Going The Extra Degree

As I just finished my first quarter of my PhD in General Psychology with Capella University, I am reflecting on how to balance my family, education and work. I have a couple of years ahead of intense research leading to my dissertation to complete the PhD. In the same time I have family concerns and work that I need to keep up with. My desire is to not be burned-out in these life spheres instead to excel in each area. In moving from good to great in each aspect of life I received some helpful ideas from a Simple Truths book, written by Sam Parker and Mac Anderson.

The book is 212 The Extra Degree. It is based on the power of the one degree change in water from 211 hot to 212 boiling. I make a lot of oatmeal for breakfasts so I boil a lot of water each week. I have seen the one degree change as the water is heating all of a sudden the bubbles form and begin boiling. That is good for cooking but what does that have to do with life?

Before going on click on the title 212 The Extra Degree to watch the Simple Truths video that relates to their book. As you watch the short video think over what the authors are trying to say:


212 The Extra Degree

In our spiritual life, relationships, work, and education the ruts of our existence cause us to just move along in OK mode. We say to ourselves, “I am doing good enough. I am doing OK”. But are we created to live this life just OK? Parker and Anderson are saying we can move from Good to Great by having a mental attitude of putting forth the extra degree of effort. Having a 212 attitude in our life and work keeps us rising up to keep growing in our relationships and work life. The examples of winning the race in the video shows the extra degree of effort is the difference between winning and losing. I have always been amazed with the short time difference between first and second place in Olympic sunning races.

Along with this 212 mindset being an attitude, is the thought that our attitudes our shaped by our beliefs. So if we want 212 success we need the 212 attitude but it begins with a 212 belief. The authors point out the importance of belief in stating, “belief fuels enthusiasm, and enthusiasm explodes into passion. It fires our souls and lifts our spirits.” If we want to be great in our work for instance we need to carry an enthusiastic passion for what we do in our work. We need to ask ourselves how can I better serve the customer, the patient the client? How can I do 212 service in my workplace?

Having a 212 mindset attitude can affect many areas of our lives. Each sphere of life spiritual, relational , educational, and career/work can be improved in phenomenal ways if we are open to put the one extra degree of effort to get us to a boiling excitement for each area of life. It finally boils down to personal choice action to take the belief and attitude and be responsible to choose to make our actions match the desire to move from good to great.

Reflection: What area of your life do you need to make the effort to move your degrees up to 212? Write the area down and list a few commitments to practically move you to 212 living.

Running After Your Dream

I always like to start the New Year looking at dreams I have had in the previous year and looking at new dreams I want to move towards in the new year. I am a believer in dreams as they are a motivator in living a more than ok life. Writer, Sara Henderson had this to say about dreams, “Always live your life with one dream to fulfill. No matter how many of your dreams you have realized in the past, always have a dream to go. Because when you stop dreaming, life becomes a mundane existence.” So how do you wish to start the New Year? Just existing or Living More Than OK?

I want to look at running after our dreams by reflecting over a song by Tom Petty, “Runnin Down A Dream”. If we are a dreamer we need to be active in following the dream process. We can’t sit passively waiting for life to happen to us, otherwise we will find time passing us by. Take a few minutes to look over the lyrics and listen to the embedded video


"Runnin' Down A Dream" by Tom Petty (click on the title to hear the song’s video)
It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little Runaway
I was flyin'

Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I felt so good like anything was possible
I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was un-stoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine

Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream


I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream


The beginning of the song gives a picture of someone driving down the highway with the radio blaring and he is singing along with the old 1960’s song “Runaway” by Del Shannon. I don’t know if you are a singer in the car. I can relate to this picture as many times when I am driving by myself I am singing to the music I have on. Often back in my college days of driving between Chicago and Ohio I would also use this time to think about life and plans I had and this appears to be happening in the story of this song.

Back to the idea of our dreams, the chorus states, “runnin down a dream that never would come to me”, goes to the thought that we must be active in the process. The dream will never come to us -- we need to work on it for it to come to fruition. A passive person who is not involved with life will not see their dreams fulfilled. We have to put the pedal down and start moving for what we want out of life. We need to create a goal out of the dream and make plans on how to achieve it.

The song also says “workin on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads.” To me this relates to how sometimes our dreams change by events and Divine Intervention. Life is a mystery at times and if we are in step with God as we travel it we can marvel at the mystery and go with the flow of life. Sometimes that mysterious flow moves us right into our dream as we envisioned it. Sometimes there are the 3 days of rain and the dark skies mentioned in the song. In those times if we let go and let God lead; the dream result turns out better than we could ever imagine.

