"The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." ~ Samuel Johnson
All of us have habits, both good and bad. A habit is a noun which means; a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition. Obtaining and maintaining habits in our lives is, well, just a part of life. Yet, once again, a habit is one of those two edged swords that can make you or break you. A habit can be one of your greatest servants or one of your worst task masters. "Nothing is stronger than habit." (Ovid) As Samuel Johnson said in the quote above, the smallest of repeated behaviors we do can and will eventually turn into a way of life. Though seemingly minuscule in its beginnings, the behavior grows into a stronghold that is not easily broken. Once a habit is entrenched within our psyche's, our life is framed by those things we habitually do. The famous author, Stephen Covey said, "Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character." The fact of the matter is our habits are a reflection of who we are and the thoughts we have held dear to our souls. When we do something, for the most part, it is not some spontaneous effort or idea, but the way we react is nothing more than a composite of our habits. As creatures of habits, we can only act according to the those patterns we have consistently adhered to from our youth into adulthood.
We are but a walking harvest of our habits! Think of the myriad of behaviors we do on a daily basis. How did you first begin this behavior? Why did you begin to do this behavior? Those behaviors just didn't happen. As Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." Somewhere long ago, in response to a situation in life, we began to will ourselves to act in a certain way, and now those acts are entrenched themselves into our way of living. "Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables." (Spanish Proverb) You see, we first make our habits, then in the end our habits make us. Its not that we consciously wish to have bad habits but they sneak up on us, until we become their slaves.
Lets get one thing clear. Most of the time, when habits are discussed, its always discussed within the context of being a bad thing. Habits are a necessary way of getting things done in life. Habits make us predictable and allow a certain stability to operate in our lives. But habits are not neutral, and can only take on the persona we give them within the context of our life's daily routines. Vincent Lombardi said, "Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."
Let me give you a personal for instance of a habit in my life. For years, I was an advocate of eating healthier, and taking supplements to help with our health, but there was a a thing I avoided at all costs when it came to health. This thing is called EXERCISE! Though every time I read books and articles about healthy living, the word, exercise, was a key component to bringing healing to the body. I always had an excuse to why I couldn't exercise. One day, at about the age of 37, I was laying sick in bed. I realized just eating a decent diet and taking supplements, obviously wasn't enough. So began a journey to change a bad habit...no exercising to exercising. From a mind set of habitually being repulsed and finding every reason in the book to not exercise to changing my life into a habit of routinely exercising was not an easy task. I have always told people they can't just stop a bad habit by doing nothing. There must be a good habit ready to replace a bad habit or at least a desire to acquire a new habit to take the place of the bad one. Desiderius Erasmus said, "A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit." Deep down, I truly disliked how I felt about myself and where I was going. I did not like my bad habit of non-exercise. (Who really likes their bad habits?) So, I stepped into the odyssey of overcoming the bad with the good. I bought a treadmill! But guess what? Purchasing a treadmill did not break my bad habit of no exercise! Soon my inspired purchase was a very nice coat rack rather than a bad habit buster I had bought it do for me! Yep, that's right, the treadmill didn't do a thing for me... except drain my wallet of a monthly payment. Oh yeah...and every time I walked past my high tech coat rack, I could swear it laughed and taunted me with snide remarks!
So let me just lay it on the line here! The only way to overcome a bad habit is to replace the bad habit with something good, and this takes EFFORT and WORK. I try to tell people if they can do the good for at least three consecutive weeks, then you have a great possibility of breaking the chains of the bad habit. You can pull down the strongholds that keep you from obtaining the desires of your heart. It was a bumpy road to victory for me, but here I sit, writing this article (eleven completed marathons and one fifty mile ultra marathon later) trying to inspire you to believe it can be accomplished, IF you put your mind to it! It took me awhile to finally die to live, but when I did die out to my lazy ways, and began to exercise on a consistent basis, something great happened. I realized how great I felt. I realized it wasn't as difficult as my imaginations had made exercise out to be. I came to many realizations concerning the power of habits and their control over our lives. I won't lie to you, do I struggle from time to time with my exercise...sure, but it doesn't take me long to remind myself of all the good it does for me and how I feel when I conquer the myriad of voices that call me back to my cave of apathy.
An ancient proverb says, "Good habits are formed from resisting temptation." You must begin to resist the temptation to stay in the bed of ease LONG ENOUGH to run into through the finish line of successful doing! Quit thinking you can't break the bad habit and step into the power of today! TODAY is the day when you drop apathy like a bad habit! Today is the day you begin to break that bad habit one chain link at a time!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Here's to Salt in Your Eyes!
“He that would have the fruit must climb the tree.”
Salt is mined in two ways. Dry mining and solution mining. Dry mining is the type of mining that takes place on the surface of the earth. This kind of mining is rare. In solution mining, fresh water is injected through a pipe into deep shafts that end in the salt beds, and salty water (brine) is drawn upward and dried, to recrystallize the salt. Obviously, this way of extracting salt from the earth is a little more involved than scrapping the surface of the Earth with a bulldozer. It takes effort to bring this kind of operation together. Scrapping the earth leaves scars and and impacts the surface of the earth, but solution mining goes beyond the surface and digs deep into the earth. Water is shot through penetrating shafts into the earth and the salt is then brought to the surface. All of this takes place below the surface, much of which is not seen with the naked eye.
You are probably wondering, what on earth does this have to do with exercise or really anything for that matter? Well, believe it or not, the picture of solution salt mining is a great analogy of exercising. As a runner, I have learned some great principles, not only about exercising, but also about life. These principles are both natural and spiritual and are applicable in a myriad of ways.
