The Race

 My good friend Dave a marathon runner with the body of a linebacker would regularly run 3 hour marathons.  He was so competitive that he would expend all of his energy in an effort to win or post his best times. He inspired me to complete one myself.  Who wants to run 26.2 miles!

He was part of local running group in the Princeton, NJ area with a mix of runners with varying degrees of talent.  One of his buddies just wanted to finish his runs, especially a 26 mile marathon. Well they both were entered in the same race and Dave went out with a blast but hit the wall or ran out of gas later in the race.  His buddy was eating candy bars late in the race just trying to keep his energy up so he could finish.  Would you believe it his friend who was a an hour slower finished the race, while Dave was gassed and had to drop out. 

His friend had a lovely quote that Dave shared with me and that I remember to this day.  Just like the tortoise and the hare,

"The race does not always go to the swiftest, but those that keep on running."

How true and what a great metaphor for life also.  We get so worked up at the slightest bit of adversity that sometimes we stop running, moving, or living. Just keep going finish the race. Time passes so quickly.  And when you look back on that adversity, oftentimes that mountain is just a small hill that you easily climbed on the way to winning your race.

 To your health!

 With Love,

Coach K

Fear and Faith

 Faith

 Ah, the fear they spread is so thick you can taste it.  Fear, bad news, negativity it sells right.  We don't want to hear that it's another sunny day.  We tune it when the big storm is coming so we can prepare.  But it is in all the sunny days where we make our preparations. 

 What is the opposite of fear?  Is it hope, love, or Faith.  

We all experience setbacks and some more challenging than others but we need to know that setbacks are the exception.  We need to be hopeful, expectant, and joyful on what the wonder of a new day and moment because as we know, yet often forget, that each one is indeed a gift. 

When we expose ourselves to the constant bombardment and stream of negativity, we weaken our immune systems, our mental and emotional states, perhaps most of all our Attitudes. Why do we do this to ourselves. 

You can look throughout history and see all the wars, natural disasters, and human trauma.  Yet here we are still thriving and prospering.  The world has become a safer and more prosperous place.  More people have been lifted out of poverty and we will continue to solve and meet the challenges of tomorrow. 

We can flip the switch as easy as turning the lights on and illuminating the entire room.  So it is with our minds, hearts, souls, and lives.  Just flip the switch and let the Light inside you shine forth.  

What you focus on expands.  Let that idea sink in and marinate. Your choice. My choice. Our choice. Focus on all the good you can do with this day even as it is simple as feeling your heart beat, or taking a deep breath, going for a walk, feeling the wind on your face, or watching the rain, or feeling the warmth of the sun.  

YOU CREATE YOUR OWN REALITY.  And everything you do starts with a thought.  So, begin with better thoughts. 

For all the younger generations, our children are in their 20's now the future will be just fine.  Everything will work out for just like it worked out for your parents and grandparents.  The universe and world is an abundant place.  In just one generation we went from telephones to cell phones, 10 TV channels to 700 channels, analog to digital, Internet and Computers and the other advances are countless.  

Faith, Hope, Love, and Positivity are learned skills just like anything else. Seek out great role models and teachers.  Jesus is one such example but there are many.  Ask for help, pray for help, tap into the Holy Spirit that resides in all of us.  Look for books on attitude, positivity, and hopefulness. There is a wonderful saying, that when the student is ready the teacher will appear. 

Pull up the shades, open the windows, let the sun shine in your future is brighter than you know. 

With Love,

Coach K

 

  

Parenting - Raising Wonderful Children

 Thoughts from Pop Pop

Pop always like to share his invaluable gems while enjoying a delicious homemade dinner from his lovely wife Nonna and sipping a little vino rosso.  

After raising three wonderful children, he shared some insight on how to be a good and thoughtful parent with a simple analogy - 

When planting a new tree, you have to straighten it when it is young

You must straighten the tree when it is young and flexible, once it grows to a certain age you cannot straighten a mature oak.  And so it is with our children, we have to teach them right from wrong and give them the proper discipline at a young age.  

Good parenting involves love, kindness, teaching, and of course discipline.  They need to learn at an early age proper behavior, and how to be thoughtful, considerate, young people that will grown into loving, independent, productive members of society. 

We need to be there for them and one of the best ways to help them be wonderful young children and wonderful adults is for us to be the wonderful examples that they can watch throughout their formative growing years. 

Yes, we can do it.  Our children our counting on us. 

With Love,

Coach K

John Denver - Words of Wisdom

 The great John Denver singer songwriter entertained millions with his best selling songs that focused on love, peace, and harmony.  This Welcome to My Morning song resonated with me especially the line 

"Welcome to my morning, welcome to my day. I'm the one responsible, I made it just this way"

Enjoy the song and let it inspire you to make your own beautiful days!

With Love,

Coach K

Welcome To My Morning

Welcome to my morning, welcome to my day.
Yes, I’m the one responsible, I made it just this way.
To make myself some pictures, see what they might bring.
I think I made it perfectly, I wouldn’t change a thing.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la, la la la la la.

Welcome to my happiness, you know it makes me smile.
And it pleases me to have you here for just a little while.
While we open up the spaces and try to break some chains.
And if the truth is told they will never come again.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la, la la la la la.

