If you've used a computer for any length of time, you are familiar with the challenge of using passwords. Today's technological world is fairly complex when it comes to keeping our data safe and secure. Passwords are one of the mechanisms by which we accomplish this goal.
As a person who uses passwords dozens of times every day, I am often reminded of the power that they have.
I was sitting in a restaurant the other day, trying to use the free wireless internet that they provide. I go to this particular place frequently, and use their internet access a lot. On this particular day, I could not log in for some reason. They change their password from time to time, but I had verified with my waiter that I was indeed using the correct password. I couldn't get on to the internet. Finally I gave up.
The next time I was in the restaurant, the manager came to talk to me about the problems I'd experienced a few days prior. He told me that the password had been changed, but they weren't informed. He apologized for the inconvenience.
That small little word is the key to so much. Without the right password, you can't get where you want to go or access what you need.
A lot of things in life have their own 'password' that is required in order to accomplish what we desire. A lot of times the 'password' is particular knowledge or experience. Sometimes that password is our attitude towards something. The 'key' or password to where we want to go is something that we have to find, nurture and maintain properly in order to turn our goals and dreams into reality.
I'm a big jigsaw puzzle fan. The same principle applies here. You can't simply pick up a piece and randomly fit it in to the puzzle. Each puzzle piece has only one place that it belongs. It is the 'key' or the 'password' for that particular part of the puzzle. None other will do. Just as in the jigsaw puzzle, where sometimes you must try many pieces in one spot before you find the right one, so it is in life. We can use clues in the puzzle to help us find the right piece... the color, size and shape of the hole we are trying to fill can all help us locate and install the right piece.
Finding the missing piece, the key or the password to whatever situation we are facing in life is a process. We have to stay determined and never give up. The key exists. The password is there. We simply have to keep looking for it until we find it. Then... and only then... the door will unlock and we can move into the realm we seek to enter.
Showing posts with label persistence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label persistence. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Satisfaction of Completion
This past Saturday was a big day for me. I had a major day of 'completion' in my life.
I completed the 're-setup' of my new laptop. I wrote about this last week when I was still 'in process' with it. I had to do the setup procedure twice, because my first hard drive was defective. Late in the afternoon on Saturday, I moved the final files to my new computer and the project was completed. I was filled with a sense of relief, satisfaction and pride. It was a big job. It was a job I would have rather not had to tackle. It was something I really didn't have the time to do. It was essential, and it was time critical. When I crossed the last item off my task list (there were 25 items on the list initially), I felt a wave of contentment sweep through my system. I'm not sure there is any better feeling than, "I DID IT!"
As if that weren't enough, I set out to work in my garden later that same day. The burglary of my home threw a spanner into my weeding plans. I should have been done with my last weeding pass before October arrived. Here is is near the end of the month, and I was still working to get the last weeds pulled before the leaves cover the ground and it becomes too cold to work outside. I was playing beat the clock... and beat the leaves! I didn't know that I would finish yesterday. Usually I work for 30 minutes or an hour, depending on how much time I have any given day. This particular day, as I worked, I realized that if I put in 2 hours, I could finish the task! I knew I was close, but I didn't realize it was that close!
When I pulled that last weed, I felt another wave of the satisfaction I'd felt 2 hours before when I completed my computer set up. I DID IT! I realized that all of the doubts I'd had about whether I could make it or not... were at last disproved. I was done. It was accomplished. I could take that item off my to do list until March rolls around. Thank goodness!
I'm going to get a nice little reward for finishing my yard work. The weather here is supposed to be really nice for the next several days. Now, I get to simply enjoy the beauty of these days without having to 'make hay while the sun shines' and pull weeds. How nice is that?
I wouldn't have made either of these goals if I hadn't plugged away at the tasks. As for the weeding, the days have been colder lately, and sometimes an hour was too hard on my hands, so I would only require that I work 30 minutes outside. All those little 30 minute chunks added up! I often felt a little guilty that I wasn't working 'my full hour,' but I kept myself from descending into an 'all or nothing' mentality and did what I could do.
The same applied to the computer project. I simply used available time to accomplish a task that would fit in that window, and eventually all 25 items on the list were crossed off and completed.
