From a recent post to the Jack’s Winning Words blog come this little reminder – “Don’t you ever let a soul tell you that you can’t be exactly who you are.” (Lady Gaga) Jack went on to write a little about the childhood of Stefani Germanatta (Lady Gaga) who was
labeled as an eccentric misfit in school. Look at what happened to her when she decided to keep being herself, instead of trying to conform to someone else’s idea of what was cool or proper.
Many of us spend too much of our time trying to fit in or be cool. The sad thing is that we have no real idea what that means, other than that some people that we see around us seem to be having a better time than we are. Therefore, we try to dress and act like them, in hopes that this is all that it takes to be 
accepted and to be considered cool. That never works. Instead we just end up looking pathetic in the eyes of those people that we are trying so hard to emulate and impress.
Some people even try to be cool with more than one group. They usually end up failing with all of the groups and may end up losing the ability to remember who they really are. The key to success in life is not trying to make yourself over into something that you are not; but, rather, trying hard to be the best you that you can be.
I’ve posted here before about the Dr. Seuss advice that there’s nobody you’er than you. You don’t want to lose that advantage by trying to become someone else. So work on becoming the best you that you can be. Develop, use and share your talents. Make sure that you stay recognized as “one of a kind” instead of becoming “one of them”.
Have you ever noticed how people who have passed are sometimes praised by people who state, “There will never be another like him/her.” They were being the best person that they could be. If you focus on being the best you that you can be, they may say that about you some day. And that would be cool.
A nice side benefit of focusing upon being yourself is all of the time that you get back. You don’t have to spend time trying to understand what you think makes others cool and worrying about what others think of you. Maybe if you start each day with a little prayer
– “God help me be the best me that I can be today. Help me do the right things and focus my energy on doing better each day.” Then you could end the day by taking some time to reflect on your day and with another prayer, “Please God, help me see and understand the things that I could have done better this day; so that I can be a better me tomorrow.”
As for me, I’ll be over here working on being a better me. Maybe I’ll encounter you today and get the chance to see the better you. Let’s work on that.
Posted by Norm Werner 
is little quote from the 
lot about us. Some don’t deal with rejection very well and may slip into anger or depression every time things don’t go the way that they and planned and hoped. Some are so flighty that rejections are quickly forgotten and they flit off in a new direction, seemingly oblivious to the rejection. Do you know people who react to rejection in those ways?
we paused and thought to ourselves, “OK, God didn’t want that to happen to me or for me; I wonder what direction He wants to take me in now?”
Maybe you can start each day with a variation of that little prayer that I suggested earlier. “God, I don’t know what you have in mind for me today, but help me accept the things that happen and see the new directions that you have laid out for me; trusting in You and your love for me, through your Son, Jesus Christ.”
Washington, which was itself a protest against what many women felt was a more than just a macho attitude in Washington about women or just boys and men behaving badly. The movement grew out of the decision of one woman to stand up and take action, rather than just sit watching the TV and lamenting the news in Washington D.C. as it unfolded.
hurriedly on by; we see acts driven by racism or homophobia and look away in hopes that now one saw us; we pass by the beggar and avoid eye contact; we make it a point to avoid the person who just ended a relationship because we really don’t want to hear about it; we don’t go to visit the sick person in the hospital because we just don’t have the time to waste; we don’t correct the person making inappropriate remarks or touching us inappropriately because we just want to “get along”.
excuses are all the same. “I don’t want to get involved”.” “It’s not my problem.” “I don’t have time for that.” I would posit that as a fellow human being you are already involved, it is your problem as soon as you recognize it and there is nothing more important that you could spend your time on that helping a fellow human being. In Mark 12:31 Jesus told us that the second Great Commandment is, “Love your neighbor and you love yourself.” You cannot love your neighbor if you ignore him and his problems.
for some promotion or reward because you won’t “play ball” with your boss; however, in the long run right will win out. Being in the right and deciding to stay on that side and take action, not only means never having to say you’re sorry; in many cases, (especially those involving high profile lawyers) being right and standing up and doing something about it is rewarding in more ways than just emotionally.
your life, your emotions, your actions or reactions. Withhold consent. Take charge of your life and decide that you, and only you, will determine how you feel about yourself and about life.
because you like yourself. It brings with it a radiance in your personality that makes women look more beautiful and men look more handsome. If you can get to that state of liking yourself and feeling comfortable with who and what you are, you will notice that what others may think of you, or say about you, takes on much less meaning. What they think or say cannot make you feel inferior because you withhold consent.
makes those people more frustrated than your refusal to rise to the bait that they are using to try to lure you into self-doubt or worse. It is for some a nasty game and for others a way to try to bring others down to their level of misery and self-loathing. Withhold consent.
