Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you. -John DePaola

I have also heard success or happiness described as a butterfly. You can run around all day long trying to catch the butterfly, but only when you slow down and stay still will it come to you and rest on you.

This is another of life’s great mysteries. You must continually move forward in the direction of your dreams but at the same time be calm, peaceful and slow down in order to attract the results you want.

Think about some of your life goals, maybe there are one or two that require you to slow down a little.

Maybe you need to slow down a little and enjoy some slow moments with your small child before they aren’t so small anymore.

Maybe a coworker needs you to just slow down and listen for a little while.

Maybe you need to slow down and spend time with your spouse or a close friend just talking about nothing in particular.

Maybe you need some quiet reading and reflection time to get through a tough time or problem.

Maybe you need to lighten your schedule a little so you can make those wise food or money decisions needed to meet your goals.

I am sure we all have something that if we would just slow down it would come right around and catch us.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Here’s a great reminder for the day:

"Slow Me Down Lord"

Slow me down Lord. Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal march of time. Give me amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the eternal hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking MINUTE vacations, Of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines of a good book.

Slow me down Lord and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

Author: Wilfred A. Peterson

Make it a great day.

Jakeu

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. Timothy Keller

I’m convinced more and more as I get older that the above quote summarizes a lot of human behavior.

We all want to be fully known and fully loved.

God created us this way and He alone fills this completely.

We were also designed to fill a portion of this need for those loved ones we are lucky enough to be this close to.

We get into trouble as we try to navigate our way through relationships – figuring out where on the spectrum this relationship puts us and how much to risk along the way.

We push some people away because we don’t want to risk the rejection.

We bring some people too close too soon and get our hearts broken.

We take the easy route and keep things superficial.

Be aware of those around you. They are all working through this in their own way.

Some in an obvious and dysfunctional way.

Some in a scared and quiet way.

Reach out – pay attention to where you are on the spectrum above and be the one to reach out to the next step in your relationships.

Risk the vulnerability (appropriately and wisely) and allow yourself the opportunity to be fully known and to know someone else fully.

Embrace God’s special place for you in all of this. Both with and through Him and in the special relationships in your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Life is given to us, we earn it by giving it. – Rabindranath Tagore

One of life’s great mysteries is that we have a better life by giving ours away.

All that has been given to us – money, talent, time, the capacity for love, etc. has been given so that we can give it away.

Nothing is meant to be kept for ourselves locked away tightly for only our own uses and desires.

What does this mean for you today?

Does it mean taking out the trash at home?

Taking an extra phone call or two at work?

Sending a nice note to a friend or loved one?

Find something to do today to give your life away. Then do it again and again and again…..

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/PO6Jt4M8ebs

Great song to send to someone that makes you happy.

We all have someone in our lives that needs to hear from us often how much they make us happy.

It’s easy to take them for granted.

Let them know!

Today!

Make it a great day.

Jake

I’ve been listening to a podcast of an interview of gentleman who was a Marine that fought in the Pacific during WWII. It reminded me of this email I sent a while back after watching a show on the same subject.

A while ago I watched the series “The Pacific”. The series was about the experience of a group of Marines during WWII.

At the end of the show they gave a brief “update” on each of the soldiers and their experiences after the war.

Next to one of the names it said “Sold cars for 46 years”.

That really struck me as an interestingly different experience than participating in WWII.

Think about it. You go from participating in one of the greatest battles and moments in human history (saving the world) to selling cars.

Not that selling cars is bad, I just have a hard time imagining waking up in the morning to that as compared to the significance that must have been felt at moments during war.

But as I thought about it, I wondered if there isn’t an interesting lesson in there somewhere.

Maybe the lesson is that the same kinds of things that led to success in WWII would allow someone to be successful and enjoy a life of selling cars.

Courage, integrity, responsibility, grit, humility, positivity.

Just some examples, but you can easily imagine how they would lead to success in whatever endeavor the possessor pursued.

Most of us are lucky enough to not have to test our character in the crucible of war.

Instead, we must test it in daily interactions with coworkers, our families and ourselves.

As I reflect on this whole picture, I am eternally grateful for those that have faced sterner tests on my behalf.

And I am inspired to do the best I can with the opportunity they have created for me to test myself against the smaller yardsticks I face each day.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I think the story below and this previous daily attitude email often.

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[a] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:26-34

Any time I feel the anxiousness creeping in, I try to remind myself of the verses above.

It’s so easy to fall into the trap of worrying.

Our minds appear to have a natural tendency towards worry and anxiety.

But I believe God has a different plan for us.

Promises like joy and peace are there for us if we can renew our mind and put the right thoughts in.

If you’re feeling a lot of anxiety lately, read these versions again. Maybe every day. Renew your mind with these timeless truths.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Mahatma Gandhi

A major cause of anxiety is in not living up to our ideals and potential.

We are happiest when our thoughts, actions and words line up with the best in us.

An interesting side effect of living in a time and place where we can have everything we want is the anxiety produced when we don’t follow through and get it.

A potential solution is in simplicity.

When we simplify what we want and are motivated by it, we follow through.

We are able to line up our thoughts, actions and words better when there aren’t so many distractions to try to line up with.

So, for this week, what is your happiness thought?

What can you do to simplify and line up your life for happiness?

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/UTwgSw2qJ7Y

This seemed appropriate for leap day tomorrow.

Geronimo!

Make it a great day.

Jake