I look out the window and see that its still dark as most things have not quite gotten started yet. I am wide awake and reflecting a little about what the tomorrow days means. Normally, this time of year most of us are focused on firming up our New Years Resolutions as we say good-bye to another year.
For the last several days, I am sure you haven’t been able to turn on the television or read a newspaper without a mention of what has happened during the last decade. Yes, this isn’t just the end of a year, this marks the end of a decade.
For me personally, I know that a lot has happened over the course of this decade. I believe that I have grown considerably over the last ten years as I have graduated from college, started a career, relocated several times, and become a wonderful uncle.
I am sure we can all take a peek back at the last ten years to see the many changes in the world and our personal lives.
How have you grown over the last decade? What have you learned over the last 10 years? How has the last decade prepared you for the future?
It’s a great time to reflect not just on the passing of another year, but on the last ten years to appreciate where you have come from. Many blessings to you as we prepare to close out ‘09 and usher in 2010.
“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.”
-Chinese Proverb
“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!”
-Anthony Robbins
“Let us be about setting high standards for life, love, creativity, and wisdom. If our expectations in these areas are low, we are not likely to experience wellness. Setting high standards makes every day and every decade worth looking forward to.”
-Greg Anderson
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday Thoughts after Christmas 12/27/09
We have already arrived at the 2nd day after Christmas and I can say that this was one of the best Christmas’s I have experienced in awhile. While I wasn’t with my immediate family this holiday season, I did thoroughly enjoy myself. I did have the opportunity of sharing this special time with my adopted families and talk with many friends.
Christmas is one of those times of the year when we are really minded about family and tradition. No matter where you are in life there are some things that you will always carry with you no matter what.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of world we could live in if we practiced some of our Christmas traditions the entire year and not just during the month of December. How often did you hear or say, “Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.” Or how about my all time favorite, “Its better to give than to receive.” All during this holiday season, many of us stressed the importance of the holiday in addition to enjoying our friends and families.
So it seems as if a lot of my thoughts revolved around traditions today. I know people that have to watch A Christmas Story, drink eggnog, or even enjoy Christmas brunch. So it seems like we do a good job of keeping traditions that we have grown up with over the years. Lets start a new tradition today and keep the Christmas spirit going year round. We all have a lot to share with others and we must make a habit out of giving to others that would never be able to repay you.
Most of us probably gave great gifts during the holiday season and celebrated the birth of Jesus. The world was given the most precious gift of all with the birth of Jesus. Everyday we wake up to see another day we have been given another gift, but ask yourself what are you doing with it?
I challenge you to start a new tradition in your life today. Its not always about you and me, but the others that we share the world with. Lets start an infectious movement and begin to make a difference.
“Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking”
-Grace McGarvie
“Tradition simply means that we need to end what began well and continue what is worth continuing”
-Jose Bergamin
“What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the human memory and in the human imagination, when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage it”
-Thomas Carlyle
Christmas is one of those times of the year when we are really minded about family and tradition. No matter where you are in life there are some things that you will always carry with you no matter what.
Sometimes I wonder what kind of world we could live in if we practiced some of our Christmas traditions the entire year and not just during the month of December. How often did you hear or say, “Remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.” Or how about my all time favorite, “Its better to give than to receive.” All during this holiday season, many of us stressed the importance of the holiday in addition to enjoying our friends and families.
So it seems as if a lot of my thoughts revolved around traditions today. I know people that have to watch A Christmas Story, drink eggnog, or even enjoy Christmas brunch. So it seems like we do a good job of keeping traditions that we have grown up with over the years. Lets start a new tradition today and keep the Christmas spirit going year round. We all have a lot to share with others and we must make a habit out of giving to others that would never be able to repay you.
Most of us probably gave great gifts during the holiday season and celebrated the birth of Jesus. The world was given the most precious gift of all with the birth of Jesus. Everyday we wake up to see another day we have been given another gift, but ask yourself what are you doing with it?
I challenge you to start a new tradition in your life today. Its not always about you and me, but the others that we share the world with. Lets start an infectious movement and begin to make a difference.
“Tradition is an explanation for acting without thinking”
-Grace McGarvie
“Tradition simply means that we need to end what began well and continue what is worth continuing”
-Jose Bergamin
“What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the human memory and in the human imagination, when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage it”
-Thomas Carlyle
Monday, December 14, 2009
Saturday Thoughts on Success 12/12/09
This was quite the relaxing Saturday as I was finally able to settle in at home after being away for a couple of weeks. Today was a great day as I talked to a few close friends and my mom just to catch up on some things.
Most people know that I watch quite of bit of sports on TV and these days there still are other things going on outside of the latest Tiger Woods updates. My thoughts today brought me to discussing success and what it takes to be successful.
