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One Degree of Change
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Although its a New Year, and we start with the best resolutions that will make our lives so much better! But even the best of intention resolutions go by the way side, and often become lost in the miasma of life. Why?
Well, because more often than not, we feel in order to make a change in our lives, we feel we have to change the course of our ship 180 degrees….turn it around completely for that new goal, that new life, in order to achieve our new life.
There is one rule of life that I remember learning when I first became a teacher. It had more to do with helping students, or improving my classroom in some way, or my teaching strategies….something like that. BUT, this rule actually applies to more than that. It applies to the universe…the very core of our existence. READY FOR IT? Here is goes:
CHANGE IS CONSTANT
The only thing constant in our lives, IS change. We can not stop change, it happens on a universe level, in happens on a cellular level, or even smaller, atomic level. As long as time moves on, CHANGE happens. Even if we stand still, we breath, changing or exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. The very root of BREATHING is change. Okay, I think you got the idea!
So what does that do with my New Year resolution? Everything!
If you want something to change this New Year, or don’t worry, it will. You’ll get older, your children, your pets. Your job will change, new clients, new people to interact with, new rules, new clients. What if you don’t have a job, a stay at home parent….oh, things will change there too! House gets dirtier, clothes get dirtier, yard grass and plants grow. Family changes too, as parents get older, babies are born, relatives move away or closer. There really isn’t a way to get away with change. It is how we adapt to the change that makes the difference.
Adapting to change: You get older….looking in the mirror, wow you’ve changed! Do I put on makeup to hide the change, the wrinkles, the puffy eyes, the sagging jawline? Children…oh, children change so much more quickly. Time to buy new clothes, new shoes, haircuts, braces! The job, what you do for a living, to earn a wage, to support your family….maybe it is time to make a change there too? Not meaning quit, but refocus, re-frame, set different priorities.
So from the title of this article, I think by now you might be saying….okay, what is one degree of change then? Well, let’s go back to the course of the ship. First it takes a long time to change the course of a large ship, so much slower than changing the course of a car! Picture a ship leaving from New York, heading to Europe. The captain sets course, due East. At first, the ship pulls out of the harbor and gets lined up on the destination. Ships have specific headings as they travel the seas, routes is a better word. As they move along their route, seas may be calm, but a storm in the distance may be challenging. The captain changes course to avoid the brunt of the storm. Because they are looking ahead, changes don’t have to be drastic, the change just a little, because by time they get into the area where the ship will be affected by the storm, the ship has moved away from the area by many, many miles.
You and I are a lot like that captain, but we are captains of our own ships. When we see storms ahead, or events that we don’t think are good for us, we begin to change course. A super simple example in your own home. The dirt dishes are piling up. We see, if we don’t wash them, several things may happen: 1. We run out of clean dishes to eat on, cook on or bake with. 2. Food scrapes begin to attract flies and other insects that aren’t good for our health. 3. Large mammals, ie rats, begin finding their way into our homes, and spread diseases. 4….well, you get the idea. SO, to change course, for #1-4 not to happen, we wash the dishes. If we wash dishes immediately after we dine, the change isn’t dramatic….less than 10 min, all is clean. If we wait until the next meal or the next day, change must be larger, 30 minutes or more, to stop #1-4.
Let’s move to a larger scale of change and possibly more difficult or complex. One very popular course is to STOP ______________ (fill in the blank). In our example, I will choose smoking. Smoking is an activity that may people do and many people want to change. If one smokes, then there are consequences (or results). (Just letting you know, I don’t smoke. I once did when I was younger, and mom found out, and she made me change with one slap…that was my change!). But another family member does, and that is their choice, not mine to change them, but they have a lot to think about. 1. They don’t like the way their breath feels/smells. The breath mints or gum proves that. 2. Their clothes have an unpleasant odor that often they themselves can’t detect, but people around them certain can. 3. Laws or becoming more and more restrictive on where you can smoke in our society. 4. Housing landlords, hotels, prohibit smoking in the buildings which reduces that housing opportunities, or many cold nights standing on the porch for the “last smoke” before heading inside. 5. I won’t even get into the health aspects of smoking, as I would like you to be able to read this post in under 15 days, but ultimately, the smokers health effects all the family members around them, either indirectly, or after the smokers untimely illness and death, directly, as they deal with not having that loved on in their lives anymore. And I won’t even get into the financial impact this activity. To say the least, it is one that I have heard many want to stop. An entire billion dollar industry is based on the notion, that their “product/alternate activity” will help them STOP. But who really has the ability to make the change? Ultimately, only you. Many try a 180 degree change. They stop, as we call it, cold turkey. I have know someone who has succeeded by changing this way, and he was more determined to continue not smoking, every time he looked at his daughter. But many aren’t able to make 180 degree change and stay the course.
