Glen Of Scotland

Tipping point

At the beginning of the year the Denver Broncos football team, hired a new coach, Josh McDaniels. He is young, successful and knew what he wanted. Apparently he didn't want the hot shot quarterback and after a lot of drama, the QB was traded away. A good decision as it turned out, none the less the locals and the media were just all over the guy, the hatred for that and a few other things just went overboard. All of this even before they had even played a game, not that they were expecting many victories.

Sometimes this bombardment can be too much and it got so bad that there was a tipping point where I and many others started feeling sorry for him and wanted him to succeed. As I write their record is 6 wins and 2 losses.

I saw this tipping point a few years ago with George Bush during his reelection, that summer before the election, I saw the tipping point effect there too. I even mentioned to a class I was teaching that he would be reelected.

Not that anyone is perfect, whenever the criticism goes overboard, people can feel the unfairness off it all and start to root for that person to do well.

Something to keep in mind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving here in the USA, I hope you have a great day with family and friends, that you appreciate the company and good food. That you have many things to be happy about, to bring a smile or rip roaring laughter to you. That you relax and and see the best in yourself and those around you and that you find peace within.

Every day is Thanksgiving, today it is more concentrated, with turkey and the trimmings and football!

Peace and love to you all

Glen

Reunions

Thanksgiving is in a few more days and there will be many reunions for turkey day. What are you expecting the conversations to be like? Are you expecting conversations that are supportive, encouraging, hopeful, funny, happy, optimistic and loving?

Or are you expecting conversations that will be critical, judging, hateful, spiteful, unhappy and negative?

Whatever you are expecting it to be like, it will be. With your expectations you are creating space and energy for that to happen. Is there anything you would like to change?

Conversations

I was down in South Florida for a short break, it was my first trip back to the West Palm, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale area in 8 years. It was interesting to observe all the changes, the airport had a makeover, with the car rental under one roof and the work on the I95 had been completed with more lanes, so while the traffic was heavy it flowed well.

South Florida has been hit hard from the real estate bubble, I noticed a lot of buildings for sale, empty or run down, as well as a surprising number of restaurants out of business too. Yet the traditional restaurants, that offered good quality food, service and good prices were still around. It was more of the trendy, high priced ones that seemed to be out off business, generally speaking and those spots where no matter which restaurant format they tried, it never worked. Lots of lessons there.

I was struck by the difference in conversations I was  having with friends, acquaintances and random strangers. In the very wealthy area of Boca Raton, some people have cut back, some lost money in the markets and Madoff, yet the conversations were about what they were doing now, what their future plans were, they had let go of the losses and were moving forward, not too much complaining, it was mostly about Obama, which seems universal at the moment.

In West Palm and Fort Lauderdale, the conversations were, very different. It was about the losses, how bad it is/was, talk of the past and the mistakes, who is/was to blame, how it will never get better. There was for the most part (with some notable exceptions) very negative and very victim. Those people had not moved forward and were stuck in the past.

Now, you could argue it's easier if you have money to move forward and that is  true to a certain extent. Most of the people I was with, were not broke by any means and were living quite well, they could pay bills and do and go away for fun times.

I feel the difference is in not letting go, or holding on to the past, the property value has gone, the market losses too,that is the reality and while it's not nice to experience,it still is reality. Holding on cannot allow you to move forward, if you cannot move forward how can you regain any wealth?

Is this one reason why the wealthy regain wealth so quickly? Or are they just lucky?

I was struck by the difference in conversations, it might be helpful to monitor yourself and see if your conversations are about holding onto the past or moving forward

Going Higher 2

The combination of the elements and time as well as the absence of the sun provided for a stunning display:

I made it up to Fern Lake, a very nice spot:

On the way back, I saw my first coyote in the park, I have seen them elsewhere, never inthe wild so to speak:

Going Higher

Last fall, I planned my next hike which would be up to Fern Lake at the National Park, it would be the longest and highest hike since I moved to Colorado. Straight away, this felt bigger and when we make things bigger, it feels harder and more difficult, so I wanted to make this smaller.

I planned out several rest stops and set off early so I could take my time, there was no rush or race here, it was a nice leisurely hike, with spectacular views and encounters with nature which felt easier and smaller and importantly manageable.

I set off nice and early, it was a nice crisp morning, there was a slight delay for elk crossing:

The first part of the hike was familiar, I had been there the week before for some nice fall colors, one week later, the leaves were gone and a slight dusting of snow was there in some spots.

