Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. – George Halas

Giving our best is a choice.

Doing less than or nothing seems easier at the time, but doesn’t seem to pan out.

The trick (if there is one) is in deciding what to give our best to.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about all the possible opportunities for giving our best.

It’s in the choosing of the most important that we gain the clarity and direction needed for giving and being our best.

Notice also that is "giving" our best, not getting.

Giving is always a good place to start when looking for the best opportunity.

Make it a great day.

Jake

People change and forget to tell each other. – Lillian Hellman

A constant of life is change.

The people in our lives are in a continous process of changing and so are we.

Relationships create the conduit for us to work through these changes together.

We can help the important people by encouraging their growth and change.

And we can encourage our own growth by talking through it with those we love.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/3Xl0Qr0uXuY

I know I’ve sent this out before but we’ve been watching The Mandalorian lately and it’s put me in a Star Wars mood.

Stories like these tell the tale of good vs evil. Relationships that matter. Hope that never gives up. How doing the right things is always the right thing. Power and greed can ruin a human being (or aliens or whatever).

As we watch movies and read books we have an opportunity to develop our philosophy of how the world works and what good looks like.

We get to choose whether to agree with the creator or not. Whether to root for the bad guy or the good guy.

How and what you choose to adopt as your philosophy matters.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Give yourself time to be sad, frustrated and angry. Give yourself time to heal, accept and to grow. Time doesn’t erase anything, but it can provide you with enough space to be able to breathe again. And then one day you wake up and your heart has a little bit of sunshine in it. – Jessica Jensen

Jim Rohn talks about how life needs all the musical notes.

The high notes and the low notes.

Only high notes sounds a little funny.

Only low sounds funny too.

Mix them together and you get something magical.

Finding our way through all of the highs and lows while keeping our head up is an art unto itself.

Keep your head up today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

C.S. Lewis

Not much to add to this passage.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge. – William Shakespeare

I looked up the definition of mercy and found this – Mercy is the compassionate treatment of those in distress, especially when it is within one’s power to punish or harm them. The word “mercy” derives from the medieval Latin merced or merces, which means "price paid." It has the connotation of forgiveness, benevolence and kindness.

We’ve all been shown mercy at one point or another in our lives.

Showing mercy to others is something to practice.

In our interactions with our family, friends, coworkers and customers we have the opportunity to practice small moments of mercy daily.

To be compassionate and consider the “price paid” when we are owed something that isn’t given.

We practice the small stuff in case we are ever in a position to be merciful with something bigger. So that in that moment we have the opportunity to be noble.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Couldn’t write an email about mercy without calling out the great mercy shown to us through Christ. We’ve been given the opportunity to live with him forever in heaven when we should be destined for hell. The price has been paid.

Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell. – Bill Copeland

One of the balancing acts in life is learning to love yourself without thinking too much of yourself.

Internal self talk like – I’m not good enough, I’m too fat, I’m too dumb, nobody likes me, I don’t measure up, etc. do us more harm than good.

We can spiral ourselves into trouble simply by thinking those thoughts.

We must learn to be at ease in our own shell while striving to become the best version of ourselves.

SO THAT – we can be of service to others in love.

No so that we can feel better or be more comfortable or take it easy or not take responsibility for our actions.

Our end goal is humility and service, not pride and comfort.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/VcjzHMhBtf0

Don’t stop believing.

We all reach a point with our goals and vision of the future where we are tempted to stop believing in our picture of the future.

Don’t.

Keep picturing that better future.

Write it down (again if you need to).

Rekindle those feelings you first had when you set the goal.

Get your mind back into that state of mind you had when first had when you were fired up and just getting started.

Make it a great day.

Jake

A “what if” questions that I try to ask myself….

What if it isn’t all about me?

What if the others aren’t thinking, judging, analyzing everything I do?

What if everyone else didn’t notice that I’m too ugly, smelly, dumb, smart, sweaty, left my fly open?

What if my role is to help and support those around me instead of the other way around?

What could I do to help if I wasn’t so worried about myself?

What if my life’s purpose was to serve others with love?

What if I trained myself to think of others first?

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – Sorry to everyone for every time I’ve been too self-centered to ask myself these questions before our interactions. This idea is a continuous struggle that I get wrong more than right.

“When they have really learned to love their neighbours as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbours.” – C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Meaghan and I listened to The Screwtape Letters on the way to Tennessee yesterday (I know….I sound like so much fun on a road trip).

It’s often spouted as advice to focus on self love and to love yourself first.

CS Lewis suggests something different. Learn to love others first.

In doing so we learn our own value and create space to love ourselves.

If your struggling, maybe a good place to start.

Make it a great day.

Jake