Tell-Tale Signs

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ~ William Arthur Ward


Flying to Decatur a few weeks ago I started thinking about life; dreams that go unfilled and hopes that some of the goals we have remaining can be attained, and the hope that life will continue to unfold new opportunities creating new dreams and goals.

But life isn’t as simple as a Southwest flight. A good flight plan, clear directions from air traffic controllers and highways in the sky to navigate make air travel fairly routine to get to your destination. Clearly our lives are more complicated. Attaining our goals, our preset destination, is much more complex and certainly more eventful. As the saying goes, ‘life happens’.

The challenge for each of us is to stay the course as much as possible. Mapping the plan out, charting the course is clearly important, and goal setting and planning for life’s success is so critical. Knowing where you want to go and getting there can often be at odds with the direction life’s wind blows. Without the plan, and a resolve to stay on course, our lives are often full of chaos, stress, excuses and blame.

As I thought about that, where I am at today, how I got here and where I am going, got me thinking about a sailboat and how the captain of the boat takes advantage of the changing direction of the wind changing the setting of the sails to get the boat to his or her final destination. I asked myself “What are those little pieces of fabric on the sails and mast that help the captain determine how to set the sails to maximize the energy of the wind?”

A Google search led me to the answer; tell-tales. Those small pieces of fabric which help the pilot maximize the setting of the sails are called tell-tales. TELL-TALE SIGNS in life! Are we perceptive to the changing of the wind in our lives to know when it’s time to change the setting of the sails to stay on course and help us get to our destination quicker? If we missed those signs in our lives, knowing we can’t get to our original destination, do we give up, or chart a new course, knowing now to be more receptive to those tell-tale signs.

Like the captain of the ship, we need to pay attention to the changes in the wind. Most of us know what we want but we don’t chart our course and therefore are susceptible to ending up anywhere. When the wind changes direction we try to ‘go with the flow’ but it only hurts us and after time we look back and wonder how we got so far off course then we realize the signs we missed.

Every day is a new day on the journey. We need to have the next leg of it charted, we need to push off from the docks, set our sails, and look at the tell-tale signs as we continue to reset the course as the wind of life will take us a little off it. Life’s path never is a straight line from here to there. Just try and stay close to it.

It's In Your Heart

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa



She was only in 3rd Grade, but she had already learned to be a ‘giver’. (Actually, I think it’s natural and most of us are born that way, we just become desensitized, look outward less and inward more.) She recognized a fellow student in need financially; something the young boy in her classroom whispered to her.

It wasn’t much money she had saved up from Christmas and birthday’s, but she knew she had $80 dollars, and when on the way home from school she told the story of the boy in her class who had a need and she wanted to give him her money, it gives a parent a warm feeling that your daughter’s heart is in the right place. But in the quiet of your mind it can also make you think if you have been so kind. Do I do enough?

I think back on that day, I think back of the child who had put a pair of socks on her Christmas list, and the little girl who asked for a bed. There are so many folks who need US to help. I CHALLENGE myself, my family and you to find a way to help others this holiday season.

Some of us have time to share, some of us have jackets we haven’t worn in years hanging in the closet that can keep someone warm, and there are those of us who have may have a few dollars to spare to help a charitable organization or church feed someone. The objective is getting out and helping; helping someone get through difficult times…….sending a child to school who has eaten a breakfast…..letting strangers know that people do care. Do what you know you should do!

If you read this, I hope it inspires you to help someone, a family, a friend, a stranger. If it does, please pass it on.

May your dreams be filled and blessings shower upon you!

The Potter's Hands

“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.” Author Unknown






So many ways we live our lives,
You and I and everyone else,
Shaped, influenced, lead to where
We are at today.
Is it the mold of our own hands?

Look at your hands,
Take credit for the work, or
Pass off the results to what
You’ve let others create.
Is it time we’ve become the Potter of
Our Own Lives?

DSM

Just One Pitch

"Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings."
Dr. Samuel Johnson

I can remember it was a warm summer day in our backyard in Plainville, Connecticut on Burnside Avenue. It was getting late in the afternoon and I was playing with my baseball bat and ball. My brother Paul and I had just got done finishing playing and my father had pulled in the driveway from work.

I yelled over to my Dad as he was about to walk into the house, ‘Dad could you come pitch me the ball?” He hesitated and I asked again, although I sensed he wanted to get in and ready for dinner.

He stepped in the yard and I threw him the tennis ball to pitch to me. “Just one pitch,” he said.

The yard from side to side is no more than 20 yards. I was lined up against the fence to the left and he lined up to pitch the ball with the fence to his back on the right side of the yard.

The pitch came in just perfect and I hit if well over his head, over the fence, into our neighbors yard. I figure I was about seven or eight when that happened so the distance of the hit to me then was like hitting it out of Yankee Stadium.

Just one pitch. My father went in, we all had dinner, and I was the proudest kid in the world at that moment. So proud to show my father how good I can hit.

I look back at my life and that is one of the moments that stick out. The homeruns I hit in little league and high school are vague memories compared to that little hit only he and I saw.

Those are the moments that shape us and those are the moments we help shape others. It’s simple little successes that help gain our confidence and encourage us to keep moving forward. It’s the time we take to help others realize their potential, encourage them, and help them succeed; sometime unknowingly.

