Tag Archives: mental

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My Word For The Year!

A few years ago, I started thinking about a word that helped to represent my goals for the new year. Last year, I decided to put a little more focus into selecting my one word and letting it motivate and encourage my goals, rather than allowing the goals to motivate my one word. It was a pretty amazing year and the concept seemed to stick with me and encourage me in some very positive ways all throughout the year.

My word last year was SATISFIED. I first got the idea for the word from Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” I reasoned that if I don’t want, then I must be satisfied and this simple idea which I latched onto, became the driving force that helped me to shift my focus onto the things that were working and off of the things that weren’t working. This simple shift allowed me to empower the positive and weed out the negative that so often tended to distract and discourage. It was a very amazing year, filled with blessing and amazing opportunity.

I had planned on having my one word for 2020 picked out before the year began, but for a variety of reasons, I was just not ever able to focus in on it and figure it out. I didn’t give up, I didn’t freak out about it, I just kept the task on my list and knew that when the time was right, it would come to me. Today was the day and I now have my new word for 2020.

My word for the year is TRIUMPH, which carries with it the idea of victory, achievement, success, conquest, winning, growing, developing and becoming. It is what we were created for and is the ultimate fulfillment that we are all destined to experience.

My Scripture for the year comes from 2 Corinthians 2:14 – it says: ‘But thanks be to God, who always leads us in TRIUMPH in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

My idea with this word is the encouragement to follow through, complete the things that the Spirit has laid out for me and expereince the fulfillment of accomplishment that comes with being in step with my created purpose.

I really want to encourage you to think about and discover your one word for the year. You can go to http://myoneword.org/ and it will help guide you through a simple process and give you a lot of good ideas for choosing yours… If you already have one or happen to figure your one word out, please feel free to share with me, I would love to hear it…

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High School Love Songs!

When I was in High School, one of the most popular bands at the time was a group by the name of Chicago with Peter Cetera. They had a lot of hits that were on the “I’m In Love” playlists of every high schooler that had any swag at all. Back then, we would pop an audio tape into our “Walkman” tape player, put on our headphones, which are now ear buds or air pods, just a lot bigger and get lost in the tunes which we would have sworn were all about the truest of love.

One of their most popular “love” songs was a song called: “You’re The Inspiration!’ The first verse was low and slow as it said:

“You know our love was meant to be the kind of love to last forever. And I want you here with me – From tonight until the end of time… You should know – Everywhere I go, Always on my mind, In my heart, In my soul – Baby!”

If youv’e ever heard the song, then you can already feel it building to that amazing chorus. The chorus flowing straight from the lovers heart makes even the listener sing with all the intensity that a loving heart can muster:

“You’re the meaning in my life
You’re the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You’re the inspiration
Want to have you near me
I want to have you hear me saying
“No one needs you more than I need you””

It was really a very simple song, with a lot of the same words and a pretty singular thought: “You’re The Inspiration!”, because let’s face it – when you are in high school and you finally fall in love, there is absolutly nothing in this world that matters anymore. At least this is how we think and feel in those moments, which years later, most of us look back on and ask: “What was I thinking?” And the answer: You were not thinking, you were feeling with everything you understood and possessed at that moment in time.

What is important about that song, those feelings and our precious memories is this: Most all of us have had at least one moment in time when someone or something came along and inspired us as nothing else ever had. Inspiration is a beautiful, powerful and sometimes very tricky thing, while at the same time being one of the ost amazing gifts we could ever be blessed with.

I want to ask you a question today:

WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION?

It is so easy to lose focus in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and living. But if we are honest with ourselves and with others, some of the greatest, most precious, most fulfilling and most memorable moments of our lives have come when we found ourselves paying attention to nothing else, but our INSPIRATION.

When someone or something inspires you, you don’t care what other people think or say. the inspiration has touched something deep inside of you and it feels way too good to allow anything or anybody to interfere.

