Posts Tagged With: positive

Fear Junkie – The Morning Wride

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Waterfront Park in the Intercoastal waterway in Palm Coast, Florida.

Our wride today felt great. After Ivy being gone for a week at summer camp, I found I missed her terribly. Something about our father-daughter daily bike wride fills a need within me. I took the pics for this post on the wride, yet most of my attention today was on a particular topic – fear.

Spoiler Alert! If you’re a member of the local Toastmasters Club, reading any further will give away most, if not all, of my speech on Wednesday night. Ok, so I’ll have a couple surprises I can’t put here on my blog, but I will be reciting one of my poems…

Fear. For some of us, fear is a motivating factor in our lives. Fear keeps us from apathy and complacency. For years, overcoming fear kept me moving forward. Fear often coursed through challenges set in front of me.

The question arises, at least in my mind, of what amount of fear becomes too much? How long can a person use fear as motivation before they become overwhelmed? How much joy and anticipation gets stolen by the intensity of fear?

These days, I find fear more my enemy than motivator. I feel apathy nipping at my heels and complacency a safe place to hide. Shouldn’t fifty-three years be enough time spent riding the fear wave?

Let’s get down to specifics here, because there are many types of fears, I’m writing about the internal, self-limiting fears. Fear owns a legitimate place in our lives. Finding yourself two feet away from a hungry, fourteen foot alligator SHOULD instill a bit of fear into you.

One of my most recent fears came last week when I agreed to teach and choreograph a ballroom dance routine for a charity event August 3rd in Flagler Beach. I had mentioned in a conversation that I wanted to get back to dancing. I did not realize the person I spoke with was heading up a recruiting committee for this “Dancing With the Stars” Flagler Beach gig.

I took private ballroom dance lessons for three years. That was over five years ago. Heck, more like seven years ago. I have not ballroom danced for at least three years. I have five days to come up with a routine, teach someone enough Triple Swing for us to look good, and then get up in front of 500 people and dance.

I’m telling you, this is way outside my comfort zone. Yet, in the past five years, I’ve been very involved with Toastmasters and my fear of getting in front of an audience has diminished. I do love to dance. I do know enough to at least have us looking competent.

Back to the fear and the meat of this post. At this stage of my life, I no longer have the inclination or time for all this internal fear. The questions of whether I can pull this off. The uncertainty of whether I will freeze like I did at a piano recital fifteen years ago (what a fear moment realized!).

I desire to anticipate the competition. I desire to enjoy the process of getting this routine down. I desire to look forward to the event instead of listing it up there among all the other fear driven tasks I have hanging over my head.

I wonder at how my life became this fear monster. I take on a new project and the next thing I know, I’m fearing whether I will come through or not. Even though I’ve never NOT come through on a project, fear still drives me. Somewhere along the way, I allowed joy and anticipation to be replaced by fear of not performing at someone else’s level of satisfaction.

I’m sure this is something embedded within me over decades of practice. At this stage in my life I want fear gone. I want to experience positivity. This motivation from a negative position has worn me out. I find I have little tolerance for naysayers and nit pickers and people with a general, overall critical outlook on life.

I realize you cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are legitimate circumstances for fear, and critique, and detail oriented action. I want more joy in my life.

I also do not totally ascribe to constantly challenging your fears in order to overcome them. I’ve been doing this most my life and I’ve fallen into quick ‘fear’ patterns. I desire to eliminate fear before it grows and consumes me. I can see this endeavor may take time and a ton of effort.

Reciting my poem Wednesday night will be one step out of this fear-driven life of mine. I love this poem. I wrote it sitting under a tree in Raleigh, North Carolina in April of 1982 at three in the morning with a nasty storm on the way. I fear reciting my poetry. I have not been able to attempt an open mic event. The fear engulfs me.

My task these next two days, is to look forward to my speech with positive anticipation. I desire to revel in the moment, to present myself, my poetry, and my views on fear, and to do all this without fear eating at me. The same goes for the dance routine. The same goes for a presentation I must give on Friday.

The same goes for marketing and promoting my book Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in 30 Days. The same goes for marketing the webinar I’ve set up. The same goes for just about everything I want in life.

Photo taken from the I95 bridge in Palm Coast. My house is about three blocks behind the blue water tower…

I’ve read and heard a lot about how everything you want is just outside your comfort zone. I’ve heard and understand that one of the keys to a progressively successful life is to get comfortable being uncomfortable. I heard a quote this past weekend that said, “The brave may well die, but the cautious never truly live.” That resonates with me.

