Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 234 – Worst Enemies
Worst Enemies (10-27-08)
It was a bright, clear sunny day, with temperatures predicted to be in the mid-sixties and no rain in sight. In short, it was a most wondrous day to play pretend and make haste to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. My wife and I donned our costumes, or garb as the faire regulars call it, and headed for Manheim, Pennsylvania to partake in the revels. We stopped on the way for breakfast at one of our favorite spots and got more than a few good natured looks from the patrons from the area who knew that we had either materialized from a time warp somewhere out on route 442 or we were going to the faire. The latter was the general consensus.
When we entered the gates, we felt as we always do; that we were in a little world away from it all and most importantly, among friends, even if we did not know their names. It was a little step back in time where people seemed kinder, friendlier and smiles abounded. We picked up a schedule for the day’s activities and stepped to one side, just inside the portal, to decide which venues we would be visiting that day. Not a few visitors stopped and asked us questions, thinking that we were part of the cast of the faire. We gave them no reason to think otherwise and answered their questions and gave directions freely.
While standing there, I noticed a family all gathered together, also looking at the schedule and making decisions. One member, a man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties, was seated in a motorized chair with a tank of oxygen mounted on the back and a tube leading to a small mask on his face. My heart went out to him as I remembered my own father who died in his late fifties, the result of a lifetime of smoking.
As we stood there, I saw something that utterly shocked me. This man, incapacitated by respiratory ailments and unable to even walk, had enemies. And these enemies were close at hand. And they were his worst enemies. As I watched in disbelief, one of the group produced a wrench from his pocket, applied it to the valve of the oxygen tank and turned it off, while another assisted the helpless man to remove the oxygen mask. The man in the chair then proceeded to light a cigarette. At this point, I simply could not leave, but stayed, fixed there by that morbid curiosity that we all have from time to time, like slowing down to see an accident on the highway. I waited until he finished his smoke and members of the family then restored the mask and turned on the oxygen. I thought to myself that I might as well have been a witness to a murder as this man and his family, all his worst enemies, assisted in his eventual demise.
While not as obvious as this little scenario that played out before me, I thought how often it is that we become our own worst enemies, sabotaging our goals and our aspirations, sacrificing our ideals and our principles, laying waste to our future to satisfy the mundane needs or pleasures of the present and often assisted by those whom we call friends and family. As I think back, how much I wanted to be a friend to that stranger and tell him and his family how wrong they were, but I think we all know what the result of that would have been.
Examine the things that you do for yourself and for others on a regular basis. If you find yourself making excuses, taking the easy way out or simply living for the present without regard for the future, you may be a participant, a co-conspirator in being yours or someone else’s worst enemy.
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Stop Looking
Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 233 – Stop Looking
Stop Looking (10-20-08)
Just the other day I was browsing my computer files looking for a form I had created for use in the office. I must have spent an hour opening up folders, scanning file lists, and doing searches on likely file names. All this produced nothing but wasted time and some real frustration. Finally, I gave up and took a paper copy of the document from my file cabinet and went to work recreating the form. Of course, no sooner had I spent another hour or more in this endeavor, did I then happen upon the file that I was looking for all along. Pissed would be a mild expression for what I was feeling at that moment.
How often have you had that experience in one form or another? You lose something or you start looking for something that you need to complete a task. You are quite sure where you put it or know when and where you used it last. You go confidently to the desk drawer, the tool chest or the closet where you are sure you left it, but low and behold, it just isn’t there. Sure, it must be. You rifle through the other items occupying the space, absolutely positive that one of them is concealing what you seek from sight. Sometimes you even close a drawer, walk away and come back and open it again, thinking that somehow that thing, that object you seek will magically be there, because you must have been mistaken or your mind was playing tricks on you. You came up empty, didn’t you?
Next, you spend hours looking in all the likely places, formulating blame and terrible retribution on others who you are sure must have taken it, the thing, the object of your quest, and moved it without telling you. You hurl painful epithets at those who try to tell you where to look, and you contemplate a horrible demise for those who ask that inevitable question, “well, where did you put it last?” Next, you begin to look in all the unlikely places, places where it could not possibly be, but where some other fool, certainly not you, may have left it. Hell, I have even looked in the refrigerator for items that no one in a sane state would put there.
Finally, you give up. You have been brought to your knees. You devise some way to do without or you use an alternate method of completing your task. More often than not, you find yourself running out to the store to buy a replacement for that now lost and never to be recovered object. You have now wasted the greater part of the day, but at least now you can finish what you set out to do in the first place. Returning home you renew your efforts to complete your task. You reach for something and your hand falls upon . . . Damn it.
