2022: A year of second opportunities!

 

Apologies if you've gotten this already...having challenges with my distribution system... 2022: A year of second opportunities! I feel 2022 is going to be a year of second opportunities (hey, there are lots of 2’s)! While ‘second chances’ is a commonly used phrase, ‘opportunities’ is much more positive, right? Fortunately, I got a jump on the game in 2021 enrolling in a course called Positive Intelligence (Founded by Shirzad Chamine and facilitated by my business partner Liz Weiner). It’s an amazing ‘mental fitness’ program that has been, and, I don’t use this expression lightly, life-changing. How, you may ask? Well, what the program offers are tools to identify and manage what they call our Saboteurs (I’ve referred to them as my Demons): “Saboteurs are the voices in your head that generate negative emotions in the way you handle life’s everyday challenges. They represent automated patterns in your mind for how to think, feel, and respond. They cause all of your stress, anxiety, self-doubt, frustration, restlessness, and unhappiness. They sabotage your performance, wellbeing, and relationships.” Pretty heavy, right? Well, it opened my eyes to a lot of things that had been having a negative influence on me. The program then also gave me ways to build my positive mindset. One of my new year’s ‘resolutions’, for the past oh so many years, has been to take better care of myself. I am proud to say that I have made positive changes and that I know I will always be a work in progress (as I’m pretty sure all of us are!). I am sincerely feeling more at peace with myself and happier than ever before in my life! So, you may want to take a look at how Liz describes this mental fitness coaching (https://lizweinercoaching.com/mental-fitness). ~ The other day I started reading a book on the amazing new Kindle that my sons and their families gave me: “Life’s Greatest Lessons: 30 Things That Matter.” I’m only a little ways into it but have already found some powerful hints. Here are some of my takeaways from the chapter called: Life is Also Fun…and Incredibly Funny. Btw, this truly resonates with me. For much of my life I took things way too seriously and I wasn’t much fun to be around - at least for just some of the time, I hope:) “Human beings need to have fun. We need to play and most importantly we need to laugh” “Life may be hard and at times unfair, but that doesn’t mean it has to be intolerable…humor is what helps the most” “When we get bogged down with some of the ordeals of life, we need a diversion. One of the best is humor and one of the most important ways we can do that is to learn to not take ourselves so seriously” “The only way to survive is to get plenty of laughs along the way. And we get those laughs when we look for them.” (Note from me: The author, Hal Urban, recommends watching two movies - Zorba the Greek and A Thousand Clowns. I saw the Clowns movie a million years ago - and I’m going to watch it again this weekend) “...only when the mind is in a restful state does it work most creatively” “People who laugh together can work longer and harder together, and with more effectiveness” “Everything should be made as simple as possible” “Laughter has been known to soothe jangled nerves, reduce tension, calm tempers, stimulate creativity and simply make life more fun” “Laughter works wonders in relationships. Someone once said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people. It has a way of uniting them” “It’s important to be able to laugh at ourselves. People who know how to laugh at themselves will never cease to be entertained” ~ A quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that I've always liked, "What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." [Note: I discovered this when I was consulting for Herb Kohler on the development of a high-end specialty shopping center, Woodlake Kohler, in (you guessed it!) Kohler, Wisconsin, next door to Sheboygan - home of Brat Days (like Bratwurst)]. And, while I’m hot on quotes right now, a long-time friend’s father once told her - about both her life and her career: “You don’t have to be going straight, just forward.” ~ In these challenging times for us all, I wish you and your families a peaceful, happy and healthy start of 2022! If we all allocate energy into waking up every day with a smile on our face, and show the world all the love in our hearts* I believe things will get better. (*from Carole King’s song ‘Beautiful’) Looking forward to seeing you early next year! Steve Subway Station: Hey - it's New York City! (btw she was a fantastic cellist!)