Sermon Tone Analysis

I don’t want to make the same mistakes

Intro

Preparation Before the Event

Leading up to a competition, it is important to provide athletes with the mental tools so that they can learn to manage their own performance and create their optimal level of mental readiness.

Strategies such as goal setting, imagery, thought management, and emotional control can be learned through practical exercises that incorporate these elements into the athlete's practice and daily routines.

Athletes can then use these tools to develop their personal routines and plans for achieving mental readiness for competition.

These plans can be refined and adjusted during the pre-competition phase as athletes engage in practices, and other tournaments and competitions leading up to the "big event".

Develop refocusing strategies

Athletes and coaches should also learn to apply the tools to develop refocusing strategies for challenging and unexpected events arising during their performance.

Coaches will often facilitate the athletes' use of refocusing strategies by structuring challenges within the practice environment or by simulating competition conditions.

Athletes' personal routines and their process for achieving optimal mental state are foundational elements of the mental training process.

It is from this foundation that athletes can begin to explore focusing and refocusing beyond the context of the performance and apply their plans to deal with elements within the competition experience itself.

Anticipate and plan for distractions

An additional part of the preparation for competition involves anticipating potential distractions and impediments to performance and focus.

There is significant power in having anticipated an issue before it happens.

If something occurs that has already been identified, then the energy and impact of the issue is lessened and an awareness of alternative responses to the situation heightened.

Plans need to be established ahead of time for how to deal with the major distractions.

Moreover, athletes need to have a general strategy for identifying and coping with the unexpected.

One suggestion might be to develop a chart to analyze and prepare for difficult conditions.

Athletes and coaches can brainstorm a list of competitive and/or event-related conditions and for each consider the following:

The most challenging possibility (e.g., not playing as much; family and friends having unrealistic expectations of the athlete's performance);The best way of preparing for it (e.g., clarify team roles and expectations; outline the athletes goals and expectations ahead of time);How the condition might serve as an advantage (e.g., chance to watch other teams weaknesses; opportunity to communicate specific goals to family and friends).

Addition of a new child

It's easy to prepare your house for your new bundle of joy.

But what about your marriage?

One of the most important ways you can prepare for a new baby is to ensure you have created a solid foundation in your relationship with your spouse so you are best able to weather all the changes — hormones, sleep deprivation, financial demands — that will surely attend the addition of that new family member.

Whether or not you have an official "baby moon," take plenty of time leading up to a birth or adoption to have fun together, talk and be that happy couple who started out dreaming of their future together.

Death of a parent

There's no easy way to emotionally prepare for the passing of a much-loved parent, but knowing all the facts about your parents' will and plans for the estate will make the post-funeral tasks easier to handle.

Take time to sit down with your parents and understand exactly what their plans and wishes are, and make copies of relevant documents.

Be sure to coordinate with your siblings as well so everyone is on the same page before a death.

Having an empty nest

Ok, so this one is way down the road, right?

KJ Dell'Antonia explained in a New York Times article, "Between the day your child is born, and the time he or she turns 18, you get 940 Saturdays—and 260 of them…are gone by her fifth birthday."

The 18 or more years it takes to launch children into adulthood and independence can seem like a permanent state of (exhausting) affairs, but children really do eventually leave the nest.

Spend those Saturdays making the most of your time together.

At the same time, prepare yourself for this new experience by building up other relationships, particularly with your spouse and close adult friends.

Having a good support system of other loved ones in place can ease what really can be a grieving period.

How to prepare for a hurricane

Not sure what to do before, during or after a hurricane?

We’ve got you covered for when you need to batten down the hatches.

CLINT WILLIAMSOctober 1, 2015, 3:08 p.m.

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https://media.mnn.com/assets/images/2015/10/hurricane-wilma-south-florida.jpg.653x0_q80_crop-smart.jpgHurricane

Wilma moves through South Florida bringing destructive strong winds and rain in October, 2005.

(Photo: Emilio Labrador/flickr)

If you're familiar with hurricane history, you know that anyone living along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico needs to know how to prepare for massive tropical storms.

And because hurricanes pose a variety of threats — flooding, high winds, storm surges, tornadoes — it is important to prepare in advance and to follow the hurricane safety tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other emergency management officials.

Before a hurricane

Pack an emergency preparedness kit that will meet the needs of you and your family for three days.

The kit, of course, will be handy in the wake of any natural or man-made disaster.

An emergency preparedness kit needs to include food and water for each member of your family for three days, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, flashlight, spare batteries, first aid kit, can opener, toilet paper, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation.

A complete list of recommended items for an emergency kit can be found at Ready.gov, FEMA’s emergency preparedness website.Store emergency supplies in an easy-to-carry plastic storage container or duffel bag, making them easy to grab and go should local emergency management officials order an evacuation.In addition to the essentials in the emergency preparedness kit, pack sleeping bags or blankets, paper towels, books, puzzles, board games and special foods that will make a stay in a shelter more comfortable.Board up windows using 5/8” marine plywood.

