Party

I suppose today's Thought is a pre-emptive apology. Over the next 12 days, I will be working as a Social Media Intern at the Minnesota State Fair. If you're around, be sure to stop by the 4-H Building and say hello!

The idea of the state fair brings about thoughts of a party. Where else can you find millions of people gathering over twelve days for such an event. Best yet, there's something for everyone. Livestock, 4-H exhibits, rides, food, you name it, it's there. What are you celebrating? Perhaps like me, you are celebrating the accomplishments and future of thousands of young 4-H members. Or maybe you are celebrating that weekend off, seeing the sights with your family.

The time, activities and venue aren't what is important. The fact of celebration is the important part. I think it's easy to get sucked into a life where there is precious little worthy of celebration. Well, it's time to ditch that mindset. Take some time and celebrate your life and your day. While I can't promise victory in a war, I can promise that the person celebrating wins the day.

Thinking

Today's Thought is courtesy of one of the greatest minds ever, Albert Einstein. I've long been a fan of his quotes, this one at the forefront.

This week I have been back working prepping to run social media during the Minnesota State Fair. The unique part of this is that I did this job last year so I have a pretty good idea of what worked and what didn't. This brings up an issue. How do we solve the problems, the things that didn't work? The only answer is to change our thinking. Change how we view the problem. Otherwise, we can have no hope of solving whatever problem we have.

How have you changed your thinking? I assure you, it's not easy to change. However, if we are to move forward, we MUST change. If I am to reach and engage a new audience, or the same audience in a new way, I can't keep doing the same thing. The same is true for you. Perhaps you are struggling with an issue now. Instead of focusing on solving the problem, first focus on changing how you look at the problem. Who knows, the answer might become painfully obvious. Obvious, but only obvious to a new way of thinking.

Trust

I'm slowly realizing that I pull a lot of my references and Thoughts from television and movies. So I suppose it's no surprise that today's thought is from the television show Chuck. In the very first episode, Sarah Walker asks Chuck to trust her. Sarah is a spy and inadvertently, Chuck has been thrown into a world of espionage. I could get into the whole backstory of Chuck, but that would take far too much time and space.

Now I know it's only a TV show, but I still enjoy this thought. Have you ever been asked to trust someone? It's not an easy thing to say yes to. What if they let you down? For me personally, trust has been a big issue that I struggle with. But it's the basis of life itself. Think about all the times you trust someone. You trust that car to stop for you as you cross the road. You trust your coworkers to do their job to the best of their abilities. You trust the weatherman (maybe) to tell you what the day will be like outside. The point is, at some point you have to learn how to trust. You have to answer that question. Will you trust me?

Choice

I must confess, the last couple days have been rather harried. I can't say I've put my best effort into these Thoughts. However, today I believe I've found something rather applicable. It is commonly said that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Everything that happens to you provides a choice. Every choice has a chance to define us.

This week I am moving back to college and back into my Fraternity house. When I returned to the house, much to my chagrin, I found a boarder living in my room. Here I am with a truck full of stuff and nowhere to put it. Not only that, but I am a senior, shouldn't I be able to have things work out for me? Well, what could I do? I can throw a fit and come no closer to getting my room back. OR I can do the best I can and work with the cards I have been dealt. I must say this week has been one of trying to deal with a level of ambiguity that I would much rather not have, but in the end. It will work out.

It's my choice that defines me. Not who I am deep inside. My reaction to this situation shows a lot more than any words I could use to describe who I am. Maybe you have been presented with a moment like this one. How did you react? Perhaps looking back you aren't all that pleased with how you defined yourself with your actions. Don't fret though, you will have plenty of chances to redefine yourself. I know I have. So, that leaves a question: How will you define yourself?

Learn

As I move back to school today, I am reminded of why I'm here to begin with - I'm here to learn. Yoda seemed like a perfect fit for my attitude today. While it's true that learning can take place in the form of something completely new - a filling of a blank slate, if you will - the majority of the time learning involves 'unlearning' something else. Growth requires that something has to die in order for something new to take it's place.

