On Friday, August 26, 2005, I left my clinic office in posh Uptown New Orleans at 5:00 PM as I do most weekday evenings.  A few hours later, my wife and I were enjoying a relaxing evening out for dinner and drinks with our best friends.  I still recall Alan commenting to me at the restaurant something to the effect of “Looks like Florida is going to get pounded again.”  I innocently replied, “Is there another hurricane out there?” 

Several hours later, shortly after midnight, our friends had bid us good night and I stayed in our den to relax and watch a little T.V. before retiring for the evening as my wife made her way upstairs to bed.  How shocked I was that the local stations were all broadcasting live press conferences about the possibility of an extremely powerful hurricane with New Orleans in its crosshairs.  Any semblance of relaxation quickly dissipated as the thought of having to evacuate myself, my wife, my three year old daughter and my seven year German Shepherd suddenly was becoming a real possibility.

I decided that 12:30 AM after a couple of after-dinner drinks was not the time to make evacuation plans, so I set the alarm for 5:30 AM and forced myself to get some sleep.  Rather than awaken my wife with the news, I figured I’d awaken earlier and see if the sense of urgency was still present in the voices of local officials.

At 5:30 AM, the previous sense of urgency was beginning to sound more and more like panic.  I awakened my wife, explained the situation and began the ordeal of packing for evacuation.

As this would be our third evacuation in our thirteen years of marriage, our standard protocol was pretty well understood.  We’d take 3 days worth of clothing and supplies and head north to Shreveport to stay with my brother-in-law and his wife.

Things were different this time.  Our typical three day evacuation instead stretched out to over three weeks as an unprecedented storm caused unprecedented damage and local, state and federal officials scampered to secure normalcy in an unprecedented manner of ineptitude.

I find no need in this blog to revisit the damage, destruction and death that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.  Anyone watching the news in late August and early September 2005 saw the images for themselves. 

But I do want to share with you one year later some thoughts—five simple but profound lessons I learned.  Maybe they will help you understand without having to go through what I and so many others went through and continue to be haunted by 12 months later.

Lesson number one: Property can be replaced, but lives cannot.  Don’t be stupid. 

Lesson number two:  Always remember what you learned in Scouting—Be Prepared!

Lesson number three:  If your plan for protection of your life and property or the life and property of your loved ones calls on the government to be there for you during your time of need, you’d better reconsider your plan.  If you don’t have a plan, see Lesson number two

Lesson number four:  If there are people in your life that you care for, consider telling them today.  There were people who worked in the same building as I on August 26, 2005 that I said goodbye to at 5:00 PM that I will never see again.

Lesson number five:  Nature is all powerful.  Respect her.

As I post this, a storm named Ernesto heads for the Gulf….

Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

-Dr. Graf

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In my estimation, there are basically two types of people in the world—those that want to improve themselves and those who won’t improve themselves.  Based on the fact that you’re on this webpage, reading this article, I’m going to guess that you’re not the latter type of person.  They are the type that don’t want to improve their lives, don’t believe they can improve their lives or simply don’t know they can improve their lives.  It’s a sad reality, but it is a reality. 

So congratulate yourself for being in the former group-the group of people who wants to improve themselves!  But beware–unfortunately, of this group, there is a subgroup who still will not find dramatic, lasting improvement because of one simple reason: they will not commit to change.  They are the people that, at least for the moment, do not possess the discipline to do what is necessary to reach their goals.  That’s the subgroup you don’t want to find yourself in.  It’s not unlike the group who purchases the home exercise treadmill and begins using it only to find that it has become an expensive clothes rack several months down the road.  They lose their commitment to change and thus they lose their commitment to improvement, because improvement is reliant upon change.  Change of course is reliant upon motivation

Does motivation work?  OF COURSE!  I had opportunity to hear the master motivational speaker Zig Ziglar talk and in his talk he tackled the issue of motivation being temporary.  He stated that someone once came up to him and said “that’s the problem with motivation….you hear a motivational speaker and you’re motivated but then a day later it wears off”.  Zig eloquently responded, “of course it’s not permanent but neither is bathing, that’s why I recommend both daily”.

