Day

We all cross paths with a lot of people throughout the day. People in traffic, at work, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. Most people are just trying to make it through the day so they can get home to their families. Is that what we were meant to do?

I think a better approach is instead of getting through the day, find out how you can get from the day. Each day has unlimited potential. We can look to the past or look to the future, but the present is exactly that...a present.

Focus

I have very happy memories of spending time in the summers with my Grandpa when I was young. I remember walking through the tall prairie grass from one farm pond to another. In the morning, when the dew was heavy, I would look back at our tracks through the grass. I commented to Grandpa one time how I didn't walk in a straight line but how he always did. I remember him telling me his secret. I kept my head down when we walked, looking at my feet and all the grasshoppers that were jumping all around me. Grandpa didn't look at his feet. He looked far off into the distance. He focused his eyes on a point on the horizon and walked towards it. Since Grandpa was focused he didn't waste time zig-zagging through the field.

That lesson of focus my Grandpa taught me has stuck with me. There is incredible power when we focus our minds on something. A great example of focus is setting a goal for yourself. The more specific we get in our focus, the more apt we are to achieving what we have our minds set on. And the less likely we are to get distracted by trivial things. Things that can avert our attention elsewhere.

One tip I learned about goals is to be specific. I heard one man say that he used to say he wanted to get in shape. . . . after a while he realized he was in shape, the shape of a pear. He should have been more specific!

Idea

Most everything we surround ourselves with; houses, books, technology, styles, etc. .... had the same beginning. The same starting point. They all started with an idea.

There can be a lot of power behind an idea. Enough power to develop something new. Choose a new path in life. Even enough power to put countries at war.

Victor Hugo remarked, "All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come."

I challenge you to not only come up with ideas but be open to new ones. If the time has come in your life for a new idea . . . look out! You could be on a new path to something far better.

Truth

I heard a quote one time that really challenged me. So here I am, passing it on to you ... in hopes that it will challenge you:

"Thousands of men will quickly die for truth, but very few will spend their whole lives searching for it."

Snap! That's true isn't it? I think about the wars and battles in my life time; Vietnam, Desert Storm, the conflict going on now in Iraq . . . . thousands of men dying. Dying for various reasons I suppose. Probably the most popular reason is that they are dying for what they believe is "truth", what is right. I commend them all and have the utmost respect for the sacrifices they (and their families) are making.

But in America, how many people spend their lives searching? Looking for answers. Asking questions. Reading, listening, and observing. Trying to understand more and more what "truth" really is. And what to do with this "truth".

Reflecting on why this quote really struck me is probably because I don't know if I really am searching for truth. And more importantly, when I learn it how do I specifically apply it in my every day life? For now, I guess I will focus on the continued search and through that I hope to learn how to apply it. Wish me luck!

Pain

My 2 year old daughter Brooklyn was playing with her Mommy out on our deck. I could see and hear them both through the kitchen window. The playing ended in a thud on the deck, followed quickly by shrill crying. You know what I'm talking about? The type of crying that peels paint off the walls. The type of real crying where something is wrong and requires a parents' immediate response.

By the time I got to the window, Mommy was already holding Brooklyn in her arms and was assessing the damage. Brooklyn had lost her footing and fell on her face. Typical 2 year old clumsiness I suppose. Blood was beginning to pool in Brooklyn's lips and around her teeth. No permanent damage, but a hurtful event with blood (which we told her was paint) nonetheless.

About 4 seconds after Mommy picked up Brooklyn an interesting thing happened. Brooklyn started to chant, "Mommy kiss it! Mommy kiss it! Mommy kiss it!". But that isn't the interesting part. After Mommy gently kissed her swollen lips the crying stopped. No whimpering, fussing, or sniveling. She instantly turned back into a happy, sweet little girl.

This painful event in a 2 year olds life was fixed in an instant. Logic tells me that kissing the wound did not take the pain away. I don't know much about the physiology of pain. But I can't accept the fact that pain signals from Brooklyn's mouth instantly stopped telling her brain about the trauma. However, somehow in some unexplained way, the pain was gone and she was able to move on with her life.

Allow me to take a stab at explaining how we can make pain a temporary event in our lives:

1. Realize that pain is inevitable, but wallowing in it is a choice. We all are going to experience pain in our lives. We don't have to focus on it. Don't dwell on the question "why me?!" for too long. Time spent rolling around in your pain is not time well spent.

2. Tell yourself how things could be worse. If you stub your toe, at least you didn't break it. If you broke your toe, at least you only broke one. If you broke multiple toes, at least you didn't break your foot. If you broke bones in your foot, at least you didn't break your leg. You see? It could always be worse so focus on how you are fortunate that it isn't any worse.

3. Make the conscious choice to focus on positive things. Yes, you lost your job. But you have your family don't you? That is something to focus on. Something that can bring you joy despite your momentary pain.

4. Ask for help. God is the obvious choice here isn't he? Do you think God wants you to live in constant pain? Of course not. He wants you to experience joy! So ask him continually how to get there. You can also ask those around you. Tell them your hurt and ask them to help you out of it. We aren't meant to live life alone. We are designed to share in each others joy and help each other through the pain.

We all make a choice on how to react to things in our lives. Slips and falls will happen. That's OK. It's just important to get through it as quickly as possible and move on with our lives!

Optimism

When you meet successful people, you will probably notice several things about them that you'll want to emulate. One of these such qualities, probably the most important one is that of optimism. Successful people don't get bothered by problems and issues. They realize that it is just part of the territory and address things head on. You may think that successful people don't have problems because you rarely hear them talking about them. But the reality is that their problems are probably much bigger and complex than most people . . . they just have the optimism quality where they know things will work out for them.

Below are some ways to exercise your optimism muscles:

1) Talk about what you want rather than what you don't have. Instead of saying, "My job sucks." Say instead, "I am learning skills so I can get a better job."

2) Look for the good in every situation. If you look for something good, you'll always find it.

3) Look for the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. I once heard that, "When God wants to teach you something he wraps it in a problem. When he wants to teach you something big, he wraps it in a BIG problem!" Most people get so preoccupied in the wrapping, they don't see the gift. The gift is the lesson. Your job is to look into it and say, 'What am I meant to learn from this situation?'

4) Feed your mind with new thinking challenging yourself to grow by learning from other's experiences. Talk to as many people as you can. Read as many books as you can. Listen to as many sermons and teachings that you can. All the way feeding your mind and building your optimism.