What is the reading on your gauge?

"There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why.” 

~William Barclay

The word “capacity” has many definitions. 

Academically, it can be summarized as the maximum measure of innate potential and the ability to grasp and demonstrate one’s optimal capability and power in a specified role. Getting down to my terms, capacity is your gauge of purpose and potential. 

How much is in you? 

How much are you utilizing, and -

How much is untapped?Well, let's see...

The capacity of a storage item depends on size, depth, sturdiness, adaptability, and intended purpose.

These ideas, while somewhat logical and scientific, are relevant to us in determining things quite artistic and soulful.  How we can fulfill the real longing of our hearts. How we continue to push the limits of our fears, and boldly meet our capabilities for living to our potential.

Size is the expanse of our dreams and visions for our lives: The boundaries we see or do not choose to accept.  

Depth is the infiniteness of our soul’s desires: A connection to something deeper than we can sometimes understand.

Sturdiness pertains to the strength of our resolution and integrity: The beliefs that sustain us in spite of everything. 

Adaptability is how willingly we are to follow our paths: To deal with uncharted territory.

Then, there's the last element that pulls the other four together...

An intended purpose: When we know without a doubt what we believe we were made to do. Then it’s not a matter of how, but rather how soon.  

How soon will you wait to step into this perfect fit?

This divine capacity...

Cheers.

Want to discover your capacity? First, you have to be empty.

"Fullness of joy is only discovered only in the emptying of the will."

~Ann Voskamp

I was musing yesterday about areas of my life where I found a new capacity.

Have you ever looked at the times when you reached a point that was more or higher or fuller than you had ever been before? I'm sure exuberant souls like me have a tendency to find ours more regularly, but all humans find their capacity in regions of their lives. 

Perhaps it's the shock of stepping on the scale after avoiding it for a few years - new capacity reached. Or maybe hitting total on how many hours you worked this week - new capacity reached.  Sometimes it's good news, and you can feel proud, and at other times, you might realize there's a need to dial something back. 

So this week, I am going to take a closer look at 'capacity' through a joyous perspective. 

So how do we find our capacity in the many areas of our lives? What are the right capacities to look for, and what are some we should avoid? Well, to get started on finding out, we must first do some housecleaning in our internals. It's kind of like preparing for one of those horrible examinations we have to have every few years - and it can be nearly as annoying. Check out the list below. It's Dr. Joy's prescription for cleaning out the mind, body, and spirit:

1. Make peace with your past so it won't disturb your present.
2. What other people think of you is none of your business.
3. Time heals almost everything. Give it time.
4. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.
5. Don't compare your life to others and don't judge them, you have no idea what their journey is all about. 
6. Stop thinking too much. It's alright not to know the answers. They will come to your when you least expect it
7. Smile. You don't own all the problems of the world.

There you go. Now commence evacuation of all the stuff that is keeping you from being buoyant and finding your capacity for joy. 

Cheers. 

Harnessing your momentum.

"You've seen my decent... Now watch my rising."

~Rumi

Falling meets the definition of momentum, but perhaps not the best outcome - or is it?

I read something that said, 'A child learning to walk falls 50 times in a day...Do you ever hear her say 'This isn't for me?'  As I considered the subject of momentum, I had to think about the natural forces that perpetuate it. Gravity is one of the main ones, and I've dealt with it's powerful ways in my life many times. We all know that feeling of flailing arms or sliding legs - head soaring forward toward whatever it meets first. I've learned a lot about slowing down and being aware from the natural forces that control momentum. But I've also discovered something else.

At those most forceful and energetic bursts of momentum, I can become better at controlling the outcome.

The experience I've added to my knowledge base is worth nothing if it is not noted and utilized. Like the toddler learning to walk while falling 50 times, my battles with gravity and friction show me what forces within me need to be strengthened in order to harness the momentum. It might be muscular, or improved vision, or as simple as not wearing those shoes... But I have learned from my past battles with the power of out of controlled momentum. So have you if you stop and think about it.

So resolve to win against whatever gravitational friction is keeping you tumbling.

Find your best resources for harnessing.

Let them watch you soar.

Cheers. 

Where do you get your 'MO', Joe?

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters 

compared to what lies within us." 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yes, I took physics, so I know P=M/V... But is that all there is to 'momentum'?

Deciding to muse this week about the subject of momentum and its place in life, I was called back to the core definition as a starting point. This definition left me feeling a little empty, as most hard science equations often do. Cut and dried, Momentum is the basis for work and the movement contained in it. And, the bigger you are, the more you have to work to get the velocity needed to move.

It's not just about the outward mass regarding size, but the mass of the inside desire to move.

You can be a slight human, but if there's a huge rock of emotional heaviness within you, ain't nothing gonna make you move. Likewise, I've seen the largest people hauling themselves with dramatic speed, ignited by an enormous innermost desire. Desire and the emotions that surround it are outside of the realm of hard science. They cannot be seen with the eyes, or measured with an instrument. Nonetheless, as Emerson states, it's the tempest in our teapot. The eye of any storm. 

Instead of looking to be pushed or pulled, perhaps we need to look inside...

It's so natural to look for 'help' from the outside when we feel we lack momentum to go forward in our lives. I've been a 'cheerleader' personality for most of my time here on earth, so I'm often approached or pulled toward providing the push/pull. And you know what? Even with my massive buoyancy and determination, I can never compete against the rock of despondency or concession that lives within someone when they have decided not to move. It's not about me; it's about them.

They have to find their inner 'mo-jo' first.

Then I can help push... Or maybe pull....

Which one are you today?

Cheers.

When it's time for a Summit...

"Come, let’s talk this over, no matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!"