A personal example that I made a one degree of change in my life, that has completely changed me physically and mentally, is my weight loss. Two years after having my last child, I noticed my weight had not gone back to where I started before I became pregnant. For two years I said it was “baby weight”, and I had to eat well (alot) to continue nursing. Well, that was a year after I stopped nursing….do you get the idea? I was using my children as a reason for not making a change. I decided to make a change, a small change, a one degree of change. And this is what the change was: When my children wouldn’t finish their food that I had prepared for them to eat, I would finish it, as I didn’t want it to go to waste. Well, in a way, it went to waist…get it? Sorry, couldn’t resist! I decided my change was going to be, stop eating the children’s left overs. That one degree of change, made me aware of what other things I was putting into my mouth. And it was much more than I had originally thought. In less than 6 months, after that one degree of change….that one decision….I lost 40 pounds. I then became more excited about the change, and made several more “one degree” changes in my life. For example, I began taking my dog for a LONG walk, once a week. The chain reaction of one degree of change, increased to nearly 45 degrees, then 90 degrees! That was nearly 10 years ago. I have kept the weight off, because I haven’t made the one degree of change BACK to the original path I was on, of eating my children’s leftover food.
Again, lets go back to the ship.
Ships can’t make a 180 degree turn. Titanic tried….
best example yet, huh? SO what is a captain, you, to do? Make a small degree of change. Make a one degree of change. If you change your course, that you are one, by just a very small amount, by time you reach your destination, you will have put yourself in a very different place then when you started. You won’t even end up close to where you were originally headed, in fact, over the course of many days, years, or life time, your destination will be the new goal you were seeking, and you will have arrived there.
What does a one degree change look like? It starts with a decision of looking down the road, on the radar, on the map of life (sorry, I know that sounds corny), but it is true. Where are you headed? What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be at the end of this New Year? Don’t make several goals for yourself….just one…..you can take on the others when you are on the right course of this one. Where can you find your inspiration? Who else has achieved what you would like to achieve? How did they do it? Connect with others, learn from others, then take on your own goal, by making a one degree of change, one decision, one small habit, that will grow into a completely new life.
The Chicken in the Truck: A Reflection
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Many years ago, my husband and I were driving on the freeway (highway), and we saw several chickens dead on the road. They obviously came out of a semi-truck that was probably on it’s way to the processing plant because they were pure white, (the kind used for eggs and meat).
The discussion of the question continues to this day: Would you rather be the chicken on the truck or the chicken that jumps from the truck? One choice, you surrender to your fate not knowing what will happen but maybe you will live, and the other choice, you try to change your course, not knowing if you will be killed instantly or survive and find freedom and your own choice of future.
I made a big decision last month, and am ready to begin my new path, (in a few weeks). I haven’t thought about this questions for a few years, and it seems everytime I make or am faced with making a big decision or have made a big decision, I think about this question.
Upon reflection I am identifying myself as the chicken who jumps from the truck. Reflecting on the current path I am on, I don’t like where I am going, soI concluded that I needed to take that “leap of faith” and try for something different. It maybe worse (in which I will jump again) or it may be better, (inwhich I will stay until it becomes worse then I will jump again).
I may be viewed as someone who won’t settle….but why do we have to settle? Why do we tell ourselves, “This is as good as I’m going to get, so what use is trying to change things?” As long as I am trying to get out, to change my life for the better, to improve my situation, to make a better life for myself, then I know that I haven’t given up. Some people have made this “leap of faith” in their mind, as did Viktor Frankle wrote about in “Man’s Search for Meaning” about his experiences in Nazi death camp, in Aschwitz, Germany. And others take a physically leap, as did the people escaping the burning buildings of 9/11. Being the master of your future, regardless of the outcome, is what gives you hope, inspiration, motivation and focus of your life.
Who do you identify with? The chicken on the truck, or the chicken who escaped?
Please feel free to leave a comment…
photo credit: AlicePopkorn via photopin cc
7 People To Have Dinner With
This is a sidetrack to my usual thinking, but again, I have been inspired by my fellow bloggers to think and learn about blogging, writing, dreams and life in general. So I was thinking, if I had to limit it to 7, who has inspired me to view my the world the way I do, and what if I can view their world through their eyes? I would love to sit down an talk to these people to ask them questions about their view of the world….and I also had to think about where I would want to have dinner (or lunch) with them to have this discussion.
7. Ronald Reagan. I would invite him out for a lunch in the foothills, on horseback. We would sit down, overlooking the Ca coast with the golden hills dotted with oak trees. We would talk about his acting career, (is it really as glamorous as it seems), his political life, (was it really as easy as he made it seem), and what was his favorite part of being president. Being president would be an amazing job.
