You Can't Always

Flicker - Thor

“You can’t always get what you want. And if you try sometime you find, you get what you need." - Rolling Stones

There were two professional football games played recently. As an American sport, the National Football League is big business and all of the players on these four teams are paid very well. It is also a very rough sport with high chances of injury that can end a career in the blink of an eye. But those that play the game know the risks but love the game enough to play on.

There were also millions of fans that watched these two games. While many were in the stadiums, many more were watching on television sets around the world. There were Twitter tweets, Facebook updates and Instagram pictures traversing the virtual universe in massive numbers. Opinions ran high on player performance, coaching decisions and officiating efficiency of the referees.

Yet the two games played on.

There was a tale of two games played with both tone and tenor differences. The AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos was aged experience and mutual respect. The NFC Championship between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks was youthful talent and dislike for each other. A stark contrast that had the same results, a winning team and a team that doesn't win.

There was a lot of talk about what the significance was of each team's win or loss. Commentary would try to understand the impact of a loss and how that particular team would move on from loss. That same commentary would also try to make predictions for each winning team. the money, the grand party, the weather and all of the hoopla surrounding the championship game; the Super Bowl.

Yet our lives moved on.

We have so much going on in our lives. There is so much that could beat us down and possibly make us give up, but we continue to battle. We continue to never give up, never give in. When we face a loss, we walk away with dignity knowing we did our best. We also walk away with more knowledge, more determination and more motivation to succeed next time. When we win, we know it isn't final. We honor those that made us better. We also look forward to the next success for we learn in in winning.

The game will continue to be played. Our lives will continue to be lived. Success will slip from our hands yet sometimes you will find that you get what you need. That sounds like a line from a pretty good song.

Stay inspired my friends.

Argument Resolved

"Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then best you with experience." -Dilbert

There will be those that think the above quote is a harsh statement. Yet we allow ourselves to be pulled into that argument so many times. It causes us to lose ground on what we have achieved when we enter into an argument with our own selves. We struggle to some level of success in life. And than as we try to move even further, we allow the past to pull us back.

One way of looking at this would be to consider the idea of doing something new in your life. You sit and evaluate your past experiences. We do this in order to learn and understand what we have done previously. We will take those past experiences and look at them in two different ways;

1. The things we can change to be successful next time.
2. The things that discourage us from ever trying again.

During this backward look at experiences, they can be positive and supportive in our new efforts to succeed. But then we allow the 'idiot' voice to creep into the argument. This voice is our negative experience which always seems to have a louder voice. And so begins the argument with oneself and the 'idiot' inside draws us down to that level. That voice is saying you will never be successful, or will never do better. Suddenly the voice has won and talked us out of even trying.

Drown out the 'idiot' voice and give center stage to your voice that encourages.

There is a voice inside each of us that encourages and one which teaches you lessons that will give rise to success. It all starts with believing in oneself, in letting the 'smart'voice win the argument inside. Believe in yourself and let the 'idiot'inside go argue with someone else.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Standoff

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I happen to be a fan of the old Clint Eastwood western movies and maybe you have seen one or two of them as well. Many times he plays the unknown gunslinger who might have a checkered past but somehow has the redeeming quality of doing what is right. One of my favorite movies is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

It is a movie that pits three men against each other in the search for a treasure. In a crucial scene near the end, the Clint Eastwood character declares that only he knows the real name of a grave in which the treasure is buried. He then writes the name on a rock, placing it in the middle of the graveyard.

He proceeds to tell the other two characters that "two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. We're going to have to earn it." The three then begin to stare each other down in the circular center of a cemetery, calculating alliances and dangers in a Mexican standoff before suddenly drawing their guns.

A Mexican standoff, as I am sure you have heard before is a stalemate, no one with an advantage, and no way to make a decision. In its most precise definition, it is a confrontation among three opponents. Popular usage would refer to only two opponents in which neither side has an advantage by attacking first. The interesting thing is that each of us create this standoff in our own minds daily.

We conspire against ourselves, weighing the decision to get out of bed early versus staying snuggled in bed warm, sleeping another 20 minutes. We could get up early to read, meditate, exercise or we could simply stay in bed sleeping. You might think is is an easy decision to make but it can stifle you.

Better yet, you might be thinking of taking that one college course to advance your skills. Yet it means sacrificing time with friends and additional effort in energy or less sleep while you study. The results could mean a better paying job, advancement or any other number of postivie outcomes. But we create that standoff, a Mexican standoff within our mind. Do I or do I not pull the trigger on moving forward in life?

How does one "win" the standoff when allow both sides of our mind have equal advantage? To answer, let us go back to the three men standing in the circle. Each has what seems to be no advantage but that is not quite so. You also have an advantage that you may not thought of, an advantage in which you have stacked the odds in your favor.

In the movie, the Clint Eastwood character had done just that. He had taken the bullets secretly from one of the men. The decision to pull first and which man to shoot first was easy. He had stacked the deck in his favor and so can you.

In your own standoff, you get to stack the deck by doing some things before hand. You get to make the decision and by believing in yourself, the deck is stacked in your favor. You know the benefits of making the right choice, of where you want to be in life and believe that you will get there.

So when the standoff occurs, you have the gun of decision already in hand and get to pull the trigger first. When you believe in yourself, no matter the outcome, the decision becomes easier each time. You will be the one to pull the trigger first.

Sounds easy, right?

Setting yourself up for success is never easy. It takes hard work and consistency in your daily habits. There will be days when you fail to pull the trigger first and the day will fall from a bullet of indecision. You mourn the decision and then let it go and move forward.

The next decision to be made will come around soon enough. This one you will pull first and have the advantage within your own Mexican standoff. The accomplishments and success will be your's to have. And all it took was making a decision to keep your life moving forward.

Gravity Always Wins

"The memories of loved ones will allow us to jump and dance in joy for having been part of their lives." -Joseph Primm

For the past three days, my thoughts have been upon the tragic scene that unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut. I watched various news stories and the Sunday talk shows. The social media comments on Facebook and Twitter contained both words of sympathy and frustrated ignorance (from both ends of the spectrum).

I thought about writing in memoriam to the children and educators lost. There were words I wanted to express for the parents and loved ones left to grieve. There were words I wanted to express for those on both sides. There were words I wanted to express to my God and for myself. But those words are better left to myself.

What I decided to talk about today is the apple tree. A source of nutrition, a fruit taken from a tree branch. So much goodness that we can experience each day. As the old saying goes, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." A shiny red apple, juicy and sweet to the pallette.

Yet what of the apple tree?

Every season, the apple tree excitedly announces a new arrival with flowering buds. It fills the air with excitement and promise. As each tiny apple grows ever larger gravity eventually wins. The apple falls from the branch onto the ground and the apple tree branches lift with a sigh.

But even when the apples all fall from the tree, the apple tree will once again burst with new flowers. The apple tree will always continue to try it again, to move forward, to try and defy gravity. The fallen apples will have touched the lives of many others. The seeds of those tender apples will have planted new hope in others.

There will be new growth elsewhere, in other people. The fallen apple will not have been for naught. And while it may seem that gravity always wins, in actuality, it is the apple tree that always wins.