Are you familiar with the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes?

I recently came across a quote attributed to Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes:

"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they would live a lot differently."

Wow, does that resonate with me! (Almost as much as Calvin and his friend Hobbes. Almost.)

What comes up for you when seeing this quote?

For me, looking at the stars makes me feel small in the grand scheme of things and it encourages me to reflect on my life and priorities. This reflection inspires a greater awareness of what's truly important.

I find stargazing a rather peaceful activity, almost meditative in nature, and something that reminds me to slow down and seek out more balance in life.

I also attain a sense of connection to something larger than myself. A connection that activates more compassion and community-oriented thinking.

Hmmm, staring at the night sky might lead to living a more meaningful, mindful, and connected life.

Makes me want to start looking upward every night, they way Bill contemplated and his endearing characters were fond of doing.

Create your life.

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What's better?!

I LOVE getting outdoors, connecting with nature, and spending time with my family.

Last weekend, which was Father's Day in the US, my family and I enjoyed camping in a nearby State Park.

Camping was my selected activity to celebrate the privilege I have to serve my two children as their father.

It was certainly easier to make happen now that my kids are older and have fewer (?) activities pulling at their time (well, now they get to request time off).

Getting outdoors enabled us to:

👍 hike in the woods

👍 observe cicada's mating

👍 experience the anxiety of hearing nearby trees rub together in the wind while we tried to sleep (in a tent)

👍 sit by a campfire

👍 slow down life for a while

Granted, we did not necessarily have to travel to get all of these opportunities. Some present themselves at home or close to home.

And there is also something special about packing up the car and heading someplace with the people I love (and who love me).

I find so much goodness while getting outside with my family and appreciating trees and the rest of nature.

What do you enjoy?

Does it involve getting outdoors?

When is the next time you will do that thing?

I'm going to focus on getting outdoors again today and tomorrow and the next day, whether it's in the woods or a walk to the ice cream store.

Create your life.

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I heard a story recently.

A kid drew a family picture - and the father was not in it.

Fathers serve as providers and protectors.

We are considered strong, smart, and able to do stuff.

And yet it might be common for fathers, especially high achievers, to miss out on enough stuff with their clan that their kids don't really think of them as part of the family. They just are not around much.

As we come upon another celebration of Father's Day in the U.S., are you in the picture?

Whether in the picture or not, as fathers, we can all take a moment to reflect.

Do you want to better align your values and actions?

What about making more intentional choices and honoring what's truly important to you?

Would you benefit from giving yourself permission to say "no" and stepping back instead of doing more?

Do you want to focus more on being some body and less on achieving some thing?

Create your life.

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P.S. If you want to:

👉 Lead a life that honors your personal values and gives you fulfillment

👉 Generate lasting new habits

👉 Obtain support, connection, and accountability

👉 Rediscover balance in your life

👉 Learn to live with more vibrancy, more choice, and more fulfillment

Then let's chat! Book time here: https://markstaelgraeve.as.me/discovery

🙌

What do you think about this premise:

You cannot change, but you can choose.

🤔

We often direct our attention toward what we want to change, about ourselves, our environment, the people around us.

Change can be hard.

None of us likes to change, so rather than focus on changing, what if we focus on choosing?

What if we did not worry about what to change and were instead more intentional about our choices?

Perhaps just for today.

💡

Make intentional choices that align with what's important to you.

The change will happen without you really noticing.

Choose your way into change.

Choose your reality.

Create your life.

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My daughter wants to take a summer class.

She needed to pass a placement exam before registering and just missed the cutoff score the first time she took it. (I can relate to that situation!)

She really wanted to take that class, so she studied and took the exam again.

This time, she passed and could register for the class!

She knew what she wanted and wasn't going to let a setback block her from her goal.

I was proud of her because she did not give up.

Getting back up after we fall can be hard.

And yet, life offers plenty of experiences when we get to try and try again.

Resilience. Persistence. Perhaps even stubbornness.

All traits that serve us well when we find ourselves in "learning moments" or situations when we must persevere in order to obtain what we seek.

If you face a setback along your journey, I invite you to never give up.

Draw upon those traits within you that help you to keep going and try again.

Create your life.

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I had never seen one before!

After more than a half-century on this earth, I cannot recall ever seeing a full rainbow from one end to the other.

Bonus - there was a slight double rainbow, too!

