Well, that's over with...

Yup. I've officially finished the NYC Triathlon for the second time. Man, what a day it was too. It was really hot, the swim was what I've always envisioned the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain to be like, as I biked I wondered what Lance was doing a few times and at mile four of the run my legs felt like they were going to calcify. And I loved it. All of it.

Now it's over with and my week-long tunnel vision has opened up to all this "stuff" that I've been putting off to prep for the race. Mail, laundry, food shopping for anything other than PowerGel.

It's good to be back in the swing. And there is one thing I've enjoyed sticking with, my grateful list. Here it is:

1) Perseverance, Focus & Dedication

2) The guys at Metro Bikes

3) My inner iPod

4) Family & Friends

5) Supportive emails

6) NY pizza

7) Mud Pie ice cream

What are you grateful for today? Post a comment, share your list, start a shift.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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Exactly The Same Only Different

Yesterday I wrote about the ever-expanding personal safe zone and how it will expand for as long as we try, do and incorporate new things in our lives. And how cool is that!? Every day we awaken to a new sunrise, we have a chance to "do it all again", only differently. And because of that, the newness of things keep flowing in to life.

As I train for my races, I swim the same laps, run & bike the same route and I even listen to the same playlist on my iPod. But today I swam faster because I changed the position of my head in the water, my run was more powerful because of all the hill training I did this past winter, my biking remains challenging, but my perception of how I'll do on race day has become different. For all of it I'm grateful. and I know that as long as I keep an attitude of humility rather than entitlement I will always make new discoveries, reach new heights and continue to "do it differently" each day the sun rises.

As promised, here's toady's Grateful List:

1) Going with my gut

2) Acknowledging my strengths

3) Acknowledging my areas that need strengthening

4) The O2 in my lungs

5) Down pillows

6) My wife's enthusiasm for life

7) My dog's hairy chin

How about you? What have you done differently today? What new discoveries have you made today? Post a comment and let me know.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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"The Safe Zone" conundrum

Committing to a gratitude list brought me to my blog each day. Since my seven day commitment ended, I've missed both the daily moments of reflection and the creative outlet of blogging. So I'm combining my commitment to a daily gratitude list with daily blog posts - just one of the things that keeps me rooted in myself.

Grateful list

1) A loving, supportive relationship with my wife
2) My many employment opportunities
3) The green grass in Ulster County
4) My legs
5) Air conditioning
6) Chilled fruit salad

Most of the time I do the comfortable things. I have this "routine" within my ever changing weekly schedule that I, on some level, rely on for sanity. This is basically it:

I wake up at whatever time my schedule requires me to, I feed & walk the dog. I wash & dry any dishes in the sink and then I make my coffee. While drinking it, I read the sports pages - Yankees in the Summer and the Giants & Patriots in the winter. For lunch I usually eat a sandwich with a piece on fruit. At day's end I enjoy watching The Deadliest Catch - something about the camaraderie on that show that is really compelling for me. There are some variations to the routine, but that's pretty much it.These are routines that I relish regardless of time, place or surroundings. They give me a sense of comfort, of familiarity in an otherwise changing world. It is my safe zone. It's mine.

As a coach, solopreneur and home based business owner I must always exercise effective time management skills. Part of that is a daily self-awareness check-in. I prioritize tasks, ask myself qualifying questions like who am I , where am I, where am I going, how will I get there, etc...At times, I think to myself that things in my life seem boring, stagnant or routine and I want to shake them up. I just got finished saying how I relish my routine within an ever changing schedule and now I go off and think that things are too routine. Hmmm...that's peculiar. I know intellectually that my life is not boring, stagnant or routine, but I still "feel" that way from time to time. This is commonplace and I'm sure you can relate to this as it pertains to your own life. There are many cause for this type of thinking. One cause is that inner "critic" or "saboteur" as I call it. It's never satisfied and always says there is something, anything better than what I, we, you are doing at any given moment. The saboteur is easily managed. It's nothing more than "an undigested piece of potato" as Ebeneezer Scrooge put it. A mere distraction that attempts to use worry, fear, hesitation and indecision to keep us from living a fulfilled life. There are a myriad ways to manage the saboteur. For practical, actionable examples sign up here http://ow.ly/2bqtv for a complimentary Visceral Coaching session and we can choose the best one for you.

Another way to look at it is, upon those moments of reflection, to realize that we have new experiences every day. And those new experiences lead us to even newer experiences, and so on. Each new experience then becomes familiar and we begin to expand our safe zone. Take a moment right now and answer this question:

What's one thing new in your life that you didn't think you could or would do 365 days ago? Take into account the journey this new thing in your life has taken, from new to familiar.

This is a perfect example of you expanding your life, incorporating that which you thought you could not do into something you can do, and do well. A year ago I didn't think I could understand or participate in Twitter. Now I tweet with proficiency. Check it out http://twitter.com/VisceralCoach Three years ago I didn't think I could participate in endurance racing, today I have one marathon, and two triathlons under my belt with two half marathons coming up. So the conundrum is to focus my, your, our awareness on what new things have most recently become familiar, allow self-recognition and continue forward.

