A Little Bit More

Thursday August 17, 2017 #909

“Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more.  They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more.”

~A. Lou Vickery

Almost all significant achievements occur at the edges. Sprints are won by hundredths of seconds.  Elections are won by a few hundred votes in a few key districts. Love springs out of chance encounters.

For us, this means we must always and intentionally seek to do just a little be more than required or expected.  Provide a bit more service, arrive a few minutes early, listen a little more fully, be a bit more present, eat a little bit more healthy, exercise a bit longer/harder, add a bit more value.  It hardly requires any more effort than you are already giving.  But that little bit more can, and will, make all the difference.

What will your “little bit more” be today?

Choose the Positive

Tuesday August 15, 2017 #908

“Choose the positive.  You have a choice. You are the master of your attitude.  Choose the positive, the constructive.  Optimism is a faith that leads to success.

~Bruce Lee

In every moment, in every situation, we choose the lenses we wear to filter what is happening by either a positive or negative lens.  We make the choice.  Even a challenging situation’s power can be reduced to a learning experience, thus describing it as something that pushed us to take action to a better future – a positive outcome.  This doesn’t mean to be blind to negative realities, they certainly exist.  The point of the quote is to push ourselves to not surrender to negativity, but rather to take even negatives and bend them to our will through our faith in our ability to change our circumstances through our actions.  And, real power comes when we choose to surround ourselves with other optimists, magnifying our own positivity.  The same holds true for being negative and surrounding ourselves with other pessimists.  Choose wisely!

Become a Possibilitarian

Thursday August 10, 2017 #907

“Become a possibilitarian.  No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them for they’re always there.”

~Norman Vincent Peale

The most difficult time to see the existence of positive possibilities is when mired in challenging circumstances.  But it is in these dark moments when we need the power we possess to see beyond the current situation to a brighter future.  Some seem naturally able to do this (think of Helen Keller and …), while most struggle.  The key is to build faith in your human ability to take action to improve your situation, and build your character strength to draw upon this ability when you need it.  You cannot eliminate challenges and heartache.  They will certainly come, sometimes often, sometimes rarely, but they will come.  Steel yourself for these moments by reading about the people who do this every day by seeing the possibilities and taking action, and visualize yourself taking similar actions to pull yourself through your next challenging or painful situation.

Only You Can Make You Better

Tuesday August 8, 2017 #906

“Don’t look around.  No one is going to make you better but you.”

~Sonya Tayeh

From long time Jammer, MD, an insightful observation and sharing of today’s quote:

I heard a quote that struck me today.  It was said by Sonya Tayeh.  She is a dance teacher and choreographer.  She was teaching a new routine to a group of dancers.  As some started to look around to see how the others were doing she said, “Don’t look around.  No one is going to make you better but you.” It reminds me of, not only my students, but many of us who are uncertain about a task and look around to see how others process or complete it.  Kind of like looking to others for affirmation, instead of looking inside ourselves and trusting what we are capable of.

Insightful indeed.  We all do this; seeking affirmation or judgment from others.  It is certainly important to observe and learn from people, literature, and others’ experiences, and use this to critically think about and determine our goals and actions.  However, in the end, only you can take those actions.  So continue to learn from outside of yourself, as this will provide context and help you determine who you want to be and what you want to achieve.  But don’t depend on others to judge or affirm you. You have the ability, the power, and the responsibility to do this for yourself.  Only you can make you better.

Thank you MD for today’s JAM!

This Too Shall Pass

Thursday August 3, 2017 #905

“When you feel happy, really happy, it somehow seems that you’ve always been happy and that you’ll always be happy. The same is often true when you feel sad, or lonely, or depressed, or broke, or sick, or scared. Something, perhaps, to remember.”

