by admin on August 25, 2009
Well, guess what? You already are!!! Some of you have been writing a lot longer than others but you HAVE been writing a story. It’s called the “Story of Your Life” and you complete a page every 24 hours. Every single day you are alive you complete one more page in your book. Have you ever considered what the title of your book will be?
For those of you who live life on auto-pilot just soaring through each day, you may want to call the book, “Gone With The Wind” because it will be over before you know it!
If you live in the United States and you have wasted your life, you may want to call your book, “An American Tragedy” because that is what it will be.
If you have spent you life being angry most of the time, you may want to use the title, “The Grapes of Wrath”.
Have you lived your life thinking you are better than everyone else? Maybe you should try “Pride and Prejudice”.
Maybe you believe the bad things other people say about you. Is that you? If so, you should name your book, “Frankenstein” because you have let them create a monster!
Look, the point I am trying to make is this… YOU have control over the story! Nobody else… YOU! You are writing that book each and every day and it is time YOU decided the plot. You have the ability to decide if your life is a best-seller or if your life is “out of order”. Become a Mark Twain or an Ernest Hemingway. Write the greatest story you can.
My hope for you is that your story is a long one and that it becomes a classic!
by admin on July 20, 2009
Have you ever entered a contest where the rules stated “You must be present to win?” You know what I’m talking about… they will have a drawing near the end of the day and the person who gets their entry picked has to be there to claim the prize? If that person is not present, they draw another entry!
Well, it’s the same way with life! So many people just put their lives on auto-pilot and cruise through the day without ever noticing what is going on around them. It’s almost like their life is a race and they are trying to get to the finish line first! Folks, life is one race you DO NOT want to win.
Life should be lived to it’s fullest and the only way you are going to do that is to be “present” in your own life. Be aware of what is happening around you. Look for opportunities all around you that you would have missed if you hadn’t been paying attention. Smell the air… listen to the sounds… feel… taste… enjoy!
Going back to my original question… you need to understand that life is a contest that you have to be “present” to win; otherwise, you wind up at the end of the race unfulfilled, unsatisfied and sad. Just remember, it’s not the “getting there” that is important; it’s the journey that really matters!
Take care and have a great whatever it it wherever you are!
by admin on July 19, 2009
Catching Lightning Bugs in a jar on a late summer evening at dusk! The earthy smell of the country during a late evening drive! The first kiss with that special someone you just knew was THE one! The first time you held that new-born baby! Memories…they can make us sigh. They can make us laugh. They can make us cry. We cherish those memories and we hold them dear.
BUT, what about those memories that aren’t so happy? Far too many people have memories they would like to forget. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point…
Once there were two brothers and they grew up together in a family that was very harsh and critical. They were physically abused and slaps in the face were a common occurrence. Their father was an adulterer and an alcoholic. Their mother was an emotional wreck and she was a very angry person. She would, sometimes, pull a large knife out of a drawer and she would threaten to kill one of them if they didn’t stop acting up.
These boys grew up being told how sorry they were and how they would never amount to anything. If they cried for any reason, they would get backhanded across the face and told they were sissies. Any sign of a tear was ridiculed and made-fun-of! They were not allowed to cry.
When they were punished, it would be with a belt, or razor strap, and they would be beaten until they had bloody stripes across their backs and legs. When they went to school, their parents wrote them excuses to get them out of P.E. so no one would see the evidence of their abuse.
The fights between their mother and father were quite terrible. They would hide in the hall closet and listen to the raging and cursing coming from the violent fights. Both parents had violent tempers and they would explode without any reason.
You see, we can’t choose the kind of environment in which we are raised. We can’t choose the kind of parents we have. We can’t avoid a lot of the things which happen to us in life. BUT, we CAN choose how we react to those things!
You DO NOT have to be an angry person! You DO NOT have to be so critical of everything! You DO NOT have to hold a grudge against anyone! You DO NOT have to be a bad parent! You DO NOT have to be a bad spouse! If you are any of those things, YOU have chosen to do that! But, you can choose not to do those things any longer! Let me give you five things to help you overcome stumbling blocks that have crippled you emotionally in your life…
- Learn Forgiveness! You are not responsible for the things that have been done to you but you ARE responsible for how you choose to react to those things. Learn to forgive those who have wronged you. An unforgiving heart only hurts you, not the one who wronged you. Most of the time, they don’t even KNOW you are mad and angry. You will, truly, be surprised how good life can be after you set that grudge down and never pick it up again!
- Learn to Like Yourself! People who experience unwholesome things in their life always suffer from low self-esteem. Somehow, it is THEIR fault. Somehow, THEY were the cause of it! They believe all the cruel things that were said about them. Learning to overcome low self-esteem is a whole book in itself and we will get to writing more about it some time, but for now, just remember, you ARE NOT who other people say you are. You are who YOU choose to be and you should choose to be the person who always takes the higher road. You ARE a good person!
