Showing posts with label perseverance. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Inspiring Mindfulness
Today I'm thinking about mindfulness.
About being in the moment.
About savoring every second.
About the power of deep breathing.
You see, chaos has come calling a lot lately;
October tends to be like that.
Lots of planning, lots of running around.
Football games.
Band competitions.
Homecoming Weekend.
Character Counts Week.
Red Ribbon Week.
Fall festivals.
At-risk data collection.
SOCKtober.
Halloween.
But just because chaos invites us in
doesn't mean we have to go, right?
I found myself helping some fifth-grade girls
breathe through their drama today,
and wondered why I don't do more of that for myself.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
And be.
Just be.
I often wake up craving a nap.
To get away.
To relax.
To restore.
And I think it's a wake-up call
to do a better job with mindfulness and self-care.
So in my research, I've found these resources:
***************************
In case you missed my guest post at Free Spirit Press last week on the importance of teaching fairness, click {here} to go there.
And, as an update in our personal journey,
Joshua's high school marching band
qualified as one of the 39 6A bands to march in the
Texas State Marching Band Competition.
So next Tuesday, they'll take their show called
Dot To Dot
to San Antonio to perform in the Alamodome.
As the dots on the field during this year's poetry-in-motion unfold,
engaged spectators are visually inspired with reminders to
Look Forward,
Trust In Something,
Follow Your Heart,
Connect The Dots.
We are so proud of their hard work,
their determination and drive,
their passion and perseverance
in their quest for the best
and we thank the dedicated directors,
the proud and very patient parents,
and the valued volunteers
for giving of their time and talent
to be that village that every child needs.
Good luck, Band.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Just Keep Swimming
Today I'm thinking about a story that Scott Shickler shared last summer at the 7 Mindsets University. It's about a legendary swimmer named Florence Chadwick. It was on the fourth of July of 1952, and this 34-year-old woman who had already swum back and forth across the English Channel set out to swim the stormy seas of the Pacific Ocean off of Catalina Islands en route for California. The water was choppy and the weather chilly. A dense fog hung in the air, making visibility so difficult that she could hardly see the boats alongside of her. After swimming for fifteen hours, Florence begged her mom and trainer, in one of those adjacent boats, to allow her to stop, but they told her she was close and encouraged her to keep on. Unable to see the shore, Florence became disoriented and just couldn't go on. She was taken out of the water, only to be told that she was less than a half a mile from her goal. It was the only time she had quit.
In a news conference the next day, Florence said this:
So my reflection questions today include:
What are the things in life that keep you in the fog?
and
How easy is it to lose sight of the shore because of that fog?
Who is in your boat, helping you stay the course?
and
What are the benefits to perseverance and endurance?
What are the risks?
If you could talk with Florence Chadwick, what would you ask?
What would you say? And how would those words help you
to keep on swimming the next time you're in the fog?
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