You know what I love about life? At any moment you have the opportunity to take steps to change it. :) It REALLY doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done. All that matters is that you have a desire to change and make changes. If you feel like you can't make changes, there are people out there (I know of a handful in my life) that genuinely love to help people create life change. If nothing else, contact me! I would love to help. :) Simply by expressing your deep desire to change, they will go out of their way to help and serve you.
I'm so grateful for this knowledge. I kinda knew this for most of my life. For me personally, it is enhanced with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing that He is covering my weaknesses is VERY freeing. He believes in me and has given me the power to change my life to become closer aligned with His will through his atoning sacrifice. I learned yesterday that I don't really understand it at all. However, I know that I have felt the joy knowing it is real.
I say all these things today because... I'M ON TRACK AGAIN! Man it feels good! Have you ever woken up with... 30-60 extra minutes before you have to prepare for the day? Have you ever spent time in purposeful silence to get in touch with yourself? Or visualizing/pre-playing your day? Or expressing gratitude for everything great in your life? Or reading a good improving book? Doing any and all of these things BEFORE the day starts is SOOOO much easier than adding them in later! I have managed to do a couple of those with descent consistency for the last couple weeks. However, right now going through them before the day is so much freeing. It relives my mind from having to find time in my busy schedule later. -- I learned about those actions and how to do it from a book, The Miracle Morning.
To share one last thing, this is my favorite alarm song. It's called New Day! It is quite empowering. I love it. I love to listen to it in the beginning of the day and ponder on the message of the lyrics. AND it's upbeat and lively. Just what I need to start the day!!
Jeff :)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Obscure Gratitude
Sooooo I definitely had my daily routine fall flat recently. haha. BUT I have a few minutes and wanted to share an idea really quick...
I am REALLY grateful for our well developed society. Have you ever spent any time thinking about the modern conveniences that make life FREAKING GREAT on a daily basis?
For example, how great is it to have access to a washing machine and dryer!??! I can just pop it in and take out clean clothes within a couple hours. How much more convenient is that than hand washing and air drying (what if it was raining?!!?)? What about an oven, stove, and refrigerator? How cool is it that we can can foods, freeze dry foods, or have other slow to perish foods? How much more convenient is it to have stores where we can shop for food?!?!
What about our modern infrastructure? Specifically, I'm WAYYY grateful for our potable (drinking) water and sewer system. How cool is it to have drinking fountains and sinks to get water from? How great is it to not have to worry about where our next water comes from? There are societies in the world today that have to spend most of their waking hours simply trying to acquire water for themselves! Also, what the heck would we do with all of our poop? I'm so grateful for toilets!!! That makes life so much easier to deal with!
What about phones, texting, and internet?!?! Texting and calling people close to me is so great! And with a headset, I can even call them while on the move! Texting... it's great. Internet... SOOOO many great things at our fingertips! My online banking went down today; I was frustrated. But then I remembered how great it is that I have freakin mobile banking!
And... I wouldn't be able to find many places without gps. They make life so much simpler and awesome. AND I remember when I was in Paris over the summer, I was able to show a new friend what the house I grew up in looked like! Google Maps is so cool!
Moral... for all the haters of modern convenience, there are WAYYY more pros than cons. For sure there are cons. I dislike a number of things that have happened, but I am grateful that today while reflecting in the bathroom I remembered of all the great things they have enabled. I look forward to that day in the relatively soon future (within 10 years) that I will have the opportunity to travel around the world and visit other places without these conveniences. It will make me appreciate it far more than I do right now. I can't really imagine what life would be like without these.
I am REALLY grateful for our well developed society. Have you ever spent any time thinking about the modern conveniences that make life FREAKING GREAT on a daily basis?
For example, how great is it to have access to a washing machine and dryer!??! I can just pop it in and take out clean clothes within a couple hours. How much more convenient is that than hand washing and air drying (what if it was raining?!!?)? What about an oven, stove, and refrigerator? How cool is it that we can can foods, freeze dry foods, or have other slow to perish foods? How much more convenient is it to have stores where we can shop for food?!?!
What about our modern infrastructure? Specifically, I'm WAYYY grateful for our potable (drinking) water and sewer system. How cool is it to have drinking fountains and sinks to get water from? How great is it to not have to worry about where our next water comes from? There are societies in the world today that have to spend most of their waking hours simply trying to acquire water for themselves! Also, what the heck would we do with all of our poop? I'm so grateful for toilets!!! That makes life so much easier to deal with!
What about phones, texting, and internet?!?! Texting and calling people close to me is so great! And with a headset, I can even call them while on the move! Texting... it's great. Internet... SOOOO many great things at our fingertips! My online banking went down today; I was frustrated. But then I remembered how great it is that I have freakin mobile banking!
And... I wouldn't be able to find many places without gps. They make life so much simpler and awesome. AND I remember when I was in Paris over the summer, I was able to show a new friend what the house I grew up in looked like! Google Maps is so cool!
Moral... for all the haters of modern convenience, there are WAYYY more pros than cons. For sure there are cons. I dislike a number of things that have happened, but I am grateful that today while reflecting in the bathroom I remembered of all the great things they have enabled. I look forward to that day in the relatively soon future (within 10 years) that I will have the opportunity to travel around the world and visit other places without these conveniences. It will make me appreciate it far more than I do right now. I can't really imagine what life would be like without these.
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