When faced with a challenge, or an opportunity, which dog do you feed?

Jon Gordon writes in his book, The Positive Dog, "We all have a positive-versus-negative battle going on each day. Every moment and every situation presents to us an opportunity to see and experience the positive or the negative."

"We can feed the positive dog or the negative dog inside of us, and whichever one we feed, grows. So feed the positive dog."

Focus on the positive. Experience the positive. Seek to find the gift presented through each opportunity.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Which dog do you feed? Which part of you do you want to grow?

Feed the positive dog.

Create your life.

Spending time with family is an opportunity to enjoy people who accept us as we are, we do not need to pretend around them.

My family and I look forward to spending time over the holiday weekend with my siblings and their families. We're excited!

We get to share stories, experience common activities like yard games and fireworks, and enjoy good laughs. We "might" even enjoy a barley pop or two.

We will relish just being with each other. It's been a long time since we have all gotten together!

Getting to do things together with people we love. That's family time.

What do you appreciate when you get together with your family?

Happy early birthday America!

Create your life.

When faced with life, we can choose to look at the negative or consider the positive. Whatever you choose, that's what your subconscious will make happen. 

Stay positive with what you tell yourself.

You give power to what you focus on. So, focus on the good. Focus on what you want.

Make THAT happen.

Create your life.

When we are young, we seek out the puddles. As we get older, we generally shy away from puddles. We don't want to get our feet or clothes wet. We don't want to create a scene. We choose to "act our age" instead.

What is it about a puddle? What makes a puddle so nearly irresistible to play in? Those wonderfully fun collections of water just begging for someone to disrupt with their feet or bicycle tire.

It is hard to match the pure joy of splashing in a puddle. Nothing matters except how high and how far the splatter goes. Nothing else matters.

I want to break free or perhaps let go of the voices in my head that say I shouldn't do that or I'm too old to do that. I want to feel the joy and freedom of those moments when nothing else matters.

I want to splash in more puddles.

Create your life.

We live in a pass or fail culture. Many of us live in absolutes, it's all or nothing, black or white.

🔹 Did you get a raise or promotion? If not, you failed.

🔹 Did you get an A+? If not, you failed.

🔹 Did you win the deal or make the sale? If not, you failed.

🔹 Did you "get" the girl? If not, you failed.

These are the messages our culture would lead us to believe. We learn at at early age that you get measured by your outputs and accomplishments (especially high-achieving men).

One alternative is to refrain from labeling experiences as a pass or fail and simply learn from them. Did you get a raise? Amazing! What can you keep doing that lead to that benefit? If the raise didn't come (yet) and it's something you truly want, where can you grow so you earn that recognition?

Shift your perspective and you will realize there is a whole lot of space in between the extremes where you can thrive!

Create your life.

Society teaches us, especially as men, to "deal with it" or "grin and bear it."

Grind is defined as dreary, monotonous, or difficult labor, study, or routine (source: Merriam-Webster dictionary online).

How often have you said to yourself or said to another or had it said to you, "keep your nose to the grindstone!"

You get up, day after day, follow the same routine. Nothing. Ever. Changes.

You might feel stuck and unable to break free, you're the "provider" after all, it's your "job" to put food on the table and a roof over your heads.

Maybe you want to create something new, so you wake up early or stay up late and in the process, get less sleep and do more.

The grind gets worse.

Could you make a tradeoff? Instead of adding more, what if you also took something away?

Connect with your inner strength, that part of you that knows what lights you up and recognizes when the spark exists.

Make intentional choices about where you spend your time and energy.

Perhaps you skip the television at the end of the night to work on your project, read a book, or go to sleep.

If you take small, intentional steps, you can break away from the grind, regain some balance, and feel reinvigorated.

Create your life.

We all experience change throughout life. Sometimes change can be a challenge or undesirable - such as the death of a loved one or working from home during a pandemic. Other times the change is straightforward or something we choose - such as taking a new route to the store to avoid construction or waking up early twice a week to exercise.

Whether hard or easy, lean into the change. Embrace it as an opportunity to learn, to become a better person, and to grow.

Perhaps you will discover your loved one served more people and touched more lives than you ever knew.

Or you will learn to be more patient as you find ways to share a house normally occupied by less people during the day.

