Do you ever feel like the world is closing in on you and you have no control over it?  You have your dreams and goals, just like everyone else. You feel like you are doing things the way you have been taught, like you have to be smarter than you feel, but the walls just keep getting closer and closer anyway.  Well, my friend you have fallen into the hole of depression.

Depression usually refers to feelings of  a lack of interest in activities that a person used to enjoy, changes in their weight and sleep habits, feeling tired all of the time, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, difficulty concentrating and thoughts of death and suicide.  If a person experiences a majority of these symptoms for longer than a two-week period, they may be diagnosed with major depression.

Although depression is often thought of as being in an extreme state of sadness, there is a vast difference between depression and sadness. Humans will experience sadness from time to time.  It  is a part of being human, a natural reaction to painful circumstances. Depression, however, is a physical illness.  There are more symptoms involved than being in an unhappy mood with no logical reason for this unhappiness. A person having a loss of interest in daily activities consistently for at least two weeks or more, representing a change from the their normal mood is depression – not sadness.  This loss will impair this person’s  ability to function in their daily life.

Having your friends and family tell you to “snap out of it” only causes more frustration because one can no more “snap out of it” than the diabetic can make his pancreas produce more insulin. Sadness is a feeling that passes as a person comes to term with his troubles and a sad person continues to cope with living. Depression can linger for weeks, months or even years and the person may feel overwhelmed and hopeless, unable to cope – thus contemplating ending their life.

Depression is characterized by the presence of five or more of the following symptoms most of the day, nearly every day:

• Feeling sad or empty, ready to cry at the drop of a hat
• Lack of interest or pleasure in daily activities
• Significant weight changes, decrease or increase in appetite
• Insomnia or sleeping too much
• Physical ailments due to emotional causes
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Diminished ability to think or concentrate, indecisiveness
• Recurring thoughts of death
• Thoughts of suicide without a specific plan
• A suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide

Depression is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters.  However, a variety of factors, including your genetic makeup, your environment, your physical condition and your psychological coping resources, work together to determine whether you will develop depression or not.

There are three basic molecules which are thought to play a role in mood regulation: norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine.  Norepinephrine has been thought to be the causative factor for depression.  Serotonin has been found to be another factor which, over the past two decades, has taken center stage thanks to Prozac, which selectively acts on this molecule. Newer antidepressants like Effexor are actually targeted at both serotonin and norepinephrine.  A third substance that may play a role in mood is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the reward that we get which causes us to continue participating in an activity.  It is also associated with addiction and its production is stimulated by drugs such as cocaine, opiates and alcohol, which may explain why depressed persons choose to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol.

What is the effect of the stress hormone cortisol on serotonin levels and depression? Are cortisol and depression related?  When the body is under stress, the adrenal gland increases secretion of a hormone called cortisol. Short-term, this hormone can help aid in survival, for example by mobilizing energy reserves. Long-term elevation of cortisol, however, can have detrimental effects.

It is known that in normal people the level of cortisol in the bloodstream peaks in the morning, then decreases as the day progresses. In depressed people, however, cortisol peaks earlier in the morning and does not level off or decrease in the afternoon or evening. Although the exact mechanism that causes depression is uncertain, clinical studies suggest that chronically elevations of  cortisol may induce depression by somehow affecting central neurotransmission.

In many cases, depression actually is the result of habitual negative thoughts. When bad things happen, we begin chastising ourselves. We have thoughts such as:  I’m no good, I’m a total failure or Nothing ever goes my way.  Because our feelings follow what we are thinking, negative thoughts like these can send us spiraling down into depression.

This concept is the guiding principle behind cognitive therapy, a type of psychotherapy developed by psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s. If we think something often enough, we begin to believe it’s true and our feelings usually match what we are thinking about ourselves. So if we have negative thoughts all the time, we will feel negative.  The solution is to learn a way of thinking more positive, thus feeling good instead.

Did you know that stress in your life can quite literally be expressed as pain and illness? When we hold in our emotions what will happen? If one of your body systems is weakened, this is where a stress-related illness is most likely to develop. If your weakest point physically is your neck, you’ll develop neck pains. Or back pain. Or ulcers. Or frequent colds and flu.  Any illness that has physical symptoms, but has the mind and emotions as its origin,  is called a psychosomatic illness. Although you may be told that it’s “all in your head”, these illnesses are quite real. The aches and pains are very real, but because your doctor is looking for an actual physical cause, they are very tricky to diagnose and treat. The key is to look for a source of stress in the person’s life that the person is not coping with. By treating the underlying stress and depression, it may be possible to heal the physical problems as well.

