Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.

This past week I have been head-over-heels and completely engrossed in a little show I like to call FNL. Or for those that abide by traditional names-'Friday Night Lights.'

The show just aired its last season after five years. Even though I had on good word that the show was pretty great, I already had far too many Comcast commitments to fit into my schedule. Sadly, I'm not kidding.

So thanks to Netflix streaming and some free summertime, I spent 5 days watching 4 seasons of FNL. The show, based on a small town Texas football team, follows the life of Coach Taylor, his family, his teenage players and their high school romances. Brings ya right back.

While it may seem like your ordinary silver screen sport's drama, it is so much more than that. One of the main themes of the series comes from the team's motto written in their locker room and often chanted before games:

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.

It's meant for football, but I'm pretty sure Peter Berg knew it would have a further reach than the end zone. It has become my life motto.

Clear Eyes.

This is not just the state of acknowledging that certain information exists, but making it apart of your DNA. After all, life is a series of some good choices and an overwhelming number of mistakes. We will never outgrow our keen ability to make them, but we should at least be smart enough to make different ones.

Full Hearts.

We spend far too much time agonizing over what we don't have. A house. A child. A partner. Disposable income. When you want one of these things, the hole of what you don't have seems to be insurmountable and we lose focus on the things we do have. Running clean water. Dinner. A bed. A living situation that doesn't require a mosquito net. If more time was spent on filling our hearts with these blessings and the people that make our time worthwhile, we'd all be better off.

Can't Lose.

A lot of the times when we don't fulfill an expectation we have for ourselves or one that has been put upon us by someone who counted on us, we feel a sense of failure. Losing is apart of our American existence. After all, "If you're not first, you're last" right? But does not getting what we want or expect make us a failure? I don't think so. Just because the outcome doesn't always align with your desires, doesn't make it a loss. If you go into a situation encompassing your past and with positivity inside you, I think it is impossible to lose. Instead what you have is an experience, my friend. If it doesn't work out the way you imagined, then now your vision has come into a little more focus for you to use the next time around. And that's pretty terrifical*.

*terrifical = A term coined by Ramona Quimby (Age 8), star of my old favorite childhood books and my new favorite movie, 'Ramona & Beezus." Ramona is fearless, imaginative and losing is not in her vocabulary. We should all be a little more like Ramona.