The cost of giving away a smile is priceless! Think about what a smile can do for someone. As we walk through our day there are so many times we can choose to be generous with our smile or choose to not share. There are days that I am not feeling much like smiling. I might be busy, stressed, feeling ill, heard bad news, or just had a day when business was not going as well as planned. Making a decision to put on a smile can change everything. Giving a smile can be as easy as tilting those lips…
So many of us struggle with the concept of friends and wanting to be liked by others. We think that feeling disappears as we progress through middle school, high school, and beyond; but often it does not. Living our lives worried if others will like us is a very stressful endeavor. It is important that we love ourselves and that we love others. It is important that we are content with ourselves and that we are proud of how we treat others. I pray and ask God to lead me down my intended path and to make me aware of…
We all struggle with making time for our priorities in life. What I found was that leaving the decision to God as to what the main priorities are, takes all the pressure off of me. My first priority is my faith. If my first priority is my faith, then I am leaving all my other priorities in the hands of God. I pray that God will give me the discipline to make time for what life’s true priorities are and that I will recognize those priorities and make time. Still to this day, I have to discipline myself to…
One of the many blessings of having strong faith is the feeling of being fulfilled. Fulfilled with what you have in the present and accepting what life has dealt you. We all have a unique history, some more tragic than others. Accepting what we are dealt with is much easier when we trust in God and have faith. Strong faith brings a level of fulfillment, a level of accepting what you are given and working with those tools. Acceptance brings a level of being content with what you have and an ability to let things fall into place. It was…
Gifts from the heart bring great joy in both giving and receiving. I believe we do a decent job of gifting people at or below our perceived income. It is the people who have incomes above us that I believe we have a difficult time knowing how to gift. We worry if our gift is nice enough, expensive enough, or if it will be tossed aside by the receiver. What I have found is that people at all economic levels appreciate gifts from the heart. I had a mentor who lived on an income that was much higher than I…
Dealing with anger is something that takes discipline. The moment I feel anger I redirect myself to God. I intentionally put my issues in the hands of the best problem solver; I give it to God. There have been and probably will be many arguments in my life! For me, it is all about how you deal with those moments. Although for the most part, I am mild-tempered, the right topic at a weak moment can turn me into a “Hot Tamale.” The same was true with my spouse and is true with my children. One hot discussion with…
I believe in the power of love. The love that I am writing about is not the love between yourself and a partner, but the love of others around you. The importance of how you perceive those around you and how you react to issues that arise. For me, this is continually a work in progress. Just as I choose to give my worries to God. I continually have to remind myself when negative thoughts start to pop into my head to redirect my thoughts to Jesus. When issues arise or I feel I am treated unfairly, I give those…
Control is a very tricky thing. I do my best to follow my intended path and respond to things where I believe I can be helpful. Before responding to a situation, I pray that I will be given the words to say or the grace to say nothing! I don’t make decisions based on what I want but rather on what I believe is my next step through prayer and being alert and available to opportunities that arise. Once I feel confident that I am going down my intended path I am driven to do everything possible to achieve…
Death is never easy for those who are left behind. Selfishly we can all say that we were not ready, he/she was our life, was too young, too smart, too generous, too kind, too talented to be taken so soon. All of those things may be true, but I believe that those are things that we here on earth are mourning. If we think only in terms of the soul I believe that there is no more magnificent place to exist than in heaven. My parents never made a big deal about death when I was young. It is…
In a relationship, look for someone who makes you a better person and for whom you make a better person. #1. Contributing more than your share. Ideally, you are committed and giving 100% of yourself to the relationship. However, let’s use percentages and think in terms of strengthening and evaluating your role. Giving more than your share or more than 50% is imperative. Each partner must think that the other partner is making a positive contribution; ideally, more than 50%. If you are not sure that you are contributing your 50% to the relationship/family. Start to develop…