Peace

This past weekend , my family and I had a wonderful trip to Folly Beach, South Carolina.

We breathed the ocean air in deep and enjoyed connection with each other.

In the meantime, mayhem was erupting (with cause).

I know I am privileged. I know my family is too. I do work hard, and we try to teach our children about viewing the world through others’ lenses as well. And I cannot imagine the amount of pain, and fear that a large portion of our population are feeling (and have been feeling for decades).

I am also afraid of the extremism that exists today. White, black, left, right, anti-(fill in the blank), pro-(fill in the blank), stay home bc of covid, re-open, etc. The divisions are real and very polarizing.

I believe the answers lie in empathy. We can have our own viewpoints but we should try to understand others as well. We can “stand our ground” but we also must try to see the other territory. If we can promote love, compassion and try for some understanding, the world will be more peaceful.

So try to do that a bit today. Have some conversations with others who don’t feel the way you do. Try to see their side. I can almost guarantee, they will have some valid points, just as much as I can guarantee you will as well.

Spread some love today. Promote peace.

Happy Tuesday

-Dr Lindeman

Chasing your shadow

Chasing success is a lot like chasing your own shadow.

When you make big goals for yourself, you can see them in front of you, so you work/walk toward that goal. And over tune, the shadow gets smaller as you get closer and closer to your goal. When you reach it, that feels amazing!

You can walk around a bit taller with the shadow going out behind you now.

But we cannot keep that shadow behind us forever. We need to dream bigger and create new goals, new shadows to walk toward.

Rinse. Repeat.

Our 3 year old standard poodle is amazing at this. In fact we have dubbed her “The Shadow Hunter” because she runs after shadows with abandon. She doesn’t chase birds or squirrels, but dives after their shadows. She never “catches” her goal, but the act of trying gets her tail a waggin’!

The key to this is knowing the journey is what is the most important. If we only look at the big goals, the shadows we are chasing we will miss the beauty of the voyage.

Have big dreams.

Chase them.

But look up and love the journey!

Happy Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Your view/your future

This is an excerpt from the book: “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert.

Good book so far.

The point I want to make form the Shakespeare quote is that we need to create our own happiness.

We can “borrow” goals and visions from others, but ultimately, we need to steer our own ship.

Just because you see some successes make others happy, they may not make you feel the same.

Find what lights you up, and work toward doing more of that :-).

-Happy Monday!

Dr Lindeman

Multiple choices

In any given situation, we always have choices.

In situations of adversity or success, we will always have options, and depending on how we choose, the results can easily flip the situation on its head (adversity—>success, success—>adversity).

Situations never define us, it’s how we react to them that creates who we are, and sets the stage for our future.

We can achieve a victory and then stop practicing. We can obtain the amazing job, and therefore become complacent in learning. We can lose 20 lbs and then decide we can stop exercising.

All of these successful situations are wonderful, but the decisions after the achievement can create a more negative future.

Likewise, we can lose the race, and decide to train harder. We can fail an exam and decide to study more. We can find ourselves in quarantine, and decide to create paths to a better future with our time.

Even when things ‘royally suck’, it’s truly how we react to them that matters most.

We are NEVER victims of our circumstance. We are only truly victims of how we react to them.

You always have options…Choose wisely my friends!

Happy Wednesday!

-Dr Lindeman

It’s about you!

Do you think the #1 pole vaulter in the world even knows who the #1 juggler in the world is?

Does the highest paid cricket player in the world have any idea how much the highest paid toothpaste ad man makes?

Does the world’s most renowned microbiologist have an inkling of who the world’s most renowned sous-chef is?

The answer to all of these questions (I’m 99.9% sure, can’t be 100% because the cricket player and toothpaste guy could be neighbors, you never know) is NO WAY!

The point is, if we scratch and claw to become the best in order to compare ourselves to others, the amount of people we can even compare ourselves to is minuscule when we think of the world as a whole.

We should all strive to be the best we can be at whatever we choose to do (and that doesn’t have to mean a job, or a sport, we can be the best dad/husband/wife/son/friend that WE can be).

But we should NEVER try to be the best in comparison to anyone else.

Because the fact of the matter is, we can never be the best anything besides our best selves!

Happy Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Just 1%

What if we just tried to do 1% better today?

Just attempt to be 1% better at our jobs, our hobbies, our parenting, our friendships, our exercise regimen, our role as humans?

Seems pretty easy and simple to me.

Too often we put big demands on ourselves, to take drastic steps toward improvement. But consistency rules all.

If we can work in improving in smaller chunks everyday, we will be tremendously better than if we attempt to take large jumps.

We can stick with 1% for sure!

So get out there and give me 1% more 😀

Happy Monday!

-Dr Lindeman

Drive your own car, Captain!

When you are driving down the highway, do you pull up next to the person driving in the next lane and try to figure out how they are driving?

Where are their hands positioned?

Are their windows down?

What temperature do they keep their air conditioning at?

What sort of music are they listening to?

Of course not!

You need to worry about how you drove your own vehicle.

The point is, no one can drive/walk/live your life except you! So why do we compare ourselves to others?

We should definitely learn from other’s mistakes and successes, sure, but ultimately we need to be at the helm of our own lives.

Get driving, because only YOU can take YOU to where YOU want to go!

Happy driving (might I suggest jamming to this song by The Surfaces? Just a suggestion, feel free to skip it, Captain 👨‍✈️)

Have a glorious Wednesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Your smile changes the world

Especially fitting during these times.

Your smile can change the world! It can light up someone’s day, it can push away the dark.

Just make sure you are using that gift and not letting it go dormant.

Complacency kills.

We need to arm ourselves with more positivity and more light in order to push back the dark.

So 😀😁😆😂🤣🙂😍 all you can today 🙂

Your thoughts determine your destiny

Great words during a troubled time.

We are ALL a bit scared, uncertain of what the future holds.

Especially during this time.

Therefore, it is even more imperative to guard your thoughts.

Nourish your soul with positivity.

Not FALSE HOPE.

Just hope.

Hope that we will overcome (as a human race we have a pretty strong track record of doing that).

Hope that we will regain some normalcy in the coming months.

Hope in the compassion and conviction of the human mind, soul and heart.

You will be ok.

We will all be OK!

Nourish your soul (and the souls of other’s today) with positivity.

-Dr Lindeman

Great words from Tony Robbins

So #true!

The human race has survived/thrived through an innumerable amount of catastrophes, turmoils, and tragedies.

But the simple fact that we are here proves that we shall always overcome.

Love thy neighbor (from afar), use this time to grow your mind, read, write, sing, dance. Connect with your families. Discover new things.

This too shall pass and we will all be stronger.

With love,

Joel Lindeman DC