Motivation Monday - Priorities

I always say to God 'If you going to tell me something, tell me more than once - so I get the message'.  Even though I've heard it many times before, and read and/or demonstrated it to my pioneer girls before, the below bit of wisdom has come at me a few ways the last week or so.  In our GB newsrap mag, then a colleague emails it to me.  What made me really think about it was a colleague who passed away too soon, taken just before he retired, before he went on an advanture in a caravan that he and his wife had always wanted to do.

God.  Thanks.  I got it.  Loud and clear.  Priorities.  Going to get it sorted!


"When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand.The students laughed..

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else---the small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn.

Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend."

Anonymous

Motivation Monday - You are a Leader

I received this in my inbox in this morning and had to send it out, have a great week everyone.

 

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848

 

 

Motivation Monday - Dreamer

Maybe I'm a dreamer but I believe if you really want to do something then you should just go for it, because if your heart and soul and energy are into it then you're going to be successful.  If you keep looking back over your shoulder and thinking, "oh gosh, I should have done that" then you'll regret it because you are not living to your potential.

Barbara Kendall   

Motivation Monday - Attitude

The longer I live, the more I realise the impact of attitude of life.  Attitude to me, is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skills.  It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our Attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

Charles Swindoll

Motivation Monday - In Honour of our Olympic Athletes

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.  So that his place shall never be with cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

Motivation Monday - Hey You

Our service on Sunday was about praising and up lifting others for what they do and not taking people for granted.  Today I was having a bad day...I stayed in bed, kept the curtains closed and did not want to face the world.  I read my book, listened to music, and had FB on in the background.  A fellow GBer posted the above.  She probably just liked it, maybe needed it for herself, but when I read it, it helped, it got me out of bed.  And it reminded me of yesterdays service.  Keep praising others, complementing them, and uplifting them, you'll never know when they may really need it.  And thank-you for all your kind words, it helps to keep me going.

Motivation Monday's - The Parable Of The Trapeze

Sometimes I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I'm either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in my life, I'm hurtling across space in between trapeze bars.

Most of the time, I spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. It carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing and I have the feeling that I'm in control of my life.

I know most of the right questions and even some of the answers.

But every once in a while as I'm merrily (or even not-so-merrily) swinging along, I look out ahead of me into the distance and what do I see? I see another trapeze bar swinging toward me. It's empty and I know, in that place in me that knows, that this new trapeze bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart of hearts I know that, for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well-known bar and move to the new one.

Each time it happens to me I hope (no, I pray) that I won't have to let go of my old bar completely before I grab the new one. But in my knowing place, I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar and, for some moment in time, I must hurtle across space before I can grab onto the new bar.

Each time, I am filled with terror. It doesn't matter that in all my previous hurtles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. I am each time afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between bars. I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policy, but you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. So, for an eternity that can last a microsecond or a thousand lifetimes, I soar across the dark void of "the past is gone, the future is not yet here."

It's called "transition." I have come to believe that this transition is the only place that real change occurs. I mean real change, not the pseudo-change that only lasts until the next time my old buttons get punched.

I have noticed that, in our culture, this transition zone is looked upon as a "no-thing," a noplace between places. Sure, the old trapeze bar was real, and that new one coming towards me, I hope that's real, too. But the void in between? Is that just a scary, confusing, disorienting nowhere that must be gotten through as fast and as unconsciously as possible?

NO! What a wasted opportunity that would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing and the bars are illusions we dream up to avoid the void where the real change, the real growth, occurs for us. Whether or not my hunch is true, it remains that the transition zones in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honored, even savored. Yes, with all the pain and fear and feelings of being out of control that can (but not necessarily) accompany transitions, they are still the most alive, most growth-filled, passionate, expansive moments in our lives.

Motivation Monday - The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.  I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting you heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are, I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.  I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes, without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic or to remember the limitation of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.  I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy.  I want to know if you can see beauty even when its not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure; yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the moon...YES.

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.  I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are and how you came to be here.  I want to know if you can stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me what, or where, or with whom you studied.  I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.  I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in empty moments.

Oriahe Mountain Dreamer

Motivation Monday - Making a Difference

One day a man was walking along the beach.  He noticed that during the night many starfish had washed up on the shore.  Far off in the distance he saw a figure dancing.  As he drew closer he noticed that it was not someone dancing but a small child methodically picking up starfish and tossing them back into the sea.  The man, puzzled, asked, "Why are you throwing those starfish?".  "If I leave them the sun will dry them and they will die, so I'm throwing them back into the sea because I want them to live!" she replied.  He was impressed with the child's thoughtfulness, but said, "There are millions of them, how could you possibly expect to make a difference?".  The small child pondered the man's words for a moment then picked up a starfish and threw it into the sea.  "You might be right, " she said, smiling, "but I made a difference to that one!"