Going Fishing

I'm finding some great photos of nature these days, below is a great picture of a bear teaching cubs how to fish for food, there are more stunning photos here:

Confusion

I have been receiving requests from people from people who are confused as to when is the best time to buy a house, car, stocks, change job etc. There is no question that the crisis of last year has passed and most economies are showing some signs of growth, albeit on a small scale.

There are however a lot of economic signals that conflict,  some good some not so good, confusion if you like. Whenever there is confusion I highly recommend no matter what the subject matter is to wait until you have more clarity, be patient until things feel clear for you.

If we enter into something with confusion that leaves a lot of room for doubt to creep in, and then it becomes challenging to keep the focus on what we want, we tend to be more focused on what is causing the doubt and as a result often attract that very situation.

People then think, well what if I miss out if I don't act, not realizing that opportunities are always coming around and there will be opportunities at the  appropriate time for you too.

Be patient, I am expecting another big stock market tumble, believe it or not another bubble has been created thanks in part to lower interest rates, google the dollar carry trade for details, when it is over it will create great low risk opportunities for people, not just in the stock market. You may hear the media reporting get in before it's too late, ignore the hype and trust what feels clear for you.

Clarity wins over confusion every time.

Exploding egg - choices

I discovered a microwave egg boiler, which I thought would bring more ease to making a boiled egg in the morning. The device is shaped like an egg and can hold 4 eggs, 6.5 minutes later the eggs are done, do fuss, no clean up, so more ease for me.

i was distracted one recent morning, I was doing about 3 or 4 things at the same time, so my attention was split. It  wasn't really necessary too be doing so many things, I had just returned from a trip and that's they way it was. One of those things was to make breakfast, including boiled eggs, after the timer went off, I noticed the cover of the device was off, thought it was odd and brought the eggs to the table.

I cut the top off the egg and heard a boom, my natural instinct was to close my eyes and when I opened them I saw bits of egg splattered everywhere, over a wide area, including the tv screen. Clearly the top of the container had been off for quite a while, and the egg was now like a mini bomb.

Now was the opportunity to choose what to do, I could beat myself up and call myself stupid, I could make it a reason to have a bad day, I could have a temper tantrum and get angry, I could think I'm not good enough, I could get all victim about it and wonder why did this happen to me, I was feeling good.

Or, I could accept the reality of what was, all that happened was egg exploded, egg made a mess and that was it. Anything more was  me adding to it, making it bigger, more dramatic, none of which was going to clean up the mess.

I chose to let it go, I chose to clean up the egg mess, I chose to accept responsibility for what happened, I chose to be more focused in the future and finally I chose to feel good and laugh about it. In no time the mess was cleared up and I went on and had a wonderful day.

It's that easy, no matter how big or small the situation you are facing is, the reality is the reality, it cannot be changed in that moment, just how we chose to react to it.

Making it fun

I'm always looking for ways to make changes fun, when it's fun people will change behaviors, quite easily. This video example demonstrates this well, to encourage people to use the stairs instead of the escalator, they made the stairs, keys to the piano, with sound! As a result 66% more people used the stairs. There are a couple of other example at the website here:

creating-photos

Here are the photos from this special day:

Creating - Hummingbirds

During the summer I was visiting the Royal Gorge area of Colorado, it's a very high vibrational part of the state. Since my experience with the hummingbirds, I had wanted to have some photographs and this trip provided me with what I was asking for. It turned out better than I wanted, as I was able to get this video too:

Creating

During the summer I was hiking up in the Rocky National Park, it was a stunningly beautiful day and the universe was doing the equivalent of throwing the everything and the kitchen sink for me. More about that later though.

One encounter I had was a first for me anyway, a humming bird, it was beautiful and was flying around me in one spot and then again a little further up. It was weaving and flying, very quickly it was very meaningful for me too the message that was being conveyed. I wanted to get a photograph, it was moving to fast and I wanted to continue receiving from the moment. 

I wanted to experience that again and I wanted to have photographs too. A couple of weeks later I was at the botanic gardens and there was another humming bird, it was busy feeding and flying around, not paying me any attention. I did get a photo, which I appreciated and I wanted an even better one.

Another few weeks later I was up at the Royal Gorge, a very high vibrational area in Colorado, and at the bottom of the World's steepest incline railway there was the opportunity I had been creating. It was better than I could ever have imagined and I was able to spend time with the humming birds as they were drinking, not only did I receive great photographs, I also was able to have the experience on video!

I'd like to share my creation with you over the next few posts. It  is fun to create, especially when we are not attached to the outcome and for many the outcome tends to be greater than they imagined. When there is no attachment,we are not worried about the how, when or where, unfortunately, many do get worried or attached to just that.