Yesterday I had the chance to reply to a post on Facebook that I was disturbed by, not because I disagreed with the person for believing what they did but for the blanket statement they made. I have a hard time dealing with people who make "One size fits all statements" about anyone or group. Since this is an election year, I have plenty of fodder.
In the post yesterday, the poster called Arizona Governor Jan Brewer a witch for attacking Mr. Obama verbally. I commented with a question as to why she was a witch and was it because she disagreed with the President? The reply was even more inflammatory in that he said no, any American has the right to disagree with the President but "Her fascism is abhorrent and that's what makes her a witch. The Eva Braun of Arizona maybe?" This blew my mind.
I went to Dictionary.com to make sure my understanding of the word Fascism was correct. It was and I copied and pasted the definition into the conversation. I also questioned wasn't Eva Braun Hitler's mistress? I asked if maybe he was suggesting Brewer was Mr. Obama's mistress and he was the Fascist? Okay, I went too far with the last comment, but the point is Americans have a tough choice to make this year. The last election had turned into a muck-fest where both sides chose to sling mud at the other. I personally did not vote for the President and I had many friends who did. There were some lively debates that year! I think I have never been called a racist so much as when I told someone I either wasn't voting for Him or I disagreed with one of his policies!
This election is a serious one and I for one, along with many Americans are scared for our country. I have listened to both sides for nearly 6 years and I have come to the conclusion that BOTH sides have some GOOD ideas and BOTH sides have some BAD ideas. What we need is a leader that will bring the country together, rather than further divide it.
I will start this off with a disclaimer: I am a registered Republican, but I do vote for the best candidate regardless of party. With that said, I would like to address the things that have bothered me during the last political election:
Mr. Obams is NOT a Muslim and he IS a U.S. Citizen. Saying He is a Muslim because his Dad was a Muslim is akin to saying I am a Catholic because my Dad was. Okay, I was Catholic for 15 years, but that was a conscious choice, not a birthright. The thing is here, I was no more a Catholic than Obama was a Muslim just because of our Father. As for the U.S. Citizenship thing, there is no way in this country and all the reporting that has to take place to run for office,that the man could have slipped into the race without providing a valid birth certificate. END OF STORY.
The second thing from the last election that bothers me is this: Just because I disagree with a Liberal, the president, or Democrats in general does NOT make me a racist. The President is Black--Big Deal! I disagree with most Liberal leaning agendas and have for a long time and before Mr. Obama, no one ever threw the race card at me. Sure I was called a bumbling idiot and a buffoon but never a racist until now.
The Far right made the last election about Religion and Citizenship and the Liberal Left made it about Race. Thus began the Great Divide. The country has continued to split down the middle between race, ethnic,age and socio-economic lines. The country is more more divided than at any other time in History other than the Civil War. Even more divided than the Viet Nam War era!
The country is at such polar opposites between the parties that we could very well be looking at a class war. The Far Right has continued to make this election about Religion and Citizenship (immigration) and the Far Left has made it about Race and Class (Occupy Wall Street and Obamacare). The truth is, it is about to get ugly!
In my opinion, we need to think about one thing this election: The economy! Until the economy is back on track, we are not going to get the other things accomplished. We need someone to bring both sides together and get people working again. That is the main priority. All else depends on it.
As for the other issues we hear about: Obamacare--everyone needs to be able to go to the doctor when they are sick but demanding all people buy insurance is not the solution. Stimulus money: throwing money at people just to say you did something is not the solution, expecially if it increases the debt load. Taxes: If I earn more, I should pay more period; but penalizing me for being able to make money and save it is just theft by the government. Welfare reform: The only way to really reform welfare is to pay people TO WORK, not pay them LESS IF THEY WORK. I would rather pay a man a stipend if he were working than to pay him to sit at home or take his stipend away IF he tries to work. If you ask most Americans on welfare, they would rather work than draw welfare but the government penalizes their benefits if they do work so there is no incentive to work.
Getting people back to work is the real solution to our economic problems. One solution I would like to see is the SBA giving loans for new business startups for all the people who come up with a way to make their own business work. No matter how small the business. A one man shop is one less person out of work and one more paying taxes. Even if they fail, at least they tried. It is better than to never have tried at all. We gave loans to people that couldn't afford houses to begin with, so why can't we take a real chance and give people the chance to start their own business. If they succeed, there will be more taxes going into the government coffers.
