Today

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  I lock myself away and review the previous year – looking back and evaluating what worked and what did not.  But I also look forward to determine what needs to change and improve.  I love the start of each new year because it gives every one of us the opportunity to start again – just like when we were children and getting beat while playing our favorite board game (Monopoly, Candy-Land, etc) and we would say, “Can we just start over?”  This is our chance to start over.

My theme for this year is TODAY.  Today is all that I have.  There is no yesterday or tomorrow, just today.   But we have a tendency to get stuck in the past or future at the expense of today.  How many of us are trapped by yesterday?  We have all sinned, made mistakes, hurt others, and been a goober in the past.  Everyone.  But the sad truth is that many allow the mistakes of yesterday to define who they are today and keep them from becoming greater.  This thought process is then connected to the lie that “one day” (future) I will change, overcome, become successful, or get things straightened out.  “One day” thinking keeps people from progressing today.

Everyday is a test and my goal is to answer the bell TODAY.  Live TODAY.  Accomplish the important tasks TODAY.  Take a step forward TODAY.  When I string a series of productive days together I will wake up tomorrow (future) and discover that my dreams are coming true.  The key is to take the heartaches of the past and use them to become a blessing to others in the future and we do that by focusing on TODAY.

“For now is all that I have.  Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy.  I am not lazy.  Tomorrow is the day when evil becomes good.  I am not evil.  Tomorrow is the day when the weak becomes strong.  I am not weak.  Tomorrow is the day when failure will succeed.  I am not a failure”  (Og Mandino).

Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough worries of its own.”  I can’t control tomorrow.  I can’t go back and undo yesterday.  All I have is today and I will neither allow yesterday nor tomorrow to destroy TODAY.

So let’s go to work TODAY.  Let’s live TODAY so that we can experience life abundant not only tomorrow but TODAY as well.

Here’s to your 2011.

Staggering Statistics

I was reading a book by Paula Pritchard and came across some statistics that she referred to that were shocking.  I had to read the words again making sure that I had not missed what she was saying.  Here is what I saw: “Did you know that 99% of people by the age of 11 years old have a well-defined inferiority complex?  In order to live happier and more productive lives, we have to deliberately change.  Only about 4% of us attempt to bring about significant changes in our lives.  Out of the 4%, only 5% are successful in their attempt.”

So, in other words, just about everyone we know, including you and me, have allowed a negative self-image to significantly hinder our potential in life.  And less than 1% will ever do anything about it.  It is sad to consider the amount of wasted potential and contributions to this world based on an inferior view of self.  Though sad and shocking, these statistics are very believable. 

It is easy to play the blame game and position ourselves in the role of the victim.  We often believe that our weaknesses, problems, shortcomings, and our situation is unique – as if no one else has ever experienced what we have been through.  And if we can convince ourselves that our situation or problems are unique it gives us an escape clause to do nothing but complain.  Facing ourselves and our situation in life takes courage.  More importantly, it requires action.  We are not different.  According to the statistics, we are all the same.  To be different means joining the 1% who have determined to break out of the herd and make significant change.  Don’t run with the majority.  Break loose.

Take Control of Your Health and Your Life

Healthy Lifestyle

Ready to make lasting changes to your health?  Here’s your opportunity.

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Health Revolution

Interesting Take on Leadership

The Root Cause of Cancer

Biochemist Otto Heinrich Warburg, one of the 20th century’s leading cell biologists, discovered that the root cause of cancer is too much acidity in the body, meaning that the pH (potential hydrogen), in the body is below the normal level of 7.365, which constitutes an “acidic state.”  Warburg investigated the metabolism of tumorss and the respiration of cells and discovered that cancer cells maintian and thrive in a lower pH, as low as 6.0, due to lactic acid production and elevated CO2.  He firmly believed that there was a direct relationship between pH and oxygen.  Higher pH, which is alkaline, means higher concentration of oxygen molecules, while lower pH, which is acidic, means lower concentrations of oxygen…the same oxygen that is needed to maintain helathy cells.

Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1931 for this important discovery.

You Are Overacid, Not Overweight.

Listen to Robert Young Ph.D. on one of the main causes of people who are overweight:

The body uses fat to bind up and neutralize its excess acids, protecting all the tissues and organs that sustain life from acid damage.  The bound acid can then be eliminated or – and here’s the catch – stored.  Storing acid in the fat keeps it away from the critical organs, but those fat depots create their own long-term health problems.  Still, this helps explain why thin people are not necessarily healthier than fat people: The fat is providing a place to park acids, which in thin people may be free to break down body tissues, causing an array of symptoms.

