Today is About Promises

Today is About Promises  day #8 – miniNaNoWriMo

Do you remember promising something with your fingers crossed behind your back? As if that little act dispensed you from telling the truth?

We might stop with that practise but somehow we have been known to make a promise that we have absolutely no intention on keeping. Perhaps, it’s about writing every day for NaNoWriMo or saying to someone that “we must get together for coffee”. Little and big strings of words. However, we try only until it gets difficult.

We give ourselves the excuse that we really tried…but... things happened, work got busy, I got the flu or a myriad of other reasons. We try but often not hard enough. Or we had no honest commitment  whatsoever of fulfilling our words. And that’s where Today is About Promises comes from because we cannot tell what is going to happen tomorrow but we still have to promise.

We don’t know about hurricanes, or job loss, illness or a tree falling through our roof, smashing the ceiling onto your computer.

Today is About Promises

Today, I get married. 

You might wonder why I am sitting here sending you these words on such a busy day. I can do this thanks to a wonderful thing called “schedule” which proved to be a mighty handy tool for me this week. But you see, I'm trying hard to write every day this month because I promised you.

More importantly, today I will promise my heart. Because I have the best intentions, I’ve learned that to be more we need to give more. Now I have the faith to trust that we do deserve the best.

We can never anticipate what Life will bring us even when it brings good surprises. All we can do is make the promise For Today and For More, no fingers crossed, and do the best that we can. 

Because believing in magic can make it come true. (Tweet This)

Teams that Work

Day 4 - mini NaNoWriMo

I saw them quite a bit ahead of me. The big and the little and the owner. She in her blue ball cap, wearing shoes which looked like mine, walking quickly with her dogs.

The dogs knew that this was strictly for exercise, there was not much sniffing and stopping going on. They walked by her side, and only crossed her path when she changed their leads to her other hand. They appeared to know the route and the job to be done.

Teams that Work

Consistent. Reliable. Predictable.

Teamwork.

As I walked behind them, I had a lot of time to name these dogs. I settled on Barney and Bits. They walked in pace, the little one going with faster legs. Still partners.

I was only able to catch up with them because of a red light which paused us all as the rain came down. The owner told me that Bits was not always well-behaved, he apparently didn’t like most other dogs. Barney, on the other hand, was a comfort dog. He loped along and sat patiently with elderly residents at a community Senior’s Home. He was there for them.

Bits jumped up on my Eddie Bauer running pants which I was relieved to note did not snag or tear. He might not have liked other dogs, but he did like people. He continued to jump and bark happily.

As the light changed we went in different directions. 

I, with my face bent low against the now quickly falling raindrops, thinking about leadership and the teams we build.

How it is nice to have a leader whom we can count on. How sometimes we have to slow down and other times we need to run to keep pace. How a predictable route can be justified and enjoyable. How we have to ignore distractions. How sometimes we have to walk through the rain.

I continued my route, smiling that my running pants were intact, another promise kept. The owner and her dogs headed for home. Perhaps they would then get a treat. 

Walking dogs and what they showed me about Leadership. (Tweet This)

Comparison will Make You Unhappy

Comparison will Make You Unhappy

We are each running our own race! Sometimes we put on our running shoes but most often we do it in our everyday clothes. We get up each day and do the best we can. Usually.

And when we look at our neighbour or our colleague we always have to remember that comparison to our fellow traveller will make you unhappy. There will always be someone who makes more money, lives in a bigger house and is better looking. Honestly, that is just a fact. I could tell you to stop looking around but that would be ridiculous because we all love to compare.

We do it even in our yoga class, even on a treadmill, even on the highway driving home.

If you read my words elsewhere, you will know that I have just completed my 20th half-marathon. I figure that's not too bad for someone who pulled on a pair of running shoes at passed the 55-year mark. Certainly, I've lived my life quite convinced that I am not an athlete.

And for some of you who find that number impressive, there are many others who do this kind of thing on a regular basis. It's no big deal.

Leap Year

We might not be as daring as this young man but how lofty are our goals for this year?

You can bet that this brave soul did not just decide one day to head to the top of the mountain and see if he could make it down (in one piece). 

