Do Not Drive With a Faulty Personal Gas Pedal

I receive AP breaking news straight to my phone, which is a convenient way for me to obtain breaking news while I work.  I’m sure you’re all familiar with the “sticky gas pedals” in Toyotas which resulted in over million cars being recalled.  I was making the bed when I received an alert saying,  “Transportation secretary is advising people stop driving their cars and seek repair.”  If I knew my gas pedal could get stuck, I would be afraid TO drive it, not act like nothing is wrong.

Certainly, some people have no other car to get to and from work, to take their kids to school, etc.  I get that.  But driving your car on a daily basis when a repair is needed is a huge risk.  It’s also similar to how people handle problems, or their personal gas pedal in their life.  Too many other things get in the way of tackling their problem, which leaves them with a pile of stuff on top of the problem instead of fixing it.

It got me to thinking about people, behavior and their thought process for living.

I may be talking to someone and when I begin to tell them what I do, they’re captivated and interested.   Sometimes they even say, “I could TOTALLY use your help.”  These are people who know their personal gas pedal sticks.  Sometimes, these people follow up, call me and we begin to work together.  They’re getting their gas pedal repaired.  Others never call.  They are the people who are driving around through their lives with a sticky personal gas pedal, know this but yet aren’t quite sure now is the time to fix it.  The longer you wait, the worse it’s going to get.  Now, your life is not like the real car, where you run the risk of killing someone because your car crashes into someone or something.  Essentially, you are waiting for issues to fix themselves on their own when you know they haven’t been magically fixed in the past.  You’ll find the same things happening to you, you’ll start to believe that’s just how things are and you’ll be further from positive change and happiness in your life.

nudge Knowledge: Take a Little Life Lesson from Nature

I spend one week on myself each month.  I invite in who I want and do what I want with my time.  Sometimes I spend a day working, sometimes I spend it reading and sometimes I spend it rejuvenating my health.  Yesterday was a combination of all three.  I slept in late, worked, read and decided to take a hike.  I decided to hit “The Museum Trail” for those who live in or visit the Coachella Valley, because it starts at the Palm Springs Art Museum.  It has a very quick 850’ elevation gain which will really kick your butt when it’s sunny and warm out.  Yesterday was rather cloudy, so I thought I’d spend my “lunch hour” on a hike.  Now I know you’re not supposed to hike by yourself but this trail has become a pretty common fitness trail for runners and hikers, so there are plenty of other people on the trail with you.  I’ve done this hike about 10 times but this was my first time alone.

As I was climbing, I was admiring the rocky, cacti and brush-filled landscape.  I also noticed how much greener everything appeared as a result of the recent rains.  There were grasses sprouting from rocks and cracks that were never there any other time I’ve hiked through the area.  It got me to thinking about when I lived in the Northeast and how much rain we would receive to maintain green landscapes and how we would water them to maintain that lush look.  I also thought about how unnatural that is.  

The more I compared living here to there, I realized how efficient the desert is at maintaining life without needing a lot from nature.  Our average annual rainfall is only 5.8” inches, yet you will see greenery and life within the mountains in July when temperatures average 107°F.  I then realized there is a lot the desert can teach us about life.  I'll share three of these things with you.

First, it teaches us to be exceedingly efficient with our efforts.  By this I mean the following:  do not expend more energy on something than what is required, do not let others drain your energy from you and enlist others to help you when you don’t have enough energy to do something on your own.  

Secondly, it teaches us not to take more than we need.  Whether it’s income, food, alcohol, exercise, sex or sleep we should be careful not to over indulge ourselves.  We will eventually get to a point where we’ll demand more than what we need when what we require is a re-evaluation of how much we really need.  When we become demanding, we aren’t very likable.  

The third thing the desert can teach us about life is once you have what you need, allot how much you will share with others who are truly in need.  Nature has a way of creating a very beautiful circle of giving and receiving between plants and animals.  A seed carried from one bird can create a new garden miles away.  Be sure that you share who you are and what you know with others.  You’ll find if you’re not greedy and give freely, people will give freely back to you.  Take this little life lesson from nature.

Get Relationship Ready!

Happy February to you!  One month in 2010 has passed and I hope this year has been and continues to be full of love, happiness and success for each of you.


For those of you who are looking for love or friendship this year, you'll want to relationship proof yourself.  It's similar to weatherproofing your home.  There are many ways to do this and I'll provide some tools and tips to do so.  I'll discuss finding the relationships and things that are draining your energy and how to replace them with relationships and things that bring you happiness.  I'll be starting this audio series  in the next few weeks.  I'm just ironing out details on how to get files posted to my website.


If there is a relationship issue, question or idea you'd like to share please e-mail me.  I'd love to be able to provide some real-life examples and of course, your name would never be used!