Tag: Fenton Michigan
SUPER HERO CHRISTMAS
THE ANTI-FAN
I attended a football game at Michigan State University this past Saturday “GO SPARTANS!!!”. I love going to the campus, I love being in the stadium and I just love everything about a day of college football. It was the most beautiful day for a football game and we sat in some really great seats…well, great seats to watch the game, not so great seats for one particular fan, or “anti-fan”, that sat behind us. The entire game, this anti-fan shouted out the meanest things. He was a MSU fan and I am pretty sure one that has been attending games for years and years. He was loud, angry, negative and down-right mean. They would do something great and he would be sarcastic with his support. They would do something bad and he would shout something like “WELL WE HAVE GROWN TO EXPECT THAT FROM YOU GUYS!!!” They would start moving the ball down the field and he would act shocked, they would have a turnover and he would go back to his “of-course-that-just-happened” attitude. It was unbelievable that someone would pay money to come to a college football game and knock their team so much…to top it off, he was not quiet about it. His wife was with him and a younger woman sat on his other side…both of them were ultra-quiet…and it went on the entire game.
There are two things I learned from that…1. I am really glad I do not have anyone in my life that is that negative and 2. if you are a fan, BE A FAN!!! There is a saying “You get more bees with honey than vinegar”. If you are looking for positive results, it is important to have a positive attitude. Now some would ask, how much effect could one guy in the stands have on a team that is down on the field? and, does it really matter if one guy is being negative in a crowd of positivity? Have you ever heard the saying “One bad apple spoils a bushel”? I was not letting him effect me on a conscious level, but who knows what he was doing on a subconscious level to my energy, much less everyone else around him. More than anything, if a guy is that pissed off and negative at a wonderful college sporting event, I can only imagine what he is like in a stressful situation. If someone like that is the patriarch of a family, I would wager his negativity infiltrates his family members…and I know for a fact that it is effecting his health.
It isn’t always easy to keep a positive attitude, especially when life seems to be throwing you lemons…but what about that saying “When life throws you lemons, make lemonade”. By writing about this, I am by no means complaining about him. I am hoping to increase the awareness around attitude. When someone asks “How are you?” let’s run through 2 possible answers. “Not bad.” is one possible answer…but “Not bad.” leans towards negative energy. What if when asked how you are, you answer “I am good.” or “I am really great!”. Even just saying those two answers, as compared to the first, really changes the energy of how you are feeling…and in essence changes the energy in and around your body.
How are you spending your life? Where are you focusing your energy? What small changes can you make to shift your perspective in a more positive direction? Let’s start today…we only get one chance to make this the best life possible!
HALLOWEEN
Halloween means 2 things to me…COSTUMES AND CANDY!! The costume part of the 2…pure fun! The candy…a double-edged sword. Candy does a weird thing to me. It is fun to eat, tastes amazing, and releases “feel good” and comforting chemicals in the body. I always have mixed feelings about giving away candy at Halloween…and it mostly has to do with the detrimental effects the sugar has on immune system function. I have settled this battle in my head by giving out caramel apples at the Cafe. It allows me to still have fun with candy but also get that apple in there as well since…”An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”.
So this year I decided I wanted to do a little more educating when it comes to sugar and the immune system. What is the physiology behind sugar and the immune system and why is sugar so detrimental?
LESSONS AND LESSONS AND LESSONS…DO THEY EVER STOP?
Guess what? No the lessons don’t ever stop. What i realize in life is if we don’t listen and learn the lesson the first time around, it is bigger and louder the next time, and bigger and louder the next time. Life is really grand…however I have been in a lot of transition for the past month or so and I am ready to go into coast mode for a bit and have some peace.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING!!
Timing is everything! If you were to ask my Mom, she would say that I am not and have never been the most patient person. I am not one that needs to have things “RIGHT NOW” but I am one that if I get something on my mind, it needs to happen in the “VERY NEAR FUTURE”. I used to always say that once I have kids, I will learn patience. Of course I haven’t had that opportunity yet and so Life is teaching me lessons using other medium and boy they have been some real stingers lately.
The past week/weekend was really incredible. I have sat back and watched a couple really amazing things happen. I have been involved in the purchase of a short sale home since early May. It is a great little home in a great little spot and I was super excited to transition out of my condo and into a “Big Girl Home” as one of my friends referred to it. It has been a long 3 months with people continuously asking me when I am going to close with my answer always being “I don’t have a date confirmed but I am supposed to close on or before July 31st”. So with this past weekend approaching, my realtor and I put an extension on the contract. That very afternoon, just a short 5 hours after signing the extension, another house came up on the market and through a chain of communication I ended up seeing it the next morning and putting an offer on it that was accepted that evening and I will close within 30 days! The lesson in patience was reinforced for me in a really powerful way. “Good things come to those who wait”…I get it now.