You see, in reality, there is something to the transient nature of motivation and you need to be aware of it so that you don’t fall prey to it.  Jack Zufelt, author of the great book, The DNA of Success, claims that most of the money spent on motivational and self-improvement material is wasted because most of the products purchased become expensive dust collectors.  YOU CAN’T ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN TO YOU!  You have to budget an amount to spend on your personal development education and you have to utilize the materials you buy!  Zufelt, a best selling author of success centered audio cassettes, speaks of an experiment he once conducted in which he mailed out empty cassette cases to people who requested audio programs.  He estimates that close to 85% of the people receiving empty cases NEVER called to complain that their case was empty—they lost their motivation before the package arrived in the mail and didn’t even bother to open the package and realize that nothing was shipped to them.

The easiest way to experience the power of success and personal development is to stay in the subgroup that benefits from a program like Zufelt’s DNA of Success and the only way you can do that is to maintain your commitment to and motivation for your ultimate goals.  You can’t be like the “motivated for a month” exerciser whose treadmill now houses hangers and clothing and you can’t be like the majority of the Jack Zufelt’s experimental subjects.  You have to MAKE yourself become the minority of Zufelt’s subjects.  You have to commit yourself to becoming like the minority of people in the world who enjoy the privilege and the rewards that come from personal development and self growth.

And the good news is, it’s as simple as a choice!  You simply need to choose daily, maybe even several times a day, to take one more step in accordance with commitment.  It’s a simple as a choice.  You can “actively” choose YES or you can do nothing, which is also a choice.  I can assure you, your success is all but guaranteed when you choose YES. 

Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

-Dr. Graf

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This week in New Orleans, I had chance to visit the convention of the American Psychological Association (APA).  Thousands of psychologists from across the country (and the world for that matter) descended in a single city, as they do each year, to meet, greet, publish and pontificate. 

Concurrent with the convention was news coming from the clinical research field about the discovery by neuroscientists of so-called “molecular janitors” in the human brain which seem to keep the brain clean of a gooey protein substance known as beta-amyloid.  While still poorly understood, beta-amyloid is the substance that in large amounts seems to account for the manifestation of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease, of course, is a disorder that many types of psychologists, including geropsychologists, neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists and developmental psychologists are involved in studying, diagnosing and treating.  Naturally, many psychologists at the APA convention were talking about this news: “molecular janitors” that keep the brain clean of beta-amyloid.

It got me to thinking about the role that each of us has in our own lives.  The role of keeping our minds clean of all the junk and pollution that easily enters on any given day.

In my lectures and with my clients and patients, I often try to have people conceive of their minds as a garden.  Like any garden, the soil that composes it supports growth.  Like any garden, what grows in the soil is what is sowed in the soil.  You see, a garden doesn’t care if its growing weeds or growing beautiful flowers; its job is simply to support the growth of something.  Similarly, our brains support the growth of what we sow.  Fill a brain with weeds and weeds will grow, pushing out other beautiful plants and flowers and taking over the soil.  But when we take the time to till the garden and plant in it beautiful plants and flowers, the soil will just as easily support the beautiful plants and flowers of success and achievement!

Personal development expert Brian Tracy has been known to say “The single greatest source of wealth is between the ears.”  When we begin view “between the ears” as a garden, we have to ask ourselves “What do I expect to harvest from my garden?”  But more importantly, we also have to ask “Did I sow what I expect to harvest?”

I don’t care how you slice it, the only harvest you’ll ever reap without planting seeds is a harvest of weeds.  Each of us has that choice.  If you are interested in planting some success seeds in “your garden”, allow me to offer you a link for a free Brian Tracy audio CD.

Thanks for stopping by and please visit again!

-Dr. Graf

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