Using tape on windows won’t prevent them from breaking.Fill the gas tank of your car.Know emergency routes and make transportation arrangements.

Identify a place away from home where you can go if you have to leave.Get a supply of cash.Turn your refrigerator and freezer to the coldest setting so that food will last longer should the power go out.

Keep the doors closed as much as possible to hold in the cold.Gather and store inside anything that might turn into a missile: lawn furniture, lawn art, garbage cans, tools.Fill your bathtubs — and other large containers — to make sure you have a supply of water for cleaning and flushing toilets.

This is in addition to your supply of drinking water.Follow directions regarding evacuation, especially if you live in a mobile home, a high-rise building, on the coast or in a floodplain.

https://media.mnn.com/assets/images/2015/10/hurricane-sandy-marblehead.jpg.838x0_q80.jpgHurricane

Sandy hits Marble head, Massachusetts, in October, 2012.

(Photo: Brian Birke/flickr)

During a hurricane

Brace external doors.Close interior doors.Close all curtains and blinds, even if you have plywood over the windows.Wait out the storm in an interior, windowless room or closet on the ground floor.If the power is out, use flashlights instead of candles.Listen to news and weather reports.

After a hurricane

Check everyone for injuries.

Administer first aid, but don’t move anyone seriously injured unless they are at risk for further injury.Be alert to hazards created by hurricane damage such as broken glass and downed power lines.Stay off flooded roads.When returning to your home if you’ve been evacuated, walk carefully around the outside and look for damage such as loose power lines and gas leaks.

Do not enter the house if it is still surrounded by floodwaters or if you smell natural gas.Throw out any food that was not kept at proper temperatures or that was exposed to flood waters.Take photographs of damage to your house and the contents to show when filing an insurance claim.

6 Crazy Ways People Are Prepping for Doomsday

BY THE WEEK DECEMBER 18, 2012http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/inventor-yang-zongfu-tests-one-of-his-anti-disaster-bubbles-in-china-565x340_4.jpg?resize=1100x740

By Chris Gayomali

REUTERS/China Daily China Daily Information Corp - CDIC

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Circle your calendars: The world ends on December 21 ... at least according to some out-there prognosticators.

And predictably, more than a few rattled souls from different corners of the globe are rushing to empty their savings accounts and stockpile nonperishable food, guns, ammo, gas generators, and whatever other doomsday supplies they can get their hands on.

Of course, the Mayan calendar predicting the end of times has probably been misread, and NASA insists there aren't any asteroids headed our way any time soon.

But the philosophy of these so-called "preppers" is that you can never, ever be too careful.

Here's how they're getting ready for the end of the world:

1.

The man building Noah's Ark

Lu Zhenghai of China is sinking $160,000 of his life savings into a massive ship to ensure that he and his family are protected in the event of a worldwide flood.

The house-sized ship is pretty substantial, too.

At 65 feet long, it weighs about 80 tons, built mostly of timber and steel.

It's unclear if there will be any animals taken on board.

2. The man who built a nuclear shelter out of school busses

Bruce Beach, a 78-year-old former high school teacher living in Ontario, is no stranger to fallout shelters.

He built his first in response to the Cuban missile crisis in the '60s.

His life's work, a sprawling underground labyrinth nicknamed "Ark Two," was finished in the 1980s and is comprised of 42 underground school busses.

Beach rents out rooms in Ark Two, and like most B&Bs, Ark Two rooms boast a kitchen, shower, and separate bunks for children and adults.

"People have been in a panic because someone has prophesized the end of the world this particular week or whatever," he told the Canadian Press.

"They call us up just to make sure we have space in the shelter and I tell them, "For sure, come on down."

3. The man building 3-ton steel balls

Not to be outdone by his ship-building countryman, 32-year-old Yang Zongfu of China has been building 3-ton yellow steel balls measuring 13 feet in diameter.

The balls are hollow, and inside each there are seatbelts.

They're designed to withstand a volcano, tsunami, earthquake, or nuclear meltdown.

Yang calls each anti-disaster bubble "Atlantis."

4. The man who spent $130,000 on survival equipment

More than $130,000 of author Patrick Geryl's savings has gone into survival prep.

In a small wooden bunker in South Africa (far away from the site of a potential nuclear meltdown), Geryl has stockpiled walls of guns, ammo, water purification tablets, and more, should the world need to be re-colonized.

All of this is detailed in his tell-all book, How to Survive 2012.

But with only two-and-a-half stars on Amazon, it's safe to say it probably won't make any best-seller lists come 2013.

5.

The man who spent $350,000 on survival equipment

$130,000 is nothing!

Australian marketer Robert Bast, 46, is the proprietor of a community called Survive2012.com,

and has spent upwards of $350,000 stockpiling food, water, gas cookers, generators, and a pick-up truck to take his wife and three children to a safe house 1,500 feet above sea level.