My New Book Living More Than OK

My New Book Living More Than OK
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Saturday, April 28, 2012

New Attitude for Resilience in Life

Recently in our family exercise time we have been using some new dvd’s from Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home program. The titles are Walk Slim Fast & Firm 4 Really Big Miles and Walk Slim 5 Really Big Miles. Both are a good work out where you can do all the miles or portions. She always uses upbeat positive music and in these two dvds one song stood out to me. It is New Attitude that was popularized by Patti Labelle in the late 1980’s.

The song musically is a high energy song that carries a positive vibe to it. I had never really listened to it other that catching the main phrase “New Attitude”. So I looked it up online and looked over the lyrics. I thought of the word resilience as soon as I looked at the lyrics. Resilience is that inner ability that helps when you are at a seemingly dead-end; to not give up but to keep on going by finding a new way – a new attitude. Take some time first to look over the lyrics I have printed for you. As always click on the title if you wish to activate a video of the song to hear it.

New Attitude performed by Patti Labelle

Written by Sharon Robinson;Jonathan Gilutin;Bunny Hull

Runnin' hot, runnin' cold
I was runnin' into overload, it was extreme
I took it so high, so low
So low, there was nowhere to go like a bad dream

Somehow the wires uncrossed, my tables were turned
Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied it up my point of view I got a new attitude!

I'm in control, my worries are few 'Cause I've got love like I never knew
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo I got a new attitude!

I'm wearing a new dress, new hair
Brand new ideas, as a matter of fact I've changed for good
It must have been the cool night, new moon, slight change
More than to figure oh but I feel like I should, yes

Somehow the wires uncrossed, my tables were turned
Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied it up my point of view
I got a new attitude

I'm in control, my worries are few
'Cause I've got love like I never knew
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo
I got a new attitude
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo

Somehow the wires uncrossed, my tables were turned
Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my head to my shoes
Know where I'm goin' and I know what to do
I tidied it up my point of view
I got a new attitude

I'm in control, my worries are few 'Cause I've got love like I never knew
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo I got a new attitude


From my head to my shoes I'm loving you (I got a new attitude)

I got a new, new attitude! Everything about be has changed
Baby I ain't the same (I got a new attitude!)

Oh I got a new, I got a new I got a brand new, brand new
I got a new attitude


We all at one time or another have life events that drive our emotions to the extremes of hot or cold. Events, where, we come to a dead end. Maybe it is a dream we had where the tables are now turned and we see a nightmare instead. It may be a relationship or a job that has fallen through. At those times we are so low as to feel in our attitude that there is no way to proceed. The failure is too much and the wires that energize are life have been short circuited. We can let worries take over and have a negative attitude that everything is out of control so we better give up on life. That is the picture I see from the beginning of the song. The sad thing is that some people choose to live in the bad dream of their nightmare attitude for the rest of their lives.

The good news is that times of failure do not make us failures for life. We can choose a new attitude. We can look at the failure and seek to learn lessons to improve and change our dreams and goals. We have been created to be resilient and move forward from dead-ends with new attitudes. The phrase “I tidied up my point of view” is an important phrase. To bounce back from failure and troubles we need to do an attitude check and reevaluate our next play in the game of life. I like how the song says “from my head to my toes”. Our positive attitude change has to affect our whole being to be successful.

On the issue of control we can never be fully in control. But in an attitude check, we need to look at what we can control and change for the better and prayerfully leave what we can’t control up to God. In doing this we keep worries to a limit and can keep moving forward with the positive energy we see this song is about. A new attitude gives us a positive feeling about the direction in which we are then moving. So if you are going through difficulties that have brought your attitude to a new low. Take some time for an attitude check and make a choice to change it from your head to your toes.

Reflection: Take 10 minutes to reflect on your life journey. Do an attitude check. Are you feeling low or at a dead-end? Brainstorm ideas for new directions and choose to step out with a positive energetic new attitude. Listen to this song for a few days and see if the melody and words energize your life.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Creative Expressions for Your Career Journey

I breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as I viewed the 2011 National Career Development Poetry and Poster winners on the NCDA website. This ends my two years of being national chairperson for the contest. I have enjoyed being a part of promoting the contest here in Texas and these past two years on the National front. The NCDA has a volunteer chairperson every two years so new people can add input into improving the contest.


The purpose of the contest is to allow all ages to dream of their career ideas using the creative mediums of poetry and posters. Creativity can touch all areas of our lives even our work life. We spend over 100,000 hours of our lifetime is the work area of our lives. So the contest concept is to encourage people to look at their vocational life so as to move towards something they will enjoy doing in that significant time frame.


As I look over my vocational side of my life, I have had all types of occupations, library and janitorial work through my high school and college years. There have been various companies I have worked for in shipping/receiving, warehouse work and customer service during college and after college. More recently I enjoyed working with students at a South Texas college and university. I am thankful as I have enjoyed my various jobs for the most part. I believe it is helpful to take time to savor our more enjoyable times in our work life. Poetry and posters are one way to do this.


