Daily Gratitude

"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." (Doctrine and Covenants 78:19)

Thank you for waking up early and having the energy and determination to get up and get going (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for the flexibility of my husband's job that allows him to go in when he wants. Thank you for a husband that is so amazingly supportive in everything I do (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for our car--for the technology that brought it into existence, for the money we have to purchase it and keep it running (more like this, please--thank you!), for the freedom it allows us to travel distances much farther than we could walk. Thank you for the gym--for the money that we have to pay for my membership (more like this, please--thank you!) and for the technology that allows indoor swimming pools to exist. Thank you for my parents, who had the money to join the club and pay for swimming lessons. Thank you for all my swimming instructors--including the ones that have written the books and recorded the videos that help me still today. Thank you for my Beyond Freedom, which challenged me to think of all that I wanted to achieve and to start achieving it! Thank you for Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, who wrote the book that changed my life (The Power of Full Engagement) and gave me the courage to step up and become physically active for the first time ever. Thank you to Tim Kanaley for setting the example and showing me that real people can do triathlons. Thank you for my beautiful children, who are so sweet and loving and supportive (more like this, please--thank you!). Thank you for the inspiration and realization that achieving my own dreams sets the example for my children to achieve theirs. Thank you for the technology that brought the Internet, for all the people that created blogging, for the money to buy this laptop (more like this, please--thank you), for the ability I have to type (including my mind, my vision, and my fingers), and for the inspiration to write in the form of "thank you" rather than "I am grateful." Thank you for Habiba Miller and Carol Look.

Thank you for my amazing, wonderful, powerful, fantastic, joyful life (more like this, please--thank you!).

She Only Had One Leg

THE STORY

We crossed paths as I was getting out of the pool and she was getting in--pushed in her wheelchair by one of the lifeguards.

It is not unusual to see a senior citizen with mobility challenges at our gym. The pool is frequently used by them for therapeutic purposes.

As we passed each other, I looked kindly on the woman. She had on a black, full length suit, a flipper on her foot, and a smile on her face. She cheerfully directed the guard over to the first swim lane, which was some distance away from the large open swim area, and set down some swimming equipment. I heard her say, "I'll go ahead and use this one."

That was when I realized that she would actually be swimming.

For some odd reason, when I first saw this woman--this woman with only one complete leg and just a stump at the other hip--I assumed that she would be undergoing therapy. I assumed that she would be like so many other senior women I see at the pool taking a class or just wading up and down through the water.

But when she picked an actual swimming lane, I realized she was different.

I could not help but watch as the lifeguard wheeled her into the water just far enough for her get out and hop along the rail into the deeper water. "Hop, hop, hop," she said sweetly to a young toddler who also could not stop watching her.

I do not know whether she was conscious of my eyes following her. I tried to be discreet--looking only when her back was turned and conspicuously drying off and getting on my sweatsuit at the edge of the pool so I would have a reason to stay.

I hoped that if she did catch me she would somehow know that I was not ogling out of morbid curiosity or even sympathy, but out of deep admiration and respect.

She reached the open area and glided effortlessly across it to reach her chosen lane, and there I stopped watching and turned to go.

I had seen what I had been waiting for.

I had seen the woman with only one leg beat the odds and the excuses and the rationalizations and justifications...and become a mermaid.

THE LESSON

There is hardly any force in the Universe more powerful than an excuse. An excuse will hold back the strongest man or woman from conceiving what is possible and achieving what they set out to do. An excuse will convince the greatest among us that we are small and should stay silent. I daresay that an excuse is, at the core, the only thing that lies between us and our goals.

You really can have what you want. But to do so you must eliminate from your mind all the excuses that keep you from it. "I don't have any money." "I'm too old." "I'm too young." "I don't have enough education." "I'm not the right sex." "I'm not the right color." "I have a family." "I'm single." "My kids are too young." I could go on and on.

The fact is that whatever your excuse, there is someone who is successfully doing what you want to do despite that same excuse.

For everyone that thinks they cannot swim, there is a mermaid to prove them wrong.

TAKE ACTION

Are you frustrated with the results you are getting in some area of your life? Take action!

Today's action step: Find someone who has overcome the challenge that you face and let their success motivate you.

Too old? Colonel Sanders was 60 before his idea for Kentucky Friend Chicken took off. Too young? Farrah Gray became a millionaire at just 15. No money? Dani Johnson was homeless at 19 with just $2.03 to her name and a millionaire at 21 (oh, and she didn't graduate from high school, either). Got cancer? What better example is there than Lance Armstrong?

Remember, if even one person has done it, you can, too. And if no one has done it, you can be the first.