I found myself at this place after having a discussion with a friend of mine over the course of the last year about the football program at Prairie View A&M University. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this school or their storied history, let me give you a peek into how I arrived here. From 1989 to 1998 Prairie View’s football team lost a record 80 straight games. This became the NCAA’s longest losing streak that may stand forever. On this Saturday Prairie View played in their 1st SWAC Championship Game and were victorious over the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.
I shared this example as we all have encountered temporary setbacks and failures on the road to success. This particular school could have folded their football program and accepted the fact they weren’t good, but the remained steadfast and turned things around over a period of time. Through coaching changes, new players, and continued support from their fans they have achieved success again.
Sometimes it’s easy to give up and not continue working toward a goal that you may have. You have to keep your mind strong and keep the right people around you to stay motivated. I can tell you that nothing worth having was attained easily. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. There is nothing in life that you can’t be successful at as long as you remember where it all starts.
Congratulations to Prairie View A&M University and their fans on this historic day!
“The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.”
-Nelson Boswell
“The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none.”
-Philip Caldwell
“Successful people breed success.”
-Philip Crosby
“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.”
-Woody Allen
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”
-William Feather
Most people know that I watch quite of bit of sports on TV and these days there still are other things going on outside of the latest Tiger Woods updates. My thoughts today brought me to discussing success and what it takes to be successful.
I found myself at this place after having a discussion with a friend of mine over the course of the last year about the football program at Prairie View A&M University. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this school or their storied history, let me give you a peek into how I arrived here. From 1989 to 1998 Prairie View’s football team lost a record 80 straight games. This became the NCAA’s longest losing streak that may stand forever. On this Saturday Prairie View played in their 1st SWAC Championship Game and were victorious over the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.
I shared this example as we all have encountered temporary setbacks and failures on the road to success. This particular school could have folded their football program and accepted the fact they weren’t good, but the remained steadfast and turned things around over a period of time. Through coaching changes, new players, and continued support from their fans they have achieved success again.
Sometimes it’s easy to give up and not continue working toward a goal that you may have. You have to keep your mind strong and keep the right people around you to stay motivated. I can tell you that nothing worth having was attained easily. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. There is nothing in life that you can’t be successful at as long as you remember where it all starts.
Congratulations to Prairie View A&M University and their fans on this historic day!
“The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that we can succeed.”
-Nelson Boswell
“The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none.”
-Philip Caldwell
“Successful people breed success.”
-Philip Crosby
“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.”
-Woody Allen
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”
-William Feather
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thoughts on a Chilly Thursday Morning 12/3/09
Its a cold Thursday morning and it seems as though I can not escape the Tiger Woods coverage. Every channel that I flip to there is a comment about the recent events of the past week. I am very hesitant to turn to the Food Network this morning, as I am not ready to see Tiger situation interjected into a recipe that I am trying to learn.
I wish he and his family the best in working through this situation. At the end of the day, he is human just like everyone else, although every aspect of his life is on display for the public because of his celebrity. I am not here to have any opinions on his actions, because it is not mine or anyone else’s place to judge.
My thoughts over the last couple of days have revolved around mistakes. Hopefully, the conversations that are taking place on the news regarding Tiger are making us all look at every aspect of our lives and the decisions we are making.
No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Some of the mistakes that we make during the course of our lives tell the story of what are character truly is. We are the jury that needs to judge our own mistakes and determine what to do next. In life, we are our own toughest critic and need to be able to live with the decisions that we make in life whether they are good or bad.
Mistakes are a natural part of life and how you choose to deal with them define your character. We can not let our mistakes define who we are. Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
“A man's errors are his portals of discovery.”
-James Joyce
“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.”
-Swami Sivananda
“I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake.”
-Luis Miguel
“All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.”
-Winston Churchill
“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.”
-Richard Bach
I wish he and his family the best in working through this situation. At the end of the day, he is human just like everyone else, although every aspect of his life is on display for the public because of his celebrity. I am not here to have any opinions on his actions, because it is not mine or anyone else’s place to judge.
My thoughts over the last couple of days have revolved around mistakes. Hopefully, the conversations that are taking place on the news regarding Tiger are making us all look at every aspect of our lives and the decisions we are making.
No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Some of the mistakes that we make during the course of our lives tell the story of what are character truly is. We are the jury that needs to judge our own mistakes and determine what to do next. In life, we are our own toughest critic and need to be able to live with the decisions that we make in life whether they are good or bad.
Mistakes are a natural part of life and how you choose to deal with them define your character. We can not let our mistakes define who we are. Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
“A man's errors are his portals of discovery.”
-James Joyce
“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.”
-Swami Sivananda
“I think we all wish we could erase some dark times in our lives. But all of life's experiences, bad and good, make you who you are. Erasing any of life's experiences would be a great mistake.”
-Luis Miguel
“All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.”
-Winston Churchill
“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they're necessary to reach the places we've chosen to go.”
-Richard Bach
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