Welcome to my evening, the closing of the day,
you know I could try a million times and never find a better way
to tell you that I love you and all the songs I played
are to thank you for allowing me in that lovely day you made.

Welcome to my morning, welcome to my day.
Yes, I’m the one responsible, I made it just this way.
To make myself some pictures, see what they might bring.
I think I made it perfectly, I wouldn’t change a thing.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la, la la la la la.
La la la, la la la la la. La la la, la la la la la.

(written by John Denver)

 

 

Anticipation - Looking Forward

While we live in the present moment, it's also important to look to the future and plan for the days ahead. Our future plans something as simple as looking forward to a dinner, meeting a friend, or some other future activity help smooth out our days and improve our work life balance. 

When we have future plans and future goals they help with our motivation and can smooth out the grind of daily work with our anticipation of that weekend getaway, attending the big game, or planning the dream trip to Italy.  

The anticipation of tomorrow can help fuel the work of today. 

When we balance the joy of living in the moment with the anticipation of all the good things life has in store for us we can look forward to the bright horizon and the blessings of tomorrow knowing that 

The best is yet to come!

 With Love,

 Coach K

 

 

 

Golf - The Game of Kings

 The Beauty and Power of Golf

I come from a family of four boys and we were all athletes playing mostly basketball and baseball, but every sport in its season whether it was street hockey, tackle football at the park, wiffle ball, horseshoes, box hockey, tennis, and yes golf. 

We grew up "economically disadvantaged" or a funny way of saying poor.  Food stamps, welfare, the works.  A single mother with four young boys does what she has to do.  We never felt poor though growing up in the wonderful tight knit working class town with the funny Indian name of Conshohocken, Lenape for Pleasant Valley, and indeed it was a Pleasant Valley.  

 We excelled in all the traditional sports growing up, and would have some legendary games of 2-on-2 hoops with the two middle Bros versus me and the Baby.  We would get them most of the time, and those years of little brother taking a licking would pay dividends as he became the best player in the history of our local high school. 

I was introduced to many other great games as a young teenager from Chess, Foosball, Ping Pong, and the best of them Golf.  My dear friends, coaches, and mentors at the local community center Coach Frank, Jimmy, Reeno, and Dennis would be an extended family to all of us, but had a special influence on me.  

Dennis and Coach played golf, and Coach even caddied so knew the game well.  Dennis and Coach cobbled together a set of clubs when I was 13, and I learned the game on the local legendary Woody's golf 9 hole chip-n-putt  and the 18 hole par 54 courses. I was smitten and hooked immediately.  I was a baseball player so I felt an immediate connection with hitting the ball. 

As I played the game for the past 40 years, I have come to realize it's one of the few sports that you can enjoy playing throughout your entire life.  I get even more enjoyment now than I did when I was younger. And I've realized that the best part of the game is that it connects generations of family and friends.  We would take family vacations when the children were younger at golf resorts and always enjoyed the people, hospitality, and community. 

I have the pleasure and joy of playing with our 20 something's and what's nice is that we get to spend 5 quality hours together out in the fresh air and sunshine without cell phones, Tv's, social media, and computers.  I'm grateful and thankful for all the time we spend together on the course. How refreshing! 

And while golf is known as the sport of Kings and originated in it's present form from the home of golf Scotland.  Some of the game's best players started out from modest means.  The great Tom and Tommy Morris' were caddies who became legends of the games.  Tiger Woods played and learned on a Naval base community course.  

Do yourself a favor and start playing, teach your children the game, and you will find that Golf can be the start of a wonderful family experience that will last generations.

With Love,

Coach K

Wolgang Amadeus Mozart - Let The Music Play

There is a wonderful saying, "Don't live without sharing the music inside you." The incredible Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born in 1756 composed some of the most beautiful, exquisite, classical music ever heard. Mozart was blessed with a devoted father Leopold that instructed and encouraged him at a very young age.  Leopold was an accomplished violinist and better known for being an extraordinary teacher of the violin. The violin was his preferred instrument and he would encourage Wolfgang to play the violin despite his reluctance.

Mozart spent his childhood immersed in music which launched his virtuoso talent at the age of three. He and and his sister Nannerl would play and perform to kings and courts across Europe. He not only was a virtuoso harpsichord or piano player, where he was pretty much self taught but he also was a virtuoso violinist.  He actually wrote five violin concertos in his teens and never composed another piece for the violin.

Mozart maintained a bit of child like wonder throughout his 35 years of life.  He composed and produced a tremendous amount of beautiful music in a very short period of time and that music has resonated down through the ages. Despite only living 35 years, he made sure that he shared his incredible talent and music with the world, and we are all better for knowing his divine creations. 

For those of you that have not experienced Classical music whether it's Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven take the time to give it a try and a listen.  After being exposed to pop and rock music for most of my life, I listened to Mozart for the first time when I was 30 years old and was stunned and astounded by the melodic sound. I remember quietly saying wow! This is the most beautiful music I've ever heard.  That's why it's lasted 270 years!

If you want to know a little more about Mozart, there is an excellent movie called Amadeus that perhaps takes some poetic license but still is an enjoyable story. 

We are all given inherent gifts from God and it's up to us to use them. 

Let's make sure we share our Music with the world and remember to 

Let the Music play!

With Love,

Coach K