In this election season, we need to look for the right person who will grow the economy and NOT further divide the country. I may disagree with you the way to accomplish that, but I will always try and be respectful of your opinion. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE RESPECTFUL!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE MY DESTINY!
There is is saying that a man's destiny is predetermined by God. Others belive that a man's destiny is determined by his surroundings. I say that a man's destiny is His (or hers, for a woman)to choose.
It is not God Who chooses our every move as if we were puppets. He gave man free will to choose which direction we will take our lives. We are born with an inate ability to make our own decisions, good or bad and as a result of those decisions our lives take shape.
There are certain things that affect our lives that ARE beyond our control--laws of nature and the decisions others around us make--but it is not the things themselves that make our destiny, rather it is the way we respond to a situation that makes our destiny.
I was raised in a broken home in "the projects" where my mother raised three kids for several years on a seamstress's production paycheck. I had an absentee father and an absentee step-father. I was a screw-up during high school and after high school I couldn't even get into the Air Force due to an undiagnosed medical condition. I never attended college and by all that society tells us should be my fate, I should be in prison or stuck in an hourly job with no future. In fact, several of my friends from school have been a guest of the state.
But the conventional thought did not turn out to be true. Despite all my very real circumstances, I did NOT meet expectations for my life. I say this not to brag on my life, which in my mind has been pretty awesome, but to prove a point that my situation did not determine my outcome.
All it took was for me to be open to the opportunity and just one person to believe in me. Yes, I had one person to believe in me even when I didn't believe in myself. That was my sister and my best friend up until the day she died. Because of her belief and caring I was able to see the potential I had and the dreams I dreamed became more than just dreams.
A spark of hope is all we need in order to overcome our obstacles. We need not be bound by what society tells us we can or can't do. Our destiny is not restrained by our circumstances, rather our reaction to our circumstances is what controls our destiny. I refused to believe the naysayers who said I couldn't do it. No one has the right to choose your outcome but you! Today I choose MY DESTINY!
It is not God Who chooses our every move as if we were puppets. He gave man free will to choose which direction we will take our lives. We are born with an inate ability to make our own decisions, good or bad and as a result of those decisions our lives take shape.
There are certain things that affect our lives that ARE beyond our control--laws of nature and the decisions others around us make--but it is not the things themselves that make our destiny, rather it is the way we respond to a situation that makes our destiny.
I was raised in a broken home in "the projects" where my mother raised three kids for several years on a seamstress's production paycheck. I had an absentee father and an absentee step-father. I was a screw-up during high school and after high school I couldn't even get into the Air Force due to an undiagnosed medical condition. I never attended college and by all that society tells us should be my fate, I should be in prison or stuck in an hourly job with no future. In fact, several of my friends from school have been a guest of the state.
But the conventional thought did not turn out to be true. Despite all my very real circumstances, I did NOT meet expectations for my life. I say this not to brag on my life, which in my mind has been pretty awesome, but to prove a point that my situation did not determine my outcome.
All it took was for me to be open to the opportunity and just one person to believe in me. Yes, I had one person to believe in me even when I didn't believe in myself. That was my sister and my best friend up until the day she died. Because of her belief and caring I was able to see the potential I had and the dreams I dreamed became more than just dreams.
A spark of hope is all we need in order to overcome our obstacles. We need not be bound by what society tells us we can or can't do. Our destiny is not restrained by our circumstances, rather our reaction to our circumstances is what controls our destiny. I refused to believe the naysayers who said I couldn't do it. No one has the right to choose your outcome but you! Today I choose MY DESTINY!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE EXCUSES!
An excuse is just a reason to justify failing. TODAY I CHOOSE NOT TO MAKE EXCUSES!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE LIKE TIM TEBOW
This is copied from an article noted below. I am not the copyright owner of this piece. What if ALL of us were like this?
I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.
No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.
Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.
Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.
Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?
Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.
"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."
More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.
Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.
"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."
I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.
"Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."
It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.
For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.
"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."
There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.
Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.
And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."
This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.
