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HelloViewer!

THIS IS YOUR NEWSLETTER TEST-DRIVE!

I fill my bi-weekly newsletter to the brim with feel-good content–including recent videos, blogs, memes and podcast episodes–created to make your day a little brighter.  And couldn’t we all use more of that these days?

I would love to have you join the family and hope you might consider signing up below–after you sample the goods of course!

Together, we will persevere.

The below sample is an amalgum of previous Newsletters I’ve sent to give you an idea of their content before signing up.  Click Here for a full list of past issues you can also sample.

The choice is yours: Life or Bleacher Dogs...

 

I recently revisited the Willie Nelson song, “You Were Always on my Mind.”  I’ve always thought it a beautiful song.  It’s sweet.   It’s romantic.   It’s full of heartfelt longing and regret, “Little things I should have said and done I just never took the time.”  But when I heard it the other day it dawned on me how thoroughly upsidedown and backwards The Willie’s sentiments in the song actually are.

 

I mean why in the world would you want a relationship with anything you love to be always on your mind when it could be created through your actions?

 

This is a simple question to answer from afar but a much more difficult one to actualize the closer it comes to homebase.  Life is intimidating, even on our best days, and that fact certainly factors into why so many of us pull a Willie.  That is, too often we put the relationship with ourselves and our larger goals and dreams on the backburner for practically anything else vying for our immediate attention.  For years, I settled for picking the low hanging fruit, because, to reach the high hanging stuff that I truly wanted to taste seemed somewhat impossible and, frankly, a scary threat to the false security of my comfort zone.  But not participating in the life I wanted left me unfulfilled.  I discovered, to my chagrin, that in the absence of action, the constant thought of what I truly wanted in life only served to hobble my mind, body, and spirit.  I’ve discovered through much trial and even more error that I find the most satisfaction when I approach my life as a participation sport.

 

John A. Shedd once said,  “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  Likewise, a dream, a good intention, even a small idea to make your own day a wee bit brighter can seem safer in the harbor of your mind, than on the far more uncertain and sometimes turbulent seas of daily action.  But our thoughts just aren’t meant to stay “always on our minds”.

You have a choice:

Do you want to sit high atop the bleachers thinking about the people you want to love, the good you want to do, the dreams you want to create?

Or do you want to transform your thoughts into manageable actions that give you a better shot at loving those people, doing that good and experiencing those dreams?

Yes the choice is challenging, but at least to my way of thinking all the cheese slathered nachos, carmel corn and bleacher dogs in the world could never satisfy the yearning of our mind, heart, and soul to be out on the field, playing the game for ourselves.

My latest Awkwardly Awesome Answer is quite the SCREAM!

Why I Walked 30 Miles During a Pandemic

Since we live in radical times, I’m going to suggest you set a radical goal for yourself. If you want to run a 5K, set your sights on a half-marathon. Instead of learning chopsticks, commit to Chopin. Skip the boxed muffins and mill your own wheat for an artisan loaf.

I picked a goal as high as the Iowa sky: complete a marathon-length journey through the midwestern countryside on foot, in a single day. Regardless that I was born with cerebral palsy and have what therapists call coordination differences. When I encounter a great obstacle, my antidote is to challenge myself in kind. This helps me let go of what I can’t control and focus on what I can.

As COVID ravaged my corner of South Dakota, I began finding joy in daily walks. I became entranced with eccentric farmsteads, ditches of dandelions and the minute changes in corn fields as seed grows toward harvest. I wandered country roads, taking photos of whatever captured my attention. To my surprise, I was taken beyond the turmoil of TV news and into a countryside that revitalized me.

Before I knew it, I was covering seven, ten or twelve mile stretches at a time. I felt stronger, happier and more motivated. Since I couldn’t go to my former yoga studio, the backroads became my workout, therapy and spiritual practice. Also, the price was perfect on a quarantined budget.

After several months of training, my marathon day arrived—along with a midsummer downpour…

Click Here to Continue Reading…

NEXT WEEK ON THE PODCAST…

WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE IF YOU COULD MAKE EACH DAY BETTER THAN THE ONE BEFORE?

For more than a decade, I’ve had the honor of learning the habits of continuous improvement from my friend and mentor Dan Johnson. I’m so excited to share his brilliance, humor and practical wisdom with you.

Please join us on Thursday, April 15th to 1. Celebrate it not being Tax Day
2. Learn as much as you can from Dan. 3. to say hi from where ever you are in the world.

Recent episodes you may have missed since the last newsletter:

• THE UNLIKELY YOGI w/ Brentan Schellenbach (Click Here)

• THE PORTRAIT FUR-TOGRAPHER w/ Dave Veit (Click Here)

• BLIND & UNDETERRED w/ Troy Johnson (Click Here)

• OPPORTUNITY YES-MAN! w/ Maurice Thibodeau (Click Here)

Click Here for the FULL Awkwardly Awesome Podcast Episode List!

 

LET’S GET SOCIAL!