I’m quite certain that he had made a plan, he’d practised, he’d trained, he had the right equipment, chose the best climate and conditions and many other important details which I know nothing about snowboarding. In other words, he did what he could to be prepared. So my question to you is, how prepared are each of us to reach the goals we’ve set for this year?

Have you done the training, have you taken steps to see your expertise grow, have you set a goal that is attainable (no one needs to feel shamed)? Because when we gather the facts and research with an expert, reward ourselves by documenting our learning and keep ourselves accountable, we WILL see progress. Yes, set a goal that excites you, it will add a spark to your life.

The first week of the new year has already slipped passed us, what have we put in place to move ourselves forward to these goals?

2016 is a Leap year, how will we use this powerful word to inspire us? This year I aim to be as brave as my friend flying through the skies and see how the leap will help me learn and grow. 

This week I can say that in spite of our bone chilling cold, I had fun and made some headway, this is my way of staying accountable to you:

Fitness – kept up on my training for the next half-marathon on my schedule

Writing – scribbled ideas to write about in my journal and have written on this blog 3 times this week

Healthy eating – allowed myself one small sweet treat each day this week, if only in order to empty the freezer

Something new – signed up to volunteer at the Calgary Public Library for the 50@150 Exhibit, I’ve never been a docent before!

The 50@150 Exhibit highlights Canadians who have had an impact on us all in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday coming up in 2017.

2 Minute Stop

Most of us don't want to stop.

It doesn't matter what we're doing, those last two minutes are precious.

Just two more minutes, how often has any Mom heard that at bedtime? Do you want two more minutes on your coffee break? Or two more minutes on your steak?

Would you like two more minutes to finish the chapter you're reading? And we all need just two more minutes to pack? How many teenagers need two more minutes to sleep?

Two minutes to finish the report to your boss? Two minutes to have a nap? Two minutes before your date arrives? Two minutes to the finish line? Two minutes to the altar?

Two minute contractions? Two minutes to eat a brownie? Two minute commercial?

Two minute kiss?

Two minutes can be an eternity. (Click to Tweet)

Be. Prepared. To. Stop.

We're on a roll, we're making progress in our goals, and then out of nowhere. Splat! Disaster! Crisis!

We're training for a marathon, and we break our leg.
We're scheduled to play the lead in the high school play, and we get laryngitis.
We have one hundred orders for a piece of jewelry for a media event, and our supplier skips town.

What do you do?

We plan and we dream. We prepare with hard work. We can taste the success we've been envisioning.

And sometimes, the only thing we can do is Be.Prepared.To.Stop.

What did you learn, when your goal was within your grasp but it still slipped away? (Click to Tweet)

And you? Birthday Revelation.

And you? 

When will you begin 

that long journey into yourself? 

Rumi

As each birthday approaches, I realize the gift I have been given to reach this age. Each turning page has been a discovery and a recovery of the past. 

How little I remember of being a child, but those big moments of joy, hurt, enlightenment, and abandonment stay with you always. In some form, often unconsciously, we decide at some point to become our excuses or to grow beyond our experiences.

We gather the feedback we receive from our birth family,teachers, friends, colleagues and passersby, and we use it to define who we are or who we don’t want to be in the world. What we read, focus on in the media and whom and what we listen to, how we choose to spend our time, all help to create and mold us.

We might feel like we're almost "done", seriously, how much better could we get (laugh) but still each day we learn more about each other and about ourselves. We draw lines that connect our thoughts, feelings and behaviour, and whether we are right or wrong, that decision is ours alone. We cannot blame our past, it was given to us to deliver us to this moment in time.

I have been blessed by some of the best teachers as they too continued their journey, rewarded for being taught at their hands, about fear and distrust, about loyalty and true friendship, about pain and survival, about courage and strength and still I am learning.

Thank you to all my friends and family, thank you to the past and the present. I AM because of you.

 

I am not done yet.


Each turning page has been a discovery and a recovery of the past. (Click to Tweet) 

We cannot blame our past, it was given to us to deliver us to this moment in time. (Click to Tweet)