You are here: Home / Archives for goals

Who Are Your Heroes?

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Remember Sully Sullenberger?

He’s the pilot who miraculously landed a jet on the Hudson River without losing one of his 155 passengers. He was ranked second in TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Heroes and Icons of 2009. When asked about his biggest accomplishment, Sully didn’t cite the landing; he said, “Our daughters.”

In 2010, Sully interviewed another hero – Chief Master Sergeant Tony Travis, who created a makeshift control ‘tower’, where planes could bring sorely needed supplies into the earthquake ravaged Haiti. Water and supplies insured survival for thousands of Haitians. Bet you never heard of Sergeant Tony Travis! He’s an unsung hero.

There are many unknown heroes, but you rarely hear about the boy scout who helps an old lady get across the road these days. I went hero-hunting on the internet and found a bunch of people that I not only I didn’t know, but also wasn’t significantly impacted by their heroics. This lead me to wonder about who my heroes are. I have a few and want to take this opportunity to say, “Thank you.” I’d much rather write about them, than people I don’t know.

I was first introduced to Ann Lamott when a friend sent me a copy of her book, Traveling Mercies.  It was at a time when I felt like my life was spiritual, but I didn’t necessarily worship in community. I developed a curiosity about possibly returning to church but even better, I loved her style of writing. It was more like somebody talking; it was kind of like how I talked and it birthed an ‘ah-ha’ moment for me – I could also write a book! And I did! So, thank you Ann! I’m one of the people who’ve you’ve impacted.

In 2005, burned out by 25 years of managing communities, I prayed for an angel who’d help me figure out what I could do with my life, and was introduced to Coach Lorraine Edey.who walked with me while I turned dreams into goals and finally  become a life coach and motivational speaker! She helped me with the business side of becoming a coach and when I inadvertently shared that I always wanted to write a book, encouraged and supported me until the boxes of Trust God and Buy Broccoli arrived on my doorstep. Lorraine held my intentions to become a spiritual coach; I believe that I wouldn’t be the intuitive coach that I am today without her intercession. Thank you, Coach Lorraine for your impact on my life.

Perhaps there’s some heroes in your life too, that you’ve just never really thought about how they changed your direction or assured you on your present path. Why not take a moment today to thank them?

Share
Filed Under: Blog Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New Habits for 2012

January 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

Marcia Sirota wrote an article yesterday about ten bad habits to let go of in 2012. Some of them are pretty good, such as ‘comparing yourself to other people.’ Whenever I do that, I come up short. I’d much rather look for ways that we are the same. I can usually relate in some way to everyone. Yes, everyone! Everyone has something in common with someone else. And we all will have something more (or a little less) than the next guy. It’s just too
exhausting to look for how I’m different and then feeling less-than as a result. So, thank you, Dr. Marcia, I’m going to use that one.

The article also recommends that we let go of jealousy, avoidance, rudeness, denial,
complaining, gossip, a bad attitude, co-dependency and facebooking your ex. All are excellent habits to replace with something positive.

I have a few good habits that I want to reinforce in 2012:

Building a support team – Self-sufficiency propelled me to over 250 lbs. I binged, dieted and failed at diets alone. About nineteen years ago, I was introduced to the concept of building a support team to help me with my goal of weight loss. I’m sure that some friends thought me to be a bit daft when I’d call and let them know that I was thinking about eating a whole bag of cookies. We’d laugh about it and voila! I didn’t eat the first cookie. I know today that I need people in my life for all successes – you just get more results with an army than a slingshot and a pebble, unless of course, you are David.

Listen More – Every time I give to others, I get something in return. It doesn’t have to be about money either! Listening is so valuable and sometimes it’s just what a friend might need while working through a tough time. I also want to listen to my own instincts around self-care.

Forget the One – If there are 99 people in a room that love me, I’m not going after the 1 who doesn’t any more. There are always going to be people who don’t prefer my company, so I’ll bask I what I have and not worry about what I don’t have. Unless of course, the one is Tony Stewart. I’d have to go after him! He drives pretty fast and I’d probably not catch him, but I’d have to try.

 

Strengthen my Spiritual Disciplines – I presently start my day out with prayer, meditation and whenever possible, exercise. It feels so good to be connected to God in this way. And there’s always time to meditate during the day – it only takes a minute to stop and take time to breathe in God and breathe out self, or whatever might trouble me at the time. Just for one minute. Try it!

I’m also going to keep it simple this year. I was racking my brain to come up with more good habits, but this is really enough. I can make a list of ten but odds are excellent that adding more will only lead to doing less.

