Many Psychologists remind us that our beliefs influence our feelings, which govern our actions that lead to our results. Or to put it simply…what you believe…you become.

So, have you ever wondered what you believe?

Here are some of the things I believe:

1. All people are good…if you give them a chance.

2. God wants to express Himself through us…not only to us.

3. In “happily ever after.”

4. Men should always open doors and walk between a lady and traffic.

5. I don’t have all the answers.

6. We create our destiny.

7. If you keep your focus on God, the rest will take care of itself.

8. We don’t ask children good questions and therefore we don’t learn from them.

9. In good manners.

10. The Bible is the inspired word of God.

11. In friends and family.

12. If you want something in your life…give it first!

13. We take ourselves WAY too seriously!

14. That peace of mind is the most overlooked emotion.

15. Everything will work out.

I’m sure there are more things I could list, but you get the picture. My point in writing this list is that it makes me feel good. It makes sense to me. I believe it and it makes me feel like I’m on the right track as I try to navigate through my life. It may not apply to everyone…but it works for me.

I know other people whose lives always seemed to be filled with some type of drama or problem. They seem to be moving from one crisis to another and seem to enjoy involving as many people as they can in the perceived downward spiral of their life. They complain of always being stressed out, underappreciated or singled out for some reason.

So I wonder…what do they believe? Where is their focus? Where do they put their trust?

I know this is overly simplistic. But I think if we really look at our lives and commit ourselves to move away from things that cause our lives to be filled with turmoil and in turn begin to move towards thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that give us a sense of peace…I’ll bet our circumstances would change.

My hope for all that read this is that you would make a list of what you believe. Then ask yourself…if having that belief makes you feel better or worse about your life. If the answer is better, great! If the answer is worse, then take it off your list and only focus on the good. Because what you believe…you become and believe me…in time you’ll be adding more good things to your list!

So I hope you actually do the list. It’s eye-opening!

If you feel like sharing, I would love to see it! Enjoy the process!

Peace! (seriously…!)

 Next time you are out in your car, begin to notice how many people are either talking on the cell phone or texting. It’s amazing!

While sitting at a red light recently, I counted ten cars that passed me and seven of those people were on the phone. So I began to wonder…what the heck is everyone talking about?

I also began to wonder if 70 percent of the people that I randomly viewed at an intersection were gabbing away on the phone, then it stands to reason that our generation is technically “communicating more”. Therefore, we should be able to see a direct correlation in the fact that if we are communicating more we should see a reduction in statistics that weigh heavily in areas where communication plays a significant role in the breakdown of a relational system like a marriage.

Well, drum roll, please… In the early 1980s two significant seemingly “unrelated things” happened:

A. First, in the early 1980s the first fully automatic cellular networks were introduced to the American consumer market.

B. Also in the early 1980s, the divorce rate for the US peaked at its highest mark ever at 5.3 per 1000.

Since then two things have happened.

1. Each year the cellular phone usage has continued to steadily rise to a point wherein 2009, 66% of the people in the United States have a cell phone. This is the highest level ever.

2. Each year since the introduction of the cell phone, the divorce rate in the United States has continued to decline. In 2009, 3.6 marriages per 1000 end in divorce; the lowest divorce rate in 37 years.

So what does that tell me? Well, for one thing, we all know where we are and where we’re supposed to be! That’s a good thing. Secondly, we’re always available. Whether we choose to “pick up or not” when the phone rings…we know it…and so does the person on the other end.

Finally, it just proves the fact that the more we communicate, the better off we are.

So here’s to the cell phone! May it strengthen the bonds of eternal matrimony! I just wish those bonds weren’t being strengthened when driving in front of me on the highway.

I think I speak for all of us when I say, “just get off the phone and drive!”

The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life. 

That meaning may come from work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person), and in courage (exhibited during difficult times). 

 Things beyond your control can take away everything you have except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to a situation. 

 Life has meaning under any condition, even miserable ones. 

 Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. 

 Success is like happiness, it cannot be pursued; it must come afterward and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. 

 Happiness and success must happen by not caring about them. 

 Do what your conscience commands you to do and then do it to the best of your knowledge. Then in the long run, success will follow you because you have forgotten to think about it. 

 Pleasure is a by-product and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree it is made the goal itself. 

 We as humans must have the dynamic tension that is created by the never-ending quest to be more than we are. 

 We must never arrive at the destination we desire, for then life will have no further purpose for us. 

 When we stop growing, we die.