And the ones who deserve to die keep on living. - Expendables II

Watching Expendables II with the boys tonight. Okay, so I'm actually just sitting in the livingroom catching parts here and there. Heard a line that caught my attention so I jumped online to check it out.


In the most profound moment of the movie, Barney ponders the justice of God or cosmic karma or something when he buries one of his compatriots—a guy known as Billy the Kid. He wanted to live, Barney says, and yet he's dead. "And the ones who deserve to die keep on living. What's the message in that?"

Faults of Humankind

Remember that the faults of humankind are pretty evenly distributed among all of us. Why can we so easily overlook in ourselves the faults we are quick to spot in others? It is easy to be objective when it comes to criticizing our friends, family members, and business associates, but it is far more difficult to be honest about our own shortcomings. Only when we recognize that we are all human, with the same faults and failings, do we begin to develop that wonderful quality of tolerance that enables us to accept others as they are and ask nothing in return. Replacing faultfinding with “goodfinding” is never easy. But when you become one who always compliments instead of criticizes, you become the kind of friend we would all like to have. Permanent link to this post: Remember that the faults of humankind are pretty evenly distributed among all of us.

30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth

So for the month of April, I have decided to try 30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth from one of my favorite websites: Marc&Angel. I'm looking forward to see what type of challenges are the hardest for me and where I'll grow the most.

30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth

 

 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle

Scientists have suggested that, with a little willpower, it takes roughly 30 days for a person to form a new habit. As with mastering anything new, the act of starting and getting beyond the preliminary stage where everything feels awkward is 80% of the battle. This is precisely why it’s important to make small, positive changes every day over the course of at least a 30 day period.

It’s like the old saying: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The same philosophy holds true for making changes in your life. Trying to bite off more than you can chew will only make you choke. But taking smaller, manageable bites, one at a time – eating a little healthier, exercising a little, creating some simple productive habits, for example – is an amazing way to make positive changes and get excited about life.

And when you start small like this, you won’t need a lot of motivation either. The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of changes – one building on the other. When I started doing this in my life, I was so excited about it that I started this blog to share it with the world.

Below you will find 30 challenges to be accomplished over the course of 30 days. If carried out diligently each of them has the potential to create a new positive habit in your life. Yes, there is some slight overlap between a few of them. And no, you don’t have to attempt all at once. Pick 2 to 5 and commit the next 30 days, wholeheartedly, to successfully completing the challenge. Then once you feel comfortable with these habits, challenge yourself with a few more the following month.

SaraHHouse365 | Day 1: Use Words that Encourage Happiness
SaraHHouse365 | Day 2: Try one new thing everyday
SaraHHouse365 | Day 3: Perform one selfless act everyday
SaraHHouse365 | Day 4: Learn and practice a new skill every day
SaraHHouse365 | Day 5: Teach someone something new
SaraHHouse365 | Day 6: Dedicate an hour to something your passionate about
SaraHHouse365 | Day 7: Treat everyone nicely
SaraHHouse365 | Day 8: Concentrate on being positive
SaraHHouse365 | Day 9: Day 9: Don't forget the lesson!
SaraHHouse365 | Day 10: Enjoy Life as it Happens
SaraHHouse365 | Day 11: Get rid of one thing
SaraHHouse365 | Day 12: Do something new
SaraHHouse365 |30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth

 

 

 

Credits: MarcandAngel's 30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth

 

God Will Prepare Us

God Will Prepare Us

When it is God’s time to bring something into our lives,

He will often do it after HE has prepared us to receive it.

He may withhold a place of leadership until He has taught us how to serve.

He may withhold honor until He has taught us humility.

He may withhold possessions until He has taught us contentment.

He may withhold a relationship until He has taught us to be complete in Him.

He may withhold an overflow of finances until He has taught us how to give.

He may withhold guidance until He has taught us what is pleasing to Him.

He may withhold an active ministry until He taught us how to be still.


  - Unknown


SaraHHouse365 | Thank God for His Timing
SaraHHouse365 | Sarah's Book Recommendations - Feb. 2013

Credits: Hub Pages

ME: Five Years From Now

I bought this book at Barnes & Noble when I lived in Westlake. It's been a great book to whip out when I'm pondering about my future. I love any type of book that asks questions and this one definitely fits that category.

A few example questions:

I know this book will be with me in my library for....well, I hope forever. It doesn't matter if you're 21 or your 61, the questions still pertain to you.

Some of my other book recommendations: SaraHHouse365  | Book Recommendations Feb 2013

Day 30 | Shaped for Serving God

The Purpose Driven Life expanded edition
What on Earth Am I Here For?
Day 30 | Shaped for Serving God
Notes from 3/18/13
Women's Small Group Bible Study
pages 232-238

YOU WERE SHAPED TO SERVE GOD.

Before architects design any new building they first ask, “What will be its purpose? How will it be used?” The intended function always determines the form of the building. Before God created you, he decided what role he wanted you to play on earth.

“Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” This means that nothing that happens in your life is insignificant. God uses all of it to mold you for your ministry to others and shape you for your service to him.

God never wastes anything. He would not give you abilities, interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless he intended to use them for his glory.

“Each one should use whatever gift he’s received to serve others.” 1 Peter 4:10

Spiritual Gifts:
Heart
Abilities
Personality
Experience

SHAPE: Unwrapping your Spiritual Gifts

You can’t earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them – that’s why they are called gifts! Also, no individual receives all the gifts. If you had them all, you’d have no need of anyone else, and that would defeat one of God’s purposes – to teach us to love and depend on each other.

Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit.