I like the attitude seen in the line, “There’s something good waitin’ down this road”. We need to start the year with a positive attitude that God will have good things in store in this year’s journey. It is easy to be negative by looking at the news of the troubles in our country and world. But the negativity of the news will only shut you down with passivity from runnin towards your dreams.

Reflection: Write down a new dream you want to run towards this year. Maybe take a drive and sing along with a song and a new dream may pop into your head that way. Also keep an open mind to God’s mysteries He may have in store this year on your life journey.

Improving Your Attitude Is Important In Living More Than OK

What is it that shapes our outlook on each day and our future? How can several people experience the same event and have totally different feelings and ideas about it? One person looks at a rainy day as a terrible nuisance and another thinks it is helpful for the plants and nature or enjoys it as a great day to relax and read, (my personal favorite). This shaper of our mental outlook is our attitude. We all have an attitude all the time. The problem is what kind of attitude do we carry around with us?

There is a motivational company called Simple Truths that promotes positive books on a variety of topics. They also have short motivational videos that are very uplifting to the spirit and can help think over better ways to live our lives. I want to share with you one that is on the topic of Attitude. Before we progress further take a moment and click on the below title and watch the video:

Attitude Is Important (Click on Title)

There are too many uplifting ideas in this video to expound on in this short blog post. I just want to touch on a few that meant the most to me as I watched it. The first is what I think most of us relate to when considering attitude. Stay Positive. A positive attitude is so important to living the best life possible. I often ask college students in lecture who would you rather hang around with? Someone with a positive attitude towards life or a negative attitude? Always the response is the desire to be with a positive attitude person. There is always the rare wise aleck student that states they enjoy negativity.

To have the best life possible, we need to as the video states, have an attitude that “Expects the Best”. If we expect the best, that attitude motivates us to do our best to get what we desire. To go for our dreams and reach our goals we need to have that expectation of the best to fully reach them. Listen to testimonials of sport stars and musicians you will often catch that “expecting the best attitude” in their talk. This drives their discipline to be the best. We each can use that attitude in achieving what we each are passionate about.

Attitudes are relational as they affect how we relate to those around us. The thought in the video about an attitude of kindness is important to consider. “It is not the things you get, but the hearts you touch that will determine your success in life”. The kindness attitude seeks to help build other people up not to tear them down. A good question to ask in relating to others is how do we view others? Is it with a kind heart or a disdainful heart? Greater than kindness is having a loving attitude. The quote in the video is so true which I believe is why they call their company Simple Truths. “Love doesn't make the world go round – Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” To live a life of purpose and fulfill our mission God has us in this life for is to be people with loving attitudes. This is why the Bible states the “greatest of these is love” in I Corinthians 13.

Another question I want to end with is in the middle of the Simple Truths video clip. It speaks of how attitudes are contagious. Attitudes can rub off on others. Consider a work situation where negative comments are being tossed about by a worker who has a bad attitude. Soon others chime in and try to one up the negative statements. The work climate soon becomes very negative and gloomy. Consider the same work group situation but this time a positive attitude person encourages a co-worker and is always cheerful and kind. Often then the office atmosphere becomes more positive. So here is an important question to consider – Is my attitude worth catching?

Reflection: What were the main ideas of the attitude video that caught your attention? The video speaks of singing your song. Is there a song you like that could be considered your life theme song?

Taking Charge of Change in Life

Change is one thing we can always count on in life. Sometimes it comes fast and swift and other times change sneaks up on us. Change also varies in that it can be a good change that we can be grateful for or a bad change that negatively impacts our life. As a new semester is starting for my teaching at the college I found myself thinking about change. Also as my daughter begins college this is a change in our family life and her life.

I found myself pulling off my bookshelf a book I had read years ago, You Can Excel In Times Of Change by Dr. Shad Helmstetter. I want to share today just a few of his ideas on how we can make the most of change in our lives. The important part of change is how we react. All change has an impact on our lives either bringing good feelings or debilitating us. Loss especially in death of a loved one is a change that is hard to let go of. Especially when the death is unexpected -- the change of having that person gone can create a shock that is difficult to overcome. In the same vein job loss is a difficult change to overcome. There is a sense of life is not fair that can take over and hold people in responding to the change by negatively keeping stuck in the pain.
Dr. Helmstetter in this book brings out that many of the changes that occur in our lives when we look at the causation, is often out of our control. But the outcome of the change is controlled by our choices to be responsible in the face of change or irresponsible and staying stuck. He brings out the point that people who make it a habit of being responsible in their lives handle changes better. Those who hold on to excuses and blame often stay stuck longer or go backwards when faced with change.

