We have hope!

Change your perspective!

It’s been nearly three months since COVID-19 has largely wreaked havoc here in the US and much of the globe. And many people have found themselves seemingly caught in a downward spiral that has no apparent way out. These times and these current challenges have brought change unlike anything expected or anticipated. While the current view and forecast for many appear overwhelming, the human spirit is resilient, and we have a very stout and extensive history of overcoming. This means we have hope and a great deal of control if we do not surrender it.

A downward spiral is defined as when we find ourselves slipping into a lower mood and our mental health feels as though it is in a decline. It is a slippery slope and often hard to handle as we may not really understand the situation. This drop in mental health drains our intellectual functions and heightens the effect of hopelessness, frustration, and irritation. In this state, our thinking is less reliable, and we do and say things we normally would not in a higher mood state. It’s been proven that we actually lose points of both IQ (intelligence quotient), a measure of a person's reasoning ability and EQ (emotional intelligence), the ability to understand, use, and manage ones’ own emotions in positive ways to mitigate stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

The rapid changes our globe has experienced in the recent three months has triggered many to feel out of control and stressed, further compounded with being isolated (quarantined) for this extended period of time.

The first step to slowing, stopping, and altering course of the downward spiral is to identify the causes that change our mood negatively. Understanding the signs that things are not going well requires self-awareness and listening to how different situations make us feel. Sometimes these cannot necessarily be avoided, however, bringing awareness will allow us to adjust and positively change our course.

Several years ago, Dr. Larry Senn created the “Mood Elevator”. In this simple yet profound tool, we can quickly gauge where we are on the mood elevator and change our mood.

MOOD ELEVATOR

You can find a downloadable PDF version of the mood elevator at https://themoodelevator.com/ to print and share with your family, team, and organization.

The GREAT NEWS is we have abundant control over our mood by our thinking, our thoughts. Our thoughts create emotions which create actions which create results.

Here are some actions to take now to stop the downward spiral, move to the positive side of the mood elevator, and remain there!

1.     Be mindful of your feelings, your state of mind, and the root causes of the negative feelings. Make a conscience and honest effort to account of where you are on the mood elevator. Stop negative and unhealthy thoughts from becoming an emotion.

2.     Be responsible for you. Being of sound mind is a combination of proper care, nourish, application, and continued growth in mind, body, soul, emotion, and spirit.

3.     Realize your thoughts may be unreliable in the downward spiral. Delay making key decisions, create space, and move up the mood elevator. If you must act immediately, use caution and do not exaggerate. Seek council of others to confirm a sound decision.

4.     Change your viewpoint through gratitude, creativity, hope, and humor. Adding a daily gratitude practice is a powerful mood acceleration. It has been said that discontent cannot exist in a grateful heart. The top end of the mood elevator provides perspective and clear vision for optimal handling of challenges and complexity.

5.     Be self-aware and attentive to your influence. Moods are infectious. The culture and mood of a family, team, and organization, is most greatly influenced by the influence of their leader.  

Where do you find yourself on the mood elevator?

Are you in a downward spiral?

What can you do TODAY to alter your downward spiral and positively change our outcome?

“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” – Paulo Coelho

Get out of the river (the downward spiral) now, it is within our control!

Never give up and Get Creative!

CRISIS

What you Focus on Expands

Do you remember when you were a kid and you wanted your first bike? You probably saw it everywhere you went, and it seemed like every kid had it except you? And it was all you could think about. We may have matured a bit since then but it’s the same with anything we place in priority in our minds today, the focus and attention to the thought causes it to expand.

This expansion effect can be in our favor or serve to our disadvantage.

One area this it proven true over and over again is in one’s values.

Do you have values? Personal values for your own life? Maybe you have value with your company?

Values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work. They should determine your priorities and core responses to any decision during good or bad times.

Many companies have values and sometimes, unfortunately, they are just words on a website or a wall in the corporate office. They are not in focus and therefore do not expand. This becomes most clear in times of crisis as true character is often revealed.

On the contrary, when a company and their people really know their values and live them every day, decisions are made easy at every level of the company. This includes decisions made in good times and bad times, including and most importantly, during a crisis.

My first career role was with Federal Express, later renamed FedEx. I learned early that “every package is the golden package” and their slogan that many still associate with them today is “when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” was very popular. Everyone knew these and it served in everyone’s daily performance. Later in my time with FedEx, the adopted the Purple Promise “I will make every FedEx experience outstanding”. Seven simple words that define their value, what is most important to them. It creates a since of ownership at every level that if they do their part, every customer experience with any service FedEx offers will be outstanding. This places the customer clearly first. In times of crisis, everyone knows these seven words and making decisions comes easy as the answer to any question is viewed through the purple promise. It makes the decision process easy especially during a crisis.

I spent time recently with Amazon as a global leader of process engineering and continuous improvement. Like FedEx, Amazon knows its values. They call them leadership principles. There are 14 and everyone lives and breathes these every day. They have become a part of the core fabric in every leader and associate. They start with them, work with them and end the day with them. I connected deeply with many and one I like best is Customer Obsession. It states “Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers.” This puts the customer at the forefront of everything they do and in the answer to every question or potential change in operation.

With these strong values present in everyone at both FedEx and Amazon, decisions are made easy, especially during a crisis. Both companies have played critical roles in this current crisis and they have been able to react quickly, pivoting to address global needs and direct the team successfully towards putting the customer first.

Business will always follow values if they are kept front of mind and in focus.

What words define your values?

Integrity?

Honesty?

Excellence?

Commitment?

Reliability?

Dependability?