When we use our gifts together, we all benefit. If others don’t use their gifts, you get cheated, and if you don’t use your gifts, they get cheated. This is why we’re commanded to disocver and develop our spiritual gifts. Have you taken the time to discover your spiritual gifts? An unopened gift is worthless.

Two common problems are “gift envy” and “gift-projection”.

Gift Envy: occurs when we compare our gifts with others, feel dissatisfied with what God gave us, and become resentful and jealous of how God uses others.

Gift-Projection: happens when we expect everyone else to have our gifts, do what we are called to do, and feel as passionate about it as we do.

 QUESTION TO CONSIDER: In what way can I see myself passionately serving others and loving it?

SHAPE: Listening to Your Heart

purposedriven.com/day30
SaraHHouse365 | Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

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Source: jeffbullas.com via Jean-Yves on Pinterest

10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Anybody: #1

10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Anybody

Columnist Leigh Newman weighs in on the tiny but enormously kind things you can say that may change a person's day—and (sometimes) even their way of looking at themselves.

By Leigh Newman

1: "Take your time. I'm not in a rush."

This one is great for the grocery store, the takeout burrito restaurant or anywhere else that involves really tired people trying their best, even as they fumble and flail. For example, the woman in front of you pays the cashier but then has to rifle through her overstuffed wallet to put away the change, then store the receipt, then mash the whole fat leather money accordion into her purse. She will usually complete this action with frantic fingers because she knows she's delaying the whole line; she knows everybody just wants to go home; and she knows she should not save old, mostly-used-up gift cards with 63 cents on them. Telling her to "Take your time. I'm not in rush" always sets off the same reaction: first, surprise (really? because everybody's in a rush...) and then a flash of sweet wide-open relief. You have just given somebody a three-minute holiday, not from the stress of life, but from the stress we put on ourselves.


Read more: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Nice-Things-You-Can-Say-to-Anybody#ixzz2NIUbuGqY

Nick Vujicic

I first heard about this Nick Vujicic from one of our business friends, Scott Schilling. Scott was staying with us in Westlake Village for a few days and was fortunate enough to meet with Nick for lunch. When he got back, Scott was so enthusiastic when talking about this Nick guy. He even left Nick's number on a napkin, urging us to get in contact with him. I stumbled upon Nick's book, "No Limits" at the library at a few weeks later. Then it wasn't long before another great business friend, Bob Donnell came to stay with us. Bob had an extra ticket to go see a speaker and when he started describing the speaker, I couldn't believe it was thee Nick Vujicic! This guy was popping up all over! I jumped on the chance to go and have been a Nick V fan ever since! Seeing Nick speak in person was amazing! What a role model!

Here's Nick's story copied and pasted from his website: attitudeisaltitude.com

Hi Friend,
My name is Nick Vujicic and I am thankful to have been born 30 years ago with no arms and no legs. I won’t pretend my life is easy, but through the love of my parents, loved ones, and faith in God, I have overcome my adversity and my life is now filled with joy and purpose. I reside now in California with my wife, Kanae, and we both love seeing people’s lives changed for the better or touched in some way. It is my hope that your life is positively impacted by my story.
I was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and it was a shock to my parents that I arrived without limbs. There is no medical reason for it. My parents did their very best to keep me in the mainstream school system and give me every opportunity to live to the fullest. I was blessed to have a brother and a sister as my best friends too.

We later moved to Brisbane, Australia, where I lived for 14 years before I made the move to California. At age eight, I could not see a bright future ahead and I became depressed. When I was ten years old, I decided to end my life by drowning myself in a bathtub. After a couple attempts, I realized that I did not want to leave my loved ones with the burden and guilt that would result from my suicide. I could not do that to them.

I wasn’t depressed my entire childhood, but I did have ups and downs. At age thirteen I hurt my foot, which I use for many things like typing, writing and swimming. That injury made me realize that I need to be more thankful for my abilities and less focused on my disabilities.
When I was fifteen years old, I sealed my faith in God and from there it has been an amazing journey.
A janitor at my high school inspired me to start speaking about my faith and overcoming adversity when I was seventeen. I spoke only a dozen times to very small groups over the next two years. Then I found myself in front of three hundred sophomore (grade 10) students and I was very nervous. My knees were shaking. Within the first three minutes of my talk, half the girls were crying, and most of the boys were struggling to hold their emotions together. One girl in particular was sobbing very hard. We all looked at her and she put her hand up. She said, “I am so sorry to interrupt, but can I come up and hug you?”
She came hugged me in front of everyone, and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, thank you, thank you. No one has ever told me that they loved me and that I am beautiful the way I am.”
Her gratitude inspired me to go across 44 countries and speak 2,000 times. I realized that we all need love and hope and that I was in a unique position to share that with people around the world.

While majoring in both accounting and financial planning at a university, I also worked on developing my abilities as a speaker. I worked with a speaking coach who helped to cultivate me as a presenter. He especially worked on my body language as my hands flew everywhere at first!

I spoke on motivational topics after creating the company, attitude is altitude. I also launched a non-profit ministry, life without limbs, to spread my messages of faith and hope around the world.
Whoever you are, wherever you’re from and whatever you are dealing with, I hope that you will be inspired by my story and my message. Please enjoy browsing around this website where I share with you my thoughts on faith, hope and love to encourage you and to help you overcome your own challenges.

Dream big my friend and never give up. We all make mistakes, but none of us are mistakes. Take one day at a time. Embrace the positive attitudes, perspectives, principles and truths I share, and you too will overcome.

Sincerely,
Nick

What a story!
What an amazing way God is using Nick to reach out to others!

Successful People vs. Unsuccessful People

My good friend Andrew Zickur sent me this. Pretty good!!