But how do you beat stress? The first step is learning to recognize when we are under extreme stress. Learn to recognize the signs of stress unique to you.  Once you know how to recognize when you are stressed, the next step is to learn how to cope with that stress. One very important way to do this is: don’t hold in your feelings.  You let off steam in a controlled way or you can let the stress find your weakest point to come exploding out. Controlled is safer and healthier for you.  Some controlled ways include:

• talking to someone you trust,
• joining a support group,
• relaxation techniques,
• taking a break from the situation you’re in,
• taking care of your health by eating right, exercising and not smoking,
• being honest with those around you,
• letting go of old grudges; doing something nice for others, or
• just taking some time for yourself.

The list is endless. Just learn a healthy way to vent.

We have to be willing to let go of our expectations about what we must do. We have to be willing to let go of old guilts and shoulds that are guiding our behavior. We have to allow ourselves to just be human. It’s okay for men to cry and be emotional. It’s okay for women to let someone else have a turn with the household chores. It’s okay to fall short of your goals if you’re doing the best that you can. Some of our biggest stressors actually come from within ourselves!

Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. Better yet, never put off ’til tomorrow what you can avoid altogether!

I don’t know who coined these phrases, but they must have been depressed. The symptoms that we face, such as fatigue and hopelessness, make it so easy to say to ourselves, “I’ll just put this off until tomorrow when I feel better”. Before we know it, that deadline is creeping up on us and we’re starting to panic. What’s the best way to deal with panic? Hide your head in the sand and hope it goes away! Not really, but procrastination is an easy habit to fall into and as the panic mounts, so does the depression. The more depressed we get, the more we avoid reality.

Why do we fall into the procrastination trap time after time? Because procrastination becomes a way  of coping with the emotions and physical symptoms that accompany depression. It may bring some temporary relief, but the next day the cycle starts all over again. Check out the following types of procrastination.

Self Doubt – This type of person fears failure. They second-guess themselves and delay taking action.

Discomfort Dodging – This type of person avoids activities that will cause them distress, discomfort or anxiety. This is ironic because the act of dodging the activity itself doesn’t make it go away and causes even more tension and stress.

Guilt-Driven – This type of  person feels guilty for not doing what needs to be done, but rather than do the task, continues to procrastinate in order to not face up to those feelings of guilt.

Habitual – This type of person has procrastinated so many times, it becomes ingrained into their mind. The person no longer thinks about why they do it, they feel it’s just a part of their life. It becomes an automatic response to say, “This is too hard”, “I’m too tired”, or “I don’t feel good”.

Once you recognize your style of procrastination, you can take steps to stop it.  One of the most important things you can do for yourself is to get organized. Do whatever works for you.  Break large projects up into smaller tasks.  Next time you catch yourself saying, “I will do this later”, just do it! The feeling you get when you finish will be so much better than any relief you get from putting it off.

Does the thought of performing a certain task fill you with anxiety?  When you feel this way breathe deeply and exhale. You will notice after each breath that your heart rate is actually slowing and you are feeling less tense. Now, do one of those tasks from the list you should have made and have been putting off, no matter how small that task. The very act of accomplishing something will ease your anxiety.

When you have accomplished a task, mark it out on your list with a pen. It gives you visual confirmation that you are getting somewhere and also gives you a psychological boost. Sometimes I feel as if I’m getting nothing done, but when I look over what’s marked out I see I’ve actually done quite a bit. I’m just constantly adding new tasks.

Remember, if something can go wrong, it will. Allow yourself more than adequate time to finish each task. If you do not need all the time you’ve allowed, you will be able to progress ahead of schedule. This will be a psychological boost to you also.  Don’t panic if you get behind schedule. If you’ve allowed yourself extra time each day, you will simply shift everything forward until you catch up. The key is to leave yourself room to be flexible.

What if you really don’t have time to finish everything? Get creative. Request extensions on deadlines, get help from friends and relatives, delegate tasks to others, drop non-essential items from your list or just hire outside help. I haven’t found a situation yet that couldn’t be solved somehow once I let my expectations change about how it should be.

Be sure to schedule time for yourself after you have accomplished the things that you need to get done.  Knowing that you have finished your tasks will also make it easier to relax and enjoy your leisure time.

Depression is a bad thing when you have it but if we work really hard  – it can be defeated.

If you don’t like who you are and where you are, don’t worry about it because you’re not stuck either with who you are or where you are. You can grow.  You can change.  You can be more than you are.

Zig Ziglar

If you liked this post  or have anything to say on the subject,  I would appreciate hearing it.  This has been a particular problem for me my whole life.  Sometimes it seems hopeless but I know it can be handled.  There are seldom, if ever, any hopeless situations, but there are many people who lose hope in the face of some situations.

Please, leave me a comment and let me know what you think on the subject.  Have a great day.

How do you start your day? I found by writing everything down the night before that I want to accomplish the next day gets my day off to a great start. It also seems to prompt my subconscious to work on my plans and goals while I sleep, thus being able to visualize my dreams.  Because every action has consequences, good or bad, I try to decide what’s most important for me to do and write them down in order of significance.

Putting your daily plans on paper will make your goals more concrete and give you a much greater assurance of completing them. Also, when you go to bed try visualizing yourself doing what you want to get done the next day. Visualization will help to train your subconscious to focus on completing the list. When you wake up, you will feel much more inclined to tackle the tasks you have written down.

The only thing standing between you and what you want to achieve is you! That is right, you are the bottleneck that determines how quickly you can reach your goal. Remember you want to succeed, and preparation will go a long way toward helping you to achieve that goal. So why not get started and do what you need to do the night before.

“It’s important to want to win, but it’s more important to prepare to win” By Daniel Graham

Why do we need goals?  Well not having goals is similar to sailing a ship across the ocean without a map. Goals, like maps, will help you get to your destination much faster than sailing through life aimlessly. Goals will give you direction in all areas of your life, personal, career, and spiritual. Goals will give you a purpose in life; a reason to get up early in the morning and go to bed late at night.  Goals will put drive and passion into your life.

So how do you set goals?  First you must dream! You need to dream like you did when you were a child, as if there are no limits, keeping in mind, the purpose of goals is to focus your attention on your future.  And remember, your present circumstances do not determine where you can go, they merely determine your starting place. Write your ideas down on paper and decide which ones are the most important. Also, your goals need to be grand enough to be challenging. Remembering to truly be successful, and reach your true potential, you must constantly push yourself and move outside of your “comfort zone”.

On a fresh piece of paper, write down one goal at a time and beside the goal, write down a deadline for achieving that goal. Be sure that the deadline is realistic. Write down all the reasons why you are committed to attaining your goal.  What  if you were to attain all your goals in a year? How would that make you feel?  Bring your goals to life, feel the emotion, passion and drive stir up inside of you! Do something right now that will help you to achieve your goals.  There is no time like the present to get the ball rolling.  Each step you take will bring you one step closer to the life you want.

“Your life’s direction and power to accomplish anything becomes a reality when you have a goal.”  By Daniel Graham

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Put Your Life On Track By Setting Goals

Everyone wants success and I hope to show you how to get there.  I think it is interesting that so many people talk about setting goals, but so few people ever seem to actually set them.  This is one of, if not the most, important part of setting your life on the right path. I used to be one of those people. It seems that I have read every book on goal setting that I have been told about or seen advertised.

I thought I knew everything there was to know about setting goals, but I just never set any. I knew that goals worked, but I just was never willing to put them into my schedule. Then one night as I was trying to get to sleep, I was dreaming about “the good life” I would have if only I could make my wishes come true.  You know, like in a fairy tale.  In a fairy tale you could always count on someone to be there to help, but this was the real world, and there was only me. That thought, however, stayed with me for a long time! What if I really could count on myself? That might not be so bad!  What if I could determine exactly what I wanted from life and then make it happen?  What if setting a goal was as easy as just making a wish?

Wishes are goals with some added glitter.  Goals provide the course of action that can take you to wherever you want to go, but not the motivation to get you there. Wishes are a little different,  they have a little more impact – like being in a thunderstorm instead of a small rain shower. Wishes let you dream, let you fly, and help to unleash a source of limitless opportunities that give you the power to accomplish what you might not have otherwise even imagined.

