Interestingly enough, my husband and I often approach things (especially parenting) from opposite directions. Recently we had some Saturday morning time together with all three of our teenagers. My husband was fixing some breakfast while I was finishing up some chores. He turned on YouTube and lined up an episode of a popular reality show for us to watch. I refused. I happen to despise this particular show. I walked out and retreated to sorting laundry. Soon the channel was changed and we all watched a cartoon (yes, my teenagers still laugh at Spongebob).<\/p>\n

My husband had an interesting explanation for choosing the show – he wanted them to watch it as a motivator of how not to be. A reminder of where some choices can take you. I disagreed, I didn’t find that to be a motivator at all, just an irritant that completely gets under my skin.<\/p>\n

This got me to thinking, what motivates people? Obviously it is not the same for everyone, and I think it can change at different times in our life. If I knew how to motivate people my kids would have perfect grades, spotless rooms, and sparkling social lives (just kidding . . . maybe).<\/p>\n

To Be or Not to Be.<\/i> Do we focus on what we want <\/i>to be, or on what we don’t want<\/i> to be? I suspect most of us would say <\/i>we focus on what we want to be. However, a look at our lives may reflect something different. If it is filled with “no and shouldn’t”, then I think we are focusing on what we don’t want to be. If it is filled with “try this, and “ooh, that’s good, do it some more and even better!”, then we are focusing on what we want to be.<\/p>\n

The beginning of a new year offers me the natural opportunity to try and discover what motivates me at this time in my life. Do I look at what I don’t want to be, or what I want to be? And, how do I do that?<\/p>\n

What motivates you right now?<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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