By creatively savoring our career journey we can gain insight on improving our present work situation. It gives a new angle to looking at the routines of our work and see how we are making a difference for other people and the world through the work we do. Writing a short poem about your passion for your work can be a motivator as you keep the poem nearby at your work station. We can also possible open our minds to new career shifts as well.
We can also learn from seeing how others view their careers. That is one reason I enjoy the NCDA career contest. By looking over the poems and the artwork I can learn how others appreciate their work dreams. I encourage you to take a few minutes and look at some of the winners’ poems and posters by clicking here on NCDA Career Contest.



Read over some of the poems and view some of the posters. Take some quiet time to think over what you felt or learned from the poems or posters you looked at? Reflect over some of your favorite moments in your various work situations. Maybe it was a special impact you had on a co-worker or customer. Maybe is was a project you had a passion for and you saw it come to fruition. Work can be a constant drudgery if we have a negative attitude. Work does not have to be that way. I believe work is not meant to be that way. We can keep an attitude of creative expression to keep spiraling up to better service and positive relations with those we serve with and the customers we serve. That is what I saw exuded in the students career dreams and the dreams of the adult winners. So as you start your work day go into it with a positive attitude of creative joy.


Reflection: If you enjoy poetry writing write a poem about your philosophy of work and enjoying your career. If you are not a poet try drawing a picture of the same concept. Or you can make a collage of pictures and positive words about enjoying your career in a poster format. Creatively express yourself. Also check out the NCDA website www.ncda.org in September to see the theme for next year’s contest and join in on the career creativity.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Living A Life Of Noble Purpose

This past week I had a nuclear stress test and the instructions had a suggestion to bring something to read as the whole process takes several hours. Much of that time is waiting between pictures of the heart at rest and after being on the treadmill. So I noticed in my books to read pile was a small book, Noble Purpose: The Joy of Living a Meaningful Life by William Damon. Dr. Damon is a Professor of Education at Stanford University. I took it to the Heart Clinic.

This book is a short book as I finished it during my time in the waiting room during the 3 ½ hours. Even though it was short, the impact of the message was very big in my thoughts. This is one of those books where I feel the world would be a better place if everyone would read it. I truly believe we are created as purpose driven. God has a purpose for each of us. So connecting our interests and God given strengths helps us to discover our career and non-career purposes in life.

I feel the core of his book is found in these statements by the author, “A life built around noble purpose is a life well spent….Commitment to a noble purpose, apart from the good that it produces for the world, endows a person with joy in good times and resilience in hard times.” (pgs. 66-67). That is what living more than ok is all about. In living a more than OK life we need to be following God’s purposes for our lives. What causes are important to you? How does the life you live impact your family and friends for the better?

That word “noble” in the title, I had never thought of before in relation to purpose in life. The author made me realize that we need to reflect over our purposes. My purpose does not have to be at the level of a hero or famous person. The key is -- are my purposes moral? Is my purpose just for selfishness of acquiring as much stuff I can store in my house or storage center? Is my purpose just about money? God centered purposes focus outward from the self to touch others’ lives for the better.

Near the end of the book, Dr. Damon presents 9 principles to help in our building a purpose filled life. I will paraphrase them here. First of all is to start with a purpose. Find an interest or cause you are passionate about and become involved. If you are having difficulty finding a purpose look at the close areas of your life as in your family, your church, social organizations, your career. Wherever you find most of your energy expended is a good place to find a purpose. Next, look for purpose driven examples in others that you can follow. These may be found in a mentor at your workplace or maybe a historical figure you have read about. Another good idea is to look for support from others. Share your purpose with others and see if anyone wants to join you. Or maybe your purpose in found in your religious faith sod in your local congregation you can find others to join you. With following your purpose be wary of perfectionism. There are always bumps along the way to discourage you. Don’t let discouragement defeat your purpose God has given you.

If you are counting -- the next is his sixth principle of keeping a humble heart in following your purpose. This fits well with his concept of noble purpose. To keep our spiritual compass on a moral plane, we need to keep our pride in check with humility. Along with humility then keep a focus on keeping your purpose noble by reviewing the means you are using to reach the goal of your purpose. This is counter culture in a world where the emphasis is use any means even immoral means of lying and cheating to gain your advantage. Staying noble is looking at the morality of your purpose journey from point A to point B. Number 8 is have a thankful heart of celebration for the purpose you are seeking to achieve. This allows for joy in the journey in what you are trying to accomplish in your career or other aspects of your life. Then the last principle is just as in point three, you should look for examples to follow. Principle 9 is be an example yourself to others. Disciple others, especially younger people, in living a purpose driven life so others can have “… a life well spent”.

There is much more than these 9 principles packed into this little powerful book. I again highly recommend it. But more importantly take time to look at your purposes for living your life journey.