There is a lot in life and in our training that is so much like one of those days. Often we can spend more time seeking something than we actually spend in accomplishing something. And, of course, as soon as we have given up and moved on, there it is. We even complicate things further by looking for perfection; the perfect scheme, the perfect workout, the perfect nutrition plan, the perfect “whatever.” The important thing is not to spend all your effort looking, but to put more of that effort into doing. Chances are, even if it is not the perfect plan, you are going to make progress, because the easiest way to find something is to stop looking for it and start working for it.
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Stop Looking (10-20-08)
Just the other day I was browsing my computer files looking for a form I had created for use in the office. I must have spent an hour opening up folders, scanning file lists, and doing searches on likely file names. All this produced nothing but wasted time and some real frustration. Finally, I gave up and took a paper copy of the document from my file cabinet and went to work recreating the form. Of course, no sooner had I spent another hour or more in this endeavor, did I then happen upon the file that I was looking for all along. Pissed would be a mild expression for what I was feeling at that moment.
How often have you had that experience in one form or another? You lose something or you start looking for something that you need to complete a task. You are quite sure where you put it or know when and where you used it last. You go confidently to the desk drawer, the tool chest or the closet where you are sure you left it, but low and behold, it just isn’t there. Sure, it must be. You rifle through the other items occupying the space, absolutely positive that one of them is concealing what you seek from sight. Sometimes you even close a drawer, walk away and come back and open it again, thinking that somehow that thing, that object you seek will magically be there, because you must have been mistaken or your mind was playing tricks on you. You came up empty, didn’t you?
Next, you spend hours looking in all the likely places, formulating blame and terrible retribution on others who you are sure must have taken it, the thing, the object of your quest, and moved it without telling you. You hurl painful epithets at those who try to tell you where to look, and you contemplate a horrible demise for those who ask that inevitable question, “well, where did you put it last?” Next, you begin to look in all the unlikely places, places where it could not possibly be, but where some other fool, certainly not you, may have left it. Hell, I have even looked in the refrigerator for items that no one in a sane state would put there.
Finally, you give up. You have been brought to your knees. You devise some way to do without or you use an alternate method of completing your task. More often than not, you find yourself running out to the store to buy a replacement for that now lost and never to be recovered object. You have now wasted the greater part of the day, but at least now you can finish what you set out to do in the first place. Returning home you renew your efforts to complete your task. You reach for something and your hand falls upon . . . Damn it.
There is a lot in life and in our training that is so much like one of those days. Often we can spend more time seeking something than we actually spend in accomplishing something. And, of course, as soon as we have given up and moved on, there it is. We even complicate things further by looking for perfection; the perfect scheme, the perfect workout, the perfect nutrition plan, the perfect “whatever.” The important thing is not to spend all your effort looking, but to put more of that effort into doing. Chances are, even if it is not the perfect plan, you are going to make progress, because the easiest way to find something is to stop looking for it and start working for it.
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Crack in the Wall
Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 232 – The Crack in the Wall
The Crack in the Wall (10-13-08)
Every once in a while I have the good fortune to find a little piece that has a message which defies my poor abilities to make any improvements and says something that I wish I had said, but in an interesting way. I stumbled across this little story some time ago and tucked it away, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. While looking through my files for an idea, I happily rediscovered it. It has a great message, but please understand that I did not write it and, unfortunately, do not know the author who so richly deserves the credit. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy it.
__________
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall
to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered,
and he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning.
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!
"The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
"Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry,Mr. Mouse,
but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said,
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you,but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house --
like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.
In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake
whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed to her side and helped her to bed.
Soon, she came down with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup,
so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued,
so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; and when she died,
so many people came for her funeral,
that the farmer had the cow slaughtered
to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem
and think it doesn't concern you, remember --
when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life.
We must keep an eye out for one another
and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
__________
My friends; not one of us rides this big blue ball alone. We may not always have the means to help another financially or physically, which is so true of the internet. What we do have is the ability to offer our understanding, our advice, and our encouragement, so that our fellow passengers can feel the support they need to make it through whatever troubles they see leering at them through the crack in the wall.
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
The Crack in the Wall (10-13-08)
Every once in a while I have the good fortune to find a little piece that has a message which defies my poor abilities to make any improvements and says something that I wish I had said, but in an interesting way. I stumbled across this little story some time ago and tucked it away, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. While looking through my files for an idea, I happily rediscovered it. It has a great message, but please understand that I did not write it and, unfortunately, do not know the author who so richly deserves the credit. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy it.
__________
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall
to see the farmer and his wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered,
and he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning.
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!
