Spiritual Belly

I'm posting this a day early. New Years is a time of reflection. A time to remember the past year and make plans for the next. It's also a time for New Years resolutions. Those little things we promise ourselves that we're going to start or stop doing. Most New Years resolutions fail within two to four weeks. I don't want to put a damper on your goals. Just know that the odds are not with you. Why do we fail? I asked ChatGPT to give me some common reasons. Here's what it came back with. Lack of specific goals Resolutions like "get fit" or "save money" are too vague. Without specific, measurable goals, it's difficult to track progress or stay motivated. Unrealistic expectations Many resolutions set unattainable targets, like losing 30 pounds in a month or going to the gym every day, which leads to frustration and giving up. Lack of a clear plan Resolutions often fail because people don't break them down into actionable steps or establish a...

Today is Christmas. I'm stealing away a few moments to write. We rented a house up near Sonora, California, and are celebrating the holiday with my and my wife's family. It's been a wonderful time of food and laughter. I spoke with my trainer ahead of time regarding the food situation. She said (and this is why I appreciate her) to not worry about what I eat. Just stay mindful and enjoy the company. In the journey towards finding our healthy selves, I think we experience moments of doubt and negative self-talk. This is hard. I'm weak. I'm not worthy. This isn't going to plan. Well, I already messed up; may as well give up. I'm reading a book entitled We Don't Die by Sandra Champlain. In it, she refers to "The Voice," a constant companion that's speaking incessantly as a critic towards anything we're doing. The Voice is a gift given to us so we have something to struggle against. Like a set of weights, The Voice offers resistance to make...

We had a company meeting today where our executive vice president presented our current outlook, what we did well, and what can be improved. She had an AMA (ask me anything) site open before the meeting where people could submit questions to have answered. I submitted one and it got picked up during the meeting. It's a little unnerving to hear your name being spoken in a meeting of several thousand employees. My question had to do with learned helplessness. Our company has had some difficult years and our profitability is down. I asked what we can do to help right the ship. Our VP said it starts with management and leadership. We can't just ask engineers to keep doing more and more without support. I appreciate the sentiment, though it still makes me feel helpless that I have to wait for leadership to act. I want to know what are things I personally can do to help. In some ways, I think there's a lesson here that applies to all areas of life. Some problems we have control o...

Sleep is super important for me. I have bipolar disorder and a big trigger for mania is lack of sleep. I started to experience hypomanic symptoms over the weekend. Luckily, me and my wife are able to notice the signs and act quickly, taking medication to help me sleep. Thankfully, I caught it in time and didn't dip into full-blown psychosis. The mind is a fragile thing. It can be both a great tool and a savage enemy. We can use our mind to strengthen our self-image and be a positive influence in the world. We can use it to complain and tear down the things and the people around us. For me, I'm working on balance with my mind. I have a tendency to perseverate on negative things. It's the engineer in me that's trying to solve problems, which is not a bad thing. It's good to want to make the world a better place. But some problems are too big to be solved by one person. Some problems are above my pay grade. Last week, I mentioned my company got rid of our CEO. That cau...

On Monday this week I logged onto work only to find that our CEO "retired". I use scare quotes because if you know anything about corporations, sudden changes in leadership are typically because the leader is being forced out. I'm a little bummed by this news. I liked our CEO. Even though not everyone agreed with his vision, he loved the company and would do anything to make it successful. There isn't a person I can think of that was more passionate about the company than him. I spent some time on a website called Blind reading anonymous comments from company employees. Think of this site as a social media site where employees can vent to each other. The comments were incredibly negative, talking about how the company is in a death spiral and is screwed. Everywhere I looked there was negativity, apathy and cynicism. It really crushed my mellow reading through them. I think people get frustrated over things they can't control. And rightly so. If you hang your happi...