I’ve come up with a little ‘internal jingle’ I’m going to repeat to myself as I work through overcoming fear and introducing anticipation and joy back into my life. It goes like this: “I can or I can’t, I will or I won’t, but I’ll have fun and get it done.” The trick will be to believe…

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Discovering Joy – The Morning Wride

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Michael Ray King

My morning wride today took me some places I did not expect to go. This is not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, these days, I find my morning wrides peppered with pleasant surprises. Today, I struggled a bit on the basketball court. For those who have not been reading, I stop along my route and shoot hoops for about 45 minutes, then continue on with my wride.

I noted my determination not to give up on the court. I suppose you could say I play some mind games with myself on the basketball court. Hey, I’m by myself (my daughter disdains the activity), so I create some phantom creativity to push me forward. I warm up for about ten minutes, then I run four, full court layups, ending with an around-the-back-through-the-legs layup. I must make at least two of the four or keep running.

Then I play a game of “Around the World” with myself. There are 13 spot up shots I must make within two shots or I must start over. If I make five shots in a row, I earn myself a third shot if necessary. This is where I struggled today, and the shot that hurt me was not the three pointer.

More important than the physical shooting of the shots was my determination to push myself and keep myself disciplined to the game. I could easily cheat. No one knows I’m even playing a game. I could excuse myself out of a missed shot and give myself another chance, but the integrity of disciplining myself to move forward and improve kept me true to my rules.

In fact, I made up a new rule that if I “lost” a game and had to start over, I must first run two full court layups as mentioned before. Then I decided to offer myself an opportunity out of the full court layups if I “swish” a three pointer. Getting a bit complicated now, but totally enjoyable. I love basketball.

Once I finally got past my shooting woes today, I went to the free throw line. Generally, I am an 80% free throw shooter. In fact, I will not leave the court until I shoot eight out of ten free throws. I struggled with this a bit today as well. Then, I got my focus back and promptly made eight in a row, missed one, then hit the last.

Then, of course, you never leave the court without your last shot being a perfect swish. I had a nice workout. The Florida heat, even at 8am had me drenched. Getting back on my bike and wriding with Ivy is always pleasant.

As I wrode, I looked at how I handle myself on the ball court and I recognize I want to be more in line with that determination in my writing and publishing life. Heck, in all my life. While I do “hang in there” and “persevere” in my life, I desire the willingness and the love of moving forward and pushing myself to move into the rest of my life.

While I do employ this, I do not believe I embrace the ‘joy’ of the pursuit like I do on the court. There is a joy available to us in anything we pursue. Slipping in the nanoseconds of recognitions that joy is available should be more prevalent. It does not take more than nanoseconds to glean joy from your activity. The endeavor does require that you keep yourself open to joy.

Personal experience – I noted today I often do not keep myself open to joy. Odd, isn’t it? Something as valuable and rewarding and pleasant and soothing as joy, and we do not stay vigilant to the next opportunity to experience it. Humans, we are a strange lot.

One last thing about my morning basketball escapades. Getting back on my bike and feeling the cool breeze felt nice. The next forty-five minutes of wriding allowed me to enjoy the efforts on the court even more. I tend to be a bit of a workaholic. As I complete tasks, I think I will take time to enjoy the breezes life has to offer each day.

I’m not talking idleness or laziness, just allowing myself to travel the paths I feel offer those cool breezes after some strenuous, fulfilling work. Too often I deny myself these pleasures. We shall see, eh? I’m staying open to joy and I’m looking forward to the cooldown breezes of forward motion created by efforts connected to what I wish to accomplish in life.

I hope you have goals and aspirations to help propel you forward. I certainly hope that if you do, you keep yourself open to the joys of your pursuit. When you allow the joys to pass you by, I feel you lose your passion for the endeavor. Anything worth doing well is worth doing with joy, right?

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Introspections – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Our four day rain event – tropical storm Debby – finally left us late yesterday evening. This morning’s wride began a bit chilly. A pleasant surprise but unfortunately the cool air lasted about an hour.

On this wride, I dealt with a number of internal dialogues fighting for position of importance. Sometimes, when things like this roil inside, I get frustrated because my music no longer soothes, the exercise feels unimportant, and writing becomes of supreme importance.

Good for the writer in me, right? Well, sometimes. This morning I did not take much time to write. I peppered some notes on my iPhone’s notepad: crazy as sin (someone I met the night before described herself that way and I wanted to remember it); help people; how do you get applause and then accept it within (a live version of Elton’s Funeral For a Friend inspired that one); problems with shiny objects and positivity (I know what it means if no one else does); so many things I don’t understand; Mom alone at home; I could be better about calling.