What did you come up with as the answer to the question above? What the next new thing on the horizon that will further expand your Safe Zone? Post a comment and let me know.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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My Head Is A Gyroscope.

Dictionary.com defines Gyroscope like this:

an apparatus consisting of a rotating wheel so mounted that itsaxis can turn freely in certain or all directions, and capable ofmaintaining the same absolute direction in space in spite ofmovements of the mountings and surrounding parts: used tomaintain equilibrium, determine direction, etc.

Yes. That's how my head feels right now. My body is the "fixed position" and my head is freely rotating in all directions. I am able to "maintain equilibrium", so I have that going for me.

This is all due to choice. I'm blessed with the ability to choose - a luxury problem indeed. That said, it still feels like my head is spinning at planetary velocity.The other day I petitioned the Time Gods to extend the day to twenty-six hours to see if that would help, but they didn't go for it. Today, rather that trying to alter the space-time continuum, I will pause...

There. That's better. In the pause I picture pulling apart this moment-to-moment day to experience a brief period in time in slow motion. I breathe, deep. In the slow-mo I remember that 1) This is exactly what I've been wanting and 2) I'm getting what I want.

Wow! That's pretty cool. In just a few paragraphs I've gone from feeling like my head is spinning like a top to slow motion gratitude. I am calm now. Ahhhh...

Perfect time to write my Grateful list. Once again I missed posting it yesterday, so here it is:

Grateful list 7/1/10

1) Internet banking

2) The weather!

3) Fluff reading

4) Connecting with old friends

5) Oreos dunked in coffee

Grateful list 7/2/10

1) As stated above, the ability to choose.

2) My father

3) Freedom to express

4) The summer wind blowing through my office

5) New day, new possibilities

Share your Gratitude in the comments box. Try it. See how it can positively effect your day. Start a shift.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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Petition To Make a Day Twenty-Six Hours. And Two Grateful Lists

Yesterday I began the day feeding carrots to my neighbors horses. ...Ahhh... Then I spent three hours hurdling through space & time on I-87 South. By late afternoon I was haunted by a Yoko Ono art installation at MOMA. At about nine-thirty I realized my "relax" to "doing" ratio was all out of whack. So I put my rump on the couch for the rest of the night. After my first round a channel surfing I then realized that I hadn't even thought about gratitude or my seven day Grateful list call-to-action. So here it is a day later. I'm more centered, relaxed and able to breathe. And I'll double up on my list; one for yesterday and one for today. Check it out:

Grateful list 6/29/10

1) Memory

2) Fresh coffee

3) 100.1 WDST, Woodstock Radio - Awesome!

4) Seeing things through

5) Humility

6) Blue Jays in the trees

7) Opportunity

8) The Ironies in life

Grateful list 6/30/10

1) Mangos

2) Spontaneous dancing to Caribbean music

3) Reflection

4) Action/adventure movie trailers

5) Anticipation

6) Stretching

Want to hop on the gratitude train? It's a smooth ride to daily fulfillment & positivity. We make all local stops, there's frequent service and no delays. Boarding passes are free, just answer the following question:

What are you grateful for today? Post a comment. Share your list. Start a shift.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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Grateful list 6/28/10

This is day three of my commitment to be consciously grateful of things, any things in my life. Today I noticed a little shift in the way I address people in my day's interactions. Here's a few examples: I had lovely exchange with the town Assessor. She even offered to help me fill out the Energy Star form to reduce our property tax - a wonderful surprise. I had a great exchange with the water service guy who came to do the yearly service our water softener. He even gave me a break on the bill. And I just had a very positive and silly conversation with the woman behind the counter at our local coffee house. We talked about yoga, boxing and grade school. Usually I would have been "all business" with the town assessor, sort of curt and hurried with the water service guy and aloof with the coffee house woman. But it seems my recent focus on gratitude and positivity has made a difference already!
So without further delay...Here's my grateful list for today, June 28Th, 2010:

1) The kindness of The Saugerties Town Assessor
2) The patience of Bob at American Aqua Services
3) Inquiring Minds Bookstore & Cafe
4) Copper ceilings
5) New neighbors
6) The enchanted forest that's just outside our driveway! I saw 2 deer, 1 hare, 3 chickens, 2 horses & 1 angry German Shepard.
7) Late afternoon sunshine

What are you grateful for today? Post a comment. Share your list. Start a shift.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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Grateful List 6/27/10

Thanks Kaye George for commenting on yesterday's post. Kaye is the author of When I am Grateful. Here's link to her website, http://wheniamgrateful.com/. Spread the word about gratitude!

Here's my list for today, Sunday 6/27/10
1) Freshly folded laundry
2) Kind neighbors
3) My iPod
4) Tonight's sunset
5) True friends
6) My feet!
7) My loving wife's beautiful blue eyes.

So I went past 5. All well, the more the merrier. What's on your grateful list? Join the Visceral Coaching Social Networking Initiative and post your grateful list in the comments section. Share your gratitude and see how it effects your attitude and the attitude of those around you.

Robert Dioguardi, CPCC
Visceral Coaching
Certified Empowerment Coach
www.visceralcoaching.com

robert@visceralcoaching.com

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