A Spiritual Antidote for the New Year.

[saved1]

Find support. Talk to others about your feelings and experiences to help you become aware of bad behavioral habits and coping patterns.
Learn to build on the things you do well. For many years, I struggled with self-esteem issues and people-pleasing behaviors. I prayed that God would help me learn to differentiate between true humility, pride, and proper self-worth. I knew that I needed to learn about God’s love to heal my deepest hurts and instill within me an appropriate sense of self-worth. I began to pray that God would really allow me to understand His love and that I would trust in His complete acceptance of me.

God indeed was faithful to me and began to reveal His love. As I studied, I realized that the depth of God’s love for me has been revealed by His actions; Christ’s death on the cross as my substitute. “This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other” (1 John 4:9-10). Christ’s blood completely paid for our sins and delivers us continually from guilt. We are deeply loved, entirely forgiven (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), totally pleasing, and wholly accepted through the blood of Christ by God in our gift of salvation.:218:

[saved1]

When trouble strikes, what you want is comfort and protection. You want strength to stand up to it and meet it. You can have both. This text contains the answer. Frequently remind yourself that God is with you, that He will never fail you, that you can count upon Him. Say these words, “God is with me, helping me.” This will give you a sense of comfort. New hope will flood your mind. New ideas will come. A new sense of power will be felt. As a result, you will rise above your trouble. When a particular trouble arises, before you do anything else about it, sit down quietly, repeat this text a half dozen times, and put your full faith in it.

When your feelings are hurt, don't brood over it. Do not indulge in self-pity. The minute your feelings are hurt, put spiritual iodine on the hurt at once by saying a prayer of love and forgiveness. Do just as when you hurt your finger. Unless you do so, the situation can become distorted out of all proportions.

[saved1]

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12 :176:

Last night I stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I was alone and brought my datebook to plan for the next day. After ordering, I gazed at the datebook and realized that this year was almost over. I flipped slowly through the pages of past days and weeks and reviewed the last twelve months.

I was amazed to discover all that can happen in a year: I had accepted a new professional position and moved from Texas to Georgia. Beth and I had witnessed the wedding vows of our first child Drew and welcomed our daughter-in-law Katie Alice into our family. Our son Luke had entered the insurance industry, and our daughter Jodi had graduated from Furman University. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I counseled with dozens of students, preached sermons, conducted funerals and wrote a book. These were just the major events; most of my hours were spent in the routines of living: sleeping, eating, exercise, repairing my car, mowing the lawn, preparing our income tax returns, going to movies, and all the other unremarkable events that fill everyone’s days and nights.

As my food arrived, I realized that the real question confronting me wasn’t, How did I spend last year? but How will I spend the next? How will I use the most precious of God’s gift—life and time?

I can make long lists of things to accomplish and commit myself to New Year’s resolutions. But I really need to do only two things: Love God with all that I am, and love my neighbor as much as I love myself. This is all that really matters.

Lord, keep me from seeing my days as something I own but rather as a gift that comes from You.
By Scott Walker
This devotional is excerpted from Daily Guideposts.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:9-11
A Time to Think
Let us move into the New Year with a great sense of the thrill of living.—Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
A Time to Act
Forget a wrong, remember a kindness.
A Time to Pray
Dear God, lead me through today with new insights and new hope. :204:

:281:

[MajestyJo]

Your post reminded me of what I heard a few weeks ago and stuck in my mind. Don't look at what you don't have, be thankful for what you have got.

[saved1]

The concept of positive thinking has permeated our culture.
It is a philosophy of faith that does not ignore life’s problems, but rather explains a practical approach to life’s full potential.
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It is a system of creative living based on spiritual techniques, and its operation is demonstrated in the lives of thousands of people.

We offer this condensed edition because these are timeless truths that will work today and tomorrow. The powerful principles contained here are given to us by the greatest Teacher who ever lived and still lives. This book teaches a simple yet scientific system of practical techniques for successful living that works.
Elizabeth Peale Allen
Chairman of the Board, Guideposts

Free will, and the power behind it, where their is a will their is a way. :15:
Step toward fulfillment. :cool:
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1. Believe in Yourself! :1:
Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. But with self confidence you can succeed.

A sense of inadequacy interferes with the attainment of your hopes, but self-confidence leads to self-realization and achievement. Because of the
importance of this mental attitude, this book will help you believe in yourself and release your inner powers.