The last three all came as one big sandwich. I just spent nearly two weeks in West Virginia with my mother and each moment I treasure. The lack of understanding comes from her ability to live on her own quite happily. I don’t know that I could live alone. She putters around and appears so content she almost makes me desire such a life.

But I know myself, and alone does not appeal on a long term basis. Short term, heck yeah! I find myself wanting quiet time a lot. But not a steady diet. I do feel I should call her more often. We never have a bad conversation.

The clear winner in my internalizations, though, is the “help people” rumination. As I continue to work in the ‘infrastructure’ of my “Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in Thirty Days.” book and webinar, I find more and more people anxious to realize their long-standing dream of getting their book written.

I’ve already completed a dry-run webinar, so I feel quite prepared for the August 20, 2012 launch of the first “full-fledged” webinar. I’ve written and published nine books. One I wrote in twelve hours. Another, written on my trip to West Virginia, I wrote in eight days.

I know how to do this. Now I get to help others realize they too can accomplish their writing dreams/goals. Adopting purpose to into my life like this gets me pumped up. Knowing I can help people with something tangible feels great.

The introspection this morning ran along the lines of setting up marketing material to get the word out about the webinar. Tons of logistics ran through my brain: I need to make sure I mention the target word count of 30,000 for this class; I need to pick up a dozen packages of index cards; I need to get up with my graphics design guy; I need to do some rewrites and edits on the manuscript, etc.

The other big introspection for the day traveled along the current lines of positivity running through my life. As I continue to surround myself with positive, forward-thinking and moving people, I find I want to take on every project that pops up. I know better.

As it is, I am embroiled in five book projects in various stages of completion. This situation presents itself as both intimidating and exhilarating. So this day, I welcomed my session with my personal coach. I worked through some of the pressures I feel about all the GOOD going on in my life.

What a problem to need to deal with, eh? One other issue that scratched at my brain stepped into my consciousness after I put my phone back in my pocket and hopped back on the bike. My poetry blog suffers a bit from neglect. I will right that situation shortly.

Wriding my bike each morning allows many excellent things to occur. Today, while I solved none of my internalizations, I did get the opportunity to look at each of them in a positive light. What a wonderful concept!

I look forward to creating my marketing plan for “Go Write…”. I am anxious to write a poem. I get excited about helping people write. I know, with a lot of help from my friends, I will be empowered to step out and not only achieve my goals, but also help others reach theirs.

What a great day! I hope yours goes at least as well.

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Lives of Quiet Desolation – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Bridge over lives of quiet desolation.

I realize the quote is “lives of quiet desperation”, but my daughter took issue with the word desperation. Her point? Desperation at least hints of hope. Desolation conveys a more hopeless landscape. I can buy that. In fact, I agree with her. I see people every day who gave up on their dreams and aspirations.

And why not? At every turn in life, people come into our lives beating us down with negativity. We suffer the backhanded criticisms, the “devil’s advocate” syndrome, the naysayers, and the nonsupportive inputs. A number of my friends and acquaintances feel it their duty to tell my why something won’t work or why the idea did not work for them or any number of negative responses.

People, in this world today, we need positive support. We need to surround ourselves with ‘can-do’ supporters who will lend a hand. Yes, a time and place for studying potential unfavorable possibilities can buoy a project. What must happen first delivers the tone of assistance.

When a person plays devil’s advocate from the outset, this person does not positively support your idea. Their reasons can run the gamut of life, from past poor experiences with the idea to jealousy. I agree with the mentality of upgrading the people you hang with the most to a level of positive energy.

Sounds almost crass, doesn’t it? Change your circle of friends? Is this truly “right”?

When the crowd you run with drags down your dreams and aspirations, why continue to allow the chipping away effect on your life to go on? Along with dramatic events, the slow demoralization of your life can lead to a life of quiet desolation.

As I wrote yesterday about television, I see people giving up on their lives. Why be creative? Why put forth effort? My support team will only shoot down my dreams and passions. Let me go watch four hours of television. Let me go veg out on the computer for eight hours.

This quiet desolation runs rampant in our teenagers. Children by the millions in this country believe they actually accomplish something when they kill a few thousand zombies on their computer games. All they actually achieve turns out to be addiction to a product someone else created. The children do not progress to creativity. They do not go out and make something special of their days. They simply play with their electrons and one day wake up into quiet desolation.

