Awaken Your Day - Aug 30,2011 -

" The way we see the problem is the problem. "
- Steven Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

It is always beneficial, to take a moment away from a stressful environment, and breathe.

Pause for perspective.  Imagine time has stopped and all you can see is frozen still.  Now walk around the situation.  Take your time.  Examine the snapshot while you have "stepped" away.  Allow thought to flow without the strain of rebutal or need to be explained.  Look to understand. 

Is our view complete?  Do we see all the details from our position?  Are we responding from a point of vantage, or from an inner podium of emotional charge?  Are you still comfortable from your angle?

It is not always about right and wrong.  Finding solution is very gratifying.
Are you willing to be part of the solution...to what may not be a problem at all.

Just be aware of the value in a personal "time out".

Good Morning

Pierre Couturier
Husband, Daddy, Author and Mentor in Training

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 - August 15, 2011 - Profit from Hard Moments

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."
- Duke Ellington, 1899-1974

A difficult moment crosses your path.  You live it once then in that moment.
You live it again when you stop your life, to tell the tale, again to ask "Why Me?", again when you choose to tell the tale again, and then to question how ... all the while, watching the difficult moment continue to get further away in time.  But reliving the moment, over and over, you keep the picture and the feeling alive and clear .

You can sacrifice more time, making yourself late for the living that was offered to you this morning, or you can recognize what it is and was... and roll it forward.  Don't stare difficulty in the back, calling out for it to come back and help you relive the harshness - again. 

Say "Thanks for coming! You taught me something today."  And then make the moment work for you. 


Turn that frown upside down.
When life hand you lemons, make lemonade.

Cliches can be annoying in a moment of difficulty...so just focus on the truth.
Every situation, good and bad, has a positive for you to collect and grow with.
How you respond to a situation will tell you how hard you looked for that positive.

"Look behind that cloud that hides it.... and you will see the sun is still shining." - Pierre

Good morning.
Pierre Couturier
 Husband, Daddy, Author and Life Student

Awaken Your Day - July 19, 2011 - Only One You.

"There is only one you...Don't you dare change just because you are outnumbered."
- Charles Swindoll

Five things.
Five unique things about you ... that you honestly like about you.

Five things.
Five other unique things, that you are proud of about yourself.

Five minutes.
Five minutes to acknowledge you.

Sometimes, it is a well deserved moment that we take, to just sit back, breathe a relaxed breath...and take stock of some of our achievements, and our attributes.    A moment we overlook all too often.

There is only one you.  Get reacquainted.

Good morning to you.
Pierre Couturier
Husband, Daddy, Author and Friend.

Awaken Your Day - July 14, 2011 - Wishing and Hoping

"I bought a million lottery tickets.  I won a dollar."
- Steven Wright, Comedian

It is fun sometimes, to just allow the mind to wander and play "What if..."
And, sure it is fun to "Wish" for things...

As long as you don't just stand around and wait for that elusive magic to suddenly occur, and make it all easy in but an unrealistic moment.

Are you Waiting, or Are You Creating?
- Pierre Couturier

Good morning.
Pierre Couturier
Husband, Dad, Author and Friend

Awaken Your Day - July 7,2011 - Greatness is a Thought Away

" Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes."
- Benjamin Disraeli

It is well documented, and even more widely believed, that we become that which we think of most.
So why not put your thoughts into your self Belief, and the limitless possibilities you have when you embrace it?

Take a moment and truly just lose yourself in thinking great thoughts.  About your dreams, your career, your relationship, and mostly just about all that makes you the extraordinary person you are today.  Think of the peak moments you have seen and will see in all of these areas of your life.
 
It took some work to get here, now, to this level of success.  Think about it once in awhile.  Play connect the dots with your memory moments and see how they created the path you so adventurously have taken to this moment.  And then, lay out more dots of the next Great Thoughts that may lead you to even greater trails.
 
It is not a test, nor is it difficult, and it does not have a format or rules or anything to analyze. 
Just enjoy the simplicity of thinking Great Thoughts.
 
Oh, and if you utter the word "But" anywhere in those thoughts, then you really have not let yourself go to relax and enjoy the reward of the whole exercise.  Shame on you.
 
Good morning.
Gotta run, I get to see my wife and son today.
Great thoughts.
 
Pierre Couturier
Husband, Da-Dee, Author, and Thinker

Awaken Your Day - Mar 27, 2011 - Leading Made Easy

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."
- John Quincy Adams

A certificate is not required.
Not a licence.
Certainly not a degree.

Fact is, it is not necessary for you to take any special training, in order to lead by example. That kind of leadership, comes easier than you think.
Enjoy all that you are, put your enjoyment of your life on display in your actions, and others will be influenced by you.
The reward, and your "certificate" comes ... when they follow your lead, and become a leader themselves.

Good morning, good day.
Pierre Couturier
Husband, Da...Dee, 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.
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