It is clearly evident that our nature has a tendency to want something for nothing. Within us is this strong desire to achieve all our goals without much effort. It's an instant gratification attitude that pursues the path of least resistance. After years of mistreating our bodies, lazy living, and lethargic lifestyles, we are easily moved by advertisements that offer quick and easy solutions. Commercials proclaiming you can lose thirty pounds in thirty days, WITHOUT exercising, capture our attention. Anything or any idea offering an easy way out will prompt us to draw money out of our bank accounts. Let's just put it this way, we want a magic pill solution to resolve the problems we have sown in a lifetime! We want a surface dry mining solution that can only penetrate the surface of the problem when the only real solution is an attack on the inner man, which resides deep within the crevices of our hearts!
Any time you want real change, it becomes quite evident, once again, that it takes physical action to fulfill your mental resolution to change yourself. No matter how many exercising tools, DVD's, or gym memberships you buy, nothing happens unless you, that's right, YOU, do something with them. The treadmill will not do much for YOU, unless you get on it and press the buttons. You see, I have been here before. I have bought the two thousand dollar treadmill and watched it sit in the corner and make a very nice coat rack. I have spent the money on the exercise DVD's and watch them collect dust on the bookshelf. So, I write today with some first hand knowledge. I am no different than you. Believe it or not, I face the same temptations to NOT exercise as you do!
It's a battle to move beyond surface intellectual thoughts about doing something to actually doing something. But I love it when I get to a place in my exercise routine when a nice salty sweat rolls down my forehead and into my eyes. Sure it stings, but at the same time, I know I have had to work hard to get my body to sweat. Over the years, I have witnessed when I work out, a good old fashion salty sweat does not come in the first few minutes of a workout. I have had to dig deep into my earthen vessel, called this body, in order to bring forth the salt. By digging deep, I mean I have had to mine through a lot of negative thoughts and pressed passed many temptations to produce a salty sweat, and this makes me feel good! Mining salt does not come easy. It doesn't come by looking at the treadmill, nor does it come at 'thinking' about exercising. The salt from within doesn't even come in the first few minutes of a workout, but only after I have kept my body under subjection to the exercise at hand.
You have heard the saying, "Here's to mud in your eyes!" Well, today, I say, "Here's to salt in your eyes!" Don't make the mistake of just shallow surface mining for salt. Today, dig deep within your heart, and press pass the superficial surface desires until you reach the depth where the salt lies. Then, and only then, will you feel the stinging delight of drops of salt in your eyes! And believe me, the external taste of a deep mining workout will bring an internal joy and a hand raising pump in victory!
Salt is mined in two ways. Dry mining and solution mining. Dry mining is the type of mining that takes place on the surface of the earth. This kind of mining is rare. In solution mining, fresh water is injected through a pipe into deep shafts that end in the salt beds, and salty water (brine) is drawn upward and dried, to recrystallize the salt. Obviously, this way of extracting salt from the earth is a little more involved than scrapping the surface of the Earth with a bulldozer. It takes effort to bring this kind of operation together. Scrapping the earth leaves scars and and impacts the surface of the earth, but solution mining goes beyond the surface and digs deep into the earth. Water is shot through penetrating shafts into the earth and the salt is then brought to the surface. All of this takes place below the surface, much of which is not seen with the naked eye.
You are probably wondering, what on earth does this have to do with exercise or really anything for that matter? Well, believe it or not, the picture of solution salt mining is a great analogy of exercising. As a runner, I have learned some great principles, not only about exercising, but also about life. These principles are both natural and spiritual and are applicable in a myriad of ways.
It is clearly evident that our nature has a tendency to want something for nothing. Within us is this strong desire to achieve all our goals without much effort. It's an instant gratification attitude that pursues the path of least resistance. After years of mistreating our bodies, lazy living, and lethargic lifestyles, we are easily moved by advertisements that offer quick and easy solutions. Commercials proclaiming you can lose thirty pounds in thirty days, WITHOUT exercising, capture our attention. Anything or any idea offering an easy way out will prompt us to draw money out of our bank accounts. Let's just put it this way, we want a magic pill solution to resolve the problems we have sown in a lifetime! We want a surface dry mining solution that can only penetrate the surface of the problem when the only real solution is an attack on the inner man, which resides deep within the crevices of our hearts!
Any time you want real change, it becomes quite evident, once again, that it takes physical action to fulfill your mental resolution to change yourself. No matter how many exercising tools, DVD's, or gym memberships you buy, nothing happens unless you, that's right, YOU, do something with them. The treadmill will not do much for YOU, unless you get on it and press the buttons. You see, I have been here before. I have bought the two thousand dollar treadmill and watched it sit in the corner and make a very nice coat rack. I have spent the money on the exercise DVD's and watch them collect dust on the bookshelf. So, I write today with some first hand knowledge. I am no different than you. Believe it or not, I face the same temptations to NOT exercise as you do!
It's a battle to move beyond surface intellectual thoughts about doing something to actually doing something. But I love it when I get to a place in my exercise routine when a nice salty sweat rolls down my forehead and into my eyes. Sure it stings, but at the same time, I know I have had to work hard to get my body to sweat. Over the years, I have witnessed when I work out, a good old fashion salty sweat does not come in the first few minutes of a workout. I have had to dig deep into my earthen vessel, called this body, in order to bring forth the salt. By digging deep, I mean I have had to mine through a lot of negative thoughts and pressed passed many temptations to produce a salty sweat, and this makes me feel good! Mining salt does not come easy. It doesn't come by looking at the treadmill, nor does it come at 'thinking' about exercising. The salt from within doesn't even come in the first few minutes of a workout, but only after I have kept my body under subjection to the exercise at hand.