I’ve observed my own children get so immersed in a game that all semblance of reality becomes, in the least, an aggravation. I fear for our current generation of teenagers. So many gave up on life before they even truly entered the arena. Our pathetic school systems and government don’t care to do anything of value to change this. And why would the government want a change?

Keep the people fairly uneducated and unambitious and you can control them as long as you provide them with food and shelter. Pretty disgusting times we live in. Fortunately, we do have teenagers who aspire to create and develop and progress forward. In them lay our hope.

I would love to see a major reduction in the quiet lives of desolation in this country. What positive effect can you instill into this day? Random acts of positivity can be infectious. When you take a few moments to compliment a stranger, you never know what ripple effect you may create. What if each of us brightened up ten strangers’ days each day? What do you think would happen in this country?

I already hear the pessimists poo-pooing the idea as Pollyanna. When I look at such a radical change, I see huge success. The change must begin somewhere. We don’t possess a magic light switch which will automatically inspire folk to be nice to one another. Yet, positivity can be contagious. Lifting up someone’s day could ripple through many lives.

Arguments derailed simply because one kind person helped someone under stress feel better about themselves. Heavy-handed discipline reduced because a frazzled parent received some relief in their day.

Why do we accept the current apathy in our country? Why do we believe we own no hope? Why do fellow citizens walk around every day in lives of quiet desolation?

I submit to you that you and I don’t step up enough to lift someone else’s day. We need to help those around us every day even more than the occasional stranger. We should encourage their dreams, their aspirations, their goals. Each of us hold within ourselves a wealth of knowledge on some subject that would help others.

I say, find that knowledge and help people. Lift up the people in your life who can’t or won’t step forward due to their desolation. Don’t give them a one-time boost or compliment and expect a radical change. Lift the people in your life up daily. Impact your world. Help others to find that bridge over the wastelands of lives of quiet desolation.

Like the flight attendants on jets tell you, place the oxygen mask on your own face first so you may better serve those in need around you. Switch your outlook on life to positive, then help others do the same.

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Infectuous Digitalitis – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Television land got me. More and more I look at television as the scourge of mankind. So many dreams and aspirations die every day by the mind-numbing electrons that whisk our attention into passivity. Oh yes, we laugh, we get excited, we cry – but do we walk away closer to out desires in life or remain on a sinking, stationary plateau?

I’m sure the apparent answer from my perspective jumps out like some throw-back-to-better-times fanatic. I do enjoy some television shows. Dick van Dyke had me laughing silly last night. The man knows comedy. Laughing brings positive benefits to life. Reading a George R. R. Martin novel out of the Ice and Fire series eats up as much time as television. For those uninitiated into this incredible series, the shortest of the five books stands at 967 pages.

The first book, Game of Thrones, grabbed my by the imagination and won’t let go. So before I get tagged for ragging against the boob tube too much, good books can derail me at times.

Yet, when I think of it, all the creativity that goes into writing television shows and books and movies help fuel my imagination. They also help me see plotlines (most plotlines on television are so lame I can tell you what will happen when from the first five to ten minutes). Great plotlines on television seem to be a death knell for the show. Jericho stands as a prime example. One of the best-written shows of the last decade, Jericho lasted but a season and a half. The half was due to a major outcry from devoted viewers (like me).

What does this have to do with today’s wride?

Everything.

While I lay in bed last night laughing my fool head off at Dick van Dyke’s shenanigans, my sleep factor shrunk dramatically. I needed to get up at 6:00am in order to get my two hour wride in before I left for a 9:00am meeting. I slept in until 6:40am, whisked Ivy and myself out the door by 6:50am and returned home at 8:20am.

On the upside, we wrode an hour and a half. On the downside, the impact caused us to not stop and write, I couldn’t shoot any hoops, and I rushed breakfast. Day nine of The Morning Wride wobbled like a Weeble – but it didn’t fall down (that’s for you older folk…). Commitment to our goals comes at a price. Some payments are easy, some payments are not. For some reason, giving up Cheers and Dick van Dyke six nights a week at bed time come tough for me.

Yes, I know all about Tivo and all the myriad recording options. In my younger days, I was a recording nut. I have movies and tv shows by the hundreds if not thousands. But when do I watch them? My days bulge precariously at their seams as it is.

I do love technology. That said, technology robs us of time better spent elsewhere. Technology also assists us to gain more time elsewhere. Is it any wonder we get confused and taxed by the pace of life? The trick with technology, my personal opinion, is knowing when to walk away…and actually walking away.