~Mike Dooley

Emotions and circumstances are powerful things.  When enveloped in a strong emotion, be it happiness, sadness, joy, anger or loneliness, it can be difficult to remember that no emotion lasts forever, which of course they don’t.  If we can remember this, we can ensure we enjoy the intensity of positive emotions, and also ensure we don’t get overly lost in the power of negative emotions, knowing they too will pass. The same goes for circumstances, and of course emotions are linked often to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

When in positive circumstances and emotions, reflect on these while realizing the circumstances will change and feel gratitude for the opportunity to feel this way.  And when in negative circumstances and emotions, find comfort in knowing that these too shall pass and usually by your own courage and actions.

Our Journey of Becoming

Tuesday August 1, 2017 #904

“When you realize that no one really knows what they are doing and that everyone is doing the best they can according to their own level of consciousness, life gets a lot easier.”

~Carl Sagan

We can be our own worst critic, bemoaning our lack of perfection or ability in doing something important to us.  Or in our own feelings of inadequacy, we may lash out at others or ridicule their shortcomings.  Rather than live that kind of negative existence, we must accept that we are forever on a journey of becoming, never quite reaching perfection.  And the same is true for all the other humans around us. Instead of being critical of ourselves and others, we are better served by seeing the value in what we and others bring and our amazing potential to reach for and to deliver more.

Reflect today on the best of yourself and the best in others, celebrate this and feel gratitude for the chance we have to be here today and to have the opportunity to learn from those around us.

Forever Young

Thursday July 27, 2017 #903

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

~Sophia Loren

It is a true gift that no matter how long we live, each day provides the opportunity to learn something new, meet a new person, or to have a new experience. In this way, we are forever young, coming into each new day with the potential for childlike wonder at experiencing the world around us.  Never lose your ability to seek out and experience life anew.

Good Luck

Thursday July 20, 2017 #902

“The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.”

~Channing Pollock

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I am a firm believer in the idea that we create our own destiny, that we are not fated to current circumstances outside of our control.  Indeed, there is ample evidence of people who persevere beyond their challenges or circumstances and rise to achieve remarkable things.  Each of us has gifts and skills we bring as well as the ability to seek out and receive help and guidance from others who possess talents and resources we may lack.  Truly the only thing between you and your potential is the decision to move forward and the courage to act.

The luck you and I have is the chance to be alive at a time of such possibility and potential.  Don’t get bogged down by any negative circumstances or other “bad luck”.  Focus instead on possibilities and act to move forward.

Confronting Reality

Thursday July 13, 2017 #901

“In my own experience, both personally and professionally, I’ve learned that you don’t wait to confront reality. It doesn’t get easier. It doesn’t get better. And, in some cases, if you don’t get the relevant information from people and act quickly, you start losing options. You’re into damage control.”

~Stephen M. R. Covey

You have at least one, and probably many, difficult things you need to deal with.  None of which will get any easier by waiting.  But, like most people, you do wait – doing just about anything else to avoid doing the difficult things you know you should be doing.

Why do we procrastinate?  Particularly as we get older and realize with our life experience that almost no difficult or scary person or challenge in our personal or professional lives is nearly as bad as we think it is going to be.  And yet, we continue to avoid doing the hard things.  It is a very human thing to do what is easy and/or pleasurable vs. what is hard and/or painful.

However, we are here to do great things and make a difference in the world.  Be the exception and act despite the presumed difficulty or pain.  We know things will be better only when we confront reality and face the challenges. If every day, we act on one challenging thing on our list, imagine how far we can go?  There will always be challenges, but by confronting this reality, we will dramatically reduce the existence of challenges and their impact on us and on what we care about.

Beating Boredom

Tuesday July 11, 2017 #900

“I’m bored” is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.’

~Louis CK

In today’s resource-rich and data-rich world, there really is no excuse to be “bored”.  More likely is that we are overwhelmed by the choices we have and simply retreat into a “safe” place of presumed boredom to avoid having to make a decision among the endless choices we have at any given moment.  So the next time you define how you are currently feeling as being bored, reflect on the near infinite opportunities available to you in this moment, choose, and act!