An appalling number of people are made miserable by an inferiority complex. But you need not suffer from this trouble. You can develop faith in yourself.
After a convention, a man approached me and asked, “May I talk with you about a matter of desperate importance to me?” We went backstage and sat down. “I’m in town to handle the most important business deal of my life,” he explained, “but I don’t believe I can put it over. I am discouraged and depressed. In fact,” he lamented, “I’m just about sunk. Why is it that all my life I have been tormented by inferiority feelings? I listened to your speech tonight about the power of positive thinking, and I want to ask how I can get some faith in myself.”

“There are two steps,” I replied. “First, it is important to discover why you have these feelings. That requires analysis and will take time, and may require treatment. But to pull you through this immediate problem I shall give you a formula. As you walk down the street tonight, repeat certain words I shall give you. Say them over several times before your important appointment. Do this with an attitude of faith and you will receive ability
to deal with this problem.” Following is the affirmation I gave him: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). “Now, follow that prescription,and things will come out all right.”

He pulled himself up, stood quietly for a moment, then said with considerable feeling,“Okay, Doctor. Okay.”
I watched him square his shoulders and walk out. He seemed a pathetic figure; yet the way he carried himself showed that faith was already at work in his mind.Subsequently he reported that this simple formula “did wonders” for him. He added, “It seems incredible that a few words from the Bible could do so much.” Of the various causes of inferiority feelings, not a few stem from childhood. My own story is a perfect illustration.
As a small boy I was painfully thin. I had lots of energy, was on a track team, was healthy and hard as nails, but thin. And that bothered me because I
didn’t want to be thin. I longed to be hard-boiled and tough and fat.
I did everything to get fat. I drank cod-liver oil, consumed vast numbers of milk shakes, chocolate sundaes,cakes and pies, but they did not affect me in the slightest. I stayed thin and lay awake nights thinking and agonizing about it. I kept on trying to get heavy until I was about 30, when all of a sudden I bulged at the seams. Then I became self-conscious because I was so fat, and finally had to take off 40 pounds with equal agony to get myself down to
respectable size.
In the second place, practically every member of my family was a public speaker,and that was the last thing I wanted to be. They used to make me speak even when it filled me with terror. I had to use every known device to develop confidence in what powers the good Lord gave me.

I found the solution in the simple techniques of faith taught in the Bible. These principles are scientific and can heal any personality of inferiority feelings. Their use can release the powers which have been inhibited by a feeling of inadequacy. Such are some of the sources of the inferiority complex which erect power barriers in our personalities.
It is some emotional violence done to us in childhood, or the consequences of certain circumstances, or something we did to ourselves.
This malady arises out of the misty past in the dim recesses of our personalities. Perhaps you had an older brother who was a brilliant student. He got A’s in school; you made only C’s, and you never heard the last of it. So you believed that you could never succeed in life as he could. He got A’s and you got C’s, so you reasoned that you were consigned to getting C’s all your life. Apparently you never realized that some of those who failed to
get high grades in school have been the greatest successes outside of school. Just because somebody gets an A in college doesn’t make him the greatest man in the United States, because maybe his A’s will stop when he gets his diploma, and the fellow who got C’s in school will go on later to get the real A’s in life.
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The greatest secret for eliminating the inferiority complex, which is another term for profound self-doubt, is to fill your mind with faith.
Develop tremendous faith in God and that will give you realistic faith in yourself.The acquiring of dynamic faith is accomplished by prayer, by reading the Bible and by practicing its faith techniques. Go to a competent spiritual adviser and let him teach you how to have faith. The ability to possess
and utilize faith must be studied and practiced to gain perfection.

To build up feelings of self-confidence, practice suggesting confidence concepts to your mind. It is possible, even in the midst of your daily work, to drive confident thoughts into consciousness. Let me tell you about one man who did so. While driving me to a lecture engagement, he said, “I used to be filled with insecurities. But I hit upon a wonderful plan which knocked these feelings out of my mind, and now I live with confidence.”

