Friday, September 28, 2012

Eaten by a Lion

I've never been a 'car' person. My sons and husband know the year, make, and model of about every automobile that drives by. I can't even remember the year of my classic Volkswagon bug that I drove in college.

The other day I met a mother and her 14 year old daughter during a book signing. The fourteen-year-old told me they had just purchased a Scion, and she thought they were cool because no one else had one. With much exaggeration, she spread her arms wide and said, "Now that we have one, I've noticed that EVERYONE has one!" I laughed and said, "You know, this is interesting. We live in the same town, drive the same roads, and I've never seen one." At least if I have, I didn't know it. I told the girl, "Life looks differently to each of us. What we find what we look for."

My friend BJ Stober, an experienced family therapist, taught me a new term a couple weeks ago. It's RAS, or the Reticular Activating System in your brain. Your RAS is responsible for the way sub-conscious awareness is raised as a result of your focused thoughts. I was fascinated that there is a scientific term for this phenomenon.

Yesterday, as I drove to Hurricane, UT to share an assembly with Middle School students, I was searching the radio to find a familiar tune. I stopped when I heard a song from TRAIN. I've heard this song many times, yet not known half of what the lead singer was saying. But yesterday, as I headed towards Red Cliffs Drive, I clearly heard him sing, "Eaten by a lion, run over by a brand new purple Scion."

I still don't know what the rest of the song is about. It's a catchy tune, but I'm clueless. Hearing about a purple Scion was incredible to me. It must have been my RAS at work!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

How to be an IRONMAN

I'm enjoying the sunshine of beautiful St. George this week while I visit Middle Schools in the Washington County School District. I'm traveling from school to school sharing a message about the power of thoughts and the importance of a positive attitude.

Yesterday I went to lunch with three of the counselors from one of the Middle Schools.
One counselor told me that he participated in the IRONMAN here in St. George a couple years ago. Last year he participated again with his wife. He shared with me that they were two completely different experiences.

The first year, he visualized going through the finish line throughout the entire race. It kept him going and was his fuel to actually live that moment of triumph.

Last year, his wife joined him in the race. It was a wonderful experience for them to train together. However, the swimming portion of the race was unusually challenging. That year, the water was choppy and the weather was terrible. While this man was swimming, instead of keeping his thoughts focused on crossing the finish line, he was focused on concern for his wife's safety. He knew she was in the water too, fighting the waves, fighting fatigue. He ended up having to climb into one of the safety boats and didn't finish the swimming segment of the race.

He thought it was interesting how his ability to finish the IRONMAN was compromised when he took his focus off crossing the finish line. Of course, no one faults him. What a great display of sacrifice and what a great display of love. It is also a classic example of how vision and focus play a role in our success in any of our pursuits.

In the case of this counselor, his focus, in my opinion, made him the Husband of the Year.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Chemistry of Tears

A few weeks ago I was a guest on a radio show hosted by Family Therapist, BJ Stober. BJ interviewed me and allowed me read my book during the interview. We even showed it page by page on her live stream broadcast.

When we showed the page about "Granny's Car" where Granny's radio is tuned in to "Gratitude", BJ shared an interesting fact.

She said that tears of joy and tears of sorrow have different chemistry. She said it is evidence that the thoughts we create effect us at a cellular level. I was fascinated by this.

After the interview, I went to a book signing and shared this with a customer. The customer said, "This makes sense to me, because when I cry because I'm sad or upset, my tears sting. But when I cry during a movie because my heart has been touched by the message, they don't sting."

It follows the same line of thinking James Allen addressed in his classic, "As a Man Thinketh". Thoughts clearly have an impact on our health.