Take this past semester for instance. I took an educational psychology class and one of the units was on test writing. Specifically, how to write a test so the answer isn't immediately obvious. If you have been a student, you probably know what I'm talking about. I loved the tests that you could answer one question by reading another question. It was almost too easy. Well, it was my goal to make sure that didn't happen. Going into the class, I thought I had it all figured out. I knew how to write a test, it's not that hard. Well, my work showed me otherwise. Little did I know I was just beginning the process of 'unlearning' my previous habits and practices in order to utilize better, newer practices.
Have you ever had an experience like this? Better yet, were you able to take the experience and learn from it? Perhaps you learned to take things with more openness, testing it before totally throwing it aside. That is something that I took from this lesson. Without unlearning, there can be no learning.

Goodbye

I do apologize for missing Friday's post, at the time I would've been writing I was driving through Iowa and Illinois on my way to Chicago. So you'll have to appreciate the fact that I chose not to be in an accident rather than publishing this post.

Today's thought is another one from M*A*S*H and is particularly relevant. Friday was my last day on my internship with Agriculture Future of America (AFA) and so it was a day of goodbyes. In one word, the folks at AFA are the best. That made the goodbyes, farewells, and amens that much harder. Throughout the day I kept thinking back to all the wonderful experiences I had and all the people I had met. The more I thought about, the more Alan Alda's quote struck a chord with me.

At the beginning of the summer, I decided that it was time to stop caring. Stop caring what happened and just focus on living life to it's fullest. Looking back, I can honestly say that I have done that. Somewhere, that creativity came through. Somehow I found that place that no one has been and no one else can be. The funny thing is that I couldn't explain to you how it happened or how I did it. I think that's a sign that what I did was truly creative. The fact that I was the only one that could fully understand it is amazing. Have you ever had those experiences? Will you live creatively?

Slide

I've never been a big fan of psychiatry or psychology. That being said, the one psychiatrist that always seems to get me is Dr. Sidney Freedman from the television show M*A*S*H. If you are unfamiliar with M*A*S*H, it is a show about the life of a bunch of army doctors set in the Korean War. M*A*S*H stands for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and it is one of the first lines of defense in treating the wounded. Enough background on that. The long and short of it is that Dr. Freedman is called in from time to time to alleviate the stresses of war.

In my life I have tried to live by the idea that if I do my best and help others, help will come to me. If I do what feels right, I will be taken care of. Without even knowing it, I have been living out Dr. Freedman's advice portrayed in this Thought. Sometimes, through all the hard times and all the crap you put up with, you just have to let go and slide on the ice. I can't say anything about pulling down your pants (that could be awkward) but the idea is the same. All too often though, I find myself fighting against this ideal. I try to control too much. I can't let go. This is when I get into trouble. Usually when I try too hard, things don't work out as I want them to.

Maybe you are like me, trying to go with the flow, but having to constantly work at it. If you are one of those people who are able to let go and just trust that you will be taken care of. I admire your serenity. Has there ever been a time when you just tried too hard? I'm betting that, like me, it didn't work out so well. Go with the flow. Pull down your pants, and slide on the ice.

Family

I love baseball movies. Heck, I love baseball. The move Fever Pitch takes place in Boston around the time when the Curse of the Bambino was about to be broken. Don't know what the Curse of the Bambino is? Look it up. It's serious business. But anyways. This quote is from the main character of Fever Pitch, Ben. Ben has had season tickets to the Boston Red Sox for his entire life and so he has become rather attached. The fans that sit around him, the team; those people are his family.

I remember a few years ago during college. I had to exchange cars with my parents, who were a couple hours away. Instead of one person driving the whole way, we decided we would meet in the middle. That seems reasonable, an hour each right? Well, as fate would have it, I got delayed. A lot. By the time I got to our meeting spot, I was 45 minutes late. As I drove away after exchanging cars, I thought back to all the time my parents have spent waiting at a gas station or restaurant, waiting for their children or grandchildren to arrive. At first I couldn't believe that they would do this. And yet, the more I thought about it, I realized that they were doing it for a reason. They were doing it because we are FAMILY. They were doing it because family doesn't back out. They wait. They're here for me.

