Tag Archives: physical

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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…

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Change Your Why To What And Move On!

Sometimes it just seems like it does not matter what you do, the world is just lined up against you. You get up with a good attitude, begin to take all the steps to head your life in a right direction and “BAM” out of nowhere you get blindsided once again with stuff you feel is totally out of your control.

So many of the people I talk to on a daily basis really do want to do better and live a more fulfilled life, but it just seems that no matter how hard they try, carefully they plan or how organized they become, life just seems to find a way of sticking it to them.

You may be one of those folks and trust me when I tell you that I can most definitely relate. I mean, I really do have the best of intentions. I like to think I have a pretty incredible work ethic and a tenacity to stick with it, no matter what, but sometimes life just seems to get too hard, especially when I seem to keep taking blow after blow after blow.

I have learned that when my life gets to this place, the first question, becomes the reoccurring question and before I know it, I have dug myself a grave. The question we tend to ask that gets us into such a mess is: “Why is this happening to me?” and the problem with the question is that it puts all the focus into the wrong place – me!

If you really want to succeed and experience blessings in this life, then you need to not only ask questions, but make sure you are asking the right questions. If we will just change our “why” question into a “what” question, we will be amazingly surprised at what a difference it will begin to make in our attitude and through our attitude with our life and living.

If you are going to ask and answer a question, then make sure it’s the right one. Instead of asking “Why is this happening to me?” Ask – “WHAT IS THIS TRYING TO TEACH ME?” It is the answer to this question that has the potential to set us free to be blessed in incredible ways. This question takes the focus off of me and puts it on the lesson I need to learn and once I learn this lesson, I am on my way to the better I was created for.

So my encouragement for today is to change your “WHY?” into a “WHAT?” and grow on! Trust me, you will be glad you did…