This was the “wonderful plan.” He pointed to two clips fastened on the instrument panel of the car and, reaching into the glove compartment, took out a pack of cards. He selected one and slipped it beneath the clip. It read, “If ye have faith…nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). He removed that one, selected another and placed it under the clip. This one read, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

“I’m a traveling salesman,” he explained, “and I used to drive around between calls thinking fear and defeat thoughts. That is one reason my sales were down. But since I have been using these cards and committing the words to memory, the insecurities that used to haunt me are just about gone. Instead of thinking thoughts of defeat and ineffectiveness, I think thoughts of faith and courage. It is wonderful the way this method has changed me. It has helped in my business, too.”

This man’s plan is a wise one. By filling his mind with affirmations of God, he had put an end to his sense of insecurity. His potential powers were set free.
Lack of self-confidence apparently is one of the great problems besetting people today.

In a university a survey was made of 600 students in psychology courses. The students were asked to state their most difficult personal problem. Seventy-five percent listed lack of confidence. It can safely be assumed that the same large proportion is true of the population generally. Everywhere you encounter people who are inwardly afraid, who shrink from life, who suffer from a deep sense of inadequacy and insecurity, who doubt their own powers.

Deep within themselves they mistrust their ability to meet responsibilities or
to grasp opportunities. Always they are beset by the vague and sinister fear that something is not going to be quite right.
They do not believe that they have it in them to be what they want to be, and so they try to make themselves content with something less than that of which they are capable. Thousands upon thousands go crawling through life on their hands and knees,defeated and afraid. And in most cases such frustration of power is unnecessary.

The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged. In such a condition the true status of your power is often obscured, and a person yields to a discouragement that is not justified by the facts. It is vitally essential to reappraise your personality assets.

Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, once said, “Attitudes are more important than facts.” That is worth repeating until its truth grips you. Any fact facing us, even the most hopeless, is not as important as our attitude toward that fact. You may permit a fact to overwhelm you mentally before you start to deal with it. On the other hand, a confident thought pattern can modify or overcome the fact.

So if you feel that you are defeated and have lost confidence in your ability to win, sit down, take a piece of paper and make a list, not of the factors that are against you, but of those that are for you.

If you or I think constantly of the forces that seem to be against us,
they will assume a formidable strength they do not possess. But if you mentally visualize and affirm and reaffirm your assets, you will rise out of any difficulty. Your inner powers will reassert themselves and, with the help of God, lift you to victory.

A sure cure for lack of confidence is the thought that God is actually with you and helping you. This is one of the simplest teachings in religion, namely, that Almighty God will see you through. No other idea is so powerful in developing self-confidence as this simple belief when practiced. To practice it simply affirm, “God is with me. God is helping me. God is guiding me.” Spend several minutes each day visualizing His presence. Then practice believing that affirmation. Go about your business on the assumption that what you
have affirmed and visualized is true. Affirm it, visualize it, believe it, and it will actualize itself.
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The release of power which this procedure stimulates will astonish you.:281:

[saved1]

