Drumbeats can call you to attention to prepare you to move in one direction.

Drumbeats can be a signal to dance.

Drumbeats can be a call to action.

What if you don’t hear the drumbeats?

Or need a drumbeat?

What calls you to action?

Do you need a drumbeat?

If you do find one.

Listen to a drumbeat.

Move into action.

People need you.

Someone needs you.

In a world where bad events occur daily.

We need to do good.

Let the cynical be cynical and let the bitter be bitter.

Perhaps your example will help.

The smallest step, is still a step in the right direction.

Do you have a goal?

Take the smallest step you can today, and then say thank you.

Say thank you to yourself.

You did it.

Tomorrow, take another step .

Say thank you again.

Keep moving.

It is the only way to get to where you want to go.

Movement. Forward progress.

One step at a time.

Where does frustration come from?

Should it be avoided or embraced?

Should it be examined?

Mined for information?

Studied?

Could frustration provide a path to better?

What frustrates me?

What frustrates you?

Do we share common frustrations?

Make a list.

Job.

Money.

Living situation.

People.

Money does what money is supposed to do.

Your job exists to do what your job does.

Your living situation is your living situation.

Frustration.

That is generated inside of me or you.

Perhaps just being frustrated with being frustrated is frustrating.

Competition is all around us. In the NFL draft last night, I watched five quarterbacks being drafted in the first round.

To get drafted in the first round of the NFL draft, you need to demonstrate a high level of competency in your abilities to play football.

In reality, one competition is ending, and another one is beginning.

First-round doesn’t guarantee you lifetime success.

Tom Brady, we know, was passed up. None of the quarterbacks drafted before him own Super Bowl rings.

Tom had to compete to get where he is today.

There is tension between competition and wellness.

I had to compete with people to get the current position I am in.

I am not in active competition with anyone for my job right now.

I wouldn’t want to be in constant competition for my job every day.

A politician’s life isn’t for me.

Every two, four, or six years you are competing to hold on to your job because someone wants to take it.
Someone out there beliefs they can do the job better than you can.

Is it the same as an Independent content creator?

My mindset is different. I am not trying to beat other podcasters, bloggers, authors.

I have my space to create, and it is up to me to fill it.

I don’t have to compete for a spot on pod bean, I don’t have to audition for WordPress, I don’t need an agent for a spot on Youtube or a slot the shelf on Amazon.

If you wish to create. You can create.

What is next? A question that we ask ourselves. What do we do? Do we sit and think about it?

What if next was just the activity that you are engaged in currently?

Next could be the book you are reading.

The post you are writing.

The clothes that you are putting on.

Is next a physical activity or is next a sought-after outcome?

You get to make a choice as to what next is.

Next should involve steps. Next could begin with a decision.

A decision that you manage.

Next could also be the tiny decisions that you have to make to achieve the outcome you desire.

What is next for you? Could next be steps towards contentment, enjoying what you already have at a deeper level, growing where you are at?

Or is next the pursuit of something new, something unknown?

Let your next be in pursuit of something that builds up others.

Honoring your positive commitments that you made benefits others.

Or maybe the next step to take is to heal or repair what is fractured.

It could be a relationship, It could be an emotional state, It could be your career or hops for one.

Next is up to you. Consider the next that helps another person.

Next consider doing it without the hope of a reward.

If you want to build a new habit, you will need to make new choices.

Building a new habit involves making new choices.

For example, I wanted to write a daily blog post. I have been a consistent early riser for years. I would wake up, do my morning spiritual practice, check email, check social media, read the newspaper, then read several of the newsletters I subscribe to.

Then shower. Pack lunch. Head to work.

Often these activities would leave me feeling anxious, angry, and fearful.

If I wanted to create a daily writing habit, I had to make new choices.

People will tell you all you need is a new mindset.

You need a mindset that directs you towards choices that support your new habit.

For me, the new habit was daily writing and posting to my blog.

I was going to continue to wake up early.

I was going to continue my spiritual practice.

That left me with the choice. What do I do after my spiritual practice is over?

I had to chose to write to create. I had to move all of the consumption of media.

The choices in front of me continue to consume or create.

I made the decision to write first thing in the morning.

I didn’t give up checking social media, reading my newsletters or newspapers.

I just had to move them. Those activities were not supporting the new habit I wished to create.

They weren’t bad. They just didn’t support my habit.

So I made a new choice.

I can look back each day and know that I put something into the word.

Something that hopefully will help.