If you really want to make good things happen in your life, think of setting goals as making wishes. Wishing was that extra motivation I’d been looking for. I never had the urge to get out of  bed in the morning and say to myself, “Oh boy!! Today I’m going to work on my goals.” But when I would say to myself, “Today I’m going to make my wishes come true”, that  was a completely different story.  By thinking in this way I would feel like I could do anything.

This new way of thinking has changed my life drastically. It has made me feel like maybe I can have that success that other people have, not right away, but there is hope. The very instant I changed my behavior and my way of thinking, the world around me seemed like a place I wanted to get out of bed for – and start working on my goals. Things I wanted to happen began to happen. The kind of life I had always dreamed about started to come true – like in a fairy tale.  Just small things I wanted to happen but now I know the big things are on the way too.

My purpose with this post is to share with you the incredible power to make your wishes and goals come true. To help you get what you want out of life – regardless of your background, your age, or your present circumstances.  Many people think that luck or good fortune is what determines our fate but that is only slightly true. Luck contributes its part in what happens to you, but you have to do your part also. Luck essentially deals the cards but you have to play the hand that was dealt. While fate rules, it favors those who learn the tricks and the most important trick of all is cause and effect.

The Importance of Cause and Effect

Have you ever ran a red light and not been given a ticket? Luck was on your side; you got away with it. Take into consideration the law of cause and effect. For every effect, there must be a cause. That cause must always come before the effect. Simple and to the point, it’s the easiest natural law to remember and probably the easiest to forget.

How often have you heard someone say that from now on he will do only what he is paid to do – and nothing more – unless he gets a raise? I think I remember myself saying this when I had my JOB!  According to the cause and effect law, he’ll be waiting quite a while because he must first do more than he is being paid for in order to make himself worth more.   Then, and only then,  will he ever see that raise.

Have you ever seen a spouse who wanted more out of a relationship, but wasn’t ever willing to invest more in the relationship? Because of cause and effect, this kind of spouse will always be in for a rude awakening.  Things may never get better.  You must be willing to give more to get more.  Have you ever met someone who feels as if they are owed the rewards of success without first being willing to put forth the time and effort it takes to become successful?

According to the law of cause and effect, the investment must always come first, if the rewards are to follow. Life teaches us that we have to put wood in a fireplace before we get flames; we have to make a deposit before we can make a withdrawal; we have to plant seeds, water them, and nurture them before we can harvest the plant. Too often, unfortunately, we don’t apply this practical knowledge to the way we conduct our lives. If you yearn for a particular thing to happen in your life, you must first set in motion the cause of  effect. When you don’t get a desired effect, you can be sure that you have not set the appropriate cause into motion.  You can be sure that once you put the cause in motion, the effect you want will follow. The cause needs to come first. Once it does, the effect will follow.

When you decide to be a cause in your game of life, you get to call the shots and make all the plays. But when you choose to be an effect, you only get to watch the game on tv with no control over that game.   The difference between being a cause and being an effect is the difference between being a screwdriver and being a screw. One acts and  the other is acted upon.

The Process for Making Your Wishes Come True

I would like to show how to understand why you simply don’t need strong-minded discipline to succeed in life. You also don’t need to be extremely talented or gifted to make your wishes come true. You only need to follow these steps:

·         Make your wish

Determine what your wish is. Think of it as selecting the effect you wish to cause and then stick to it the way bees stick to honey.

·         Make a plan

Create a plan of action so that wish will come true.

·         Take action

Set into motion the causes that will make that wish come true.

·         Never Give Up

Finish what you start and stay persistent. Never give up. Just remember:  To get whatever you want from life –  set in motion the appropriate cause, the effect will take care of itself.

Make Your Wish

Imagine you are out for a walk one evening and you stumble upon a brass lamp.  You start rubbing it to see what it says on the side of the lamp and all of a sudden a genie pops out of it just like the story tells.  He looks at you with a gleam in his eye. And with a strong, powerful voice, he says, “I am the Genie of the lamp. What will you have me do , Master?” What would you ask the genie to do?

Believe it or not you already own such a lamp.  It is located behind your eyes and between your ears – your brain.  This is the most powerful lamp of all – it has invented everything from super computers to simple ice cream. And you own this brain, free and clear, equal to any other brain anywhere.  You are the only one that can bring forth its powers to grant your wishes.  You are your own genie with the God-like power of creation.

