Ways to Expand Your Life

1. Decide to run a marathon. The physical discipline required will allow you to experience the immediate benefits of daily training.
2. Give more. You may set a goal of giving 20% rather than 10%. The extra stretch here will loosen up the blindness that greed causes and make you see new ways of generating income.
3. Commit to spending one hour a day for personal growth. Choose positive materials for meditation, go to workshops, or sign up for teleseminars. There are many opportunities for stretching yourself in this area.
4. Read at least one new book a month. This will accelerate your ability to increase your “preparation” and to see new ways to grow. Remember, “Luck” is when “preparation” meets “opportunity.”
5. Design a break in your normal schedule. Getting away from a routine is one of the best ways I know of unlocking creativity and innovation. I have spent 3-4 days at a monastery, just as an attempt to tap into new insights and inspiration. (The Abbey of Gethsemani)
6. Create your own timelines. If you want to write a book, decide when you will have the chapter outline completed. If you need to update your resume, decide now to have that completed in two weeks. Whatever it is you want to accomplish, set your timelines to propel you on.

WHERE IS YOUR ANCHOR?

I attended campmeeting this weekend and the theme was on the subject of this post. The preacher asked where is your anchor? If it's in Jesus, which Jesus? Professed christians say they believe in Jesus, but one's actions express more than words who is the anchor.

My life hasn't really expressed my trust in Jesus Christ to the fullest extent. It's very schetchy and I'm afraid quite in a dangerous condition. I'll have to make a final, consistent choice if I'm to remain in the family of God. This is not a laughing matter nor a light situation. It's a matter of life or death.

Will I truly have Jesus Christ as my anchor forever or the other guy? That is the question my decisions will answer for me from this day forward. I want eternal life and it's worth fighting for in this life. However, I'll need the power outside of myself to keep up the fight and be victorious in the end.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER - MAY 1

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from
their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
II Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

The National Day of Prayer is an annual event in
which millions of American unite to pray for our
country and leaders. As we continue to see our
society decay, both spiritually and morally, many
of us can't help but ask, "Is there hope for America?"

One day I realized God feels the same way about me,
only hundreds of times more, because I'm his child
(John 1:12)! Whether I'm walking, driving across town,
or sending a prayer heavenward from my computer,
he delights in hearing from me—not just once a day,
but throughout the day. Scripture says he "inclines
his ear" and is "open to hear" my prayers (Psalm 40:134:15).

Feeding Your Emotions

Do you eat when you're not hungry? Do you have
a problem controlling the amount of food you
eat? Do you use food as a way to procrastinate?

Do you use food to ease your stress? Calm your
anger? Relieve your boredom? Celebrate your
successes?

If you answer "yes" to more than one of these
questions, you most likely eat and select certain
foods for the emotional responses they give you.
One way to learn how to take control of your
emotional eating is to use the method that most
12-step programs use, the HALT (Hungry, Angry,
Lonely and Tired) method.

Being too hungry, angry, lonely or tired are
conditions that can leave you more vulnerable
to using food as a crutch. The HALT acronym can
help you remember that when you feel certain
emotions that trigger you to eat, stop and
substitute the eating with something that will
actually allow you to experience your emotion.

If you're lonely, call someone. If you want to
celebrate a success, reward yourself with a
non-food gift. Whatever emotion drives you to eat,
remember there is a better way to feed it than
with food.

Order in My Universe

Certainly, our relationship with Him is the ultimate "sun"
around which everything else is just a "planet." We can't
make any choice that will adversely affect this anchor
relationship. There are other non-negotiables God wants you
to make the center of your choices: what's best for your
marriage, your children, sticking to His calling, His
life-mission for you, uncompromised integrity, your
responsibility to show the people around you what Jesus is
like, and your responsibility to spread the Jesus message
to people who will die without it.

See, life's choices are a lot less confusing when you know
your non-negotiables. Then you decide based on everything
else having to revolve around those non-negotiables.
Actually, you have to be sure you know God's non-negotiables
as you re-clarify them with Him each new day. There are just
too many noble detours that you just can't afford to take.
Your personal universe is in order when the sun is in the
center, and then everything else is where it's supposed to be
- planets taking their place around a sun that never, never
moves.

- Ron Hutchcraft 'AWWY'

Is Your Music Still In You?

Oliver Wendall Holmes once said “Many people die with their music still in them.” I think that captures the fear of about 99% of the people I see who come in for career coaching. Either they know exactly what gift or talent they have that they are not using or they are just afraid they have somehow missed finding their real authentic and fulfilling path.

What is that area that is lying dormant for you? I recently had a pharmacist approach me at the end of a short presentation I titled Hold Fast to Dreams. He said he had been in his profession for 17 years and could not think of any dreams he had. In his description of his “responsible, predictable” life it became clear to both of us that his dreams had become buried along the way. All those childhood passions had been put aside as one responsibility led to another. At this point he was so desensitized that he couldn’t even bring them to mind anymore. He began weeping in the 3 minutes of our conversation as he identified his current life.

You know the symptoms: as a child you loved singing but now you haven’t sung in 20 years. Or every time you see a news item about the starving people in Africa it brings you to tears - but you’ve never done anything to help. Or when you see a beautiful painting you remember how much you loved that second grade art class. You may recognize that whenever you are around old people you are energized by the compassion and wisdom they have - but you only go there once or twice a year.

Change - even when unwelcome or unexpected, often wakes
up those dormant dreams. I have seen physicians move to
the country to take up organic gardening, pastors who
switched to fulfilling careers as artists, and housewives
who emerged from the years of raising children to release
their gifts in writing and counseling.

“Many people die with their music still in them. Too often
it is because they are always getting ready to live…Before
they know it….time runs out.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

Check out this 7 year-old singing the National Anthem.
He’s getting his “music” out. It will be interesting to
see where he is 30 years from now. Will he be enjoying
singing as he does today? Or will the realities of life
have him push that down as “unrealistic” as he goes off
to his cubicle each day?
- 48days To The Work You Love, Dan Miller