You have heard the saying, "Here's to mud in your eyes!" Well, today, I say, "Here's to salt in your eyes!" Don't make the mistake of just shallow surface mining for salt. Today, dig deep within your heart, and press pass the superficial surface desires until you reach the depth where the salt lies. Then, and only then, will you feel the stinging delight of drops of salt in your eyes! And believe me, the external taste of a deep mining workout will bring an internal joy and a hand raising pump in victory!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Breaking Through the Cocoon of Comfort
"Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and
then becomes a host, then a master. And then it becomes a tamer, and
with a hook and whip it makes puppets of your larger desires." Kahlil Gibran, poet philosopher
Over the course of the last few years, I have had more than my fair share of comments from other people on the insanity of my running or how crazy I am. Usually these words are coupled with ‘Why would someone want to run? or train for a marathon'...yet...most of the time these words are uttered by those who dwell in the warmth of their own cocooned visions of ease and contentment. Before I stepped out of my own cocoon, fifteen years ago, I held to the same feelings. To see a runner, seemingly struggling along a path or the side of the road, at least to me back then was a very crazy sight. The same thoughts would race through my mind as I eased past them in the comforts of my air conditioned car...’why would anyone want to do that to themselves?’. Yet, here I stand, today, close to fifteen thousand miles later...a runner. Mind you, not an elite runner nor anyone famous or signed by Nike with some enormous million dollar contract. Just an average Joe runner, with a desire to stay out of the comfort zone of life.
I think, it is here and why I run. It is the one thing that I can do that can and will break up the monotony of my daily ritual. While stating the obvious, Catherine Pulsifer said, , “If you remain in your comfort zone you will not go any further.” About fifteen years ago, I felt the same as those who speak to me now. After wrestling in high school and being in relatively good shape, life happens, and you leave the world of dreams for the rat race of life. The ease of being sheltered in the ‘cares of this world’ always made it easy to excuse myself out of doing anything, especially with anything that might involve cracking through the shell of my cocoon of comfort. Yet, the one thing we cannot stop, though we would like to, ultimately catches up to each of us...that elusive thing called, ‘time’. The ‘has been’ years of wrestling echoed deep within the corridors of my mind, always reminding of what I once was...wrestling practice, running, cutting weight and lifting weights were a daily routine throughout my high school years. Fit and in shape, I could go out and run an eight miler with friends on the cross country team without a problem. BUT, like I said, life has a way of catching up with you or is it? leaves you behind if you let it! Somewhere between the miraculous event of the birth of my first born baby girl and my ever expanding waist line (at the age of 37, I was rapidly closing in on 180 pounds), I woke up. Now mind you, much of this began happening as a mental thing, tormenting me on a daily basis. Deep inside, I knew I had to do something and yes, there was always those inner voices calling me back into the ‘safety’ of my comfort zone.
T. Harv Eker said it this way, “Nobody ever died of discomfort, yet living in the name of comfort has killed more ideas, more opportunities, more actions, and more growth than everything else combined. Comfort kills!” So, in the spring of nineteen ninety-eight, I did what most people with disgruntled feelings do...I bought a treadmill! Then, after purchasing this fine hi-tech treadmill, I did what most people do...not much. I ran on it a few times and then turned my beautiful treadmill into a corner coat rack in the laundry room! For two years, that treadmill talked to me. Every time I walked past the treadmill, it would say very mean things to me. It would taunt me. It would laugh at me. It would remind me of how I had foolishly spent my money. But more importantly, it would always remind me of how I remained steadfast and unmovable in my comfort zone. Finally, after two years of listening to the rude speech and taunts of my treadmill, I decided enough was enough! And maybe that’s where people have got to get to before they do something. You have to get to the place where you are sick and tired of being sick tired of being sick and tired, and you just hope you’re not too close to death by the time you feel this way. And so I began to run. It wasn’t long and it wasn’t fast by any means, but slowly and incrementally, I began to run. And you know what??? I liked it. I liked it so much, that I have completed myriad of road races, eleven marathons, and a fifty mile ultra marathon on my fiftieth birthday.
So today, I want you to know, the guest you have allowed into your home is not your friend. He’s a moocher of your most valuable commodity...TIME. I encourage you to kick this life sucker out of your home. You never know what you will see when you allow a crack of light break through the walls of your cocoon!
My Comfort Zone - A Poem
Author Unknown
I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I wouldn't fail.
The same four walls and busywork were really more like jail.
I longed so much to do the things I'd never done before,
But stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor.
I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much.
I said I didn't care for things like commission checks and such.
I claimed to be so busy with the things inside the zone,
But deep inside I longed for something special of my own.
I couldn't let my life go by just watching others win.
I held my breath; I stepped outside and let the change begin.
I took a step and with new strength I'd never felt before,
I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door.
If you're in a comfort zone, afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt.
A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true.
Reach for your future with a smile; success is there for you!
Over the course of the last few years, I have had more than my fair share of comments from other people on the insanity of my running or how crazy I am. Usually these words are coupled with ‘Why would someone want to run? or train for a marathon'...yet...most of the time these words are uttered by those who dwell in the warmth of their own cocooned visions of ease and contentment. Before I stepped out of my own cocoon, fifteen years ago, I held to the same feelings. To see a runner, seemingly struggling along a path or the side of the road, at least to me back then was a very crazy sight. The same thoughts would race through my mind as I eased past them in the comforts of my air conditioned car...’why would anyone want to do that to themselves?’. Yet, here I stand, today, close to fifteen thousand miles later...a runner. Mind you, not an elite runner nor anyone famous or signed by Nike with some enormous million dollar contract. Just an average Joe runner, with a desire to stay out of the comfort zone of life.