A key element in our response to change is our attitude. Again we may not be in control of the change agent that affected our life. In response, though we have a choice to shape our attitude in a positive or negative way. Our attitude is a powerful force we can control to make good come from even the worst changes that may occur. Successful people and people who overcome great odds when their lives are examined; their success comes back to the positive attitude they carry in their life.
To excel and take charge of change Dr. Helmstetter encourages the reader to go beyond attitude to change your perception to the resulting future of your choices about the change. Write down and create mental pictures of the next steps in your life journey beyond the change. List the positive things that you want to move towards. Create goals to go after what you want to gain for a better life. If this is not done he says we can stay stuck in what he calls just an average life, just ok. Not a life that is succeeding.

Dr. Helmstetter gives a couple of examples of what he is getting at. He describes a couple that move their mother-in-law in with them with an initial attitude to get to know her better. But in not moving beyond attitude they begin to resent her being there and life turns negative. A young woman takes French classes with an attitude to learn so as to travel to Europe. She never goes beyond the initial attitude and never travels. She keeps a nagging regret of why she took the classes in the first place. So there needs to be a choice to move beyond being stuck by changes. A choice is needed to move beyond living just average or what I call living more than ok.

Reflection: What changes are you facing in life? Is it a new change or a change from the past still holding you? Reflect on your attitude about the change. List what can happen if you choose a positive viewpoint of the change. Create a mental picture of future positive possibilities you can move towards in your life.

God Cares When Bad Things Happen

Last week I wrote about a song of comfort for difficult times. I was going to move on to another topic until I found myself reading a new book Godforsaken by Dinesh D’Souza, President of The Kings College in New York City. What I like most about his books is he makes me think about my viewpoint on topics. I find him reaffirming most of what I believe and sometimes challenging me to think in new ways. The subtitle of the book is “Bad Things Happen. Is there a God who cares? Yes. Here’s proof”. Just as song “Tears of Joy” looked at suffering and difficulty this book digs deeper into the subject.

Dr. D’Souza leaves no stone of suffering unturned. He looks at terrible acts of God in nature: earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes. Pain and suffering in the animal kingdom which often makes us wonder why God created a nature full of pain and struggle? Of course there is also much human suffering in young people who die too young. People you become paralyzed due to illness and accidents. He discusses the full range of suffering along all spectrums, as these are all areas where people look at the pain and suffering and ask where is God? How can there be a God that allows all this suffering? In my younger years I read the atheist, Bertrand Russell’s writings and in recent years I have read the new atheists writings of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris as well as others. Suffering is one angy complaint they hold up as evidence,(?), that God does not exist. So from that point alone it is important to look at the subject of suffering. Also it is important for me as a Christian to see what there is to learn from suffering.

I appreciate how the book does not describe the suffering in a detached intellectual way but delves into the emotional impact of it in our lives. I remember recently a dear friend in Chicago lost his son to an early death from sickness. When I had received the email from his mother I was shocked as I could not believe what had happened and felt sadness for a dear friend who had been a big help to me when I lived in Chicago. Those sudden unexpected deaths are often the hardest to take in trying to understand the silence of God in it all.

There are too many things I learned from the book to address here is this post so I encourage you to pick up the book in your favorite bookstore or library. But I will touch on a few items. One item that first comes to mind is his discussion on atheism and what he terms “wounded theism”. I had always wondered to myself why do these atheists in their writings write full of anger raging against God who they happen to believe does not exist? So you don’t believe in God -- big deal get on with your life. In many of them though is a background of religious upbringing and they become disillusioned. The idea of at their root of their anger at God is a wounded theism makes sense so I can understand where many of them are coming from. Some of them are angry with God so then make a choice to believe in an atheistic faith.

Another point I appreciated was that one purpose of suffering is to help mold us to be more empathic in our caring for others going through suffering. A helpful quote is, “Happiness is an incompetent instructor; much of the knowledge we get in life comes from hardship.” As I look back on my life as I went through a very difficult time a friend asked me what was I going to learn from the experience. Through pain and suffering we can either become bitter or become better. I try to aim for the better mindset as the bitter attitude causes a negative spiral downwards. A move to improve to be better, spirals us upwards to an improved attitude and better future response to difficulties.

