Dare to chase

As I ran past the entrance to some woods this morning, two dogs decided to chase me, barking in, what seemed to me, a threatening manner.

When you run away from dogs, I find that generally they carry on chasing you, and there is always the threat that they might bite you.

Sometimes of course, if they're guarding their home turf, they will get bored when you've gone too far past their territory, and then give up and saunter home.

However, you have to run fast to get away from them, and there is always the possibility that they won't get bored and think this is rather fun.

The best thing to do, in my experience, and what I did this morning, was to completely change direction, pull myself up to my full height and run towards the chasing dogs.

They lost a chunk of their bravery once they felt that they were the ones being chased.

They still barked but they no longer chased me.

Don't you find it's the same when you walk or run towards all your fears?

There is a brilliant film advert called DARE that is about moving towards your fear. It's well worth a watch. It's only 89 seconds long.

Untwisting what they said

Thinking about an argument I recently participated in, it's interesting how often it comes down to "you said blah blah blah".

Invariably the issue or the problem is not exactly what was said, and yet it ends up what we concentrate on.

How often do we get into an argument because somebody said something that for us had meaning 'X'?

When we eventually calm down and/or come to some sort of agreement, what the other person actually meant by those words was 'Y', not 'X'.

The important part of verbal communication is usually the meaning the speaker intends to communicate, which we are very adept at twisting into the meaning our own embedded patterns of listening expect.

How about the next time someone says something you feel upset by, stopping and checking with them, "when you say blah blah blah, do you mean you're feeling 'X'?"

You may just get to resolution a whole lot quicker.

Your own sunlight

It was very foggy and grey on my slightly longer 2-mile run this morning.

Being autumn, with all the remaining leaves on the trees and bushes still various hues of reds, oranges, yellows , browns and greens, it got me thinking about the difference it will make today, if the fog remains, in the way people will look at all the colours.

The truth is that in most cases they won't.

When the sun doesn't shine, casting its magical glow, we don't notice the glory that is still there, because the presentation isn't as dramatic.

One of my favourite inspirational quotes is David Hemery's, "There is a spark of greatness in everyone ".

The thing is, if that spark isn't recognised by the person who houses it, or by anyone else, it will be like those amazing autumn colours on a grey overcast cloudy day.

No one will give a second look.

But like the trees and bushes on a gloomy day, just because that sunlight isn't shining on them doesn't mean they don't contain the glorious colors.

What can you do to notice the spark of greatness in another, and fan that spark to turn on their own sunlight?

Your support team

This morning I completed my 690th consecutive day of running at least a mile.

10 more days to the next milestone, and 40 more to an even bigger one! It's very exciting.

Yesterday I attended my granddaughter's 1st birthday celebrations. It was a fantastic occasion with 27 family members present.

On my run this morning, I was thinking about that and how none of us succeed in life without our team of supporters in the background.

From Formula One drivers, to tennis players, to entrepreneurs, to parents, to teenagers, there is always a team behind the scenes.

Although it might look to others like we have succeeded on our own, I challenge you to think of one person who, when you look a bit closer, didn't have a support team behind them.

Who are your support team, whether they are family, work colleagues, mentors, or friends?

You couldn't have done it without them.

Have you told them that?

My Olympic chuckle

As I left the house for my late run this morning, a man I recognised as living in the next street was walking his dog and stopped me to ask if I was training for the Olympics.

He seemed so serious and when I said no, he asked if I was training for a marathon then, which I again said no to.

Whether he was serious or not, I ran off from him with a smile and chuckling to myself.

My value of fun was completely fulfilled, especially after the most fun I've ever had at a quiz, at an excellent charity quiz last night.