Sunday Story…Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

We like the familiar, the usual, and the stuff we feel comfortable around. Change is uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and unusual.

On the other hand change is inevitable. Without change nothing grows. You can hide from change but that won’t stop the inevitable, things will continue to grow, shift, transform.

The question becomes: Are you managing your change or is it managing you?

Every year my body changes...did it change last year in a way that I wanted it to or did it shift in ways that were out of my control? I have an opportunity everyday to manage my growth. If I manage my growth it becomes familiar. I become competent with change the more often I apply myself to managing it.

Pick up more weight. Eat 1 more meal that is healthy. Read 1 more book on your reading list. Make that uncomfortable call. Change is coming. What it looks like is up to you.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Sticks and Stones

Will break my bones but words…well words will hurt me in ways that are deep, hard to heal, and often times invisible.

My bones will knit together. My bruises will disappear. The blood can be staunched.

Words can cut much deeper than my skin, deeper than my viscera. Words can drive deep into my soul. Words can change my view of myself, my view of the world, my thinking of what’s possible.

And words can light up a room, open possibilities, create change, and make a difference.

Words matter. Words are power. Words aren’t benign. Words can be beneficent or malevolent. Before you spit your words out…maybe you should taste them first. Maybe you should gauge how they are going to land. Once spoken you can’t take them back. Like a rock leaving your hand, once those words leave your lips the course is set.

You are in charge of what you say. And you know, in your heart of hearts, whether those words will uplift or drive down their recipient. Choose to uplift or choose nothing at all.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday–stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…What? Me worry?

We often relieve ourselves of responsibility with the phrase, “it’s not my problem.”

But what if you accepted responsibility for the problem? What if you, your team, your tribe could solve the problem or influence it? When we are faced with big seemingly unsolvable issues (homelessness/intergenerational poverty/peace in the Middle East) it is easy to throw up our hands and utter “It’s not my problem.”

What happens when those big issues become my issues?
What happens when I accept responsibility to at least influence the intractable?
What happens if I change my belief system to say “it’s possible?”

It’s possible to
Make a difference
Create shift
Solve the unsolvable
Love the unlovable

You don’t have to know the how or even the why. You just have to know that it’s possible.

Take responsibility. It’s possible.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Done Me Wrong

We all have stories we tell ourselves about the bad experiences, the poor service, the people who done us wrong. If it happens in a restaurant we raise a hue and cry and complain and try to get some satisfaction. But we never really get satisfied and the louder and more strident our complaint the bigger and badder the complaint is.

You do the same thing in your personal life. Something happens to you. Someone does something that hurts your feelings, doesn’t live up to expectations, or abuses your trust. In your mind you are writing an angry letter. A letter so angry, so full of vitriol, so spiteful that when they read it they will feel your pain. They may even go home and kick their own dog; it is so full of heartfelt gut wrenching emotion. The more you put into the letter the more anger and spite the worse you are going to feel. You are reliving the event over and over with ever word in the letter. Every angry word, every bit of angry energy you apply to the situation worsens it until that creates a maelstrom of negativity that forces you to make decisions that affect your whole life.

Stop writing that letter. Stop right now. No one is reading it except you. No one cares about it except you. The person who done you wrong moved on. That person went on with their life. You are the one still carrying it forward. Put it down.

Re write the letter. Write the most positive, glowing letter you can write. Tell us what you learned. Tell us how that person taught you, helped, make a difference to you. Lay it on thick. This is the story you want to tell. And when you are done doing that then, and only then, can you say…”And when this happened I felt _________.” Explain what went wrong without all the angst and story behind it. Leave all the horrible consequences you think you suffered out.

This is how you change the past. This is how you move past the hurt and anger and vitriol of the wrongs you think have been perpetrated upon you. Re-frame your experiences, re-tell your stories, and re-learn the lessons from a viewpoint of positivity. This is how you change your life. This is how you move ahead after heart break and hurt. This is how you become great.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412