Daily Gratitude: This comes from the great race director and ultra running legend, Lazarus Lake. It’s something that I have to remember as I move through life and wish I’d known before. It makes perfect sense but we’re often taught as children that making mistakes is a horrible thing, a sin, a disaster. The primary learning we get at that point is to be afraid and to try to be perfect “next time”. At that age (and many times it’s at any age) we don’t know that perfection is impossible to attain. Therefore, trying to be perfect is a no-win situation. Often when we’re being yelled at for making that mistake, we’re not being told how to avoid it. We’re just being criticized for doing something wrong. No one calmly takes us by the hand, saying “if you do x or y, it’s more likely you’ll get result z than p”. Wouldn’t that be much more beneficial? So it’s no wonder we beat ourselves up when we make a mistake. However, it is much better for us to say “oh yeah, I messed that up…..BECAUSE I did a and c but forgot b. If I had added b in there AND put them all in the right order, this wouldn’t have happened. Great. Now I know what to do.” Isn’t that more useful than berating ourselves. I think we should be grateful for the mistakes we make because they teach us more. I’m certainly not advocating going out and intentionally making mistakes but when they do happen, celebrate them and learn what you’re supposed to be learning.

I will not become an obstacle to myself

Daily Gratitude: This is something I have to work more on. It makes so much sense but my ever busy mind often decides it “knows better” and takes off thinking the most horrible things it can come up with. Can you identify with that? As I get ready to leave for Tennessee on Sunday, everything has seemed to be wrong. In my mind (and therefore in my body). I always knew (intellectually) how powerful my mind was but now I am experiencing it full on. It has taken a rather small symptom and definitely turned that molehill into a mountain. As I watch it do all these gyrations of “it could be this; it could be that; should I go or should I skip the race? What if this; what if that?”, I am in awe not only of its ability to make symptoms come and go but also of the impact my dysfunctional nervous system still has – despite the intense work I’ve done for all these years. The only difference is that at least now I can recognize what’s happening. That is a big step. I know all this is based on fear. Can i, at 76, do this grueling race again? Can I possibly endure the heat and sleep deprivation to make it 314 miles again? But the fear is even deeper than that and I must work through it to identify it. Others might say “oh just use affirmations and cute sayings and you’ll be fine.” But although those things may mask the fear for a bit, it’s still deep within and will resurface at another time. That’s the problem I have with acronyms and cute sayings. They are simply masked men swooping in to save the day …. but what about the rest of the year? Anyway, enough rambling. I just wanted to let you know that despite everything I write every day, I am not pontificating, just learning along with all of you!

Daily Gratitude: I can attest to this fact. It doesn’t take much for my imagination to try to be like Walt Disney’s. There’s a fierce competition going on there. One little thought and off it goes. As I was preparing for my trip to Tennessee for Vol State, any little symptom became a major crisis. I really need to find a way to combat this. Or at least derail it once it starts. Emmet Fox wrote “The Golden Key” and advises that we should immediately stop thinking about whatever negative thought has come to mind and put it on something spiritual. This takes control and intent but in the past when I’ve been able to practice it, it has worked well. Once it’s gone too far, though, it takes immense power to pull the mind away from that negative sequence because that’s exactly what has happened- that one negative thought has started rolling down the mountainside and has built up momentum and it’s become an avalanche. I, personally, need some graphic visualization to help me stop that sequence of events. I am looking at all I love in order to find something specific I can turn my focus to immediately upon engagement with that negativity. How do you all manage to stop the progression? Let us know in the comments.