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| 29 Oct 2009 11:52:31 pm |
| DREW BREES, Quarterback, New Orleans Saints |
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“It wasn’t meant to be, otherwise it would have happened.”
The source of today’s Real Zeal ... this was Drew’s response to being (in the 2008-09 season) only 14 yards short of breaking Dan Marino’s all time single season passing yard record.
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Drew Brees is in the running for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player of the year. His team is currently 6-0 and last week, down 23-3 against the Miami Dolphins, he engineered 43 points in the second half for a resounding 46-34 victory!
Off the football field, Drew Brees is even more inspiring. To the city of New Orleans, he is a saint – a saint of HOPE. He’s organized manpower and raised millions of dollars to help his city rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
In Drew, I see an ease with life that many of us simply don’t have. Instead of flowing with what IS, we try to force results, control outcomes, and operate as if we “know” what’s best.
Yet, the truly inspired athletes, and Drew Brees is certainly one of them, are clear that there is more to life than their own wants and desires. By surrendering to a larger perspective, by believing that if something is meant to happen, it will – they maintain their peace of mind in the face of any and all outcomes.
By adopting this philosophy, we can let go of our own attachments. We have no need to look back. No need to second guess. No need to keep wondering what if, what if, what if? If something doesn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to.
Simple, isn’t it?
To see why Drew Brees is considered New Orleans “Patron Saint of Hope,” please read on.
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I’m beginning to see a pattern with these Inspired Athletes. A wisdom that they have.
Here is the pattern. The truly inspired athletes are so confident in themselves and in LIFE, that they are willing to ALLOW life to unfold, naturally. They see a bigger picture than just this week’s score or their own statistics.
Drew Brees began his career in San Diego with the Chargers. Wanted to stay there. Yet a massive shoulder injury caused him to leave San Diego – against his wishes.
Yet, in the brilliant unfolding of life, he interviewed for the quarterback job in New Orleans. It was just after Hurricane Katrina had roared through town, and Drew began to see a new possibility. In his words, "At some point in the process I started to believe that maybe God put me in this position for a reason. Maybe we were supposed to come to New Orleans and do more than just play football."
Drew took that job. And has been lights-out successful – setting 20 new franchise records, making the Pro Bowl three times, selected as the 2008 NFL Offensive Player of the Year – the list goes on.
He’s also making a huge difference for the city – he received the 2006 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award (which he shared with LaDainian Tomlinson), an award which honors a player's volunteer and charity work, as well as his excellence on the field. His Brees Dream Foundation and has raised millions of dollars to help advance cancer research, care for cancer patients, and help rebuild schools, parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields.
To the people of New Orleans, Drew Brees is a Saint, in the most spiritual, life-giving sense of the word. He’s brought them hope, new life, and a future that would not have happened without him. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : admin |
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| 22 Oct 2009 01:37:56 pm |
| ALBERT PUJOLS, St. Louis Cardinal Superstar |
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“Everything happens in God’s time.”
The source of today’s Real Zeal: a Sports Illustrated article titled: The Power to Believe.
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Albert Pujols is an amazing and inspiring individual both on and off the baseball field. We can be certain, however, that this season did not end the way Albert intended. His St. Louis Cardinals lost 3 out of 3 playoff games to the Los Angeles Dodgers, prematurely ending their run to the World Series. Albert’s words: “Everything happens in God’s time,” will give him solace during the off-season.
I have shied away from outright references to “God” in these Real Zeals (even though I realize that most of us do believe in a higher power, regardless of the name we give it). But today’s quote struck a chord in me.
Here is what I hear in Albert’s words: There is divine timing in the Universe. In each moment, everything is perfect.
I believe this unreservedly, but I still need to be reminded of it. Those times when I really want things to go a certain way and they don’t – I get upset, find fault, and lay blame.
A faith in divine timing takes away all that upset. Takes away stress, worry, and fear. A faith in divine timing gives us peace of mind, acceptance, and a certainty that all is well, NO MATTER WHAT.
The bottom line? We trust. We trust that everything happens in God’s time.
