FUN FIRST!

Daily Encouragement for Better Living

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FEBRUARY, 2007

Listen to little children. They see things simply. Often the simple way is the right way.
I never understood Groundhogs Day. For years I couldn't figure out the point. Winter doesn't end till March no matter what the groundhog sees or doesn't see. What if different groundhogs see different things? I just didn't get it. I was stupid. The point of Groundhogs Day is simple: Groundhogs Day is FUN! It's a totally contrived excuse for a party. If you don't believe me, just type "Groundhogs Day" into a search engine and you'll see that lots of people have left you in the dust when it comes to having fun on a cold day in February. So, here's my challenge. Let's all create our own personal excuse for a party. Be creative. It could be "Sub-Zero Day", whenever the temperature goes below zero you eat popsicles, drink pina coladas and turn the thermostat up to 85 (or whatever little celebration you like). If you use Celsius, you could celebrate most everyday all winter! If you live someplace warm (Nick & Stephanie this means you!!), you could celebrate "I'm Warm and My Friends and Family are Ice Cubes Day." The point here is unashamed mindless frivolity. If you're uncomfortable with this, just think of all those people in Punxsuatawney, PA having a blast today because of a groundhog. Are you having as much fun as they are today?
Be positive. Make your best choice and act on it. Your chances of success are infinitely better when you act than when you don’t.
Life is a bottle of fine wine and your problems are the cork. A good corkscrew removes the cork. Griping and frustration do not. Don’t get mad. Find the right tool.
Who do you know who is most hurting today? Give them a call or write them a letter. You don’t have to fix their problem. Just let them know you’re thinking of them and care about them.
If you only listen long enough to find something to criticize, you’re only pretending to listen.
Everyone has something important to teach you. If you’re not learning from a person, you’re not paying close enough attention.
My mother used to say "You can write your name in the dust on our furniture. Just don’t write the date!" Better to have dust on your furniture than on your relationships.
Love is a lot like burglary. People tend to be locked up. You need to be constantly checking the windows for the rare chance they've left one open. If you are continually looking for openings with everyone you meet, you'll find ample opportunities to love them (which is where the burglary analogy breaks down since you'll be giving not taking.)
Why wouldn’t everyone absolutely love you? If you can answer this question, you might want to change.
Edison’s Birthday. Edison’s creativity brought us light in the night. What is your creativity lighting up? Be sure to flip on the switch.
Lincoln's Birthday: "With malice toward none, with charity for all . . ." so Lincoln began the conclusion to his second inaugural address. The end of the Civil War was near and there was plenty of malice to go around. Each of us undoubtedly has been dragged into (if not started) a conflict that left us filled with malice. When we're full of something, it tends to slop over onto everybody around us. Charity is the antidote to malice. Start dispensing small doses of kindness on a regular basis and you'll soon be filled with love, not malice. When you're full of love, then, let it slop!
Love is wanting the best for someone even when you’re not it.
When you tell the people you love that you love them do they believe you? Or do they think, "Man, if loving me were a crime, I couldn't testify against you. No personal knowledge. It's all hearsay to me."
A shot not taken is a shot not made 100% of the time
There’s a big difference between "love" and "being in love." "Being in love" is about how you feel. "Love" is about what you do.
Like any kingdom, the kingdom of God has one king. It’s not you.
Freedom is our birthright. We have it unless we surrender it. Frederick Douglass wrote about growing up as a slave. The transforming moment in his life was when he realized that while his body was owned by his master, his mind was free. Recognizing this freedom and developing it eventually led to his physical freedom as well. We need to recognize and develop the freedom of our minds as well. How have you imprisoned yourself? What thoughts about yourself are limiting your ability to live as the free and creative person you were made to be?
A friend comes to get you in the pit of despair even though they know it’s filled with spiders and slimy things they’d rather not touch.
Tell your children that your hope is that they will be an improvement on you. Then, try to make it a difficult thing to accomplish.
Washington's Birthday: George Washington led an under equipped, seldom paid, mostly wanting to quit and go home army against the most fearsome army on the planet. They didn't have a chance. But Washington inspired enough of them to stay and continue the fight and eked out enough victories to survive until they won a big one at Yorktown and the British decided they'd had enough. In pursuit of your dreams, there will be times you are under equipped, seldom paid and mostly wanting to quit and go home. It's then you need to remember the lesson of George Washington: the first rule of succeeding is don't quit.
Failure is just a step on the road to success. Don’t act like it’s your destination. Put it in your rear view mirror ASAP and look ahead.
If you found a genie in a bottle, and were granted one wish, what would it be? Why wait for a genie? Decide to make your wish come true. What’s the first thing you can do toward fulfilling your wish?
My friend Heather said " If the sky were falling and everyone was going to die, people would be freaking out but you would just say ‘Well, at least it didn’t happen yesterday. Thank you Lord for giving us one last day’". I hope she’s right. That's taking gratitude to a pretty high level. You get there by being habitually grateful for all the small blessings you receive everyday. A habit of gratefulness allows you to grow into seeing more and more to be grateful for. The more grateful you are the happier you are.
Make a list of what you like about yourself. Look at it everyday and add to it. When you start thinking about something you don’t like about yourself, pull out the "like list." A shortcoming doesn’t look that impressive when surrounded by your strengths.
Yesterday, I suggested making a list of what you like about yourself. Did you do it? If not, you can start today by writing: "I like the fact I'm a procrastinator." Ok, maybe not. This is important. Happiness grows from being grateful (remember you made a list of what you are grateful for a couple months back and are referring to and adding to it regularly) and from appreciating your good qualities and using that appreciation to crush feelings of inadequacy. So, make the list and use it.
Yesterday's precipitous market drop reminded me of a trading seminar I once attended. A bunch of the attendees were sitting together at lunch time talking about various trades they'd made. Some trades were profitable some weren't. Everyone was engrossed in the conversation. Just for fun I injected: "The good thing is . . . it's only money." Dead silence. Then the conversation resumed as if I hadn't spoken. Money is a tool. If you're trying to get to the top of a hill, having a vehicle might help. A car might get you there faster than a unicycle, which might be faster than walking. But, if you take the car, you might miss seeing things on the way up and not learn anything about the hill. You'd see and learn a lot more by walking. And, if the hill is steep enough or muddy, the car will never get you to the top. Don't spend your life pursuing the "right" vehicle and fail to start up the hill.