Often I know WHEN to walk away – I simply DON’T walk away. My brain/imagination/lazy-bone gets sucked into the enticing electrons and boom! My next morning gets impacted.

Balance.

Balance exults itself as the key element in these crazy days of hyper communication and digital technology. Finding balance that does not infringe on critical aspects of your life should manifest itself as a major goal of everyone caught up in the digital tsunami. Family time. Personal growth time. Work time. Sleep time. Exercise time. Spiritual time. Personal entertainment time. Health time.

Those various times all call for attention. The trick of balancing them almost requires a Phd in timeology – or a strong will and commitment to each respective time. For that reason, I have two coaches who help bring me closer and closer to balance.

I lost some sleep time last night. I also lost some exercise time. But that was not all I lost. I also lost the ability to enjoy my surroundings as I wrode my bike. While I enjoyed the time with my daughter (precious) and I enjoyed the exercise (much needed) and I enjoyed the music (comfortable), I did not connect with my surroundings as I like to do.

Ivy and I were a bit rushed. We cut off one of my favorite wriding loops to save a half hour. The impact of messing with my day from the night before is not a new concept to me. When I managed restaurants, one of the key elements to a great day was ALWAYS a strong close the night before. Walking into a mess in the morning would set every employee behind. The scramble to catch up and then get the day going could fray nerves, cause us to go into the unlocking of the doors unprepared, and customers would suffer until we stabilized the day (if we got there at all).

I did not record any video from the wride, nor did I take any pics. I didn’t have time to stop and contemplate nature and its relationship with our lives.

On the up side, however, we wrode. I did not allow my minor setback last night to impede my progress to the goal of wriding every day. Ivy and I talked a lot on this wride. We each took an earbud out and talked at length on subjects of muscle pain (poor girl, she’s graduating from the couch to wriding with her Dad who loves to wride long and fast…), animals (lots of squirrels out every morning), and her propensity to get literally colorfully dizzy when she over-exerts herself.

We talked about food and showers and the fun of wriding in the rain again. We bonded, in other words. She also wrode beside more often than not as opposed to behind me as in days past. Of course I am setting a slower pace for her, especially this morning when she told me ten minutes into the wride that her knees were aching badly. My music selection had blessed me with up-tempo tunes from the outset, so she suffered a bit through my increased pace.

Once she talked to me, of course, I slowed down. Good things come when you stay with your plan on how to reach your goals. One of my plans that helps me reach a number of goals is to wride each and every day. My hope now will be that this experience helps me get the rest I need the night before so I may get up on time.

Also, of course, my hope is I will be less prone to giving in to something like television that diminishes my plans. By the way, the song up above is included, not because tropical storm Debby continues to give us a rain event, but because I resonate deeply with the lyrics. The song perfectly resonates with me in my life in 1990. Funny how a song can transport you back to those feelings… That story is for another day, perhaps. The current rain storm  reminded me of the song…

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Young at Heart – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Michael Ray King

I love writing. I love bicycling. I love music. I love basketball. As I’ve written this past week, my early morning (6:00am to 8:00am) wride fulfills all those ‘loves’. This is for you, yes – YOU, dear reader. Find a way to get more balance into your life. For me, I need a ton of balance. I work far too much.

My bicycle, music, writing, and basketball all team up to take me a step closer, ok, a GIANT step closer to balance. Your balance may involved completely different activities. Commit yourself to this step of balance. Here’s why:

My seventeen-year-old daughter let me know she would be interested in riding with me. I’m thinking, “6:00am? Really? No way…” What I did say was, “come on, let’s go.” This morning, she wrode the entire wride. Remember up above when I wrote, “I need a ton of balance?” Time with my children happens to entail a significant portion of that needed balance.

How cool is this? I am getting exercise which helps release positive endorphins into my system, helps me get into shape, helps me lose weight, while listening to my favorite music, getting to shoot some hoops and grabbing some writing time. And now my bed-potato (kinda like a couch potato) daughter wants to wride with me every day?

Priceless.

Want something even better? Even though she suffered a difficult, physical challenge in completing the wride, she stated she may wride her bike to college in September because by then she will be in great shape. Even though I slow my pace down quite a bit so she can wride with me, the HUGE win of spending time with her, getting her into an exercise regimen, and she gets opportunity to write and listen to music as well, I am dumbfounded.

When you step into action rather than sitting back and figuring out the perfect solution, amazing things happen. This may not come across to you, the reader as incredible as it manifests in my life. I’ve realized for a long time I desire more connection and interaction with my children, but finding that comfort zone for them and myself has not been an easy task.

