Reality Check | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Reality Check”

30 Dec 2012

Our New Year’s Resolve

The new year is just around the corner. Every year it seems, it serves as a chance for people around the world mark a milestone on the path of their lives.

In reality the day after December 31st is just like any other day, but as the calendar changes to a new set of 365 days, it gives us pause to recall what we personally have accomplished with the year since the last calendar change. Some big victories perhaps. some big disappointments. It’s really about what we’ve done with them both that makes up where we are now.

When we were down, did we have the fortitude to plow though the adversity and make a difference in our lives? When things were going well, did we make efforts to grow and become better from it?

I tell my kids that even the small accomplishments could help lead to more. Never take for granted what you have and make sure you appreciate it – but take the next step to make the best of those. Accumulating small victories can truly be a richer experience than getting the bigger ones’.

So as the calendar turns, some will celebrate… but let’s hope we can all be accountable for what was good and what could have been better. Make sure you see the difference, reflect on it and build on what you can. Disappointment and sadness is surely ahead, but what you do when that happens will tell-the-tale on your new year.

“Resolutions” are the traditional thing to do at the beginning of each year… but resolve is stronger than “resolutions”. Resolve to be the genuine person you can be, fight adversity and take each moment as a milestone (not just midnight on December 31). Resolve to stay accountable to your values, resolve to stay strong through the tough times and build on the victories when they happen. Look for the opportunities to celebrate the new year each day as it comes.

Related Tracks-in-the-dust

Celebrate Milestones

Levels of Accountability

Finding a Purpose

Control Your State of Mind

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Change, Love, Memories, moments, New Year, New Year's Day, New Year's resolution, Reality Check, tracks in the dust, Who Are You

03 Dec 2012

2 Comments

“Happy” Holidays

Every time about this time of year I kind of think about what’s left for the year before it’s over.

There is so much to be thankful for, and so much to reflect on. There are 2 holidays here in the US before it is all done, and it is such a great time to catch up with friends and family and celebrate life together. A time to be “happy”

No matter what you think you did this year, you can always do more. But no matter what you have you can always be thankful – Be thankful for the opportunity to be here on this Earth, reading things on the Internet, with food and water and sharing your love with your family, friends.

This time of year also means people have high expectations of what the holiday’s should bring. The idea Thanksgiving ( in the US can be a house full of food, family and football) and the picture perfect Merry Christmas. Often that ends up putting people in the most depressed sorts- when the simplest reasons to be HAPPY are just those things that “are” simple… Sometimes alone feeling abandoned, sometimes without much or anything to eat. It takes time to remember what happiness really is. It’s not about “things” or possessions, it is about something much simpler than that. It’s about being recognized for being a human-being on this Earth who, just like everyone else, is trying to make the best of the world as it has been dealt.

So as we are spending time looking for things to be thankful for… as we wander by and wish people a “happy” holiday season. Looks like we should be aware that for some it may be hard to see it, hard to feel it, or know where happiness is. They need to know your wish is sincere, you need to know you mean it.

Happy Holiday all!

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged being remembered, Christmas, Definitions, Happiness, Joy, Kindness, life is precious, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Thanksgiving

05 Nov 2012

5 Comments

The Deserted Island Question

So here’s the challenge that a few my friends and I started around the bar stools the other day.

These are pretty common questions, but there is always interesting answers.

1) What are the 5 musical artists (complete works) you would want while stranded on a deserted island? ( Yes you would have some way to listen to them)

2) What are the 5 books you would want to while stranded on a deserted island?

3) What are the 5 movies you would want to have to watch while stranded on a deserted island? (Yes you would have a way to watch them too)

And yes you have all the other key stuff to survive. No you don’t have any idea when or if you would be rescued so these have to last for potentially the rest of your life.