After being at GBNZ Conference at Hunua this weekend, the thought occurs to me that sometime we can be overwhelmed by the politics, the business, the management etc. that is involved with running an organisation, and we may ask ourselves "Why do I do this, what is the point, what difference am I making, is it just too hard?".  And that is where I remember this story; every girl we reach is worth every bit of our energy and time.  I once was one of those girls, and the leaders that I had while growing up helped make me the person I am today.  So for all girls out there I say to you, do not feel overwhelmed, you are doing a fabulous job and all girls NZ wide need awesome leaders and role models like yourselves.  In the words of Joanna (IFG) and Outward Bound, "Be your best self".

Motivation Monday - Youth

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of will, a quality of the imagination, a vigour of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.  Youth means predominance of courage over timidity, of adventure over the love of ease.  This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty.  Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair - these bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.  You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hopes; as old as your despair.

Samuel Ullman

Motivation Mondays - The Joy in the Journey

She sat in 14E, and I sat in 14D.

She was rural, and I was urban. She was backward, and I was sophisticated. She was homey, and I was “professional.” But she could see, and I was blind.

“They sure do put these seats close up against each other, don’t they,” she said as I sat down.

Her face was ten inches from mine. She had basset-hound cheeks; her eyebrows peaked over her nose; and her jowls sagged. She wore a Dutch-bob haircut and a blue, velour pants suit. I don’t know if she was old or just looked old. But I do know one thing: She’d never flown.

“I don’t do this too much, do you?”

When I told her I did, her eyes widened. “Oooh, that must be fu-un.” (She could add a syllable to any word.)

I groaned to myself. I already had a bad attitude. My week had been hectic. The plane was late and overbooked. And now I was sitting next to Gomer Pyle’s mother.

“Oooh, boy, look at that one!”

She pointed at the plane ahead of us on the runway.

“Is this one that big?”

“Yes.” I hoped my brief response would show her that I wasn’t up for chitchat. It didn’t.

“I’m going to see my boy in Dallas. Do you ever go to Dallas? I hope he’s OK. He had a stomach flu last week. He’s got a new dog. I can’t wait to see it. It’s a Labrador. Do you know what that is? They are big and lovable and … ”

She was uncanny. Not only could she add a syllable to every word, she could answer her own questions.

As we were taking off, however, she got quiet. For several moments she said nothing. Then she suddenly let out a sound that would have called the pigs for dinner.

“Oooooeeee, those trees down there look like peat moss!”

People seated around us turned and stared like I was E. F. Hutton.

“What river is that?”

I told her I didn’t know, so she flagged down a stewardess.

When I pulled out my laptop computer, she was enthralled. “Now isn’t that clever.”

And that went on … the whole flight. She didn’t miss a thing. If she wasn’t staring out the window, she was amazed by a magazine. If she wasn’t talking, she was “oooh-ing.” She played with her fan. She turned her light on and off. She toyed with her seat belt. She savored her lunch. When we went through turbulence, I looked over at her to be sure she was all right, and she was grinning. You’d have thought she was riding the Ferris wheel at the county fair!

It occurred to me, about mid-journey, that she was the only person enjoying the trip.

The rest of us, the “sophisticated,” were too mature to have fun. I was staring at a computer screen—eyes tired, stressed-out, trying to find a message for stress-filled people and never noticing that the message was sitting beside me.

“Wasn’t that a fu-un trip?” she asked as we were leaving the plane.

I didn’t say anything. I just nodded and smiled. Off she walked, bouncing down the concourse as curious as a six-year-old. I watched her as long as I could, then turned to go to my next flight with a lesson learned.

I resolved to keep my eyes open.

It does little good, I decided, to make the trip and miss the journey.

From In the Eye of the Storm
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1991, 2001) Max Lucado

Motivation Mondays - The Mountain Story

A son and his father were walking on the mountains.

Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

To his surprise, he hears his voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"

Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"

He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on??"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."

And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"

Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"

The boy is surprised, but does not understand.

Then the father explains:
"People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE.
It gives you back everything you say or do.
Our life is simply a reflection of our actions.

If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.

If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.  This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it."

YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.  IT'S A REFLECTION OF YOU!

- Author Unknown

Motivation Mondays

Been thinking about how to blog more often and with more variety.  And at the same time possibly providing something of use to GB.  So welcome to Motivation Monday.  Some of you may have seen this from the Australian GB newsletter, writer unknown.

MY DECLARATION 

“My calling is sure.

My challenge is big.

My vision is clear.

My desire is strong.

My influence is eternal.

My impact is critical.

My values are solid.

My faith is tough.

My mission is urgent.

My purpose is unmistakable.

My direction is forward.

My heart is genuine.

My strength is supernatural.

My reward is promised.

And my God is real.

I refuse to be dismayed, disengaged, disgruntled, discouraged, or distracted.

Neither will I look back, stand back, fall back, go back or sit back.

I do not need applause, flattery, adulation, prestige, stature or veneration.

I have no time for business as usual, mediocre standards, small thinking, normal expectations, average results, ordinary ideas, petty disputes or low vision.

I will not give up, give in, bail out, lie down, turn over, quit or surrender.

I AM A SERVANT.

That is what I will be.”