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The Dark Side

The past few weeks have brought with them some challenges.  Many of these trials feel like they have a dark side to them.  As I was reflecting on the best way to handle each of these tests of my mettle, I remembered a story that I heard many years ago.  It is the story of The Legend of Cliff Young.  It goes like this.

Cliff Young

In 1983 Cliff Young showed up to the starting line of one of the world’s toughest races.  Every year, Australia hosts a 544-mile ultra marathon from Sydney to Melbourne.  This race has been coined as one of the most grueling endurance races in which someone can compete.  This event takes five days to complete and as a rule only world-class athletes who train exclusively for this race dare to enter.

I Can Do This

Cliff Young was a 61-year old farmer who showed up in his Osh Kosh overalls and workboots with galoshes over the top to run the race.  Cliff lived with his mother, had never been married, and had never run in any kind of a competitive race before.  He was asked by reporters if he had any sponsors or backers.  People said he was crazy and that he would never finish the race.  Cliff told the reporters that he grew up on a farm with no horses or four wheelers to round up the sheep on the farm.  Cliff talked about having to gather the

Simple Abundance

It never ceases to amaze me that the world gives me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.  Below is an excerpt from my morning “Quiet Time”…
From Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book Simple Abundance

“Maybe you have set aside time to begin the journey of your authentic self.
Then again, maybe you haven’t…
If you wonder why I suspect this, it’s because I’ve been where you are now.  I know.  I know how days, weeks, months, even years can escape your grasp.  I know what it’s like to put everyone else’s needs before your own so that you can’t
find a half-hour a day for yourself.  I know how easy it is to find heartfelt excuses for why you can’t begin something new even if you yearn to, desperately.  I know how easily the word “tomorrow” slips out unconsciously.  Tomorrow you will begin.  Tomorrow.  All this I know.
But what I know most of all is that learning about a journey is not the same thing as taking one.

Now that I’ve got your attention let me tell you about the rest of the year.  Each day from now on we’re going to use the daily grist of our real lives as a cause for celebration.  That’s right, celebration.  I have learned many lessons on my path.  Chief among them is that the details of our days do make a difference in our lives, that no experience is ever just for drill, and that everything can be a springboard for inspiration if we are

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran once said that people would never understand one another unless language is reduced to seven words.  What would your seven words be?

Before I share my seven words with you, I want to tell you a bit about Khalil Gibran.  He was born in Lebanon in 1883 and died in New York City at the age of 48 from cirrhosis of the liver due to severe alcoholism.  Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.  His best-known work is The Prophet, a book composed of twenty-six essays.  Since first being published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print.  If you haven’t read the book, do.  If you have read it, reread it.

A Foundation to Build On

As I was pondering this question, I remembered Tony Robbins Six Human Needs.  Tony identified six basic human needs with the belief that everyone is, or can be motivated by fulfilling these needs.

Here they are:

Need 1:  Certainty/Comfort

Need 2:  Uncertainty/Variety

Need 3:  Significance

Need 4:  Love & Connection

Need 5:  Growth

Need 6:  Contribution

Every day we are reflexively determined to meet these needs.  When these requirements are met at a high level, our degree satisfaction and fulfillment in our lives is abundant.  If these needs are met at a low level, we will experience life as being unsatisfactory and disappointing.  I think that we can agree that Tony’s philosophy of what lies at the root of human aspiration and the extent to which these needs are met make a difference

Are You Wearing A Mask?

Yesterday was Halloween also known as All Hallows’ Eve.  It is a celebration observed in many countries on October 31.  There is much history with roots in age-old European traditions of lighting fires and wearing costumes to ward off ghosts and remembering the dead.  In the second half of the nineteenth century, Halloween became a popular day of celebration in the United States.  Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.

Today as I was driving to work, it occurred me that Halloween is the one holiday when people can dress-up as anything or anyone that they want to and hide behind or play the part of that identity or mask all day long.  Now, I have to admit, I have seen some VERY creative costumes over the years, and I take my hat off to those people with such vivid imaginations.  But, back to the masks and dressing up; I wonder how many of us go beyond Halloween metaphorically being someone that we are not?  How many of us pretend to be someone other than our authentic self?  And, why would we?  Are we afraid to show up as the real us?  If so, what is it that we fear?  Is it not being accepted by others?  Is it that we don’t feel worthy?  Do we think if people knew who we indeed are, they would reject us in some way?  Do we lack