"The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
"Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry,Mr. Mouse,
but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said,
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you,but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house --
like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.
In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake
whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed to her side and helped her to bed.
Soon, she came down with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup,
so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued,
so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; and when she died,
so many people came for her funeral,
that the farmer had the cow slaughtered
to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem
and think it doesn't concern you, remember --
when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life.
We must keep an eye out for one another
and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
__________
My friends; not one of us rides this big blue ball alone. We may not always have the means to help another financially or physically, which is so true of the internet. What we do have is the ability to offer our understanding, our advice, and our encouragement, so that our fellow passengers can feel the support they need to make it through whatever troubles they see leering at them through the crack in the wall.
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Power of Nothing
Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 231 – The Power of Nothing
The Power of Nothing (10-06-08)
As a former teacher of science, I used to challenge my junior high students to go home one night, and while at the dinner table, pick up any object and ask the question, “Why is this more nothing than it is something?” This was a lead in to helping them to understand that while we think of objects as being solid, they are composed of, on the atomic level that is, particles in motion that are held together by forces, and in actuality, having little bits of “nothing” between them. Without that “nothing” a locomotive might be reduced to the size of a thimble. It would weigh as much as a full size locomotive, but with all the sub-atomic “nothings” taken away would not take up the same amount of space. So, there can be tremendous value and power in “nothing.” Imagine what our universe would be like, for instance, without all the vast voids between the planets, stars and galaxies. Those voids, those “nothings” far exceed the “something” of which the universe is fashioned.
Well, enough of my poor attempts at physics and astronomy. I hope I don’t have you thoroughly confused at this point. But, looking back to my days in the classroom, it is sad to say, one of the most disappointing “nothings” that has developed since then is that nothing seems to happen around the dinner table anymore. Families have become fragmented, going off in so many different directions, with so many activities that there is often precious little time for a family meal and everyone tends to eat on the run. So, one might say, the power of nothing that can give substance to matter and the universe can separate and diminish substance within relationships.
Have you ever happened upon a child at play, deep in thought, organizing the toys, playing pretend, engulfed in their own little world of fantasy? You ask them what they are doing and the answer, invariably, is “nothing.” What amazing little “nothings” are going on in that young mind as it develops and grows. Ask that same child, what it has done when something is wrong and you might get the same answer, “nothing.”
There is wondrous power in the many things that we characterize as “nothing.” A thank you from a friend is often met with “oh, it was nothing.” Perhaps someone asks what you did over the weekend. Your answer might be, “oh, nothing.” Was it really? Rest and relaxation can be a powerful “nothing” to propel us to greater achievements.
Our lives are full of actions and events that we often characterize as having little worth. If we have put our minds and bodies on hold with little in the way of mental stimulation and even less in the way of physical activity, then we will most certainly experience the stagnation that is one aspect of “nothing.” It is a power that robs us of vitality and motivation. However, even at rest, if we are learning, growing, and progressing in any way, we have most certainly harnessed the true power that is the power of “nothing.”
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
The Power of Nothing (10-06-08)
As a former teacher of science, I used to challenge my junior high students to go home one night, and while at the dinner table, pick up any object and ask the question, “Why is this more nothing than it is something?” This was a lead in to helping them to understand that while we think of objects as being solid, they are composed of, on the atomic level that is, particles in motion that are held together by forces, and in actuality, having little bits of “nothing” between them. Without that “nothing” a locomotive might be reduced to the size of a thimble. It would weigh as much as a full size locomotive, but with all the sub-atomic “nothings” taken away would not take up the same amount of space. So, there can be tremendous value and power in “nothing.” Imagine what our universe would be like, for instance, without all the vast voids between the planets, stars and galaxies. Those voids, those “nothings” far exceed the “something” of which the universe is fashioned.
Well, enough of my poor attempts at physics and astronomy. I hope I don’t have you thoroughly confused at this point. But, looking back to my days in the classroom, it is sad to say, one of the most disappointing “nothings” that has developed since then is that nothing seems to happen around the dinner table anymore. Families have become fragmented, going off in so many different directions, with so many activities that there is often precious little time for a family meal and everyone tends to eat on the run. So, one might say, the power of nothing that can give substance to matter and the universe can separate and diminish substance within relationships.
Have you ever happened upon a child at play, deep in thought, organizing the toys, playing pretend, engulfed in their own little world of fantasy? You ask them what they are doing and the answer, invariably, is “nothing.” What amazing little “nothings” are going on in that young mind as it develops and grows. Ask that same child, what it has done when something is wrong and you might get the same answer, “nothing.”