Teamwork?

Sustainability?

Growth?

Others?

What will you do to ensure your values are on point with your vision, mission and in the front of you mind and the minds of you team?

In a crisis, unexpected events occur. We may have created incredible business continuity plans covering everything from political disruptions to natural disaster recoveries and yet surprises always surface with no planned playbook response. COVID-19 has certainly proven that.

I close with the famous serenity prayer.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” - Reinhold Niebuhr

With strong values that are front of mind, you can focus on what you can control, expanding favor!

Never Give Up and Never Settle for Mediocrity!

Mother

Knows Best!

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. And for the first time in my entire life, I cannot send my mother flowers, a thoughtful card, or even call her to tell her Happy Mother’s Day. You see, last year in October of 2019, she left this world to be with the Lord. Please know, I do not write this for sadness or pity, but rather the opposite, for celebration and honor of a life well lived, an example to us all! I want to share with you all the beauty, kindness, resilience, strength, and unconditional love she had for me, my family, and everyone she knew.

My mom was a simple lady, born and raised on a ranch in Northern New Mexico, she lacked for nothing and was grateful for everything. She passed away in late 2019 quite unexpectedly, and I had the absolute honor and pleasure to lead her only service at the grave site. I share below some highlights of the service out of deep honor and respect for an incredible woman, my mother!

Viola ‘bunnie’ foss

11/7/40 - 10/16/19

October 19, 2019: We gather together today to commit Viola Bernice “Bunnie” Wheatley Foss, to her final resting place alongside her husband and one true love, Dean Gary Foss. We comfort each other in our grief and to honor the life Bunnie led. A life that was full of Christ, happiness, laughter, and love, through good times as well as in bad.

This is the way we will always remember Bunnie, that she lived her life as an example to each and every person she met that love is an action, not just a feeling. And the practice of giving of ourselves is the truest way to honor God.

Bunnie’s favorite bible verse is Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

The meaning of being a mother is virtually endless. A mother is a protector, teacher, disciplinarian, and friend. A mother is a selfless, loving human who must sacrifice many personal wants and needs for those of their children. A mother gives unconditional love. A mother works hard to make sure their child is equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities to not only survive but excel as a human being. Being a mother is perhaps the hardest, most rewarding job a woman will ever experience.

Viola Bernice “Bunnie” Wheatley Foss, was born on November 7, 1940, in Springer, New Mexico. She was an only child to the beautiful, resourceful, and loving Caleb and Mildred Wheatley. Bunnie was raised on the CS Ranch northern New Mexico and enjoyed the simple country life. While she had no brothers and sisters, she had a very close extended family with Les and Linda Davis and their children of the CS Ranch.

Upon graduating high school in 1958, Bunnie moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and became a medical assistant to a dermatologist. Once in Albuquerque, she met Dean Gary Foss and they married in 1962.

Bunnie and Dean were heavily involved with the church and made several lifelong friends. Many of these friends played a key role in my mom’s life after my father’s early departure to heaven 30 years ago in 1989.

She is survived and dearly loved by her children, Jeff and wife, Christine, Michael and wife, Anita, and Melissa; grandchildren, Brittney, Aubrey, Bryson, Hailey, Kaitlin, Suzanna, Kale, Hannah, and Caleb; great-grandchildren, Bryleigh, Evie, and Leighton.

The FOSS’s

Dean, Bunnie, Jeff, Michael, & Missy

Bunnie went into the open arms of her Lord for eternity on Wednesday, October 16, 2019.

Bunnie was a simple woman but not to be underestimated. She was a strong Christian woman and loved her kids, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her dogs. She was loved for her spunk and admired for her strength and grit. She had a feisty nature and a joyful spirit. She was protective and a woman of deep spiritual belief and emotion.

Our parents taught us tough love, to be a devout follower of Jesus. They taught us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” as it states in Matthew 6:33.

Bunnie enjoyed quilting, knitting, crafts, and gardening, but most of all, sending handwritten cards to each of her children and grandchildren. From our oldest daughter’s first birth, Bunnie sent all three of our kids handwritten cards on every birthday and most holidays. As our kids went off to college, they went through the boxes were we stored the cards and were amazed and overwhelmed. Each card held a personal note to them sharing kindness and joy, celebrating them from a deep over-pouring love of a dear Grandmother. Faithfulness adds up. For better or worse, positive or negative, things we faithfully do can become detrimental and add up to big, bad habits or, they can become disciplines that bless our lives and others’.

I love that part of me is a Wheatley! I grew to love where my mom grew up and my grandparents deeply! The CS Ranch is a beautiful place where I ate the best food, made forts in the woods with my brother, learned to drive, and shoot guns!

While our earthly bodies are filled with sorrow and our hearts are breaking, this is truly a day of celebration for those of us in Christ Jesus! My mother is now sporting a new body with NO restrictions! She has no cough, no allergies, no bad knees, no back pain!

She has been reunited with my dad and all my grandparents! I imagine quite a celebration going on right now. It’s been ~30 years since my father and my mom’s parents headed for the heaven and I bet they all have a lot to catch up on.

It’s been said that “tomorrow is guaranteed to no one”. While on earth this is true, an eternity of tomorrows is guaranteed to anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

As we commit our mother’s body to her final resting place alongside our father, this day is particularly special as today is my parents wedding 57th anniversary. They were married on this day, 57 years ago, on October 19, 1962.

I love you mom! You will be remembered forever and one day, we will celebrate for eternity!

Call your mother and tell her you love her today! Even better, go give her a great big hug!

Never Give Up and Never Settle for Mediocrity!