Wholehearted Human

This morning at my local gas station, I was behind someone in line buying lots and lots of scratch-off lottery tickets. When I noticed the total was over $600, I thought there had to be a mistake. However, he kept adding more and more till it reached $700 and eventually $800!

As you can imagine, it was taking a long time and I got to thinking. How does someone get to this point and can’t they see that they’re going nowhere in life? The gentleman looked the complete opposite of successful in every sense of the word.

But with a poverty mentality, it’s easy to avoid taking responsibly and keep looking for the handouts. Change takes work and it doesn’t happen overnight.

We must have a sense of direction, a sense of where we want to go. If we don’t, we’re going to take the path of least resistance. We’re human. We seek to avoid pain and get pleasure.

Maybe you don’t have a gambling problem. But, what are those things that you know you it would be better if you did something about them?

Is it spending more time with your kids or being a better listener to your spouse? What about getting back into shape, calling your friends more often, or reading more? Or, is it things like projects around the house or implementing those new ideas for your business? Do you spend too many of your precious minutes on Facebook or mindlessly surfing the web?

Think about where you want to go and what you want your life to look like. Then take responsibility and make small steps every single day.

Thanks @caritroyer for you thoughts on poverty mentality!

As evening draws to a close I am ever thankful for time. Time to learn, love, watch, and wonder.
Time to marvel at the complexity with which we have been created. Such diversity, such depth. It is incomprehensible, and oh so intriguing.
You are you and I am me.

Blessings aplenty! Enjoy!

Here’s something a little different. It’s a simple recipe that Claudia and I have been enjoying a lot lately. Having this gives us a chance to slow down and connect.

Steamed Milk Goodness

Servings: 2

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:
Add vanilla and sugar to milk in pot. Heat up milk on stove top (NOT in the microwave… it makes a difference). Stir continually and only heat till it’s warm, not simmering and foaming.

Serve in your favorite mug and enjoy with someone you care about.

What do you and your loved one like to do to slow down and connect?

So, I’m sitting here in the quiet of my house, living. My heart is beating, I’m breathing, thinking, blinking my blue eyes, living.

Life is so bizarre, I have decided. I am trying to live each day to it’s fullest, but sometimes it seems like there are whole days, even seasons of nothingness. Days that pass, and to my knowledge nothing of any significance has happened. I lived it, and breathed it, but I don’t even remember it later. I am often tempted to think those days are a waste, which is crazy! Its a day of life!!!

It’s like there is this voice saying, “Hurry up and live already!” So, I hurry up and try to live, but I feel like I’m just standing there waiting to live while I’m already living! It’s like life is going by me in a blur of daily-ness and I am standing there saying, “Wait, don’t go so fast, I need to start living first!”

Days keep passing and I feel like I’m not doing something I was supposed to do yesterday…!
It consumes me! It’s a voice, and it lies! A ploy to get me discouraged and off track. How tricky this voice is though! How deceiving!
It says things like…
“Hurry, you’re too slow, life is passing you by.”
“You’re not where you should be.”
“That thing you did, it wasn’t important enough to be THE thing you’re supposed to do.”
“How ineffectively you use you’re time.”
“You’ll never amount to anything…”
“You should have, should be, aren’t…”
And on and on it goes.

Sound familiar?

The shoulda, coulda, woulda, bla bla bla voice! Its the same old trick to get me thinking I’m not ‘truly’ living when I actually am!

So, I’m talking back to the voice today and saying…

“I am here, right now. I’m not in the past, I’m not in the future, I am here! In this day, and I’m gonna live it!”
Oh, and by the way, this is what I AM today!
-Saved by God’s grace!
-Doing a great job being a mother to my newborn son!
-Going to succeed, and am succeeding at life, marriage, friendships, making money, loving, being loved!

TODAY I’m also thankful for…
Life
Love
Hardship
A healthy robust baby
New opportunities
AND…This very day that I just LIVED!

“We live in an age of great events and little men.”
-Winston Churchill

If you took a test and found out you were a genius your whole life and never knew it, how would that change your outlook on life? How would you view yourself and your capabilities?

It would definitely change mine! If I was a genius…that would be amazing!!! I could be anything I set my mind to!