We all have the opportunity in our lives to ask for that pitch to be thrown, or to throw that pitch. Happiness and Success in life comes from small meaningful accomplishments that strengthen our self-esteem.

Swing your bat! Pitch the Ball

THE EMBRACE

Sometimes it's better to put love into hugs than to put it into words. ~Author Unknown

THE EMBRACE

I can’t remember where I was, but the news on television caught my eye a few weeks ago. The scene has played over and over in my mind the past several weeks. A soldier, wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan, had just walked down the steps of an airplane where he was greeted by his family. As the news made light of the continued war, my focus was on the hug this young soldier had with his father.

It wasn’t so much it was a father-son hug more than a mother-son, mother-daughter, father-daughter, but it was the hug itself. It was how I knew how thankful they were to see one another again. How they loved one another. It was one of those defining moments when you look into someone’s eyes knowing that opportunity may not have been. The swell of emotions, the reflections of the past, when the heart swells like a rising tide, ready to pour out love that has been contained by time, or the thinking you have all the time in the world.

So it was in that hug, that embrace, between the father and son, that was another reminder to me that I shouldn’t, we shouldn’t, wait to tell or show someone we care. We shouldn’t wait to embrace them as if they would never be seen again, holding them near to the heart, just letting that loving energy flow, bringing peace and joy to the soul.

God created us to love, love Him and love one another.

Don’t wait

"Run it Out!"

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Gail Devers


It was about 8pm in early March as I was leaving my daughter’s softball game at Clear Lake High School when I suddenly stopped in my tracks at the site of an unknown high school athlete that started a flood of thoughts. Across the street, just outside the running track was a high school athlete practicing the pole vault in the dark with only the light of a street lamp. The thought of this kids dedication to get better and practice at a late hour after school in the dark impressed me deeply. How could this kid not achieve his goals in life with a work effort like he displayed and a cool breezing night, alone, with only himself, the pole, and the goal to improve his abilities?

On the drive home, and hours afterward, the thoughts of this kid, his determination, and how it relates to being successful in life made me think about how some of us are fortunate enough to be exposed to certain events early in life that stay with us and help us realize our potential.

On the baseball field, I can’t tell you how many times I was told to ‘run it out’. Whether it was a sharp ground ball back to the pitcher with the chances of making it safely to first minimal, or a slow grounder to short where you had the chance to beat it out for a single, it was always drilled in me to ‘run it out’. Run you fastest, no soft jogs, give it your best with the hopes something will happen in the play which will allow you to make it safely to first.

‘Run it out’, ‘practice as if you were playing’, ‘visualize success’ are common themes that condition athletes minds for success. These are the thoughts that separate those who realize their capabilies from those who seem not to get anywhere in life.

As we look at ourselves, our co-workers, family members and friends, the effort we see people put in what they do is sometimes pretty evident in where they are at. There are those who feel like they are accomplishing goals, while others are somewhat miserable wondering how to get from here to there. The answer lies within each person’s decision to ‘run it out’ or lightly jog down to first base if you think out automatically. It’s in the effort; the continued unceasing effort.

I will never forget that image of the lonely teenager practicing the pole vault on a cool chilly night with only the light of a nearby street light. It stirs the memory and emotions of ‘desire’ and ‘giving it all you got’. It’s about the passion to do you best, improve, and improve from there. Whether it’s improving a relationship, business, or other personal goals, if you don’t learn to ‘run it out’ you’ll watch the game.

Focus

"Your mind will overcome anything. That is, anything that matters to you".


An early morning trip to the gym today ended up more of a exercise of my mind than my body. As I was stepping away on the Stairmaster, in front of me was a fairly heavy guy on a treadmill. I didn’t notice it at first, but when I looked over at him the second time I noticed a small golf type towel covering the readout of the electronics. I didn’t really know why he had it there, but could only theorize.

If any of you have been on these machines that show how far you’ve gone, how many calories you’ve burned, or the minutes remaining, time literally stands still. 40 minutes can seem like a day. After you’re on the machine for 3 minutes it seems like an hour. It’s not so much the physical aspect of the workout but the mental side of it.

I’d bet a few bucks this guy was blocking the readings to free his mind of where he was at on his path to his goal, focus on whatever he was listening to coming from those earphones, and when he reached his time or the mileage the machine would beep at him.

Life is so much like that little lesson from the treadmill. We want to reach the destination, our goal, so fast, we get disappointed with the slow progress it takes to get there. Whether it’s health, wealth, education, relationships, or the spirit of God running through your heart, you don’t get there in a leap, but the constant treading ahead, staying focused, being confident where you are going, and not giving up. We’ve all heard the axiom ‘anything worthwhile takes time’; it’s so true.

Keep your mind focused on you goals. Review them daily. Carry index cards around with them. Refresh the want and the mind will guide you there. Then, invest some sweat equity!

There are people in your life, you family, friends, and coworkers, who want to help you reach you goals. Share them with those in your ‘inner circle’ you can trust. They can help be that ‘towel’ to keep you mind focused where you are headed versus where you are.

Tomorrow is a new month, another new beginning. Keep it going or get it going.

dm