Isn't that a huge distraction?
"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."
So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.
Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.
Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?
"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."
Follow Rick on Twitter @ReillyRick Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here.
Rick Reilly is the 11-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He contributes essays and commentary to "Monday Night Countdown," "SportsCenter," and ESPN/ABC golf and tennis coverage. He's also the host of "Homecoming," ESPN's unique, one-hour interview show set in the hometowns of legendary athletes. For more Rick, check out the archive.
Feel like taking a detour from sane sports? Try Rick's latest book, "Sports from Hell."
I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.
No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.
Who among us is this selfless?
Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.
Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.
Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?
Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.
"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."
More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.
Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.
"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."
I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.
"Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."
It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.
For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.
"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."
There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.
Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.
And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."
This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.
Isn't that a huge distraction?
"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."
So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.
Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.
Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?
"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."
Follow Rick on Twitter @ReillyRick Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here.
Rick Reilly is the 11-time National Sportswriter of the Year. He contributes essays and commentary to "Monday Night Countdown," "SportsCenter," and ESPN/ABC golf and tennis coverage. He's also the host of "Homecoming," ESPN's unique, one-hour interview show set in the hometowns of legendary athletes. For more Rick, check out the archive.
Feel like taking a detour from sane sports? Try Rick's latest book, "Sports from Hell."
TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
This past weekend, my wife and I stayed near the house all weekend, only venturing out to go to Church on Sunday and lunch afterward. The entire rest of the weekend we stayed at home catching up on our rest.
Over the last several weeks I had been getting a new store ready to open and then there was the unexpected trip to Louisville to send my father home to his Lord. My wife had been stressed out at work over the same period and we both just needed the time to unwind and de-stress our bodies. By Sunday night we were feeling a little lazy but much more relaxed and ready for the new week.
In todays fast paced world we are always moving at the speed of life and we sometimes feel if we slow down that we might get behind or at the very least miss something. While God did not intend for us to just sit around and become couch potatoes, He also intended for us to regenerate our bodies through rest. He was the first of us to take a day off. After He created the universe, God took the Sabbath as a day of rest.
The human body is a resilient piece of craftsmanship. With all its intricate parts and inner workings, it is designed to give us a full day of work and support our efforts. However, as I said IT IS a delicate piece of craftsmanship so it also needs a few things to keep it running.
First the body needs fuel. Food and water are the fuel that keep the body the well oiled machine that it is. If we fail to feed the body, then it is like a car that we fail to put oil and gas into. It runs out of that fuel and it stalls. If you consider food as the gas and water as the oil, then like a car, without proper food nutrition the body will begin to be sluggish and non-responsive. Americans take in the equivilent of 142 pounds of Sugar (in all its forms) according to a 2003 study. Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic in America and our children are getting fatter every year.
Water is the oil for our body and without it, the body will shut down on us. Like a car without oil, our body will lock up and shut down on us. Coffee, tea, soda, and other liquids may refresh us but they may also be slowly shutting us down. The human body is nearly 60% water in a normal sized man but it can be up to 75% in a newborn infant. When we work our body, we lose water through sweat. When we replace our body water with other fluids we throw off the delicate balance of water in the body and it does not tend to work as well. Think of the oil in an engine being replaced with soda. Oil is designed to lubricate the engine and keep things running smoothly--much like the water in our bodies.
Water does for our body what oil does for a car engine. It keeps our body lubricated and hydrated. The average American consumes 46 Gallons of soda a year as of 2009. Not only is the soda laden with sugar, but it replaces the natural water content and replaces the water with fat. Even diet drinks contribute to fat because they fail to trigger the brain to feel satisfied and they lead to over-consumption. Since the soda is laden with sugar, it replaces the well lubricated body with a sludge that has the same effect as it would if you replaced the engine oil with soda.
Soda and sugar are not bad in and of themselves, but anything in excess is not good for us. We need to read the lables of our food and stay away from added sugar as much as possible. Anything on a lable ending in -ose (Dextrose, fructose, etc) is a form of sugar that many people do not know are sugars.
The third thing the body needs is rest. If God took a day of rest, what makes us think we are any better? Like a good Father, He set the example for us by teaching us to rest. Without rest, the body does not function well. It becomes sluggish because the body did not have enough time to regenerate and recharge itself.