I've been having some struggles lately, so I guess the universe decided that I needed to have some successes. Completion is sweet. Savor it when it comes your way. As I sit here in my favorite restaurant, using my new (and fully set up) computer, looking out at the beautiful fall day... I'm reveling in my successes... and the satisfaction of completion.
I completed the 're-setup' of my new laptop. I wrote about this last week when I was still 'in process' with it. I had to do the setup procedure twice, because my first hard drive was defective. Late in the afternoon on Saturday, I moved the final files to my new computer and the project was completed. I was filled with a sense of relief, satisfaction and pride. It was a big job. It was a job I would have rather not had to tackle. It was something I really didn't have the time to do. It was essential, and it was time critical. When I crossed the last item off my task list (there were 25 items on the list initially), I felt a wave of contentment sweep through my system. I'm not sure there is any better feeling than, "I DID IT!"
As if that weren't enough, I set out to work in my garden later that same day. The burglary of my home threw a spanner into my weeding plans. I should have been done with my last weeding pass before October arrived. Here is is near the end of the month, and I was still working to get the last weeds pulled before the leaves cover the ground and it becomes too cold to work outside. I was playing beat the clock... and beat the leaves! I didn't know that I would finish yesterday. Usually I work for 30 minutes or an hour, depending on how much time I have any given day. This particular day, as I worked, I realized that if I put in 2 hours, I could finish the task! I knew I was close, but I didn't realize it was that close!
When I pulled that last weed, I felt another wave of the satisfaction I'd felt 2 hours before when I completed my computer set up. I DID IT! I realized that all of the doubts I'd had about whether I could make it or not... were at last disproved. I was done. It was accomplished. I could take that item off my to do list until March rolls around. Thank goodness!
I'm going to get a nice little reward for finishing my yard work. The weather here is supposed to be really nice for the next several days. Now, I get to simply enjoy the beauty of these days without having to 'make hay while the sun shines' and pull weeds. How nice is that?
I wouldn't have made either of these goals if I hadn't plugged away at the tasks. As for the weeding, the days have been colder lately, and sometimes an hour was too hard on my hands, so I would only require that I work 30 minutes outside. All those little 30 minute chunks added up! I often felt a little guilty that I wasn't working 'my full hour,' but I kept myself from descending into an 'all or nothing' mentality and did what I could do.
The same applied to the computer project. I simply used available time to accomplish a task that would fit in that window, and eventually all 25 items on the list were crossed off and completed.
I've been having some struggles lately, so I guess the universe decided that I needed to have some successes. Completion is sweet. Savor it when it comes your way. As I sit here in my favorite restaurant, using my new (and fully set up) computer, looking out at the beautiful fall day... I'm reveling in my successes... and the satisfaction of completion.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Relapse is Inevitable
In all processes of recovery, the experience of relapse is pretty much unavoidable. This is as true of recovery from addictions as it is of physical conditions.
I've been struggling with a tendon injury for the past 3 months. Who knew that something so small, as a little tendon near my elbow, could rock my world for so long?
I injured myself by 'pushing through pain' to achieve some gardening goals. I could never have imagined how my life would be disrupted by insisting that I meet that goal on time!
Slowly, but surely, my arm has been getting better, but every once in a while, I do something that is a bit too much for it, and it 'flares up.' I have to give it a little time before I regain that lost ground. It is all part of the process.
As frustrating as the process has been, particularly the length of time it is taking to complete, this one has been pretty understandable.
My back, however, is another story. I've struggled with pain in my low back/hip area for many years. I worked with a chiropractor for a year and improved a lot, and now have been working with a physical therapist for 6 months and it is markedly improved! I'd say I'm at ab out 85% of my pre-injury as far as pain free time is concerned.
Two weeks ago, however, I had a major set back. I've traced it (with the help of my personal trainer) to a rather vigorous core/ab workout I did. It was just a little too much for the unstable area of my back, and it whipped me back to the early days of pain that I suffered with for so long.
Herein lies one of the other aspects of relapse. I was terrified! I couldn't believe that I could so easily 'go back there' to that level of pain. Less than one hour of activity seemingly erased all the gain I'd made in the past year and a half. I was frustrated and really scared. What did this mean to my future? Would I ever really be 'well?' How long would it take me to get back to where I was only days before? All that swirled in my mind as I visited the physical therapist twice in a week to try to untangle the destabalized mess in my back.
