At first I thought how cute the local kids had run laps around the yard to see who could do the most.  But then I was stopped dead in my tracks when this registered in my head.

First, First, Lost.

I was saddened to think that these children are growing up with the idea that if you arenâ€t first you LOST.  What ever happened to doing your best and being proud of it.

I personally run a couple of running events a year and I promise you that I have no illusions that I will ever finish first, but that does not take away from the enjoyment I get from running and seeing what is the best I can do on that day.

Look closely and you see that the child who “lost”, Austin, completed just one lap fewer than Lucy and Macy who tied for first.

Now I am sure there is more to the choice of these words than meets the eye.  It may have been innocence or vengeance or simply a limited vocabulary to choose from.

I am not advocating prizes for everyone who starts the event, but what I saw on the sidewalk today is another sign of how we are perpetuating a dichotomous world.

What do you think?  How do you view your performance if you do not finish first?

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Published: March 4, 2011

During this past year Iâ€ve had three instances of car trouble: a blowout on a freeway, a bunch of blown fuses and an out-of-gas situation. They all happened while I was driving other peopleâ€s cars, which for some reason makes it worse on an emotional level. And on a practical level as well, what with the fact that I carry things like a jack and extra fuses in my own car, and know enough not to park on a steep incline with less than a gallon of fuel.

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Do you remember when you were a child and you were afraid of the dark, or the monster under the bed? Our parents always told us there was nothing to be afraid of and often times they would turn on the lights and tell us to look under the bed only to discover that nothing was there. They would tuck us in and we felt safe knowing that we were protected and there was nothing to fear.

What is the fear that is presenting itself to you now? Is there something dark that you are afraid to face? Perhaps it is that you might lose your house, or your job or perhaps your loved one. We live in a society were we are bombarded with fearful images of tragedy and of “what could be” or what “might happen if.” Although our lives may seem fine to an outsider, we cannot fully be present in the moment and see the beauty around us because we are overly worried about a scenario that has not happened yet or may never happen.

Next time you feel this fear, invite the fear to come to your door.  Imagine surrendering to the fear and giving into it. What happens when you do this? Does lightening come down and strike you dead in the moment? It is probably most unlikely. Perhaps the fear really was just “fear itself.” Or perhaps there is something that is asking for your attention that you need to address. By inviting the fear in, you and your fear can become one and work together. You may see that was once the Apocalypse in your mind is simply something that needs your attention. Perhaps you need to take some kind of action by organizing your bills, or calling your bank and working out a payment plan to pay off some debt, or by simply telling your loved one that you love them and everything is going to be “ok”. By doing this, we can free ourselves from the unknown and experience ourselves more fully in the present moment.

Next time you feel afraid of the unknown, take a look and find out who the monster is hiding under the bed and turn on the light! You may just find that there was nothing there to begin with, or just perhaps some dust bunnies that simply need cleaning.

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Well what if we actually had it wrong—that not being ‘it’ is not the goal; it is actually is the goal to be it? The goal is to actually be the one who is not only seeking, but finding.

All day long today — God, the universe, spirit –is going to send you signals. ‘It.’ ‘Not it.’ When your heart opens and you feel more alive –you say a kind word, you think a good thought –you will have the feeling of expansion. Thatâ€s it. When you get worried, start complaining or feel resentful, you are going to feel contraction. Thatâ€s not it.

The universe, this God who loves us so much, is sending signals every single day. It. Not it. This helps us find our way. Listen to those signals, and find your way.

Here’s To Seeking and Finding,

Courtesy of Mary Morrissey – www.marymorrissey.com

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As anyone who has lost their eyesight can tell you, though, there are things that are clearer when you cannot see the world through your eyes. One of the reasons many meditation instructors advise sitting with the eyes closed is because we automatically become more in touch with our inner world when we are not distracted by the outer world. It is in this state that vision becomes our mode of seeing. Vision comes from within and shows us how to navigate the realms of thought, feeling, and emotion. It enables us to see things that arenâ€t yet manifested in the world of form, and it also connects us to that part of ourselves that exists separately from the world of form.