Imagine that…

Well, couldn’t I do that now? What’s stopping me?

Think about it.

“You become what you think about,” the famous quote by Earl Nightengale never rang so true! If growing up you were told constantly that you were really funny, and extraordinarily special wouldn’t you grow up thinking you were hilarious and, well, special?! And what if you were constantly told you were bad, or stupid?…

Without realizing it we end up living under the metaphors that either other people have given us, or we have adopted through our interpretation of life.

For example, do you look at life as being hard, like a battle, or lived like a beautiful dance? And how would your actions change if you changed your metaphor?

What if we all thought of ourselves as great!? Not in the prideful sense, but just truly capable of great accomplishments? Isn’t that how we were created?
And what if we DID live life like a beautiful dance…
Hmmm, imagine the change it would create in how you approached life?!

Here’s to a new generation of great events and TRULY great men!

Today I started freaking out! And you know what? I liked it! It felt GOOD to think that life is tough! It felt GOOD to think that our current obstacles are insurmountable!

I knew it wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t helping anything either however I was tired of always being on guard with my mind and just wanted to wallow in self pity for a while. After all, don’t I deserve it every now and then?

Since I knew I couldn’t let myself go down this rabbit trail too far, I decided I was going to allow myself to wallow until my train came in to go home (about 20 minutes). I even indulged in my wallowing and bought a Philly soft pretzel while I waited. (Big stuff, right!)

Now I’m up an at ’em again because I know the alternative is unacceptable! After all, the alternative is taking a “poor me” mentality and settling for mediocrity. Who wants that?! I know we must keep pressing on towards our goals and the better life that I want for my family. We knew it wouldn’t be easy and, plus, the adventure has only begun!

Life’s up and downs provide windows of opportunity to determine your values and goals. Think of using all obstacles as stepping stones to build the life you want.”
– Marsha Sinetar

“Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do!” John Wooden

We all live life at the same pace. 60 minutes an hour. Yes, that includes:

Abraham Lincoln
Mother Theresa
Benjamin Franklin
C.S. Lewis
Winston Churchill

These people did great things with their minutes. What are you going to do with yours?

Living, that’s what we are all doing. That’s what I am doing.
So…what qualifies as living?
Is living feeling burdened, heavy laden, tired, overwhelmed, just getting by? Is this living?
Is living supposed to be a daily struggle?
It has been for me for way too many years. Deeply depressed I couldn’t see my way out.

I was tired, had fought too many battles, and had seemingly lost them all. I lost everything that I held dear and close to my heart. I lost my health and my friends. My knees ached constantly.
And then, I lost myself.
I stopped living life.
I became just an existence. Just a shell of me.

So, again I ask. What qualifies as living?

I stayed in the ‘pit of despair’ because I actually didn’t want to change! I liked being depressed in a twisted sort of way. It gave me an excuse to wallow in my hurt. And the hurt was safe for me.

Does this sound familiar? Don’t we all do this? We whine and complain about life instead of taking action, making changes. We actually prefer to complain, stay where we are and blame others because it is easier than changing. And again, it feels safe.

So does living coencide with safe? What is safe?
There is no ‘safe’ here on earth! We make it up in our heads…
We scurry around putting on all sorts of padding, approved plastic and doctor recommended whatever on our bodies. We filter air through our houses, have pillows that pop out in our cars, have all sorts of alarms. We feel safe, buy it is only an illusion! A false sense of security. If God chooses to take us, we die. We die.

So then what is safe and what is living? Is there ‘safe’ living? It seems an oxymoron. I think we only have living left to choose from.

So what is living?

It is clawing my way out of the darkness and embracing the light.
It is holding my baby boy’s naked body and being the very first set of eyes he looks into.
It is seeing the wide eyes of my love as I walk down the aisle toward him, and embarking on an unknown journey together.
It is realizing I am more amazingly created than I ever thought I was!

This house cannot keep me safe! A word cannot define me! And darkness cannot hold me any longer! There is a life to live!

The life I was living has lead into the life I am now living. The pain had a purpose. The hurt and loss has made me stronger, wiser.
I stand taller now, I smile bigger, I feel stronger, I cry easier, I laugh longer, I love deeper and my knees don’t hurt anymore.