We should never wish harm and pain on others. My blog attempts to improve people’s happiness levels. Yet our journey on this earth gives each of us our times of trials and pain. My worldview causes me to turn to God and know He will not forsake me. He is there in the storm with me. Just as Christ suffered more than any of us could imagine there is a promise of a future hope of a world without pain and suffering. An atheist may think I am crazy for believing that. But as I was reading Dr. D’Souza’s book verses from Romans 8:19-22 came to mind, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

I simply believe the Bible’s message of the Fall of man and subsequent fall of nature and the promise of God’s love and redemption through Christ makes the most sense out of what I observe in the world around me and in the world’s history. That is my belief, yes and I stand firm on that. Just as the atheist stands firm in their faith belief, that this magnificent miraculous world just poofed into existence by random chance.

Reflection: This reflection idea comes from the book, God Forsaken. Take a sheet of paper and draw two columns. Look over the past year and first write out all the bad things that happened to you. Then in the other column write out all the good things that happened and things you are grateful for from the past year. You will see even though there are bad things that happen for the most part there are more good things. Also look over some of the bad painful items. Has there been anything you learned or grew in from those events?

Becoming A Noticer

How often do we notice what is going on around us in the world and people’s lives? At the end of the year I read a fiction book, The Noticer, by Andy Andrews . My wife heard Andy speak at a Women Of Faith conference in November. Andy Andrews has a gift of being a great story teller. In the start of this book the reader is quickly caught up in the story so it is a book that is hard to put down.

The book’s key figure, Jones, keenly shows up in a person’s life during a time of difficulty. While reading, I debated in my mind whether Jones is a figure of a Guardian Angel or Jesus as he often appears out of nowhere and disappears afterwards. Also the various ethnicities in the book perceive Jones as being of their ethnicity. The importance of the book in my viewpoint is Jones’ improving the moral character of the people he is in contact with.

A driving point of the book is that of our attitude in relating to problems that face us. Jones also emphasizes our attitudes are shaped by our perception. A common example of the power of perception is the glass half full or half empty? Our choices we make are being guided by our attitudes and perceptions. Our perceptions in our daily journey can lead to a negative cast down spirit or to a positive spiraling up outlook on life.

Jones is the “Noticer” in the book as he is a watcher of people and notices when they need help. This is a thread in the book that caught my attention as I move into the New Year. The concept relates well with living life mindfully aware. If I am a Noticer, God can use me more through each day in making me notice people He is bringing into my daily journey for the purpose of being His hands and heart to help them. We may seek to serve God by helping others but then become caught up in unaware living so we do not notice the needs that are actually around us. This is where Jones as the Noticer, can help us understand the importance of being aware of how life is playing out around us.

There was something else I relearned in the initial interaction of Jones with another lead character, who was definitely a glass half empty in his perception of life. The importance of learning from historical figures is a lesson Jones teaches the other lead character when he is young. In his initial contact with Jones, as homework the teen is handed biographies of Winston Churchill, Will Rogers, George Washington Carver. The young man’s perspective of this idea was “boring history books”, but Jones’ perspective was these were opportunities to look at adventures of great people and learn what made them great.

The young man soon found out that reading these books were interesting and not boring. So Jones gave him other biographies: Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Victor Frankl, Harry Truman, Florence Nightingale, King David, Harriet Tubman, Queen Elizabeth I, John Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mark twain, Joshua Chamberlain, George Washington, Anne Frank, and Christopher Columbus. In reading these books he saw what Jones was getting at; that positive values could be learned from the lives of great people as they were people just like him. If they were great he could be great too.

Stories of people’s lives can be powerful influencers to learn from to better our own life. As I look at the list Jones recommended there are several I have read and appreciated and learned from. The list also gave me ideas of lives I want to read about in the coming year.

Being a Noticer, as seen in this book, means being open to be an active helper for lives in my sphere of life. Jones did not notice just for people-watching sake. He noticed so he could come along someone struggling in life and help change their perspective so to help them grow to be a better person.

Reflection: Try being a Noticer today. See if there is an opportunity to help a family member, friend or even a stranger during your daily journey today.At the end of the day take a few moments to journal thoughts on the experience of helping someone as to how it felt and how did you happened to notice the need to step into the other person’s struggle.

Learning from Others’ Work Attitudes

In our process of moving into our new home I have observed a variety of work attitude examples that impressed me over the past few weeks. Part of Living More Than OK is a desire to continually grow and improve our life experience. One way to do that is to learn from positive examples that come across our daily path. We don’t often take notice of our interactions as we are not mindful in our living. We are too busy moving on autopilot to be mindful. It is through these mindful moments we can learn to improve our overall life.