Thus underweight and overweight are two sides of the same coin.  But in general, the more acidic your lifestyle and diet, the fatter you will be.  Faced with all the sugars and acids deluging it every day, the body has only one choice to protect itself: fat.  The corresponding good news is that the less acidic your lifestyle and diet, the thinner you will be, since your body won’t need all that fat stored up just to save you from acidity.  Your problems don’t, at the root, come from being overweight – they come from being overacid.

Are you ready to begin the process of dropping those unwanted pounds?  Are you ready to have the energy to make it through the day with plenty to spare?  How about not struggling after lunch to stay awake?  The answer is not that difficult.  Alkalize the body.

“Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

The international band U2 hit a nerve around the world when it published the song, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”   Not much has changed in the two decades since the song was released.  It is still widely popular and resonates with many who just can’t seem to find what they are looking for.

Here are the words to the song:

I have climbed highest mountains.  I have run through the fields.

Only to be with you, only to be with you

I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls, These city walls

Only to be with you.

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for – But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

I have kissed honey lips, Felt the healing in her fingertips

It burned like a fire, this burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels,   I have held the hand of a devil

It was warm in the night, I was cold as stone

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for,  But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for

I believe in the Kingdom Come, Then all the colors will bleed into one

Bleed into one, But yes I’m still running

You broke the bonds, And you loosed the chains

Carried the cross, Of my shame, Oh my shame, You know I believe it

               BUT I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR

Why do so many struggle to find what they are looking for?  We are bombarded today with information about how to live the good life.  We can select from 54 different models of 54″ flat screen TVs.  With so much available today why can’t we find what we are looking for?  People feel empty, lost, just “going with the flow.”  Marriages don’t last today like they used to.  Work doesn’t seem to satisfy.  Sleep is getting harder and harder to come by.  Just this week on social media websites I read: “One day closer to Friday…I hate my job…I need a different schedule…Why can’t I sleep?…Need the weekend to get here now.”  Busy lives.  Busy schedules.  But I still can’t find what I’m looking for.

I found what I was looking for while attending the funeral of a loved one.  As I listened to person after person step forward to the microphone and describe the legacy of this great man, it dawned on me that I was wasting my life…had given up…and had not found what I was looking for.

I made the decision to find that for which I was created – that one thing that would light my passion and fire – something that would challenge me for the rest of my life and leave behind a legacy for others to aspire to.  I found it!

What’s your passion?  What have you found that you’ve been looking for?  Would love to hear your stories.

What If That Were Not True?

With most people, unbelief in one thing is founded upon blind belief in another.     Georg Christoph Lichenberg

How many of these statements would you say are just ridiculous?

1. The world is round, not flat?  You will not fall off the earth if you sail your boat into the horizon.

2. Human beings CAN run a four minute mile.  It will not cause the heart to burst.

3. It is possible to fly a space craft and land on the MOON!  It is also possible to bring them back alive.

4. The world will be connected, without wires, via handheld TELEPHONES!

Probably did not cause you any concern because each of these statements is already deeply lodged into your belief system.  We no longer take the time to consider how life changing each of those statements or events were.  We just act accordingly to our belief systems.  And this is how it should be.  Because of our belief systems we create patterns of behavior that make it easier for us to maneuver through life.  This is called our “auto-pilot” responder.  Think about how difficult it would be to get up out of bed each morning and have to figure everything out all over again.  What should I do first?  Where is the food for breakfast?  What is best way to get to work?  How can I most efficiently carry out my work responsibilities?  All of these are already in our belief system, and carried out by our auto-pilots. 

But what happens when something or someone comes along and challenges our belief system?  For most, it causes irritation because if the new information is true, then we will have to go back and re-program our belief system and simultaneously, change our behavior patterns.  Without intentionally planning to do so, we prevent ourselves from learning anything new that might actually be helpful to our daily existence.  How well were those who proclaimed that the world is round received?  Put to death.

Here is another profound truth about our belief systems.  Once we have set our belief system in stone, we not only align our lives accordingly but we look for evidence that supports our system and we also reject anything that appears to be contrary to it.

Here is another set of statements. 

1.  The swine flu is not a pandemic and frankly, is no worse than any other flu that has come along in recent history. 

2.  Medications, such as antibiotics, etc… are not only not good, they are harmful to the body.  Thousands die every year because of medications taken to cure symptoms.

I did not say that those are my own personal beliefs, but what if they are true?  If nothing else, statements like these force us to do our homework which means examining our belief systems.  Take the time this week to explore your system of belief when you hear other people’s belief system.  Learn to ask yourself this one question, “What if that were not true?”