Many of us make resolutions for the new year. When you make them this year, really make them count. Resolve to find a way to make a difference not only in your life, but in the lives of those around you. Also, resolve to make a difference in the lives of folks that you do not even know.
You can accept this challenge and accomplish it by starting with yourself. Resolve to create for yourself a life filled with happiness, positivity and promise for your own future. It may not be easy or painless. Resolutions are supposed to challenge us. But we come out on the other side an infinitely better and stronger person. Resolve to find a positive way to deal with and defeat the negatives that you will most assuredly encounter.
Go back to the basics that we have talked about. Take baby steps and be patient, not only with yourself, but with those around you. Not only should we dream out loud, but we should resolve out loud! Just like when we share our dreams with others, when we share our resolutions with folks, we become accountable to them. Be happy. Please be happy. And for goodness sake,
KEEP DREAMING LOUD!
-Trace
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Happy Holidays
All of us with Team Inspiration Texas want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season. It has been an incredible year for us all and we look forward to reaching out and helping many in the coming year. May your New Year be filled with positivity and hope!
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
How do you define your Identity?
So how would you answer that question? Do you identify yourself in a manner that guarantees failure? I hope not but many of us do without even thinking about it. Think about your responses to Life. Doesn't the use of "I can't" pretty much seal the deal on failure? Take a moment to think about what you call yourself then refine that with by asking God what he calls you. We all need to work on correcting our own identity so that we can be what we are designed to be.
With a new year right around the corner, commit yourself to a new you...a positive new you by removing the obstacles that prevent you from being the real you. Take time to know your true identity....think about it, pray about it and refine it.
Now I must admit that after thinking about this over the weekend I was asked "How are you?" Sadly I replied "tired". Now I rationalized it because I had completed a very long run just a couple hours earlier but do I want my identity to be "I'm tired"? Absolutely not!! I am blessed would have been a better attempt at conveying my identity to others.
Know your identity and make sure it guarantees success.
Merry Christmas!!
Jim
With a new year right around the corner, commit yourself to a new you...a positive new you by removing the obstacles that prevent you from being the real you. Take time to know your true identity....think about it, pray about it and refine it.
Now I must admit that after thinking about this over the weekend I was asked "How are you?" Sadly I replied "tired". Now I rationalized it because I had completed a very long run just a couple hours earlier but do I want my identity to be "I'm tired"? Absolutely not!! I am blessed would have been a better attempt at conveying my identity to others.
Know your identity and make sure it guarantees success.
Merry Christmas!!
Jim
Sunday, December 18, 2011
LIVING
My Mom celebrated the 41st anniversary of her 39th birthday Friday. Or, as she likes to say it, 80 is the new 39. Today we threw her the first surprise birthday party that she has ever had. She epitomizes class, dignity and grace, traits that have been passed on to my incredible, beautiful sister, Kimi who, in all of her free time (he said sarcastically) organized this incredible soiree. I tried to pick one important lesson that Mom has taught me for my toast. If I shared them all, we would have been there until her 81st birthday so here is the one that I came up with.
I mean, here is a lady that since my Dad passed away over a decade ago has had her knees replaced, her shoulder done and has lost a staggering amount of weight. A year and a half ago her doctors told her that she had a cancerous spot on her arm that needed to be removed. No big deal. Then they said, oh, by the way, you have a heart condition. And, oh, by the way, you need bypass surgery. Oh, by the way, you are going to have complications which make you stay in the hospital for several months longer than planned. When she finally got home, she fell and had to get several stitches in her head. Why did she fall you ask? Because she was trying to do too much. As Nathan and Jim both observed: “How Sherer-like.”
The lesson in all of this is simple. But profound. We can exist. Or we can LIVE. When we exist, we are simply settling. When we live, WE THRIVE and life for us and for those around us is so much better. It is a choice. Choose to live.
Happy Birthday Mom!
Keep dreaming out loud!
-Trace
Thursday, November 24, 2011
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
I want to give thanks on this special day to Nathan, Jim, Trisha, Lynn, Scott and every member of Team Inspiration Texas for the amazing life that you have given me. And to each of you that read these posts and encourage me to keep writing and keep fighting. I am very thankful for the love and support of our super jocks who made a point to come see me as soon as they got home from their respective schools. These kids continue to amaze me. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season and that it is filled with positivity, hope and joy. I give thanks everyday for these things, but want to shout it loud and clear today.
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
Monday, November 21, 2011
IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HARD
Okay. First, get your minds out of the gutter. (You know who you are.) Don't make me pull this blog over. Now. May we continue?
We talk a lot about warm fuzzy things here. Positivity. Validation. Things that make us feel good. The real challenge is getting there. As Trisha tells her clients when they start to complain during a workout, "It is supposed to be hard." Nothing about creating a life that is positive is easy. It is just like training for an athletic event or obtaining a degree or raising a child. To live that kind of life is a decision that we must make and it frequently creates painful situations. For example, it is not easy distancing ourselves from people that may not be healthy for us physically or emotionally. But as we must do in everything, we must look at how our decision will ultimately benefit us and those around us. We must make the hard choices to create this kind of life. We must do things that are hard. Painful.
