In everyone's life, there are crucial points of decision. For me, this especially has happened when I was stuck in repeatedly making mistakes. At that point I had the option of acknowledging these mistakes and changing or surrendering to the mistakes and giving up.
To illustrate this point, I was just reading an excerpt from a spiritual book that was discussing the denying of Jesus by Peter. For some reason one of the things that I thought of immediately was Judas Iscariot. Interestingly, both of them denied Jesus to a huge degree. Peter denied Jesus to the point of cursing people who accused them of knowing each other. Judas betrayed Jesus and handed him over to his death. Ultimately at the time of Jesus's death, both Judas and Peter had deserted Jesus. Jesus was dead thanks in part to both of them. They had hit a point of decision. Peter and Judas had the decision. Do they own up to their mistakes and turn to Jesus or give up? If you know the story, they made completely different decisions.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
Why Succeeding in Anything is Hard
I was reflecting yesterday about the process of succeeding in developing a new skill or habit. This can be in developing the ability to connect with new people, master a move in a sport, learn a new subject in school, or something else. Immediately, I was reminded of a talk I heard in January from author and successful businessman Chris Brady called "LifeSaver" and the subsequent CD recording. He clearly articulated this process in a way I want to relate now. He taught the reason why succeeding in anything is hard via the 3 phases in developing mastery in a new endeavor.
I'll start with a question. Have you ever seen someone demonstrate great skill in a field? For example, a profession sports athlete, an accomplished musician, a great dancer, a brilliant mind in an academic setting, person share a message of spiritual significance, etc. Have you ever thought, "I bet I can do that!" or, "That looks like so much fun!" without having any real experience in that field? Or maybe, we are exposed to a great teacher and they make us feel like anything is possible and help us develop some initial abilities. At that point we decide at age 10, "I want to be a theoretical physicist or a doctor or the president of the United States or something else."In this period, we assume that we have what it takes and will probably be easy to accomplish the thing that we see. This is called the Ignorance Phase.
After we are in that phase,
I'll start with a question. Have you ever seen someone demonstrate great skill in a field? For example, a profession sports athlete, an accomplished musician, a great dancer, a brilliant mind in an academic setting, person share a message of spiritual significance, etc. Have you ever thought, "I bet I can do that!" or, "That looks like so much fun!" without having any real experience in that field? Or maybe, we are exposed to a great teacher and they make us feel like anything is possible and help us develop some initial abilities. At that point we decide at age 10, "I want to be a theoretical physicist or a doctor or the president of the United States or something else."In this period, we assume that we have what it takes and will probably be easy to accomplish the thing that we see. This is called the Ignorance Phase.
After we are in that phase,
Thursday, February 14, 2013
New Day (again)
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 :)
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 :)
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.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Ever been somewhat depressed?
Occasionally, I become disheartened or depressed. Nothing serious. But, I was wondering WHY that happens to me. What is it that causes frustration, depression, etc. --> Side note, this is only why I feel this way. I've read enough about personality types to know that my situation may be typical for 25% of people out there, but not everyone. However, it could possibly contain insight for you. Hopefully it does. :)
For example, earlier today I felt this way. In this case, I was up early in the morning (at 6 ish) only to fall asleep from 8am-noon. I was like... NOOOO!!! I WASTED ANOTHER FREAKIN DAY! Another example, I planned to wake up at 7am or 9am last week. But I woke up at 10am or 12pm. Again, I was like... I WASTED ANOTHER DAY! What am I doing with myself?!?! There are all these things to do and I'm just sleeping! Sheesh.
The other common examples are when I come up to some significant deadline, but don't feel like I can finish in time. For example... last week I had a quiz and lab report due on Wednesday. I get back home late Tuesday and haven't started any yet. I was so scared that I couldn't do all of them in time that I never even started. I ended up just sitting on the computer and doing... I don't even remember. Ended up falling asleep and waking up still unprepared. Instead of studying or working on my lab for 1-2 hours when I had the chance before my quiz, I STILL was overwhelmed to the point of analysis paralysis (can't do anything, overwhelmed). It didn't get any better and I honestly didn't really do either and will/have suffered the consequences.
Have you ever had either of those happen to you? Seeing that these have happened to me more than once already in 2013, I feel like you might have had something like this happen at least once in your life... Ever wanted to know how you might be able to limit those from happening? I'm honestly getting VERY sick of this. These are my personal conclusions as to WHY this is happening and how I can change it to limit/eliminate it.
For example, earlier today I felt this way. In this case, I was up early in the morning (at 6 ish) only to fall asleep from 8am-noon. I was like... NOOOO!!! I WASTED ANOTHER FREAKIN DAY! Another example, I planned to wake up at 7am or 9am last week. But I woke up at 10am or 12pm. Again, I was like... I WASTED ANOTHER DAY! What am I doing with myself?!?! There are all these things to do and I'm just sleeping! Sheesh.
The other common examples are when I come up to some significant deadline, but don't feel like I can finish in time. For example... last week I had a quiz and lab report due on Wednesday. I get back home late Tuesday and haven't started any yet. I was so scared that I couldn't do all of them in time that I never even started. I ended up just sitting on the computer and doing... I don't even remember. Ended up falling asleep and waking up still unprepared. Instead of studying or working on my lab for 1-2 hours when I had the chance before my quiz, I STILL was overwhelmed to the point of analysis paralysis (can't do anything, overwhelmed). It didn't get any better and I honestly didn't really do either and will/have suffered the consequences.
Have you ever had either of those happen to you? Seeing that these have happened to me more than once already in 2013, I feel like you might have had something like this happen at least once in your life... Ever wanted to know how you might be able to limit those from happening? I'm honestly getting VERY sick of this. These are my personal conclusions as to WHY this is happening and how I can change it to limit/eliminate it.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Enthusiastically Agreeing with Others
Super funny. I was getting ready to go out at night with a friend and it hit me. I noticed why I really enjoy spending time with her. She has a knack for making me feel good. It is a very specific way too. She enthusiastically agrees with almost everything I say. IT IS SO AMAZING! :) I don't remember the specific words that she was saying, all I really remember was how she made me feel. I felt affirmed. I felt smart. I felt valued. I felt AWESOME. There are a number of lessons (3+) to take away from this experience.
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