To see why Albert Pujols is so inspiring on and off the field, read on.
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Let’s start with Albert’s inspiring play on the baseball field.
As is true of many of the great athletes, Albert knew early on that baseball was his future. Born in the Dominican Republic to a baseball family – his father was a famous pitcher – Albert was playing every day at the young age of six.
Albert (with his family) moved to the United States when he was sixteen, ultimately ending up in St. Louis, where he has been ever since. He debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001.
His statistics are almost unrivaled and have been since his rookie year. He is the second player in Major League Baseball to post nine consecutive seasons with 30 doubles, a .300 batting average, 30 home runs, and 100 runs batted in or better (only Lou Gehrig has better statistics).
Albert’s awards? Prestigious Rookie of the Year in 2001. Most Valuable Player of the Year: 2005 and 2008. All Star: eight of his nine years. Golden Glove: 2006. World Series champion: 2006.
Off the field, Albert Pujols is equally impressive.
Albert met his to-be wife, Deirdre, in 1999. She had a young daughter, Isabella, who had Downs Syndrome. Albert fell in love with both mother and daughter.
Six years later, in 2005, Albert and now-wife Deidre launched the Pujols Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to "the love, care and development of people with Down’s Syndrome and their families."
In addition, the Pujols Foundation helps poor people in Albert’s home country, the Dominican Republic, making several trips each year to deliver supplies along with teams of doctors and dentists.
His most prestigious award off the field? The prestigious Roberto Clemente Award in 2008 – an award which honors the Major League Baseball player who combines outstanding play on the field with devoted work in the community.
Albert’s acceptance of this award says it all: "I have always said; I would rather be remembered for what I do off the field, than for what I accomplish on it. From that aspect, Roberto Clemente has always been a great inspiration for me. To have our work recognized in the same context as Clemente is truly one of the most humbling experiences of my life."
As I said, an inspired athlete on AND off the field.
SOURCES of this information:
His biography
From Wikipedia
More on his life story
On his Foundation
On his Roberto Clemente Award |
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Category : General
| Posted By : admin |
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| 16 Oct 2009 01:03:25 am |
| TIGER WOODS, Worlds #1 Professional Golfer |
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“The greatest thing about tomorrow - I will be better than I am today.”
The source of today’s Real Zeal words comes from a great interview Tiger gave to ESPN Sports.
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These words reflect Tiger Woods' day-in-day-out approach to life.
On August 9, Tiger Woods won his 70th PGA Championship – almost twice as many as any golfer currently on tour. On September 27, he won the FedEx Cup – an award for the best tournament play throughout the 2009 season. And on this same September day, Tiger became the first athlete to surpass $1 billion in earnings, according to Forbes Magazine.
Today’s words are spoken by a man who most likely will be remembered as the best golfer of all time. They point to a particular philosophy of performance – a philosophy of continual and constant improvement. Tiger’s approach to life is simple – be better tomorrow than he is today.
What if our day-to-day game became improvement? Not caring where we’ve been or what we’ve done? Just making sure that each day we take an aspect of our life – some skill, some ability – and improve on it, make it better?
This philosophy could potentially free us from many burdens that are currently weighing us down – the burden of our past mistakes, the burden of our phenomenal success, the burden of others’ expectations. We could be free to do one and one thing only – improve.
Intriguing idea to say the least!
To find out what I assert is at the heart of Tiger’s success, read on.
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How do you explain an athlete like Tiger? Raw talent alone will not produce what Tiger has produced. What is the source of his truly unprecedented success?
I assert the key to Tiger lies in his extraordinary relationship with his father, Earl Woods.
I share a series of excerpts that reveal this extraordinary father-son relationship.
First, an excerpt from a 1996 Sports Illustrated article written by Gary Smith, titled The Chosen One. Earl reveals how a personal development course transformed his life and taught him what he needed to know to raise such a phenomenal child.
