Daily Gratitude: This concept could help so many people no matter the age or profession. Ideas come to everyone. It’s just that so many people let them come and go without even trying to grab hold of them, pull them close like a baby bird, nurturing it in their minds, feeding it so it can grow. The majority of people think something like “I can’t do that. What a silly thing for me to think of” and then they go about their daily business. I got the idea for “It’s not about the miles” while doing the race. One of the guys I used to work with kept asking what it was that I was doing. I didn’t have time to explain it all in the middle of the race. I will be forever grateful to Scotty Eckert for taking the time to explain it to him, ending with “it’s a metaphor for life”. That struck me in my heart and it was early in the 10 days so it gave me the opportunity to pay strict attention to everything that happened that year. I came home and wrote the book. If Scotty hadn’t been tuned in; if the guy hadn’t been so persistent and if I hadn’t been receptive to the great and powerful sentence Scotty wrote, I wouldn’t have written that book and probably not the other 3. Open both your heart and your mind and let ideas settle. Then work with them. Don’t discount or discard anything!

Daily Gratitude: This goes to our attitude about things that happen around us. Remember that they don’t happen to us. How we respond and how we think about them is what is considered “good” or “bad”. I know people who have been just waiting for their disease to take them yet you’d never know it when you talk to them. It’s not as if they have false hope. They have just decided to sing in their lifeboats. It’s not easy even if the concept is simple. Isn’t it interesting that so many things in life are very simple yet harder than anyone can imagine? Anyway, it takes practice to change your thoughts so you might as well start while things are not devastating. Keep track of your thoughts and see how many of them are negative and if they are, what can you do to change them.

12 July 2024

Daily Gratitude: This has been true all my life. Much as I might have resisted it, the great I’ve worked for really have known what’s best for me and they pushed and pulled me to get me there. I have only had two lousy bosses in over 47 years of service. And I’ve had some truly outstanding ones. I consider myself so blessed to have been taught by the best. But you know what? It’s not only bosses that are leaders. I have worked with many people who were exceptional at giving you that nudge you needed – and without you even knowing it. No matter what their rank. I’ve had friends, neighbors and other runners who have been leaders and didn’t have even know it. Jan is a perfect example and I will be indebted to her forever. Take some time to think about who has taken a leadership position in your life – even if only for a day or a few hours. Have you ever thanked them for that? Why not start now?