Tuesday
August 12, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Running man

That night I hit the gym on the way home.  After running five miles, I checked my iPod.  In the fifteen months I had owned the device, I had run almost 500 miles and lost about two pounds.

 

For a split second I couldn't fathom how I could have run so far and lost so little.  Then I remembered reading somewhere you couldn't outrun a bad diet.  I thought my doughnut, cookie, cheeseburger, and cake diet might qualify.  I wondered if there was anything else I was trying to outrun, literally or figuratively. 

Today I will take an inventory to see what I might be running from.

  

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Freebie

This week's freebie is the Kindle version of Home Groupies a daily message book in the form of a novella.  It is available at  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S.


To read Kindle books on a PC or Mac, you can download a free app at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311

Upcoming

Burnout: Clinical, Ethical, & Supervisory Issues
September 12, 2014 at Greenbriar-New Kensington
9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m
$30 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This three hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• CRCs  by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification # 11938191652 and 11938191653 (one hour Ethics portion)
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Other Blogs

 AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/6803744-flexible-plans

Smart Bears, Angry Rats

Your mileage may vary

"Two TV stations!" my daughter said, not ready to move past this unpleasant scenario. "Sammy is a bad man!"

"He's not a bad person at heart. He's not working long hours for the money.  Sammy wants to do something to benefit humanity.  His most selfish motivation is wanting his wife back."

"So why do things go bad?"

"Sammy doesn't understand the trade-off between speed and mileage."

"Once again, you lost me, Dad.  What's gas mileage have to do with Lil' Bit and Sammy?" she asked.

"I didn't mean speed and mileage literally.  Suppose I have just enough gas to get across Kansas driving sixty miles per hour.  If I don't understand the trade-off between speed and mileage, I might decide to drive eighty miles per hour, thinking I'll cross faster, before I run out of gas."

"Still don't see what that has to do with Sammy," my daughter said.

"Taking the Lil' Bit was like speeding up to eighty.  Sammy went faster for a while, but he will run out of gas before he reaches his destination."

"I get it.  Why'd you pick Kansas?  The story takes place in Pennsylvania."

"Because Kansas has tornadoes.  They represent challenges life throws at you. Someone going eighty may either be too hyped up on their speed to notice the tornadoes, or convinced he can outrun them."

Today I won't sacrifice mileage for speed.

Smart Bears, Angry Rats (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose