Fear or Love?

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The Relationship Factor

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Enjoying Each Other's Company

 Enjoying Each Other's Company

Photo by: David Shankbo

It was announced this week that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have agreed to host the Golden Globe Awards television broadcast for the next two years.  Now, admittedly, that's not the biggest news of the week.  The federal government reboot and debt ceiling Band-Aid took that title.

But the news about Tina and Amy does relate.  Here's how.

Healthy people have healthy relationships.  That covers physical, emotional, and mental health, by the way.  Tina and Amy, from their earliest days learning improvisational comedy, through their years together on Saturday Night Live, and on to their careers in series television and movies, simply enjoy each other's company.  They're friends and confidants to each other.  They have a strong, healthy, fun relationship - and it shows.  We enjoy watching them have a good time together.

And the outgrowth of that relationship dynamic has turned into lucrative careers for the two comediennes.  Good for them.

The denizens of D.C. could take a lesson from Tina and Amy.  The recent stalemate over debt and default, healthcare and closed national monuments, has brought the lack of healthy relationships into sharper focus than ever among our political leadership.

NBC host Chris Matthews, in fact, has written a book, "Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked," remembering how President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Tip O'Neill (for whom Matthews worked as a staff member) were able to disagree and fight tooth-and-nail over policy - yet ultimately come to resolution and compromise for the good of the country. 

This happened because the two seasoned politicians knew the value of and maintained a personal relationship, and refused to be enslaved by a daily diet of continuous confrontation, accusation, and stalemate.

From the glamor of Hollywood, to the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and across kitchen tables from sea to shining sea, it all comes down to relationships.  When they are healthy, so are we.

Be Well,

~Eric

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Photo by: Prayudi Hartono

Jimmy wanted to pitch when the gang decided to play a pickup game of baseball.  Problem was, so did Bobby.

"I'm a better pitcher than you'll ever be," Jimmy shouted in Bobby's face. 

"Oh, yeah?" Bobby retorted.   "Well, everybody else thinks you stink and you should be out in right field.  Waaaay out in right field, where you can't mess anything up."

"YOU ought to stay in the dugout - better yet, why don't you just go home and cry to your Mommy?" Jimmy sneered.

The two boys taunted, insulted, and irritated each other to the point where they ended up rolling around on the infield dirt, fighting each other over who would pitch.

After a few minutes of this, the other kids just walked away.  The baseball game never got off the ground.

It doesn't take much thought to parley this little story into the real-life slugfest in Washington, DC, which has led to a shutdown of the federal government.  But, just as true as it would be for adolescent boys on a ball field, these grownup fisticuffs should be every bit as avoidable.

All it takes is a willingness to understand where you're coming from, where the other person is coming from, and a path to get to where you're going together.  The world is built on relationships.  Relationships are built on respect, listening, applied knowledge, and compromise.

This ain't rocket science, folks. It's proven time and again in history.  And, best of all, it's contained within our own DNA, our conscience.

If they'd just talked with each other, instead of at each other, Jimmy could have pitched the first few innings, and Bobby the last.  They both would have gotten what they wanted and the game could have been played.  

Dialogue proves maturity, growth, and progress.  Since when did dialogue become a bad word?  Our leaders in Washington - are you listening?

Be Well,
Eric 

Eric Guy, Center For Victory - It Starts at the Unconscious Level

Unarmed and Fabulous

Unarmed and Fabulous

Photo by: Newtown grafitti

 

When Barbie Thomas, at the tender age of two, lost both arms after mistakenly grabbing the wires of a transformer near her Texas home 35 years ago, her mother decided that day that neither of them would ever fold, give up, or take the easy way out of any situation.

"I was not allowed to be negative and say I can't do something," Thomas told Good Morning America last week.*  "I was always taught to focus on what I can do, not what I can't do."

That advice may sound oversimplified.  Unattainable.  Borderline delusional.  Pollyanna-ish.  You may say to yourself, "Who lives like that?  Who can sustain such an attitude over the course of one's lifetime?"

But there's a difference between perpetually and foolishly wearing rose-colored glasses, versus making a reasoned choice to acknowledge the positive side of any situation and pursuing it.

The choice always exists.  The decision always can be made to go positive or negative.  Once you realize which way you are "wired" subconsciously, you can then consciously make the selection toward the positive, thereby placing your life immediately on the path toward greater health, balance, and peace.

It may not be the easiest process in the world, but it absolutely is the most rewarding.  Barbie Thomas would agree.

This real-life Venus de Milo, this mother of two teenage sons, contends at the national level as a fitness competitor - a form of athletic dance and conditioning that falls somewhere between pure bodybuilding and bikini pageants.  What's more, she has placed in the top five nationally, and recently earned the first-ever Inspiration Award from the National Physique Committee.

"We all have our own stuff to deal with," she said.  "Mine are just more visible.  I survived because God saw the bigger picture and had plans for me."

Choose the positive.  Choose success.  Choose to live the fullest, most abundant life possible.  It truly is your choice. 

Be Well,

~Eric

*http://gma.yahoo.com/armless-body-builder-inspires-fitness-world-her-ability-101506751--abc-news-health.html  

Everything is Okay

Everything is Okay  

 

Photo by: Jonathan Lin

 

The feeling sneaks up on me occasionally, and I don't particularly enjoy it.  

I'll be in the middle of conducting a class with a group of participants, doing what I've become so familiar doing, when a wave of thoughts jolts across my mind.  

"Can I keep this going?  Can I sustain this level of performance?  Can I ensure that everyone here, all of these people counting on me, will receive something of power and value?"

It's normal, even healthy, to pose questions like these to oneself every now and again.  It keeps you honest and accountable.  It spurs renewed energy and effort.  It keeps you sharp, and away from the lazy, wasteful pitfall of routine and rote.

Yet when these thoughts scamper through my consciousness, normal as they might be, they still bother me, even if only a little.  That is, until I remember a greater truth.

Everything is okay.  

Everyone is okay.  

I'm okay, and so is the way in which I go about my business of interacting with clients.  

And why?  Because every person is built to succeed.  Every person has a champion inside.  Those who understand and appreciate this fact - and who operate from a platform of positive, accepting, love-based relationships with others - have nothing to fear.  Ever.

So respect those moments of self-questioning and use them to bring yourself even higher.  But never forget that you are - just the same as I am, and everyone else is - a champion inside.  

Built by love.  Built to succeed.

Be Well,

Eric Guy