So hopefully this post finds you full up to the rim from Mardi Gras and the Chinese New Year – days filled with carnival fun and feasting. Don’t know what we are talking about? Sorry – then that means that with your busy life’s schedule, you missed celebrating the Chinese New Year and Mardi Gras, which is “Fat Tuesday” in French; it is a day to celebrate and feast away before the fasting of the Lenten days to follow.

Whether you recognize Lent in your spiritual life or not – or whether you celebrate the Chinese New Year or not – these days provide a time to reflect on yourself and life … and how we can change for the better. In a way, it is like a do-over for your New Year’s resolutions. Do you remember what your 2016 New Year’s resolutions were? If not, time to reset.

A few things to consider:

Give up chocolate. Okay – maybe that sounds extreme, but it grabbed your attention, right? How about making a concerted effort to make healthy food decisions. After all – it isn’t so much the choices as it is the actual decisions about food that we make. It is fuel – and although it can be pleasure-filled, that should be less often than more.

Be one with a rubberband. Again – just trying to get your attention… do stretch and build your strength, however. Only you can make the decision to do this with your busy schedule. We may not be as flexible as we once were but with all the wisdom in our heads now, we know we need to stretch.

Sleeping Beauty is on to something. She is simply beautiful with all that rest, isn’t she? We need to sleep more than we do. It is true for most of us. Whether it is a 20-minute cat-nap or a health dose of 8-hours, get your Zzzzzzs.

Just be. Take time to reflect and breathe, and just be. We don’t have to be in motion every single minute of every single day to be productive and successful. It is actually quite the opposite if we want to be effective and efficient in our lives – meditate and reflect.

Recently, Wendy heard a presenter at the Minnesota Elementary School Principal’s Association (MESPA) give a mini TED Talk titled “Feed the Teachers so They Don’t Eat the Kids.” Five food groups that this principal felt were needed so teachers don’t eat the kids are: 1) Love; 2) Information that is delicious and nutritious; 3) Freedom; 4) Fun because people will rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing and; 5) Food.

This is for all of us. Take care of us – before we can truly take care of others. Just the flight attendants who tell us to put the oxygen max on ourselves first and then help our family and neighbors, which sounds completely cruel but makes sense because if we pass out in the process, we can’t help anyway.

Taking our own advice… Or at least we are trying. 🙂

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.