On a chessboard, the term “ATTACK” refers to an aggressive, coordinated move to gain an ADVANTAGE. The goal is to put a piece in danger and provoke the defense into sacrificing pieces or accepting being weakened. Early on in my journey to a healthy lifestyle, I never thought I needed to be in ATTACK mode. Sounds a little violent. Luckily,…
In anything I do, I will always seek an edge or ADVANTAGE. My thinking is: why do something the hard way if there might be an easier or better option? There must be a more efficient way to complete any certain task—it’s human nature to think that way. During a chess game, a player will seek an ADVANTAGE by positioning…
In the game of chess, there are 32 pieces and 64 squares. Each player begins with 16 pieces, properly lined up in a prescribed order on their respective side of the board. However, in the game of life, there are times when I cannot get everything to line up. Quite the opposite, actually—there often seems to be a bit of…
Welcome to my next Refracted Friday blog series: Making the Right Moves with TOPS. We have all heard the expression “Life is like a chess game.” The implications are that in both, it is necessary to plan ahead, use various tactics, not be reactive, not get emotional (keep focused) and have a purpose (goal) in mind. I want to warn…
On December 8, 2023, I started this blog series about a TOPS Healthy Lifestyle. In reality, my journey began on January 10, 2002, when I joined TOPS. That is when I learned that I will always be UNDER CONSTRUCTION (1) and there will be many twists on the road. On this particular twist, I discussed thirty-four signs. I did my…
Just because you see a DEAD END sign does not mean we are finished with this blog series. In fact, there is still one more sign left in the Follow the Signs series dealing with our goal to a TOPS Healthy Lifestyle. A DEAD END sign gives plenty of warning that the road does not have a DRIVE THRU to…
Seeing a HIDDEN DRIVE sign always raises my alert level. There is always a chance someone could be pulling out or backing into the road and based on the location of this HIDDEN DRIVE, visibility is bad. Seeing these types of warning signs also reminds me of driver’s education classes. I will forever remember my teacher’s advice that when a…