3 Steps

Read Full Post »

Hold on!

Read Full Post »

13 weeks in and 7 weeks to go

It has been a fairly long and tough 13 weeks since a log changed the direction of my bike and my life in a matter of seconds. I have witnessed amazing acts of kindness and will never take my left foe granted ever again.

The strengthening of my elbow, and in particular my triceps muscle, has begun.  Isotonic strengthening to be exact. This is strength exercises without moving in the joint. It feels very random but it takes as much effort.
My range of movement is pretty much full currently and the focus is to get the strength up to normal once more. Functional range of motion is 30 to 130 degrees and I have 11 to 142 degrees. The occupational therapist is very happy with that and is now focusing on the strengthening of the triceps and elbow.

 

When asked, i say to people that my elbow is about 90% healed. I believe that but also believe that the last 10% is probably going to take quite some time to attain. Strengthening is key for that 10% to be achieved. I am pretty much functional day-to-day with only the odd activity that I cannot do because of the lack of strength or range of motion.

Read Full Post »

I See Something

Read Full Post »

You Are Born To Succeed

Read Full Post »

Pull Up Your Granny Panties, Son!

There is very little point of dwelling in the past. Yes, we all make mistakes in our lives. That is part of living and part of life. They are there not to break us but rather to make us stronger.

Recently, I have been around people that are sitting around looking backwards. Looking at the previous month or two and sometimes longer and blaming everybody and anything for them not succeeding. This is actually depressing for myself because of 2 reasons:

1. I am moving forward with my life and being an influence to those around me by doing this and

2. I can see the potential that they are missing out on – the opportunities that are bashing on their doors. They are ignoring these and I find that frustrating.

Unfortunately, I cannot jump up and grab those opportunities because its not in my sphere. (otherwise, I would have already)

Move On

People try to go forward by walking backwards. Unless you have eyes on the back of your head, you cannot do this successfully. You will always doing either 50% because you are trying to do both.

At some point you, you HAVE TO move on.

You have to accept that bad things happened.

You have to learn from these bad things.

You have to MOVE ON.

Build that bridge

One of my favourite saying for this type of situations is this: Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it. Every step has to be taken to be ‘get over’ whatever it is that has happened.

There is no point trying to cross a river without a bridge because you will get caught up in the rapids.

There is no point in building a bridge before you cried the river.

There is no point in trying to get over that bridge if you have half built the bridge. You will fall into the river and get carried away by the rapids.

Lost potential

There is nothing more upsetting than watching potential being wasted. When you walk backwards, dwell in the past and not looking forward, you are wasting potential. You can never get that potential back.

All it takes is to turn around by learning from your mistakes and start running with the motivation and energy that drives you to go forward. Nothing can stop you achieving whatever you want.

So what is holding your granny panties down?

Cry the river, build the bridge, Pull up your granny panties and get over it!

Read Full Post »

God Lives Under The Bed

I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that’s what I heard him say one night.
He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, ‘Are you there, God?’ he said. ‘Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed….’
I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin’s unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humour. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.
He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labour. Apart from his size (he’s 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.
He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.
I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?
Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorites macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.
The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.
He does not seem dissatisfied.
He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.
He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day’s laundry chores..
And Saturdays – oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That’s the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. ‘That one’s goin’ to Chi-car-go! ‘ Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.
His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.
And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.
He doesn’t know what it means to be discontent.
His life is simple..
He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.
His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.
He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax..
He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.
He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.
Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.
Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to the Lord, h e comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God – to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an ‘educated’ person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.
In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my beliefs, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap.. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances – they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God’s care.
Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.
And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I’ll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.
Kevin won’t be surprised at all!

 

This is a story that was received via email. The owner does not claim to be the author.

Read Full Post »

Today

What are you doing today that is making tomorrow better?

What are you doing today that will make your dreams a reality tomorrow?

 

Today is all you have. There is now guarantee that tomorrow will come. You have a maximum of 86 400 seconds today to make sure tomorrow is going to happen the way you want it to.

Do things right everyday.

You may be asking “How do I do that?” The answer is actually quite simple. Do the right things every day. Do the little things correctly and the big things will sort themselves out. The “bog dreams” are simply a whole lot of little dreams and little steps piled on top of each other. In order to get to the top of the stairs – you have to climb one stair at a time. The same thing about making tomorrow a reality. Climb one or two or three steps today to make tomorrow what you want it to be.

Bad Habits Suck Time

We are all guilty of having bad habits. Myself included. I am certainly not perfect. These bad habits deplete those 86 400 seconds very quickly. I would say the biggest sucker is social media. In particular Facebook. I cannot tell you how many people spend more time on their Facebook profiles than working! I am not talking about the 5% of people who are the social media experts and do it for a job. I am talking about everyone with a smartphone or internet access. If the world put half the amount of time into their jobs as they do to Facebook everyday, the world would be twice as productive. My opinion of course.

The bad habits are the culprits of taking us down a step. They very seldom (if ever) get us anywhere near our dream of tomorrow. You can claim that social media helps you with your job but I do not believe you.

Put Processes in Place

In order to get to your dreams, you need to put processes in place so you can get there. Make a to-do list is normally the first thing people do. perhaps making a  ‘not-to-do list’ is a better idea. For example: do not go onto your email until you have completed at least 1 job for the day. turn facebook off until 10am. Close your office door for half an hour. Essentially you just focus your time to make sure you climb the stairs to making tomorrow a reality.

Today is all you have to make tomorrow a reality. The steps you take today will make tomorrow what it is. What is your tomorrow looking like?

Read Full Post »

Faith

Read Full Post »

Go And Get It

Read Full Post »