Why does it all have to be so hard you ask? It's simple. If it were easy, we would not appreciate the good we ultimately get. If it were easy, we would take too much for granted. If it were easy, we would develop a sense of entitlement. If it were easy, we might miss the good altogether. Then, we would not know how good we really have it.
So suffer through the hard things. Enjoy the pain because you know that after you endure it, you will come out on the other side a stronger person who will enjoy and appreciate the positives that you have earned. It's no different than training for a triathlon, huh? Life is really just a race. You can win it. It's your choice. And yes, it is supposed to be hard. It just makes the victory so much sweeter.
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
We talk a lot about warm fuzzy things here. Positivity. Validation. Things that make us feel good. The real challenge is getting there. As Trisha tells her clients when they start to complain during a workout, "It is supposed to be hard." Nothing about creating a life that is positive is easy. It is just like training for an athletic event or obtaining a degree or raising a child. To live that kind of life is a decision that we must make and it frequently creates painful situations. For example, it is not easy distancing ourselves from people that may not be healthy for us physically or emotionally. But as we must do in everything, we must look at how our decision will ultimately benefit us and those around us. We must make the hard choices to create this kind of life. We must do things that are hard. Painful.
Why does it all have to be so hard you ask? It's simple. If it were easy, we would not appreciate the good we ultimately get. If it were easy, we would take too much for granted. If it were easy, we would develop a sense of entitlement. If it were easy, we might miss the good altogether. Then, we would not know how good we really have it.
So suffer through the hard things. Enjoy the pain because you know that after you endure it, you will come out on the other side a stronger person who will enjoy and appreciate the positives that you have earned. It's no different than training for a triathlon, huh? Life is really just a race. You can win it. It's your choice. And yes, it is supposed to be hard. It just makes the victory so much sweeter.
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
Friday, November 18, 2011
VALIDATION
I am realizing more and more how important validation is to our success, whether it be personal or professional. After putting up my last post, my amazing son Preston "liked" it on Facebook. I never even knew he read my ramblings. Likewise, after most posts, I frequently get an "attaboy" email from Jim, Kimi, Mush and others. What does that do for us? The simple act of telling someone job well done. Follow me. This could be huge.
What happens is it makes our self confidence and self worth soar. Especially when it comes from someone, like my son, whose acceptance we crave, even require. It encourages us to keep working whether it be for training for a triathlon or giving it our all at work or making a relationship work. With validation, we want to work harder. To try harder.
And it is a two way street. We are more likely to encourage those who encourage us. We support those that support us. This goes back to what I keep saying about Team Inspiration Texas and all those who supported me in the triathlon. Two way validation creates a giant cloud of positive energy. It supports us when we start to get down. In turn, our energy that they have created supports others when they start to get down. Amazing isn't it?
This all requires the simple act of deciding that you WILL live that way. It applies to friends. It applies to employment situations. It applies to relationships. Perhaps the hardest thing that we will ever have to do is remove those people in our lives that don't validate us. But we must do that, as hard as that may be. If we allow a failure of validation to constantly bombard us, it only makes that cloud of positivity around us weak. Sometimes so weak that we can fall out of it. We must know that the positivity of those that support us will sustain us and keep lifting us up. We must trust that. We must know that the positivity we have created for others will support us when we need it to.
I know. I know. Easier said than done. As my dear Trisha says, life is supposed to be hard, isn't it?! Count on those around you to support you, lift you up, and VALIDATE you! And validate them. That is how life should be lived.
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
What happens is it makes our self confidence and self worth soar. Especially when it comes from someone, like my son, whose acceptance we crave, even require. It encourages us to keep working whether it be for training for a triathlon or giving it our all at work or making a relationship work. With validation, we want to work harder. To try harder.
And it is a two way street. We are more likely to encourage those who encourage us. We support those that support us. This goes back to what I keep saying about Team Inspiration Texas and all those who supported me in the triathlon. Two way validation creates a giant cloud of positive energy. It supports us when we start to get down. In turn, our energy that they have created supports others when they start to get down. Amazing isn't it?
This all requires the simple act of deciding that you WILL live that way. It applies to friends. It applies to employment situations. It applies to relationships. Perhaps the hardest thing that we will ever have to do is remove those people in our lives that don't validate us. But we must do that, as hard as that may be. If we allow a failure of validation to constantly bombard us, it only makes that cloud of positivity around us weak. Sometimes so weak that we can fall out of it. We must know that the positivity of those that support us will sustain us and keep lifting us up. We must trust that. We must know that the positivity we have created for others will support us when we need it to.
I know. I know. Easier said than done. As my dear Trisha says, life is supposed to be hard, isn't it?! Count on those around you to support you, lift you up, and VALIDATE you! And validate them. That is how life should be lived.
KEEP DREAMING OUT LOUD!
-Trace
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