Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Relationships Matter

Build your person to person, face to face relationships and make them important!

Focus on what is truly important, what truly lasts in life....relationships.  Make them your priority.  








Friday, February 21, 2014


Challenge yourself to learn or try something new or different each month.

Grab a book you would never normally read. 


Go somewhere new. 

Sign up for a class. 

Try a new hobby. 

Taste a new food.


Get out of your comfort zone and live your life.

Trying 12 new things a year challenges you in new and fun ways. 


It is not difficult to do and the commitment will make you feel more accomplished.









Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Pursue Your Dreams



Are you doing all you can to protect and pursue your dreams and goals?  

Don't give up.  

God gives us dreams to pursue for a reason.  Pursue them. 

 Chase them.  Fight for them.  

Your dreams and goals matter and are worth the work!  







Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Love The Ones Your With



Make a difference...

Give true love  & love fully those

in your life.


  Whether it’s your spouse, friends, 

siblings, parents, family members, or 

children – 

let them know you love them.


We can become so comfortable in their 

presence, we can treat the ones we love 

with less respect than we would a 

complete stranger. 

What can you do today to let those 

special ones in your life know they’re 

appreciated and 

most importantly, loved?





Keep Going




Don't lose heart. 

Don't lose hope. 

Don't lose faith. 

Don't lose patience. 

Keep asking. 

Keep seeking. 

Keep knocking. 


~Mark Batterson

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Improve Your Life By Identifying Your Core Values

Do you know what your core values in life are?  Do you live by those values?  Are your decisions guided by those values?  Do your relationships reflect those values?
Core values help us to know what is important in life, what drives us.  If our actions do not line up with our value system, we can experience stress, lack of focus, confusion, and miss out on our purpose in life. 
Have you identified your top core values?  You can't live by your core values if you have not identified them.  Start by identifying your top 10 values.  Write that list down, then set it aside for a couple days.  Pay close attention over a week time frame as to what really is important to you.  Revisit your list and see if the top 10 values you chose are truly your how you live your life.  If your list needs a realignment, then make it.  Once you do that, then narrow it down to your top 5.  These should be the things that shape your decisions and how you live your life.  
One question you can ask yourself to focus on if you are aligned with your values is this: Do my actions, my schedule, and where my money is spent reflect the values I say are most important to me?

Here is a list to begin with.  There are many other values that could be added to this, but this is a start:
Appreciation   Accountability   Artistic    Authenticity    Accomplishment   Achievement   Adventure  Belonging   Beauty   Building    Being in Control   Bold    Caution   Career    Changing the World    Compassion   Creativity    Calm   Community   Creation  Competence   Collaboration    Communicating     Competitive   Consistency    Cherish  Cleanliness   Considerate   Confident   Challenge  Cheerful   Clear-minded    Diversity    Diligence    Dedication    Devotion   Determined   Dynamic   Excitement   Education   Efficiency    Encouragement     Excellence   Ethical   Enjoyment  Enthusiasm  Explore  Expertise    Family      Faithfulness   Fun    Freedom    Forgiveness      Faith    Financial    Forward Thinking     Frugal       Fulfillment      Fair    Fitness   Flexible   Gentleness   Gain   Giving   Genuineness    Goodness   Growth    God   Generous   Gracious   Honesty    Hard Working    Humility     Humor    Health   Happy    Help     Integrity    Impact Others   Influence   Inspiring   Independent   Intelligence   Joy   Kindness   Love     Loyal    Love of Learning   Life   Leadership   Marriage      Mentoring    Make a Difference  Nurturing      Obedience     Orderliness     Optimistic   Patience    Peace   Perfection    Performance-Driven    Persistence   Power     Physical     Productive    Purity   Passionate     Positive    Quality   Quiet    Respect    Risk Taking       Relationships    Recognition   Relaxation   Respect for Others     Resourceful   Security      Self-esteem      Self-expression   Sensitivity    Servanthood     Service     Silence   Sincere    Solitude     Self-control   Spiritual    Stability     Success    Safety    Serenity  Simplicity  Spontaneous   Structure   Support     Strength   Temperance         Tolerance     Tranquility   Trust     Truth      Trustworthy   Timely     Thoughtful    Teamwork    Uniqueness    Useful     Vitality    Vision  Winning     Worship      Wisdom 

Ask this as you work to narrow the list to five....do I appreciate this value?  Does this value truly reflect my character?  Do I enjoy this more than other things?  
Once you identify your top 5 values, what are some key action steps you can take to make very clear boundaries around your values?   How will those boundaries impact the life you live and how you treat others?  













Tuesday, February 11, 2014

It's Not What You Say, It's How You Live



"The greatest lessons are taught by those who do twice as much living as they do talking." - Darlene Schacht


Ever been around people who love to hear themselves talk?  Whille they ramble on talking a lot, but about very little, you think of all the life you are missing out on, all the things you could be doing instead of wasting your time listening to someone talk in circles about little or nothing.  


Think of the life lessons you have learned.  Think of the ones that really stuck with you.  Why did they stick with you?  More than likely, it was because someone invested in you, cared about you, showed you, taught you, didn't just talk your ear off to prove a point.  


What type of lesson are you teaching those around you?  Live your life as an example.  Your words are important, but what you do is what really shows others who you are at your core.  

Monday, February 10, 2014

100 Days To A Better You, Stop Making Excuses



Continuing on with ideas on improving you...

Are you a person of excuses, 

or a person of 

progress

action

 and 

follow through?








Thursday, February 6, 2014

100 Days To A Better You, Get Creative

Most of us have a creative side of some kind.  Yours will not look like mine, and mine will not look like yours, but we all have an area we enjoy being creative.  Mine is through photography, gardening, writing, designing paper crafts, and some techie things.  What are yours?  

I don't know about you, but if I don't take time to nurture my creative side, it affects my mood, and I feel stuck.  We were made to be creative!

Schedule at least two hours a week to indulge in your creative side.  It will help you to become a better you!









Monday, February 3, 2014

Change Your View




Perspective affects our lives.  

Do you tend to complain and be angry, or do you try to speak words that are uplifting and helpful?  Are your words negative, or words of praise and thankfulness?  This world is filled with sadness, ugliness, and hurt, but it's also filled with joy, beauty, and healing.  Which do you focus on?  Which do you you speak?  

What is your perspective?  

Where we place our trust greatly affects our perspective.  Is your trust placed in yourself, the powers of this world, in others, or in God?  God makes a difference.  He is in control.  He will change your perspective if you truly place your trust in Him.  

Do you need to change your perspective today?  What will you do to change your view?  What steps can you take to see the dandelions as wishes instead of weeds?  













Sunday, February 2, 2014

100 Days To A Better You, Gratitude



Want to improve you? Write down 5-10 things that you’re grateful for every day. Gratitude brings joy to your life by helping you see things from a different perspective.