Reflection: Take some time to think over what are purposes that are driving your life direction? What is your career purpose? Is it a noble purpose? Outside of your work do you have a purpose or do you just exist? Consider a purpose you would like to follow to have a more than ok life and write it down with plans to follow a purpose driven life.

Friday, April 6, 2012

God’s Not Dead Response To The Reason Rally

Recently as I was thinking about Easter, I have also been reflecting on news reports on two atheist gatherings that occurred in March. One was the Reason Rally in Washington D. C. and the other was Rock Beyond Belief at Fort Bragg. Just looking at the names of the events causes one to question their critical thinking skills. Are atheists the only people who can use reason? With the Rock Beyond Belief the atheists, from interviews, they seemed to be focusing on the common myth they propose that atheism is not a belief. They say they believe in science which is based on facts. Just ask them for their scientific proof that God does not exist and they are usually silent or defensive. What about the “ism” in atheism? From dictionaryreference.com ism is a “suffix loanword from the Greek, used as a productive suffix denoting action or practice, …, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence”. So atheism is not beyond belief -- it is a belief.

One of the speakers at both events was Richard Dawkins, noted atheist speaker and writer. He was introduced in a video I listened to of the Rock Beyond Belief gathering, as one of the leading atheists in the world. I found this quite disingenuous as after the introduction Mr. Dawkins jumped right into his diatribe against religion, primarily Christianity. One statement was, “There is no good, honest reason to believe in a god…the only reason to believe something is that you have evidence for it.” But who is honest? He accepted the adulation of the crowd as their atheist evangelist but in the Telegraph, February 24th, 2012 there was an article Richard Dawkins: I can’t be sure God does not exist The article speaks of a meeting Dawkins had with the Archbishop of Canterbury where he admitted he considers himself an agnostic not atheist He said he was 6.9 out of 7 certain of his beliefs. That works out to a 98.57% certainty of no God so that is not a 100% atheist. If he was honorable he should have told the crowd he was speaking to of that fact he considers himself an agnostic. Instead he went on a diatribe against religion hinting that Christians belong in insane asylums to the cheers of the small crowd. In the video I listened to he gave no scientific proof that God does not exist. Of course he can’t as atheism is a belief just as Christianity and other religions are beliefs.

So what does this have to do with Easter? In the resurrection of Christ I believe in a risen Savior who reveals to us that God is not dead. Think over this as you look over the words to a song by the Newsboys. As usual if you click on the title you can look at a video The Newsboys created for the song. It is very well done.

God’s Not Dead (Roarin Like A Lion) Newsboys

Let love explode And bring the dead to life A love so bold
To see a revolution somehow Let love explode
And bring the dead to life A love so bold To bring a revolution somehow

Now I'm lost in your freedom And this world I'll overcome
My God's not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

My God's not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

He's roaring He's roaring He's roaring like a lion

Let hope arise And make the darkness hide My faith is dead
I need a resurrection somehow

Now.. Now I'm lost in your freedom
Now.. And this world I'll overcome My God's not dead

He's surely alive He's living on the inside Roaring like a lion

My God's not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

He's roaring He's roaring He's roaring like a lion
He's roaring He's roaring

Let Heaven roar And fire fall Come shake the ground
With the sound of revival Let Heaven roar And fire fall
Come shake the ground With the sound of revival

My God's not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

My God's not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion...


Their song is a bold proclamation of their faith in a living God. Hope arises through this faith that we have in the risen Christ. Their proclamation reminds me of the verse, Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” In a world where atheists label believers as crazy we can stand and boldly respond to their secular religious faith. The verse says, “it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” Yes it all boils down to belief. But as we read through the Pauline epistles we understand it is a belief based upon sound reasonable arguments. Just because I can’t place God in a test tube or beaker does not mean He ceases to exist.

God’s clear existence is seen in the lyrics, “He’s roarin like a lion”. The lion is a symbol of God. In Revelation 5:5 Jesus the Messiah is pictured as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The atheist declares where is God? Why is he silent? Is the lion’s roar silent? I hear the Lion’s roar of God when I’ve seen the majestic Grand Canyon, looking out at the waves of the Pacific Ocean, or seeing the changed lives of Christians. Going back to the Easter story, look at the changed lives of the disciples. There is no rational explanation other than the resurrection of Jesus that the cowering, fearful disciples should have turned around with most of them boldlygiving up their lives for the message of the gospel.

One other thought, hearing of the Roar of the Lion, for me is seen at the beginning of the song. That is seeing Christ’s love work through His people. “Let love explode And bring the dead to life A love so bold To see a revolution somehow Let love explode And bring the dead to life”. John 13:35 states, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. I read a story on The Blaze the other day of how an atheist, Patrick Greene in Texas has been affected by the love of Christians in a small Texas town, pouring love out to him during his time of sickness. It is making him change his perceptions or Christianity. This is because he has been trying to stop the Christmas display in town so in his eyes he felt the Christians should hate him instead of love him. That is a pretty loud roar!

Reflection: This Easter think over the roars of God you have experienced in your life. If you journal jot these down for your memory sake.