Category Archives: journey

Blogroll, Growing, Healing, journey, life, mindfulness, personal growth, purpose, spiritual enlightenment

Seven Steps To Living A Life Of Resilience!

One of my favorite series of movies is ROCKY. I love everyone of the movies and have passed that love to the rest of my family and especially my daughters. “Eye Of The Tiger – Girls – Eye OF The Tiger!” I think one of the reasons that so many of us love the Rocky movies is because it is the story of resilience, the ability to get knocked down, get back up and keep on going, no matter what.

Live your life long enough and you are going to get knocked down, but you can’t stay down, because that would not be much of a life would it? As I look back on my life, I have to admit, I have been down many times, but I never stay down, because some how, some where inside of me, my Creator placed a beautiful gift called resilience.

Resilience is about adapting, improvising and learning to overcome. Challenge is a natural part of life that becomes a problem for us, when we resist it. Rather than resisting challenge, we need to learn to embrace it. When we embrace challenge, we learn and grow from it.

At the end of the day, there are only a few things that really matter. Are you thriving or surviving, because God created us to thrive? Are you allowing the love to flow by receiving and sharing love? Are you learning and growing, because this life is all about getting ready for eternity? Are you laughing and enjoying the journey, because life really is a precious gift? We need to get it right, because we all have family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even strangers that are looking to us for blessing, direction and hope.

Here Are Seven Steps To Living A Life Of Resilience:

1. RELAX! We really do need to learn to chill. I’m not saying that we should not take life seriously, but we don’t need to take ourselves too seriously. Chill out! Take a moment to breathe in, hold it, now breathe out! See, it’s not a big deal after all. I’ve got some very encouraging news for you: The success or failure of this world is not dependent upon you!

2. CHECK YOUR THINKING! There are so many different things that impact our thinking and if we are not careful, we will allow the wrong things, which will lead to stinking thinking. We need to continually check our thinking, where it’s coming from and where it’s going. If our thinking if not right, then we need to fix it.

3. LEARN FROM MISTAKES AND FAILURES! I’ve got some really good news for you. No one expects you to be perfect and if anyone does expect you to be perfect, then they are revealing their imperfection with such an unrealistic expectation. I have always said that if we will learn from a mistake, sin or failure, then it wasn’t a waste, it was an education and people pay big money for an education.

4. REMEMBER YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE! You cannot choose for anyone else and no one else can choose for you, but you do have this amazing ability to choose for yourself, what you are going to believe and how you are going to react. Choose wisely!

5. PRACTICE FLEXIBILITY! There is a Japanese Proverb that says: “The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” We have to be flexible in this human experience if our Spirit is going to grow us into what we are called and created to be.

6. SET GOALS! Everyday is an opportunity to experience new and amazing things, but most of us miss the divine, because we allow ourselves to be distracted by stuff that really does not matter in the grand scheme of life. Take a look at your spiritual, mental and physical life and focus on becoming all that you were created to be.

7. GROW YOURSELF! Stop worrying about fixing everybody and everything else and make sure that you are the very best you that you can be, because at the end of the day, if we can get this right, then the promise is that God will take care of the rest.

Blogroll, emotions, Gratitude, Growing, journey, life, mindfulness

Today Is Your Best Day!

Today Is Your Best Day! That’s right, today, not yesterday and not tomorrow. Today, because today is what you’ve got. So many of us miss the blessing of the moment because we are either stuck in the past or worried about the future. Today is what you’ve got, so enjoy today as your best day.

Today Is Your Best Day, Because You Are Here! Right now in this very moment you exist and have opportunity to make this moment whatever you want it to be. If you want it to be happy, it will be happy. If you want it to be sad, it will be sad. This moment is your opportunity to follow the example of your Creator and “create” whatever it is that you desire.

Today Is Your Best Day, Because Yesterday Is Over! Yesterday has already been lived and you cannot live yesterday again. Hopefully, you learned whatever it was that yesterday was trying to teach you, so that you can grow on. Don’t get stuck on yesterday, because it can cause you to miss and waste today and today is your best day.

Today Is Your Best Day, Because God Is Using Today To Prepare You! God is using today to prepare you for whatever it is that He has in store for you and it is always something amazing. Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future and today is the present, so accept it as the GIFT that it is and make it your best day yet.

Coorie ten Boom used to say: “God doesn’t have problems, He has plans!” And today is your best day, because whatever comes your way, it’s not a problem, it is just a part of God’s plan to grow you into the kinda of person that makes every day their best day… 🙏🏻

Blogroll, Enlightenment, Gratitude, journey, Personal, Uncategorized

What’s In A Name?

My name is Michael Joe Harvell and I can’t think of a better name for myself.

One of my favorite country music singers is Johnny Cash and one of my favorite songs he sings is “A Boy Named Sue!” It’s a song all about a fatherless young man, whose father had named him Sue just before the father decided to disappear out of his life and into nowhere. The boy grew up hard, was made fun of, because of his name and had to get tough to survive. One day, he was sitting in a bar and met his Dad, the man who named him Sue. A fight ensued and son got the best of his Dad. The Dad said: “Before you kill me, let me tell you why I named you Sue!” “It was because I knew life was hard and tough and you were going to have to be to, if you were going to survive.”

Some times I wonder is the name making me or am I making the name and most days, I figure, it is probaby a little bit of both???

So let me share with you the story of how I got the name Michael Joe Harvell: I was born May 9, 1968. My parents could not agree on a name for me. My biological Dad wanted to name me: Ralph Maxwell Hiott III after himself and his Dad. My Mom wanted to name me Harry James Hiott; Harry after her favorite uncle and James after her Father. Neither would agree with the other on the name, so one day my biological Dad came to her with the idea of naming me “Michael Joe Hiott”, Michael after him, everyone called him Mike (I have no idea why?) And Joe after her, because her name was Martha Jo. So that became my name and a few years later, after a divorce, My Mom would remarry and the man she married would choose to adopt me, become my Dad and my last name would change to Harvell.

I have always felt I fit my name and my name fits me. I sometimes think that had I been named Ralph Maxwell Hiott III, I probably would have been a book worm, bratty and entitled. Had I been named Harry James Hiott, then I probably would have become a drugged up musician, looking for my next gig. Instead I was named Michael Joe and I really do feel like it’s who I am…

Michael in the Hebrew language means “One Who Is Like The Lord” and Joe in the American Dictionary means “An Average American”. I’ve always said this combination of names is my testimony in a nutshell: I am an average american, who is trying to be like the Lord…

So, I have enjoyed growing into being Michael Joe Harvell and have been blessed with a pretty amazing life, which I’m still living, learning and loving everyday…