“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

― Roald Dahl, The Twits

New year – new you.

Maybe a good place to start is on our thoughts.

To crowd out all the ugly thoughts with good ones.

Thoughts of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, self-control, faithfulness.

When you think about it – I’m guessing the people in your life that you have fond memories of and experiences with have those kinds of thoughts and it comes through. It was about how they made you feel – not about their looks, what they wore or how fit they were.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. – Thornton Wilder

Maybe you already have all your New Years’ resolutions down and are working away.

If you don’t, I’d like to suggest one: read or listen to something positive every day.

Even if it’s just a couple of pages or a couple of minutes.

Put some good stuff in. Let it work in the background as you go about your day.

Let it build over the course of the year.

There’s plenty of negative out there – just focus on the positive a little at a time, every day.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – I’d love to hear any ideas you have for something positive like this to add to our daily routines. Send your ideas out to the group!

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There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself. – Louis XIV

So many of our goals are really about conquering ourselves.

To lay down our short term desires for long term goals.

To put aside selfishness for selflessness.

Jim Rohn calls discipline the magic key that unlocks so much in our lives.

Disciplining ourselves to conquer ourselves is a part of the process of moving away from our old selves and into our new selves.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved. – Vivien Leigh

Monday morning reminder – you are loved.

Wholly and completely.

Just as you are.

Don’t ever forget it.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/af2GrJ7xfA0?si=3KYQcgtEGFs2ql01

Life’s a happy song!

Watched this last night with the kiddos and thought it would be a good toe tapper to start the year.

Let’s make 2025 a happy year!

Make it a great day.

Jake

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And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. – Rainer Maria Rilke

Part of the magic of the new year is all that could be.

All of the opportunities for change and growth are in front of us once again.

Time to be optimistic and think about all the good things that could happen in the new year.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Short days and long nights are upon us. Winter is here and cold temps will be here soon enough.

This quote paints a good picture.

Let us warm ourselves with love. The kind of love born of action. Taking loving steps towards the happiness of another.

We can fill our lives like this.

Does that sound so much better than the cold? The self-centered, always worried about ourselves, cold.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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https://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw?si=Wc58XfczawidfW0y

Last Friday of 2024!

Time to break out that list for the year and make sure you got everything checked off.

Or if not, get started on next year’s list.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. – Joseph Brodsky

After Christmas reminder – the relationships are to be cherished, not the stuff.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Quick reminder right before Christmas – even if the presents and everything were stolen last minute by the Grinch – you can still have a Merry Christmas.

In the book, the Whos down in Whoville gather round and sing songs of joy when they wake up and all the trappings of Christmas are gone.

They still found joy in celebrating together without all the stuff.

Christmas is more than gifts and decorations.

Make it a great day.

Jake

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