jeff noel.org

Why do I write five blogs every day?

Not sure exactly.  Trying to figure it out actually.

Maybe this is why:

“Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For whatever measure you use, it will be measured to you”.  — Luke 6:38

There’s a part of me that (probably falsely) believes if I pour myself out to try to make the world a better place, in my own small way, that God will protect my Family.  Sort of like a trade off.

I pay the price to try to help others, so that my Family will receive whatever help it needs.

That was really sort of weird to write that.  Not sure I like how it sounds.  Maybe I shouldn’t post it.

For now, I will.   I’m more afraid of not trying, than I am of making mistakes.  This may be a mistake, but at least I tried.

Today may be a great day for you to try.   Carpe diem, jeff

Above all what?

Cleaning up some emails and came across a You Tube video clip link.  A Family member sent it.   This impactful song was even more so, with the addition of the lyrics and photos.

It’s a song by Michael W. Smith.  Click here to play, Above All.

Little things like this, when I take a few minutes to be still, help frame my day.  Carpe diem, jeff

Great days are a dime a dozen.

I’ll take a nickel’s worth.

I love being able to write in several blogs every day.

It tests me on many different levels.  

It teaches me on many different levels.

I’m humbled by both.  Carpe diem, jeff

At the beginning of April, I decided to see if I could develop a new habit.

Habits are easy to start if you’re not trying, especially if they are something that sounds like this:

“The easier it is to do, the harder it is to stop“.

So it also works this way:

“The harder it is to do, the harder it is to change“.

Don’t believe it?  Then try to wake up and kneel by your bed, for just a minute, to say a few prayers.  “Dude, if it were easy, you’d already be doing it”, is what I say to myself.

Made 26 straight days, until this morning.   I’m forgiving myself though.  Know why?

I woke up in at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village, in a spectacular room with a spectacular view.  Disney Vacation Club’s newest offering opens May 1.

I later said the three payers in the car as I drove to downtown Orlando, to do my civic duty as a Juror.

Good luck tomorrow on whatever it is you are trying to do or stop doing.   I know first hand the challenges, and rewards, for not giving up.

Get started and never stop.  Carpe diem, jeff noel 

Taking the morning off.  May write later.  May not.  Carpe diem, jeff 

Four posts already this morning and now I have to go.

Will be back later to share some insights.

Carpe diem, jeff noel 

PS.  You can always check out the other four blogs.

Silent Happiness?

“Silence fertilizes the deep place where personality grows.  A life with a peaceful center can weather all storms“.   — Norman Vincent Peale

I find myself questioning Norman’s thought.  Why?   Because life is really difficult right now for many, many people.  It’s so difficult and uncertain, that many of us, myself included, don’t want to admit it.

Therefore, I fall back on everything I know to be true.  God never said it would be easy, He just said we would not have to go alone.

Peace and carpe diem, jeff noel 

“”Happiness is a present attitude – not a future condition“.  –  Hugh Prather

I can not claim to be an expert in anything, except my own personal opinion.

There was a time in my life, decades really, when I waited for external conditions to influence my happiness.  Perhaps I even thought that I was happy, with the daily “partying”.   Obviously,  I can’t trade those years back for a do-over.  And maybe in the midst of all those years, I actually was happy.   It’s just that I eventually came to realize, it wasn’t the happiness I longed for.

So, the happiness I feel now, is very different than the past 30 years.  It’s a simple and thankful happiness.  Breathe in my nostrils, food on my plate, a clean shirt.  

It’s my opinion that Hugh Prather speaks the truth.   Carpe diem , jeff noel 

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts“.   –  Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

I hope this doesn’t surprise anyone.   If it does, I hope it’s a “good” surprise.  Carpe diem, jeff noel 

“It’s good to be just plain happy;  it’s a little better to know that you are happy;  but to understand that you’re happy and to know why and how……well that is beyond happiness.  That is bliss“.   –  Henry Miller  (1891-1980)

Don’t worry, be happy, and carpe diem, jeff noel