[Sportsandrec] motivation

[Everett Gavel]

Hi Again Joe, LM, and all,

Nice, Joe.  It's a keeper, that Psalm 144:1.  I looked it up and verses 1 &
2 go well together.  Thanks.  Great stuff there.

LM, what Kelly said about goals was right on the mark, most likely.  At
least, I think it was Kelly that said that bit.  What are your goals, now
that you've finished with the last major one?  If you don't have one, well,
my friend--get one--or two or three.  You seem to be driven by them.  Most
of us are, though it plays out in different fashions among us.

On a side-note for a second, since we're speaking of goals:  Are there any
Paralympic or otherwise competitive Tandem cyclers here besides Ron in
Texas?  I've got a dream, fantasy more like, and am trying to work it into a
full-blown goal.  I've got my dream set on the tandeming event of the 2016
Paralympics.  They'll be in London in 2012, but a 2016 location won't be
picked until October of this year, I think.  Anyway, I'm setting it up to go
volunteer at the 2012 Paralympics to get a feel of it, and am aiming for the
2016 event.  We've all gotta dream, right?  Well, I just joined my local
Bike Club and am shopping for a tandem.  There's a shop regionally here that
offers payment plans (smile).  So are there any tandemers here?  Any
cyclists?  Anyone know where I can find groupings of such athletes?  I
really need that continuing interaction to keep myself motivated towards any
one particular goal.  So if you are, know of any, or know where such
athletes hang out, please get with me?  Thanks.

Now, what about offering a series of videos, LM?  Helping others get
started, or teaching something specific.  Sports/Fitness on some level?  How
to get to International-level competition?  How to be the best honkin'
something-or-other you can be?  My thought is that by offering video, you'd
have it in your mind that you'd want to look your best for video/TV, and
like so many of us, would try harder to get and stay fit. (smile)

Just joking, sort of--but halfway serious too.  Choose a goal that you'll
have to strive for, work for, fight for.  Jump for a star, LM.  Even if you
fall short, you'll still end up on one of the highest peaks on earth, most
likely.

Dream a little.  Make a choice.  Choose something that at first thought is
absurd.  That seems at first shadow to be undoable, ridiculous, irrational.
Then think on it some more.  Ask why, and ask why not.  Then make the choice
to live, to strive, for that absurdly irrational, seemingly impossible
thing!

One of my favorite quotes is: "A mighty Oak is the result of a nut that held
its ground."

And my personal life-quote I reference often is from the Bible.  Philippians
4:13 -  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

All things.  Not just some, not just this or that.  That quote encompasses
the fact that with my trust, my hope, my life as God's, I can both succeed
at great and sometimes irrational dreams, and I can also survive the
low-points, the doldrums, even the downright hellish times, when they
inevitably come.  Good, bad, and ugly, I can do all things.  Thank You,
Jesus.

I urge you to dream for awhile, and dream absurdly big!  Then make the
conscious choice to achieve that dream.  It's how the world is changed.

Here are a few quotes that I like to reread now and then to inspire myself
onward and upward in moments like these which inevitably come to us all:


"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
no path and leave a trail."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done."
~ Helen Keller

"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
~ William Jennings Bryan


Lastly, Warrior, I give you one more quote from Emerson:

"This time
Like all times
Is a very good time
If we but know What to do with it."


Dream big, LM.  And along the way you'll likely get your motivation back and
get rightly focused.

And may God bless your efforts mightily.


Strive On,
Everett
www.everettgavel.com


----- Original Message: ----- 
Hey Everett,
I chose to say carpe Diem to our friend Lisa Maria in that manner as it is
rumored that she is a ninja judo jedi mistress of the level to not be
trifled. Who am I kidding, I just want to look good without my shirt.
Phrases I try and live by that are not my originals, the carpe diem one is,
are kill a flea with a sledgehammer, it's better to be the bat than the
ball, and I would rather be the hammer than the nail.
I'm not a huge Bible guy but I do like this one: Psa 144: 1
Blessed be the lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my
fingers to fight
Rich Franklin puts that verse on all his merchandise and I like it very
much.