People who are sleep deprived tend to be more sedentary and without proper exercise, they function at a lower level than intended. This leads to people eating and drinking more, and this becomes a cycle that if not corrected will lead to obesity.
I have made 2012 my year of reclamation for my body. I have pledged to greatly reduce the consumption of sugar and to make the majority of my sugar intake be from fresh fruits and vegetables. I have pledged to 64 ounces of water a day minimum and while I still drink other drinks, try to keep them to mealtime and water otherwise. I have also pledged to exercise a minimum of 3 times a week with at least one of those days being cardio training.
In the Bible in the Old Testament there are plenty of mentions of people living hundreds of years. There is a philosophical debate as to whether people lived longer then and could not do so now. I happen to believe if we ate like God intended, worked and rested like our ancestors did then we too might live a much longer life. Maybe not hundreds of years but possibly a lot more reaching the century mark. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
Over the last several weeks I had been getting a new store ready to open and then there was the unexpected trip to Louisville to send my father home to his Lord. My wife had been stressed out at work over the same period and we both just needed the time to unwind and de-stress our bodies. By Sunday night we were feeling a little lazy but much more relaxed and ready for the new week.
In todays fast paced world we are always moving at the speed of life and we sometimes feel if we slow down that we might get behind or at the very least miss something. While God did not intend for us to just sit around and become couch potatoes, He also intended for us to regenerate our bodies through rest. He was the first of us to take a day off. After He created the universe, God took the Sabbath as a day of rest.
The human body is a resilient piece of craftsmanship. With all its intricate parts and inner workings, it is designed to give us a full day of work and support our efforts. However, as I said IT IS a delicate piece of craftsmanship so it also needs a few things to keep it running.
First the body needs fuel. Food and water are the fuel that keep the body the well oiled machine that it is. If we fail to feed the body, then it is like a car that we fail to put oil and gas into. It runs out of that fuel and it stalls. If you consider food as the gas and water as the oil, then like a car, without proper food nutrition the body will begin to be sluggish and non-responsive. Americans take in the equivilent of 142 pounds of Sugar (in all its forms) according to a 2003 study. Type 2 Diabetes is an epidemic in America and our children are getting fatter every year.
Water is the oil for our body and without it, the body will shut down on us. Like a car without oil, our body will lock up and shut down on us. Coffee, tea, soda, and other liquids may refresh us but they may also be slowly shutting us down. The human body is nearly 60% water in a normal sized man but it can be up to 75% in a newborn infant. When we work our body, we lose water through sweat. When we replace our body water with other fluids we throw off the delicate balance of water in the body and it does not tend to work as well. Think of the oil in an engine being replaced with soda. Oil is designed to lubricate the engine and keep things running smoothly--much like the water in our bodies.
Water does for our body what oil does for a car engine. It keeps our body lubricated and hydrated. The average American consumes 46 Gallons of soda a year as of 2009. Not only is the soda laden with sugar, but it replaces the natural water content and replaces the water with fat. Even diet drinks contribute to fat because they fail to trigger the brain to feel satisfied and they lead to over-consumption. Since the soda is laden with sugar, it replaces the well lubricated body with a sludge that has the same effect as it would if you replaced the engine oil with soda.
Soda and sugar are not bad in and of themselves, but anything in excess is not good for us. We need to read the lables of our food and stay away from added sugar as much as possible. Anything on a lable ending in -ose (Dextrose, fructose, etc) is a form of sugar that many people do not know are sugars.
The third thing the body needs is rest. If God took a day of rest, what makes us think we are any better? Like a good Father, He set the example for us by teaching us to rest. Without rest, the body does not function well. It becomes sluggish because the body did not have enough time to regenerate and recharge itself.
People who are sleep deprived tend to be more sedentary and without proper exercise, they function at a lower level than intended. This leads to people eating and drinking more, and this becomes a cycle that if not corrected will lead to obesity.
I have made 2012 my year of reclamation for my body. I have pledged to greatly reduce the consumption of sugar and to make the majority of my sugar intake be from fresh fruits and vegetables. I have pledged to 64 ounces of water a day minimum and while I still drink other drinks, try to keep them to mealtime and water otherwise. I have also pledged to exercise a minimum of 3 times a week with at least one of those days being cardio training.
