Awaken Into The New Year

As I was thinking about closing out another year on my life journey and moving forward into 2016 I was in my office listening to a P.O.D. cd The Awakening. Listening to them I always think back to a college student, Heath, I had when I taught at the TSTC Harlingen, Texas campus. He would come into my College Success class wearing a P.O.D. T-shirt. They were his favorite band he told me. Heath carried a positive energy in wanting to be a welder to help out his mother and younger brother in Rockport, Texas. His life was cut short by a young girl driver who was more interested in driving and talking on her phone than driving.

Listening to the title cut on the CD, I felt the song has a great message for preparing for the New Year. Each New Year can be a great awakening in moving forward to new growth and possibilities. To do so we need to take the moment mindfully to reflect and make the right choices in moving forward. Take a moment and listen to the song and reflect on the lyrics.

The Awakening by P.O.D. (Click on the title to hear music video)

I, I'll take this moment
to make up my mind and decide
If I want to stay broken
Or leave all these feelings behind
(Leave these things behind)

My, my eyes are open
So I can't deny
Say goodbye to all this commotion
And try and find your way so you can shine
(find your way to shine)

[Chorus]
I'll stand unbroken
My eyes are open
My great awakening
The truth is spoken
My eyes are open
To this great awakening

I, I can feel the changes
It's how I want to be
And now I gotta keep it moving
If I really want to be free
(If I want to be free)

I, Still I will follow
Even if there's no one else but me
So let's live like there's no tomorrow
And love like if everyone believed
(If everyone believed)

[Chorus]

My eyes are open
And now I can see
Everything before me
I'm right where I should be

The song to me brings about a reality about our lives that if we are open to the spiritual, mental and emotional struggles we face each year we each deal with areas of brokenness in our lives. As we move forward we each have the choice is we “If I want to stay broken, Or leave all these feelings behind.” The choice is ours to stay broken or grow to where our lives can shine as we are meant to shine. We are not meant to live stuck in brokenness. Often we are stuck by the brokenness or letting the commotion of life cloud our vision. In living a purposeful abundant life we are in an upward growth spiral of growth and shining a light to others to move upward in their lives as well.

The lines in the song “My eyes are open, My great awakening” remind me that for a personal awakening we need to be mindful of having our eyes open to our true selves. We can be blind to our brokenness if we are not willing to open our eyes. In the Bible Psalm 119:18 reminds us, “Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.” In Ephesians 1:18 the Apostle Paul prays for people “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people”. So it is not the physical eyes that need to be opened but our spiritual insight that needs opened. This goes back to a personal choice to be open to having open eyes.

Another phrase that stands out to me is “And now I gotta keep it moving, If I really want to be free”. Keep moving is a reminder to not be stuck in brokenness or just the blasé attitude of just getting by ok. Make a positive choice to be free of okness and move to Living More Than OK by having a continual growth mindset. Our open eyes with the right choices can be fixed on a future of shining new opportunities. That is what I hope for people in the New Year of 2016.

Reflection: What particular phrases in the song “The Awakening” stood out to you? What brokenness have you experienced that may be holding you back from shining? In what ways do you want to shine in the New Year?

Butterfly Wing Effects In Your Life

As you look back at your life can you remember any small rather insignificant events, at least from your perspective at the time, that later in your life in hindsight created a significant impact. That would be a butterfly effect. Andy Andrews discusses this in a short motivational book, The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters. Simple Truths has a short video about Andy’s thoughts on the topic. First take a few moments to click on the title and consider some key thoughts from his book:

Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Matters (Click to watch video)

The Butterfly Effect is based on the work of mathematician Edward Lorenz, who hypothesized in the 1960’s, if a butterfly would flap its wings and set the molecules of air in motion would it set off a tornado somewhere else in the world? It may seem like a silly concept but the principle idea that flows out of the idea is that small events in life can have a larger impact in our life and/or the world further down the road of our life journey.
Andy Andrews uses that principle to look at several examples of people who would be considered insignificant if it were not for butterfly effects in their lives. One example is Norman Borlaug, known as the man who fed billions. He was an agricultural scientist who did work in a research center in Mexico in developing a sturdier strain of wheat. This wheat was used in India and Pakistan and later used to help millions in Africa and Asia. Andy points out that this great success came to him through a small effect of a Vice President under FD Roosevelt, who helped form the research center in Mexico and hired Norman to work there. One could question whether Norman would ever have achieved this if that Vice President had not hired him.

