What makes a highly effective diabetic?

I skipped two days of the D-Blog week, having been affected first by the blogspot outage and second by the compelling sense that I had nothing important to say.  So many of my fellow bloggers who are parents of Type 1 children have not just inspired me, but intimidated me.  Then I was sorting through some papers yesterday and came across a pamphlet called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People with Diabetes", by Steven Covey.  His best-selling book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", has sold millions and has spawned other books and workshops; California University of Pennsylvania even offers it free of charge to students as part of the curriculum.  (It would have been a wonderful addition to my college studies.)  This free pamphlet was written by Dr. Covey in collaboration with the American Association of Diabetes Educators, compliments of Bayer Diabetes Care.  He takes the Seven Habits and applied them to the AADE (TM) Self-Care behaviors.   You can download it at http://www.simplewins.com/sections/livemylife/7-Habits-of-Highly-Effective-People-Diabetes  He invites us to "see diabetes not as a setback, but a journey of self-discovery".    There is so much wisdom in his words and I decided to do a kind of examination of conscience against his habits and I invite you to do so too:

1. Be Proactive (TM) -- am I making choices and taking responsibility for them?
2. Begin With the End in Mind (TM) -- am I acting out of vision and my deepest values?
3. Put First Things First (TM) -- am I spending my time on what I believe to be truly important?
4. Think Win-Win (TM)  -- am I thinking in terms of helping others succeed, not just myself?
5. Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood (TM) -- do I truly listen first?
6. Synergize (TM) -- am I working with others, building relationships with the goal of progress, not perfection?
7. Sharpen the Saw (TM) -- am I working on my whole self (body, mind, spirit and relationships) to continuously learn and grow?

It's so easy to be negative and cynical, turning towards worry and anger.  I was at a continuing medical education program conducted by a lawyer last Thursday night.  In the middle of a somewhat interesting, but tedious presentation on health care reform, he made a comment that gave me pause at the time, and to which I have returned in my head numerous times over the past four days.  He was talking about the challenges of delivering health care and making difficult resource allocation decisions (remember the scare about death panels?)   He said the only infinite resource is God's mercy.  Wow -- it helps to be reminded that we all fall short, life is hard and ultimately we are not God, so we do the best we can and keep trying.  That is the lesson I am taking from this D-Blog week.  Looking forward to posting about something other than diabetes soon!