The recipe for a new habit? A dash of mindset. A mix of inspiration.

The main ingredient needs to consist of new choices. You can’t create a new habit if you continue to make old choices.

What new choices do you need to make to support the new habit you want to create?

“Dreaming with your eyes wide open.”

I heard these lyrics in a song from move the Greatest Salesman. It is a great way to start the day.

It is running through my head at the moment.

I am thankful it is.

I am glad to have a positive soundtrack in my mind.

Thankful that it isn’t negative.

Each day negative thoughts, stories of calamity, real imagined, or impending float through my head, and maybe they float around in your head too.

I don’t want to make assumptions.

We don’t need to argue about them.

We don’t need to push to the front of the line to find the best way forward for ourselves.

We work with them. We work with others.

What is the song playing in your head right now?

What memories does it bring up?

If they are happy, dance along with them.

If they are sad, look for healing and comfort.

If angry, listen for a message.

Or just sing and dance. Perhaps that is what we all need to do for at least five minutes.

What if we all found two-three minutes a day to sing or dance?

Not all at the same time; of course, life-saving work is still going on.

How about before you start that work?

Would your work be better?

How about before you lash out in anger?

Would a relationship be preserved?

Is that crazy?

Well, Seal said it” We will never survive unless we go a little crazy.

Maybe that is a misquote, but I hope you get the point. Go listen to some music, go sing, go dance in public or in private. It doesn’t matter. Just do it.

Rushing, zipping from event to event, place to place,  deadline to deadline. I don’t want to go back to that.

I want to be in the individual moments and not rushing to get to the next one.

I am typing slow, so I can listen to the sound of my fingers touching the keys.

But there are still places to go, deadlines to meet, people to see, circumstances to navigate.

I can go through them differently. I don’t have to tell every negative story that surfaces in my mind.

I can acknowledge my feelings, and instead of criticizing myself or them,

I can ask them questions.

What are you here to teach me?

What do I need to get back to?

Do I need to heal or repair?

Do I need to seek more?

Listen for the answer, but then realizes who is given them. I am giving the answer to my

Questions and I can work my way towards help, or I can move towards service.
There is time for both. We need help; we need comforting, at times. At other times we need to

Serve, contribute, to help others when they need comfort and support.

We do this one moment at a time. One minute at a time. Sixty seconds at a time.

Then we can say thank you. For what we have. We can mourn that which we lost. We can hope

For what is to come.

Perhaps slow can be a solution and not a problem.

Does time move slow, or does time move fast? The reality is that time moves at the same speed every day. My thoughts, actions don’t speed up or slow down time.

I do get to make a choice on how I experience the time I have. There are many ways to experience time – being productive, eating, resting, hoping, worrying.

Time often brings us outcomes that we didn’t plan for, nor did we expect or see coming.

I watched a UFC fight last night, and the fighter had a severe fracture of his leg. He was carted off on a stretcher. He didn’t train for that. He didn’t hope for that; he didn’t wish for that outcome.

The news reported that within 24 hours after the George Floyd verdict, six people were killed in police shootings around the nation.

I don’t think that the people who died had planned to die that day. I am sure they had plans made for the weekend or plans for the day. They had hopes, dreams, goals for the future.

We make plans and align our plans with the outcomes that we desire.

The outcomes are out of our control. That is a hard truth. I wish I could control the outcomes of the plans that I make.

I can’t, and none of us can.

What can we do then?

We can be thankful for what we have.

We can seek to help others.

The present moment invites us into these opportunities.

How do you process a negative event that occurs in your life? My internal loop looks like this.

1. Shock. 2. Fear

Then after shock and fear have done their work, out come the questions, then I fill in the blank with stories.

The first question, is why did this happen? Then I begin to tell a story, but the next thing that occurs is a redirection. Still, in a harsh redirection, I make an accusation and call myself a name.

I move on to another question, and this goes on and on, over and over.

External, I do the right things, acknowledge, offer to help, pray, seek my own internal support, prayer, writing.

What could be different?

What have I noticed about how I process difficult events.

I am mean to myself. I have trained myself that being nice to others means being mean to myself.

What if it were different?

Instead of a harsh redirection, simply choose to listen, comfort, and care for the scared individual.

You are scared. You need comfort too. Acknowledge the fear. Write it down. Pray about it.

Why am I that way? I just don’t know. It is what it is.

The lesson learned is that occurring yourself internally isn’t the way to move through a negative event.