The Butterfly concept is part of what is called chaos theory. Basically it looks at how we live in an unpredictable world of chaos. Of course from my worldview as a Christian I see the chaos as a result of a fallen world that is not how the Creator God designed it to be due to humankind’s choice to reject His authority. Through the chaos I see every day that God is creating a tapestry. Just like if you have ever seen a rug being made it looks like a mess until finished. Or also I liken it to viewing a beautiful pattern of a rug then turning it over only to see a chaotic mess of knots.

The book and the video by Simple Truths make us look at the big questions – Do I really make a difference in life? Do I really matter? The video reminds me of what Andy Andrews is saying, “Everything you do matters. Every move you make, every action you take…matters.” With God in the picture we do matter. We are each unique and are created to be difference makers in the world. We may not create a food product that saves billions of lives from famine. But each one of us can make an impact on those around us. That impact only time and history will reveal in the future.

This further reminds me of the importance of our choices and how we live. To be difference makers we need to consciously be aware that our actions can make effects for the positive or the negative in our future and the future of others around us. With each action we make, we then create a reaction in the world. With each decision we make there are consequences that affect our lives which then create new decisions. In this process we can either spiral down in negativity or spiral upwards in a positive direction. I choose to spiral upwards.

Reflection: Can you think back in your life history to an event that at the time seemed insignificant but now in your life you can see it played a major impact? Quiet your mind and visualize that moment in time. What was going on in your life then? What elements of the event created the later effect in your life?

Creating Your Happiness Road

Life is a journey and our power to choose helps to create the pathway. We can either trudge along stress-fully with a woe is me attitude that makes it seem like the road is rocky and painful. Or we can glide along a happy trail attitude where we may still have rocks along the way but life is smoother as we make wise positive choices.

This second mindset of happiness choices is a focus of a book of short essays by Tal Ben-Shahar PhD. He is one of the leaders of the Positive Psychology movement. I will always count it a privilege to have heard his lectures on Positive Psychology through a University of Pennsylvania Continuing Education online program a few years ago. His new book I am reading at the start of this new year is Choose The Life You Want: 101 Ways to Create Your Own Road to Happiness. It is a grouping of 101 thought provoking essays for living a better happier life.

In the very beginning he reminds the reader that in each of our moments we have a choice to make. Each of our choices have consequences. He states, “what we choose to do and how we choose to think directly impact how we feel.” When we are faced with difficulties we can choose to think that life is against us and continue in a negative life is a grey cloud pathway for understand rain falls on everyone and use the difficulty as a turning point to move in a positive direction. Some of the topics he touches on are: making a difference, forgiveness, focus on your strengths, look at difficulty as a challenge, appreciate good things, patience and success. In the tiny book there are 101 ideas on helping you have a happier life.

His title reminded me of an old Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song, Happy Trails. Here are the lyrics:

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.

The lines that stood out to me were: “Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It's the way you ride the trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you.” This speaks to what Dr. Ben-Shahar is trying to get at in his book. Positive Psychology does not rule out the Blue days that some our way. But how are you riding the trail? Even on the blue days you can have a song in your heart or in other words work on positive choices that help the ride go more smoothly.

Pick up a copy of this book for yourself or encourage your local library to add it to their collection so you can start creating your happiness road in this New Year.

Reflection: What kind of road are you traveling presently in your life journey? What are three things you can do to make your road a little happier?