Time: Invest, Spend, or Waste

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
I think a lot about time.
One of society’s false myths maintains that retirement magically produces additional time. [...]

Read Full Post »

Stress And Pressure

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.  Dr. Seuss
I think we create most of our own stress.
I acknowledge that life’s not always easy. Some of our struggles are our own fault, and some aren’t. We all make mistakes, and accidents happen. [...]

Read Full Post »

What Do You Expect?

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Garth Brooks
Most of my frustrations arise from my own unmet expectations.
I always seem to begin a project with the unspoken idea that nothing will go wrong. Somehow, I acquired the notion that things are supposed to happen according to my plans.
But life doesn’t work like that. Unanticipated [...]

Read Full Post »

The World’s Best Excuse

The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse.
I’m a world-class excuse-maker.

Read Full Post »

Contentment

The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right. 
I’m speaking next week to a group on the topic of ACHIEVING YOUR DREAMS.

Read Full Post »

Shine or Shrink

Never allow what you cannot do to interfere with what you can do. ~ John Wooden
Whenever I speak to a group about adversity and dreams, I try to communicate the principle of REALISTIC OPTIMISM. I use The 8000/2000 Principle as an illustration.

Read Full Post »

Jesus In An Orange Jumpsuit

Do you REALLY believe what you believe?
Next week I’ll speak to a group of inmates at the county detention center.
I addressed a similar audience about a year ago, and I still cannot escape the haunting impressions from that visit. As I spoke to those despondent young people I felt like I’d wandered into a warehouse [...]

Read Full Post »

What Can I Do?

How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. Bob Dylan
Another senseless slaughter in a place dedicated to peace—a church, a school, The Holocaust Museum.

Read Full Post »

Covenant And Community

One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
I’ve been thinking a lot about Chris Guillebeau’s insightful analysis of What Makes A Community? We all live, work, and play in a variety of communities, and I guess I’m especially interested because my efforts to contribute via speaking [...]

Read Full Post »

Communities And Enemies

A community is a group of people united through a common struggle with the same stories.
This definition comes from an insightful article by Chris Guillebeau called What Makes A Community?
I highly recommend Chris’ site, The Art of Nonconformity. Chris’ writing makes me think and inspires me to extend my own ideas. I took a [...]

Read Full Post »