But you still haven’t said what you would ask the genie to do. First you must decide what to wish for.  When people don’t get what they want out of life it is usually because they don’t know what they really want.  They go through the days dreaming about the good life but rarely get a clear idea of what that “good life” should be.  This is because even though they are hardworking and able to make decisions, they lack purpose.

Anyone can do remarkable things  if they have remarkable things to do.  Once you decide what you want, the rest will fall into place.  You will wake up in the morning with a reason to get out bed, your days will be filled with meaningful work and you will be able to take advantage of those responsibilities because you have a purpose. So, go ahead, figure out what you really want, not what it is you are supposed to want or what someone else wants for you, but what YOU in your own heart wants.  Now, go after it.  Dream big because you will succeed if you follow these steps.

Make a Plan

Now you need to create a plan to put your wish in motion. The magic of your plan is not in the details, it’s in the freedom that those details give you. Freedom from the distraction of worrying about what to do next. Freedom to focus all your energy and attention on  knowing that every step you complete takes you that much closer to where you want to go. Freedom to try, because you know you’ll succeed.

A good plan sets your mind at ease and your body in motion. It removes confusion, uncertainty, and doubt so you can concentrate on getting the job done. You don’t have a plan until you have a deadline. The purpose of a deadline is to make you feel a sense of urgency.  It lets you know how serious you are about making your wish come true.  Set reasonable deadlines.  A deadline is designed to make you focus, not to make you panic. The advantage of setting a deadline is that you set your wish in stone.  You begin to plan your life around it, the same way you plan around any other important event. Your wish becomes real, like an appointment you’ve scheduled for next month. The more real your wish becomes; the more convinced you become that you can make your wish come true.

Once you’ve listed the steps you need to take to make your wish come true, and you’ve set milestones to keep you on track toward your deadline, you need to put it on your daily schedule.  Scheduling creates the difference between planning and doing.  You don’t have to schedule the entire plan all at once, just the next week or two. Then if a step takes longer than you expected, or your schedule is disrupted in some other way, you won’t have as much to reschedule.

Once you’ve listed the steps of your plan and scheduled them on your calendar or daily planner, you then need to schedule regular progress reports to see how you’re coming along.   A progress report is like looking out the window while you’re riding on a train.  By watching the things that you pass, you can tell whether or not the train is going in the right direction.  But if you aren’t paying attention, you can come to the end of the line and find yourself in the wrong city.

Ask these questions for your progress report and write down your answers:  have I met the milestones I planned to, do I need to change my plan to reach those milestones,  and do I need to change my milestones?  Circumstances change constantly.  Your plan may needs to change with those circumstances.  If you do need to make changes, make them. If you need to revise your plan, go ahead and revise it.  That’s what a progress report is for, after all.

Take Action

A plan gives your wish form and action gives it life.

When you act, you set causes in motion and are rewarded with effects.  When you take action, you make a giant leap from thinking your wish to living your wish.  You change yourself from a dreamer to a doer.

Think small.  Instead of trying to complete your wish in a single day, focus on a single step, the smallest step you can think of.  The moment you take action – any action – you are  on the right track. You will become a body in motion and will tend to stay in motion.  The most natural thing in the world will be for you to take the next step, and then the next, until you’ve completed your wish.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Your plan, no matter how simple or how complex, begins the same way.

The first action you take is the one that transforms you from a body at rest to a body in motion. Take that action and you have the momentum you need to carry you to the next action. That’s all you have to worry about. You don’t need enough momentum to complete your whole plan.  All you need is enough to complete your next action. Then that momentum will carry you to the next action, then the next, then the next after than, until you complete your wish.

The secret of that first action is to make it so simple that you give yourself no reason to resist it.  You can never finish what you never start. The easier you make it on yourself to take the first action, the greater your chances to make it to the last action, the one that completes your plan and makes your wish come true.

The easiest way to grant yourself a wish is to make it a habit. You can create new habits the same way you created all of your existing habits – through repetition until it becomes second nature.  To form a new habit, all you have to do is to apply the same principle.

Suppose you wish to take a walk each morning to work yourself into shape, but you’re having trouble giving up your morning routine -  your habit – of reading the newspaper. What is needed is a new habit to replace the old one. For thirty days, practice walking  instead of reading that paper. At first, it  may feel uncomfortable because the old habit still has hold.  But by the second or third week, walking will seem more natural than reading the paper.