Last week I shared about another natural phenomenon we experienced earlier in the same weekend, the Northern Lights.

During our return journey home, while driving down the expressway, the view below appeared out the driver's side car window.

Complete awe.

This full rainbow spanned miles. I needed the panoramic photo setting in order to capture the entire thing.

I found the color intensity as awe-inspiring as it's breadth. As we drove, I was aware of how the colors would change in intensity.

I also found it remarkable how much joy this brought to the ride home.

Such breathtaking natural beauty.

🌈

How much do we miss as we quickly drive through life?

How much do we notice when we look around, perhaps pause, and simply notice what's perhaps right next to us?

Maybe it's a bigger-than-life rainbow.

Maybe it's blooming flowers.

Or perhaps it's something you notice this time after passing by many times before.

Take a look around and observe.

Take it all in big and small.

Create your life.

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Did you spot them?!

There was excitement in the air (literally) as we wandered from one "less light pollution" place to another.

We were fortunate to be in a part of the world where we got to see the aurora borealis.

Thanks to a strong solar flare exploding from the sun, our experience of the northern lights was much further south than usual. We were so grateful!

The clear night sky certainly helped. (You would never know how dark the sky was from the camera’s picture!)

When looking up at the sky, we saw gray streaks that resembled clouds.

When looking through a camera lens, the colors came alive!

[geek out moment] Since that night, I learned that the aurora or northern lights often appear to us in shades of gray because the light is too faint to be sensed by our color-detecting cone cells in the retina of our eye. The human eye views the northern lights generally in faint colors and as shades of grey and white. However, camera sensors don’t have the same limitation as our eyes and have a much higher dynamic range of vision in the dark than humans do. Thank goodness!

I wanted to see the northern lights for a very long time.

I admit that seeing them in gray was a bit anti-climatic.

I appreciate that smartphone cameras picked up the colors that my eye could not.

I also appreciate that this activity forced my family and I to slow down and pause while looking up into the sky. This was not something to "catch" while going 100.

Did you have a clear night sky? Where you able to pause and enjoy this natural phenomenon?

Next week (teaser), I will share the other natural wonder we experienced the same weekend as the northern lights.

Create your life.

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Last week I wrote about choosing to do something for you.

What choices have you made since reading that post?

Are your choices focused on what matters to you?

I went on a retreat last weekend with a group of roughly 20 men most of whom I had never met. Time to get away, relax, explore new ground around me and within me. An adventure all the way around.

The choice to attend was easy because it aligned quite well with what matters in my world.

Among my top personal values are learning, fun, and freedom.

And I love personal growth.

I made the choice months ago to do this for me.

We explored topics like being fully present and choosing what matters as well as the many dimensions that make up our lives (e.g., personal, physical, professional, recreational).

Plenty of time to rest, relax, and connect with each other and ourselves. A handful of us took up the physical challenge to hike and climb a nearby mountain and enjoy earth's beauty and a sunrise. We also hit some golf balls at a nearby driving range and hung out in the pool.

This was a "big" choice to spend a weekend away from my family. During the course of the weekend, many small choices were made and over time, these smaller choices will grow to become big.

Have you decided what you want to do for yourself?

I'm pulling for you!

Create your life.

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When you choose to do something for you, how does that make you feel?

I've been trying to create a meditation habit for weeks. Each time I meditate, I feel fantastic! I believe it's a combination of the meditation and knowing that I made a choice to do something for me.

I get to spend 10 minutes (usually) connecting with my breath.

It happens in fits and starts. Some weeks better than others in terms of the number of days I meditate.

Even something as simple as three deep breaths, 15 seconds total time.

What a gift!

And what a choice to make!

A seemingly small act with such potential for BIG impact. My coaching clients regularly express their gratitude when we intentionally breathe together.

What choices are you making?

When was the last time you decided to do something for you?

Start "small" and grow from there.

Create your life.

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That should probably be a sign we all wear on our foreheads.

We are all under construction. Who we are and who we are becoming is a work in progress. No matter our age.

The important thing is to keep improving. Continue to build on our foundation. Work hard. Learn new things. Try new things. Practice. Get back up when we fall.

Keep the construction going.

Create your life.

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Holy cow!

My weekly Thursday Thoughts turns five this week!

