Near the end of every calendar year… or in the first few days of a new year… huge numbers of people make resolutions with the goal of improving their life. Some of those resolutions are very specific and equally unrealistic.  For example, after someone has been a cigarette smoker for years (if not decades), they decide that starting January 1^st of the New Year, they’re going to quit smoking… cold turkey.  Now, they’ve decided to quit a dozen times before and they’ve stopped smoking for several days at a time, made themselves miserable, and then come up with a reason why they just HAVE to have a cigarette. My own father stopped smoking for a year after he had heart surgery and then someone offered him a cigarette at a bar and he thought, “One won’t hurt.”  Another year later he had to go through the misery of quitting again. (more…)

Plenty has been written about “the butterfly effect.”  Whole movies have been made about it from dramas about how minor changes we make can change the future, to science fiction movies where someone consciously tries to manipulate the present or future by changing something seemingly minor in the past. This entry is neither drama nor fiction, but simply… encouragement. All of us have the ability to change our future and, thanks to that butterfly effect, the smallest of changes today can have the largest of impacts tomorrow. (more…)

From dictionary.com, the definition of “Warrior:” A person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier. A person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics. I would submit to you that all too often in today’s society the term “warrior” is too narrowly applied to a profession and inadequately used to describe individual outlook. However, the value of seeing one’s self as a warrior and acting accordingly is grossly undervalued and that’s what I wanted to discuss today. (more…)

How many times have you been out in public some place – it could be the mall, a city street, a restaurant – and you see those folks who are so busy looking at their cell phones that they are completely oblivious to what’s going on around them?  How many times have you seen someone walking along and you can tell they’re not really there? That mentally they are somewhere else; they are “day dreaming?”  How many times have you caught yourself doing the same? All too often we disconnect from the real world in ways that lull our mind into a sleep-like state; at least where our awareness is concerned.  In doing so, we cost ourselves the potential experience of seeing beauty or blessings. (more…)

We ALL have dreams.  Some of them are big dreams: a bigger house, to be married, to have a dozen grandchildren, etc.  Some of them are smaller dreams: a better (newer?) car, to date someone we like, to get that promotion, etc.  Most of us recognize that “dreams” are also goals – and we can work toward our goals.  One of the biggest challenges we face in making our dreams come true is realizing that WE have the power to make them come true.  We simply have to figure out the necessary steps to work toward the desired end result and then start accomplishing the steps.  It’s really that simple when you think about it and, if you can realize that, then it’s easy to see why your dreams will never come true unless YOU work for them.  YOU have to work toward making them reality.

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Every day it’s inevitable: I talk with someone who, at some point during the conversation, says, “I wish…”  WHAT they wish for may be highly improbable.  “I wish I could win the lottery.”  “I wish I could go back in time and change blah blah blah.”  “I wish…”  But some of what they utter a wish for IS obtainable if only they would ACT to make their wish come true.  “I wish I could control my future.”  “I wish I was skinnier.”  “I wish I was built better.”  Hmmm…  I’m pretty sure you can make such wishes come true.

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I will freely confess: One of my biggest pet peeves is when I go out of my way to help someone or do something in an effort to brighten someone’s day… and they sound aggravated that I had the audacity to interrupt whatever it was they were doing or whatever was going on at that moment.  As this just happened to me the other day – I made a phone call to someone whom I thought needed a friendly voice to improve their morning.  They were at work and when they answered the phone the tone of their voice was quite agitated.  I thought that it might have been because they didn’t recognize my voice (yes, I was/am arrogant enough to think they’d be happy to hear from me, especially if I was calling to cheer them up a bit) but even when I was sure they knew who they were talking to, they still sounded like I was an unwelcome and unappreciated interruption to their work day. (more…)