People I Must Deal With, Like It or Not

A good read - only takes a few minutes and could end up saving a lot of time and energy if you know how to handle the situation correctly.
We're all going to have people we have to deal with, like it or not.

 

 

 

10 Lessons Everyone Learns In Their 20s

Ms. Jaclyn Sayre posted this on her Facebook. I enjoyed the truth behind the majority of these!
Ah, next week I will celebrate my golden birthday (26) - jumping into the 2nd half of my 20's!

10 Lessons Everyone Learns In Their 20s

Jan. 25, 2013

By Chelsea Fagan

Chelsea Fagan is a writer living in Paris. It's less pretentious than it sounds.

Read more »

Marina Montoya

1. Metabolism isn’t magic.

It’s hard not to get used to the grotesque Roman orgy of eating habits that is youth. You can live on an uninterrupted diet of Mountain Dew, Doritos, and the errant Toaster Strudel for when you’re feeling like doing a bit of kitchen work, never seeing an ounce of your folly go straight to your carefree hips. Then, at a certain point, you eat an Oreo and can actually watch that bad boy travel from your esophagus to your ass if you stand in front of a full-length mirror. And the energy you constantly felt, regardless of the day’s activities or the time you’d gotten up that morning? Now, if you’re not living on a diet of nothing but kale and Yoga For Self-Righteous People, you’re essentially comatose by 3 PM. It appears that being healthy requires work, and few things in life seem to suck more than that fact.

2. People evolve at different speeds.

Look in your phone contacts. Pick out any two random 25-year-olds. Tell me what they’re both doing with their lives. Chances are that one of them is spending most nights scrounging around on Facebook for a good electronica show where they can get in for less than five dollars and hopefully score some free molly from an acquaintance because they’ve been out of a job for about four months. And it’s likely that the other is currently married with a house purchased in a nice-but-still-kind-of-hip suburb and is excited at the prospect of zestily reproducing in the next few years. One of them is getting monogrammed kitchen towels and handmade soaps for the guest bathroom, while the other is posting seven statuses a day from the comfort of their living room whilst getting high and watching reruns of Maury and eating Gogurt. And neither of these are right or wrong.

3. Having kids isn’t (always) the end of the world.

While there are always going to be the friends who fall off the face of the planet in a jumble of sanctimonious Facebook comments over how much more fulfilled her life is now that she’s a mother, that is far from being the case for all who spawn. Outside of the ones whose lives become a blur of ultrasound photos and breast pumps, there are going to be many cool moms who are still totally interesting and who have just happened to push another person out of their body recently. And though it is undoubtedly terrifying the first time you see someone you used to hold beer bongs for announce that they’re bringing another human being into the world, you soon realize that it doesn’t always signal the death of a friendship.

4. Weddings are weird.

People lose their fucking minds over weddings. They just go completely insane, evacuate their bodies, and let the cavernous entity be filled with some kind of Viking trickster imp whose sole purpose in life is to complain about stress and pick out floral arrangements. I know people who recently got married and rode in on matching horses with rose petals all around them and the groom wearing a top hat. These are real people who otherwise do normal things, such as go to the movies, get a beer with friends, watch the news, and go to work on the subway instead of on MATCHING FUCKING HORSES. We must all learn to excuse these temporary lapses in judgment, as they have been brought on by Wedding Fever, and are not an accurate reflection of who this person is as a whole.

5. People are pretentious about jobs.

Essentially, when it comes to jobs, you can’t win. There is always going to be someone with something incredibly snarky and presumptuous to say about your life and your choices. If you’re working as an assistant somewhere, someone will tell you that you shouldn’t have picked such a “useless major” and that you deserve to be stuck in your coffee-fetching fate. If you’re in service, people will harangue you about when you’re planning on getting a “real job,” as though that isn’t somehow the most insulting thing a human being could say to you. If you’re working long hours at a hard-won corporate job, people are going to hold it against you when you can’t do coke until five in the morning and show up fresh-faced for the big meeting the next day. You just can’t win, so it’s best not to try.

6. The rental market is out to get you.

There will come a moment when you realize that so much of your life and the lives of your friend seem to center around where you’re all living. Who has a good apartment? Who’s in a good location? Who was forced to drag themselves out to the exterior suburbs with their tail between their legs? Whose parents are paying their rent for them? It’s the moment in life where it’s not at all unclassy to be like “Hey, how much do you pay for this place, if you don’t mind me asking” and either be sent into a blind rage or a feeling of smug victory at the response.

7. Credit is the devil.

At some point between looking at how much money you still owe a student loan organization for all of those misguided choices you were goaded into making by guidance counselors somewhere around junior year of high school, and having to cut up the one credit card you ever owned because you discovered that it was only a matter of time before that thing was going to be used to pay for drunken Taco Bell, you figured it out. Credit is just the worst, and our parents left us a financial world that is essentially one of those sets from old western movies where the building fronts are just propped up on stilts and could blow over with a particularly robust burst of wind. We must try not to recreate the same.

8. Partying must be done in moderation.

There will come the hangover that makes you understand this, and you never know exactly when it’s going to be. You’ll go balls-to-the-wall at some party because, hey, you’re young and beautiful and that terrible David Guetta song is playing and why not. And if this were your 19-year-old self, you would just wake up the next morning, brush the vomit off of your jacket, and go to an all-day music festival in the baking Tennessee sun. But you’re not, and so instead, you wake up feeling as though someone is standing over you with a jackhammer to your temple and a Quiet Riot record playing at top volume and double speed through the bedroom window. And it is at that moment where you swear to whatever being you pray to that, next time, you’re having a glass of water between every drink.