I think, it is here and why I run. It is the one thing that I can do that can and will break up the monotony of my daily ritual. While stating the obvious, Catherine Pulsifer said, , “If you remain in your comfort zone you will not go any further.” About fifteen years ago, I felt the same as those who speak to me now. After wrestling in high school and being in relatively good shape, life happens, and you leave the world of dreams for the rat race of life. The ease of being sheltered in the ‘cares of this world’ always made it easy to excuse myself out of doing anything, especially with anything that might involve cracking through the shell of my cocoon of comfort. Yet, the one thing we cannot stop, though we would like to, ultimately catches up to each of us...that elusive thing called, ‘time’. The ‘has been’ years of wrestling echoed deep within the corridors of my mind, always reminding of what I once was...wrestling practice, running, cutting weight and lifting weights were a daily routine throughout my high school years. Fit and in shape, I could go out and run an eight miler with friends on the cross country team without a problem. BUT, like I said, life has a way of catching up with you or is it? leaves you behind if you let it! Somewhere between the miraculous event of the birth of my first born baby girl and my ever expanding waist line (at the age of 37, I was rapidly closing in on 180 pounds), I woke up. Now mind you, much of this began happening as a mental thing, tormenting me on a daily basis. Deep inside, I knew I had to do something and yes, there was always those inner voices calling me back into the ‘safety’ of my comfort zone.
T. Harv Eker said it this way, “Nobody ever died of discomfort, yet living in the name of comfort has killed more ideas, more opportunities, more actions, and more growth than everything else combined. Comfort kills!” So, in the spring of nineteen ninety-eight, I did what most people with disgruntled feelings do...I bought a treadmill! Then, after purchasing this fine hi-tech treadmill, I did what most people do...not much. I ran on it a few times and then turned my beautiful treadmill into a corner coat rack in the laundry room! For two years, that treadmill talked to me. Every time I walked past the treadmill, it would say very mean things to me. It would taunt me. It would laugh at me. It would remind me of how I had foolishly spent my money. But more importantly, it would always remind me of how I remained steadfast and unmovable in my comfort zone. Finally, after two years of listening to the rude speech and taunts of my treadmill, I decided enough was enough! And maybe that’s where people have got to get to before they do something. You have to get to the place where you are sick and tired of being sick tired of being sick and tired, and you just hope you’re not too close to death by the time you feel this way. And so I began to run. It wasn’t long and it wasn’t fast by any means, but slowly and incrementally, I began to run. And you know what??? I liked it. I liked it so much, that I have completed myriad of road races, eleven marathons, and a fifty mile ultra marathon on my fiftieth birthday.
So today, I want you to know, the guest you have allowed into your home is not your friend. He’s a moocher of your most valuable commodity...TIME. I encourage you to kick this life sucker out of your home. You never know what you will see when you allow a crack of light break through the walls of your cocoon!
My Comfort Zone - A Poem
Author Unknown
I used to have a comfort zone where I knew I wouldn't fail.
The same four walls and busywork were really more like jail.
I longed so much to do the things I'd never done before,
But stayed inside my comfort zone and paced the same old floor.
I said it didn't matter that I wasn't doing much.
I said I didn't care for things like commission checks and such.
I claimed to be so busy with the things inside the zone,
But deep inside I longed for something special of my own.
I couldn't let my life go by just watching others win.
I held my breath; I stepped outside and let the change begin.
I took a step and with new strength I'd never felt before,
I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door.
If you're in a comfort zone, afraid to venture out,
Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt.
A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true.
Reach for your future with a smile; success is there for you!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A Sentimental Sedentary Journey
We may look to the past, but we cannot go back. We may dream ahead, yet we cannot live there either. We have today and today is made up of twenty-four hours of sixty minute blocks of time, which can be condensed into 1,440 units of time in day. These units can be broken down into seconds which click off at the rate of 86,400 clicks in a day. How we use these minute moments of time is truly what makes us who we are today. It has been said that 'today is crucified between two thieves...yesterday and tomorrow'. Most of us can relate to this cliche, because most of us, from 'time to time' have been caught in this valley of decision or should I say indecision. Robert Updegraff said, "To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute." In the midst of the rat race and our hectic pace of life, the battle rages within and without, to truly gain a grasp of how to find this balance.
Though we may 'know' these things and understand all its implications, it seems clearly evident that many people are hanging on this cross of immobility. Hanging high above the torrential storms of life, we reason our lives away until, in the end, life becomes a sentimental journey of should of's, could of's, and would of's. Our surrounding culture overstimulates us into believing just listening is enough. The luxuries of life seemingly engulf us and systematically encase us within a self made cocoon of ease and mental massages that not only hinder movement, but by nature of the stimulant, reject movement all together. Glued to the television, computer, internet (name your technology), we sit, and we sit because you can't move at the same time you watch. From time to time, we get in our 'covered wagons', which are now loaded with a myriad of stimulants that once again, ease us into the lull of painless immobility. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, we 'move' from couch to car to cubicle to car to couch again and then to bed...then come morning, we repeat the 86,400 seconds over again.
These turn into the moments, the clicks of our lives and time slips by until we look back with a sentimental glimpse and say..."I wish I would have!" Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it." Life is about movement. Living is about moving forward. Our bodies were built to move. We were built to sweat. Though the luxuries of life are great and have definitely enriched our lives, it also seems these same indulgences have warped our sense of time and space. Which in turn has robbed us of a true quality of life. The same technology that has blessed us, has also cursed us to the point where movement seems to be a lost art form. Something that only the unsophisticated of history had to suffer through in years gone past. It is as though we look back at the past with a contempt for those who had to actually move to live. We, the living, are no longer tortured with such a curse to have to walk or move much, and yet, if the truth be known, if we don't move, we don't live. And even more sad, is this illusion seems so strong that eventually those 86,400 clicks of daily living turn into minutes, hours, days, and then, finally, after years have past by, as though from some self induced coma, we wake up and 'wonder' where has all the time gone?
Over the years, I have had many look at me out of those same coma glazed eyeballs and tell me I am crazy. I have had the weird looks from those who blast past me in their 'covered wagons', while they have a cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other, and doughnut on their lap, wondering why on earth am I out running the roads at such an early hour. Caught up in the rat race and the crush of time, they can't seem to grasp that over a decade ago, I got off the cross of just enjoying a sentimental view of life, and decided to step into the fullness of the moments. Moments filled with pore opening, and pulsating movements that have forever changed who I am and who I aim to be!
