Wake Up and Dream Catalyst: Short inspirational thoughts for the day. Raising questions & hopefully opening a dialogue with people interested in learning how to turn their dreams into plans and start navigating their way towards them.
Thought for the Day: I just came home from Boston. While there I had the privilege to sit at Mile 20 of the Boston Marathon in Newton MA in the middle of Heartbreak Hill. I watched as the wheel chair competitors passed, the female front runners, the male front runners and then the waves of runners from around the country and around the world who came out in full force to support Boston as they took back the Marathon.
Thought for the Day: It's Friday & time for my fabulous finds. These are truly inspirational. This week I have been writing about how to recover from trauma following the Tornado in Oklahoma. Here are 3 finds related to resilience, a major goal of positive psychology in the face of traumatic events. Since Monday is Memorial Day, my first find is a wonderful video about a veteran's drive to beat the odds & continue to achieve his dreams. See how he is beating the odds & running marathons despite having lost not only his leg, but also his hip. The second find is an indigogo crowd fundraising campaign which will surely help others amputees. A Canadian group is using the youngest victim of the marathon bombing, Martin Richard's words "No More Hurting People," to raise funds for survivors of the Boston Marathon Bombing. You can view a video, buy a tee shirts or help their cause by sharing the site with others & keep Richard's dream alive. My third find is a miraculous new medical achievement. Doctors were able to a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day.
Thought for the Day: My apologies for posting so late today. I was in Boston yesterday helping out & have been playing catch up all day today. I do want to share some of my thoughts on what will be a long healing process following the devastating attack on the Boston Marathon. What is striking to me both as I watch the news coverage & as I spoke with Bostonians yesterday is the tenacity & determination not to let an act of terror stop people from living their lives.
Of course, people are shaken & worried, but they are planning to keep going. I learned yesterday about a young man who sent out an e-mail to his friends inviting them to walk or run the last mile of the Marathon route. As of yesterday 20,000 people had shared his invitation to join him. Another group of runners is planning a Triumph Over Terrorism run following the entire course of the marathon. They are in the process of choosing a date. My guess is that there will be many more runs & fundraising drives to help the injured recover.
This kind of resilience coming so soon after the tragic event is a sign of the strength & determination of Boston & our nation. I found the photo (above) on Google+ it is an amazing photo of a heart made up of hundreds of people. I believe that if we could take a picture of the world it too would resemble a heart reaching out to Boston. Support is even coming from their arch rivals, The Yankees. Sweet Caroline is being sung across the nation in both baseball leagues. In all the sports associations across the nation, there have been touching tributes.
One woman I met with yesterday said she was at a loss for words when they saw runners in the uniforms from the Marathon from other countries standing in Boston sharing their grief. She felt like telling them to come back next year & not to be afraid. I encouraged her to go ahead & talk to them. Let them know she supports them. The terrorist or terrorists who committed this heinous act wanted people to be afraid. Hopefully, as the stories of how perfect strangers did whatever they could to help those in need of assistance, despite the danger, we will feel greater trust in the goodness of most people. United we stand & together we will triumph over terror!
Thought for the Day: Since I only started this series last week with the post Manic Mondays, I decided to take one of my followers suggestions. Instead of Manic Mondays, Monday's posts will be either Motivational Mondays or Milestone Mondays. Motivational Mondays will offer tips to reduce stress & start the week on a positive start. Milestone Monday posts will discuss important events or holidays that happen on that week. I will post great photos that I find like the stunning one above by +Ken Ohsawa from G+ as well. You can check his profile out on Google+.
This week, I had planned on writing tips on stress management. However, when I opened my computer & saw the video above of Jennifer Hudson and children from the Sandy Hook Elementary School singing America the Beautiful at the opening of the Super Bowl yesterday, I changed my mind.
First, I have a confession to make. I did not watch the beginning of the Super Bowl. I am not an avid football fan, therefore, I was driving when the Super Bowl began. I watched later in the game, saw some amazing touch downs, Beyonce's extravaganza at half time, the black out & the rest of the game. While watching, I was working on the Motivational Mondays photo & began to organize my thoughts for today's post.
This morning when I saw this video, I realized that I missed the best part of the Super Bowl. It was inspiring to see the players moved by the song as they swayed, some with their hands over their hearts or on a child's shoulder & sang along. It was even more powerful to know how much having the Super Bowl in New Orleans was helping a city still overcoming the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Whether you missed this powerful rendition of America the Beautiful, which represents the resilience of a nation coming together & rebuilding, or if you saw it yesterday, it is worth watching again to motivate you this Monday morning. It was a major dose of positive psychology for a nation in need of recovery. I applaud the producers of the Super Bowl for making such an inspiring statement. Hopefully, it will help us to remain focused on the conversations that need to happen that will lead to reform & creative solutions to the problems that face our great nation (see my earlier posts: Dear Mr. President: Help Us Make Right Something So Wrong, Five Ways to Give Meaning to a Blue Christmas, & What If? Wednesday).