I am again looking at work attitudes as we spend so much of our waking time in our work. The attitudes we carry in our work can drain us or energize our work day. Our attitudes affect those around us in the workplace. Attitudes can also follows us home affecting those outside of work. The examples I will share are attitudes of workers I observed that are positive examples to follow.

The first recent example that comes to mind is from a hotel we stayed at during our move process. We usually choose a hotel that gives a free breakfast. This one had a waffle machine and I always enjoy the free waffles. As we went to breakfast I was all ready to make my waffle. As I walked over to the machine a bright eyed older worker with a wide smile asked “would you like a waffle”. I was surprised as usually the workers at hotels simply are there to replenish the supplies and clean of the breakfast area. Three minutes later she had the waffle on a plate for my wife and I to share. Her friendly servant attitude helped make my morning brighter. I watched her help others with coffee, juice and waffles and I could see everyone she touched with her friendliness appreciated her service. Her attitude made a positive impact on the atmosphere of the breakfast area.

Another example is from an alarm company we use for our home. I was setting up our service with Vivent and as always I did not have to deal with an irritating computer voice system. Instead I was quickly connected with a friendly worker to set up a technician appointment. I could feel her smile through the phone and her happy attitude. I asked her why are the workers at your call center always so friendly? Do they put something in the employees’ drinks to keep them friendly and happy? She replied, “I guess we just love our jobs and enjoy working here.” Now, I worked at call centers before and most people don’t see them as the most enjoyable workplaces. Yet this company is doing something where their workers enjoy working there enough to present themselves in a friendly courteous manner which helps customers who are trying to obtain help.

My last example comes from a book I am reading God Wants You Happy by Father Jonathan Morris. The book is filled with important principles how our connection with God helps to improve our lives. But in tune with my present topic, he starts out the book introducing the reader to an elderly butcher in Brooklyn. In his description he mentions the Butcher’s broad smile. An attitude of happiness and friendliness brings customers back even though his small shop had to deal with large food supermarkets coming into the neighborhood. An attitude can make or break a business. In this man’s case his happy attitude kept his business thriving against the competition.

These were just two examples I experience of many in the past few weeks. The example from the book is placed here, as a bookhead, to remind us we can also learn from examples in books. The important take away is we need to be mindfully aware as we go through our life each day to see how we can improve our life. We can be better in our workplace situations by following the examples of excellent workers we observe.

Reflection: Write down three recent examples of excellent customer service you observed from workers around you or at a restaurant or store. What can you learn from these examples to improve your work attitude?

Moving and Attitudes in Our Work

We finally moved into our new house and are adjusting to unpacking and setting up where everything goes. Probably the hardest part for me has been adjusting to a new kitchen. Trying to remember which drawer has the measuring cups, where are the coffee cups, or trying to remember where the pots and pans are. But after four days I am learning.

With all the stress of the move one aspect that I appreciated was the moving company who moved our big furniture pieces. To save money we moved most of our boxes ourselves. For our furniture we went with a local moving company. I know my limits and would rather trust our large pieces to professionals.

Observing the movers in action; loading the truck in Brownsville and then unloading in New Braunfels helped me to appreciate their skill and hard work. I also started thinking about work attitudes. The movers worked as a team and I sensed a positive spirit between them as they joked with each other. From shrink wrapping our couch and recliners to wrapping up my wife’s dining room hutch they took care in what they did. I mentioned to one of the movers how well they worked together and that they appeared to enjoy their work. He went on to tell me about a three story move once, where they were bringing down a large marble furniture piece and the owner seeing them in good spirits said to them. “Shouldn’t you be cussing carrying such a difficult piece?” His response was how would cussing and having a bad attitude help in moving a large marble furniture piece?

He is so right a nasty work attitude does not contribute to excellence in work. Jessica Pryce-Jones in her book Happiness at Work says of work attitude: “Bad attitude is bad news. Because it is more often a cause for downfall than failing to do a job well…” Bad attitude spreads negativity throughout the workplace. It affects a person’s motivation to do an excellent job and then can affect the motivation of those around them. This results in poor work results and complaints of boredom as the bad attitude worker is not open to learn new ways to improve their work.

A positive work attitude is like the movers I observed. Dedicated to being careful with the customer’s belongings, working energetically even in difficult situations. We had a one story house which is nice for movers but the morning was very hot so they were sweating profusely. They sure appreciated the bottles of Gatorade we picked up for them at the Stripes Gas Station.