Though we may 'know' these things and understand all its implications, it seems clearly evident that many people are hanging on this cross of immobility. Hanging high above the torrential storms of life, we reason our lives away until, in the end, life becomes a sentimental journey of should of's, could of's, and would of's. Our surrounding culture overstimulates us into believing just listening is enough. The luxuries of life seemingly engulf us and systematically encase us within a self made cocoon of ease and mental massages that not only hinder movement, but by nature of the stimulant, reject movement all together. Glued to the television, computer, internet (name your technology), we sit, and we sit because you can't move at the same time you watch. From time to time, we get in our 'covered wagons', which are now loaded with a myriad of stimulants that once again, ease us into the lull of painless immobility. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, we 'move' from couch to car to cubicle to car to couch again and then to bed...then come morning, we repeat the 86,400 seconds over again.
These turn into the moments, the clicks of our lives and time slips by until we look back with a sentimental glimpse and say..."I wish I would have!" Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it." Life is about movement. Living is about moving forward. Our bodies were built to move. We were built to sweat. Though the luxuries of life are great and have definitely enriched our lives, it also seems these same indulgences have warped our sense of time and space. Which in turn has robbed us of a true quality of life. The same technology that has blessed us, has also cursed us to the point where movement seems to be a lost art form. Something that only the unsophisticated of history had to suffer through in years gone past. It is as though we look back at the past with a contempt for those who had to actually move to live. We, the living, are no longer tortured with such a curse to have to walk or move much, and yet, if the truth be known, if we don't move, we don't live. And even more sad, is this illusion seems so strong that eventually those 86,400 clicks of daily living turn into minutes, hours, days, and then, finally, after years have past by, as though from some self induced coma, we wake up and 'wonder' where has all the time gone?
Over the years, I have had many look at me out of those same coma glazed eyeballs and tell me I am crazy. I have had the weird looks from those who blast past me in their 'covered wagons', while they have a cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other, and doughnut on their lap, wondering why on earth am I out running the roads at such an early hour. Caught up in the rat race and the crush of time, they can't seem to grasp that over a decade ago, I got off the cross of just enjoying a sentimental view of life, and decided to step into the fullness of the moments. Moments filled with pore opening, and pulsating movements that have forever changed who I am and who I aim to be!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired!
"God gave us two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Success
depends on which one you use. Heads you win, tails you lose." ~ Unknown
Author
Sometimes it takes people to become sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. Many people are definitely tired and many people are sick, but most of them have not come to the place of being sick and tired or they just don't see the connection between the two. It seems that sickness has become this idea that it just hits you. Like some invading enemy from out of the blue, sickness invades your body and pow! you are sick. Whether it is cancer or the common cold, most seem convinced or just accept the idea that it just happens. These things are just a part of life and when they happen you just deal with as best you can. We learn to cope with our sickness, both natural and spiritual, rather than overcome and conquer them!
It blows my mind how most people don't see or are blind to the understanding of the simple cliche I was taught in my youth. "Garbage IN, Garbage OUT!" The principle is simple, whatever you put into your body will produce a similar effect. It is the idea there is a cause and then an effect that was created by the cause. Like a rock or a stone thrown upon a pond, its energy is catapulted into many layered effects. The ripples from the stone surge outward in a surrounding radius of waves and depending on the size of the stone will also impact on the size of the effect. Then there is the unseen side of the rock hitting the surface of the pond and what happens under the surface of the pond. The rock hits the surface and we see the surface effects, but what happens after it leaves our sight, is and could be a whole different story. Maybe it hits a fish or some other organism. Maybe it crushes a home of one of the organisms. Maybe the rock or the stone had some micro organism on it that causes the nearby water it hits to be contaminated. The overall effects are unknown, but they will eventually reveal themselves in the harvest somewhere down the road.
To think the average person today eats over processed foods and dead foods and actually expects or doesn't believe they will face repercussions down the road is a tell tale sign of a very manipulated society, or dumb downed as some have termed it. Maybe its just human nature just to be irresponsible. It seems to be a prevalent mindset through out our culture to NOT have or desire to take any responsibility for what happens in one's life. This victim hood mentality has enveloped our society and woven itself into the fabric of the mental make-up of our way of life. It is far easier to blame something outside of yourself for where you are than to have to 'eat crow' and take responsibility for your condition. Whether it be a spiritual issue or a physical one, the blame game shares equal footing for both. Sophocles said, "It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it."
Napoleon Hill said, "If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self." Just because we may choose not be accountable for our actions does not omit the fact that we are not responsible for those actions. Though we may live by the motto, "Out of sight, out of mind", this does not mean we don't reap what we sow! Abraham Lincoln put it this way, "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." Its one thing to be ignorant, its a whole different thing to be 'willingly' ignorant. Denis Waitley said, "A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make." The blame game only works for so long. After awhile finger pointing must be fixed to the real culprit! YOU! "Peak performance begins with your taking complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you." (Brian Tracy)
This pervasive trend of playing the victim is easy to 'fall' into and latch onto, especially in a culture seemingly centered around the superficial and lacking the depth of discussion which is truly needed for honest growth. For true growth to take place in our lives, we must be willing to take responsibility for our choices. We have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout that have occurred during our lifetime. "Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness, to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another." (Richard Bach) On a daily basis, we give consent by the choices we make. I know it may seem like sickness just appears, but you cannot evade the consequences of eating fast food and junk food plays havoc on the immune system.
But in spite of all this 'eating crow' it must be made known to you, that God allows U-turns. The beauty of coming 'clean' with yourself is this fact...YOU can change. You can turn your ship around and sail to a different port. Only when the finger pointing and blame game stops, can true maturity and growth begin to take place. "The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses." (Napoleon Hill) You may not be able to change the circumstances, the wind, or the seasons, but there is one thing you can change...YOURSELF. Today, you can step up to the plate like never before and take charge of yourself! No more excuses. There are no more if's, and's, or sitting on your butt's about it anymore! Today you are going to hold yourself to a higher standard than the masses. Today, by taking responsibility of your all your decisions, past and present, you are going to refuse playing the victim and begin a determined pursuit toward becoming the victor!
