Good morning

This post will perhaps be this shortest post I've ever done. I just wrote for 15 minutes on my iPhone and is then accidentally selected the whole thing and deleted it. Unfortunately I do not see an undo button. So here we go!

Essentially, the post was about my walk this morning. Originally I had planned to go on a run but my ankle started hurting and I ended up only being a will to go for a walk. I passed a number of people that were going to UC Davis for their early-morning class this quarter. Instead of simply walking by them as I am accustomed to, I decided to wave and smile to a couple people and wish people good morning.

It's always amazing how awkward it feels to go out of your way in talk to somebody that you don't know if only to say hi or wish them good morning or even offer a smile. It's even more interesting when you see the responses from those people who are completely shocked and confused that anybody would smile, wave, or say anything to them in the morning.

I definitely plan to make this a habit because... I don't see why not! I also finished reading some more of the New Testament in Luke chapter 8 today. One of the things that Jesus is such a great example of is loving people and reaching out to them all the time. The most important thing to remember about Jesus is how much he was rejected or disapproved of by people out there. However, that did not deter him from continuing to reach out and offer love, peace, and acceptance to everyone he met. In the parable of the Sower he mentioned how some times the message just falls on people who are prepared for it or don't want it. Those people should not deter you and hopefully don't deter myself from containing to reach out and offer a simple smile or good morning to the people who do want it. You never know who your enemy on a regular basis and I'm so excited that I went out of my way on this day to do that.

I'm fired up. My first school day preparation has gone very well. Waking up at 7 AM is very positive. And I look forward to writing some more tomorrow.

- P.S. writing talk to text is really cool!

Love the Scripture: Luke 5-7

You know, these scriptures are amazing. Growing up Catholic, every week at mass there is a Gospel passage read consisting of anywhere between a few versus to a few chapters at Easter. I never realized how dense the four Gospels are with epic awesomeness. In the chapters I read last night and this morning (Luke 5-7), there are so many parts of them that have been used as the whole Gospel reading on a given Sunday.

Two of my favorite parts (there are sooooo many awesome other parts in these couple chapters it is ridiculous) were the last 5-10 versus in chapter 6 and the last 5-10 versus of chapter 7. I could literally write SOOOOO much on both of them. There are so many nuggets in each. Literally, you could pull more than 5 readings in just these two small parts of Luke! --> AND after writing, I ended up adding more epically awesome scripture too!! :)

It's a new day! :)

A good friend of mine started a blog a few days ago and wrote some powerful stuff. It reminded me of how much I grew while I was writing blog posts a year ago. Time will tell how well I do with this commitment... I am committing to writing in my blog a few lines every morning. It'll be used to reflect on scriptures (I'm reading the New Testament right now) and on books that I'm reading. I plan to read the scriptures and books early in the morning. Then, I will write a quick post (hopefully not requiring too much time) on what I learned, what I'm implementing, or how I'm doing.

I am working on becoming more transparent and honest. It is quite a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. Because of this struggle, I now have deep respect for my Institute teacher and those I work with because I KNOW they are real. They are truly living the Gospel. They are who they say they are. They aren't hiding anything. They have a spotless private life. That's who I'm going to become. I just have some work to do on that! I can't wait. :) 

--> I'm curious how many people will find this because I'm not planning on telling people I'm writing again. AND you (whoever you are) will know of my progress by looking at the times of day I make my posts (if it gives both time and date). I'm supposed to be doing it in the morning (not at nearly 2pm like today. haha).

I am not sure how I'll be signing off these posts. But I like these two ideas that I'll leave with. Maybe I'll even talk about them later! Time will tell.

"The brick walls are there to stop the other people and reveal our dedication."
"If you have no critics, that means you aren’t a threat."

Reading and Learning

Just the other day, I restarted reading good books. WOW. I'm always impressed how awesome reading is once I finally take the time to go out of my way and do it.
--> makes me think of a quote Chris Brady loves repeating: "You don't know what you don't know. You forget a lot of stuff you know. And you know a lot of stuff that isn't so." - Specifically here, it is forgetting stuff that you knew. I've 'known' that reading is awesome. Once at the beginning of 2012 I even read 7 books in 7 weeks. But, once I broke the habit, I forgot how great it was!

Have you ever been reading a book, and really enjoyed the book, but for some reason stopped reading it? Have you ever just gotten tired of an author? Without knowing it, that happened to me! I have just stopped reading some books - that I had been learning a lot from - for seemingly no apparent reason! Chris Brady, the same one from that previous quote, is a best selling author and top ranked leadership expert. I read a blog post of his a while back on reading, but hadn't implemented it until this time. And what a difference it made!

Innate Human Dignity

I just had a mini epiphany in the idea of human dignity. 

For some background, yesterday I received an email from the "social justice committee" from my church. They are reading books and becoming semi-active politically in fighting for rights for the imprisoned and against capital punishment. I read an article included in the email about people who claim to be Catholic, but support the death penalty and how those aren't compatible. 

Then just now I was rereading a section of a book ("How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People") that said: "You would automatically practice god human relations if you would remember that every individual is important, because every individual is a child of God." And I noticed a very puzzling inconsistency with a large number of people.

Words are POWERFUL!

Wow wow wow wow. Words are POWERFUL! :) Today, I was reminded of that. 

I love complements. And for some reason, I don't think I'm in the minority here. Lol. I have this strange feeling that everyone enjoys being noticed and recognized. Everyone, from the murders to the saints, from the slaves to the kings, love to be complemented and praised for their work. 

Today and yesterday I received a few complements and words of appreciation that made a major impact for me. Sometimes... you just need some reassurance that you're on the right path, that you are capable, that you are improving, that someone also believes in you.