9. You will never please everyone.

Though this is a lesson that is undoubtedly learned at every stage of life, and through varying degrees of emotional pain, the 20s are a great example of people’s tendency to poo-poo your decisions even though no one fucking asked them. This is the time to be choosing your career path, living situation, geographical location, romantic goals, and every other direction you want to be heading in your young life. You don’t have it all down yet, but you’ve got some vague ideas. And it is at this point that Judgmental Judy and her friends Financially Feasible Fran and Smugly Superior Stanley are going to come over to your house and tell you how all about what you’re doing is not good or right, as though it involves them in any way. Get married, and friends will call you lame. Stay single, and your bitchy aunt will judge you over Thanksgiving dinner. Move away and people will miss you. Stay and they’ll be sick of you. No matter what you do, there will be at least a few people who think you’re an idiot for doing it.

10. Friends are not forever.

The people you grew up with are not going to universally be there at every milestone after college. They’re not going to be there, and many of them aren’t going to care. And though it’s hard to accept at first that you can go from getting high with someone in a Celica every day after school to never hearing from them until someone else mentions their pending nuptials on Facebook, it’s for the best to remember that they don’t really matter. We only have room for so many real friends in life, and if some are so fair-weather as to jump ship the second you move one county away, you didn’t need them anyway.

_____________________________________________
SaraHHouse365 | When my guy friends get married...
SaraHHouse365 | The Defining Decade, why your 20s matter
SaraHHouse365 | Purpose Driven Life: S.H.A.P.E.

Credits: Thought Catalog

Purpose Driven Life | DAY 29 | Accepting Your Assignment

The Purpose Driven Life expanded edition

What on Earth Am I Here For?

Day 29  |  Accepting Your Assignment

Notes from 3/13/13

Women's Small Group Bible Study
pages 225-231

YOU WERE PUT ON THIS EARTH TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION.

You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it.

If I have no love for others, no desire to serve others, I should question whether Christ is really in my life.

We are healed to help others.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.

Regardless of your job or career, you are called to full-time Christian service.

DAY 29

Small or hidden ministries often make the biggest difference. In my home, the most important light is not the large chandelier in our dining room but the little night light that keeps me from stubbing my toe when I get up at night.

Today thousands of local churches are dying because of Christians who are unwilling to serve.

Impression without expression causes depression.
Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service.

The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking, "Whose needs can I meet?" Do you ever ask that question?

Preparing for Eternity
At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life.
One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others.
At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: "I was too busy" or "I had my own goals" or "I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement." To call excuses God will respond, "Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?"

We are only fully alive when we're helping others.

God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly.

What matters is
 not the duration of your life, 
but the donation of it.
Not how long you lived,
but how you lived.




Day 30 | Shaped for Serving
Purpose Driven Life | Live Your Calling

Understanding their differences

self awareness

Values, morals and ethics

Explanations > Values> Values, morals and ethics

Values | Morals| Ethics | So what?

What are the differences between values, morals and ethics? They all provide behavioral rules, after all. It may seem like splitting hairs, but the differences can be important when persuading others.

Values

Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn't, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another.
Dictionary.com defines values as:

n : beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something); "he has very conservatives values"

Morals

Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to have a very broad acceptance. Morals are far more about good and bad than other values. We thus judge others more strongly on morals than values. A person can be described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not following values.
Dictionary.com defines morals as:

n : motivation based on ideas of right and wrong

Ethics

You can have professional ethics, but you seldom hear about professional morals. Ethics tend to be codified into a formal system or set of rules which are explicitly adopted by a group of people. Thus you have medical ethics. Ethics are thus internally defined and adopted, whilst morals tend to be externally imposed on other people.
If you accuse someone of being unethical, it is equivalent of calling them unprofessional and may well be taken as a significant insult and perceived more personally than if you called them immoral (which of course they may also not like).
Dictionary.com defines ethics as:

A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain"

The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession.

Ethics of principled conviction asserts that intent is the most important factor. If you have good principles, then you will act ethically.
Ethics of responsibility challenges this, saying that you must understand the consequences of your decisions and actions and answer to these, not just your high-minded principles. The medical maxim 'do no harm', for example, is based in the outcome-oriented ethics of responsibility.

So what?

Understand the differences between the values, morals and ethics of the other person. If there is conflict between these, then they probably have it hidden from themselves and you may carefully use these as a lever.
Beware of transgressing the other person's morals, as this is particularly how they will judge you.
Talking about professional ethics puts you on a high moral platform and encourages the other person to either join you or look up to you.

See also

http://junior.apk.net/~qc/mind/value/
http://www.characterunlimited.com/character_ethics.htm

Daily Health Tips

Source: skinnygurltrappedinafatgirlsbody.tumblr.com via Nouf on Pinterest

I will give you rest...

Source: jupiterstarz.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Me: Five Years From Now | Book Recommendation

 

 

24 Bible Verses on Being Quiet

 24 Bible Verses on

Being Quiet

Proverbs 11:12 ESV / 87 helpful votes

Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

James 1:19 ESV / 83 helpful votes

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

Proverbs 17:28 ESV / 81 helpful votes

Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Psalm 4:4 ESV / 59 helpful votes

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

Proverbs 10:8 ESV / 46 helpful votes

The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

Job 6:24 ESV / 44 helpful votes

“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.

Proverbs 29:11 ESV / 43 helpful votes

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.

Marriage & Divorce: The Statistics

I found these interesting....

Marriage and Divorce: The Statistics

Learn what the 2003 data reveals about who is getting married, when they're getting married, and who is most likely to divorce.