Yet, contrary to that last statement, the comfort zone popped up simple as breathing. Set yourself into motion and say, “yes” when opportunities present themselves. The ramifications of my morning wride now take on exponentially loftier repercussions than what I set out to do.

This may sound selfish, but I assure you, the statement does not contain a selfish though – when you take care of yourself, you are then better able to serve others. Just like flying, if the oxygen masks drop, you’re advised to put yours on first so you then can help others.

I put myself in motion to take care of my physical and emotional needs by riding my bike, listening to music and writing each morning. Then a basketball pops up the very morning I contemplated how nice it would be to shoot hoops on my morning wride. Then shifting my writing to this blogsite rather than Poetry in Black and White revived this key blog. This writing is more appropriate to this blog as well. Then my daughter commits to wriding with me the entire summer. Then she contemplates wriding to school in the fall.

See what happens when you set yourself in positive motion? I see I still need a lot more balance in my life. I have three other children at home. I am now more comfortable with how this balance will come about. As I continue to place myself in motion, the balance will come as long as I stay open to it. Like Loral Langemeier says, “Just say Yes!” If you don’t know who Loral is, you should go check her out.

Place yourself in motion. Positive motion. Good things will happen. Be open to them. The song on my wride that struck me was a live version (above) of Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting. I took some photos of fallen trees, but those will be used on my PIBW blog.

I love positive motion!

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Storms – The Morning Wride

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Yesterday I wrode in the wrain (is that annoying? :) ). I only suffered through about five minutes in a light wrainfall, but later on my wride, I looked up at intense clouds staring me in the face (hey, I would have spelled it “phace except that would break my consistency with the “wr…” thing”…).

One of the hazards of early morning wrides will be the propensity to get caught in a little wrain. Unfortunately, those clouds did not come across as a ‘little’ wrain. I did make it home, dry and in one piece. The thrill of racing the wrain gifted me some fun,though…

Today’s wride flew by quick. On Fridays I must attend a ‘leads group’ meeting at 8:00am. Since my normal wride time happens to run from 6:00am to 8″00am, I must figure something out for next week.

This morning I learned I could wride faster than I believed possible. My pace can pick up given proper motivation. I must jealously defend my sleep time. I stayed up late watching the disgusting Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and company win the NBA Championship. What a waste of my time. Sorely disappointing, mainly because a couple egotistical thugs won it all, but isn’t that the way of the world today…

No sense going down the negativity road. In a speech I attended on Tuesday, the speaker revealed that people must come up with thirty-two positive thoughts for every negative to simply break even. We shoot ourselves not only in our feet when we buy into negativity, but also push forward our own destruction.

I’m convinced that when we strive to attain something good and positive through the use or assistance of other good and positive people, we insure our progression forward to the dreams AND goals we’ve established. Negativity should hold no sway in our lives. Challenges, hurdles, obstacles, yes, but when we invite negativity into our hearts, it sets seed quickly and grows exponentially fast.

Remaining positive in your outlook takes a lot of self-awareness, a ton of observational skills, and a surrounding group of people committed to a positive, goal oriented outlook on life. I’ve heard this for years. I find life amazing in how many times I’ve made that previous statement, “I’ve heard this for years,” and never used the information.

We are under attack. Even the television attacks us. How many of us look fit and trim like the bulk of the folk on tv? When someone gets depicted more like a cross section of our country, those people tend to be made out to be less than desirable. Nothing new under the sun there, I know, but it appears people must hear these truths over and over and over simply for the message of positivity to sink into their hearts.

I find I have little use for negativity anymore. My position is to walk away whenever things get out of hand. Easy to write and say, not always so easy to do. This picture comes from this morning’s wride. As I rode off down the wroad beginning my wride, I felt the urge to look back over my shoulder. Those clouds were so big and real I had to stop and take a pic…

I will get more rest tonight so I can write more intelligibly tomorrow. I do like the transition to this blog site vs my Poetry in Black and White site. An author should do a better job of keeping readership informed – this site is a perfect fit.

Poetry is where I dump my heart out every now and then and clean up the mess (as best I can). Stop by and check PIBW out sometime.

I desire to pass on valuable information on things I’ve learned to people every chance I get. I’ll be teaching a course through Adult Education beginning July 9th on how to write a book in thirty days. Anyone local should jump on this. My online webinar is very hot right now. My target dates for launch of the next two webinars are August 21, 2012 and August 23, 2012.

Until I wride again!