Pollyanna-type who always finds a way to make lemonade out of the lemons that come their way. Which are you? Which would you rather be? The one has decided to be unhappy with life and the other will not let life ruin their happiness. You decide what kind of day you will have.
Sometimes we just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and something bad happens. Sometimes we actually make the bad decision to be at that place. Whichever it is, you are then faced with more decisions about how to react to things that are happening or that just happened. Perhaps another quote sums up your situation best: “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” —Charles Swindoll. Since your day is made up of events that you will react to; you decide what kind of day you will have.
decisions about what to do next, instead of letting some knee-jerk reaction control your future. By being conscious of your situation, you can choose to react in a positive way, rather than a negative way. You can choose to move forward with your life in a positive way, rather than shrinking back or retreating into depression. You can be in control; not of the situation, but of your reaction to it. You decide what kind of day you will have.
while I may not be in control of the things that are happening, I am in control of the decisions that I make in reaction to what is happening. Realizing that causes me to take a little pause and ask myself, “What is the right thing to do?” Just that little pause and that thought will allow you to see what God is telling you to do and you will make better decisions. You decide what kind of day you will have.
took you off in a bad direction. It’s never too late to turn back to God and say “A little help here”. Maybe you need to ask for God to help you recover from a bad decision. God will always be there for you and it’s never too late to ask Him for help. It’s as simple as this little prayer – “Not my will but thy will be done.” You decide what kind of day you will have.
true; sometimes with no actual basis in facts. Most prejudices are based on things that we hold to be true with no actual facts to back them up. They are based upon unfounded hate or fear of something or someone. All of our fears, uncertainties and doubts are also baseless in facts and mostly founded in our own imaginations.
but he was not questioning his faith, just the practices of the men who were the religious leaders of the Catholic Church at the time.
questioning long ago and taken for granted.
God, just from the minds of men. At its most elemental level, your faith is your personal relationship with God. All of the rest of the trappings of the various religions are the works of men. So question those trappings if they don’t seem right to you; but, not your relationship with God.
fires in California. There were scenes on the nightly news of people returning to their homes only to find that they no longer existed. More than one was heard saying, “I’ve lost everything.” Many were also heard thanking God that they had been spared their lives.
It is important, as I have expressed here a few times, that you have a strong sense of self and that you love who and what you are; not letting your sense of self-worth be based upon possessions or job. That’s not to say that you should become self-centered; but, rather, that you become self-confident. If your self-examination of who and what you have become leaves something to be desired, then you have something to work upon and not something to be depressed about. Since no one is perfect, you are always on a self-improvement journey to be the best you that you can be (see my post – see my post 
worrying about something bad that might happen the cause for it not to happen? Do you see how silly that sounds? If you can see that in a third-party example, what do you think is the different if it is you worrying about something.
concern and the expenditure of energy without focus or purpose. Worry is trying to solve the unsolvable problem. Worry is man’s ego being unwilling to accept its own limitations and inability to control things that cannot be controlled.
fame and adoption his tag line – “What, me worry?” Or, you can take the advice of Bobby McFerrin’s song – 
Many people associate the word “giving” with money and there certainly are any number of things and causes that ask us to give money. However, giving doesn’t just mean throwing money into the collection basket or bucket. There are more opportunities in life to give of your time and talents than there are Go Fund Me pages. In fact, your time is the most important gift that you have to give.
sick or elderly relative and helping them with some day-to-day task. The point is that you are making the conscious decision to spend some of life’s most precious commodity – time – with someone else or doing something for someone else.
quo in acts of kindness or service to those that we know – a sibling, spouse or our children; however, there is no expectation of a return to be found in helping a stranger in need. Think about how the simple act of holding the door open feels slightly different when it is a stranger entering verses your spouse entering. Both may say, “thank you”; but the acknowledgement from the total stranger will feel a little different.
In day-to-day living, many people claim to be (or at least, admit to being) perfectionists – people who constantly strive for perfection, sometimes to the consternation of those around them. Many times, if the object of their desire for perfection is a sport, you will see them practicing, doing something over and over until they master that aspect of the sport. For many, the inability to achieve perfection dominates their lives and makes them unhappy.
accept mediocrity as a final outcome. One seldom hears cheers being lead that proclaim proudly, “We’re number two” or signs extolling you to “be good enough”. Rather, we see and hear, “Be the best that you can be”; strive for perfection.
perfection in your religious life those other things will take care of themselves. At least we have one “perfect” example to try to emulate in our pursuit – Jesus. Perhaps one of those little WWJD bracelets would cause us to pause and think before we act, before we say something or do something that would cause us to backslide on our pursuit of perfection.
we accept Him.
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