The average age of a woman getting married in the United States is 27. " Bride's Magazine

The average age of a man getting married in the United States is 29. " Bride's Magazine

88 percent of American men and women between the ages of 20 and 29 believe that they have a soul mate who is waiting for them. " University Wire, Louisiana State University

59 percent of marriages for women under the age of 18 end in divorce within 15 years. The divorce rate drops to 36 percent for those married at age 20 or older. " "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the United States," M.D. Bramlett and W.D. Mosher

60 percent of marriages for couples between the ages of 20 and 25 end in divorce. " National Center for Health Statistics

50 percent of all marriages in which the brides are 25 or older result in a failed marriage. " National Center for Health Statistics

65 percent of altar-bound men and women live together before getting married. " Bride's Magazine

Research indicates that people who live together prior to getting married are more likely to have marriages that end in divorce. " The Boston Herald

A recent study on cohabitation concluded that after five to seven years, only 21 percent of unmarried couples were still living together. " The Boston Herald

55 percent of cohabitating couples get married within five years of moving in together. Forty percent of couples who live together break up within that same time period. " Annual Review of Sociology

Children of divorce have a higher risk of divorce when they marry, and an even higher risk if the person they marry comes from a divorced home. One study found that when the wife alone had experienced a parental divorce, her odds of divorce increased to 59 percent. When both spouses experienced parental divorce, the odds of divorce nearly tripled to 189 percent. " Journal of Marriage and the Family

The likelihood that a woman will eventually marry is significantly lower for those who first had a child out of wedlock. By age 35, only 70 percent of all unwed mothers are married in contrast to 88 percent of women who have not had a child out of wedlock. " "Finding a Mate? The Marital and Cohabitation Histories of Unwed Mothers," Lawrence L. Wu and Barbara Wolfe

Credits: Dr. Phil.com

Celebrate yourself - encouragement

Off Night, not content, impatient. Drive 17 miles to give someone a hug.

Wow, I had kinda an off night.

I’m usually very content, happy, just relaxed in the evening. Tonight I was not that.

I was annoyed. I wanted to shin kick everybody. I had a 2 sec. patience level. My dad told a story/lesson he thought of while driving home from the studio, however it took atleast 14 minutes to tell the story that I believe he could’ve finished in 1 min and 40 sec. and not only did I not have the patience for his story, I showed it. I showed him how annoyed I was. Almost as if I was tapping my foot as he was trying to tell the story. Who the heck am I to be so rude to others? And we’re not just talking others…..we’re talking about my parents, the ones who love me the most! It’s funny how we get most annoyed with those we live side by side with.

This might be a sign or a reminder that it’s time to get back in the saddle in the job field. I think this beautiful vacation is coming to an end.

I decided to give everybody a break from my short fuse so I took a drive. I called my great friend Steph and just ranted for about 20 min on her – bless her heart for taking it. Then the song “Home” came on by Phillip Phillips exactly as I was driving past Christina Lake Mountain – the perfect landmark. It was a good reminder that my time here is only temporary.

Two miles after that I almost hit 3 deer.

But the road kept going and I kept driving. Soon I was up in Battle Lake. Yesterday I found this beautiful poem from my friend Layna. She must’ve given it to me in the last 5 years for Valentine’s Day. I missed her so I decided to drive up to Stella’s Bistro and just give her a hug. Sometimes it’s nice to have an end destination to do something simple like that. Just drive 17+ miles to give someone a hug.

I’ll never forget when my Uncle Dan drove 2 ½ hours to drop off a basketball. He rang the doorbell, we were shocked, he gave the basketball to one of us and then simply walked back to his truck. I bet he was having the kind of day /night I am. He just needed some a lone drive time to think.

I just remembered Layna yelled out "It's your golden birthday this year!" right as I was exiting the building. It made me chuckle. It was random as we had talked nothing about my birthday during our short visit.

Oh and some nice dad pulled over in Battle Lake to tell me one of my taillights was out. I appreciated it. As I came out of Stella’s, a cop drove by. To my wonderful luck (sarcasm) he pulled over to his “hiding spot”, a spot that I would have to drive right past. After driving past him, he pulled out. I didn’t even have the effort. He was ¼ mile behind me and I just pulled over. He didn’t even need to put his lights on. I did the work for him. As he approached my car, I said “yeah yeah I know, a guy just told me 10 minutes ago my tail light is out.” He was actually very friendly (and cute!). We made small talk and parted ways. On the way home I thought of my dream (log) home, when and how my husband will come into my life and what I need to do (and make) in order for me to enjoy a comfortable life.

That’s all.

Bible Verses for Death

 

One of the most difficult things to deal with in life is the death of a loved one. Even for the Christian, death is a part of life. Unlike they that do not believe, the Christian has a blessed hope – that is the return of the Savior Jesus to catch up His Church and bring them to eternal life with Him and God the Father in Heaven. Here are some scripture quotes about death that I hope will comfort you .

Credit WhatChristiansWanttoKnow

As He Promised, He Will Do

John 14:1-4 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Because of Calvary, We Live

2 Samuel 12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (King David speaking of his infant son who died)

John 11:23-26Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

1 Corinthians 15:54-57When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:20-21But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

In His Time, He Will Do

1 Corinthians 15:20-23But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Philippians 1:23-24 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

1 Peter 1:3-5Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 John 3:1-2 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Revelation 21:1-4Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Safe In His Arms, Now and Forever

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

Psalm 116:15Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (Jesus speaking)

Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

Revelation 14:13And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

Christian Quotes About Death

“They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.” ~ Williams Penn


”When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God’s love.” ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

”It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth.” ~ Ignatius of Antioch

“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.” ~ Matthew Henry

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” ~ C.S. Lewis


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SaraHHouse365 | Paradox in our History, George Carlin
SaraHHouse365 | You were made for a Mission


Credits: 20 Verses about Death

#2: 10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Anybody

10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Anybody
#2: 10 Insanely Nice Things You Can Say to Anybody

Columnist Leigh Newman weighs in on the tiny but enormously kind things you can say that may change a person's day—and (sometimes) even their way of looking at themselves.