My Stable of Books…

Go Write and You Won’t Go Wrong! Write Your Book in Thirty Days! (Due Aug. 2012)
The Method Writers (2012) 
Fictitious Fiction (2012)
Rock Your Business! Your Book as YOUR Business Card (2012)
Poetry in Black and White (2012)
More Writing is Easy (2011)
Writing is Easy (2010)
Loves Lost and Found (2009)
Fatherhood 101: Bonding Tips for Building Loving Relationships (2008)

(All books available in Canaday, US, UK, European Union)

Categories: The Morning Wride | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Possibilities and Positivity

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Michael Ray King

Possibilities. We look at our lives, each of us, weighted one of two ways – positive or negative. Why do we do this? What possible good comes from the ‘negative’ life view?

I hope you’re not looking to me for the answers to these questions. The reasons for negativity stretch into endless debate. The experiences of persecution, recrimination, religious teachings, as well as nearly countless other forms of input, shape our life views.

One of the most common experiences I’ve witnessed in my lifetime are the people who must reduce the stature of others followed by an immediate building up of their own. Most of these people perform this act of character assassination and personal build up in a practiced, unthinking manner. They often show themselves to be clueless as to what they are doing.

I’m not speaking of ‘big-ticket’ life items here, either. These people nitpick the smallest, most innocuous of statements a person in their presence may make. They make a quick, judgmental comment on the statement, then follow with their point of view on the matter.

This low-level brow beating beats a positive perspective person down over time. The sad part of this equation becomes the destruction of a positive, upbeat view of the world. With all the persecution and recrimination in the world, it is little wonder negativity holds so much sway. Yet, even more so, the negativity within the world’s religions runs rampant through a world not simply littered with negativity, but plastered with it.

I understand that positives exist in the plethora of world religions.  However, often these intended positives are mired in fiefdom protection which is one form of self preservation and personal elevation. Again, I reiterate that I hope you are not looking to me in this post to hand out any answers. My goal here is to state something people appear fearful to state; negativity permeates everything we touch and experience, most everyone recognizes it, but few are willing to change, to step away from negativity, mostly because their inner ‘eye’ does not even recognize how they tear others down.

After 53 years of observation, I have come to at least one major conclusion: this negative dominance appears in every relationship paradigm imaginable – families, churches, work places, playground, sports teams, civic groups, non profits, corporations – the list goes on and on and on.

My observations on life at this point, again, 53 years in, and again, my observations, are that the most gratifying successes I’ve witnessed and experienced stemmed from positivity in some form. Whether individual positive determination, group teamwork, corporate teamwork, or simple smiles and appreciations of life, positivity remains key to progressive success.

Those who opt for the negative, domineering, destruction driven formulas to further their agendas deliver misery. The larger the undertaking, the larger the misery. A collective of people all working for the good of others and for positive results do not rule this world.

Sad, isn’t it? We possess such a tiny snippet of time to live and breathe and so much of this precious life struggles to persevere through the negativities that surround us, permeate us, infect us, and in the end, destroy us.

Possibilities. Each of us have nearly infinite opportunities to explore. We close off so many of them because of negative voices from without and/or within. We allow ourselves to crumble with the weight of someone else’s thumb on our soul, or we struggle to shrug off past criticisms that told us we were unworthy of moving forward.

What would a world look like where people looked for the best in others? What if we could wake up each day excited about the new discovery we would make about this life? What if we could love without fear of pain and rejection?

Yes, as soon as the questions go that direction, you felt it, right? Somewhere, deep inside, you see no hope for that for this world. Yes, some religions offer this hope either after our death or in one gestalt historical event to come. Yet what issues forth from these religions? Finger-pointing? Judgmentalism? An ‘I’m-right-and-all-others-are-mistaken’ mentality? The answers are in how we vote? The answers are in what brand of religion we partake of? The answers are in atheism?

Have you ever stopped to ponder the millions if not billions of differing ideologies and perspectives on this planet? Each touts they have “the answer” in some way, shape, or form. But even within the confines of philosophies and religions, the fragmented and fractured coalitions appear to hold a tenuous if not desperate allegiance to those within their tenets.

I find it difficult to look at this whole world-ball-of-wax disparity with positive thought. Our increased communication technology only rains more tsunamis of negativity on our psyches rather than positive possibilities. Or focus in news has been negativity from the outset. Positive news does not “appeal” to the masses, except in few-and-far-between snippets.