After only 1 week, I'm pretty much already back to where I was before that fateful 'ab/core day.' How cool is that?
I can see now that my fears, while very real, were not based in a true grasp of the situation. Something did indeed get shifted out of place, and it did take some work to get it back, but the 'progress' I had made in the past 18 months was not lost in that one activity. It was a setback, but did not erase all I had accomplished.
This is the most important thing to remember in relapse. The climb back to where we were will not take us what it took the first time around. We knokw more. We have earned our place. The restoration process will go faster!
There are lessons to be learned in relapse. My biggest lesson is that I still need to be religious about my core stability strengthening exercises. Sometimes, because the pain is so radically reduced, I get lazy and don't do my exercises. There is a price to pay for laziness. Doing what I know I need to do will firm up the foundation upon which my recovery is situated. I may 'feel' better, but there is still work to be done.
It's kind of like taking antibiotics to kill an infection. You might start feeling better after a day or two, but the infection is not completely gone yet. One needs to finish the entire course of treatment to make sure the infection is truly gone and isn't lurking in the system somewhere.
Relapse can teach us that point. We need to keep doing the work to stay on a path of recovery and healing, even when we are looking and feeling lots better.
We certainly don't want to invite relapses into our processes, but if we can embrace relapse when it does occur, our recovery process can actaully be fortified by it!
Happy recovery!
I've been struggling with a tendon injury for the past 3 months. Who knew that something so small, as a little tendon near my elbow, could rock my world for so long?
I injured myself by 'pushing through pain' to achieve some gardening goals. I could never have imagined how my life would be disrupted by insisting that I meet that goal on time!
Slowly, but surely, my arm has been getting better, but every once in a while, I do something that is a bit too much for it, and it 'flares up.' I have to give it a little time before I regain that lost ground. It is all part of the process.
As frustrating as the process has been, particularly the length of time it is taking to complete, this one has been pretty understandable.
My back, however, is another story. I've struggled with pain in my low back/hip area for many years. I worked with a chiropractor for a year and improved a lot, and now have been working with a physical therapist for 6 months and it is markedly improved! I'd say I'm at ab out 85% of my pre-injury as far as pain free time is concerned.
Two weeks ago, however, I had a major set back. I've traced it (with the help of my personal trainer) to a rather vigorous core/ab workout I did. It was just a little too much for the unstable area of my back, and it whipped me back to the early days of pain that I suffered with for so long.
Herein lies one of the other aspects of relapse. I was terrified! I couldn't believe that I could so easily 'go back there' to that level of pain. Less than one hour of activity seemingly erased all the gain I'd made in the past year and a half. I was frustrated and really scared. What did this mean to my future? Would I ever really be 'well?' How long would it take me to get back to where I was only days before? All that swirled in my mind as I visited the physical therapist twice in a week to try to untangle the destabalized mess in my back.
After only 1 week, I'm pretty much already back to where I was before that fateful 'ab/core day.' How cool is that?
I can see now that my fears, while very real, were not based in a true grasp of the situation. Something did indeed get shifted out of place, and it did take some work to get it back, but the 'progress' I had made in the past 18 months was not lost in that one activity. It was a setback, but did not erase all I had accomplished.
This is the most important thing to remember in relapse. The climb back to where we were will not take us what it took the first time around. We knokw more. We have earned our place. The restoration process will go faster!
There are lessons to be learned in relapse. My biggest lesson is that I still need to be religious about my core stability strengthening exercises. Sometimes, because the pain is so radically reduced, I get lazy and don't do my exercises. There is a price to pay for laziness. Doing what I know I need to do will firm up the foundation upon which my recovery is situated. I may 'feel' better, but there is still work to be done.
It's kind of like taking antibiotics to kill an infection. You might start feeling better after a day or two, but the infection is not completely gone yet. One needs to finish the entire course of treatment to make sure the infection is truly gone and isn't lurking in the system somewhere.
Relapse can teach us that point. We need to keep doing the work to stay on a path of recovery and healing, even when we are looking and feeling lots better.
We certainly don't want to invite relapses into our processes, but if we can embrace relapse when it does occur, our recovery process can actaully be fortified by it!
Happy recovery!
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