Parry and Riposte

A good new friend of mine was sick yesterday. She had a cold of some sorts. I went over to cheer her up and give her some company. I believe fully the best way to get over sickness is with laughter. I brought Tuberculosis (my 1.5 TB hard drive) over so she could relax and watch a couple of movies. I gave her Princess Bride (perfect for the sick seeing that Fred Savage is sick in the movie) and Labyrinth. Turns out they weren't really needed, cuz she came with me to Fencing practice.

Before leaving for the practice, our other friend that lives there came out to chat. She has been having some tough guy issues and I love to hear them. Turns out by doing so I keep learning more and more about how girls are. I know that each is different in their own way, but I found a similarity, last night, that has been common with all of my past interests. So this is what I learned:

I'm the kind of person that loves to hear what happened. you ask any of my ex girlfriends and they will tell you that I have made some sort of contact after we broke up and got answers to what happened and why. This is good marketing, I mean that the best person to learn from about how you are doing is the person walking out the front door. Why did they leave? But I digress. With that explanation for me, you must understand how I am after a break-up. I want to stay friends... unless you're psycho, then I want nothing to do with you. But for the most part, I liked you for a reason and I want to keep that good part in my life. To get over you, I don't want to go, I just need a redirection. I will still hang out, but just not that often. Now, a lot of the girls I have dated are the opposite. They need a break. They need to cut me out completely. At lease for a time. They need space to contemplate and get over me.

Now this is not all that I learned. The realization of those facts made me realize that I had been pushing my way of coping with a break-up onto those in which the parting happened. For instance, lately I have been really upset at my best friend because she needed to take time away from me. I wanted to keep in constant contact and talk about it. This isn't the way she does things. She was also getting mad at me for not wanting space to get over her. So we were both mad at the other, because the other person wasn't coping the way we thought they should. PLUS getting more upset for not allowing the other to cope the way they needed. I hope that makes sense, if not, here's the dumbed down version.

I wanted to talk about it and figure it out. She wanted to take a break. She expected, since that's the way she takes care of the relationship that I should be doing the same. I get upset because she's not allowing me to talk about it and I'm getting more upset because I feel the best way for her to take care of this relationship is to talk about it. And now she get's upset because I'm forcing my ways on her. Then she gets even more mad for not giving her the space she needs. So it spirals into an even worse situation and at that point a strong love which used to be there turns into a lack of trust, to a lack of compassion, to a lack of love that turns to hate!

So who bends? How do you solve this dilemma? How can both be satisfied?

The Challenge!

Like I mentioned before this "challenge" really isn't going to be challenging. It's only going to take a bit of time out of your day. All you have to do is read a simple, short thing called a scroll. Here it is in the words of the Author, Og Mandino:

I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed to the next scroll. First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then I will read the words in silence after I partake in my midday meal. Last, I will read the words again just as I retire at the day’s end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud. On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in a like manner for thirty days. Then I will turn, to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days. I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for 30 days and my reading has become a habit.

 This only lasts for 10 months. One scroll for 30 days and there are ten scrolls. The first one is the longest so it gets easier from that point on. To help you out, I even made a fun way to do this. I made Scroll Cards.

Scroll Cards

Go ahead and download it.

Okay, the font is really tiny. The first scroll is 4pt font and the rest are 5. If you wish to download and use the bigger versions feel free. Here are the scrolls in PDF form:

Scroll 1
Scroll 2
Scroll 3
Scroll 4
Scroll 5
Scroll 6
Scroll 7
Scroll 8
Scroll 9
Scroll 10

I was trying to find the interview with Matthew McConaughey, where he describes his transformation by taking this challenge. He was studying to be a Lawyer in Texas when he read, "The Greatest Salesman in the World" (from which the scrolls are taken), and realized his love for acting was stronger than being a lawyer.

Each 30 days we'll all move on to the next scroll. I'm starting on May 1st. I would love for you to join me. We even have a facebook group and event. Join us and reach your dreams!

Buy the book by Og Mandino: The Greatest Salesman in the World

May Day!

Can you believe we are almost over a third of the way through with 2011? On May 1st we will be. So how are you New Year's Resolutions going? I can honestly say that one of mine is going very strongly. I have slipped a few times, but that's okay. I don't beat myself up over it. If I did, I would have a broken rib and be missing an eye. ;)

I love May 1st. It's a great day to see if your goals are in check. As Dieter F. Uchtdorf would probably insert some great aviation metaphor for the use of the term "May Day," I will let you see the correlation. In my next post I am going to issue a challenge. It's going to take you 10 months to complete. It's going to take 1500 minutes of your life. That's 25 hours. That's a little over a full day. But would you be willing to spend a full day to see a change in every day after? Would you be willing to sacrifice a mere 5 minutes a day for ten months to reach your dreams for the rest of your life? The time is now to start a challenge and save your life. It's a May Day.

Not only is May 1st May Day and the first of the month, it also happens to land on a Sunday. I love it when this happens. I love goals and challenges that start on the same day as the beginning of something. And this one is Month and Week.

Are you excited to hear the challenge? I will provide you with almost everything you need to make it possible. There will be a few things you need to do on your end... like the work. But as I mentioned before. It only takes a little bit of time. And I mean a little bit.

So who wants to take the challenge with me? Comment below or on the Facebook post to this post.