February 2006

Did you happen to catch “Grizzly Man” on the Discovery Channel a few nights ago?

It was pretty awesome. Then again I’m addicted to the Discovery Channel as well as documentaries, so when the two combine - I’m all kinds of there! This particular one was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It was three hours long and every single minute was compelling.

“Grizzly Man” is a documentary that looks into the life of eccentric Timothy Treadwell a.k.a the “Grizzly Man.” He was to the grizzly what Jane Goodall is to the chimp, and he actually lived amongst the grizlies in Alaska’s wilderness for months at a whack. There’s amazing footage he took of the bears and all sorts of footage of him being his eccentric self.

It’s great stuff, it really and truly is. The scenery is breathtaking and there’s something kind of inspiring about seeing someone so full of passion and determination for something they care so much about.

Below are a few other reviews:

“Nothing short of extraordinary.”
Variety

“One of the best nature films ever made.”
Hollywood Reporter

It was the winner of numerous awards, including Sundance Film Festival’s Alfred P. Sloan Award, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film and the L.A. Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary. Not bad,eh?

I’m not sure if the Discovery Channel will be showing another encore presentation of the documentary, but they have the dvd available on their website. I noticed that the’re also selling a dvd called Grizzly Diaries, also about Timothy and his bears.

If you’re interested in learning more about these dvds, click the button below.

Be warned, the language isn’t exactly G!

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

I was mentally composing an article yesterday morning - the topic was how some people tend to think that they are the center of the universe. You know the crowd- the ones who that everyone else should be as wrapped up in them as they, themselves, are. The ones who can come into a room, find you up to your neck in work, then tell you what they want from you…. then check back in five minutes to see if it’s done yet! God bless their hearts, they are all important in their little world and expect to be so in everyone else’s.

Anyway, I took a break from thinking (I take more of those than I care to admit), grabbed my youngest daughter and headed to Subway (something else I do more than I care to admit).

So, Steph and I order our current obsessions - Chicken Bacon Ranch Subways. While I’m waiting at the cash register for the honor of paying, a young man (18ish) comes to the Order end of the counter and tells the woman, “I want what I had yesterday.” She looks at him with about 7,000 question marks on her face. So he says, “You know, the sandwich I had yesterday.” She informs him that she doesn’t remember what he ordered yesterday, and he honestly has the nerve to get peeved! The real kicker is that I don’t think he remembered the name of the sandwich, and he felt for sure that the woman would…after all, she doesn’t have any other customers!

For what seemed like an eternity, they stood staring at one another - I really, really wished that my husband had been there, I know he would have hummed the Jeopardy theme music. That would’ve been just so him.

I was just about to intervene and ask him, “What did it look like?” when he pointed to something on the wall and said he’d have “…one of them.” The lady, fighting back laughter, asked him if that was what he’d had yesterday and he said, “You tell me.” She lost her fight.

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

(We adults often think that the road of lessons only runs one way with kids. From us to them….but that isn’t always the case.)

Do you recall the story of remarkable 13 year old Bethany Hamilton? She’s the beautiful young surfer who was attacked by a shark on Halloween morning 2003. She lost an arm and a chunk of her surfboard but that’s all this young fighter lost.

Faith - Intact
Life - Intact
Spirit - Intact
Attitude - Intact
Passion for Life - Intact

The shark got the short end of the deal.

I was reading about Bethany’s incredible story in “Soul Surfer” and I was thunderstruck by a few things.

First of all, after the shark attacked, this young 13 year old girl saved her own life by remaining calm. She sees a wall of gray, feels her arm being ripped off, sees the ocean water colored with blood (HER blood, for crying out loud!), but she stays calm. Her calmness kept her heartbeat slow enough to keep the severed artery from quickly draining her blood supply. My heartbeat would have been off the charts at the first flash of gray.

We all know that we should try to live our lives on an even keel for several reasons:

1. To keep from making jackasses out of ourselves.
2. To stay rational so we can make wise decisions.

I guess we can add a third one…
3. Staying calm just may one day save our lives!

Another thing that I took away from the inspiring book was admiration for Bethany’s bravery. After she was given the go ahead from the doctors to get back in the water - she did just that. With her surfboard under her arm and determination in her heart. One month after the attack!

