Known as a defensive stopper in his time as a Tar Heel, Marcus Ginyard won a National Championship at North Carolina in 2009, but he was sidelined during that run with an injury. In this second piece of his story below (check out the first here), he writes of the pains he experienced and how he learned to appreciate them.Ed.

On March 16, 2008, we held up the ACC championship trophy in the city of Charlotte, having successfully defended our crown as the best in the conference. Two years in a row we brought the regular season and tournament title to Chapel Hill. It was my junior year, a year most focused on as a time to show you reached a level of maturity and confidence that would lead you to the next level.

That season I was voted to the ACC All-Defensive Team, while also earning ACC All-Tournament Team honors. It was a time of great personal and team success. We would continue on that year to the Final Four, but would fall short to the eventual champion, Kansas.

One year later, we returned to the Final Four, and this time no one would stand in our way. You couldnt write a better ending to an amazing four-year career for our class. We progressed from a second-round NCAA tournament loss, to an Elite Eight finish, on to a Final Four, and finally to the ultimate validation, a National Championship. That night in Detroit, on stage in front of 72,000 people, life seemed to stand still.

We prepared to storm the court, awaiting the final buzzer with a child-like energy, anticipating the celebration of our lives. When the horn sounded, and the confetti exploded, our dream wasfinally realized. We were the 2009 National Champions. With the trophy in tow, our brothers in arms, our family and supporters all around us, and extreme joy within us, the moment was perfectBut there was one thing that wasnt what I had imagined.

I watched the entire game from the bench, dressed in a suit and tie, which served as my uniform for the majority of that championship season. I had worked tirelessly during my time at UNC to be able to help my team win an NCAA title, and in that moment of incredible jubilance, I was drowned in a world of pain.

Months passed before I could accept the pain. I smiled, and laughed and hugged my way toward depression. It felt to me that I had a knife in my chest, but I wasnt comfortable talking about it. How could I take away from the accomplishments of the team by sharing my sob story? I told myself to suck it up, get over it, anything to push the pain below the surface. When I was finally able to accept it, however, something strange happened. I began to appreciate the pain.

That pain became an amazing tool. It would help me to realize how grateful I washow the opportunity to be a part of a team that won a National Championship was truly amazing! We won multiple ACC regular season and tournament championships, enjoyed wins over the No. 1 team in the nation a handful of times, won four straight games in Cameroon Indoor Stadium, and played in two Final Fours! I didnt get to play in the one game I dreamed about my whole life, but I still played with the TEAM I dreamed about. I was able to build relationships with teammates, coaches and fans that I consider family to this day.

But everything wasnt learned from that moment. I would experience more and more pain in the following years. Pain of rejection, failure, separation and injury.

After the championship season I returned to UNC for my final year of eligibility. Our season was far less than successful (20-10 never felt so bad). I felt the pain of failing to lead my team to the NCAA Tournament. In the following months I felt the pain of being cut from the Charlotte Bobcats Summer League roster. At the end of summer I felt the pain of leaving my family and friends for Europe to continue my basketball career. Even now, typing these words, I experience pain, the same pain from that 2009 season at UNC, the pain of being sidelined due to injury.

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Appreciate the Pain

While some embrace change, others just find simple habits hard to break.

We can fight it, but we can't always stop it. While some embrace change, others just find simple habits hard to break.

Books, half-day or full-day workshops, week-long retreats, longer-term clinics and regular psychological therapy all compete to help the world-weary human stuck in old patterns that no longer work for them. But how many of them actually work, and how long does real change take?

The myth of 28 days to create a new habit or change no longer applies. When study participants at the University College in London tried to create new habits, the average time to create a new habit was 66 days and some were predicted to take more than 200.

Dr Timothy Sharp of the Happiness Institute.

The time it takes to change will vary, considerably, from person to person and behaviour to behaviour, says Dr Timothy Sharp, a clinical psychologist and executive coach who also responds to the title of Chief Happiness Officer from the Happiness Institute.

