It has been hard to be inspired lately with everything happening in the world, but I have found moments of inspiration throughout the month worthy of a broader share. For today’s Monday Morning Mojo, I will share those moments that helped keep me grounded amid the daily drumbeat of challenging news.

Certainly, my immediate family brings me a lot of inspiration, and I do appreciate my clients, colleagues and students I interact with weekly. There is a lot of good out there and we shouldn’t lose sight of that.

Nature & Family

For anyone who has not experienced the outdoors of Colorado in the Spring, you are missing something. Annually, the Kronick siblings, significant others and a few friends, have taken an annual ski trip, and this year was in Aspen. Sharing with you a photo of all of us on the mountain, with Bill and Betina Infante, who are friends from living in Asia. Spending time with my family always inspires me and given the fact Brian and Erin live in other states, these moments are precious.

USC US-China Institute

Next, I want to give a shout-out to a friend and colleague, Glenn Osaki, who so generously welcomed me into the USC community and invited me to get involved with the USC US-China Institute. An announcement on that role went out last month, detailed below. The great news about this is I have reason to interact regularly with many like-minded friends who care about the peaceful co-existence of the US and China.

https://china.usc.edu/usc-us-china-institute-announces-founding-members-expert-advisory-board

As part of that role, thanks to Glenn and Jay Li, USC welcomed guests from the Joe Tsai Foundation and Yao Foundation, in a discussion centered on the best way to use physical education to prepare youth for the future. This session had nothing to do with politics, just a collection of educators from two countries sharing their views and best practices in the interests of the well-being of children. It was wonderful to be part of this.

March Madness Inspiration

Finally, if there was one, consistent event I turned to for inspiration in March it was the men’s and women’s college basketball tournament, called March Madness. In both the men’s and women’s tournaments, 68 teams battled in a single-elimination contest to become the National Champions. At this writing, the University of Houston will play the University of Florida in the finals of the men’s tournament, and last night the University of Connecticut beat the University of South Carolina to become the women’s national champion.

There are so many great, inspiring stories that come from following this tournament. Juxtaposed to professional basketball, which I find only gets competitive during the playoffs, the “one and done” format of March Madness makes every game matter to every team. Not to mention for most of these athletes, this tournament is the pinnacle of their athletic careers.

Personally, I have loved watching the talent of Juju Watkins of USC throughout the year, and I was so sorry to see her get hurt in their run for the championship. I loved watching both Michigan teams, the University of Michigan and Michigan State, and enjoyed the exploits of Danny Wolf of Michigan and Jase Richardson of Michigan State. Tahaad Pettiford, a phenom Freshman for Auburn, is a guy we will hear about for years to come. Cooper Flagg, a Freshman from Duke, is a natural and carried that team through the tournament. Watching the coaching contest between Bruce Pearl of Auburn and Todd Golden of Florida, very close friends throughout their careers, added to the emotion. In the women’s final, Paige Bueckers of the University of Connecticut, is set to become as well-known as Caitlin Clark. Yet, at this writing, the real story was the comeback of the University of Houston against Duke in the men’s semifinal. This was a crazy result, documented in this clip below. The contest for the National Championship takes place tonight.

Here is another clip to give you a taste of the fun stories that are surfaced during March Madness. This tournament is competitive, emotional and intense and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

Once again, thanks for being part of this community. Please send me your stories of inspiration so I can share them with others.