an excellent mentor. I’d love to tell you I figured it out through my mastery of mentoring others, but that would be a complete lie. This lesson hit home today as I realized just how patient with me my mentors have been through the years.

I can only begin to imagine how frustrating it must be for them to offer up wonderful words of wisdom over and over and over and over again – in many different formats – using so many different metaphors. And when I finally heed their advice they most likely frustrated when I slowly slip backwards and they have to start working on me again. Talk about quite the Sisiphean task!

I am so grateful that they take the time to continue growing me even when I don’t seem to make progress. The past year and a half or so has helped me pause and see all that I’ve been focusing more and more on implementing their ideas – and they’re working! Their patience has been paying off big time.

Thank you to everyone who’s helped to coach, grow, and mentor me. Thank you for being patient with me as I am sometimes stubborn and a slow learner. I will continue to improve how quickly I implement your thoughts and ideas, thank you for keeping your faith in me.

Thanks!!!

Day 1,793 – Thankful for a Specific Moment at the Springsteen Concert

Seeing Bruce Springsteen live and in concert was mind blowing on so many levels. The entire event seemed so surreal. I often would pause and realize that I was actually seeing this in real life. Bucket list item checked off, was well worth the wait, travel, and cost.

The best part of the entire night was a single moment which I’ll have burned into my memory. A moment which will always bring me a smile. A single moment of pure Becky joy that topped anything Bruce did all night long.

Late in the show Bruce was talking about how his purpose was to help people through his music, whether in good times or bad, or vacuuming or doing laundry – which nailed Becky to a T as she often has Bruce on in the background on Saturday morning me as she’s doing things around the house.

At the point he said the last part of that line becky let out a sound of joy followed by a huge joyful smile – either of which I’ll ever forget. In that instant I witnessed the physical embodiment of someone realizing a dream, and it was perfect.

Springsteen’s show was amazing, even more than I expected, but that one moment was the single best part of show.

I didn’t take any pictures of the show, I burned the memories into my soul

Thanks!!!

Day 1,789 – Thankful for Pausing to Savor a Moment of Simple Repose

Often my thoughts and blogs are cluttered with unnecessary words and details. In an effort to clearly communicate I talk or write too much which detracts from the thought of emotion I’m attempt to convey. Occasionally I feel compelled to write more to “prove” my point, a terribly ridiculous thought when I’m writing for myself in the first place. All of these feelings and habits lead to more words, overcomplicated rather than accurately portraying my thoughts.

Tonight is different.

Amongst the busyness of a large family gathering I saw the moon slowly rising over a mirror of a lake. I walked to it in silence. I paused and took in the simple repose of the majestic sight. In that moment there was only stillness, peace, and beauty.

I paused and took it in, allowing my soul to mirror the simplicity and stillness surrounding me. I breathed it in and was grateful for life.

Thanks!!!

Day 424 – Thankful for a Little Vacation R&R

Day 424 – Thankful for a Little Vacation R&R

If you’ve vacationed with us before or have heard stories of our vacations you’ll know that we typically pack 8-10 days worth of activity into every 7 days of vacation. The great part is seeing and doing so much while we’re away. The downside is the amount of energy it takes to keep that pace going for a prolonged period of time and it usually requires some recharging time afterwards.

Due to Mother Nature’s disagreement with our plans for today we found ourselves with a day in which we had nothing planned – truly a rarity on our vacations! Taking advantage of our luck we opted to sleep in, we took our time getting ready, and then headed off for a bonus hike in a New Zealand’s best geothermal area. It was pretty cool, very similar to and yet very different than Yellowstone.

After that we went on a short walk by a waterfall, headed into town for a relaxing lunch, bummed around town, and then headed back to the hotel to chill poolside. The boys are having a lot of fun together and Becky are enjoying some chill time (though I’m still feeling a little stir crazy, hence blogging right now and then working on my book once this posts!).

Normally we wouldn’t have quite this much downtime in a day, but it really feels great and we’re enjoying it.

Thanks!!!

Day 1 – Thankful for Being Overwhelmed with Birthday Wishes

I jumped right into my day and was getting a lot accomplished.  Moving from one task to the next I was in the zone and making progress on a couple of projects.  At one point in the afternoon I made an epic mistake…  I gave into temptation, turned on my phone, and saw that I had 60+ birthday wishes!  Holy crap, are you kidding me?  Deciding to take a couple of minutes to take a break from work and to start going through them I thought I would be through them all in just a couple of minutes.

Next thing I knew I was reading the wishes and had awesome memories of each person pop into my head as I clicked Like and said thank you.  In some cases they posted pictures, sometimes it was a simple birthday wish, in others there was a nice little message.  As I read each of them I could help but smile and be thankful for each person who posted.  Reading their posts triggered my brain to think about them and remember good times we’ve had.

Between the texts, the calls, the emails, and the Facebook posts it has been nothing short of overwhelming.  Even if the person who sent it only thought for a second or two before posting or sending, how cool is it that they appreciate me enough to do that?  It’s pretty awesome that having a birthday triggers that thought process and appreciation.  Knowing that there are so many people out there who care is a wonderful thing.

As I finally got caught up in my responses to everyone I saw that more had come in.  When I went to respond I saw that they had actually posted about 17 minutes earlier…  I had spend that long sending replies, remembering fun, and typing responses!  Good thing I started early and had been very productive before then.  I am very thankful for the feeling of being overwhelmed with birthday wishes.

As I was running this morning I was sure this post was going to be about turning 40, feeling different or the same as yesterday, or something along those lines.  Instead today got me going down a completely different path.  If it feels so good to know that people care about me and think of me occasionally, why don’t I proactively reach out and do that more often?  It kind of ties to something I’ve learned from the first year of blogging, when you take 20-45 minutes to type up why you appreciate someone and share it publicly with their friends and family it feels amazing…  And that’s as the person writing it, let alone the person it is about.  While I will of course keep this blog focused on being thankful, maybe being thankful for specific people is something I should focus on more often.  There are so many times that I’ve thought about writing about many others but haven’t.  Today reminds me that maybe I should.

Well, time to get cruising, I have some more birthday wishes to respond to!  Thank you again for all of the well wishes today.  If this is 40, I’m pretty cool with it!

Thanks!!!