Last week I used the song Manic Monday by the Bangles to give you some suggestions
of ways to weave your dreams into your week staring on your 1st coffee
break. How did you do with that assignment? Did you discover a dream
that you want to start working toward? Spend some time on your coffee
break to revisit your dream & see whether you have been making room
for it over the last week. I'd love to hear how you are doing with the
assignment!
Thought for the Day: Sometimes you have to learn to fall to learn to stand tall. Have you ever wondered why toddlers love to play the game of "Ring Around the Rosie," over & over again? Why do they love falling down & getting back up? As a psychologist, I believe it is more than just a game. They are learning an important life lesson. Toddlers are new to walking. You can't learn to walk without falling. By playing the game, they are mastering the art of falling down without getting hurt & building resilience & self confidence.
In this longer post which is taken from a longer article posed today on PRWeb. The article announces a joint campaign I am launching with The Blind Judo Foundation supporting the fact that October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. In this post, I take the importance of of learning to fall to another level. I hope you will comment & share this with your friends & family. If you have any friends at ABC, feel free to share it there as well!
In the popular ABC TV show, "What Would YouDo?," with John Quinones events are staged by actors to see what people do
when confronted with hurtful actions by people in public places. Here's some
“What would you do?” parenting dilemmas to consider:
Imagine that your child is blind. Constantly, you
warn them about falling down. They want to learn to ride a bicycle, but keep
falling and hurting themselves. You fear for their safety, but want them to
have a normal life. What would you do?
Neighborhood kids take your child to the playground.
Hours later, a stranger calls. Your child
was left stranded in the park not knowing how to get home. What would you do?
In high school, teenagers taunt the students who
guide your child through from class to class. Calling them gay or stupid. What
would you do?
Would you try to shelter your child? Would you take
the bicycle and tell them it is too dangerous? Would you seclude your child in
schools for the blind and avoid neighborhood kids who fail to understand that
bullying the blind is cruel and unacceptable?
All parents struggle to keep children safe while
encouraging them to dream, but it is
more challenging for parents of blind children since the statistics (75% ofblind adults are unable to support themselves financially) are stacked against
dreams of independent living. I spoke with Ron Peck, co-founder of the Blind Judo Foundation, Lori
Pierce and her parents to understand what helps 30% of blind adults become
self-sufficient following their dreams.
Lori Pierce's parents grappled with safety issues
daily as they raised their adopted daughter, Lori who is blind. Miraculously,
they gave her the confidence to not only ride a bike, but also to run track and play modified soccer. They
practiced what I calls "dream parenting," encouraging their
children to follow their dreams even when they are attempting to do something
they may be concerned about.
Despite their fears, the Pierce’s trusted Lori’s
judgment while keeping a watchful eye. Lori’s seven siblings treated her as
“normal” and also encouraged her to try things. With “dream” parents and
siblings, Lori learned to “dream” of possibilities. She met and exceeded the
“challenges” along the way.
Lori training in Judo
When the Pierce's learned about the Blind Judo
Foundation's program, they dared to introduce her to a sport many parents would have feared. Their experiences make
them strong supporters of a new campaign to raise money for the Blind Judo Foundation which they believe was life
changing and crucial in empowering Lori.
Lori with Lola getting her Degree
at the U of TX
Judo taught Lori how to fall down, get up and
persevere. It empowered her to stand tall and triumphant as the 1st Silver
Medal winner of the 2004 US Paralympic Judo Team in Athens. She gained the self-confidence to
pursue and complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at the University of
Texas, far from her family in Colorado. Judo also helped her believe in her
ability to coach blind children in
Judo, work on her Teaching Certificate and live independently at age 28. It all started by "waking up and
dreaming" of things many blind people do not dare to dream.I believe that Blind Judo and how Lori's
parents responded to the unique challenges of raising a blind child played a
significant part in why Lori and her dreams thrived. Since I believe
that if one person can accomplish a dream, anyone can, she launched a joint
fundraising campaign to help the Blind JudoFoundation teach blind and visually impaired children and wounded
warriors to fall down so that they too can learn to
dream it forward like Lori.Half of the profits from sales of The Wake Up and Dream Challenge to teach
more children to dream using Judo enhance self esteem, empower self confidence
and stomp out bullying of the blind.
When ordering the book please write “Blind Judo Foundation” in the
"comments" section.
Please consider changing lives with the purchase of the book and donations to
the work and mission of the Blind Judo Foundation at www.blindjudofoundation.org/donate.php
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