SEEING AFTER BELIEVING

Seeing After Believing

Self-development books are full of great thoughts on living and managing one’s life.

One of those great thoughts is this:

You must believe it before you can see it. 

This is from Three Feet from Gold based on the writings of Napoleon Hill. 

Earl Nightingale said

“We become what we think about.” 

A plaque on my wall says

“Only those who can see the invisible

can accomplish the impossible.”

What are you believing?

What are your hopes and dreams?

If you could be or do anything in this world, what would it be?

If I didn’t have hopes and dreams of becoming a respected writer, I would have quite after the first month.  So I write.  I believe, and I write.

What do you believe?

Believe yourself into the picture.

Ultimately you just may see You in the picture.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

MANAGE THE WINDS

Think about this:  "We must learn to manage the winds."

In sailing a ship, one ship goes away from shore while another comes into shore and yet it’s the same wind that drives both.  That is managing the winds. 

We manage the winds by making good choices.  

I want a certain quality of life, so I have to manage my diet and exercise.  We make the trek to our local gym five days a week.  It’s working for us.  We are losing weight and our overall health is better.

Carolyn and I are managing the winds of our relationship.  It’s not all about me and it’s not all about her.  We manage the winds in every area of our lives together in order to have a great marriage.

"One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.

Tis' the set of the sails and not the gale

That tells the way to go”

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1916 –

May we properly manage all of the winds in our lives.

P Michael Biggs

Creating Up-Moments 

One Moment at a Time

KEEP SHOWING UP

In Julia Cameron’s book The Artist Way, she promotes the concept of “show up at the pages.”  I love that philosophy.

On some days life flows and on other days life breaks down. 

Sometimes I write out of inspiration.  Other times I write because I have a lot to say and my heart beats with the desire to express those thoughts.

I keep showing up at the keyboard.

How can you show up? 

-Are people expecting something from you? 

-Are there tasks that just will not be done if you don’t do them? 

-Will that novel write itself?

We need to show up for the life we’ve been given. 

Our kids need us.

  Our spouses need us.

    Bosses depend on us.

      Students need our infusion of ideas and concepts.

        Customers need our skills.

People need us and what we do.

Just show up.  Do your best.

But above all, work your craft every day. 

Show up.

Here's What I Want

Dr. Bernie Siegel, Yale University professor, practicing physician and author noted five things that patients want when dealing with their medical professionals.

 

Here are the five things..

-Let me talk first.

-Knock on my door.”

-Say “Hello”.

-Say “Goodbye”.

-Look me in the eye when you talk to me.

We all want these things in our human interactions, don’t we?

My goodness.  That’s what I want.

  Oprah Winfrey says, “…people want to feel validated.”  It’s the number one cry of every human heart.

We need to recognize each other as people of worth; that is what we want more than anything.

As Mary Kay Ash is famous for saying,

“Imagine every person you meet is wearing

an invisible sign around their neck that says

… “Make Me Feel Important.”

 P Michael Biggs

Creating Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time!

HOW IS MY SERVE?

In ping-pong I learned early on that to win games I had to develop a great serve.  During the summer months of my youth, I would hang out at Little Park in Lewisburg, Tennessee.  There was an open-air ping-pong table and we would line up to play the current winning champ. 

I became known for my serve.  It was fast, and I could make the ball curve and dance all over the table. 

So, how is your serve?

The first question we need to ask is “Does my product or service do anything for the user?  Are they served by my offering?”

If you focus on adding value to others, your worth will increase – in relationships and in the marketplace.

My inner voice constantly asks, “How can I add value to someone today?” 

Adding value!

That is the best serve one can offer.

Serve well today!

After a Great Fall

So you've fallen.  You've failed.  You've landed flat on your face. 

What now?

-Maybe it’s a moral failure.

-Perhaps it’s some grave sin.

-Maybe you’ve been unfaithful in your marriage.

-Have you lied to your kids?

-Are you some nationally or internationally known person of repute and your sterling reputation is now in ashes?

What do we do?

Where do we turn?

To God?

Yes!

To God!

It takes courage to approach God after a great fall.

Perhaps we are fearful.

And yet we approach.

What do we find?

We find Grace.

                        We find forgiveness.

At the end of a great fall, we find God.

That’s where we always find him, bandaging our wounds, wiping our brow with a cool cloth, holding us, whispering in our ear.

What that’s?

“I still love you.  You are mine!” God whispers.

That’s what happens after a great fall.

Failure Is Not Fatal

On any journey, along any path, sooner or later we will stumble and fall.  We will sometimes miss the mark.

But what do we do when we meet that end?

What we do is remember – Just because we fail at something does not mean that we are failures.  We have simply experienced a temporary setback.

Winston Churchill said:  “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Ah, that is good.

The courage

       

     to continue

          that counts. 

I love that. 

And sometimes it does take courage.  It takes something within us to get back up after a fall.  Our egos are bruised.  Our feelings are hurt.  But we get back up anyway. 

We Get Back Up!

That, my friend, is the courage to continue!

Failure Is Not Fatal!

P Michael Biggs

Creating Up-Moments 

One Moment at a Time!

How Can We?

How can we?  What a timely question that needs to be asked in every area of our lives. 

The extension of the question is “How can we …

-Do better

-Build a better widget

-Lose weight

-Buy a new house

-Get a better job

-Have a better marriage

The list is endless for this ponderable thought. 

It becomes the beginning for our goals and dreams.  It’s the launching pad for whatever it is we want to do to improve life.

My friend Chuck has a very successful retail store in South Carolina.  After being in this family business for thirty-plus years his family has constantly asked “How can we …?

They keep finding answers, for they are in their fourth location, and each one has been bigger and better than before, and the business continues to grow.

Individuals and organizations of worth ask this question constantly.

What about you?

What are your “How Can I” questions?

Just something to make us think. 

What Could You Become?

How’s life?

That’s not just a passing comment.

How is your life today, versus how it could be?

If we would give thought to the key indicators in our lives, and take some positive action to improve those areas, we could change the whole course of our lives for the rest of our lives.

I have had high blood pressure most of my life.  Today it is 120/80.

I have had high blood sugar numbers for a while.  This morning my fasting blood sugar was 106. 

What could you become?

-What books could you read 

that would point you 

in a better direction?

-What life skills do you still 

have time to master?

-What relationships just need 

some attention, some love 

and kind words?

-What can you do 

for your health today 

that will make a difference?

Your “could be” life is out there, and it is waiting for you.

Go find it.