“This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and, as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” – George Bernard Shaw

Does this describe you:

A mighty purpose….

A force of nature….

Or does this describe you:

A feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances…

Complaining that the whole world will not devote itself to making you happy…

We all have the same opportunity to find our purpose. To clarify as best we can. To live it every day.

And when we do….

Our splendid torch, which we have a hold for the moment, will burn brightly before we pass it on to the next generations.

The beginning of the year is a great time to contemplate our purpose again and to pursue it with everything we’ve got.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/3GwjfUFyY6M

Tonight’s the annual (after) Christmas party at Mavidea/Maxlider.

A night where we get to celebrate our team and the good fortune we’ve had to spend another year together.

Every year is a reminder of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such a great group of people.

Glad we get to find some time to celebrate together.

Make time to celebrate in your life.

Lots to celebrate and be thankful for.

Make it a great day.

Jake

You can’t change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction. – Jim Rohn

This one has been on my mind as New Year’s came and passed. We all didn’t wake up in a different place on January 1st. There wasn’t some magical moment right after we made our resolutions when we changed into this whole different person who does or doesn’t do those new things you came up with for resolutions.

Sorry, but you woke up at the same destination you went to sleep (at least hopefully), but you (hopefully again) did change your direction.

Hopefully, New Years represented a new direction for you. A decision to change and head towards something better. A time when you decided to move away from something and towards something else.

To move from candy to fruit.

To move from no exercise to exercise.

To move from not saving money to saving money.

To move from no studying to disciplined learning.

Whatever the direction change you chose, seize this time of renewal and enthusiasm and build it into a habit. Look at the long term results you are going to get and then get excited about it.

Focus on it. Make it a priority.

And then make it happen.

Jake

Pray with your feet.

I read this in a book once and thought it was appropriate for around the New Year.

It is important that we all learn to work through our worries, concerns, dreams and goals in some form of prayer.

But it is also important that we take action.

We can’t just pray, we need to be moving forward as well.

Take action today. Move forward on one of your prayers.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw

The Final Countdown.

Feels like I send this one out at the end of every year.

Use the last few days of the year to build some momentum to take into 2020.

Wrap up a few last to dos.

Get started early on the diet.

Get an extra work out or two in.

Read that book you’ve been wanting to get to.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.

The above is the very beginning of the movie “Love, Actually” (a Christmas favorite at our house).

It’s a great reminder that love is all around us.

Sometimes we forget.

Sometimes we let ourselves fall into the trap of thinking only of ourselves. We forget that we are happiest and at our best when we are loving others.

At Christmas we are reminded of these simple truths.

Keep the Christmas mojo going on past Christmas this year. Keep the feelings of love and selflessness at the forefront – where they belonged all along.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.

It is happiness because we see joy in people.

It is forgetting self and finding time for others.

It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. – Thomas S. Monson

Slow down.

No, really. Slow down.

Slow down and enjoy Christmas.

Think about the spirit and joy of the season.

Feel the love and warm feelings towards loved ones and friends.

Enjoy it.

Merry Christmas.

Jake

https://youtu.be/gtM8BRF7Bd0

Probably not on your list of traditional Christmas songs, but apparently Pandora thinks it should be on mine.

This song always reminds me of the importance of dance and song when it comes to really getting something into the hearts of people.

It’s such a great version of the story of Christianity.

I danced in the morning

When the world was begun,

And I danced in the moon

And the stars and the sun,

And I came down from heaven

And I danced on the earth,

At Bethlehem

I had my birth.

Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,

And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be,

And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he

And the end:

They cut me down

And I leapt up high;

I am the life

That’ll never, never die;

I’ll live in you

If you’ll live in me –

I am the Lord

Of the Dance, said he.

As I get older I am more and more grateful for that very first Christmas gift – that God would send His Son to save me (I know me pretty well and I can’t believe He thought it was worth it).

I hope you can find a few minutes over Christmas to ponder this wonderful gift that was given for you.

Merry Christmas.

Jake

Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are travelling the dark journey with us. Oh be swift to love, make haste to be kind. – Henri Frederic Amiel

Went to a funeral yesterday.

I was reminded once again that life is short and to make the most of today.

This quote feels like a good way to express it….

Be swift to love.

Make haste to be kind.

I especially liked the “make haste” part.

Life is short – make haste.

Fill your life up with love and kindness. Work at it like you are running out of time. You are.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.” – Viktor Frankl

We’ve been watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” at home the last couple of days as time permits.

In the movie, George Bailey is shown what life would have been like without him.

He’s shown that his life does have meaning.

Most of us won’t be shown meaning in such a dramatic fashion, but we must face this “greatest task” and find our meaning in this world.

Christmas time is a great time to ponder this in response to the great gift that God sent all those years ago.

Merry Christmas.

Jake