Directions From the Heart

August 27, 2025 by 2 Comments

“Fear of failure is the biggest destroyer of great ideas!”

The trusted road in nowhere Texas when I knew I had to ride!! It is one of my favorite experiences and stories!!

I have been back from my drive and bike journey for two weeks. I still am amazed at all I experienced and discovered. The time in my car, the unique bike rides in different parts of the countries, and the incredible conversations with others and with myself (yes, I could be a little crazy) made this an incredible journey.

It was a journey I almost didn’t make. I almost didn’t take it because I spent so much time focusing the adverse possibilities of the trip — time away from work, money, not knowing if I would really enjoy it — that I almost talked myself out of it. Fortunately, I didn’t!

Everything we accomplish in our lives is connected to our ability to trust our heart; or, in leaving our head out of the conversation. I posted the featured quote on Facebook in July. It reflects the raw reality of what thinking does to our dreams. Though our mind is the source of knowledge and experience, it is also so incredibly practical that it embraces fear in a very powerful, almost negative, manner. As a result, your mind is the intentional destroyer of our biggest ideas and dreams.

Why we give it so much power is inexplicable. Our emotional side — our heart and soul — is where our ideas and our dreams and the emotional pain of our failings resonate. Our intellectual side — our head — is where we our ideas are evaluated, challenged, and destroyed. When let our fear of failure remind us of our past failings and the pain associated with it, we are giving power to our mind to destroy our dreams.

Falling down is part of the process. Not one of us learned to walk or ride a bike without falling down. Our skinned knees and our bruised egos had no power over our determination to walk or bike. Plus, our parents encouraged us through our failings to keep going — we had to fail to succeed and everyone knew it. Though we didn’t know it at the time, we were pushing through because we were emotionally determined to do so.

What has changed? Nothing. Except the fears in our head have more control and influence over our passions and desires to succeed.

Changing this pattern can be a challenge for many of us. It is going to take a focused commitment in trusting what you know, believe, and desire and the willingness to take action in that direction without sending the dream upstairs into your head for evaluation or approval.

Several weeks ago I posted an article “It All Starts With TRUST.” In that article, I shared the idea that…

“The key to getting started and staying on your path to accomplishment is to TRUST yourself. Trust that very first message your internal voice gives you. When you seek an answer listen to that very first, honest voice. It is your inner voice – the good one – offering you the best advice and clearest direction you will ever receive. The solution, the action, and the next steps are right there in your heart. Respond to that voice by taking immediate action in that direction.”

This is the answer. Respond to whatever the very first answer you receive from any question you ask yourself by taking the action identified by the response. It is your heart, your instincts, your dream at work sharing with you what you KNOW you need to do. Before your mind can corrupt the answer, put it to work and trust yourself.

My most recent journey and many of the successes others are experiencing in their 100Day Challenge are the result of staying focused on the simple actions that move us forward. Success is not found in overthinking things — it is realized by taking the little necessary steps in the direction of your vision.

Next time you find yourself wondering what to do or where to go next in your life, listen to the very first answer and follow the advice. It is your heart giving you a perfect answer — trust it!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Inspirational Perspectives, Live With Passion, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment, Managing Adversity Tagged With: , , , ,

Afraid of the dark?

August 20, 2025 by 3 Comments

Always remember, the darkness is part of the light. When you have one, you can appreciate the other. It makes you whole. ~ Evan Sanders

I love those days when I am happiest, have incredible energy, and have the clarity of mind to easily get things done. Those days are amazing. I am at peace, I feel productive, and it is easy to sustain momentum.

Then, there are those days where my confidence is low, my energy is off, and I can’t seem to get things accomplished. I dread those days. I can feel the darkness around me. It always feels like I am losing important momentum, that I am on the brink of slipping into a bad place, and I start to worry about failing.

I am afraid of the dark.