At breakfast in a hotel dining room, one man complained of a sleepless night. He
had tossed and turned and was about as exhausted as when he retired. “Guess I’d
better stop watching the news before going to bed,” he observed. “I tuned in last
night and got an ear full of trouble.”
Another man spoke up, “I had a grand night. Of course, I used my go-to-sleep plan,
which never fails to work.”
I prodded him for his plan, which he explained as follows: “When I was a boy, my
father, a farmer, had the habit of gathering the family in the parlor at bedtime and he
read to us out of the Bible. After prayers, I would go up to my room and sleep like a
top. But when I left home I got away from the Bible reading and prayer habit. For years
practically the only time I ever prayed was when I got into a jam. But some months ago
my wife and I, having difficult problems, decided we would try it again. We found it
a helpful practice, so now every night before going to bed she and I together read the
Bible and pray. I don’t know what there is about it, but I have been sleeping better and
things have improved. In fact, even on the road, as I am now, I still read the Bible and
pray. Last night I read the Twenty-third Psalm out loud. He turned to the other man and
said, “I didn’t go to bed with an ear full of trouble. I went to sleep with a mind full of
peace.”
Well, there are two cryptic phrases for you—“an ear full of trouble” and “a mind full
of peace.” Which do you choose?
The essence of the secret lies in a change of mental attitude. One must learn to live
on a different thought basis, and even though thought change requires effort, it is much
easier than to continue living as you are. The life of strain is difficult. The life of inner
peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence. The chief
struggle then in gaining mental peace is the effort of revamping your thinking to the
relaxed attitude of acceptance of God’s gift of peace.
As a physician said, “Many of my patients have nothing wrong with them except
their thoughts. So I have a favorite prescription I write for some. It is a verse from the
Bible, Romans 12:2. I do not write out that verse for my patients. I make them look it
up. The verse reads: ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ To be happier
and healthier they need a renewing of their minds, that is, a change in their thoughts.
When they ‘take’ this prescription, they actually achieve a mind full of peace. That
helps to produce health and well-being.”
A primary method for gaining a mind full of peace is to practice emptying the mind.
At least twice a day, empty your mind of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets and guilt
feelings. To prevent unhappy thoughts from sneaking in again, immediately fill your
mind with creative and healthy thoughts. At intervals during the day practice thinking a
carefully selected series of peaceful thoughts. Let mental pictures of the most peaceful
scenes you have ever witnessed pass across your mind, as, for example, the silvery
light of the moon falling upon rippling waters, or the sea washing gently upon soft
shores of sand. Such peaceful thought images will work upon your mind as a healing
medicine.
Repeat audibly some peaceful words. Words have profound suggestive power, and
there is healing in the very saying of them. Use a word such as “serenity.” Picture serenity as you say it. Repeat it slowly and in the mood of which the word is a symbol.
It is also helpful to use lines from poetry or passages from the Scriptures. A man
of my acquaintance who achieved a remarkable peace of mind has the habit of writing
on cards unusual quotations expressing peacefulness. He carries one of the cards
in his wallet at all times, referring to it frequently until each quotation is committed to
memory. He says that each such idea dropped into the subconscious “lubricates” his
mind with peace. One of the quotations he used is from a sixteenth-century mystic:
“Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except
God. God alone is sufficient.”
There are other practical ways by which you can develop serenity and quiet attitudes.
One way is through your conversation. In a group when the conversation takes a
trend that is upsetting, try injecting peaceful ideas into the talk. To have peace of mind,
fill your personal and group conversations with positive, happy, optimistic, satisfying
expressions.
Another effective technique in developing a peaceful mind is the daily practice of
silence. Insist upon not less than a quarter of an hour of absolute quiet every 24 hours.
Go alone into the quietest place available to you and sit or lie down for 15 minutes and
practice the art of silence. Do not write or read. Think as little as possible. Throw your
mind into neutral. Conceive of your mind as the surface of a body of water and see how
nearly quiet you can make it, so that there is not a ripple. When you have attained a
quiescent state, listen for the deeper sounds of harmony and beauty and of God that are
to be found in the essence of silence.
Saturate your thoughts with peaceful experiences, peaceful words and ideas, and ultimately
you will have a storehouse of peace-producing experiences to which you may
turn for refreshment and renewal of your spirit.

It will be a vast source of power. :1:

“Money, position, pride and power seem so important—
until they’re not. At the end of their lives no
one says, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’”
—Michael Josephson, founder of the Character Counts! Coalition

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[saved1]

Do you truly know yourself or just think you do? :undecided:

Many times the truest answers to life's challenges are found at the core.
To know one's self is to understand oneself, when one truly understands themselves, life's mysteries begin to unravel.:1:
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Traditions are foundations based on central thought.
Different denominations place additional processes or events on the central thought. Result - Conditions of Permanence, Justification & sanctification.
Generally most individuals basically fall under two theologies. :281:

1.)Synergism (theology)
synergism is the position of those who hold that salvation involves some form of cooperation between divine grace and human freedom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergy_(theology)

2.)Monergism (theology)
Monergism describes the position in Christian theology of those who believe that God, through the Holy Spirit, works to bring about effectually the salvation of individuals through spiritual regeneration without cooperation from the individual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monergism

Next, What is Sin or immorality?