Possibilities. Positive news that shapes communities and people with only a few-and-far-between negative? Positive news that inspires and excites people to achieve higher and greater things for the good of all? Positive statements that lift others up minute by minute, day by day. Becoming aware of people’s struggles and selflessly taking a moment to invest in their short trek on this planet?

What a shame we tend to want that which we do not possess. What a shame greed and maliciousness pervades our thoughts and motivations. Come on – you don’t think those voices have contaminated your heart, your brain?

Yet, despite these voices that appear to taint everyone on some level, there are those people who contemplate the possibilities. I have no answers for you. But I do have a suggestion. Explore the possibility that the kind word, smile, or even thought you manifest today is an underdog blow against the norm. I suggest you examine your motivation before you speak. I suggest you consider whether your words lift up or tear down at the very basic levels of communication. I suggest you consider the look on your face and your posture as to what they communicate. Positivity or negativity?

I suggest you take the time to consider possibilities and look at them from a progressive, positive view. Nothing will change in our world until we change ourselves. This is why I have no answers. All I can change is myself.

When I accomplish this, the possibilities become endless, until my exit from this world…

 

 

Categories: General Post | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Oh, The Pain, The Pain…of Writing

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Michael Ray King

The Robinsons Wished They Had A Ship Like This...

Dr. Zachary Smith from the television show Lost in Space, would lament that phrase over and over. You simply loved to hate his cowardice, laziness, and scheming ways. I never liked it when he came into a scene. A gut reaction sent a ‘repulse’ signal to my brain and I was always rewarded with dire consequences of his presence. I always wondered why they didn’t just kill the dude. I’m sure it was because this was a family show and they needed a constant adversary.

Over time though, I lost some of my respect for the Robinsons. After having dealt with this jerk all that time, you would think they would not trust him for a moment, yet invariably he would be put in charge of something significant.

Sometimes I feel this is what I do to myself. I am like the crew of a ‘writing ship’. I have multiple personalities. I can be Will Robinson. I can be his father. I can even be Will’s sister, Penny when I write from a female point of view. I can also be Dr. Zachary Smith. I’ll be honest. I get into doldrums that tell me writing is a foolhardy business and if I were smart, I’d bail out now and go work some corporate job the rest of my life.

The “woe is me” Dr. Smith attitude will eat a writer up. To maintain a positive, directional, intentional writing career, there are a number of things I feel a writer should incorporate in their endeavors. One is a writing regimen. I hear writers all the time say they cannot write every day or don’ t need to write every day. I also see many of these same writers struggling to produce. It is no secret that writing every day brings positive writing achievements.

I began writing every day on the site 750words.com on January 2, 2012. I had played around with the site in 2011 with some success, so I set my sights on 2012 with intention. I will write 365 days in a row this year, at least 750 words. Since this is a leap year, I get the full compliment of days for a normal year.

The first 35 to 40 days of writing every day on 750 Words produced more garbage than anything. I basically used the site for ranting about things I cannot control. About a week ago, I broke out of that slump and hit stride. The feeling is like that of a distance runner. You get that horrible side stitch, but once you get past it, life is great!

My productivity is skyrocketing. I am seeing more writing, more stories and more desire creep up in me with these simple steps.

I determined to write 750 words every day and I have.

I started writing down each day what I DESIRE to do. These desires are basically all the writing tasks I kept putting off, just wrapped in a positive package. I have found the more I write things like, “I desire to write a short story”, the more prone I am to do so. I really do desire to do this, but often life gets in the way and disconnects me from that desire. As soon as I write the desire, my emotions come in line with what I write and I am ready to get started!

I’ve found positive energy feeds itself. There comes a point where you feel giddy (ok, at least I do…) about writing and your prospects when you stay focused. The first thing I do each day is target a time to write my 750 words.

Another thing I do to pump up the desire is I write 5 things each day that I am grateful for. These items do not need to be extraordinary, just simple people, places, or things that fill you with gratitude.

Like Will Robinson, the positive affirmations pay of in the end. Anyone who once watched Lost in Space remembers that Will always looked for the best in everyone, even Dr. Zachary Smith. There has been a ton of stuff written about affirmations. I agree that positive affirmations impact your life in beneficial ways. Look at your writing projects you’ve been putting off. Somewhere, you desire to do them. Make that statement to yourself IN WRITING.

Write the ‘desire’ you want to accomplish regarding writing tasks on a white board, a poster board, a piece of paper, a blog. The simple act of writing what you desire can inspire you to toss aside life and objections and interruptions in order to accomplish your goals.

Step up and be Will Robinson. Tell Dr. Zachary Smith to take a hike…

Categories: General Post | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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