"What I learned through est was that by doing more for myself, I could do much more for others. Yes, be responsible, but love life, and give people the space to be in your life, and allow yourself room to give to others. That caring and sharing is what's most important, not being responsible for everyone else. Which is where Tiger comes in. What I learned led me to give so much time to Tiger, and to give him the space to be himself, and not to smother him with dos and don'ts. I took out the authority aspect and turned it into companionship. I made myself vulnerable as a parent. When you have to earn respect from your child, rather than demanding it because it's owed to you as the father, miracles happen. I realized that, through him, the giving could take a quantum leap. What I could do on a limited scale, he could do on a global scale."
In a 2006 Golf Digest interview titled, The Definitive Earl Woods Interview, Earl Woods shares more specifics on how he raised Tiger.
Q: Your approach with Tiger never led to an estrangement. How did you avoid that?
A: I never treated Tiger like a kid. I treated Tiger as an equal. We transcended the parent-child relationship and became best friends a long time ago.
Q: Did he have a standard teenage-rebellious phase?
A: No, he did not. He went through the same period his father did--he thought he knew it all, just like I thought I did. That's part of growing up. ...
Q: Before that phase, when Tiger was young, did you ever spank him?
A: Never. I never even admonished him. He totally understood my tone. You know how you can stop a dog on a dead run? It's all in the voice. And this was without fear -- he didn't fear me. He just knew when he was supposed to stop.
Later in the interview ...
Q: How old were you when Tiger came along?
A: 43.
Q: So then you said that was enough?
A: No, I didn't say that until I realized that Tiger was almost the perfect child. We would never get anything better, and I said, "That's it.” ...
Q: Is it true that Tiger never had a babysitter?
A: That's right. He was with us wherever we went.
While these excerpts only scratch the surface of this story, I think it makes a compelling case that Tiger is who is he because of the profound and powerful relationship he has had with his father.
Note: Earl Woods died on May 2, 2006, at the age of 73.
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P.S. I want to address one final topic. There are times when I am bothered by Tiger’s outbursts – which happen when he’s unhappy with his play. Read what Earl had to say about this:
Earl: ... "You can't have it both ways with Tiger. You can't have charismatic abilities to execute the marvelous shots and then chastise him when that same passion causes him to overload when he hits a bad shot."
This explanation makes sense to me. Maybe passion is one of those things we can’t love and admire in one situation and deplore in another.
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To read the Forbes article on Tiger’s billion dollar earnings |
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Category : General
| Posted By : admin |
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| 08 Oct 2009 10:32:33 pm |
| MARIN MORRISON, Paralympic Swimmer |
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“’Odds’ are merely coldhearted numbers that don't take into account the magic of will and courage and spirit.”
[Spoken about Marin Morrison, paralympic swimmer. Although she died last January at the young age of 18, her spirit lives on today.]
Before she was 10, Marin Morrison knew who she was – a swimmer. As swimming became her way of life, she learned how good she really was and began her inevitable path to the Olympics.
But at 14, fate intervened. First with double vision. Then with benign brain tumors. Later as cancerous tendrals engulfing an entire side of her brain. All complicated by surgeries and partial paralysis.
Throughout it all, Marin remained strong, upbeat, undefeated. A shining light to her swim mates, her coaches and her family.
Although her original Olympic dream was thwarted, a new dream took its place – swimming in the Paralympic games.
Marin did swim at Beijing, beating the odds and dire predictions of her doctors. Today’s words of wisdom tell us why – those odds knew nothing of Marin’s iron will, boundless courage and invincible spirit.
And the lesson for us? Don’t let ourselves be discouraged, even sidelined, by odds that tell us something’s impossible. Remember ... odds shrivel and die when faced with the power of the human spirit!
To discover how Marin’s spirit lives on today, read on.
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For the source of today’s Real Zeal and an article that will captivate your heart, click here. In this same article, Steve Kelley spoke these lovely words about Marin:
“Marin Morrison is extraordinary, not because she has cancer, but because she has life. She is a one-person celebration of the indomitability of the human spirit. She isn't defined by what she has overcome, but by the remarkably incandescent way she lives.”
Could there be any higher praise than this? In the face of deadly cancer that had already left her partially paralyzed, Marin was resilient, happy, and undauntable.