What bad habits do you want to release? What good habits will you reinforce in 2012?

 

Share
Filed Under: Blog Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You Can Make A Difference …

January 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You can make a difference.

My friend Sean Anderson has lost 275 lbs, the right way – reducing calories and increasing exercise. It didn’t happen overnight. He didn’t make People Magazine’s annual “Half Their Size” issue. But he’s helping a lot of people. Sean has blogged for nearly all of the three years of his weight loss journey. He’s created some unique tools for himself, such as the “Steel Curtain Zone,” the “Calorie Bank and Trust.” In his journal today, he relates how the Rachel Ray show sought him out and then turned down an opportunity to have him on their show. Their loss.

So, Sean won’t be a celebrity this week. Instead of being a guest on the Rachel Ray show, he’s busy helping people, one at a time, to experience a shift in their thinking toward healthy weight. He writes, “My goal has never been fame and fortune. My goal is very simple: Reach as many people as I can with my experience and to communicate it in such a fashion, that somehow, maybe, just maybe…it’ll make an impact, shift someone’s perspective—the tiniest amount, but enough to help them facilitate their own “click.” Because I’ve found a sweet freedom and it would be selfish of me to keep it to myself.” I feel the same way about helping people to find a spiritual approach to living, one person at a time.

There are some great spiritual people out there – Joel Olsteen and Wayne Dyer, people who really affect the masses. There are also weight loss heroes who will make the People magazine special issue. And then there are the little nobodies like Sean Anderson and me. I wake up every day and ask God to show me how to be of service to Him and to those around me. The opportunities are often subtle and if I’m not on my game, I’ll miss them. Sean touches thousands daily with his 3,406 friends on facebook, and counting! And he’s captured his dynamic story in his recently released book, Transformation Road.

This morning I got up and made two pots of coffee – a decaf and a regular. My husband’s brother is visiting for a few days. He likes the high test, so I dig out my second pot and fix some regular for him and decaf for me. It’s the little things like that which make me feel good about myself. It’s a small spiritual moment and my brother-in-law doesn’t even know that he contributed. It can be that simple. It doesn’t have to be People Magazine or the Rachel Ray show. It can be a friend, a spouse, a co-worker, a sister or a stranger.

Can you make a difference today?

Share
Filed Under: Blog Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trick or Treat?

October 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Halloween is next week. Soon, little goblins and witches will knock on doors, announcing themselves. “Trick or Treat!” They want candy!

Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. We grew up in a moderate income family, but had no idea that we were ‘poor’. Our costumes were originals. One year I made dice out of cardboard boxes for my brother and me. Creating our get ups was part of the fun of Halloween. But the best part was the candy. I lived in anticipation for weeks before the holiday arrived.

We lived in a high density neighborhood, where we could go door-to-door in a short period of time, and fill our bags with every sweet concoction our hearts desired. And on the following school day, someone who’d eaten too much of that candy would get sick on the bus; it never failed!

My heart’s desire was not just for my bag, but also that of my brother’s.

At some point in my life, my treats turned into a trick. No matter how much candy I ate, it was not enough. I’d inevitably get into my sibling’s bags, sneaking more and more chocolate, attempting to satisfy a craving that could not be satisfied. I had become a sugar-addict! As soon as I’d eat one, I’d want more. That led to other foods too; mostly high carb, processed foods. That led to morbid obesity and a life of depression, obsession and emotional flat-line.

My first Halloween with David was a hoot! I’d been sugar-free for over six years. Feeling confident, I greeted the children, commenting on the great costumes and throwing handfuls of bite-sized tootsie rolls into their bags. After they’d gone, Dave took one of the tootsie rolls (about the size of the end of my pinkie finger), popped half of it into his mouth and wrapped the other half up. I asked what he was doing, since the concept of half a tootsie roll was totally lost on me. He said he just wanted the ‘taste’. Whoa boy, that would have set up a craving in me, leaving an empty bag in the morning, and I don’t even like tootsie rolls!

This will be my nineteenth Halloween with no sugar. Isn’t that amazing? I’m no longer obese, maintaining a healthy body weight now for eighteen years. I can look forward to the colorful costumes without worrying about gaining a whole bunch of weight. You see, if I don’t eat one bite of a candy bar, I cannot eat a whole bag of it, and your bag, and everyone else’s I could pilfer.

Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates! I’ll spend a quiet evening with my 90 year old parents. That’s about as good a treat as I could hope for.

Share
Filed Under: Blog Posts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »