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motivation

Motivation from the Mayor of Bowling Green, Kentucky

by joi on October 25, 2009

in General, Positive Thought, Self Help

Bowling Green, KentuckyBowling Green, Kentucky

Once my husband and I were flat out in the middle of nowhere – in beautiful rural Kentucky.  We were somewhere between home (Owensboro, Kentucky) and our home away from home (Land Between the Lakes and Kentucky Lake).  All of a sudden, the car was filled with a heavenly aroma – easily identified to a citizen of Owensboro… Barbecue.  Just as I was wondering if my husband caught a whiff of the same amazing smell, he promptly turned the car around and we went back for a sandwich!

It was beyond spectacular and we have, most definitely, been back.  After all, we know where it is:  Three and a half miles past the end of the earth.

I got such a kick out of finding such a Heavenly, family-owned barbecue joint in such an unexpected place.

That sort of thing happens a lot with motivation and inspiration.  I suppose it’s more prominent if you spend the majority of your time thinking and writing about such things, as I do – but I’m confronted with motivation and inspiration every single day and in the most unexpected places.

A few examples:

  • In our neck of the woods, we had a horrific ice storm earlier this year.  People in our beautiful state were without electricity for days and even weeks.   Trees, grass, fences, vehicles, and everything else that didn’t move were encased in ice.  It was gorgeous right up until everything went (and stayed) dark and cold.  When spring finally came to Kentucky, I walked around our yard celebrating its arrival.  I love trees almost as much as I do animals, and I was really worried about the 20-plus trees in our yard.  There was something so profoundly beautiful and touching about what I saw:  Little buds springing forth from the most weathered, crooked and beaten limbs imaginable.  Somehow, even after taking the beating of their life, the trees had found the will to keep fighting.  Sure enough, they were green and gorgeous all spring and summer.  In fact, it seems to me that our apple and pear trees gave more fruit that ever as they celebrated being alive.  Survival makes you stronger, whether you’re a tree or a human being.
  • More recently, as I headed to one of these fruit trees to grab a healthy nibble after a 45 minute walk, I noticed from a distance an unsightly heap of rotten pears at the base of the beautiful pear tree.  For an instant, I thought about getting a rake and heaving the nastiness elsewhere.  However, as I got closer, the unsightly view became one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen.  There were hundreds of the most vividly beautiful and amazing butterflies imaginable enjoying what, to me, had been an eyesore.  No artist on earth could have created the beauty that was buzzing around those fallen pears.  One of my cats (Hannah) and I literally sat on the ground and watched in wonder. There were some colors on these butterflies that I’m not sure even have names!  I may have mentioned this before on Self Help Daily – whenever I see a butterfly, my mind thinks, “Somewhere a miracle is happening.”  That thought stream simply added to the wonder.  The most beautiful moments in life are often where we least expect them. That’s why it pays to always keep looking up and looking forward!

Motivation from the Mayor Of Bowling Green, Kentucky

One of my blogs is a Kentucky blog (Genuine Kentucky), so I often receive news alerts as well as personal “Check this out!” messages from around the state.  Recently I followed one of these links, prepared to run the story on Genuine Kentucky.  However, halfway through the story, I knew I’d be coming here first.

The story was titled, “Stimulate Yourself.”  It’s about small and mid-size towns in Kentucky finding ways to cope with our challenging economic times.  The author of the article tells how he has met with various mayors and city officials around the state to discuss the economy as well as President Obama’s stimulus package.  The mayors and city officials each told the author that they haven’t really seen any change.

Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Mayor, Elaine Walker is quoted as saying, “We didn’t see much of anything.  The money went to the state and was siphoned off by them. We got about zero from it.”

However, Mayor Walker was not overly upset about the lack of federal assistance for Bowling Green. Instead, the self-described supporter of President Obama (in a part of the country that mostly supported McCain) seems, as the article words it,  more disposed to taking matters into her own hands. Rather than waiting for Obama, Bowling Green is looking to stimulate itself…

The mayor didn’t sing a sad song, she was too busy making, and carrying out, plans.  She didn’t have a finger free to point at anyone – all 10 were busy working.  If you think about it, if someone has a finger free to point at someone – doesn’t that indicate that it isn’t in use?  Idle hands and idle minds are the devil’s workshop – mark it down, nothing good ever comes from either.

The article then goes on to detail what Mayor Walker has in mind – how she plans to stimulate Bowling Green’s economy, diversify, and boost small local businesses.

Whether it’s on an individual, family, city, or state level – those who will survive and dare to prosper are those who will put on their boots and march… even if it is uphill. The survivors will be the ones who’s hands are too busy to stop long enough to point fingers -whether their toward President Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or the Middle East.  It’ll be  the individuals who, like my own husband, look for creative approaches to saving money and making more.  The people who are up to the challenge and who, on a most unusual level, welcome the underdog status!  They’re like, “I’ll show you down and out!”

Think about it:  If a flood came to your town, what would you do?  Would you stand still as the water rose – looking for who you can pin the blame on?  Would you rant and rave about politicians and policies? Would you keep shaking your fist at Iraq?  Would you debate where the water came from?  Would you stand around waiting for someone to save you when you were perfectly capable of saving yourself?

Not unless you were a complete and perfect moron.

Don’t wait for anyone else to save you.  Be your own hero.

Tony Dungy on His Sons and His Faith

by joi on October 4, 2009

in Positive Thought, Relationships, Self Help

If you truly want to be inspired and motivated today, pour a cup of coffee and watch every second of Tony Dungy’s 2006 Super Bowl Breakfast speech. The remarkable speech is split into two videos, and (trust me) you don’t want to miss a single inspiring word. If you’d like to keep the inspiration and motivation flowing through your life like sap through a tree or coffee through me – buy Coach Dungy’s books and follow his blog.

Making the world a better place starts right where we’re standing. It starts with us. And it starts right now.

The Only Way to Reach Our Goals is To Keep Moving !

by joi on August 4, 2008

in Fitness, General, Self Help

Why in the world do we often fall prey to the same demons time and time again?! I mean, once we gain a little ground on them, wouldn’t you think we’d never go back?  Don’t reasonable people learn from their mistakes and never make the same one ever again.

Absolutely.  In Fairy Tales.

The problem is, we’re all predisposed to certain pitfalls of life.  Some people are wired to have outrageous mood swings.  They can be laughing and joking one minute and angrily searching out a confrontation the next.  Others (*Who, Me?*) are careless and footloose with money, then stare in wide-eyed wonder at the cobwebs in their piggy bank.

Some people procrastinate, seemingly for a living.  They’re so good at putting things off that it’s a wonder they manage to get anything done.  Their opposites are just as amusing, they are so hyper-busy, I’m convinced that they don’t actually fall asleep at night.  I think their family gets annoyed with them and knocks them out.

The bottom line:   All of the bad traits in the world have multiple owners and we have the title to at least two of them. 

I can accept that.  I’ve come to expect my bad traits and habits to make themselves known on a daily basis.  It’s a game we’ve played for many years.  Keeps life interesting, I guess.  But what I absolutely can’t stand is when these traits get the better of me and I trip over them – falling into a pit…  A pit that’s all too familiar to me.  I know I’ve been there before, I see pink fuzz on the ground from my houseshoes and, what’s that I smell?  Coffee?  Oh, yeah, I’ve been here before.

We (Notice how I pulled you into the pit with me? – Oh, come on, I’ll share my coffee…)  keep doing the same things we’ve been doing, expecting the outcome to be different this time.  Someone once said that was “crazy” and this would be me not exactly disagreeing.

Back in January, I started walking more and eating smarter.  I wanted to lose some weight that I’m not entirely happy with.  January through April went smoothly and the pounds were really dropping.  When I went to the doctor in April for my annual poking and prodding, my doctor even noticed the difference. I saw my goal weight in sight, so close I could touch it.

I was flying high!

Today, not so much.  I noticed this morning that the pounds I had lost (every single one) had come back over May,  June and July.  Granted, I’ve had an unreal amount of work to do online and I haven’t been keeping as close an eye on my eating as I had been, but still – my jaw hit the floor… more accurately the hateful scale.  Hateful, cursed, cold demon.  Who’d have thought long days sitting at a computer without daily walks - combined with endless glasses of sweet tea, homemade cookies, and ice cream cones would cause this?  Go figure.

So, it’s back to step #1.  Time to start all over again. 

Hopefully, this total and complete disappointment will have taught me a lesson.  We can’t just expect things to happen in life just because we want them to.  If we aren’t proactively pursuing our goals, we aren’t going to gain on them.  And if we let our guard down for just one second…. we’re done.

I don’t particularly like shining a spotlight on my weaknesses.  After all, it kind of goes against the stereotypical, average blogger, right?  Most people online lead you to believe they’re so close to perfection that you should pay them just to speak to them.  Actually, some are looking for ways to charge you just for saying their name.  They photoshop their lives along with their pictures.

I’m not interested in coming across as perfect (ha, that just made me laugh – me, perfect – ha, there I laughed again).  I’m interested in one thing.  Helping people, with my humble efforts, to find the best in themselves and, thereby, getting the most from life.  Which is why I’m writing this post.  I’m giving you what I wish I’d given myself a few months ago.

If you have goals you are working toward, stop for a minute and ask yourself if you’re still fighting for what you want or if you’re on the verge of a “break” – take it from me, these breaks will break you.  Never stop - heck, don’t even slow down.  If you think you’re doing “all you can” to reach your goal, dig down and give it more.

If, like me, you’re closer to broke than breaking – keep your chin up. Very often in life, it takes that one final discouragement to get our attention and spur us on to success.  How many people do we read about who find their financial success after bankruptcy? 

Wherever you are on the road that leads to your goal, don’t stop chugging along.  In fact, pick up the pace!  If you’ve fallen, get up.  If you’re walking, run.  If you’re running… look out, I’m coming!