The other day I read an awesome post by the Better Man Project that completely opened my eyes to the unavoidable reality of darkness. This post reflects on our continuous pursuit of happiness and our constant fear of the opposite. “Life is a game of opposites. Happiness and sadness, hot and cold, salt and pepper. Without one, you cannot know the other…You have to expect the sun to rise and set. I used to freak out when I was upset…now I just sit with it and appreciate the feeling for what it is. When you don’t fight your emotions and try to claw and scratch your way out of them…they float into the wind.”

Wow! What a refreshing perspective. It is impossible for us to live our lives without experiencing the highs and lows that come with it. Were it not for opposites, it would be impossible for us to appreciate the entire spectrum. Rather than fighting to avoid the lows that seemingly disrupt our highs, relax, reflect, and focus on where we are headed and allow the sun to rise when it is ready.

I have always dreaded the dark periods in my life. We all have them. We all run from them and fear them. It is as if there is a rule that success and peace is about being happy all the time. Happiness is a relative term. Even in the tempest of the storm, we can be happy.

People love watching a thunderstorm when they are not in it; yet, dread being in one when they are driving through it. What is the difference? The only difference is driving through a thunderstorm is a threat to our progress and our safety. We are not secure in a storm when we have to get somewhere and have to drive into it to get there. We are very safe in that storm when we are in a safe place to observe it.

The same goes for the dark. The fear is that the darkness threatens our safety and our security. If we are not happy and positive, our productivity and progress will be affected. We cannot allow ourselves to be in the darkness. Unfortunately, darkness is unavoidable.

Instead of fearing the dark, embrace its presence as part of the process. There is an opportunity to be positive, focused, and committed in the dark. The key is embracing the reality that darkness is an essential ingredient in the learning cycle and a component of your life that is unavoidable. Allow yourself to adjust to the lack of light, energy, or momentum and carefully, slowly work your way through it. Just as the sun sets at night, so too will it rise in the morning. Relax, trust, and embrace the experience. Tomorrow will be another day! And, it will be a good one!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Inspirational Perspectives, Learning From Experience, Managing Adversity Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

When You Let Go…

August 13, 2025 by 1 Comment

You never know what kind of obstacles will be thrown your way!

Over the course of this current year, the foundation for most of my decisions, perspectives, and innovations in my life this year have been about embracing “trust.” This means that whatever is happening around me — directly or indirectly in my life — I am trusting that it is part of my journey. The decisions I make, the behaviors I engage in, and the way I manage conflict and stress is focused on embracing my commitment to trusting that this is the course for my life. In trusting, I am not focused on wants or expectations for my life, rather I am celebrating and embracing every experience as an opportunity to learn, grow and share from it.

Several weeks ago I introduced and invited many of my closer contacts to join me on a 100Day Challenge. The purpose of this challenge was to encourage others to commit to engage in an activity that will generate an effective, positive influence and outcome in their lives.

Several people who engaged in their 100Day Challenge embraced a similar commitment to mine regarding trust. While they are using terms like “surrender” and “allowing” they are very similar to “trusting” or “faith” when listening to their explanation leof their challenge. Their experiences relating to the challenge has resulted in peace and energy in their life. In discovering peace they have become aware of the reality that there are only two things we can control in our life — our attitude and our effort. The result of merely focusing on managing these two components in their life have brought them peace and prevented them from being distracted by occurances that they cannot control.

Despite what may happen and occur in our lives, we have no control over them, cannot change or stop them, and cannot make others change or stop what they are doing. All we truly have is the power to manage or control is our response, our focus, our commitments and our behaviors in the face of these events. There is a misplaced perception that we can control our outcomes, when we really cannot. We do have the ability to influence future outcomes by our commitment to our vision and our behaviors. However, we cannot control any outcome because they are completely dependent upon the engagement, participation, enthusiasm or decisions of others — something we have zero control over.

Surrendering, trusting, or allowing is recognizing that our life is not completely in our control. There is peace in actually letting go of the wheel. Many of us spend our whole lives believing we are defining our outcomes and go crazy when we realize that we can’t control things like we used to. In reality, we never had control.

Once we embrace that reality, we can now focus only on what we can control and influence. There is less energy spent attempting to make thinks happen to our expectations and wants. We are now free to focus on the events as they occur and decide, based on our desires, values, and commitments, how we are going to manage this event.

