A life of well-being, meaning and purpose.
“Give those you love the gift of taking excellent care of yourself.”
As you begin the new year, it’s a good time to reassess how well you are caring for your most important asset . . . you. Excelerated self care — taking excellent care of yourself — isn’t selfishness but selfulness . . . filling yourself up from the inside. You can’t give what you don’t have. You must care for yourself if you are to be able to care for others. Continue reading “Ten Daily Habits”
“When you think about it and apply yourself, you are creating your life. When you don’t think about it and do whatever, you are creating your life.” ~ Holiday Mathis
The new year is often a time for beginning new things. We make resolutions and set goals. Sometimes we make other new starts . . . a new assignment, a new project, a new job. It can be exciting, and sometimes a little scary, to make a fresh start and the new year just naturally offers a place to start anew.
Before jumping headlong into the new year, it can be beneficial and freeing to reflect on the year we are finishing up. Continue reading “Remembering 2017”
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.” ~ Thomas Henry Huxley, Collected Essays of Thomas Henry Huxley
Has this ever happened to you? You set a goal to lose weight and decide you need to eat a healthier diet. So you pass up the doughnuts at work, eat a salad for lunch, snack on almonds or raw veggies in the afternoon . . . then at home, after work, you find yourself sitting on the 2nd shelf of the refrigerator, eating everything in sight. Or you decide to start an exercise program and to go to the gym directly after work every day. You load your gym bag in the car with every intention of going to the gym after work. But at the end of the day, you are so tired you drive straight home – past the gym – and collapse in a heap in front of the TV. What happened? Where did your willpower go? Continue reading “Do The Thing You Have To Do”
“What is your dearest wish? What dreams do you have for the future? What do you want to be or do? Imagine your dream coming true. How wonderful would it be. How fulfilling.
“What holds you back from realizing your wish? What is it in you that stops you from really going for it?” ~ Gabriele Oettingen, Rethinking Positive Thinking
As we near the end of another year, take a moment to reflect on this year that has nearly passed. Think back to January. Did you have big dreams? Make any resolutions? Set a BIG goal? Now that the year is almost over, how are you doing? Are you still on track? Continue reading “Have A Plan”
“We don’t live for happiness, we live for holiness. Day to day we seek out pleasure, but deep down, human beings are endowed with moral imagination. All human beings seek to lead lives not just of pleasure, but of purpose, righteousness, and virtue.” ~ David Brooks
What is the purpose of life? What are we living for?
These are deep and important questions. Many books have been written about these very questions and we certainly are not going to answer them in a short essay. Continue reading ““Live For Holiness””
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet.” ~ Frederick Buechner
What does Life want from you? Most of us, if we think about it at all, typically ask “What do I want out of life?” (Some of us never even get that far . . . we coast from day to day, being blown this way and that by the winds of circumstance. However that’s a subject for another time.) But the question I have been contemplating for the past few weeks is not “What do I want from Life?” but “What does Life want from me?” I invite you to think about this question, too. Continue reading “Life’s Summons”
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” ~ Confucius
“A body in motion will remain in motion.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion. I was doing wonderfully well. I was getting up and going through my morning routine — physical activity, meditation, journaling, and planning — consistently for weeks. I felt really good. I felt productive. I was making good progress! “A body at rest remains at rest.” ~ Newton’s First Law of Motion But then . . . I missed a day. Oops. My momentum slowed. Then I missed another day — turned off my alarm and slept in. I decided I needed some time off so I took off a couple more days. Before I knew it, more than 2 weeks had gone by and I was completely out of my routine. The more I missed, the less I felt like starting back. I had completely lost all momentum. I had stopped. Continue reading “Stop Stopping”
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
How is the best way to live? I have this question posted in big letters on my bulletin board and I contemplate this from time to time. Jim Rohn said, “Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely.” I read this quote recently and it has given me a sense of urgency in determining the best way to live. Continue reading “How Is The Best Way To Live?”
“[F]ailure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated every day.” ~ Jim Rohn
This morning, like most mornings, I got up, spent a few minutes meditating, wrote in my journal, then went for a brisk walk (in the rain), followed by a few minutes of calisthenics and stretching. When I finished, I felt pretty good. If I hadn’t got up and done these things, how do you think I would have felt? Actually, on the mornings I don’t do this routine, I feel pretty good. To tell the truth, I don’t feel much different after I do or don’t do my morning routine.
I expect you have had much the same experience. If you exercise, you feel OK. If you don’t, you probably feel OK, too. Continue reading “The Two Easies”
Don’t focus on what you don’t want. Choose the thoughts (and actions) that serve you best.
“The components of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger do not exist independently of you in the world. They simply do not exist in the physical world, even though we talk about them as if they do.” ~ Wayne Dyer
A friend and colleague recently loaned me a tape program, “Excuses Begone!” by Dr. Wayne Dyer. There was one concept from Dr. Dyer’s presentation that really sparked my imagination. Continue reading “Don’t Focus On What You Don’t Want”