© 2008, Margie Remmers, http://www.YouCanHaveWhatYouWant.com

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Success & Hydrodynamics

THE STORY

Keep your elbow up. Reach and glide. No, keep the arm straight out, don't let it fall down. Fingers in the water first. Keep your hand cupped like a spoon--not a fork, not a knife, a spoon. Rotate your hips. Keep the body stiff. Your whole body should tilt to the side. Rotate your hips. Don't separate your legs. Keep them straight. Breathe every third stoke. Keep your elbow up. Reach and glide. Rotate your hips. Rotate your hips. Rotate your hips!

I thought I knew how to swim.

I mean, I love the water. I always have. I took swimming lessons when I was a kid and spent summers at the pool. I took the "tread water 'til you feel like you're gonna die" test and passed with flying colors. For a time I even thought I was going to be a marine biologist and swim with the whales for a living.

In fact, it was partly my love of swimming that made me choose to train for a triathlon in the first place.

You see, I was taking a life achievement home study course, and one of the exercises was to write a list of 101 things you want to do before you die. As I thought about what would really give me a sense of accomplishment, a marathon popped in my head. Boy, if I could finish a marathon, that would really be something. Trouble is, I don't like to run!

At the time, I had a friend who was training for a triathlon. I love to swim, I thought, and I do like to bike, too, so I wrote down a triathlon instead.

On my first day of swim training, I confidently got in the water. I set out to do my first front crawl across the lane and...I promptly injured my shoulder.

What? That never happened when I was a kid! What had I done wrong?

My investigation into my shoulder injury quickly led me to the conclusion that I did not, in fact, know how to swim.

Countless articles and YouTube videos revealed that in order to avoid injury, you must swim in a certain way. You must keep the elbow up. Your fingers must go back in the water first. You must draw your arm in front of your body, not to the side.

So I humbly began the process of "re-learning" how to swim.

And boy was it was frustrating. So many things to think about all at once! I could hardly keep it all straight. After awhile I was able to do it correctly when I went slowly, but when I sped up, I fell back on my old habits and just flailed in the pool.

I constantly had to remind myself that if I wanted to be successful, I must learn the principles of success--in this case, the principles of hydrodynamics. It would do no good to continue my old habits in the swimming pool. If I did, I would continue to get injured, I wouldn't be able to go as far, and by not being as efficient, I would lose steam quickly, and I would not be able to complete the race.

THE LESSON

Just like in the pool, the principles of success are part of the fabric of the Universe. It does no good to continue in our own way--we will only get injured or work harder than necessary to attain our goal, if we attain it at all.

No, the best course of action is to understand the Universal laws that govern what we are trying to do and work with them to our best advantage.

If I understand hydrodynamics--if I understand how to position and move my body in the most streamlined fashion--the law will work with me, rather than against me. The law will actually push me on toward my goal, instead of holding me back.

The laws of success are the same. In fact, Wallace D. Wattles, in his classic book, The Science of Getting Rich, wrote:

There is a Science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches; once these laws are learned and obeyed by any man, he will get rich with mathematical certainty.

The ownership of money and property comes as a result of doing things in a certain way; those who do things in this Certain Way, whether on purpose or accidentally, get rich; while those who do not do things in this Certain Way, no matter how hard they work or how able they are, remain poor.

The other day I was reading one of my triathlon training books and the author mentioned a technique that I had never heard of before. In fact, it seemed completely counterintuitive to me. It was not what I had been taught--not what I had seen other people doing. It did not make any sense.

Skeptical, I decided to try it for just one lap and see what happened. To my amazement, I was able to shave off FOUR strokes from one 25 yard length. Reducing my stoke count was something that I had been working on, but no matter how hard I tried--no matter how fast I tried to go--I had not been able to reduce it by even one stroke.

My success in the pool that day was the direct result of putting aside what I personally believed and learning to work with the laws of hydrodynamics, and still today I am amazed at how far I can go and how effortless it seems when I apply the correct technique and "go with the flow."

You really can have what you want. But whether you are learning to swim, working on becoming rich, or even figuring out how to bake a cake, you must stop fighting for "your" way of doing things and look instead for the Universal principles that will float you to your goal the easy way.

TAKE ACTION

Are you frustrated with the results you are getting in some area of your life? Take action!

Today's action step: Find someone who is successful at doing what you are trying to do.

Too often our tendency is to stick with people who are in the same struggle we are. If we're trying to lose weight, we often hang out with others who are also trying to lose weight. If we're trying to make ends meet, we hang out with people who are doing the same. But in both these cases, it is the blind leading the blind. It may make us feel more comfortable, but it rarely helps either party reach their goals.

Instead, decide today to get in contact with someone who has already lost the weight or who has already made the money or who has already done what you are wanting to do. Odds are good that they will be willing to help you--or they will be willing to find someone else who can.

© 2008, Margie Remmers, http://www.YouCanHaveWhatYouWant.com/

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You have permission to reprint/distribute this article as long as the above contact/copyright information remains in tact.