Or you will travel alongside a stream you did not know existed and appreciate its simplicity and beauty.

Or you will notice you have more energy during the workday.

Embrace change and you will shift toward the person you are meant to be.

Create your life.

I've had enough and I want out!

We get SO busy sometimes. Perhaps you find yourself wondering how it all started. It's easy to get caught up in the "rat race" - doing more, saying "yes" to more, chasing after more.

In the process, you lose touch with who you are or who you want to be.

At the end of your life, heck, five years from now, 10 years from now, will you look back and say, "I created something, I created that, I did that - and it mattered."

Or will you look back and say, "Phew, I made it to the end and got through it. I survived."

Identify what matters and make intentional choices. Stop piling on more stuff just so you can continue the race.

You can't walk away now!

Are you creating life or just getting through life?

Create your life.

I recently saw this on the inside of a Dove chocolate wrapper. (mmmm, chocolate!) What does it say to you? 

I hear two things - be you and you are beautiful. At the center, literally and figuratively, is YOU! Be yourself. Be authentic. You are beautiful, inside and out. Yes, that is a cliche and I believe one that is true.

So today and during the next week, take off your mask and let your beautiful self shine! Be you!

Create your life.

Why do we spend so much time worrying about, paying attention to, or dealing with the silly, stupid, sh#t?!

Sometimes, that might appear as the easy path to take. The comfortable path. The unconscious path. I notice this when I get lazy or pretend I do not care or that something does not matter. Or when I'm burned out.

Instead of handling the silly, stupid, sh#t, I want more vibrancy! That can start with accepting myself and what is. Perhaps learning to embrace the gray. Maybe even taking small steps and going out of my comfort zone.

Doing something that kicks me out of the spiral.

Something that will shift the balance toward worrying about, paying attention to, and dealing with powerful, meaningful, goodness.

That's where I want to spend my energy!

Where do you want to spend your energy?

Create your life.

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

How much would your perspective change if you considered everything as an opportunity rather than a requirement?

Instead of saying you *have* to do something, change your words and say you *get* to do something. 

I get to go to work.

I get to go to school.

I get to wake up early to workout.

I get to make dinner.

I get to go for a walk.

I get to read a book.

I get to [fill in the blank].

Life is full of opportunities that we *get* to do. It all depends on your perspective.

What is it that you get to do?

Create your life.

What are the big rocks in your life?

Do you make time for your big rocks or fill in the space with small rocks and sand?

As you look forward to what remains in this year, consider your big rocks.

What do you need to do to make room for what is important to you?

Choose to make room for your big rocks.

Create your life.

As you simply notice your Gremlin, your Saboteur, the negative voice inside your head, think about responding by adding "yet" to the sentence.

You're not fast enough...yet.

Not smart enough...yet.

You will get there.

Stay positive and keep getting better.

The "yet" will turn into you realizing and saying, I am fast, I am smart, I am beautiful, I am positive, I am delightful to be around, I am a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, I am enough.

Create your life.

Do you hear it? That little voice inside your head. Does it say you're not fast enough? Not smart enough? Not pretty enough? Not old enough? Not young enough? Is it telling you that you're ... not enough?

That's your Gremlin speaking. Your saboteur. It wants you to believe you're not enough. It wants to squelch the vibrancy inside you. It is intent on making you miserable.

Don't listen to it.

Don't listen to the chatty voice inside your head.

Begin to simply notice your Gremlin. The source of your negatives thoughts.

You are not your Gremlin, only it's observer. 

Simply notice the chatter. Become aware. 

Create your life.

Argh! Tell them to BE QUIET already!

Do the voices in "your" head get as loud as the voices in "my" head? As a recovering perfectionist, my internal voices like to tell me that I'm not enough.

Not creative enough. Not smart enough. Not fast enough. Not good enough. Not <blank> enough.

Do you tell yourself similar things?

Of course, it's all lies.

Truth is, You Are Enough!

Putting it in first person framing, I Am Enough!

I might make this a new mantra - I am enough. You are enough. We are ALL enough.

When those yappy voices start sounding off, remind yourself, I am enough. Regularly tell yourself, I am enough. Really believe it, I am enough.

Because You ARE enough.

Create your life.