The second lesson in patience this summer is private and really near and dear to my heart. It has been guiding me through a beautiful lesson is patience and timing and it is a slow process. This is something I will report back about further down the road.
THE SIMPLE THINGS
The joy in life is found in the simple things. This past weekend I accompanied a girlfriend to a party on the lake. Besides my friend, I wasn’t going to know a single person at the party but it seems that when hanging out around the lake, everyone is so friendly that I was sure it was going to be a good time. Something about the lake makes people happy. My understanding of the reason for the party was this couple got married and bought a house without telling anyone until it was over so this was a celebration of both of those things.
My assumption was correct and the party was a blast. The people were fun. The food was good. The house was beautiful. We stayed well into the night. Around 11pm were all chatting around a fire down by the water and Bob, the host of the party, arrived with a small cardboard box of stuff. It turns out that he had a bunch of Chinese lanterns.
Have you seen the movie “Tangled” the animated story of Rapunzel? Someone had recommended it to me so I watched it a few months back. Rapunzel finally had a day outside of the tower and her only goal was to go towards the lights. Every year, on her birthday, when she looked out the window in the evening, the sky would fill up with small lights. Though it was just an animated cartoon, the scene was really, really beautiful. She spent her free day in search of the source of those lights. Those lights were Chinese lanterns released from the people in the village. Fast forward to the happily-ever-after end of the movie is a beautiful scene filled with these lights, so beautiful I got a little choked up.
SUMMER IS HERE
We are incredibly blessed with all the water and lakes that surround us. In this great little town alone, we probably have 8 or 9. Life on the lake is really nice. I am fortunate that my parents live on the lake just south of town and on the weekends, my brothers and their families gather and we hang out and play all day. We usually gather with food and music and spend the entire day chatting, catching some rays and watching my niece, Charlei, learn about the water, sand and navigating the deck. It is a lot of fun and has become my most favorite thing to do. Yesterday was wonderfully hot, the lake was incredibly busy, and the water was amazingly refreshing. Everything wrapped up around 7 or so and everyone headed home to get some final rest before the week begins again. I headed down a couple doors to a small gathering that was happening, chatted for a few minutes and helped them clean up… And that is when it happened…I had my first bite of watermelon. I don’t know anything that says “welcome to summer” more than biting into fresh watermelon. It’s summertime. Get out there and enjoy yourself!
A GREAT WEEKEND
It was a GREAT weekend, I mean really great. It was the most perfectly balanced weekend that I can remember in a long time. It started with a coaching meeting and getting my hair done on Friday morning. The evening marked the last class of Yoga Teacher Training with concluded with 108 sun salutations to a live bongo band. Awesome! And maybe you are not familiar with what a sun salutation is so let me breifly describe it. It follows the length of about 5-6 breaths and includes 11 postures, standing, forward fold, top of a plank then bottom, up dog, down dog and back to the top of the mat. Multiply that by 108 = A LOT of work. Good work though. Saturday morning began with the Le Leche League doing their cloth diaper sale in the front yard of the Cafe of LIFE. It was great because I came and helped set up and didn’t have to stay and work. So I chose to head up north. There is a bike ride called Zoo-De-Mack(http://www.zoo-de-mack.com/) that happens once a year and I have gone up and participated for 7 years. This year I didn’t get to do the ride but I went up for the celebration anyways. Mackinaw Island is such a cool place. There is so much to do and see there, I really enjoy it. The evening was filled with friends and dancing and everyone was in such great spirits. I woke early on Sunday and made it home to finish the weekend hanging out with my family and having dinner on the lake.
This is the frist weekend where I actually felt like I was able to catch up with myself. Seems life is so full anymore that I feel I fall behind a little with myself. Great to relax and have some fun and catch up. This morning I woke up loving the fact that it is Monday. Monday mornings are so full of potential. Some people really dread Mondays however I feel like there are so many possibilities for the week when I am staring at the ceiling waking up on Monday mornings. In that same moment, I am so grateful that I play a part in choosing to make the week a good one or not. It was a great weekend. May as well do our best to make all of our weeks great…we only get one chance.
YOGA TEACHER TRAINING