To see for yourself why anyone who knew Marin can never forget her ... to understand why her spirit lives on today ... and to be inspired just as her swim mates were day after day ... watch the video titled: Expressing More in a 2 Minute Race Than Most Will in a Lifetime. [Note: scroll to the bottom to click on the video link.]
Now, nine months after her death, her local Swim Club has decided that each of their swim caps will have the words Swim Marin on them as a reminder that they, too, can call forth Marin’s spirit.
Her coach, Andy Hay, has declared that Marin will be an honorary anchor for each of their relay events. "She represents everything good that can be in an athlete.” Declaring her an anchor, he said, is the equivalent of retiring a star athlete’s jersey.
Marin’s life and death is an important reminder to each of us – a person’s body may die, but their spirit can live on ... and on .... and on.
Today’s Inquiry: Who are we being each day, such that our spirit lives on as an inspiration and a call to courage and will?
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Category : General
| Posted By : admin |
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| 01 Oct 2009 10:04:59 pm |
| COLT MCCOY, Star Quarterback, University of Texas |
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“It’s one play at a time.”
The source of today’s Real Zeal quote comes from an interview with Dan Patrick after Colt McCoy and his Texas Longhorns had engineered a come-from-behind victory against the University of Oklahoma.
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Colt McCoy was runner-up for the Heisman trophy last year and many expect him to win the coveted award this year. Equally impressive, Colt is authentically passionate about football and about life.
As the inspired quarterback of the Texas Longhorns, Colt has engineered many come-from-behind wins. As the team’s leader, his job is to rally his offense and make sure they believe they can win. Colt is quick to remind them that the only way they win the game is by one play at a time.
Which, when you think about it, is the only way we accomplish anything in life – one play, one step at a time.
Yet, many of us, in our zealous drive to produce results NOW, get overwhelmed with all there is to do. We lose sight of the big picture, operate in a constant state of urgency, and most importantly, take ourselves out of the current moment – the only moment we have to make anything happen!
What if we began using as our mantra: One step at a time, just take one step at a time? And then simply do the next best action, and the next best action? I am confident our lives would become more focused, far more accomplished, and way, WAY easier.
To read a remarkable story of Colt’s heroism off the playing field, read on.
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I marvel at how I ‘meet’ these inspired athletes. In Colt McCoy’s case, I was sitting at the breakfast table in Fort Worth, Texas, enjoying a visit with our grandsons. It was June of 2006.
As we always do, my oldest grandson, Ryan, and I were reading the sports section of the Dallas Morning News. And on this particular day we found an awe-inspiring story of a young man who had, in a daring and selfless rescue, saved a man in the throes of potentially life-threatening seizures. And this young man just happened to be Colt McCoy, the future quarterback of the University of Texas.
The longer story: Colt McCoy and his family were enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day weekend at their home on a lake in NW Texas. He and his dad had been fishing all day. After dinner, they heard screams for help. Realizing the fastest distance to the sound was across the lake, not around it, dad and son took off swimming, in the dark, with only a flashlight to point the way. As they swam the 400 yards to the other side, they had only the cries for help to guide them.
Upon arriving at the dock, Colt and his dad began to help Mr. Herrington, who, before the night was over, would experience a total of 12 grand mal seizures. His wife had been unable to leave her husband for fear of his body jerking off the dock into the water, so her only means to solicit help was by hollering into the darkness.
Additional treacherous work lay ahead. Although an ambulance had been called, Colt (with only a flashlight for light) climbed a wall of boulders to direct the EMS personnel to the obscure lakeside location and the afflicted man.
The story had a happy ending. Mr. Harrington recovered.
For me, an inspired athlete found his way into my heart. I had no idea that Colt would become the star athlete he is today, but his tenacity, his courage, and his willingness to do what it took give complete credence to the success he and his team are currently experiencing.
To read more on this truly inspired young man ...
An interview with Colt and Roger Staubach and the advice Roger imparted to Colt.
Sports Illustrated article on the Longhorns come-from-behind win over Oklahoma during the 2008 season |
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Category : General
| Posted By : admin |
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