You can turn almost anything into a habit if you implement the Thirty-Day Plan. All you have to do is to decide what new habit you want to acquire and then agree to practice that habit every day for just thirty days. If in thirty days you don’t like the results, quit.

Make sure you schedule practicing your new habit each day and then honor your schedule. Don’t let yourself skip days because of weekends, holidays, illness, or because you had to go out of town. Don’t accept any excuses for missing even a single day. If you do miss a day, start over.  The beauty of the thirty-day plan is that it minimizes your natural resistance to change. You aren’t asking yourself to give up anything, you’re just asking yourself to try something new.

Although we might hate to admit it, we all talk to ourselves and we listen. Psychologists call this affirmation. What that means is: if you tell yourself something often enough, you begin to believe it.

The first step in creating an affirmation is to make certain it supports your values. If you feel it’s unethical or undesirable, then it won’t work. The next step is to follow similar guidelines to those you used when you created a wish.  Be specific and affirm what you want instead of what you don’t want.  Use the present tense.  Give it intense emotional impact.

Never Give Up

How many times will a baby try to take its first step before it gives up?

A baby doesn’t know how to give up.  It doesn’t know the difference between success and failure, understand self-discipline, and it knows nothing about courage.  All a baby knows is what it wants, and it keeps going until it gets it.  What if you had the same approach to life?

Getting what you want boils down to a single word: persistence.  No matter how presentable your wish, how good your plan, how tireless your work, your success will ultimately depend on persistence.  Are you willing to go the distance?  Then you will succeed.   Are you willing to endure when others are ready to quit?  Then you will succeed.   Are you willing to keep at it  until you get it, however long it takes?  Then you will succeed.  Success belongs to those who refuse to settle for less.  Persist until you get what you want, and you will get it.

The most common reason we give up is that we don’t believe in what we’re doing anymore.  Either we don’t believe our effort can succeed or we don’t believe that success is worth our effort.  Either way, once we lose our belief, that’s it – the end.

Belief is the foundation of persistence.  Without belief, you have no reason to complete a task.  But if you have belief, then you have no reason to quit.   Whenever you find yourself tempted to give up on a wish, ask yourself these questions:  do I believe I can make my wish come true and  do I believe my  wish is worth the effort?   If either answer is no, then you need to work on your belief before you can effectively work on your wish. Belief is the cause of  persistence and persistence is the cause success.

Now that you know your own strength, now that you know how to make your own wishes come true, what are you going to do about it?

Are you going to make your wishes come true and start achieving your goals, or are you going to settle for something less? Are you going to take the strategies  I have talked to you about and turn them into a habit that can bring you literally anything you want for the rest of your life? Or are you going to let the next ten years pass the way the last ten did? There is nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t mind being in the same place ten years from now that you are today.

If you want to make your wishes come true, you have a decision to make. You have to decide whether you want to be a cause or an effect. You have to decide whether you want to be a screwdriver or a screw.

Just remember, only you can make that one choice that makes everything else possible.

By now, you’ve locked on to your wish; you’re taking the appropriate action; you’re managing your progress; and you’re ready to persist in your efforts until you make your wish come true.   So go get it.  Do not let anything or anyone get in your way.  You can and will succeed in getting all your wishes.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and maybe it has helped you just a little to be able to get those goals set.  Don’t be afraid to go after what you want.   If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment and let me know.  Also feel free to leave any ideas you may have.  I would love to connect with you, if you want please join my Google Friend Connect and retweet my post.  Thanks for reading and have a really great day. Make it count.

It seems that the real Christmas meaning has been lost these days, “the reason for the season” in one way, is to have more time to rush from store to store, spending all your pay! Shouldn’t it be ‘Tis the season to be thankful and grateful for all we have and to think about those who don’t?  To share with others and pray for those who can’t?

Then I thought, “What is it about the Christmas Season that brings out the worst, causing us to lose all, rhyme and reason?”  It begins the day after Thanksgiving when someone grabs the last sale item from the shelf, knocking down several people without even knowing it . The very day after they were sitting at their table saying how thankful they were for all they had. And yet, they were all out the very next day grabbing for more.  What happened to that thankfulness?  That story was told more than once this week, but the beauty of the Season, not once did they speak.

