No! This post is not about managing financial resources. It’s about cultivating the qualities that inspire you on your life’s path.
We live on a hillside, so any travel coming or going requires ascending slopes. The shortest is a half-mile. The longest is more than twice that. In addition to length, the slopes vary in gradient, a fact that immediately becomes apparent when walking them!
During the recent heat wave, I set out for an early morning walk. Hot and tired as I labored up one half-mile stretch near the end, a voice asked me, why are you doing this? Fortunately, my mind found enough oxygen to deliver an answer.
As I have written in posts over the years, we only control two things in life – our attitude and our effort. Rather than dwell on my fatigue and the distance remaining to reach the crest of the hill, a rationale came to mind that bolstered my attitude: your effort is an investment in your future; you are tending your physical health, and you are following your vocation to explore meaning in life’s terrain and share its lessons with others.
The effort in this example involves setting an intention to cultivate physical health, breaking its attainment into manageable pieces, and following through by walking those steps. The attitude includes reminding myself that if I take one step at a time with the expectation that that there are lessons to learn, I can do this.
As you consider your own path, what goals do you currently have that are worthy of your effort? What intentions might you adopt today? Then ask yourself, what manageable steps can I take each day to move up the hills in my life to achieve those desired outcomes?
sacredlead 
It’s been a while since I read any of your posts Bob. Thanks for the reminder about effort and attitude. Good to see you are still climbing those hills. I live in a much flatter part of the world, only one slight rise towards the end of my morning walk. However, the effort comes from doing the 4.2km in the same time as 4 years ago and the attitude from gratitude that at 72, I can still walk at least 5 mornings a week..
May your steady performance and the 4.2K benchmark continue to feed your attitude, Peter. Many kilos still to go! Best wishes.
Bob, I’ve found that no matter how complex the task, it can be easily completed by breaking up into the simplest pieces.
Agreed, Derek. And, in my mind, breaking down complex tasks into manageable units begins with attitude – “it is possible, I can do it, and I will do it.”
Love this blog as usual, Bob. I live in a ‘hilly’ neighborhood and each morning at the end of the driveway I have a choice… start up the hill and do the hard stuff first or do the easy stuff first and go down the hill leaving the hard stuff to last. Either way the distance is a mile and doing both is 2 miles. How committed am I today? and how much effort am I willing to put out to achieve 2 miles today? Attitude and effort are both choices we have as we approach tasks of immediate and potential long-term importance in life. I agree!
Maybe we should call this regimen “hills for health!”
I love the phrase “explore meaning in life’s terrain…”. These hills in our little town offer much opportunity, don’t they.
…and many blessings indeed, not the least of which are many of those who dwell among them.