Thanksgiving

Don't miss the Thanks in Thanksgiving.

Traditions. Family, turkey, pie, football, parades.  Great times with great memories. Enjoy the presence of family and friends. Thank God for traditions.
Holiday. A time to chill out. To rest and slow down.  Smell the roses. Even shopping can be fun.  The Pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated their bountiful harvest for three days.  George Washington made the first Thanksgiving address, but never established the time-honored holiday and Americans didn't keep the tradition.  It wasn't until 1827 that the efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, an influential writer and editor, finally paid off and the holiday was created.  In 1863, Abraham Lincoln officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday.  In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt designated the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving.  Thank God that this day has been designated annually as a time to stop and give thanks.
Nation. What a great place we live. No other nation on earth enjoys the abundance of the USA.  Thank God for guiding our forefathers and creating this wonderful culture that honors Him and provides countless blessing for all of us.

Kinfolk.  What would we do without family? When all is said and done, we want to be with our family. Family can consist of numerous types of people, but they are those who are closest to us and provide for our needs. They can be direct kin or they can be best of friends, but we feel all of them are kinfolk. Thank God for your family.

Sacrifice.  Jesus Christ was God's sacrifice for all of us that we may have eternal life.  Thank God for this gracious act.  Many lives have been lost by soldiers defending our Nation.  Our first responders react daily to provide us safety and security.  Thank God that we live in such a great Nation where sacrifice is made for us.

*Information on this blog gathered from various resources.

Positive Thoughts

An old term, “Garbage In, Garbage Out”, referring to computers, works for our minds as well. What we put in is what we are. “You are what we think” comes from Proverbs 23:7. Earl Nightingale, a popular motivational speaker created a record years ago titled “The Strangest Secret” and the secret was that you are what you think about. You can watch it on You Tube HERE.

It is only a few minutes and it will be worth your while.

Years ago, I tried an experiment on myself. I was used to listening to country music so country music would come in my head quite often. I switched to Christian music for a week and guess what, Christian music then came up in my head. We TRULY become what we think about. So what are you putting in your head? Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change. The choice to have a great attitude is something that nobody or no circumstance can take away from you.

Have you noticed that when you start the day off positive, good things naturally happen? It is as if you are a magnet and you draw positive things to you. You think better so you get better answers. You accomplish more and those around you appreciate you more.

Being POSITIVE is such a simple concept but it may require some practice. Try each morning by putting a smile on your face and being more positive as you interact with others. You could even add “Have a GREAT day” to the smile. Being positive is a part of influencing others. It rubs off on them as well. Try it, you might be surprised. 

Brainstorming

Many year ago I developed a formula for an individual to change direction. If you are not getting out of life what you feel you should, then what should you do? I was talking to a person in my office today who was not happy with their circumstances. I scheduled an appointment to storyboard two things; what is happening vs what they want to happen. From this information, we will brainstorm together the process of the formula of getting different results.

Everything starts with an idea. As we are generating ideas, they need to be written down where they can be seen. Each idea can be written on a 3X5 card or a piece of paper cut into smaller pieces or even a post–it note. Do this on a table or poster paper. Generate as many ideas as possible and do not judge them. Even bad ideas are okay.
So what do you brainstorm? First brainstorm what is happening now. Get all the formation out there. Maybe you will want to do this privately if some of the information is sensitive.
Next brainstorm what you would like for your world to look like. Dream some, but be realistic.

In the brainstorming process, you can include the eight categories of life; physical, mental, social, family, financial, spiritual, hobby, and career. Using categories will allow you to cover the whole spectrum and also generate many more ideas.

Thinking means evaluating each of the ideas as to being worthy and appropriate. You actually did a lot of this during the brainstorming, but this now becomes intentional. Think of the intended consequences and unintended consequences that each idea represents. Evaluate costs, and the impact of each idea on your life. It is at this time that you begin to prioritize the items you have written down. This is the reason for using 3X5 cards. If doing this on a tabletop, you can just slide the cards around. If you used the eight categories, prioritize each category first. Then you can easily decide which idea is the most important out of all the categories. So in the end, you will have a categorized list that has been prioritized. This alone will give you a good feeling of being in control of your life.

With the list of priorities, take the top seven or so and create an action plan for each. The easiest way to effectively do this is to use the concept of Start-Stop-Continue. Write the name of each idea or goal at the top of a page. Use a separate page for each goal. If you were to pick your top idea, what would you need to start doing to accomplish this goal? What would you need to Stop doing, and what would you need to continue that will allow you success? This approach is very easy and it allows for adjustments at any time.

We all get results. Some results are just worse than others. But when a plan exists, life gets better. We feel better, we accomplish more, and we get a rhythm in life that takes us beyond where we would normally end up. Remember the saying “Plan your work, work your plan”. Goal Setting really is a great motivator. I have seen people with volumes of notebooks of goals accomplished. It makes you think “what can we not do”?

So give this approach a shot. You might find that you are off like a rocket.

Great Advice

36 Items of Great Advice

An Angel says, 'Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.'

1. Pray

2. Go to bed on time.

3. Get up on time so you can start the day un-rushed.

4. Say "No" to projects that won't fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.

5. Delegate tasks to capable others.

6. Simplify and unclutter your life.

7. Less is more (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)

8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.

9. Pace yourself.  Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the
hard things all together.

10. Take one day at a time.

11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would
have you do and let go of the anxiety. If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it!

12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.

13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden,
extra stamps, etc.

14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.

15. Do something for the Kid in You every day.

16. Carry a spiritually enlightening book with you to read while waiting in line.

17. Get enough rest

18. Eat right. 

19. Get organized so everything has its place.

20. Listen to a CD while driving that can help improve your quality of life…

21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.

22. Every day, find time to be alone.

23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.

24. Make friends with Godly people.

25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.

26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good 'Thank you GOD ...'

27. Laugh.

28. Laugh some more!

29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.

30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).

31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).

32. Sit on your ego

33. Talk less; listen more.

34. Slow down.

35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.

36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before.

GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU.

'If God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31)

Copy and Share

Source Unknown