I know it is standard issue kind of question. But waiting for your answers, then I can share mine too I guess. Just wondering what others would say.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged choices, Favorite Books, Favorite Movies, Favorite Music, Music, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Stranded Deserted Island, Who Are You

15 Aug 2012

3 Comments

“What Are People Thinking?”

Today a very wise man was talking about how often we get frustrated throughout our day because we are always wondering “What are people are thinking?”

What are they thinking when they are standing in the 15 item express line when they obviously have 20+ items in their cart?

What are they thinking when they pull out into traffic so quickly right in front of you and then drive 15 miles under the speed limit?

What could they possibly be thinking when they are standing in the middle of a public place and talk on their smartphone loudly and then stare at you when you stop and look at them?

What are they thinking when they drive with their head down because they are paying attention to their mobile phone and texting? (they need to be stopped!)

What the heck are they thinking when they stand in the middle of the public shopping mall and sneeze across the masses of people around them?

Sure in the end it is the small stuff. And like the saying goes “don’t sweat it”. Being preoccupied with life’s irritations will get you stuck in the muck and mire of frustration. Okay you could stop and say something to the people who are irritating you and they would likely wonder who they heck YOU think you are… We may not be able to influence a random stranger on the street. If the chance were there perhaps it could?

So the center of focus is to look for positive opportunities, and the time is now. Let the Spiritual focus fill in those blanks. Understand that you should enjoy the moment and know that it is YOURS to own. You can do with your moment what you will. When so much of humankind around the world are just wondering where their next bite of food or fresh water or shelter will come from, how can we let these things be our focus?

Stay positive. Stay focused on the tracks you are making right now. They are yours.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, Critical Thinking, Doubt, Faith, Reality Check, Skeptical Inquiry, Slow Down, spiritual focus, Thought

07 Aug 2012

2 Comments

Looking for Life’s GPS

The other day I was driving to some places I had never been before and taking some guests around our huge metro area. So I brought out the GPS device. Global satellite positioning means that this little screen can always tell where you are on the face of the Earth, and help you by providing the directions needed to reach your final destination. It’s amazing that so many years ago that concept would have been some sort of “space age” future miracle you would see in sci-fi movies.

Now it is a reality that is entirely possible and can show up on your handheld smartphone or sit neatly on your dashboard wherever you go. And announce what turns and lanes you should be in. Wow.

It would be nice if our lives had a device for reaching our goals and destinations in life. We could just type in where we wanted to end up, and let the life-GPS just program it. It would talk to you, just like the GPS’s do today. Part of the features of the GPS lets you know when you get “off course” by announcing “recalculating your route” adjusting your course and helping you get turned around the right way.

Often in life we get off course, and there just isn’t that convenient GPS in our pocket to turn our lives back on course. The course corrections are ours to make, sometimes with guidance from others around us. The people we trust, the people we admire or sometimes from those who have alternative motivations that may not be the best course. We may get lost because we get distracted. In my GPS for the car, you can program “attractions” along the way, but in our lives some of those are more interesting than others, and in other cases they are indeed “distractions” rather than attractions, although we may be drawn to them.

So what course do we program into our life’s GPS? How well would we listen to the instructions it would speak out to us. Would we ignore it? It could sit on our dashboard and tell us when we made a wrong turn to our final goal. Of course we could end up with detours, and construction or accidents that may slow our lives course down. But the GPS would just recalculate. Funny.

But we don’t have a GPS for our lives here on Earth. There is nothing we can program. We have to rely on our family and friends and importantly our spiritual leaders that will provide us the feedback we need to make corrections when things go astray. Sure we can just wander like nomads on the map, in hope of getting where we think we want to be, but in the end we have to keep our eyes and ears open to where we are going and who we are listening to.

But we also have to keep our hearts and minds open to God and his plan. Without it we may be recalcuating in circles that eventually get us lost. For many of us, we so much want to stay “on the map” and headed in the proper direction. In the end it will lead to the best destination we could all want. It starts by programming it in… go ahead. You can do it.