Life is about choices. Life will throw things at us that are disruptive, painful, scary and hurtful. We cannot change what happens to us. What we can change is how we are going to respond to them. We can trust that this is part of our journey. We can embrace that this part of our journey is part of the learning process. Or, we can attempt to figure out how to change its course and fight the current. The more I have trusted, the more I let go, the more I learn and celebrate. There is peace and happiness in this process. It starts with surrendering any belief that I am in control and ends with trustfully embracing the path of my journey.

Filed Under: Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment, Managing Adversity

Redirected in Iowa

August 10, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Despite the best of efforts to plan a safe and concise route round West Des Moines this morning, I still ended up adjusting my route and found myself off course. As in life, these things happen. Click here for the story and my perspectives on it…

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Managing Adversity

Fearless and Invincible in Illinois

August 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment

Last night I had a great opportunity to catch-up with a distant high school classmate in the Chicago area. This morning we shared a 22 mile bike ride in the country outside Chicago. I had a great ride, a great conversation, and enjoyed much reminiscing of the old high school days (Graduated 1975). Now, it is 37 years later and a lot has changed. And, some things haven’t changed. Here are my thoughts on the power of the experience and the lessons in our life and what we can learn from being eighteen! click here to listen

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment

Reflections From My Journey

August 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment

I am officially in day twelve of my nineteen day journey. This trip has taken me across the country from Phoenix to Detroit via Albuquerque, Amarillo, Tulsa, Lake of the Ozarks, Effingham, and Columbus. With the exception of Lake of the Ozarks and Amarillo I have enjoyed a bike ride in each city. Despite the fact I didn’t ride in Amarillo, I was able to enjoy and celebrate a very unique twenty mile ride about 75 miles east of Amarillo in McLean, TX.

The trip to Detroit represented a series of one night stops for seven days. My daily routine was pretty much like this — arrive, unpack, sleep, ride my bike, pack, drive to the next stop. When I finally arrived in Detroit (Novi), I was both relieved and exhausted. It was a great journey. I had my lonely moments. I had my celebrations. I had my reflective times. I spent a great deal of time in my head, in my heart and thinking about all I am grateful and thankful for — health, strength, and the ability to make a trip like this — especially the unique bike rides.

The most enjoyable experience of this journey has been the people. Along the way to Detroit, and here in Detroit, I am continuously reminded of the importance of the people in my life. I have reconnected with old friends and family, and made new friends and new contacts. In each interaction I am reminded of the incredible influence of those who enter into our lives.

Whether they are here for a long time or briefly pass through, the people we interact with are placed in our lives for a reason and the experience of that engagement leaves a lasting imprint even if we are not aware of it at the time.

When I left on this journey, I was afraid and hesitant. I wasn’t sure what the purpose was or how this trip would go. I was leaving on an undefined adventure for which the outcome was unknown. There were times that I felt alone, that I doubted the wisdom of my challenge, or that I really didn’t understand why I was on the journey in the first place. I was also exhausted at times.

It wasn’t until I started to embrace and celebrate the relationships, the connections, and the experiences they brought me did I really begin to appreciate the incredible gifts being offered on this journey. Everyone we interact with offers us something. These interactions offer us the opportunity to celebrate our friendship, the gift of family connections, the lessons from their pain, or the joy of a newly found bond. I drove over 2,200 miles, stopped in seven cities, and biked 170 miles in six different states. Every aspect of that part of the journey offered me a great experience.

Nothing compares with the conversations, the memories, the relationships, or the lessons of the personal interactions — new or old. Look at your life. Are you embracing the gift of those in your life? Are you making yourself freely available and open to them? Are you celebrating what they have to offer you?

Appreciate and celebrate the relationships and connections you have. Become aware of the potential to form and create more. Embrace the opportunity to discover the gifts and experiences of others. Make yourself openly available to share your gifts with others, as well. The impact of these experiences will last forever. The energy of these experiences also will inspire and educate you. Most importantly these interactions and these connections will make your life richer for them. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment Tagged With: , , , , , ,