Sunday Morning - “Your Bottom”
Good morning & happy Sunday!
First thing, a little “Pro-Tom”
– please check out my new Found Art Facebook page @:
http://www.facebook.com/FoundArtbyTJD
It is a collection of all my photos, frames & an invite (if you are in the city of Orange this coming Labor Day weekend) to The Orange International Street Fair where I will have my Found Art booth selling all things made by me!
Okay, enough about me… well, speaking of me; I have hit my bottom a couple of times, actually three or four times. Each time at a different point in my life, at a different age and usually in a different city full of different and unique set of circumstances. What I know is that first and foremost I made it through those times. Secondly, each bottom I hit was there, on my path, to teach me something. Usually to grow and do things differently, to see with more clarity and that allowed me to understand myself even better. As with all tests, they happen when we don’t want them to and in an area we’d rather not be tested in.
After moving last year, my life changed once again; relocating, starting to commute for the first time and realizing I had more time on my hands than I wanted. That time, that time to think… was what I truly did not want. But what it allowed me, after discovering I needed patience to get through this challenging time, was to feel things I had not felt before, to face things in my life I had been distracting myself from my entire life and about a month ago I felt like I hit bottom once again. I have always had passion. I have always been inspired. But over the last few months I have not been either, which for me was very unfamiliar and quite scary.
With a wonderful wife, support of good friends, a good therapist and prayer I know I made it through that moment in time. Staying out of that moment will take continual work, focus and a desire to stay in the moment each day, not pondering tomorrow or reflecting on yesterday. Right here, right now is what we all have. Contentment lies right in front of us all! But as in my case, sometimes we cannot see the path clearly because we have not wanted to, because we have not hit our bottom.
Your bottom may be very different than someone else’s, but it is all relative. Maybe you need to hit the bottom at your job, in your relationship, with your family, with whatever it is that you may be battling with to then start the path of gaining clarity and becoming the new and improved you.
peace & God bless
tjd
Sunday Morning - “Reminder: You are worth the it!”
Good morning & happy Sunday! I hope this finds you & yours healthy and happy.
As a personal trainer I refer to myself as a cheerleader, someone who is in my client’s corner cheering and supporting him or her. The one thing I need to do most with my clients is to remind them to be consistent and in order to do that they must deem themselves worthy of that effort. I am consistently in need of being reminded of the lessons I have forgotten or the key things I need to keep doing habitually that allow me to be the best version of myself that I can be. So as I remind myself I too remind the ones I care about to do the same. A client will have a good run, finding time to get those workouts in, stretch and eat properly. Then they get busy, stress at work consumes them, drama along their path inevitably leads them to thinking they do not have the time and the first item crossed off the to-do list is their workout.
What I remind them of is that they need to do what their mind and body needs no matter what else is going on around them. I may train someone twice weekly but I ask him or her to do 2-3 more workouts themselves per week. A workout can simply be stretching, using a foam roller, going for a brisk walk or light jog, something that is specifically for your mind, body and soul. What happens when people do not get their workouts in is they start feeling the adverse affects: stress, tightness, soreness, they start getting knots in their neck, back and shoulders. Then it starts to feel like their life is unraveling, getting out of control and everything seems to add to their already heavy load. Once a client does pull a muscle or gets a pinched nerve they soon discover how much more difficult everything else becomes.
I remind them there are 168 hours in a week. All I am asking them is to deem themselves worthy of 4-5 hours a week - but every week. I remind them that a walk outside at lunch, rolling their neck whenever they can throughout the day, a 5-minute break from the computer, stretching for 5-10 minutes before work in silence, are all ways to do the ‘small things’ throughout your day and week that will add up to huge benefits in the long run.
So before you cross off what your mind and body needs from your to-do list and before that tightness, strain, pain or knot gets real bad, remember that you are truly worth the effort! Once that train of thought locks in, consistently with frequency, you will be the sole recipient of that effort and the rewards will far outweigh what you may imagine.
peace & God bless
tjd
Good morning & happy Sunday!
I am back! For seven years I have sent out the Sunday Morning message and for the first time I took a break (last message was June 3rd).
Whatever one goes through in their lifetime will cause a change in one’s path, one’s perspective and hopefully move them forward to a path with more peace, clarity and love. It is not always a road easily traveled. Questioning one’s self, one’s purpose and one’s direction can be disheartening. Who one thought they wanted to be when they grew up, the plans they had written down, the wish list in their mind, may not have turned out as one had planned. This then, becomes the true challenge. For some it may be a moment in time, wondering which way to go. Others, it may be a season of struggles. And yet for a few it could seem like a lifetime of grey: struggle and challenges, one after another.
My belief is that we all need to search for and embrace our purpose in life. With knowing one’s purpose, the unanswerable questions seem to fade, the direction of one’s life appears clearer and there is more peace along one’s path. Discovering one’s purpose may be more difficult for some than for others. Some may have to re-discover their purpose more than once. Along that road to re-discovery may come fears, doubts and a sense of brokenness, humility, things that are not faced easily. It is only going through and facing these that one will grow, learn the lessons they are suppose to and become who they are to become. Know there is no time limit, no judging or grading along this path. It is solely the individual’s path.
I am moving more slowly. I am taking small steps each day. I am embracing my purpose in life and doing my best to stay in the moment. I am making better choices. I am patiently and persistently pursuing peace in my life…
And I am trying my best to let the rest go. I hope you can do the same!
peace & God bless
tjd
Sunday Morning - “Keeping Perspective”
Good morning and happy Sunday to you.
A cool thing for many guys is having their own room or ‘man-cave’. I am one of them. I have been enjoying my garage/man-cave since we moved last July. The longer I have it the more I do to it, add to it and make it my own. What a man-cave is all about. Recently I went to a garage sale and it was in a man-cave. An older man who lived there had become ill awhile back and had since moved into a nursing home. His son and daughter were running the sale. As I walked around I saw many familiar themes; he had small car models in display cases, he had made his own shelves and cabinets, there were his tools everywhere. Every cool thing you could think of, he had it. Or at least he used to.
“The car you’re driving is not yours; you are just using it for now. The house you are living in is not yours: you are borrowing it.”
I remember someone saying that to me awhile back and it never truly hit home as I was walking through this other guy’s man-room. You could tell he loved to work with his hands, he loved his tools, he was proud of his man-cave and everything in it. I never met him or saw him but I felt his presence and passion, and it was very similar to mine. Now, I was walking through his man-cave, buying his old tools, for my man-cave – kind of trippy. He was still alive but having a man-room full of tools and cool things in it had run its course… it was a moment in his life that had now passed. I went home and put the couple tools I bought in my man-cave. I stopped for a moment to look around and thought, “One day, someone may be walking into my man-cave to buy the things I had collected and used during my moment in time, while I was here…” Once again, my perspective was tweaked, in a good way.
What we have is ours to enjoy, appreciate and love. Do that today and remember none of the things we have will go with us. Know that one day, all we have will be used by someone else. Keep the perspective to remember what is truly important as you walk your path.
peace & God bless
tjd
Garden
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tjd
Purple & Orange
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tjd
Purple Flowers
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tjd