Sometimes it takes people to become sick and tired of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. Many people are definitely tired and many people are sick, but most of them have not come to the place of being sick and tired or they just don't see the connection between the two. It seems that sickness has become this idea that it just hits you. Like some invading enemy from out of the blue, sickness invades your body and pow! you are sick. Whether it is cancer or the common cold, most seem convinced or just accept the idea that it just happens. These things are just a part of life and when they happen you just deal with as best you can. We learn to cope with our sickness, both natural and spiritual, rather than overcome and conquer them!
It blows my mind how most people don't see or are blind to the understanding of the simple cliche I was taught in my youth. "Garbage IN, Garbage OUT!" The principle is simple, whatever you put into your body will produce a similar effect. It is the idea there is a cause and then an effect that was created by the cause. Like a rock or a stone thrown upon a pond, its energy is catapulted into many layered effects. The ripples from the stone surge outward in a surrounding radius of waves and depending on the size of the stone will also impact on the size of the effect. Then there is the unseen side of the rock hitting the surface of the pond and what happens under the surface of the pond. The rock hits the surface and we see the surface effects, but what happens after it leaves our sight, is and could be a whole different story. Maybe it hits a fish or some other organism. Maybe it crushes a home of one of the organisms. Maybe the rock or the stone had some micro organism on it that causes the nearby water it hits to be contaminated. The overall effects are unknown, but they will eventually reveal themselves in the harvest somewhere down the road.
To think the average person today eats over processed foods and dead foods and actually expects or doesn't believe they will face repercussions down the road is a tell tale sign of a very manipulated society, or dumb downed as some have termed it. Maybe its just human nature just to be irresponsible. It seems to be a prevalent mindset through out our culture to NOT have or desire to take any responsibility for what happens in one's life. This victim hood mentality has enveloped our society and woven itself into the fabric of the mental make-up of our way of life. It is far easier to blame something outside of yourself for where you are than to have to 'eat crow' and take responsibility for your condition. Whether it be a spiritual issue or a physical one, the blame game shares equal footing for both. Sophocles said, "It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it."
Napoleon Hill said, "If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self." Just because we may choose not be accountable for our actions does not omit the fact that we are not responsible for those actions. Though we may live by the motto, "Out of sight, out of mind", this does not mean we don't reap what we sow! Abraham Lincoln put it this way, "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." Its one thing to be ignorant, its a whole different thing to be 'willingly' ignorant. Denis Waitley said, "A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make." The blame game only works for so long. After awhile finger pointing must be fixed to the real culprit! YOU! "Peak performance begins with your taking complete responsibility for your life and everything that happens to you." (Brian Tracy)
This pervasive trend of playing the victim is easy to 'fall' into and latch onto, especially in a culture seemingly centered around the superficial and lacking the depth of discussion which is truly needed for honest growth. For true growth to take place in our lives, we must be willing to take responsibility for our choices. We have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout that have occurred during our lifetime. "Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness, to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another." (Richard Bach) On a daily basis, we give consent by the choices we make. I know it may seem like sickness just appears, but you cannot evade the consequences of eating fast food and junk food plays havoc on the immune system.
But in spite of all this 'eating crow' it must be made known to you, that God allows U-turns. The beauty of coming 'clean' with yourself is this fact...YOU can change. You can turn your ship around and sail to a different port. Only when the finger pointing and blame game stops, can true maturity and growth begin to take place. "The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses." (Napoleon Hill) You may not be able to change the circumstances, the wind, or the seasons, but there is one thing you can change...YOURSELF. Today, you can step up to the plate like never before and take charge of yourself! No more excuses. There are no more if's, and's, or sitting on your butt's about it anymore! Today you are going to hold yourself to a higher standard than the masses. Today, by taking responsibility of your all your decisions, past and present, you are going to refuse playing the victim and begin a determined pursuit toward becoming the victor!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Speed Up to Slow Down!
"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew." ~ Saint Francis De Sales
In your patience possess ye your souls. ~ Luke 21:19
We live in an instant gratification world. All of the high tech push button luxuries of this world, though they have helped, they have also seemingly distracted us from our own humanness. We want all the joys, power, money, and luxuries of life, and we want it NOW! We want our health back NOW! We want that job promotion NOW! We want our marriages to be healed NOW! Press a button, flick a switch, pull a trigger and all should be in place and perfectly balanced NOW! The child wants to be a teenager. A teenager wants to be an adult. Impatience moves all us to do things and expect things beyond the moment of our time of life. We want things before their time and our impatience overcomes our prudence to take the appropriate steps and the right decisions.
The scripture says to everything there is a season. We want to run, but it is really the season to walk. Young people are impatient to get married, and in their impatience, they race past the gift of being single only to find themselves not ripe enough to deal with the season of marriage! We eat trash foods, pollute our bodies, and exercise little, then when the moment of sickness hits our body, we want healing NOW! Our inability to wait and endure the temptations of the moment, bring us to a crash and burn later on in life.