As we age, even those of us with perfect eyesight will generally lose some of our acuity, but this loss is usually replaced with inner vision. This is the time of life when we are meant to turn inside and take what are sometimes the very first steps of a journey that cannot be traced on a map. We call upon intuition and feel our way along a path that ultimately carries us beyond the realm we can see with our eyes and into the land of spirit.

This article is printed from DailyOM – Inspirational thoughts for a happy, healthy and fulfilling day.
Register for free at www.dailyom.com

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Guest Blogger Joshua Scott Onysko

By Joshua Scott Onysko

If we could breech the boundaries of time and look back on our childhood experiences with fresh eyes, we would see that our relationship to our experiences were authentic.  Authenticity has many faces, but the one we are looking at now is the authenticity of trust.  As we mature, our minds tend to form these check points that  act as filters to our experiences; these check points start to take over for the trust we once had for the true experiences we once enjoyed.

We gain trust in this process because it makes us feel more in control of the circumstances that we are engulfed in every day, but the truth is…we are not in control.  Sure we can make educated decisions that play out in a certain way, but in the end there is always a larger picture that the myopic view will never see.

How many times in your life have you wanted to make a change, big or small, and your mind went through this list of all of the reasons you shouldn’t try?  For example, you said to yourself, “Oh, somebody else must have already thought of that;” or “That will never work;” or “I’ll never make ends meet,” etc.  We all have at one point or another.  Well, it’s time to break free from the bonds of our past experiences and to realize the opportunities we have today are new; and today is not a waiting room for tomorrow.  We will only find freedom when we free ourselves from mental slavery and find liberation in new experiences.

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By Guest Blogger – Nicole Irlbeck – Restoration Fitness – Boulder, Colorado

What inspires you?

You know those days where you feel like you are headed in the right direction, and everything you are doing feels like what you were meant to do?

Then again, why do we spend so many days feeling like we are in a fog, just going through the motions?  Did you ever stop to think that the reason you are feeling dull, uninspired, or less than successful is because you are in your own way?

Cheri Ruskus, the editor-in-chief of Victory Circles magazine has often told me to get out of my own way. In Gay Hendricks book, the Big Leap, he states, “When you get to judgment day, God will not ask you ‘why were you not Mosesâ€, but rather, ‘why were you not youâ€?”  There are multiple reasons for why we get in our own way.  Allow me to list a few here:

We have a false belief that we are not good enough, smart enough, or deserving enough to expect more out of our lives and therefore shrink into mediocrity.  Self-contempt never leaves our side.
We believe that we will never be as good as our neighbor or have too many obstacles to overcome to actually reach our dreams.  Jealousy and bitterness are our constant companions.
We believe that once we reveal our greatness, more will be expected of us, and the burden of either keeping that up or making everyone else around us “OK” with our success seems like too much to handle.  Playing small makes us feel safe.

Over the course of my career, I have listened to hundreds of women and girls talk about their lives.  There isnâ€t a shadow of a doubt that we lack inspiration at our core.  The problem is most often that we get in our own way more than we allow ourselves to believe we can shine.

What would it mean to dump the head trash that keeps reminding you of your laziness, regrets, mistakes, embarrassments, fears, or bitterness?  It would mean that we would have to accept the fact that we are fundamentally perfect, or that we are capable beyond our wildest dreams to do that which reveals our genius.

It would mean that instead of beating ourselves up for the things that occupy our thoughts, we could open our minds up to the boundless possibilities before us.  We might even begin to really see how in holding ourselves back we are withholding gifts that other people really need from us.

Letâ€s start going out of our way to believe we are deserving, competent, bright, equipped, secure, and ready to take on an inspiring life- not only for our benefit, but, primarily for those who will benefit from our genius!

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