Fat Tuesday: The Last Hurrah

📷: Dave Brink for MMC 

***UPDATE*** 
Totally jumped the gun this year. Off by a month, but the head start in my Lenten sacrifice is my penance for a failure in checking dual sources. March 5th is Fat Tuesday and the 6th begins Lent. 

 I love Fat Tuesday. It makes me really focus on short term goals and intentions. Being the day before Ash Wednesday, Mardi Gras celebrations are the last hurrah before imparting serious change during the sacred days and nights of Lenten sacrifice. For Catholics, Lent represents prayer, fasting, and giving. For me, it represents all of that and thoughtful reflections with positive motivation. Enjoy the carnival today and pay extra attention to a better world over the next 40 days and 40 nights. 

Don't Be A Passive Participant in Life This Year

Keep the optimism and hope of the new year by exercising and practicing the discipline of positive thinking each day.  Our relationships can have a major impact on our positive thinking.  For this reason, make it a goal this year to work on your most important relationships.  At the heart of successful and rewarding relationships is the ability to effectively communicate.  From my experience, effective communication entails a few basic goals for constructive confrontation and conflict resolution:

a) Convey the truth

b) Listen

c) Preserve the relationship

Passive participation in any relationship leads to dissatisfaction.  Passive participation is helplessness.  Helplessness is a lack of control.  Lack of control in any situation leads to dissatisfaction.  You can avoid dissatisfaction in your life this year.

Fish Pedicure

The always delightful blogfriend, Sarah, sent an email encouraging me to investigate the I Can Do It®: The Ultimate Online Series to Nourish Your Soul seminar, which is currently being offered for $20, down from $275 for eight sessions.   Sarah is always plugged into the latest in mind and body renewal.  She concluded her email with the following postscript:

PS-went to DC last week and had Dr. Fish treatment at spa with girls. You put tootsies in tank w/ fish and they eat the dead skin off your feet. Very bizarre.

 Totes!

That Was Then, This Is Now

The new year always brings such optimism and hope to individuals resolved to improve their lives.  On any given day, one of my favorite sappy sayings to the teen blogson is, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."  He absolutely hates it when I say that, and we have a good laugh, and then I say it's true.  Just recently, I have taken on a new favorite expression: "That was then, this is now."  People really do get stuck in a pattern of thinking and behaviors.  If everyone just took a look around at their patterns, habits, motivations and interactions, and said, "That was then, this is now", the fallibility of pride takes on a new perspective and a definitive course.  Those six little words provide a liberating excuse to act differently, and totally reinvent the present with an open mind to the possibility that people or things have changed, and our thinking needs to change, too.  On the other hand, perhaps changes have not occurred.  Our views can still change, and by changing our views, we can change people and things.  The power of six little words can dramatically improve our new year!  Try it.

Live in the Present this Holiday Season

Now that we are fully immersed in the holiday season, here's my friendly and annual reminder to readers to be ever mindful of living in the present, especially during the next month.  The proliferation of stress management advice available at this time of year is indicative of the throngs of people who are living in the past.  Strictly speaking demographics, over half the people you come in contact with are reeling from the long-term neurosis resulting from divorce, not to mention other trauma and disease.  Hopefully, you will make an extra effort to surround yourself with the people who treasure you and your contribution to their life.  For those other, unavoidable moments of togetherness with people who just can't express a genuine word of kindness, gratitude or appreciation, and have difficulty extending a sincere compliment in your direction, keep vibrations positive.  You could be the change and eventual strength these people need to rise above their own deficiencies and inability to conquer peace and joy in their life.

May You Be Filled with Gratitude Today

Everyone gets into a funk now and then. Over the last couple of days, I found myself slipping into a state of negative thought exhaustion. I said a prayer in the morning asking for, what I refer to as a positive-energy-thought-reversal-pattern, and lo and behold, I ended up having the most amazing day. It wasn't until I was in bed last night, did I realize how fortunate I am to be surrounded by wise, caring and loving individuals who appreciate me and the goodwill I hold in my heart. A string of events during the day blessed me with the most uplifting conversations among friends, family and even a few strangers. While it's so easy to slip into a state of depression, it is just as easy to take all the goodness people have to offer and turn your mood around. May you be filled with gratitude for all things and people in your life today.

The Secret: Aim High

No more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty. -Napoleon Hill

GM Didn't Listen to Peter Drucker

"Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future." ~ Peter Drucker

GM was one of Drucker's first clients back in the 1940's. From his relationship with GM, Drucker wrote what is believed to be the first book on business management, Concept of the Corporation. GM ignored Drucker's suggestions for building a more successful and sustainable organization for decades, while the Japanese embraced Drucker's findings.

Everyday Wisdom

Doing what you love
is the cornerstone of having
abundance in your life.
-Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Start Planning Good Behavior Now

It has been said that 21 (or is it 28?) days makes a habit. While not so religious these days, but indeed, spiritual, I still use Lent as a time to focus on self-improvement through sacrifice. In fact, over the years, I have had life changing success with diet, exercise and mental health during the forty-days and forty nights leading up to Easter Sunday. This is a reminder for all those who need a little bit of strength from a mighty big Helper, Ash Wednesday is in a week, so plan accordingly. I'm thinking candy or vodka. Humph.