http://youtu.be/DR7KfFfse3k

Found this song at about the same time that I read the following excerpt from Les Brown:

Rise above the pain! You are bigger than your circumstances or your life situation. Your life is not defined by your relationship status, your current job, your bank account, or anything that you have or have not done in the past. Don’t listen to any person or automatic negative thoughts that may have conditioned you to think of yourself or your life as a failure.

Don’t ever choose a permanent solution for a temporary problem. You have people who need you and who are counting on you. There is always another day and another way. Rise above the pain and know that deep inside of you there is another person waiting to break through. You have the ability to rebuild, regroup, recover and revive!! Breathe life into your dream. Know that you can live a meaningful and purposeful life. You are an unrepeatable miracle and your dream can live…despite what you feel or what you’re going through right now. You have something special. You have GREATNESS within you!! – Les Brown

There is always another day and another way as you write the story of your life. Just don’t stop writing.

Make it a great day.

Jake

In honor of Halloween I went in search of an inspirational Halloween story. And I found a good one….

http://blog.littlepicklepress.com/2012/11/halloween-hero-story-of-giving.html?m=1

Instead of writing more for you to read, I will keep this short so you can spend time reading the story.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Somehow, what’s in our hearts, good or bad is eventually translated into words and deeds. – Andy Stanley

And I believe this one works the other way too. What we do can eventually become translated to our hearts.

Some questions that came to mind as I read this.

What words or deeds of mine require a change of heart?

What actions can I take to begin the process of making those changes I would like to see?

Hopefully something for us all to consider as we go about our day.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“If it suddenly became impossible for us to cover up all the junk we normally hide from the rest of humanity, I have a feeling we would all get real motivated to deal with the source of what ails us.” Andy Stanley

Sticking with another Andy Stanley quote to keep that ball rolling.

Sometimes in order to make a change we need to admit our area of weakness to someone.

Instead of covering it up we need to engage an accountability partner to drive a change we have been unable to implement on our own.

Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous have known this for years. They have built whole programs around pairing people up so that they become accountable to someone other than themselves as they seek change.

Is there something you have been wanting to change but haven’t been able to?

Maybe now is the time to admit your weakness and need for change to someone trustworthy and ask them to hold you accountable for your growth.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Direction, not intention, determines your destination. – Andy Stanley

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our good intentions and forget to look up and see what our actual direction is.

We intend to lose the weight but are in the car on the way to the drive through again.

We intend to start exercising but our finger is pressing the snooze button again.

We intend to start saving for retirement but our Amazon order history shows something else altogether.

Sometimes our intentions betray our true direction.

But how can we know?

Face the facts.

Look at the scale, look at that bank statement, look at the health of your relationships.

Look at what happens to others with similar intentions and directions. Is everyone else on your path ending up somewhere you don’t want to end up? Might want to change directions.

Time marches on relentlessly, regardless of our intentions or direction.

Might want to make some time to look around and make sure you are marching in the right direction.

Make it a great day.

Jake

JD – The temptation of the age is to look good without being good. – Brennan Manning

JW – PC load letter….what the fuck does that mean? – Michael Bolton

EB – I did everything by the seat of my pants, that’s why I got hurt so much. – Evil Knievel

MS – Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you will start having positive results. – Willie Nelson

Who would have thought that Willie Nelson would have so much wisdom to share.

Short and simple ideas like that are particularly interesting to me.

What if it was as simple as replace the negative thoughts with positive ones?

What if getting better results were that easy?

Would you do it?

Have you ever tried it?

I suspect that for most of us, this wouldn’t be as simple as it sounds. It might even be REALLY hard. It might even take a REALLY long time.

But if you made progress every day, bit by bit, what might then become possible for you?

Lots of questions here, hopefully you can take a moment to really think about them.

Make it a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/N8xnLkyKgsE

Saw this on FaceBox the other day and couldn’t help but be inspired.

Inspired by the smiles on the children’s faces.

Inspired by the love and care of dedicated nurses.

We were made to give our all in service to others.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Thanks to Chris for the email series over the last week or so. What a great group of lessons around what to expect from others and how to manage ourselves through that process to create less stress and more overall happiness for ourselves and others.

I have been listening to a book called “Focus” and he had an interesting quote from an economist from the 70’s who was forecasting the future of the “information age”.

“Information consumes attention, hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

As I look around and see so many of us seemingly overwhelmed with business and a lack of time, I wonder if part of the cause is our lack of attention because of the overwhelming amount of information available to us.

We find time for FaceBox, Twitter, Pinterest, email and general internet surfing, consuming information at a record rate; but at what cost?

Are we failing to pay attention to those things that are really important?

We keep up with our FaceBox page/friends, but haven’t had dinner with that close friend for a year.

We are up to date on the latest hilarious YouTube video, but don’t know how our family is doing.

We just completed the latest Candy Crush level, but haven’t kept up with our health and fitness goals.

Since the tone of this is getting a little negative, let’s turn it around to the positive side.

How much could you accomplish if you focused on what is important?

Think of those priorities in your life that really get you excited and then focus your attention and efforts on them.

We all have 24 hours in a day. The wildly successful and the despondent and depressed. It is all in your attitude and how you spend those 24 hours.

Make it a great day.

Jake

7. Stop expecting them to be “OK.”

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle, just like you. Every smile or sign of strength hides an inner struggle every bit as complex and extraordinary as your own.

Remember that embracing your light doesn’t mean ignoring your dark. We are measured by our ability to overcome adversities and insecurities, not avoid them. Supporting, sharing and making contributions to other people is one of life’s greatest rewards. This happens naturally if we allow it, because we all share very similar dreams, needs and struggles. Once we accept this, the world then is a place where we can look someone else in the eye and say, “I’m lost and struggling at the moment,” and they can nod and say, “Me too,” and that’s OK. Because not being “OK” all the time, is perfectly OK.

People rarely behave exactly the way you want them to. Hope for the best, but expect less. And remember, the magnitude of your happiness will be directly proportional to your thoughts and how you choose to think about things. Even if a situation or relationship doesn’t work out at all, it’s still worth it if it made you feel something new, and if it taught you something new.

Yeah…I can’t add anything to that so I’m not even going to try.

Thanks for letting me guest host! Jake’s back tomorrow!

Chris Nichols

6. Stop expecting them to suddenly change.

If there’s a specific behavior someone you care about has that you’re hoping disappears over time, it probably won’t. If you really need them to change something, be honest and put all the cards on the table so this person knows how you feel and what you need them to do.

For the most part though, you can’t change people and you shouldn’t try. Either you accept who they are or you choose to live without them. It might sound harsh, but it’s not. When you try to change people, they often remain the same, but when you don’t try to change them – when you support them and allow them the freedom to be as they are – they gradually change in the most beautiful way. Because what really changes is the way you see them.

This ties in with #4 and #5. Enjoy others for who they are, but if there are issues, communicate! If someone is constantly doing something that bugs you but you never attempt to address it, it leads to greater stress for you, and it makes interacting with that person uncomfortable. You will find your attitude around that person to be less than productive and they won’t have any reason why. They will pick up on this and will start treating you differently as well. This is how situations escalate. We make up stories in our own heads to fill in the gaps that a simple conversation could have fixed.

Chris Nichols