Talking to my Soul...

Just some of my inner dialogue as I start the day.  I have to talk to myself in order to not go insane.  This is a conversation I had with my Soul just this morning:

1. Why do overlook your blessings and obsess about your blunders?

2. Don’t you know how many people love you?  Stop and take stock.

3. Why do you vacillate between feeling bored or busy? When will you settle into feeling blessed?

4. Remind yourself of the power of your words…then tell someone how much they mean to you.

5. Trust the truth.  Even if it stings…that’s because it’s cleaning out infection.  Don’t always run away from pain.  Some pain is purifying.

6. Love your enemies. It’s the only way for them not to control your life and dominate your thoughts.  Wish them well inside your mind.

7. Leave everything better than you found it.  Whatever garbage is littering life as you walk through it, pick it up and get rid of it on behalf of the world.

8. Resistance means you’re moving.  Every vehicle gets great gas mileage when it’s idling.  Don’t try to conserve fuel, just make sure the fuel you use gets you somewhere meaningful.

9. Jesus’ definition of love is being full of grace and truth.  Eliminate either and you cease to have love.

10. You can do more than your lizard brain suggests, don’t talk yourself out of hard things…overcoming those things helps you to keep respecting yourself.

11. There is nothing that happened yesterday that a good time of confession before God and good night of sleep won’t remedy…don’t sweat it.

12. Don’t get caught up into the “how much-how many” game in leadership, live without guile and you will lead without guilt.

13. Trust more people because most people are trustworthy.  Don’t let the one bad experience define reality and the rest of your future.

14. Look for ways to give credit to other people and not to seek it for yourself.  This is the key to deep joy and deeper satisfaction.

15. Allow yourself to feel down for longer stretches.  Your heart needs to lament losses not just rush back into the arena to crank out more product.  Take care of your heart and it will take care of you.

16. Don’t cover up disappointment with helping others.  It distracts you from troubleshooting your own personal problems and really fixing them. 

17. Find out what is fun for you and fight to keep doing it.  Don’t let the duties of life drown out your desires and delights.  It seems to be the first cargo that people throw overboard when life gets busy.

18. Don’t keep lying to yourself about that hidden sin.  It may seem alluring, but it’s click-bait meant to get it’s grapple hooks in you and drag you to the slaughter house.

19. Make sure you take time to get to know the bats in your belfry.  Those boxes in your mental attic need to be sorted through and labeled.  Name each box and what it contains or the clutter up there in your noggin will scare you from going there and you need a clean mind to have a clear vision.

20. Do things that will cause you to look up to yourself.  You can’t keep doing things you know to be wrong and expect that to not affect your soundness of mind and sleep.  That’s just how it works.

21. Let that person go.  Make the attempt to repair the relationship and if it doesn’t pan out, don’t feel bad about not feeling bad about their self-destructive choices.  It’s not your problem if you’ve made an attempt to make amends.  Some people don’t want to fix things as hard as it is to believe.

22. Forgive people especially if what they did really hurt you.  You can’t let them steal any more of your life away through unforgiveness.  Do it for you.  You need to be freed to lead and you can’t do this if you’re being motivated by radioactive resentment.

23. Give things to people with no strings attached.  We were meant to do this and you don’t know it until you actually do it.

24. Devote your life to the pursuit of joy.  Not just pleasure or happiness, but joy.  Count and recount all the things you have to be thankful for and take joy in them.

25. Don’t feel guilty about taking care of yourself and doing what you enjoy.  You’re of no help to people if you don’t feel alive in your living.

26. What scares you?  Move toward that and wonder about what it would look like to overcome the fear with faith.  Most of it is in your head and when you conquer your fears there is a release of power that is needed to survive in this life.

27. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Not asking for helping is probably the most professional form of pride.

28. Be liberal with compliments.  Lower your standards for what you’re looking to see happen before you dole them out.  Look for the little things and make much of them.  People aren’t getting affirmed or appreciated like you think they are.

29. If you’re rich, try to place yourself in the shoes of someone who isn’t and respond to God’s prompting.  If you’re shy, put yourself in the shoes of someone who isn’t and respond accordingly.  If you’re young, imagine what it must feel like to get old and follow whatever your heart says to do next.  This simple act holds the world together.

30. Let people know how much they mean to you on a regular basis.  Never miss an opportunity to fill people in on their meaning in your life.

31. Get your priorities straight without delay…1. God 2. Marriage 3. Kids. 4. Everything Else.  Jesus said ‘seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will fall into place’.  If you know your ‘priorities’ you are more likely to succeed in life.

32. Celebrate small wins by pausing and saying, “I did it.  That felt good.”  You may be the only one that ever sees all the little victories along the way…so take time to congratulate yourself and then get about the business of getting comfortable in thankless obscurity.

33. Stop doing things that contribute to feelings of self-hatred.  Whether it is laziness, watching too much TV, drinking too much beer, disappearing on your family, trolling Facebook, obsessing over politics, being greedy instead of generous…begin to remove these parasites that are sucking the lifeblood out of your existence.

34. Invest in the next generation.  Stoop down to let that little girl know that her dress is pretty.  Tell that young boy that he did a great job.  Stop a teen in the hall and let them know you love how they seem to care about others around them.  Don’t let them create their own world hived off from the generation before them.  Pursue them.

35. Give away money to things that mean something to eternity.  Only then will your money have meaning, which fascinatingly enough makes your life feel more meaningful and less miserable now.

36. Ask God to do a miracle once in while.  Don’t be afraid of being disappointed if he doesn’t answer your every request like a genie.  He won’t always move your molehill, but he seems to get a kick out of moving mountains.  Learn to pray for things He cares about…there’s a better success rate in answered prayer when you start with that premise.

37. Don’t take yourself so seriously…people can’t stand to be around people that are always uprightly uptight.  You’re not as big a deal as you think and the sooner you embrace that, people will gravitate to the light of your lightheartedness.

38. There is no more generative attitude than gratitude.  Live with poised positivity and wide-eyed wonder and you will find yourself in the presence of greatness without ever fighting to get there.

39. Above all, live for the pleasure of God.  There is nothing so fulfilling as the deep sense that you’re pleasing your Creator by making his dreams come true by living out his designs and desires for your life.  That is my experience anyhow.