With her dad nearby shouting encouragement, she was knocked off her board quite a few times. She never called it a day, though….never felt sorry for herself. She just kept fighting….and falling…and fighting…and falling…..

As she says in the book:

“Then it happened. A wave rolled through, I caught it, put my hand on the deck to push up, and I was standing. It’s hard for me to describe the joy I felt after I stood up and rode the wave in for the first time after the attack. Even though I was all wet, I felt tears trickling down my face.”

When asked if she’s ever scared of sharks when surfing, she says, “Yes. Sometimes my heart pounds when I see a shadow under the water. Sometimes I have nightmares. Yet even when my nerves get the best of me, I do know this: God is watching out for me. I trust Him to take care of me.”

From the mouths of babes.

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

When it comes to your personal risk for depression and other psychiatric problems….as well as your overall happiness and well being, there are some key relationships that play key roles. The most important one is to be expected: Your spouse.

That’s one of the reasons parents are so tough on the guys or gals their children date. Each of them is a candidate for the one they’ll one day marry….putting in their hand a pen that’ll help write our “baby’s” future.

Speaking of parents and children - each also play key roles in our mental well-being and emotional security.

A researcher at Indiana University - Purdue in Fort Wayne proved that a person’s relationship with their boss is “nearly” equal in importance to his relationship with his (or her) spouse when it comes to overall well-being. That sort of surprised me, but I guess it makes sense, given the amount of time the average person spends around him or her.

Unfortunately, surveys show that up to half of all workers have an unpleasant, from shaky to downright miserable, relationship with their supervisors. A recent Gallup poll showed that a bad relationship with the boss was the number one reason for quitting a job. Problems with the boss outpaced all other factors including salary, work hours, responsibilities, working conditions…

The Gallup report put it this way: “Employees leave supervisors, not companies.”

Of course, another key relationship in a person’s well-being is the one they have with themself. But that’s far too deep for a Friday. We’ll save that for Monday!

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

P.S. Have a great weekend and enjoy the game….even without the Broncos. (WAHHHHH!)

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The quote above is a favorite of mine spoken by a favorite hero of mine: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It takes incredible courage to stand up to one person - it takes monumental courage to stand up to ten people. So what would you call what it takes to stand up to the world?

The makings of a movement. The makings of a legend.

I don’t care if you’re white, black, brown or a colorful combination of all three - if you haven’t read about the life of this man, you really should. Read his speeches and writings, I promise you you’ll be overcome with his passion and intelligence.
Make each moment count double,
~Joi

“Avoiding the phrase “I don’t have time…” will soon help you to realize that you do have the time needed for just about anything you choose to accomplish in life.” - Bo Bennett

Words are powerful things. Amongst the most powerful things we possess. We can tear down another person with words they wish they could forget. Or we can build up another person with words they hope they never forget.

Yet in the warfare of words, we generally don’t take aim at others nearly as often as we do at ourselves. We say things to ourselves that we wouldn’t dream of saying to others.

If a family member were juggling 6 balls at once, we’d never tell them they couldn’t do it - we wouldn’t say “One’s going to drop, any minute now….” as we watched expectantly. We’d shout words of encouragement….even if we weren’t 100% sure it could be done, we’d want to cheer them on with all the encouragement we could muster. We’d want our good vibes to mesh with their attempt and, hopefully, make a little magic happen!

Yet, think about the vibes we regularly inflict upon ourselves. And I’m not just talking about the ones that are insulting (one of the worst practices for one’s mental and emotional health!). I’m talking about the “One’s going to drop, any minute now…” type of negativity. The quote that led this post off talks about one such negative vibe. An incredibly popular one - the “I don’t have enough time!” mantra.

I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes it feels like it! I’ll also admit to saying those very words, or ones to that effect regularly. Oh yeah, I’ve worked up some negative mojo on myself with that one.

Then I read something in a book once that made me think - amazing people such as George Washington, Condoleeza Rice, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Oprah, etc….. None of them possessed or possess any more hours in their days than I do in mine. 24. Standard issue.

Maybe we should start giving ourselves the same encouragement that we normally reserve for others. Maybe if we tried to mesh our good vibes with our attmepts we’d make a little magic for ourselves!

Make each moment count double - there’s plenty of them!
~Joi