In the Bible in the Old Testament there are plenty of mentions of people living hundreds of years. There is a philosophical debate as to whether people lived longer then and could not do so now. I happen to believe if we ate like God intended, worked and rested like our ancestors did then we too might live a much longer life. Maybe not hundreds of years but possibly a lot more reaching the century mark. TODAY I CHOOSE TO BE GOOD TO MY BODY!
Monday, January 16, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE TO GET BACK UP!
"If I could just win the lottery, everything would be fine." "If I had been born rich..." "If I was the boss, things would sure be different." Sound familiar? Well, it should because every day we hear one more person tell us why they can't do something. There is always some reason why someone can't achieve their goals; or why the economy is in the shape it is in; or why we remain poor in the richest country (still!) in the world; Or why we can't afford go to college, ad infinitum. There will always be EXCUSES as long as there are people to offer them.
There is an old saying, "It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you lay the blame." This is as true today as it was when the phrase was first coined. It is much easier to give EXCUSES why we fail to achieve than to take ACCOUNTABILITY for our failures. For some reason, it has become a shame to fail at anything, so somewhere along the line we began offering EXCUSES as to why we failed. It makes the failure much easier to swallow.
There are a couple of things about failure that I want to make clear. First and foremost, there is no shame in failure so long as you tried and gave the very best effort you could give to the project. Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb on his first attempt. It took many failures before he succeeded in making it work. Still, if Edison had had the common mentality of today, he might well have said "I tried and it didn't work, so I am just going to give up and try something else."
The second thing about failure is that it is good for us to fail--sometimes. Life is not fair and there are times that you are going to fail. Sure it may seem that there is always someone that never seems to fail because they have what some of us perceive as an unfair advantage but rest assured, everyone fails sooner or later. If there is truly an unfair advantage, it will soon catch up to them. More often than not, that person who never seems to fail is in reality, someone who has already paid their dues to the god of failure and they have learned the secret to failure. In the next paragraph, I will share the secret to success.
Every successful businessman, actor, doctor, athlete, etc. knows this secret to success. It has nothing to do with someone else. It has nothing to do with privileged inheritance. Success depends on one person---YOU. Success depends on YOU and no one or nothing else. The people who fail, gave up before reaching the prize. The people who succeed simply got up one more time than they fell down.
So the next time you fail at something, GET BACK UP! The next time you fall, GET BACK UP! You can't be knocked down, if you refuse to stay down! GET BACK UP! Be like Rocky in the movies, GET BACK UP! failure can not defeat you if you refuse to give up. Resolve yourself to say TODAY I CHOOSE TO GET BACK UP!
There is an old saying, "It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you lay the blame." This is as true today as it was when the phrase was first coined. It is much easier to give EXCUSES why we fail to achieve than to take ACCOUNTABILITY for our failures. For some reason, it has become a shame to fail at anything, so somewhere along the line we began offering EXCUSES as to why we failed. It makes the failure much easier to swallow.
There are a couple of things about failure that I want to make clear. First and foremost, there is no shame in failure so long as you tried and gave the very best effort you could give to the project. Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb on his first attempt. It took many failures before he succeeded in making it work. Still, if Edison had had the common mentality of today, he might well have said "I tried and it didn't work, so I am just going to give up and try something else."
The second thing about failure is that it is good for us to fail--sometimes. Life is not fair and there are times that you are going to fail. Sure it may seem that there is always someone that never seems to fail because they have what some of us perceive as an unfair advantage but rest assured, everyone fails sooner or later. If there is truly an unfair advantage, it will soon catch up to them. More often than not, that person who never seems to fail is in reality, someone who has already paid their dues to the god of failure and they have learned the secret to failure. In the next paragraph, I will share the secret to success.
Every successful businessman, actor, doctor, athlete, etc. knows this secret to success. It has nothing to do with someone else. It has nothing to do with privileged inheritance. Success depends on one person---YOU. Success depends on YOU and no one or nothing else. The people who fail, gave up before reaching the prize. The people who succeed simply got up one more time than they fell down.