By Leigh Newman

2: "Three different sources have confirmed that you're generous, nice to animals and funny."

It happens all the time during coffee dates or lunches at work—a friend's name comes up in conversation and everyone there suddenly begins to talk about how amazing this person is: for example, how whip-smart she was during the budget meeting, how kind she was to the obviously lonely woman in production, how she always smells a little like fresh vanilla cupcakes. Unfortunately, due to her absence, she'll never know about this avalanche of admiration—unless you inform her. Passing along the descriptions will not only make her feel quite special for possessing these characteristics, but it will also disable the compliment-deflecting shield that so many of us have, because by delivering this praise, you can't possibly just be trying to “cheer her up" or trying to “be sweet." You didn't actually say those things. Other people did.


Read more: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Nice-Things-You-Can-Say-to-Anybody/2#ixzz2NIX0wcd1

Visualize a task before you do it

it's never too late...to think big

 It's Never Too Late . . . to think BIG!



It's Never Too Late...
by Patrick Lindsay

There's more of them!!
  It's Never Too Late...to push your boundaries.

It's Never Too Late...to take a trip!

It's Never Too Late...to find balance.

Truth: Never have to worry about your lousy memory.

  

 - A Father's Book of Wisdom

Attachment to People

Common sense is not so common.

The Click

101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs (101 Most Inspiring Quotes of All Time)

How do you feel about your life today? Are you living every day in exuberance? Do you love what you’re doing? Are you excited every single moment? Are you looking forward to what’s coming up next? Are you living your best life?

If your answer to any of the above is a no, maybe or not sure, that means you’re not living your life to the fullest. Which really shouldn’t be the case, because your life experience is up to you to create. Why settle for anything less than what you can get? You deserve nothing but the best. In the past years of my life, especially since after I pursued my passion in ’08, I’ve been living every day to the fullest, filled with joy, passion and rigor. It’s an amazing experience that I want you to experience that too.

This is a list of 101 timeless principles I use to live my best life, and I hope they’ll help you to do so too. As you live in alignment with them, you’ll find yourself becoming more conscious, more alive, and more importantly, experiencing life on a whole new level. Be sure to bookmark or even print out this page and refer to it daily to guide you to your best life.

Here are 101 ways to live your life to the fullest:

1. Live every day on a fresh new start. Don’t be held back by what happened yesterday, the day before, the week before, the year before, and so on.
   
2. Be true to who you are. Stop trying to please other people or be someone else. It’s better to be an original version of yourself than an exact duplicate of someone else.
3. Quit complaining. Don’t be like the howling dog, always howling and never doing anything. Stop complaining about your problems and work on them instead.
4. Be proactive. Stop waiting for others around you to do something and take action yourself instead.
5. Rather than think “what if”, think “next time”. Don’t think about things you can’t change (namely what has happened and thoughts of other people) or unhappy things because these are disempowering. Instead focus on the things you can action upon. That’s the most constructive thing you can do in any situation.
6. Focus on WHAT vs. How. Focus on WHAT you want first, before you think about HOW to do it. Anything is possible, as long as you set your mind, heart and soul to it.
7. Create your own opportunities. You can wait for opportunities to drop in life. Or, you can go out there and create your own opportunities. The latter is definite and much more empowering.
8. Live more consciously each day. Stop sleepwalking through life. Your life is something to be experienced, not coasted through.
9. Be committed to your growth. In the Map of Consciousness, there are 17 levels of consciousness – from Shame to Enlightenment. The higher level of consciousness you are in, the richer your life experience. Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to growth.
10. Know your inner self. This means knowing who you are and what you represent. Be clear of your personal identity.
    
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11. Discover your life purpose. Set the mission statement for your life; one that will drive you to life your life to the fullest.
12. Live in alignment with your purpose. What can you start doing immediately that will let you live 100% in alignment with your purpose? How can you live true to your purpose within every context/situation/environment you are in, every second of the day?
13. Set your life commandments. Define your personal commandments to live your best life. What adages and principles do you want to follow in your life?
14. Discover your values. Values are the essence of what makes you, you. Read article #11: Discover Your Values in Personal Excellence Book (Volume 1) on the importance of values, my values and how you can create your own.
15. Hold yourself to the highest conduct. Every one of us have our own set of ethics, principles and moral codes. Live true to them every day. Also, live in full alignment with your purpose (#11), commandments (#13) and values (#14).
16. Design your ideal life. What is your ideal life? Design it. First, assess your life at the moment via the life wheel. Then, ask yourself what it takes to live a 10/10 life (in all 10 areas – career, health, love, social, etc…). What is the life that will make you the best person you can ever be? Set your BHAGs – big, hairy and audacious goals! There are no limits in life – only those you set for yourself!
17. Stop putting life on hold. Are you putting any parts of your life on hold? What is one area of your life you have been putting off/avoiding/denying? Uncover it and start working on it.
18. Create your life handbook. Your life handbook is your life-long personal manual to live your best life – from your mission statement, your values, your long-term goals, short-term goals, personal strengths, blind spots to address, plans, among others. Create your book first then build on from there.
19. Set your goals. After you design your ideal life, set your 5-year, 3-year and 1-year goals. The more specific your goals, the better! Read the 10 principles on how to get winning goals.
    