6. Jane Goodall. I would ask her to lunch on top of a canopy in the jungle. We would overlook the forest and nature. We would talk about her research with the gorillas, what is the most important thing she has learned, and what about the “civilized” world she misses the most. I guess her answer to the last question would be “I don’t miss anything”. I would like to live among the gorillas….I think I would feel safer.
5. Galileo Galilei. I would ask him out for midnight snack under the stars where we would see the milky way as clear as day, and the aurora borealis paint the night sky. I would ask him if he could live in today’s world, with the knowledge we have gained about our existance among our universe, would he? I would talk about what inspired him to see the world differently than anyone else of his time. Also I would ask him, who inspired him. I would like to go to the moon….I think he would too.
4. Jonas Salk. I would ask Jonas to lunch in a school cafeteria. The food there is a contentious subject. I would ask him what he wanted to be when he was a kindergartener. Did he always want to be a medical researcher? I would also ask him what he thinks the number one medical problem is for our society today…and how he would try to cure it. I don’t think he would say it is obesity, because there is a cure for that already.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeyc/95191971/
3. Winston Churchill. I would ask Winston to have dinner with me on the shores of Normandy. I would ask him how he felt about all of those men giving up their lives for his vision of the future world without Hitler. His belief was so strong, so focused, so undaunted. He knew with all his heart and soul that no matter the sacrafice, that the world had to stop the lunatic. I would ask him what lunatic needs to be stopped today? I think he has several to choose from.
2. Rosa Parks. I would ask her to dinner in the most fancy, amazing restuarant I could find. She would probably say, no, and instead pick a corner diner, where you can get a great homemade meal. I would ask her what was the most scary part about not moving off that seat…saying no, or the moment before she said no. I would ask her what still needs to be done to help our world be more equitable, no matter what the color, sex, preference, religion or idealogy. I think she would be happy with how far we have come. I think she knows who needs to not get up anymore.
1. Walter Romaniuk. I would make my dad a nice bowl of borscht with sour cream, french bread and for dessert, a weak cup of tea, with a slice of apple pie and mom’s rum cake. It has been over 25 years since I lost my dad to cancer. I know he wanted 5 more years, but God needed him sooner. I am glad I asked him all the questions I needed to before he died. I recorded his thoughts, life story, ambitions, challenges and adventures. He was an amazing man…not so much for the world as a whole, but for my world as a whole. I would tell him I miss him very much.
Be sure to talk to the people who are important in your life, who have inspired you, who have made you, you. They won’t be around forever, so ask them the questions while you can.
Photo credit is in the order they appear:
photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert via photopin cc
photo credit: lorises via photopin cc
photo credit: Children of the Concrete via photopin cc
photo credit: EscoPhotog via photopin cc
photo credit: monkeyc.net via photopin cc
photo credit: cliff1066™ via photopin cc
photo credit: code_martial via photopin cc
Who are your 7 people that you would have dinner/lunch with?
Share with your friends, and get them thinking!
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Solar Energy – The Original Motivator
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3938631939/
I know that everyone is trying to “go green”….it’s the newest hippest thing to do and be….
Solar Power, a great thing to harness, as all the energy that has been used by man since the beginning of time, is released in 1 sec from the sun…..so there is no doubt that the big ball of energy in the sky has a LOT of energy….
We obviously need the sun’s energy on a daily basis, as evidence of the success of Starbucks(TM) in Seattle, and their lack of (solar) energy and thus needing some kind of energy, they use caffeine, and Starbucks(TM) filled that niche very well. (That isn’t a commentary one way or the other, but a meer statement of fact).
But I digress…..today, as my daughter played outside with the neighborhood children, I wanted to keep an eye on them, without interferring in their play. I stood in the front yard with my hands in my pocket, trying to figure out what I should do….
…as I stood there, the warmth of the sun began to seep through my sweater, as earlier I was in an ice skating rink for 3 hours where I know I bonded with the icicles that glittered as decoration.
As the sun continued to warm and comfort me into a peaceful, relaxed, and content disposition….I didn’t want to leave my post of watching the children at play nor did I want to leave the sun, as I was remembering I just don’t sit enough and watch my children play in the sun, so I pulled out my foldable cloth chair, retrieved my book, and spent the afternoon reading in the sun.
It would have been easy to go into the house, turn on the cable (well, not really, because I don’t have cable…but you know what I mean….) and just sit there with my mind going numb…. But the sun motivated my to enjoy a moment of peace, watching and enjoying the precious gift of life…..
When is the last time you bonded with the sun?
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photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography via photopin cc
Affective Learning 