Walking The Walk

What would it take to make you happy?  Do you ever think about that?  Most people do.  Most people have a mental list of things they'd need to be happy.  It's a mental wish list.  I call it the "if only" list . . . If only I could get more time to myself I'd be happy. If only I had a promotion at work with a nice raise and an office with a window--then I'd be happy! If only I had a bigger house in a nice neighborhood, then I'd be happy. Or maybe it's just one big thing.  One big achievement that you believe is the key to everything.   But the truth of the matter is, there isn't one thing on this earth that will make you happy.  There is not one thing or a hundred things on this earth that will make you content.  There is nothing on this planet that will give you the peace you're looking for.  Because that's not where peace and happiness come from.  I could give you a hundred examples of very wealthy, and very successful people ...

The one who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much. ~Luke 16:10 We donate clothes to Goodwill often. Several times a year.  And both my daughters and my wife like to shop at the Goodwill thrift store.  I went with them once, and while I was there, I found a nice men's button up shirt I liked.  I bought it for like $6.  We get home and we're comparing treasures, and I show my wife the shirt I bought.  "That's your shirt!" Valerie said.  "You donated that in the last batch we took in."   I'd bought my own shirt back.  But I got a great deal!  The first time I bought it, it was like $30!   A couple weeks ago, Valerie was scanning photos from an old album, and she found some of us back when we first started dating, nearly 30 years ago.  I was a lot thinner then, and wearing button fly 501 jeans and a plaid shirt over a t-shi...

I've been reading a book called "Atomic Habits" by James Clear.  I stumbled across it at the bookstore, and I've really enjoyed it.  It confirms what I've believed for a long time.  Big changes don't necessarily start with "big changes."  Big changes in your life are an accumulation of small habits.   What if you just improved a tiny little bit each day?  Not huge changes, but small changes.  If you're trying to eat better, what if you just skipped the donut in the morning?  What if you skipped the seconds at dinner?  What if you replaced one soda each day with a bottle of water.  Just start with small changes, and built on those small changes each day.  Don't make them hard, make then fairly painless.  You can do that in every area of your life.   In the book "Atomic Habits" the math author James Clear provides is pretty startling.  What if you improved by just one percent each day in one area of your life?...