Awaken Your Day - Aug 17, 2011 - Challenge the Doom and Gloom

" You will find yourself refreshed by the presence of cheerful people. Why not make earnest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy."
- Lydia M. Child

I came by this in an email today.  And I almost turned and ran.  Then logic set in, and I saw a challenge for what it was worth.  If I could go a day and not allow gloom to enter into my itinerary...that would be a really nice accomplishment.  No gloom - not by my own creation nor to allow it thru outside influence.

"I think I can! I think I can!"
All Aaabbboooard.

Let's try.  Just like your body, if you feed it with all good foods and vitamins and minerals your whole system including your mind, operates much more efficiently and effortlessly.  Energy grows.  So, logic states that if we do the same with our mind and emotions...we will also think and operate with less toxins in our system that will only slow us down.

So...Challenge.  We need, for one day, to reduce our Gloom intake and our Waste output.   Do not absorb negativity around you.  Do not buy into and contribute to gossip.  Try not to complain about little details.  Do not be eager to add two cents to a rant in the lunchroom. 

And ... while you are focussing on reducing your wasted energy thru leaky gloom...we cannot just think about problems, we must also factor in some growth time.  So part two is a continuation of Monday...should something occur that is a difficult moment today, try to think of the good that can come out of it. 

One day.  One hour at a time.  If it helps, break it out into 15 min intervals; this will keep your mind on the task, and will give you little steps that will feel like building success with each progressive one.

May i predict that as you gain each 15min segment...you will pick up momentum in your thoughts and you may even hitch a ride on that new energy.

Blow out the carbon...give me a day of attentive effort to stop the spread of gloom.

Pierre Couturier
Father, Daddy, Author and Challenger

Awaken Your Day - June 29, 2011 - And a Touch of Humor Should Guide You

"Think twice before you speak, and then you may be able to say something more insulting than if you spoke right out at once."
- Evan Esar, Esar's Comic Dictionary

You have to admit, there must have been a time when you walked away from a verbal smash and grab opportunity, only to think about what you SHOULD have said.  Let the memory serve you with a "one day we are going to look back at this and laugh" kind of smile.

And then in reality, allow yourself to explore the truth in the awareness of many situations where if we can avoid emotion filled retorts to a comment, or situation, or coversation - and think for but a moment longer before we retaliate with venom...we embrace the opportunity to reach out and take control of the moment before we make it worse for ourselves.

Alot like the game of hockey where the frustrated player ends up getting the penalty for retaliating, I too have made myself appear to be less competent when I reacted / retaliated without due care to an oppressor rather than taken a moment to assess the situation for what I clearly knew it to be, and then beaten him at his own manipulation.  "Mom! This guy at work is picking on me!"  You get the picture.

You hold your cards.  Spread them out so you can see what you have before you make your play.

Good morning, Twice.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, "Daddy, we play Crash, Okay?", Author and Friend.

Awaken Your Day - Oct 26 - The story before now reads out loud.

"Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me."
- Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939

Finding the beauty in the moment...understanding the meaning in some words.

There was a time in life, seemingly a long time, where I feel I did not understand the "poetry" that was speaking in many of life's experiences and little moments. And now I must say, I can read lines of rhythmic balance and flowing grace in many areas that life takes me.

I do not want to ruin where today's statement may take you personally, so I will keep my thoughts brief. To me, "Everywhere" is every new experience life leads me to, such as marriage, and fatherhood, and the journey to be an aspiring speaker. There is a poetry to it all that just feels good.

It is also "everywhere" that my thoughts travel, while searching for the treasure that is my expression, and my desire to share it while I come to understand my passions.

As I find myself growing within and expanding my understanding of just who I am and who I want to be ... I come across some thoughts and words that seem to finally 'come together' into an enlightened "poem" if you will.

In that moment, I feel as though I am walking in the footsteps of the poet that was there before me, the one whom with these words I am finding, painted the picture that now cascades thru my mind and spurs me on. The beauty of the thoughts coming together, and the passion I feel inside as I discover a hidden part of me now defined, is very much like that perfect poem, that just seems to find your day when you need it the most.

With this thought, that 'everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me', I am much more eager to go somewhere new, to see what the poet has left for me to find. What magic might I discover today, around me and within me?

Good morning. Enjoy the rhyme.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, 'Da....Deeee', Author and Friend.
www.thecardconnection.ca