mind, body, and spirit

This weeks learning has been amazing! I've shared many of the lessons learned with my older kids and my spouse. I was really inspired by my reading in the book, Mastery. In the book the author tells us that as we grow we have to develop skills for which there's no cooperative surrounding environment, skills for which we aren't as genetically predisposed to develop; and we are to find our own doors to mastery. He then lays out 5 keys to opening these doors. The second key, practice, really resonated with me. In order to master an art, skill, talent, or anything else we want to gain mastery of, we must practice! The author says that the master of any game is generally a mast of practice. I think back at anything that I really mastered in my life and I realize that mastery came from practice. I realized all the accolades I received in high school football, All-Conference and player of the year, came because of the hours of practice that I put into being the best at what I di...

I watched a video this past week called the hero's journey. The speaker brought up the question, "Do I really have what it takes to succeed?" I really thought about this and then shared the video with my wife. I then ask myself, What does it take to succeed? I loved this video because it really made me think deeply about what is truly important as we take our life's journey. Lately, I have struggled with the use of my time. I really do have a desire to complete my bachelor's degree, but I struggle finding the time to do the work needed. In the video, A hero's journey, the speaker says, "Live every moment of your life like it matters, because it does." Wow, I really needed to hear that. All to often I find myself wasting the moments watching a baseball game or scrolling through facebook. These are the are moments, it seems, that I am wasting on things that don't really matter at all. Learning and studying, spending time with my children, working...

I will be honest, this weeks learning has been quite a spiritual journey. I have so many fears in my life of not fulfilling my life's mission that I really found great joy in the learning process this week. After my father-in-law's funeral at the end of last week, I really had a lot on my mind about our life's work here on earth and how we will be remembered at our funeral, especially my funeral. What will be said of me by my family and friends? Will anyone even care to show up? Would my children say anything about the lessons I taught them, or will it be only about the trips and fun that we had? We learned about core values and conducting our lives by these core values. The most important thing for me is to be Christ-like in my relationships, my business dealings, and most importantly in how I conduct my day to day living. Am I treating others the way that I want to be treated, or dealing with others the way I want to be dealt with? Am I generous with my time, talents, a...

I was really touched by this week's case study reading. It was about Magdalena Yesil's entrepreneurial pursuits and how she was able to find success here in the United States. The biggest takeaway that I had was her pursuit of learning. At an early age, she wanted to learn about technology because of her interest in the American space program. She was from Turkey, but knew she would need to be educated in the United States. She would learn English by attending an international girl's school, and then after high school, she set her sights on the best colleges she could go to. She ended up attending Stanford, and would get her bachelor's degree in computer engineering and her Master's degree in Electrical engineering. Her desire to learn continued as she eventually became an entrepreneur and would found many companies. I was impressed with her constant desire to learn new aspects of the field she was in, which would help her in her entrepreneurial  pursuits. I think...