There is wondrous power in the many things that we characterize as “nothing.” A thank you from a friend is often met with “oh, it was nothing.” Perhaps someone asks what you did over the weekend. Your answer might be, “oh, nothing.” Was it really? Rest and relaxation can be a powerful “nothing” to propel us to greater achievements.
Our lives are full of actions and events that we often characterize as having little worth. If we have put our minds and bodies on hold with little in the way of mental stimulation and even less in the way of physical activity, then we will most certainly experience the stagnation that is one aspect of “nothing.” It is a power that robs us of vitality and motivation. However, even at rest, if we are learning, growing, and progressing in any way, we have most certainly harnessed the true power that is the power of “nothing.”
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.
We've Got You Surrounded!
Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 230 – We’ve got you Surrounded!
We’ve got you Surrounded (09-29-08)
“You in there! Come out with your hands up! We’ve got you surrounded!”
Now, who has never heard those words called out from behind a rock by some cowboy in a white hat in some old western movie? It was usually shouted at the bank robber or cattle rustler, in the black hat, holed up in the cabin.
Perhaps you heard those very words shouted from the safety of a 20’s era Packard as the G-men in their fedoras tried to flush out the mobsters from their lair and rid the city of crime and corruption.
If westerns and mob movies weren’t your cup of tea, you may have heard those same words blaring out over a megaphone by a police officer, donning his Kevlar vest behind a patrol car trying to convince the drug lord that his number was up.
In any case, this was usually the time that the bad guys were supposed to make a break for it and try to escape their fate, which usually ended in a hail of bullets, a little or a lot of bloodshed, depending on the year of the movie, and a few dead bodies, often, but not always, the bad guys.
In my usual warped pattern of thought, while calling to mind these movie clichés, I was reminded that there are different ways to be surrounded; ways that do not find us trapped like rats waiting to run out to face an uncertain destiny. There are ways to be surrounded that support and strengthen us. A fitness forum community is just one of those ways.
Think about it. As a member of a forum community, you are surrounded by folks that support you with their knowledge and understanding of fitness and training in its many and varied forms. When you want help, you need only post a question and surrounded with people who will offer an answer. When you have problems, someone is always there to offer solutions. When you seek a goal, people are there to offer their encouragement. When you reach that goal, there are always friends to offer their congratulations and give you that much needed pat on the back. When you just need to unwind, you are surrounded by a host of people with whom you can exchange a joke, discuss a topic or just have a chat.
So, my friends, the next time you feel trapped, or as often happens to me, feeling that no one in my immediate world can identify with what I go through with my lifestyle and training, just remember: “You in there! Come out with your hands up (preferably holding a dumbbell or barbell)! We’ve got you surrounded.”
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.Mahler’s
We’ve got you Surrounded (09-29-08)
“You in there! Come out with your hands up! We’ve got you surrounded!”
Now, who has never heard those words called out from behind a rock by some cowboy in a white hat in some old western movie? It was usually shouted at the bank robber or cattle rustler, in the black hat, holed up in the cabin.
Perhaps you heard those very words shouted from the safety of a 20’s era Packard as the G-men in their fedoras tried to flush out the mobsters from their lair and rid the city of crime and corruption.
If westerns and mob movies weren’t your cup of tea, you may have heard those same words blaring out over a megaphone by a police officer, donning his Kevlar vest behind a patrol car trying to convince the drug lord that his number was up.
In any case, this was usually the time that the bad guys were supposed to make a break for it and try to escape their fate, which usually ended in a hail of bullets, a little or a lot of bloodshed, depending on the year of the movie, and a few dead bodies, often, but not always, the bad guys.
In my usual warped pattern of thought, while calling to mind these movie clichés, I was reminded that there are different ways to be surrounded; ways that do not find us trapped like rats waiting to run out to face an uncertain destiny. There are ways to be surrounded that support and strengthen us. A fitness forum community is just one of those ways.
Think about it. As a member of a forum community, you are surrounded by folks that support you with their knowledge and understanding of fitness and training in its many and varied forms. When you want help, you need only post a question and surrounded with people who will offer an answer. When you have problems, someone is always there to offer solutions. When you seek a goal, people are there to offer their encouragement. When you reach that goal, there are always friends to offer their congratulations and give you that much needed pat on the back. When you just need to unwind, you are surrounded by a host of people with whom you can exchange a joke, discuss a topic or just have a chat.
So, my friends, the next time you feel trapped, or as often happens to me, feeling that no one in my immediate world can identify with what I go through with my lifestyle and training, just remember: “You in there! Come out with your hands up (preferably holding a dumbbell or barbell)! We’ve got you surrounded.”
____________________
Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.Mahler’s
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