- Learn to Speak Only the Truth! “Man, am I stupid!” “I’ll never be a success!” “I’ll never be as pretty as her!” Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! That is low self-esteem talking and you need to stop that right now! We bring into action those things which we speak out loud so you should only say positive things. Did you know your mind believes what it is told over and over again? That is where your low self-esteem comes from. You were told things over and over until you started believing them. Well, you can make HUGE changes in your life by what you tell yourself now! Pay attention to what you say and make changes where necessary. This will make a huge difference in your life.
- Learn to Stop Being Critical! YOU don’t like having low self-esteem so why are you giving it to your kids, spouse or anyone else? Think of the impact you are having on other people’s lives. Words are a VERY powerful thing so you should use them wisely. Just like everything else, what you say to people is a choice YOU make. Choose to be uplifting. Choose to be complimentary. Choose to speak words of caring and love. Remember what I said about bringing into action those things which we speak out loud? It is VERY important that you choose your words carefully. Get into the habit of thinking about what you are going to say instead of just blurting out something reactively.
- Learn to Walk a Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes! Now stop that! You know it’s just an expression! Seriously, try to see things from the other person’s perspective. You will be well on your way to enjoying life when you can look at things from another person’s point-of-view. You will find yourself becoming less angry. You will find yourself becoming less judgmental. You will find yourself viewing life with a freshness you have never known before. Actually, you will find yourself!
You see, it’s not the environment we are raised in that determines who we are. It’s not what our parents are like that determines who we are. It’s certainly not what people say about us that determines who we are! We are who we CHOOSE to be. Some people live their whole lives blaming their present on their past. What a sad and wasted life that must be! Instead of blaming your parents, forgive them! Instead of blaming your poverty, learn from it! Instead of blaming your physical disabilities, overcome them!
Oh, I almost forgot about those two boys in the story. Whatever happened to them you ask? One of them went to college, got his doctorate degree and he is now a Chaplain at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The other one just wrote this article!
by admin on July 19, 2009
The years go by so fast, don’t they? If you are over 40 years old, you will know what I mean when I say that! As you get older, time seems to just race by and the days come and go so fast that you can barely keep up with them.
If you are under 40 years old, you may think I’m crazy. Isn’t it funny how, when you are under 20 years old, you want time to hurry up. You can’t wait to get out of high school. You can’t wait to get out of college. You can’t wait to get married. Then, once you get older, you just wish time would slow down!
It doesn’t matter how old we are; somehow, we are just never satisfied. That is what this eBook is about! Learning to be satisfied. Learning to be happy no matter what your age or circumstances. Learning to take life one day at a time. Learning to live life like it was meant to be lived!
Life is meant to be so much more than we allow it to be. I hope you will enjoy these stories and I hope you will apply the principles. I hope you will make changes in your life for the better. I hope you will learn to appreciate every single second you are here on this earth. I hope to will learn to have Front Porch Attitude!
by admin on July 19, 2009
What exactly IS front porch attitude? Well, it’s not an easy thing to explain, but I’ll see if I can try to explain it by telling you a story.
Before my wife and I moved from Texas to Oregon, we owned a beautiful house that was built in the early 1900s. As was common in those early days, our house had a large L-shaped font porch. The sides of this porch came up about 3 feet and it had screening up to the roof. It had beautiful banisters and it was totally enclosed.
During the evening, my wife would work at the local Waldenbooks until 10 p.m., and I would stay at home with our four year old daughter, Jessica. Most nights, Jessica and I would sit out on that front porch in my large rocking chair waiting for her mom to come home as I rocked her to sleep. The chirping of the crickets and the croaking of the frogs was usually relaxing enough to help Jessica fall asleep before Mom ever got home.
However, on quite a few occasions, we would get to experience a good old Texas thunderstorm as we rocked away the hours till mom came home. Now, if you have ever experienced a Texas thunderstorm, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say they WERE an experience. Lots of thunder! Lots of lightning! Lots of rain! Lots of wind! Basically, not something you would normally sleep through.
At first, Jessica didn’t really like those thunderstorms! I imagine they can be pretty frightening for a little four year old girl; however, she would sit on dads lap and snuggle deeper into her blanket. She eventually got used to those thunderstorms. In fact, she even started to like them. To this day, she loves thunder and lightning; although, we don’t get a lot of that here in Oregon. Today, Jessica is 23 years old and she has very fond memories of those times that we sat in that rocking chair on that front porch.
So what is front porch attitude? It’s calm in the midst of a storm! It’s knowing that no matter what your circumstances, life is good! It’s not being afraid! It’s seeing things with a positive mental attitude! Front porch attitude is, basically, living life as it was meant to be lived!
