Tag Archive for: choose

Medium…

๐–๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐๐š๐ฒ?
Monic and I love to take walks through Leidschendam.
The length of our walk is generally determined by the amount of time we have allocated to exercise in our daily routines.
We have identified three routes.
Short โ€“ 20 minutes
Medium โ€“ 40 minutes
Long โ€“ 1 hour
Our morning conversation usually goes something like this.
โ€œIs it short, medium or long today?โ€
Yesterday, we decided the โ€œmediumโ€ walk was in order.
We then put in the necessary effort to make the journey.
As usual, we enjoyed our walk together.
Talking, observing, laughing, sharing and planning.
Regularly we are surprised how very few people we see out walking.
Oftentimes, we will complete our walks without meeting a soul.
Yesterday we especially enjoyed seeing and hearing the green parakeets. There were about 10 of them and they like to make a lot of noise.
In addition, we loved seeing many little ducklings.
Slowing down allows us to see, feel and hear different things.
It is during our walks that I notice many simple moments are filled with a sense of connection and peace.
Why is that we miss so many moments in our own life?
Is it that there are always more busy thoughts that preoccupy our minds?
Itโ€™s time to slow down.
Where will your journey lead today?

Slow Down.

Did you miss anything?
Every day, I try to learn a new Dutch verb and place it in a sentence using the different tenses.
Todayโ€™s verb was โ€œhaastenโ€ โ€“ to hurry.
For a short moment, as I practiced the tenses out loud, I laughed a little.
One of my key messages over the last few months, including yesterday, is the complete opposite โ€“ to ๐’๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐ƒ๐Ž๐–๐!
We often move too fast.
One route into our home here in the Netherlands, brings us along a road with several speed bumps.
For the optimum experience, I have learned that is it best to reduce my speed, slow down and steady my course.
It is a simple, but critical lesson to learn.
We all know the uncomfortable consequences of a high-speed journey over a speed bump!
I have concluded that speeding up isnโ€™t the answer.
And so, it is with life.
Choosing to slow down, over obstacles and challenges in life is the answer.
In addition, for a much deeper examination of a course of study or to give consideration to a particular challenge, spend a little more time exploring by slowing down.
It will in the long run allow you to speed up elsewhere.
It takes effort.
Sometimes great effort, to catch ourselves and slow down.
My experience… slowing down helps to prevent you from missing anything!
How will you slow down today?

Choose to Play

“๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ!
“๐๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ก…๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง!? – ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž!”
Why me? Perhaps the better question is why not me?
All too frequently as a teenager – that’s where I found myself in the High School Basketball team. I just wanted to play in the game.
I wanted a jersey, I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines – I simply wanted to play!
In my youthfulness and eagerness to play, long hours of practice and effort eventually paid off, and I became a regular starter – playing constantly.
I learned too, that sometimes when you are not playing well, the coach can take you out of the game.
Similarly in life, I want to be where the action is.
Sitting on the sidelines is just not for me.
At home, at work, in the community I need to be involved, I need to play, to make a difference.
As Oliver Wendell Holmes said “It is required of a man that he share the action and the passion of his time at the peril of being judged not to have lived.”
Whatever it is that is most important in your life…
– choose to be engaged
– choose to participate
– choose to practice and expend the effort
– choose to get involved
– choose to make a difference
Decide now to get up off the bench, move from the sidelines and into the field of action – ๐’„๐’‰๐’๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’š!
What will you choose to do today?

What do you want to become?

Are you clear about what you want to become?
Dallin H. Oaks, shared this understanding…
“A wealthy father knew that if he were to bestow his wealth upon a child who had not yet developed the needed wisdom and stature, the inheritance would probably be wasted.
The father said to his child: โ€œAll that I have I desire to give youโ€”not only my wealth, but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am, you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived. I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.โ€”
I know we can all become the person we were born to be!
At home in our families, our communities and our workplaces.
When weโ€™re desperate to become the people we were born to be, our vision changes.
What is your true identity?
What do you really want to do with your life, family and career?
Through my daily choices – who am I becoming?
Am I progressing in the right direction?
In the nanosecond of life – be mindful of what you choose to become.

Do you act or react?

Do you act or react?
I like this story told by Dallin H. Oaksโ€ฆ
โ€œI recall a memorable lesson I learned from Chicago Daily News columnist Sydney J. Harris. He wrote:
โ€œI walked with my friend, a Quaker, to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the newsie politely. The newsie didnโ€™t even acknowledge it.
โ€œโ€˜A sullen fellow, isnโ€™t he?โ€™ I commented.
โ€œโ€˜Oh, heโ€™s that way every night,โ€™ shrugged my friend.
โ€œโ€˜Then why do you continue to be so polite to him?โ€™ I asked.
โ€œโ€˜Why not?โ€™ inquired my friend. โ€˜Why should I let him decide how Iโ€™m going to act?โ€™
โ€œAs I thought about this incident later, it occurred to me that the important word was โ€˜act.โ€™ My friend acts toward people; most of us react toward them. He has a sense of inner balance which is lacking in most of us; he knows who he is, what he stands for, how he should behave. He refuses to return incivility for incivility, because then he would no longer be in command of his conductโ€ (โ€œDo You Actโ€”Or React?โ€ condensed from the Chicago Daily News).โ€
Reflecting on this story, it challenges each of us to focus our attention on the individual responses that we must make, to the personal adversities sure to impact upon each of us throughout our lives โ€“ sometimes even daily!

Choosing

Each of us have the power to choose what to do, in essence to act, and not simply be acted upon.
In most encounters in life, it is my sense that we can determine the kind of experience we are going to have by how we respond.
How we choose to act and behave ultimately shapes our character. Charles A. Hall aptly described that due process in these lines:
– We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions;
– We sow our actions, and we reap our habits;
– We sow our habits, and we reap our characters;
– We sow our characters, and we reap our destinyโ€
May we always remember that โ€œA soft answer turneth away wrath.โ€- Proverbs 15:1
How can you choose to act and not be acted upon?