Reflecting over their hard work caused me to reflect on my work attitudes. In my work life my hardest days were when I fed into negativity. These days would cause a downward spiral affecting work performance and my life outside of work. Thankfully those days have been few and far between as I have mentioned before from a spiritual standpoint as a Christian, I try to keep a God focus in my work. I try to do my work as pleasing to God first and then secondly for the customers I serve; which for the past 10 years has been helping College students succeed in their lives.

The moving experience helped me to see all types is work is important. To have a better work experience an attitude check is a must each and everyday.

Reflection:
Reflect over your work experience. Do you primarily carry a positive or bad attitude in your work experience? Write down a couple of ideas how can you improve your work attitude by “kicking it up a notch”, as the Chef, Emeril Lagasse , used to say on his Food Network show?

What If You Ruled The World?

Recently a friend knowing some of my blog postings look at songs and their meanings for our life experience sent me the song, If I Ruled the World, by Leslie Bricusse and Cyril Ornadel that was sung by Tony Bennett back in the 1960’s. The song makes me think of the personal power we have in our choices to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. Shad Helmstetter in his book Choices states, “ Who knows what you could accomplish in life if you made more of the right choices along the way.” Each day by the choices we make, we rule our world. The question is what kind of world are we creating? Click on the title of the Tony Bennett song and hear him sing it and then take some moments to reflect over the words.

IF I RULED THE WORLD
Tony Bennett
Words by Leslie Bricusse/Music by Cyril Ornadel

If I ruled the world, ev'ry day would be the first day of spring
Every heart would have a new song to sing
And we'd sing of the joy every morning would bring

If I ruled the world, ev'ry man would be as free as a bird,
Ev'ry voice would be a voice to be heard
Take my word we would treasure each day that occurred

My world would be a beautiful place
Where we would weave such wonderful dreams
My world would wear a smile on its face
Like the man in the moon has when the moon beams
If I ruled the world every man would say the world was his friend
There'd be happiness that no man could end
No my friend, not if I ruled the world
Every head would be held up high
There'd be sunshine in everyone's sky
If the day ever dawned when I ruled the world

Why this song makes me think of the power of our choices, is pondering over what I would do if I ruled the world for a day? As we step out each day don’t we by our choices make rulings on how our individual worlds will be created and run? There are many positive desires and choices, Leslie Bricusse presents in his lyrics that are a guide to the kind of choices we can make in living more than ok.

In the very beginning he pronounces “ev'ry day would be the first day of spring”. Spring is a season of new creation and creativity as flowers and plants bloom. What if we carried that attitude and choice into each day? Looking at each day as a refreshing adventure instead of a dreary struggle to fight through. No wonder stress and depression is so high when the daily attitude is anticipating the grey storm clouds in the daily journey instead of looking forward to the blooming roses in the day’s activities. The phrase, “we'd sing of the joy every morning would bring” reminded me of memories riding the Chicago subway trains in the morning to work. There was never much joy on the faces of people on their way to work. How would the workday change if there was more joy in the attitude choices we make in our day? The song also speaks of smiles as bright as moon beams and happiness. Smiles and a cheery attitude can be a part of how we rule our day for the better in helping to spread joy to the stressed out worker at the cash register, the bus driver, or someone fighting the Monday Morning Blues. Have you ever noticed an attitude in a crabby store worker when you smile and say have a nice day. They immediately for the most part brighten up.

Another standout phrase is “we would treasure each day that occurred”. We should rule our world with the attitude of gratitude that I have mentioned in the past. Treasuring is to savor all the good memories that come to us each and every day. We gain more out of life if we reflect over the good that comes out of each day rather than expanding on the few negatives. Treasuring each day is a positive choice we can make to impact our positive growth. Then the last phrase that stands out to me is “if I ruled the world every head would be held up high”. The thought of the importance of personal self esteem and respecting each other’s self esteem comes to my mind in this phrase of the lyrics. I will delve more into self esteem in the future. In recent years self esteem has been given a bad rap . We need as we go through each day holding our head up high so we can see the roses in our life, the moon beams in the sky, and the beauty of the sunsets that we can apply to all the good things in life. If we insecurely mop around with our head to the ground we will miss so much of what life has to offer,

Reflection:
What would the world be like if you were ruler for a day? What positive choices can you learn from the song, IF I RULED THE WORLD, to brighten your daily journey?