Divinization (theology)
divinization, deification, making divine or theosis is the transforming effect of divine grace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosis

Mortal sin (THEOLOGY)
Mortal sins ((Latin) peccata mortalia) are in the theology of some, but not all Christian denominations wrongful acts that condemn a person to Hell after death. These sins are considered "mortal" because they constitute a rupture in a person's link to God's saving grace: the person's soul becomes "dead", not merely weakened. A mortal sin does not usually mean a sin that cannot be repented; even after a mortal sin there is a chance for repentance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_sin

Knowledge,Understanding, acceptance, and humility = Power/Freedom.:1:
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[saved1]

How we think we feel has a definite effect on how we actually feel physically. If
your mind tells you that you are tired, the body mechanism, the nerves and the
muscles accept the fact. If your mind is intensely interested, you can keep on at
an activity indefinitely. Religion functions through our thoughts. In fact, it is a system
of thought discipline. By supplying attitudes of faith to the mind it can increase energy.
It helps you to accomplish prodigious activity by suggesting that you have ample support
and resources of power.
A friend in Connecticut, an energetic man, full of vitality and vigor, says that he
goes to church regularly to “get his batteries recharged.” His concept is sound. God is
the source of all energy in the universe—atomic energy, electrical energy and spiritual
energy.
Contact with God establishes within us a flow of the same type of energy that re-creates
the world and that renews springtime every year. When we are in spiritual contact
with God, the divine energy flows through the personality, automatically renewing the
original creative act. The principles of Christianity, scientifically utilized, can develop a
continuous flow of energy into the human mind and body.
Every great personality I have ever known who has demonstrated the capacity for
prodigious work has been a person in tune with the Infinite. Every such person seems in harmony with nature. They have not necessarily been pious, but invariably they have
been extraordinarily well organized emotionally and psychologically. It is fear, resentment,
the projection of parental faults upon people when they are children, inner conflicts
and obsessions that throw off balance the finely tuned nature, thus causing undue
expenditure of natural force.
I am convinced that neither age nor circumstance needs to deprive us of energy
and vitality. All through its pages, the Bible talks about vitality and force and life. The
supreme overall word of the Bible is life, and life means vitality—to be filled with
energy. This does not rule out pain or suffering or difficulty, but the clear implication is
that if a person practices the creative and re-creative principles of Christianity he can
live with power and energy.
The practice of Christian principles will bring a person into the proper tempo of
living. Our energies are destroyed because of the abnormal pace at which we go. The
conservation of energy depends upon getting your personality speed synchronized with
the rate of God’s movement. God is in you. If you are going at one rate and God at
another, you are tearing yourself apart. When we become attuned to God’s rhythm we
can develop a normal tempo within ourselves and energy flows freely.
To get into the time synchronization of Almighty God, go out some warm day and
lie down on the earth. Get your ear close down to the ground and listen. You will hear
the sound of the wind in the trees and the murmur of insects, and you will discover that
there is in all these sounds a well-regulated tempo. You cannot get that tempo by listening
to traffic in the city streets, for it is lost in the confusion of sound. You can get it in
church where you hear the word of God and the great hymns. Truth vibrates to God’s
tempo in a church.
To avoid tiredness and to have energy, feel your way into the essential rhythm of Almighty
God and all His works. To accomplish this, relax physically. Then conceive of
your mind as likewise relaxing. Follow this mentally by visualizing the soul as becoming
quiescent, then pray as follows: “Dear God, You are the source of all energy. You
are the source of the energy in the sun, in the atom, in all flesh, in the bloodstream, in
the mind. I hereby draw energy from You as from an illimitable source.” Then practice
believing that you receive energy. Keep in tune with the Infinite.
To live with constant energy it is also important to get your emotional faults corrected.
You will never have full energy until you do. Knute Rockne, one of the greatest
football coaches this country ever produced, said that a football player cannot have sufficient
energy unless his emotions are under spiritual control. In fact, he went so far as
to say that he would not have a man on his team who did not have a genuinely friendly
feeling for every fellow player. “I have to get the most energy out of a man,” he said,
“and have discovered that it cannot be done if he hates another man. Hate blocks his
energy and he isn’t up to par until he eliminates it and develops a friendly feeling.”
People who lack energy are disorganized by their deep, fundamental emotional and
psychological conflicts, such as guilt and fear. But healing is ever possible.
The surest way not to become tired is to lose yourself in something in which you
have a profound conviction. A famous statesman who made seven speeches in one day
was still boundless in energy. “Why are you not tired after making seven speeches?” I
asked. “Because,” he said, “I believe absolutely in everything I said in those speeches. I
am enthusiastic about my convictions.”
That’s the secret. He was on fire for something. He was pouring himself out, and you
never lose energy and vitality in so doing. You only lose energy when life becomes dull
in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired doing nothing. You don’t have to be tired. Get interested in something. Get absolutely enthralled in something. Throw
yourself into it with abandon. Get out of yourself. Be somebody. Do something. Don’t
sit around moaning about things, reading the papers and saying, “Why don’t they do
something?” The man who is out doing something isn’t tired. If you’re not getting into
good causes, no wonder you’re tired. You’re disintegrating. You’re dying on the vine.
The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you
will have.