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20. Take action on your goals and dreams. Create an action plan with your strategy, plan and immediate next steps. ESPER: 7-part Goal Achievement series is a great tool to get you started.
21. Create your bucket list, i.e. things to do before you die. Then, get out to achieve them.
22. Don’t do things for the sake of doing them. Always evaluate what you’re doing and only do it if there is meaning behind them. Don’t be afraid to quit the things that don’t serve your path.
23. Do the things you love, because life is too precious to spend it doing anything else. If you don’t enjoy something, then don’t do it. Spend your time and energy on things that bring you fulfillment and happiness.
24. Discover your passion in life. What sets you on fire? Go out there (and explore inward) to know what you love to do.
25. Make your passion a full-fledged career. Then, start pursuing it. Stop working in a job you are passionless toward. Quit your job when you are ready to do it full-time.
26. Turn your passion into a huge success. Turn your passion into a multi-million dollar business. Better yet, make it a multi-billion dollar one.
27. Learn from criticism. Be open to criticism but don’t be affected by it. Criticism is meant to help you be a better person. Learn from it.
28. Be positive. Is the glass half empty or half full? How about neither? It’s actually all-full – the bottom half is water, the top half is air. It’s all a matter of perception. Take on empowering perceptions, not those that bind you. If you can see the positive sides of every thing, you’ll be able to live a much richer life than others. Purge unnecessary negativity from your life.
    
    
29. Don’t badmouth other people. If there’s anything you don’t like about someone, say it to him/her in the face – otherwise, don’t say it at all. It’s not nice to do that.
30. Be empathetic. If everyone only see life from his/her own perspective, we’ll forever be close-minded and insular. See things from others’ shoes.
31. Be a compassionate person. Show compassion and kindness to everyone around you
32. Develop 100% self-belief. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Remove your limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones (In Days 26-27 of Be a Better Me in 30 Days Program, you identify your limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering ones). If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?
33. Let go of unhappy past. This means past grievances, heartbreaks, sadness, disappointments, etc.
34. Forgive those who may have done you wrong in the past. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize it was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes
35. Let go of attachments. Don’t fixate yourself with a certain status, fame, wealth or material possessions. These are impermanent and will ultimately disappear one day when you die. Focus on growing and living life to the fullest instead.
36. Let go of relationships that do not serve you. That means negative people, dishonest people, people who don’t respect you, people are overly critical and relationships that prevent you from growing.
37. Spend more time with people who enable you. Hang out with people who you compatible with, like-minded people, people who are positive, successful, strong achievers and positive for your growth. You are after all the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
    
    
38. Build genuine, authentic connections with people around you – strangers, friends, family, colleagues, business partners, customers/clients, etc. Spend more time to know them better and foster stronger connections.
39. Connect with an old friend. There is no end to the number of friends you can have. Reach out to people from the past.
40. Do a kind deed a day. What is something you can do today that will make the world a better place? Go and do it.
41. Help other people who are in need. Voluntarism is one outlet. You can also start with your friends and family.
42. Help people when they least expect it, without reason. You don’t need any reason to help others. Do it because you want to. Share the love with everyone.
43. Go dating (if you’re single).
    
44. Fall in love ♥
45. Review your life. Set a weekly review session to assess how you are doing for your goals and your life. Review your purpose once every 3-6 months too so you know you’re on the right path.
46. Overcome procrastination. Procrastination is a huge waste of your time (and your life). Get rid of it once and for all.
47. 30 minutes a day. Set aside at least 30 minutes every day to work on a quadrant 2 goal that, when you achieve it, will bring about the biggest source of fulfillment and happiness in your life
48. Get out there and make new friends – whether in your workplace, online, friends’ friends, social groups, etc. Read: 10 Tips To Make New Friends
49. Make deeper connections. Beyond making new friends, aim to make deeper connections out of them. Read: How To Have More Best Friends in Life
50. Be your advisor (from the future). Imagine you’re the future you, 5 years later. How would you advise yourself? Write it down. Now, apply them. Check out Future Prediction Exercise article in Personal Excellence Book (Volume 1), which teaches you to predict your future, then learn from it.
51. Write a letter to your future self. Actually, write 3 letters – for yourself in 1, 3 and 5 years. The longer the letters, the better. Envision how you’ll be like in the future. Make each letter a minimum 2 pages long. Now, seal them and put them in a safe place. Set it in your calendar so you’ll know to open them when it’s time. This will inspire you to work your hardest and achieve your maximum results in the time period.
    