Carl Jung said, "Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity." We must learn to play the hand that God has dealt us and to play it with patience. The scripture admonishes...in our patience we would possess our souls! Herein lies a bigger picture of where our impatience may take us. When we lose our patience, we are more apt to lose our souls. The spiritual ramifications of falling prey to our lustful desires and appetites are far more consequential than the things we can perceive with our senses! It is the inner man struggle to keep the right things the main things. The 'spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak' and might I add, very impatient. How many times have we given in to the moment without looking beyond the moment to later regret the decision? One would think, after making a few quick impatient decisions, we would learn a lesson or two and not fall prey to the flash pan protocol of our desires. But, without a doubt, there is a definite contrariness that is innately planted within this human body. The Apostle Paul said it this way..."For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Wow! Sounds like a battle to me, and not just a battle but a war! Most of the time we KNOW what the right thing to do 'is', but it seems as though, another 'force' is always looking for an easier, quicker way toward 'satisfaction'. Then, when we finally give in to this quicker easier way, it is often met with remorse because the action never materializes into the satisfaction that was promised in the moment of decision. Like Esau, who gave up his birth rite to Jacob for a bowl of pottage, his momentary feeling as 'though he were about to die' was traded for all the natural and spiritual blessings only the first born was privy too. Like Esau, we give consent to the 'quick fixes' of life only to not only regret the decision, but realize later in life, the quick fix made matters far worse than if we would have patiently waded beyond the moment of temptation. Though disheartening these lost battles may play upon our hearts, they are just that, momentarily lost battles! We must remember, we may have lost a few battles, but we have not yet lost the war.
If we want true success. If we want to really 'see' and perceive what is truly going on around us, our first step is to SLOW DOWN! We must take the time to examine ourselves and the situations of life that we are confronting. Lao Tzu made this statement, "Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle." The rat race gets us so befuddled and caught up in its pace, for us to truly see, we must have the understanding and the power to step back from it all.
Today, I want you to slow down. Take a deep breath and slow down. Step back and examine yourself. LEARN to be patient. LEARN that patience is not only a virtue, but also your friend!
In your patience possess ye your souls. ~ Luke 21:19
We live in an instant gratification world. All of the high tech push button luxuries of this world, though they have helped, they have also seemingly distracted us from our own humanness. We want all the joys, power, money, and luxuries of life, and we want it NOW! We want our health back NOW! We want that job promotion NOW! We want our marriages to be healed NOW! Press a button, flick a switch, pull a trigger and all should be in place and perfectly balanced NOW! The child wants to be a teenager. A teenager wants to be an adult. Impatience moves all us to do things and expect things beyond the moment of our time of life. We want things before their time and our impatience overcomes our prudence to take the appropriate steps and the right decisions.
The scripture says to everything there is a season. We want to run, but it is really the season to walk. Young people are impatient to get married, and in their impatience, they race past the gift of being single only to find themselves not ripe enough to deal with the season of marriage! We eat trash foods, pollute our bodies, and exercise little, then when the moment of sickness hits our body, we want healing NOW! Our inability to wait and endure the temptations of the moment, bring us to a crash and burn later on in life.
Carl Jung said, "Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity." We must learn to play the hand that God has dealt us and to play it with patience. The scripture admonishes...in our patience we would possess our souls! Herein lies a bigger picture of where our impatience may take us. When we lose our patience, we are more apt to lose our souls. The spiritual ramifications of falling prey to our lustful desires and appetites are far more consequential than the things we can perceive with our senses! It is the inner man struggle to keep the right things the main things. The 'spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak' and might I add, very impatient. How many times have we given in to the moment without looking beyond the moment to later regret the decision? One would think, after making a few quick impatient decisions, we would learn a lesson or two and not fall prey to the flash pan protocol of our desires. But, without a doubt, there is a definite contrariness that is innately planted within this human body. The Apostle Paul said it this way..."For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Wow! Sounds like a battle to me, and not just a battle but a war! Most of the time we KNOW what the right thing to do 'is', but it seems as though, another 'force' is always looking for an easier, quicker way toward 'satisfaction'. Then, when we finally give in to this quicker easier way, it is often met with remorse because the action never materializes into the satisfaction that was promised in the moment of decision. Like Esau, who gave up his birth rite to Jacob for a bowl of pottage, his momentary feeling as 'though he were about to die' was traded for all the natural and spiritual blessings only the first born was privy too. Like Esau, we give consent to the 'quick fixes' of life only to not only regret the decision, but realize later in life, the quick fix made matters far worse than if we would have patiently waded beyond the moment of temptation. Though disheartening these lost battles may play upon our hearts, they are just that, momentarily lost battles! We must remember, we may have lost a few battles, but we have not yet lost the war.
If we want true success. If we want to really 'see' and perceive what is truly going on around us, our first step is to SLOW DOWN! We must take the time to examine ourselves and the situations of life that we are confronting. Lao Tzu made this statement, "Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle." The rat race gets us so befuddled and caught up in its pace, for us to truly see, we must have the understanding and the power to step back from it all.
Today, I want you to slow down. Take a deep breath and slow down. Step back and examine yourself. LEARN to be patient. LEARN that patience is not only a virtue, but also your friend!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Hocus Pocus Where's Your Focus?
The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing. ~ German Proverb
How many times have we looked back in life and said within ourselves or aloud...’If I had only paid attention!’ Rather than being caught up in youthful lusts and petty cliques we would have concentrated on the more important things...like getting an education! Oh, the power of being able to focus on the task at hand! If there is one thing we seem to lack in this day of multi-tasking is FOCUS! The ability to remain steadfast on a thought toward a goal seems to be lacking in our culture. In college I remember a professor saying World War III started immediately after WWII. He said it wasn’t the a battle of tanks and guns, but it was a battle for the mind! And when I take a look around, this statement seems to stand true. Look around and its not very difficult to see how scattered we have become. Running to and fro, here and there, and heltered skeltered. Whether we are just trying to make ends meet or keep up the Jones’s down the street, life has become one hectic ‘rat race’. From video games to cell phones, our lives are inundated to something and anything to take our minds off the task at hand! Lately, it seems, if we just get through the day, we count ourselves a success. Our minds have become so scattered and removed from any calmness of focus, to pick up a good book is difficult because our minds are forced to become calm and to a racing mind, calm seems abnormal!