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Some changes can be initiated immediately whereas, obviously, others will take time. It depends on what's trying to be changed, sometimes more intensive and longer-term work is needed. But I would never underestimate the impact that a seminar or workshop (or even reading an article in a newspaper) can have.

Michelle Duval is the author of Coaching Change and the director of business, executive and life coaching company Equilibrio. She believes humans are wired to consistently create new neural pathways.

We see this in all the things we learn in our development and in our adaptability, and in how brain-damaged people adapt and function, she says. Even in difficult life circumstances (such as death of a loved one, loss of a job, divorce, illness, car accident, etc) we are capable of change, though only when we finally accept the events.

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How long does it take to change?

THE CLIENT was stressed out: Her three kids were hyped about being home from school and wanted to decorate for Christmas, but she hadn't gotten around to cleaning up from Thanksgiving yet.

She couldn't focus on the joy of the upcoming holidays because she was completely overwhelmed by her to-do list.

This time of year, holistic wellness coach Prakriti "Pax" Tandon sees a lot of clients, especially women, struggling like this.

"Isn't it heartbreaking? This is one of the most beautiful times of the year, and most women can't wait for it to be over because it's infused with so much stress," said Tandon, who, in October, was named editor of the Authentic Happiness website run by the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center.

Tandon is all about balance. So she guided her client toward tapping into her inner childlike joy and being present for her children - instead of staying stuck in responsible adult mode, the way she was.

"It was like a lightbulb went off. There was silence for a minute," recalled Tandon, 36. "It was like, 'Whoa! I never thought about it that way. I never thought that it doesn't have to happen now and that just because I'm a parent doesn't mean I don't play with my children, [that] I don't engage in the things that they find joyful.' . . . That's a concept that we lose as adults."

I asked her what other advice she has for those of us caught up in holiday cray-cray. Studies show that women get more stressed than men this time of year.

"Be mindful of your balance," Tandon said, sounding very Zen.

Huh, what? I had to stop her right there.

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Stay positive and unstressed this holiday season

Portland, OR (PRWEB) December 19, 2014

Amber Lotus Publishing is an independent, carbon-negative publisher of mind-body-spirit themed calendars and greeting cards with a passionate dedication to environmental stewardship. Founded in 1988, they have consistently been one of the first to publish calendars about topics such as raw food, environmental art, and Celtic and Tibetan art and culture. Amber Lotus has reached a milestone of planting half a million trees through their partnership with Trees for the Future (TREES).

Planting an additional 155,000 trees this year was a significant pledge for Amber Lotus. When we began our partnership with TREES in 2008 we viewed it as just a way of replacing the trees consumed each year in our publishing business, says President and Co-Owner Lawson Day. But we soon came to realize that it was an integral way to express our core value of Service.

Amber Lotus has always been a mission-driven company. Founded by students of a Tibetan Lama in Berkeley, California, its purpose was to fund the preservation of the sacred culture and knowledge of Tibet. Since Lawson Day and Leslie Gignilliat-Day purchased Amber Lotus in 2000, it has become more ecumenical with an increased focus on Art. And Art is not just about images. For them, its the combination of images and text.

Were best known for our calendars that support a mindfulness practice, says Creative Director and Co-Owner Leslie Gignilliat-Day. We carefully craft each calendar, weaving meaningful text and extraordinary images together so that each element enhances the other. Inspirational quotes from wisdom teachers such as Pema Chdrn, Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, and HH the Dalai Lama bring powerful insight into our daily lives. Every time you look at your calendar you can get a rush of inspiration, a teaching of meditative wisdom, or a centering of calmness.

As a business with payroll and expenses to meet, Commerce is an important value as well. It is not, however, the paramount value, and maximizing profitability or return on equity is not the dominant goal. The goal for Amber Lotus is doing the greatest good with the least harm. Finding a balance between Art, Commerce, and Service is what inspires and guides them.

Read more about Art, Commerce, and Service on the Amber Lotus blog.

Carbon-Negative Stats and More About Amber Lotus Publishing:

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Calendar Publisher Plants Half a Million Trees: Amber Lotus Publishing Is Mindfully Blending Art, Commerce, and Service