    
52. Declutter. Start from your computer, then your table, your room, your bag/wallet, and your home. The more you throw the unwanted and old stuff away, the more room you’re creating for new things to enter.
53. Keep learning. There is something to learn from everything you see, hear and experience. This includes your mistakes and past misshaps (if any). Learn to interpret each event objectively. Focus on what you can learn from it so you can apply them moving forward.
54. Keep developing yourself. Equip yourself with a huge breadth of knowledge. Learn different skills, pick up different hobbies, study different fields.
55. Keep upgrading yourself. Equip yourself with a huge depth of knowledge. While you can usually only level up to 99 in video games, in real life you can level up to infinity. Go for further studies if need be. Develop your skills. Level up. Build your >10,000 hours in each skill.
56. Try new things. What’s something you’d normally not do? Get out of your comfort zone try something different. It can be something simple like taking a new bus route, trying a new food item, picking up a new hobby, or something bigger like studying a different field, picking a new skill, traveling to a country you’ll never visit, etc. You set your own limits.
57. Get yourself out there. This applies for everything. (a) Get out there geographically. Go out, travel and explore the world. Set sail into the sea. Go backpacking by yourself and visit as many countries as possible. Get on a road trip and visit the different places that come out. (B) Get out there situationally. Stop sticking to routines and comfort zones. Try something different. (c) Get out there in life. Stop watching TV and living vicariously through the TV characters. Go and live the life of your dreams.
58. Be the absolute best in what you do. Go for the #1 position in what you do. If you want to spend your time doing something, you might as well be the best in it. Strive for the best – you don’t deserve anything lesser than that.
59. Don’t settle. In the same lines as #58, don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for someone you don’t like as your partner. Don’t settle for a job you don’t like #25). Don’t settle for friends who make you feel like a lesser person (#37). Don’t settle for a weight you are unhappy with. Go for what you really want.
60. Stretch yourself. What are you doing now? How can you achieve more? Set bigger goals. Explore your limits and break them.
61. Embrace new ideas. Don’t mentally limit yourself; Let your mind be a breeding ground for new ideas. Read: 25 Brainstorming Techniques.
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62. Create your inspirational haven. Turn your room into a place you love. Do the same for your work desk. Get rid of things that make you unproductive. Surround it with things that inspire you and trigger you to action. Read more: How To Create An Inspiring Room
63. Behave as your ideal self will. All of us have an ideal vision of who we want to be. How is your ideal self like? How can you start to be that ideal self now?
64. Set your role models in life. With role models, you become much better than you can be by yourself. I personally am inspired by Tyra Banks (for her passion for helping women build their self-esteem and changing notions of beauty), Ivanka Trump (for her success, intellect and beauty), Donald Trump (for his success and drive in life), Oprah (for being who she is), Lady Gaga (for her talent and not being afraid to be different), and many more. Seeing them and what they do reminds me of what I can be and what I can do, so they drive me on to greater heights.
65. Get mentors and/or coaches. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Not only will they drive you to achieve more for yourself, they’ll also share with you important advice which you can use to create even more success for yourself. Many of my clients approach me to coach them and the net result: they achieve significantly more progress and results in their life than if they had worked alone.
66. Uncover your blind spots. The more you uncover, the more you grow, the better you become.
67. Increase your consciousness. The more conscious you are, the more evolved you become.
68. Ask for feedback. As much as we try to uncover our blind spots(#66), there will be areas we cannot identify. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively. Day 17 of Be a Better Me in 30 Days Program: Get Feedback From Others is about getting feedback from others so as to uncover our blind spots.
69. Generate passive income. Create passive income streams so your income is not tied to the time you spend on your work. Of course you’ll still continue to work, but only because you want to and not because you have to.
70. Help others live their best lives. There is no better way to grow than to help others grow. Ultimately, the world is one. We are all in this together.
71. Get married / Start your family / Have kids!
72. Improve the world. There are many things in the world that need your attention and help. Poverty. Disaster recovery. Illiteracy. Children in need. Depleting rainforests. Animal rescue. Endangered species. How can you do your part?
    
    
73. Spearhead a humanitarian cause/organization you are passionate about.
74. Give more value than you receive. There is so much unspeakable joy that comes from giving. And when you keep giving, you’ll find that you actually receive a lot more in return, in spades.
75. Be big picture focus. You can either set your eyes on the big things or get hung up by the nitty gritty details. The former will help you get a lot more out of life than the latter. Focus on the big rocks in life and put first things first (Quadrant 2 tasks). Practice the 80/20 rule – focus on the 20% things that give you the 80% fulfillment in life.
76. Be clear of your end objective. What is the end goal you seek? Is what you’re doing bringing you there? If not, put it aside. As long as you keep taking on things that meet your end goal, you’ll eventually reach there.
77. Go the 80/20 route. For every goal you have, there are different paths to achieve it. Pick out the 80/20 path, i.e. the most effective path that brings you there the fastest with least amount of effort.
78. Prioritize (80/20 actions). As you embark on the 80/20 path for your goals, focus on the important tasks and cut out the less important ones. That means do the 20% actions that give you the 80% results.
79. Live in the moment. Are your thoughts wandering around all the time? Calm your mind down. Be present. The only time you’re ever living is in this moment. Meditation helps to remove mental clutter.
80. Relish in the little moments. Snuggling under warm covers on a rainy day. Ice cream on a hot day. A kiss with your loved one. Being with your best friend. A walk by the park. The breeze on your face. Quiet, alone time. Watching the sun rise/set. Soak in all these little moments of life. They are what make up your life.
81. Take a break. Being the best also requires you to take breaks when needed. Make sure you rest when needed. Doing so lets you walk the longer mile ahead.
82. Stop wanting things a certain way. I wrote a 3-part series before on the downsides of perfectionism and how to overcome them. Be firm on your end goals (your objective goals) and your ideals, but let go of the fixation that things have to be a certain way. You’ll realize it’s by doing that that you achieve what you want.
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83. Focus on creation. Think about what you can bring to the world, and create that.
84. Don’t criticize or judge others. Respect others for who they are.
85. The only person you can change is yourself. Stop expecting others to behave in a certain way. Rather than demand that others around you change, focus on changing yourself. You’ll be happier and live a more fulfilling life this way.
86. Embrace gratitude. Be grateful for everything you have today, and everything you will get in the future.
87. Express gratitude. Let the people who’ve touched you know of your gratitude toward them. You’ll be surprised what a little act like this can do. If you don’t tell them, they’ll never know.
88. Let loose and have fun. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance in the rain. Run barefoot and feel the ground underneath your feet. Release of your self-imposed shackles and be free :D.