Tax day! Everybody’s favorite.

In one of Jim Rohn’s talks he talks about taxes.

He talks about how we have to pay for all the stuff we want.

Roads, sidewalks, etc.

We have to pay those soldiers to stand guard for our freedoms.

Do we pay too much? Probably.

Does the government waste some of the money? Probably.

Should we pay less? Probably.

But we do need to pay some. And we should proud to play our little part in making this country great.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Resending this daily attitude email from a few years ago…

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

St. Francis of Assisi

Meaghan has this hanging in the office at home where I was working yesterday.

I had the thought, “What if I could really keep this thought in my heart? What if I could actually make this my priority each day?”

It’s easier to spend the day thinking about yourself.

Our own needs and desires are so close and powerful, they are hard to ignore.

This prayer reminds me that true peace, joy, love and happiness happens when I can retrain myself to focus instead on others.

Our opportunities for greatness lie in our ability to serve and love others.

I believe this more and more every day.

I fail at this every day as well, but I’m getting better.

My challenge for you today is to read this prayer out loud to yourself. Then to move on to your day with as much of a focus on others as you can muster. Then try to do better tomorrow.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/TOp_EW-Mirs?si=RoT0-yPUF-y54qCB

FYI – when you see a country song as the toe tapper….assume Meaghan was an influence there somewhere…

Life’s a dance, you learn as you go.

At 46 I’m constantly amazed at how much I still have to learn.

First timer with sending a kid to college.

First timer having two drivers in the house.

First timer in so many ways…

One piece of advice for this dynamic of life – stay curious.

If you’re interested and curious – all the opportunities to learn will be much easier to embrace.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Big day at the Davis house – Annie turns 16 today.

If all goes well, she’ll get her license today and will take another milestone step on her way to adulthood.

As a parent it’s easy to be proud of our kids as they cross over life’s milestones.

As kids we seem to pass them pretty frequently. Every couple of years is another milestone.

As an adult though, they tend to spread out. Years can go by without seeing one along the way.

Goals are a good addition – setting meaningful goals and celebrating accomplishments can serve as milestones for us as we move along life’s path.

Set yourself a meaningful goal – one that can stand out as a milestone to look forward to and back on when’s it’s over.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Annie’s super awesome and I love her lots and lots.

The present time has one advantage over every other – it is our own. – Charles Caleb Colton

Short reminder for today – today is all you got!

Get to it.

Be present.

Forget all the negative and worries.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“It is no use saying to the tired ‘mental muscles’… ‘I will give you a good rest,’ ‘I will go for a long walk,’ or ‘I will lie down and think of nothing.’ The mind keeps busy just the same. If it has been weighing and measuring, it goes on weighing and measuring. If it has been worrying, it goes on worrying…It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition…A gifted American psychologist has said, ‘worry is a spasm of the emotion; the mind catches hold to something and will not let it go.’ One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins.” – Winston Churchill

Our mind works best when it is given periods of rest and distraction.

Worry and anxiety arise when we can’t stop thinking about something and don’t get any rest or distraction from those thoughts.

Find an engaging hobby. Engage your mental capacities in something besides worry and anxiousness.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

This quote and the prayer above are reminders that there is a lot in life that we don’t control.

It’s a reminder that our efforts are best spent on the things we can change.

And that we should seek the courage and wisdom to do the hard work of making that change.

Make it a great day.

PS – the rest of the Serentiy Prayer –

Living one day at a time;

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

forever in the next.

Amen.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

https://youtu.be/xyv3Ev_SKWc?si=-aGwG2OlliYxImB-

We all need more joy in our lives.

Sometimes that comes from that special someone.

Sometimes it comes from the weather.

Sometimes it comes from a hobby or treasured activity.

The ultimate source is God. He wants us to have abundant joy.

Find some joy today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. – Charles Dudley Warner

I thought this one was pretty funny….

We do tend to spend a lot of our time in life talking and worrying about things over which we have no control.

Next time you are tempted to complain or become anxious over the uncontrollables in life, think twice.

Think of this funny quote.

If you are not (or can’t) do anything about it, stop worrying and complaining. Start planning and doing the hard work to turn it into a positive.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Don’t sell out your virtue and your value for something you think you want. Judas got the money, but he threw it all away and hung himself because he was so unhappy with himself. – Jim Rohn

At some point we will all be presented the opportunity to sell out our virtues and values in exchange for something else tempting.

Jim’s reminder is that Judas did get the money. He got what he wanted in the short run. The exchange occurred.

But it wasn’t worth it. He got a bad deal. He exchanged his virtues and values for forty pieces of silver. Those same forty pieces of silver would never buy those virtues and values.

Is there something in your life where you are making a bad exchange?

Something where you are exchanging your values and virtues in exchange for something that seems tempting, but isn’t worth the price you are paying?

If you aren’t already, you will likely be tempted at some point in the future. Now is the time to put your true values and virtues into perspective so those temptations can be properly weighed against their cost.

Write down your personal why or mission statement

Write out your family’s values.

Make it clear what your values are worth. That way forty pieces of silver will seem like what they really are…meaningless compared to your values.

Make it a great day.

Jake