New Golden Goats and Mindset
Hey Goat Lovers. Welcome to December and the Goat Locker Blogcast (I made a new word. You are welcome.)
Here is the link to the Apple podcast. The Goat Locker Podcast
Here is the link to the Spotify podcast. The Goat Locker Podcast
Hope your Thanksgiving brought you feelings of good will and gratitude. Barry was able to spend 16 days in NC – the longest stretch since we’ve been geographical bachelors/bachelorettes. It was fandamntastic.
The goats are really pulling their load on the funny farm. I can depend on them – every day. It’s corny and goofy and I don’t care but they make me happy. It’s a guaranteed daily occurrence. For 12 days (in a row) not counting that nasty rainy day last week of walking down to the south pasture together. They graze and browse on all the tasty weeds we’ve lovingly and painstakingly cultivated with love and absolute neglect. Either Boris or Natasha have joined us everyday. Natasha has officially been welcomed into the herd. No more head butts. But Boris hasn’t been back since Thelma chased him into the woods.
I weighed them yesterday. Thelma is 40lbs and Louise is 50lbs. The last time I weighed them – and I can’t find where I wrote it down or when – but they were 25lbs and 35lbs. Thelma was always the smallest. They are growing and thriving.
The Golden Goat Award was presented to AJ Miller Tuesday night! Now this is a helluva uplifting story. Unexpected Blooms is a nonprofit organization that serves the Kansas City area. Their mission is to rescue, redesign and deliver beautiful floral arrangements to bring joy to individuals in the community. They receive flower donations from weddings, memorial services, private events, florists and retailers. Volunteers recut, refresh and reuse those flowers. They work hand in hand with healthcare, hospice, senior resident and social service communities to touch people’s lives.
AJ Miller has been serving the Unexpected Blooms team for a couple years. She leads her team in rescuing and collecting flowers after events and weddings late, late at night and again early in the morning. She is the operations leader and handles all the vital details of ensuring the needed amount of magic happens.
The entire team of 15 volunteers received the first level Golden Goat Award consisting of two Golden Goat business cards. Everyone received a written note of thanks.
AJ received the second level - military grade award with the highly coveted (I love saying that even though I don’t even know if it’s coveted) Golden Goat Trophy.
This is the write up for AJ’s award:
Congratulations AJ Miller!
You are being recognized for your awesomeness with the Golden Goat Award.
Your devotion to Unexpected Blooms is inspiring and your leadership is instrumental to successfully rescuing, redesigning and delivering beautiful floral arrangements.
You help deliver happiness and bring joy to your community. What a beautiful gift.
You are making a difference.
We see it and we appreciate you.
Here is the Unexpected Blooms team on the bus. AJ is on the right with the white hat. ♥️
And to top it all off, Jill Molina, my friend and Golden Goat Awardee in Kansas City who is our official ambassador, took the whole team on a bus ride to see the Christmas lights in the city. Her husband Marc drove everyone around and Jill passed out the cards and presented the trophy to AJ. How awesome is that? It could not be more awesome.
Hats off to Unexpected Blooms, AJ Miller and the merry team of volunteers and Jill. Y’all are making a difference and we appreciate it.
My cousin Anna was the guest on my last podcast and we talked about identity and values. If you listened to the podcast or read the last few blogs, most were about identity. Since I’ve been learning more about who I am and my values, I believe it’s helpful and even critical information. Maybe it prompted you to think about what you want to be or write down some of your most important values. That’s what happens to me when I read or hear something new. I love that feeling of discovery and I MUST SHARE IT ALL. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.
The Next Big Idea to discuss:
Bias - lack of objectivity or a preconceived notion.
Confirmation bias - people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing belief.
“People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for.”
You will find exactly what you are looking for. If you believe this event will ruin your future or break your heart. It will. If you believe it’s going to be your next challenge or life’s direction. It will. There is so much strength in what we believe – what we think is the truth.
Jason Redmond a former Navy Seal who was seriously wounded in Iraq, talks about being on the “X”. Everyone spends time there. It happens. We get ambushed by circumstances. The X is the event that hits you. Jason says we have to get off the X. It can be a catastrophic series of events that knocks the wind out of you. And we can get stuck there—sometimes for years. He says people respond to life ambushes in three ways. They are destroyed by it and can’t stop rehashing it. Or, like most people, they get through to the other side, but it is always a struggle for them. Or the third group turns the ambush into a launching point. The chance for a new beginning. Going back to the way things were before is not an option. That would be backwards movement. And the world is changing every second. Instead of waiting or wishing for things to go back to the way they were, what’s the best way forward? Who do you want to be? Going thru something that rocks you to your foundation has the amazing ability to clarify what is important to you. But you’ve gotta be open to seeing it. If a randomly awful, tragic event knocked you on your ass, get up off the floor as soon as you can. Remember how resilient we are. We have the ability to rise up, change lanes or direction.
This is the sign Jason Redmond placed on his hospital room door.
When the shoo-shoo hits the fan, I try to remember to ask if I am allowing myself to become a victim. Do I keep reminding myself and dwelling on what went wrong? Do I make excuses? Do I feel sorry for myself? Do I feel like I deserve anything because of what happened?
Sometimes yes. That’s easy to do. Doesn’t require much, if any effort. As soon as I realize what’s happening – or maybe after a day or two, I’ll get tired of wallowing or blaming, and I realize I am stuck. I’m on repeat and not looking ahead. Time to take the next right turn and keep going forward.
American Symphony is a documentary and tells the story of Jon Batiste who is a musician, and his wife Suleika Jaoud who is a writer. The documentary follows them during a period in 2021-2022 (I think) when Jon is writing a symphony and Suleika is dealing with her second bout with leukemia and her second bone marrow transplant. She is 32. She had been in remission for 10 years. While leaving the hospital after the second successful transplant, she says “you are meant to return from the hardest moments in your life stronger and braver, and more of a warrior for what you’ve been through. I don’t want to have tough skin. I want to feel the things that are happening to me. The terrible things. The beautiful things. I want to be open to it all.
Believing in yourself, moving forward, getting off the X- does not mean we ignore hardship, tragedy. There are lessons in all of it. Feeling all the feels is what is necessary to get stronger.
You will find exactly what you are looking for.
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Take care and see you next time!
https://www.unexpectedblooms.org/
https://therustedbucketproject.com/goldengoataward
https://jasonredman.com/books/