This one day of the year we are permitted to indulge in an abundance of calories at one sitting. The aromas of turkey and stuffing carry me down memory lane.  I smile as I think of family members that are far away or have passed and friends from long ago. The turkey you made in elementary school simply by tracing your hand or the turkey made from a paper plate!

Mom and dad traditionally continue to be the turkey masters, which in retrospect isn’t too far from the truth when it comes to dealing with all of us! Each year there is plethora of eye-catching and mouth savoring items to choose from; they never want to leave any of them out!

The time to indulge has arrived as we grab a plate and make our way down calorie lane! Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, green beans, cranberries, rolls and salad. “It all looks so incredible; I’ve got to have it all!”

I can hardly wait until we’ve prayed and share with one another what we’re thankful for and experience that first bite. “C’mon c’mon son, hurry and finish saying what you’re thankful for!” Finally, I get to eat and it’s so so good! “Who made these yams? They are delectable!” There’s hardly a word spoken at the table, except the request to pass more food.  We keep stuffing ourselves thinking of how satisfying it is in that moment until we’ve reached maximum intestinal capacity and then we’re stuffed! You ever hear of anyone saying this on Thanksgiving? “I’ve eaten just enough and feel satisfied.” No, not likely, everyone pretty much goes into a complete food paralysis.

Today’s lifestyle seems to parallel that of this Thanksgiving Day. There are so many things to participate in and they all look so good! Like the traditional dishes served at Thanksgiving, you’ve tried most of them, now its time to let some of them go. If its more “filling” and not “”fulfilling” perhaps you need to consume less calories. We keep loading up our plates hoping to feel satisfied, but too often we are stuffed, miserable and experience priority paralysis. Our minds have information overload, shorting out and accomplishing nothing. This brings us right back to lack of fulfillment.

I often have my clients that I coach make a Life Mission Statement. When opportunities come your way, ask yourself, “Is this going to move me further along on my Life’s Mission Statement?” There will be exceptions, to this like when a family or friend is in need. If you find you’re not satisfied with what you’re doing, perhaps you’re not exercising your gifts or you’re being prompted to change gears in life toward the next part of your purpose.

Happy Thanksgiving! God Bless you and your family and may you be filled with joy and happiness and give thanks for having opportunities.

Our tires exchange asphalt to dirt and wind our way on this narrow trail through the trees over the mud and into the park. I’ve been riding a mountain bike for many years and during that time I’ve learned to tackle pretty much any kind of terrain. This occurs by trial and error and if you’re wise enough to ask, through the instruction of others who have gone ahead.

The park has a plethora of challenges and the recent rains irrigated the main trail with sand as a result from the eroding foothills. You know the difficulty of walking or running in the sand let alone pedaling through it with a 25-pound bicycle. There is no defined path you just need to look at the other end of the sandy area and pedal steady keeping your weight off your front wheel.

The first time I attempted this, I didn’t necessarily have the skills, I followed the lead of the rider in front of me. I trusted them because I knew that they had successfully traveled through it before.

Now we are about to ride through the sand and in front of us are a number of riders. Knowing what I need to do, I instead followed behind another rider not knowing of her skills or stamina. The sand’s instability and its sinking ability arouse your heart and you pedal feeling motionless. We’re almost to the end and the rider in front of me surrenders to exhaustion and falls over.

My eyes were fixed on her failure and moments later; I too surrendered to my weak flesh. Why? I knew what to do! I chose to follow someone’s direction that was not steering me toward success. I watched someone else fail and lost that confidence to succeed.

Don’t we all do that at times? We choose to follow other people even though we know it’s not moving us forward or worse yet, it’s leading toward failure. We become victim of their toxicity, which paralyzes us to move forward. Their nay saying comments trap us; they are afraid to change and succeed so they don’t want us to succeed.

We can become complacent to where we are in life and merely exist. We just sit in the sand and allow it to suck us in. Who are you following? Who’s successfully carved out a path for you to follow straight to your mountaintop?

In order to prepare for this, I hired a coach to maximize my athletic performance. One of the gauges used for training is a heart monitor. The heart monitor is exactly that, a device that monitors your heart and will tell you whether you are in the aerobic zone or anaerobic zone. Training this way will be the key to your success when racing or doing an endurance ride like the one I signed up for.

My coach provided a schedule to train five days a week using different training zones. My coach also suggested as her final and most important tip to find a training partner to ride with and keep my heart motivated!

So, as suggested, I partnered with another gal that accepted the Vision Quest challenge. We trained both, in the mountains and on the road.  While riding we can become so focused on the challenging terrain not noticing that our heart rate was much to high for this segment. Sometimes the road ahead was foggy and we were so focused on trying to see what was ahead again forgetting to acknowledge our heart rate. Other times, we can become so engaged in conversation or perhaps a little competition snuck in there with one another. The heart monitor doesn’t lie though; it will show our coach all the zones. My training partner and I hold one another accountable during these interruptions and bring ourselves back on track.

Also, some mornings it’s just hard to get out there especially when were  training five days a week and a rolling temperature of 38 degrees.  Muscles ache, the body is fatigued and we feel like remaining in our bed’s cocoon. However, someone is counting on me to show up in my bike gear and be ready to roll!

The Vision Quest goal is big with 56 mountainous miles and 11,000 feet of elevation gain! Mountain climbing is not for sissies and I needed a coach to monitor the physical and emotional well being of my heart in order to have the strength to accomplish this goal and endure being on my bike for 8 hours! Vision Quest Day finally arrived after months of monitoring my heart and following my coach’s training schedule resulted in a victorious finish!

What is your Vision Quest? Is it ready to burst from your heart? Is it physically and emotionally ready to begin this journey?

With February being the month of hearts and love, why don’t we take the time to dig deep into our own hearts and resurrect the dreams we carry down deep inside? Place your hand over your heart and listen. What is it saying?

Is it time for a coach? A training partner? A new start equals a happy heart!

“Two are better than one, they have a better return for their work.” Eccl. 4:9

If you are not among the 5%’ers that make goals throughout the entire year, then yes, the question is unwelcoming. Perhaps, it’s because the result always ends in failure to bring it to reality? We’ve never been properly given the tools or we made the goal as big as charging straight up Mt. Everest instead of pacing ourselves up the face, base camp by base camp.

The sad fact is that most people procrastinate on the top 10 or 20 percent of items that are the most valuable and important. They vital themselves instead with the least important 80 percent, that contributes very little to their God-given purpose. The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. The payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous! (Excerpts taken from “Eat that Frog” by Brian Tracy)

Every week my clients provide me three focus goals to accomplish along with an obstacle and an action step to get over that obstacle. These three focus goals are their courageous footsteps taken toward their coveted mountaintop accomplishments. As a Life Coach, I will guide you along your journey keeping you away from dropping into those desperate crevasses and instruct you on how to utilize the gear you’ve been given.