I have heard the first rule of focus is this: “Wherever you are, be there!” Wow! Simple but seemingly difficult to implement in this hectic fast pace multi-tasking day and age we live in. It is difficult for us to concentrate on concentrating. When was the last time you were someplace and you were just there, focused and concentrating on the one task at hand. It seems wherever we are we are not there, but we are somewhere else! Yes, physically we are there, but mentally, we are paying the bills, going over our ‘to do’ list, or worrying about what may never happen. Its no wonder we always feel like ‘we are spinning our wheels’. We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. We are so caught up in the trivial we have lost sight of the target and it is more than likely the problem lies in the fact that we have lost focus on where we are going and are wanting to go, leaving an overflowing of trivial problems in our lives. Is it possible if we were to re-obtain our focus that many of these problems would no longer hound or hinder us?
Its time we clean off our tables and clear up our minds of mindless fodder and refocus on the true purpose of life. Long ago, you had a sense of purpose and direction in which you were heading. What happened? You used to shoot your arrows at a fixed target, but today you don’t even shoot your arrows, let alone draw back your bow! No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. Not only is the fool known by the multitude of his words, but the immature mind hops from one thing to another. It is only the mature mind that has the ability to focus and seeks to follow through. I know we have hurts, pains, and discomforts, but how many of those have been caused because we lost our follow through? How much refuge is in our lives now because our attention has been lost while pandering to the inconsequential. To move forward, we must shake ourselves and step out of the ‘rat race’ and back into ‘that place’ where the target is in view! We must not just get our aim right, but once again put forth the energy needed to draw back the bow of purpose, by no longer letting what we can’t do interfere with what you can do! The past is the past. Mistakes and disappointments are building blocks and should be used to refuel our passions and stepping stones into the future.
Haven’t we have learned that if we aim at nothing we are sure to hit nothing! The secret of our strength lies in our ability to concentrate. King David said in the Psalms, “My heart is fixed!” Was it not our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘for the joy that was set before him endured the cross!’ When all others and even his disciples tried to convince Him the cross was NOT where he was going, he rebuked them, and how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.’Anthony Robbins said this, “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
"Only that day dawns, to which we are awake." (Henry David Thoreau) A new day has dawned and there you sit in your swivel desk chair. What are you going to do with this day? Once of the greatest generals of all time, George S Patton said, “No good decision can be made in a swivel chair.” Stand up. Stretch and push that swivel chair aside. Today is a new day! Today is the day of salvation!
How many times have we looked back in life and said within ourselves or aloud...’If I had only paid attention!’ Rather than being caught up in youthful lusts and petty cliques we would have concentrated on the more important things...like getting an education! Oh, the power of being able to focus on the task at hand! If there is one thing we seem to lack in this day of multi-tasking is FOCUS! The ability to remain steadfast on a thought toward a goal seems to be lacking in our culture. In college I remember a professor saying World War III started immediately after WWII. He said it wasn’t the a battle of tanks and guns, but it was a battle for the mind! And when I take a look around, this statement seems to stand true. Look around and its not very difficult to see how scattered we have become. Running to and fro, here and there, and heltered skeltered. Whether we are just trying to make ends meet or keep up the Jones’s down the street, life has become one hectic ‘rat race’. From video games to cell phones, our lives are inundated to something and anything to take our minds off the task at hand! Lately, it seems, if we just get through the day, we count ourselves a success. Our minds have become so scattered and removed from any calmness of focus, to pick up a good book is difficult because our minds are forced to become calm and to a racing mind, calm seems abnormal!
I have heard the first rule of focus is this: “Wherever you are, be there!” Wow! Simple but seemingly difficult to implement in this hectic fast pace multi-tasking day and age we live in. It is difficult for us to concentrate on concentrating. When was the last time you were someplace and you were just there, focused and concentrating on the one task at hand. It seems wherever we are we are not there, but we are somewhere else! Yes, physically we are there, but mentally, we are paying the bills, going over our ‘to do’ list, or worrying about what may never happen. Its no wonder we always feel like ‘we are spinning our wheels’. We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet. We are so caught up in the trivial we have lost sight of the target and it is more than likely the problem lies in the fact that we have lost focus on where we are going and are wanting to go, leaving an overflowing of trivial problems in our lives. Is it possible if we were to re-obtain our focus that many of these problems would no longer hound or hinder us?
Its time we clean off our tables and clear up our minds of mindless fodder and refocus on the true purpose of life. Long ago, you had a sense of purpose and direction in which you were heading. What happened? You used to shoot your arrows at a fixed target, but today you don’t even shoot your arrows, let alone draw back your bow! No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. Not only is the fool known by the multitude of his words, but the immature mind hops from one thing to another. It is only the mature mind that has the ability to focus and seeks to follow through. I know we have hurts, pains, and discomforts, but how many of those have been caused because we lost our follow through? How much refuge is in our lives now because our attention has been lost while pandering to the inconsequential. To move forward, we must shake ourselves and step out of the ‘rat race’ and back into ‘that place’ where the target is in view! We must not just get our aim right, but once again put forth the energy needed to draw back the bow of purpose, by no longer letting what we can’t do interfere with what you can do! The past is the past. Mistakes and disappointments are building blocks and should be used to refuel our passions and stepping stones into the future.
Haven’t we have learned that if we aim at nothing we are sure to hit nothing! The secret of our strength lies in our ability to concentrate. King David said in the Psalms, “My heart is fixed!” Was it not our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘for the joy that was set before him endured the cross!’ When all others and even his disciples tried to convince Him the cross was NOT where he was going, he rebuked them, and how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.’Anthony Robbins said this, “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.”
"Only that day dawns, to which we are awake." (Henry David Thoreau) A new day has dawned and there you sit in your swivel desk chair. What are you going to do with this day? Once of the greatest generals of all time, George S Patton said, “No good decision can be made in a swivel chair.” Stand up. Stretch and push that swivel chair aside. Today is a new day! Today is the day of salvation!
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