Sutton Parks

photo courtesy Luis De Bethencourt, Flickr

Many people are familiar with the poem, “Footprints“.  Many people have claimed to write it or some version of it over the years.  The poem talks about a dream where they looked over their life and saw two sets of footprints in the sand.  One represented theirs and the other God’s.  The author points out that over the span of their life, at the most troubled part, there were only one set of footprints.  The author asks God, “Why did you abandon me when I needed you most”.  God said, “That was were I carried you”.

Ok, there’s the synopsis.  That has not been my experience with God.  My experience has been whenever there is one set of footprints,that is God walking over to me.  God has always met me where I was at.  When depressed, addicted, abandoned and homeless, God’s hand was there for me, right next to me.  All I had to do was lift up my hand and reach for Him.  I had to reach out to God and grab His hand.

God met me where I was at.  It made little difference as to my understanding or prejudices of God.  It didn’t matter the depth of my belief.  All that mattered was that I asked for His help, care and protection.

What has been your experience connecting to God or a Higher Power?

(Photo courtesy IStock)

Have you ever thought about starting a service business?  Do you currently run one?  

Almost four years ago I started a janitorial company, Cool Springs Office Cleaning.  I asked for advice from several friends of mine who have successful business’s.  Here are 5 of the best tips they gave me: Continue Reading…

That's me, running up the steps of the Sydney Opera House in Australia (photo by Richard Edelstien)

Several years ago I called a friend of mine for help.  I was going through a rough spot in with my life.  I knew I needed to change my attitude but my mind kept focusing on my problem, which only made things worse.

My friend told 4 words he tells himself that worked to change his attitude and keep him positive.  He said, “I just tell myself, ‘I’m living my dream’”.

I started telling myself that and immediately my attitude changed.  I started laughing and thought, yeah, some dream.

Then I thought about all of the good things in my life and all I had to be thankful for.  I also remembered, as Og Mandino says, “this too shall pass”.

My attitude continues to make all the difference in how I handle life’s challenges on a daily basis.  And I am ‘living my dream’.

What do you use to change you attitude when you are down?

“Constantly thank God. When suffering, thank God for needing his comfort and love” -Fr. Gordon

“Thus, appreciation is the antidote to fear” -What Happy People Know, Dr. Dan Baker

(photo by Crystl via Flickr)

Do you get the winter blues?  Have you been knocked back on you feet due to a job loss, home foreclosure or a relationship break-up.  There is a Zen saying that goes, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional“.  Yet in the book Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl it is stated that, “to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering”.  Frankl goes on to say that while he was imprisoned in a concentration camp during WWII he observed that , “to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances is the last of human freedoms”.

In tough circumstances I have found Continue Reading…

“Every instinct I’ve had in every area of life….it’s all been wrong”.  -George Costanza

“Well there’s no telling what could happen as the result of this”. -Elaine

“If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right”. -Jerry Seinfield

Have you ever felt all of your instincts in life were wrong?  How do we learn to hone them and use them for our benefit?  How do we know if doing the opposite of our instincts will actually Continue Reading…

I often hear speakers ask, “What do you want on your gravestone?  What do you want to be known for?”.  I never had an answer.  How the hell should I know?  Isn’t that something that is decided by others?

photo courtesy Carla216 Flickr

Now I’ve lived a pretty interesting life.  I moved to Nashville with whatever I could fit in my car and slept on my friend’s couch until I got settled.  I’ve worked in the music industry, played in a band, wrote some great songs (I Still Got a Lot To Give), played music in church, sang at weddings, traveled to Acapulco in a private jet (totally kicked ass!), traveled to Australia and went dog-sledding in Colorado.  I have even published my first book, You Can Sleep In Your Car But You Can’t Drive Your House To Work.

Here’s the thing, Continue Reading…

Do you set goals so big that you cannot achieve them on your own? If so, you need a pacer; someone to run along side you, encourage you and make sure you are keeping on course.

Photo: Pacers Daley Ervin (left) and Will Stinson (right) pose with Phil Theodore during the home stretch of his 100 mile run in Leadville, CO

My friend Phil just ran his first in Leadville, Colorado at 10,000 feet of elevation. It took him 29 hours and 21 minutes. He started at 4am Saturday morning and ended Sunday morning at 9:21am. He climbed 7,800 feet to a height of 12,620 feet above sea level. This was the culmination of two years of intense training and preparation. Phil will be the first to tell you he could not have done it on his own.

So what did Phil do? He recruited two pacers; two men that would take turns running next to him. The pacers job is to make sure

Continue Reading…

As we celebrate Independence Day in the United States, let us not forget our service men and women who allowed us to wake up in safety.  Let us honor their sacrifice.  The debt owed to them can never be paid back.  It is a gift you and I possess.

