Think About It

Do we forget to smile? Through the years, we have been told that smiling does us good because there seems to be some connection between the decision to smile and our attitudes. Now, did you notice that I used the world “decision” – but, isn’t smiling an inadvertent response to feeling good? Well, maybe so, but I have noticed that unless I make a conscious effort to smile I tend to walk about with a scowl on my face more often than I’d like to admit. Even those times I am not upset or sad, I may not look happy. (Just ask my family about the pictures I am in – not a lot of good ones of me smiling.) I don’t think of myself as a grouch, I just don’t smile as much as I could or should. What if I made it a point to look happy (smiled), would that translate into an emotional happiness? By setting out to look the part, maybe I could experience the feeling. The next time we see a picture of ourselves or look into a mirror, let’s look for the smile. If it isn’t there, maybe we should t...

One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the conflict between Cain and Abel. We’ll maybe a better way to put it is the conflict between Cain and God. The struggle between the two brothers was pretty straight-forward; but the one between Cain and God was a bit more protracted. After being warned by God about his attitude toward Able (and the Lord), Cain killed Abel. When this happened, God confronted Cain in this infamous exchange, “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper?’” (Genesis 4:10). In addition to lying to God about his guilt, he also dismissed the humanity he should have displayed to his brother. What followed was God’s punishment and another line in the legacy of mankind. Most of us are familiar with this encounter, but there are times I am a bit haunted by Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”. I guess my struggle with the issue is “How much of my brother’s keeper should I be?”. I thi...

Have you ever wondered why we worry about things that haven’t happened yet? I would like to be able to pose that question to all of y’all, but the plain simple truth is that I may be king of this issue. As I think about the presence of pre-event anxiety and worry, I can come up with a lot of excuses for it, but probably the most believable is that if I fret about it now, before it happens, I might be able to head off some later catastrophe. Now, while this sound noble, the problem with this type of thinking is that it never ends. As soon as I come up with a potential solution to one possible problem, I think of another one and we are off to the mental races again. It never ends! Again, while this might sound like an effective way to address life and challenges it has the potential to rob the enjoyment of living life. There are a couple of truths that we must confront: first, we must accept that we can’t anticipate every potential problem; but maybe the most sobering is that the...

  Who do you turn to when things are challenging? Most of us have people we can trust to be there for us when we need a shoulder to lean on or an ear to hear us; however, there are certain groups of people who aren’t very good at sharing their own burdens. Often times the “helper” professions are filled with good hearted people who are willing to take on the struggles of others – that’s the good news – the problem is that too often they don’t have an outlet for their own struggles. (Oh, and by the way, often times these struggles are the internalizations of the struggles of others.) There are a variety of reasons helpers bottle up their issues: a lack of trust, the “super human” syndrome, a sense of confidentiality, etc.; but the bottom line is that they don’t allow themselves the same wisdom they pass on to others – “you just gotta let it go”. If you are of that helper mindset, find someone who can help you so that you can continue to help others. Sure, there are people we c...

Irony can be so … ironic. Take for instance a poem that is often attributed to Mother Theresa that is often called, “Do Good Anyway”. Most of us have heard this poem that advocates that we probably aren’t going to get credit for the good we do, but do good anyway. One of the last lines of the poem sums up the heart of the thought, “Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.”. That’s a pretty cool thought isn’t it? Well, that’s what Kent M. Keith thought when he penned the poem as a 19-year-old college student in the 1960s. It is purported that the nun had this poster on her wall, but the “Paradoxical Commandments” originated with Kent Keith. As I thought about this, I wondered if Mr. Keith would have known that his work would have be more often associated with another person if he would have published it anyway? I would like to believe that he would have. It is human nature to want to get the credit for what we do, but isn’t the most importa...

On June 14, 1777 the Second Continental Congress adopted the resolution, “That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”. It would be years later that, under President Woodrow Wilson, National Flag Day was proclaimed. It would be decades later, in 1949, when Congress codified it as a special day in our nation. Happy Flag Day! As I thought about our nation’s flag, I let my mind wander back to the 18th Century and reflect upon what that flag meant – not as a national banner, but as something that represented what had happened in the last few years. In the matter of a few years some very independent-minded people had set aside their differences and joined together to create something special. They were all ready to work together to find a unity of purpose. No, that didn’t mean that they forsook what made them unique (as states), but it did mean tha...

If Lou Gehrig is known for anything, it would be for being a winner. Gehrig was an incredible baseball player back in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He has a career .340 batting average, a .447 on base percentage, 493 home runs and 1995 runs batted in (despite often hitting behind Babe Ruth). He played in 2130 consecutive games and is in the baseball Hall of Fame. The guy was a gamer on the ball field, but maybe his greatest encounter was as he battled ALS (what has become known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). “The Iron Horse” would eventually die of the disease, but he didn’t go without a fight! I have grown up with legacy of this superstar, so I was rather intrigued when I read this quote, “I love to win; but I love to lose almost as much. I love the thrill of victory, and I also love the challenge of the defeat.”. It took me a couple of takes, but I think I understand the sentiment – it was being in the “game” that drove him. The thrill was in the contest – win or lose. Winning produce...