Maybe you have someone or something like this in your life. I have my parents, brothers and sisters. Ben had the Red Sox. Who is your family? Moreover, who are you family to? Are you always there for them, no matter what? If you can't, do you always make it up? Perhaps you are and don't even realize it. Don't waste family. Don't do it every April. Or only at 1:05 or 7:05. Do it all the time. Be the family that others want for themselves.

Outstanding

Today's Thought comes from one of my favorite memes, Philosoraptor. Outside of the clever agricultural reference, I found a neat message within this picture. It all has to do with quality.

I'm a firm believer in quality. While I can't say I always get the most done, I try to make it the best work I can possibly do. Looking back, it's probably what has fueled my perfectionist type mentality through much of my life. I remember back to first grade, my teacher always said my perfectionist attitude would get me in trouble. And it has. Sometimes I spend far too much time on a given issue or problem I'm trying to solve. However, it does have it's benefits. I usually get good grades. And I can say I've completely overhauled projects simply because I wasn't happy with how they were turning out, to the benefit of the overall result.

What does this have to do with being outstanding? According to dictionary.com, outstanding is "marked by superiority or distinction; excellent; distinguished". Being outstanding isn't about being the fastest, it's about doing the best you can. Do make it a point to be outstanding? Or do you just go with the flow, putting things off until the last moment when there's no hope to be outstanding? Be an expert farmer. Be outstanding in your field.

Adventure

When was the last time you went on a good adventure? How did that adventure begin? I'm willing to bet that it began with a sentiment similar to what Sir Richard Branson is expressing here. It may not have been in so many words, but the idea was there nonetheless.

What is it that drives us to say these words and embark into the unknown? This summer is a perfect example. As I've told it before, I wasn't really sure what I was going to be doing this summer. I was a little lost. In the end, I decided I needed a change. I needed something a little scary and a little uncomfortable. I remember thinking of every reason not to move to Kansas City for the summer and hardly any reasons why I should. And yet I did it. I moved to Kansas City to do a job I ended up loving.

In the end, it came down to not caring. A good not caring though. Every now and then you see those memes with something to the effect of "you just don't care anymore when..."No, I'm not talking that kind of not caring. The kind of not caring that gives little regard to what could go wrong and only focus on what could go right. The kind that drives you to go on an adventure. It doesn't even have to be a physical adventure. It could be an adventure of the mind; reading a book, finally finishing a New York Times crossword puzzle. Take the jump. Don't worry so much about what could go wrong. Screw it. Let's do it.

Object

In my fraternity, we have a saying. That saying, shown in todays Thought, is our Object. It's what we as fraternity men live by. It's our creed, our ritual. Not only do we say it at the beginning of each meeting, we are to live it in our daily life. 

Rather than focus on the actual text of the Object, I'd like to focus on the idea of a personal object. Yesterday I talked about ideals. What if we take those ideals and turn them into a mission, a plan, an Object?

Take your ideals, and develop them. Really drill down into what makes you excited and what you are dedicated to. This isn't something that just happens, it's a process. It's a working document, not a final product. Never give up developing your object. Take every experience that you have and use them. Live your object.

Ideals

While in the end, Ra's al Ghul is hardly the ideal role model, he does bring some good words of wisdom. What are your ideals? Do you have something that you devote yourself to religiously?

I remember back to my time in high school, not in the ag classroom, but in the science classroom. The year I took introductory chemistry was a turning point in my life. I remember back to one experiment in particular. It had something to do with tin foil and measuring mass. I confess, I can't remember much else about it other than those details. However, what I do remember is being able to assist my group members in understanding some concept that we were testing. From that moment forward, I became obsessed with education. It was, in part, an experience that pointed me toward my future career.

Since that time, I have found education to be my ideal. No matter the subject area, I have an intense desire to help others learn and improve their lives. Notice I said 'others' and not 'students'. See, there are two sides to education and at any moment, I am on either side - student or teacher. In fact, if I don't learn something from my students, I view that day as a failure. If I am unable to learn from those I am trying to teach, how can I expect them to learn from me? What are your ideals? Perhaps like me it's a desire to help others improve their lives. Perhaps it's something else. No matter what your ideals are, devote yourself to it. You can't be stopped.