So the next time you fail at something, GET BACK UP! The next time you fall, GET BACK UP! You can't be knocked down, if you refuse to stay down! GET BACK UP! Be like Rocky in the movies, GET BACK UP! failure can not defeat you if you refuse to give up. Resolve yourself to say TODAY I CHOOSE TO GET BACK UP!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE TO LIVE LIFE OUT LOUD!
"Maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud
We'll be better off somehow
Someday"
Rob Thomas' song Someday
I lost my Father on New Years Day this year and my Mother justb a year ago last October. One thing I have learned from their deaths is just how they lived their lives. When they were young, they were vibrant and alive. They worked hard and they played hard. Then somewhere along their lives they told themselves they were old and needed to slow down. They slowed down so much they stopped Living!
At my Dad's funeral, people talked about a man that loved to dance and bet on the horses. A man that was a practical joker, a free spirit. A man, sadly I never got to know because by the time I was 30 and got to know my dad after 25 years estranged, he was not the man I got to know. The man I knew worked, watched TV, read the paper,ate, said his prayers, slept and then did it again--until he retired and then he just did more of the rest.
My Mother on the other hand was also a woman who played softball, coached young girls, worked in a garden, danced, bowled, and did a number of other things when I was growing up. She too, one day began to slow down and soon her life became one continous circle of work, eat, watch TV, sleep, only to get up the next day and do it again. When Mother retired, her life also became one less thing. She at least did travel for a while with my aunt. Then that too, stopped.
Both my Dad and Mother were heavy smokers and smoked up until the day they died from Lung Cancer. I could insert a diatribe about smoking here but that is another post for another day. The entire point is that both of my parents stopped LIVING long before they DIED! I loved them both and I will miss them deeply. However, these two vibrant, life living people one day just stopped living and began dying a little more each day.
I am not talking about the Cancer here, rather I am referring to the fact that they became sedentary, lonely souls that just "existed" along with the rest of the world. It wasn't the cancer that slowed them down--no both of them lived the slow painless death of just being and not much else long before the Cancer consumed their bodies.
My Mother did still do family things, though not quite as much. My Dad and Step-Mom seldom left the house after a few years retired except to go to doctor visits and hair appointments or the grocery store.
It was hard to watch my parents wither away and I am not sure if there was any one catalyst that caused the shut-down on life for either of them. The sad part is that they both had about 10-15 years after retirement to live life to it's fullest, yet for whatever reason they chose not to do so.
It isn't just old people that give up on life. middle-aged and younger people do it too. For the past eight years I have lived a failry sedentary life and I have put on 80 pounds. I kept telling myself that I was getting older and my body was slowing down. I worked, ate, watched TV and slept only to do it again (Sound familiar?). I started having breathing problems, I started snoring again and Sleep Apnea reared its ugly head for the second time in my life. Then a few months ago, I started having knee problems in my right knee. It turned out to be a torn meniscus but the orthopedist said I would need a knee replacement in 5-10 years. This was my wake up call. I decided I was going to defy the doctor and prove him wrong. I began to really watch my eating, stopped sitting in front of the television every night, I began exercising and in general started reclaiming my life.
It was at my Dad's funeral that I realized I could either keep the momentum going or be like my Dad and Mother and just die a little more each day. I did not want to end up in a rut, doing the same things every day as I gave up my will to live. On the contrary, I decided to Live my Life like it was my last day on Earth. I decided to Live my Life out Loud! I will not go gently into that good night. No I will go kicking and screaming all the way--just like the passengers in my Grandfather's car--Just kidding.
Still, while I know that I am going to a better place when I die, God did not intend for His children to die a little each day, rather, He intended for us to LIVE every day to its fullest potential, and that is just what I am going to do! If you see some middle-aged man passing you on the greenway or skydiving or hang gliding--move over. It is just ME, and TODAY I CHOOSE TO LIVE MY LIFE OUT LOUD!
We'll be better off somehow
Someday"
Rob Thomas' song Someday
I lost my Father on New Years Day this year and my Mother justb a year ago last October. One thing I have learned from their deaths is just how they lived their lives. When they were young, they were vibrant and alive. They worked hard and they played hard. Then somewhere along their lives they told themselves they were old and needed to slow down. They slowed down so much they stopped Living!