The freedoms we take for granted today are just a spark in a dark room of world history.  What we have today is not common and it will pass.  The world will fall back into the tyranny and slavery of evil men, if history is to repeat itself.  Only the sacrifice of those before us and those that continue to serve allow us to temporarily hold this gift.  Let us not waste it.

(photo courtesy flickr by ElvertBarnes)

What is holding you back? Is there a communist regime with its foot on your neck as you lie face down in the mud?  Are you Continue Reading…

“…What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” -James 4:14

In 1994 I had just come home from a late night of playing music in a local bar in Buffalo, NY.  It was so much fun, it was all I wanted to do.  The next day I listened to a Tony Robbins speech.  He talked about the “rocking chair” test.  He said to imagine that you are 75 years old and sitting in a rocking chair reflecting on your life.  Then ask yourself the questions, “What do I wish I had done in my life?  If I had to live my life over, starting at (your age), how would I live?  What risks do I wish I would have taken?”

Several months after taking that test I quit my job, gave away everything I owned that wouldn’t fit into my car and moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music.  I have NEVER regretted that decision.

(photo courtesy of icathing @flickr)

This morning I read LifeHacks blog: The top 5 regrets people make on their deathbeds and was reminded of that rocking chair test.   Recently, I have been working on #3 of that list; having the courage to express my feelings.  What risks are you ready to take that will keep you from living a life of regret?

Ships that pass in the night and speak each other in passing; Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Zig Ziglar says, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”.

Here is an example of caring.  A few weeks ago Justin Lukasavige from CoachRadio.TV offered a one-hour coaching special.  I signed up for an hour.  I didn’t have anything specific to talk about, however I figured the association would be good and assumed I would benefit from the call.  I was right.  In talking with Justin, I realized that the obstacle I needed to overcome to move forward was completing my book.  I mentioned to Justin that I could finish it in two weeks if I worked at it.

Two weeks went by.  I worked on my book and was almost done, but not quite there and not really committed to the dead line.  Justin was in the middle of moving his family and all their belongings from Raleigh, NC to Woodland Park, CO.  When I woke up Friday morning and checked my email, this message was in my inbox from Justin:

Hey, Sutton. I’m in the middle of my move, but I know that you’re coming up on the due date for your book. Are you almost done?

Friends, that is caring.  How do you show others you care?

“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?”

- Eminem, Lose Yourself

(Photo by Richard Edelstein)

Last Labor Day I ran Franklin Classic 10k race in Franklin, TN.  To train for it I ran 100 consecutive days for at least 30 minutes.  My weight was down and my endurance was elevated.  I was ready.

My friend Phil told me to start off slow and increase my speed with each mile.  He said most people burn themselves out in Continue Reading…

photo by Jannie-Jan via Flickr

1.) I live in a country that is going down the tubes. Debt, recession, high gas prices, and no plan to change it.
2.) I’m overweight
3.) I’m old (43)
4.) I’m broke
5.) I never finished college
6.) I live in a small, one bedroom apartment

Or:

1.) I live in a prosperous county of abundance and opportunity. It is historically rare to live in a free society that has such economic abundance. America has been down Continue Reading…

A man was running from a ferocious, man eating tiger when he came to the edge of a cliff. He looked down at his feet and saw a rope. He grabbed the rope and shimmied down about a hundred feet when he came to the end of the rope. He looked down and saw jagged rocks three hundred feet below. He looked up and saw the tiger looking down at him, drooling. Then he looked into the edge of the cliff and saw a strawberry. He reached out, plucked the strawberry and ate it. He said aloud, “Man, that was the BEST strawberry I have ever tasted!” Now, if he had been worried about the jagged rocks in his future, or hung up on the tiger of his past, he would have never gotten to taste the strawberry that God wanted him to have in the present.

What are you missing because you are not living in the present?

I went from 2005 to 2007 without owning or watching tv. For a sports and political nut, that would seem like a long time. I would guess I went from watching between 30-40 hours of tv per week to nothing. The reason was my house had been foreclosed and I lived out of my car for a considerable length of time. What I found surprised me.

My life prospered without tv! My attitude, social life, creativity and spirituality flowed like a mountain spring. When I finally got back into an apartment, a friend gave me a tv, and I ordered cable. I wanted to watch Lance Armstrong’s comeback in the Tour De France. As Lance raced for first place (ended up third), so did tv’s hold of my attention and time race ahead.

Television viewing advanced from a few hours, to more than I care to own up to over this past winter. Life on tv was great! Regrettably, my life was becoming non-existent. Instead of hiking, biking, playing music and making love, I was watching everyone else on tv do it! I was a spectator without a sport. Something had to change.

Recently, I decided to try life without tv again. Continue Reading…