~Isaiah

Even the best and closest of friends need to get together for a chat from time to time...

Well, chat is a light way of the real essence of my meaning here. We might 'talk' every day, but it's not often that we dig deeply into our thoughts and conversational skills and share. These are rarer times, and it is a good thing that they are special. You don't want them to become so commonplace that they lose their definition of importance. These are times that are set apart and planned - they are difficult to create on the fly. They are called 'Summits' in the world of business and politics. And there's a good reason. 

Much like the mountain top version, they are to be lofty and a place that has to be worked at to achieve.

You do not summit with just anyone. These people are critical to you. Your interactions with them, while oft taken for granted, work together toward an important purpose. And while you may silently know what that purpose is, if it is not spoken at some point, our unified directions my take wrong turns. A summit meeting gets you there together for a time, and it will not matter how you get there. 

Summits are made to clear the air.

We call them such because the air is thinner and easier to control on a summit. There are fewer obstacles and distractions. We can work out confusion and the tense muscles that can surround our significant relationships at times. We can find agreement again, or find a way to walk together in disagreement. 

We can reason together.

Come to understanding.

Perpetuate compassion.

Cheers. 

A View From the Top

"The Summit is what drives us, but it is the path that matters."

~Conrad Anker

I reached a summit recently, and it feels pretty awesome.

But true to my personality and what drives me, I immediately began to muse about how I could put a joyous perspective on what to do with these feelings. I realized that the older I get, the more it becomes apparent that life isn't filled with Summits. In fact, most of what life is about are the climbing parts - or the sitting and resting - or the falling and sliding. So being on a Summit is a rarer thing that I had believed it would be when I was oh, say, 35ish. And entirely different from what I imagined at 25ish. Astoundingly disproportionate from my views at 18ish. 

Reaching the Summit and the efforts to get there becomes a chapter in your life, not a page.

The pieces of the journey that helped move you forward and upward require many paragraphs and pages sometime. Thoughts that must be formulated, edited and completed before submission. You have to muster the courage to share your vision of the Summit with others, never knowing if they might smirk at you and urge you to turn back. Or perhaps, convince you that you are on the wrong path at the wrong time. All those pages and paragraphs for nothing....

Ah, but sometimes, you get there, and while the air is a little thinner, you breathe it in deeply.

You take a moment to enjoy the view and rest your weary bones. Plant your flag so others know you were there. If you are fortunate enough to have co-travelers, perhaps you dance around a bit with them, discuss the journey and toast to the finish. But it isn't long before you realize you can't stay there. The air is too thin, and there's not enough to sustain you for very long. You don't want to get heady and topple over. It's time to move on.

Look, there's a new path. 

And another Summit ahead...

Hmmm...What's next?

Cheers.

Don't forget what you might regret...

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it. 

~Ray Bradbury

I was walking along behind Eddy one morning feeling exceptionally light...

It was as though I understood the meaning of 'walking on air.' Were my feet hitting the ground? I had to laugh as I looked down and saw legs that we were far more toned and muscular than they had been a couple of years ago. And I no longer felt like each day was a challenging struggle to remain focused and committed to getting my health in order. I thought of a conversation I had just had with a son, who had also just emerged from a difficult struggle. I remembered telling him, "Never forget where you were. Don't allow the great feelings of now to diminish the lessons learned. That's how we end up back where we started again..."

It's not that there is nothing worth forgetting and leaving behind.  It's just the stuff we don't want to be regretting...again. 

So how do you know what you need to lose in the land of forgotten memories and what should come along for the ride? It comes down to two things for me: 

1) I will forget anything that causes me to feel ashamed. Shame is a vile thing that prevents growth and keeps you in bondage to habits and attitudes that destroy. So, if something attached to your past causes you that feeling, it needs to be forgotten. Permanently. 

2) I will forget anything that makes me fearful. Fear is a detriment to confidence and security. You can't feel safe if you are afraid - it just won't jive. Lessons can be scary, no doubt about it. But the fear that you will fail again in a moment of weakness is just irrational. Forget that fear. Forever.

In short, all lessons you carry forward have to be tested and tried.

It takes some time to know what is worth keeping and what needs to be forgotten. We want so badly to know instantly and have the recipe for success, but the greatest lessons are the lifelong ones. See them as gifts, not curses. 

Keep hitting the nail on the head.

Keep adjusting your sails.

Keep remembering what you've learned.

Cheers. 

What do you "get" from forgetting?

"Do not let the shadows of your past darken the doorstep of your present and future."

~Suman Rai

Right before the anniversary of 9/11, we are flooded with messages telling us to 'never forget.' 

And this year, these words made me consider the subject of 'forgetting.'  The action of forgetting is sometimes out of our control. We get older, or maybe we have an illness or emotional issue, and we forget events and facts we once held dear. At other times, it is a willful action at requires lots of practice to forget truly. It's like a lit candle that even after being blown out leaves behind the waxy memory. 

Yes, forgetting can be hard, but it is often the beginning of some great things. 

The deepest hurts and time of turmoil are lessened by our ability to forget. When we can carry on as though something never happened, we find a freedom that allows us to rise above the potential devastation. When you wake up one day and realize that something which once hindered you no longer holds power in your memory, there's desire to chuckle audibly. You get a sense of victory. Complete domination over an ugliness that tried to smother your joy.

And you can forget without giving up your lessoned learned.

I think that is what the message of 'never forget' is in the photos I see from 9/11. We can rise above past pain, and it's devastation without finding ourselves falling victim to it again. Because utmostly, what we get from forgetting, is a strength. 

Resiliency.

Fortitude.

Find your way to forgetting, wisely.

Cheers.