At my Dad's funeral, people talked about a man that loved to dance and bet on the horses. A man that was a practical joker, a free spirit. A man, sadly I never got to know because by the time I was 30 and got to know my dad after 25 years estranged, he was not the man I got to know. The man I knew worked, watched TV, read the paper,ate, said his prayers, slept and then did it again--until he retired and then he just did more of the rest.
My Mother on the other hand was also a woman who played softball, coached young girls, worked in a garden, danced, bowled, and did a number of other things when I was growing up. She too, one day began to slow down and soon her life became one continous circle of work, eat, watch TV, sleep, only to get up the next day and do it again. When Mother retired, her life also became one less thing. She at least did travel for a while with my aunt. Then that too, stopped.
Both my Dad and Mother were heavy smokers and smoked up until the day they died from Lung Cancer. I could insert a diatribe about smoking here but that is another post for another day. The entire point is that both of my parents stopped LIVING long before they DIED! I loved them both and I will miss them deeply. However, these two vibrant, life living people one day just stopped living and began dying a little more each day.
I am not talking about the Cancer here, rather I am referring to the fact that they became sedentary, lonely souls that just "existed" along with the rest of the world. It wasn't the cancer that slowed them down--no both of them lived the slow painless death of just being and not much else long before the Cancer consumed their bodies.
My Mother did still do family things, though not quite as much. My Dad and Step-Mom seldom left the house after a few years retired except to go to doctor visits and hair appointments or the grocery store.
It was hard to watch my parents wither away and I am not sure if there was any one catalyst that caused the shut-down on life for either of them. The sad part is that they both had about 10-15 years after retirement to live life to it's fullest, yet for whatever reason they chose not to do so.
It isn't just old people that give up on life. middle-aged and younger people do it too. For the past eight years I have lived a failry sedentary life and I have put on 80 pounds. I kept telling myself that I was getting older and my body was slowing down. I worked, ate, watched TV and slept only to do it again (Sound familiar?). I started having breathing problems, I started snoring again and Sleep Apnea reared its ugly head for the second time in my life. Then a few months ago, I started having knee problems in my right knee. It turned out to be a torn meniscus but the orthopedist said I would need a knee replacement in 5-10 years. This was my wake up call. I decided I was going to defy the doctor and prove him wrong. I began to really watch my eating, stopped sitting in front of the television every night, I began exercising and in general started reclaiming my life.
It was at my Dad's funeral that I realized I could either keep the momentum going or be like my Dad and Mother and just die a little more each day. I did not want to end up in a rut, doing the same things every day as I gave up my will to live. On the contrary, I decided to Live my Life like it was my last day on Earth. I decided to Live my Life out Loud! I will not go gently into that good night. No I will go kicking and screaming all the way--just like the passengers in my Grandfather's car--Just kidding.
Still, while I know that I am going to a better place when I die, God did not intend for His children to die a little each day, rather, He intended for us to LIVE every day to its fullest potential, and that is just what I am going to do! If you see some middle-aged man passing you on the greenway or skydiving or hang gliding--move over. It is just ME, and TODAY I CHOOSE TO LIVE MY LIFE OUT LOUD!
TODAY I CHOOSE TO FORGET!
As the Sun rises today, let it remind you that each day is a new beginning. Everything that is past is just that. Every disappointment, every hurt, every person that let you down is a part of the past and TODAY is a new day full of new challenges and second chances. Don't look back at the past but say TODAY I CHOOSE TO FORGET THE PAST AND EMBRACE THE FUTURE!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
TODAY I CHOOSE TO SUCCEED!
My worth is NOT determined by your (or anyone else's) opinion of me. I refuse to allow anyone to form my opinion of my own worth. I am unique and I am worthy of respect. My status in life, the color of my skin, my sex, race, religious beliefs are part of who I am but they do not define me either. I can do ANYTHING and the only thing that will hold me back is my failure to believe in myself. TODAY I CHOOSE TO SUCCEED!.
Character
"The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be
found out."
- Thomas B. Macaulay
Circumstances
"The people who get on in this world are the people who look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them up." George Bernard Shaw
Street Sweeper
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” Martin Luther King
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