Then I thought of my childhood days when the season was filled with mirth, and how we planned together to celebrate the Birth.  Credit cards were a luxury only the rich could afford, and there were no Wal-Marts and shopping centers galore.

My mother would sometimes spend months crocheting a shawl, or knitting and sewing gifts for us all.  I would have that beautiful new dress I wanted to wear my first day back to school after the holiday.  My dad would work long hours for extra pay so we could have one special gift under the tree on that special day.  My mother would stuff my Dad’s big socks with nuts, fruit and some candy for each of us.  We were so grateful and happy for that toy and sock.  We were a big family that shared a lot, but there was always room for one more potato in the pot. And it seemed that there was always an extra person or two at our table to share that potato.

On Christmas Eve the only pushing and shoving I can retrace, was to see who could get the closest to the warmth of the fire.  In those days we had one car that was for us all, and there were no cell phones to interrupt with a call.  We had one pair of shoes to do for the week, and a special pair for Sunday that made us feel sheik.  The same was true of our coveralls, while mother cut our hair, and at times left us bald.  No hair salons for us.

While today, our hi-tech hustle and bustle leaves us in a whirl and many have forgotten the One that came to save the world.  Celebrate with me right now, “the reason for the season;” lift up a prayer and praise to God for that baby that was born, and our Savior that was raised.

Let’s say that extra prayer that peace will abound in the world and our servicemen and women will be safe away from their families and know just how much they are loved and admired, not only by their loved ones but by all of us who are free today because of the legacy that has been left by all men and women of all branches of the services,  who have faithfully served our country in all wars.

Thank you God for this beautiful world and the people in it,  from all walks of life.  Let us continue to prosper and help others.  We are not worthy of your greatness  God, but we will spend all eternity trying to be.  In Jesus name, we pray o’ Lord.  Amen.

You know, habits are like clothes, you wear them and they fit your personality and self-image. Some clothes make you feel like a million dollars while others make you feel dull. So  we often wear the same clothes over and over again just because we’re used to them. The same can be said for habits. Habits which include thoughts and reactions are learned. Therefore, whenever a situation arises we tend to interpret and react according to emotional responses we have previously learned.

So if you want to be happy, healthy, and successful, but you’re feeling insecure, anxious, and frustrated, it’s because you’re wearing your old emotional and mental habits. Well it’s time to stop wearing them. You wouldn’t continue to wear a pair of shoes that always hurt your feet. So why continue to wear old emotional habits that not only hurt, but will ultimately cause you to fail? Your desire for success will remain just that, “a desire.” So if you continually feel depressed, upset, and irritated with yourself, what are your mental habits telling you?

Throw off those  old habits, focusing your attention and energies on being a success. Failure is not an option! You’re in the process of building self-confidence and you’ll be able to overcome any obstacle once you develop a good relationship with your deeper Self. Remember, there’s no one to change, but YOU. A successful mindset always steps up to the plate and looks for a way to work through a crisis. If you get into the habit of believing and investing in yourself, then you’ll start feeling entitled to being successful!

As we go through life most of us learn that trying something and failing often results in pain. But I have discovered that successful people don’t usually follow the status quo.  They seem oblivious to this fact, and they don’t hold back. Business-builders and innovators all appear to share a specific mindset. When they decide what they want, they go for it, and this mindset seems to be the single biggest reason for their achievements.

This mindset helps to turn negatives into positives, and in the face of disappointment turn the adverse into even greater success. Because of their unstoppable devotion they manage to triumph over obstacles.  Everyone encounters problems, “falling off the horse,” as people say, but successful people get right back up, dust themselves off, and try again and again until they succeed.

Persistence alone will not work because you need to have a clear focus and a strong commitment never to let diversions get in the way. In essence, it’s the ability to cut to the “bottom line” in everything you do. It’s a fearless commitment that you will not appear stupid or go broke, as long as you continue to take forward action. So start right now and make a commitment to begin incorporating these principles, and you will immediately see the results in your business.

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The quickest way to feel good about yourself and to grow in the process, is to take a risk. You have no way of knowing just how much you can do until you get out there and try. You don‘t know how far you can go until you actually find a way to get out of your comfort zone. Roger Bannister didn’t listen to the naysayers when he broke the 4 minute mile. Just because no one has ever done it before doesn’t make it impossible and you may be the very person who finally finds a way to get it done.