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[saved1]

For some, this will be the hardest concept they ever attempted.:confused:
Some get it, and some never will. :cool:
I am wrong. :rolleyes:
I tried something new in my 11th step today.

Basil Pennington suggests asking God to help you chose a word or phrase from your morning reading to carry with you throughout the day. :1:

So this morning, I hunted around in the Psalms for a while, trying to dig up something all by myself. When that didn’t work, I closed the book, asked for help, and opened to this phrase:

I am wrong. :6:

God is a God of wisdom. That phrase came in handy all day long.

We took a trip to the beach, and as we were packing, my wife asked for my help carrying some things. My mood soured. I wanted to tell her to carry her own crap. Then, the phrase came and cleared my mind: I am wrong. Of course I could carry a few extra things.

At the beach, my son wanted me to stand with him while he played in the surf. I wanted to read my book. Why should I always have to do everything? Why didn’t my wife go and do it instead? I am wrong. He and I had a lot of fun running around together.

My wife started talking politics, and I wanted to bicker. I am wrong. We had a good conversation.

My son was shouting at the restaurant, and I wanted to be stern. I am wrong. I paid attention, and he lowered his voice.

I kept losing at cards. I am wrong. It was fun anyway.

It was a hassle getting all the sand off my son’s stuff.

A couple of drunks were acting up on the train.

I was all tired out and grumpy when we got home.

I am wrong. I am wrong. I am wrong.

I was wrong all day long.

God kept reminding me and putting things right again.

I remember hearing a story years ago in a meeting about a guy (let’s call him Ted) who put sticky notes all over his house. Each note carried the same message, so that every where he looked, he would read:

“You’re wrong, Ted.”

I’m on Ted’s side.

It’s better to know than to not know.
(SHARE) Becoming Recovered.:281:

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[MajestyJo]

Your picture looks like a Danny Holbrook painting, not sure I am spelling the name right.

[saved1]

Renew Your Resolve.:281:
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By Amy Wong,
It’s five weeks into the New Year. How are you doing with your resolutions?
If you’ve stalled on Resolution Road, don’t feel bad. It’s common.
There’s been a definite drop-off in attendance at my gym compared to the first week in January. I noticed it last night in spin class—there were actually a few empty bikes.

Another thing I noticed in spin class: What our instructor, Rachel, was saying to keep us motivated on our ride could be turned into positive motivation for keeping resolutions too. Not just those related to health and fitness, either. These sayings can help with staying positive about (and eventually achieving) any personal change you’re striving for.

It’s not the strength of your legs, it’s the strength of your mind.
Remind yourself: I might not have the skills yet, but I have the will. You’re doing something new, something different from what you’ve always done. Chances are, you’re not going to be good at it right off the bat. What matters is that you keep at it. Strengthen your will, and you’ll strengthen your skills.

Doubt is a good thing. It means you’re pushing yourself.
You don’t have to be 100 percent confident that you’ll achieve your goal. In fact, if you are, that probably means you set the bar too low and you should aim higher. Speaking of pushing yourself ...

What would happen if you cranked it up a notch? Try it and see!
Boredom knocks resolutions off track. Keep challenging yourself—you’re stronger than you think. Stretch beyond what you did the week or the day before. That’s the way you grow.

If you didn’t make it through the last sprint, that’s OK. Work harder on the next.
So you skipped your devotional reading today or cheated on your diet or zoned out instead of listening. Don’t let a slip-up make you give up on your goal entirely. If your resolution has stalled, restart it. Take a look at the progress you’ve made and make note of what you still have to work on (if you know your trouble spots, you can figure out ways to combat them). Then get right back to it.

Just focus and go.
Too tired, too busy, too weak, too stressed ... forget all the excuses. Just focus your mind on your goal and take one step toward it. Then another. And another. That’s how you’ll get where you want to go.:170:
Permalink: /blogs/the-up-beat/five-sayings-to-renew-your-resolve

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