When we listen to and act on our inspiration, we are living at a higher level. We find that we are often more creative, more open to whatever opportunities may come our way and more available to experiencing this amazing, incredible thing called life.

Everyone needs inspiration. Live long enough and you will discover that a “physical relationship” is not the only place it can come from. In fact, inspiration can come from a variety of different sources. The important thing is to look for yours.

When was the last time you actually took some time to think about and look for what inspires you? I can tell you this: If you don’t look for it, then you are going to have a lot harder time finding, experiencing and holding onto it.

What is it that you can’t live without? What is it that that you don’t want to live without? What is it that brings meaning and feeling to your everyday experiences? Figure this out, chase after it and you will be on your way to living a pretty blessed life…

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Mud Holes & Getting Unstuck!

I Ain’t Stuck!

When I was in college, one of my good friends had a little Datsun car, I can’t remember what it was called, just that it was a little car that we would load up with four big ole country boys and head out to find swamp land somewhere in the Charleston, South Carolina area. We were looking for a place with some mud roads that we could get lost and stuck on. Once we located the biggest mud hole we could find, we would then drive that little car straight in, just as far as we could go, with the goal of making it through, but we were not at all heartbroken if we got stuck, because then the new challenge of getting unstuck became our focus and was really what we had the most fun doing and quiet honestly the reason that we were out there.

Now days, getting stuck is not so fun and getting unstuck can literally suck the life right out of you. You know what I’m talking about right? You finally seem to get your life headed in the right direction. You are cruising along, crushing goals and everything just seems fine and dandy. And then all of a sudden, out of no where, you come up on a mud hole. You decide to give it all and try to plough right through it, but sometimes even your best efforts leave you stranded and before you know it, you’re stuck. You try to get yourself out of the mess and ended up getting stuck even worse. Does it sound like I’m describing a real life scenario? Of course it does, because we’ve all been there and in fact, many of us find ourselves, sitting on the side of the road of life – tired, dirty, worn out and ready to give up…

Don’t throw in the towel just yet, because when life throws a mud hole in your direction, there are actually some steps you can take to get unstuck and maybe learn to enjoy the process along the way…

The next time you find yourself stuck, try a few of these steps, before you give up, give in and give out:

1. Learn From The Past And Let It Go! Whenever we got stuck, we had learned some tried and true methods that would work to help us get out. We had been stuck and gotten unstuck enough times to know that some things would work – like getting something under the tire, so we could get some traction. And some things wouldn’t work – like giving it more gas and just digging the rut deeper. In life, we all make mistakes and miss the mark. Learn whatever your mistake is supposed to teach you and move on. Stop digging your ruts deeper by overthinking your sins failiures and mistakes!

2. Change Your Perspective And See Things From A Different Point Of View! Whenever we got stuck, we would get out, survey the situation from all angles and then we would go to work. One of us pushing at the back wheel, one of us jumping up and down on the back bumper, one of us in the car, going from drive to reverse and one of us surveying the situation to see what we might be missing. I honestly can’t remember too many times that we couldn’t figure it out and if push came to shove and we were lost for ideas then out came what we called “THE COME ALONG” – a ratchet strap device that we would hook to the car and then to a nearby tree to tow ourselves out. Just remember that where there is a will, there is a way! Look at your life, challenge, mud hole as an opportunity to do things better and figure it out by looking at it from all points of view…

3. Get Some Help And Realize That You Were Never Intended To Do This Thing Called Life Alone! Every now and then as darkness began to approach, we would realize that we were out of ideas, strength and were probably left with only one option. And that was to call someone for help. If you’ve done everything you can, then there is absolutly nothing wrong with asking for help, in fact, that is what our Creator designed us to do. Pray about it, talk to others about what you are going through and then accept the help that is offered to you. I know it’s not easy asking or accepting help from others, but often times, it’s as big a blessing for them to help us as it is for us to receive their help.

Live life long enough and you are going to run into some mud holes and you are going to get stuck, don’t sweat it, learn to enjoy it, learn from it and move on down the road…