That is 260 weekly musings covering thoughts I have about life’s blessings, challenges, and everything in between. Inspired by what I read, listen to, observe, or somehow experience. Published on Thursdays! (usually)

I started with sending text messages to my family. God bless them for their support! I wanted to get my voice out into the world and they were “willing” participants. 😁

A friend said, “I want ‘my’ Thursday Thoughts, too!” and my mother (yay for our moms!) wanted to receive “hers” as well.

I eventually expanded my "audience" beyond text messages and started publishing on my website, sending via email, and posting on LinkedIn.

I offer my Thursday Thoughts as a bit of #Inspiration. Perhaps one of my notes will arouse you, motivate you to leap forward, help you find your way, or just make you smile. 😊

I appreciate you for reading today and every week.

These weekly reflections serve as validation that when we decide to do something and fuel it with intention, we can extend our comfort zones.

What are you waiting to start?

What's holding you back?

Take a small step. Ignore the fear (it's a liar).

With each little step, you get closer to your own milestones and will eventually recognize something that's five years old.

Know that the best is yet to come.

Just get started.

Create your life.

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Oh, those four-letter words!

How often do you find yourself saying "I need to . . . ." in the course of a day?

Where does that come from?

Similar to saying "I should . . .", I propose that when we say "I need" we are expressing either a voice inside our head or a voice from others.

Rarely is it the voice of our inner authority and strength.

I also propose that this is the language of a victim. A "need" is something that's happening "to" us, something over which we do not have control.

Notice when you use that four-letter word, need.

When it shows up (you know it will and does!), I encourage you to use a different four-letter word, want. 💡

I want.

What do you notice when you replace need with want?

How does that feel in your core?

I've noticed my bias recently, especially with my coaching clients, toward conversations about using "want" more often instead of "need."

Want indicates your intention.

Want signifies your choice.

Want commits you to action.

Want is the language of empowerment. 💪

I invite you to want more.

Create your life.

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Yup, a butter lamb.

As a child, I remember my mother making a butter lamb for the Easter holiday, honoring an old Polish Catholic tradition.

That is one of the traditions I kept going as I got older and had children of my own. I was even able to amaze my in-laws who would scratch their head, "Mark made that?!"

This year, my wife suggested I teach our kids how to make a butter lamb so they could carry on the tradition when their time comes.

So it happened! No mold, only a stick of butter, plate, and butter knife.

We improvised with the eyes. Without raisins to slice, we chose to use a segment from a blackberry (called a druplet - who knew?). The blackberry segments give this creation what look like "bug eyes" from my perspective. And yet they served the purpose.

I'm excited for my kids to have an opportunity to make their first butter lamb. Maybe next year!

What traditions exist in your world?

What do you want to pass along to future generations?

What traditions to you want to start?

Create your life.

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Ah, Springtime! 🌷

The daffodils in my yard recently bloomed, perhaps a little confused by the warmer than average temperatures.

I notice many flowers around my neighborhood are showing signs of the new beginnings coming our way as spring gets sprung.

As the seasons transition around us, I find it an encouraging time to consider our own transitions and what's waiting to spring up in our lives.

I invite you to take a moment to connect with the power inside of you, your inner strength, your leader within that knows you at your core.

What new beginnings do you anticipate?

Look around and take inspiration from nature, the flowers and trees.

What idea, hope, or dream has been lying dormant that is waiting to bloom?

What little step can you take toward your own blossoming?

Create your life.

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My son and I competed in a Platform Tennis tournament over St. Paddy's weekend. ☘️

Commonly known as Paddle, this doubles sport is a cross between racquetball and regular tennis and gets played outdoors, mostly in the winter months. (Search for American Platform Tennis Association and discover more about The Most Addictive Sport You've Never Heard Of.)

This was the second year my son and I played together in this tournament.

We had SO much fun!

It helped that we won more matches than we lost. We started out losing our first two matches and ended up winning our next three. The "champs" of the loser's bracket. 👍

There were many proud moments while we played. I got to see some of the traits my son acquired from me. I also got to see how he is growing into his own person.

And how much he has improved over the last year.

He played as well as I have ever seen him play. He was on fire, especially in our fifth and final match. 🔥

Even with an injury in his hip area, my son persevered and stayed "in" the game mentally and physically.

He learns quickly and has racquet skills from years of playing regular tennis. He's only going to get better and I suspect the day will come when he passes me by.

I look forward to many more proud moments in the future.

All proud moments to remember.

Create your life.

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