“The future is that time when you’ll wish you’d done what you aren’t doing now.”  ~Unknown

We have more control over our future thank we realize. Your future is not some predetermined existence that will turn out the way it is “supposed to” based on destiny, fate or change.  It is pliable, waiting to be shaped by what you do today.

Here are some steps to help you achieve the future you want:

 First, know what you want your life to look like.  Although this seems simple, I think many people don’t spend any time thinking about what kind of life they want to live, but instead settle for whatever happens to turn up. Knowing what kind of life we want to live is crucial because it’s hard to get to the future we want if we don’t even know what that looks like.

Second, take a step(s) today that move you closer to the life you want to live.  This could be anything from, but not limited to:

• Making healthier life choices
• Building quality relationships with others
• Making wise financial decisions
• Learning new skills
• Exploring new things in your areas of interest
• Being serious about your faith, or actually discovering it

Finally, repeat steps 1 and 2 daily.  Always know what type of life you want to live and take some step, no matter how small, in that direction every day. A future worth living isn’t built in a moment, but over many days, weeks, months, and years of intentionally moving in the right direction.

Don’t take a passive approach to the future, hoping it will all just work out for the best. Decide how you want your future to look and take steps to make it happen.  If you do, the future, for you, will be a time when you’re grateful you did what you’re doing now.

One thing I’m working on this year is to be more consistent in my journaling. This is important to me because journaling is a fun way to capture memories from significant, or even daily, events.  Journaling also creates great triggers that help me recall memories when I read an entry months or years later.

I’ve recently started adding a mind-mapping technique to my journaling to help capture more memories. Here’s how it works.

In the horizontal and vertical center of the page write down the event you want to remember. It might be something like “Vacation to Disneyland”, “Kids first day of school”, “Family Reunion”, First day on the new job”.  You get the idea.

Next, start writing down words and phrases about that event. Don’t write sentences, just write down the things that come to your mind when you think of the event.   Maybe it’s a place, people, an activity, a verb, and adjective… just write whatever comes to mind.

Write these words around the event you wrote in the middle of the page. I find it fun to write words at different angles and in different spots on the page.  As I run out of space, I start squeezing words in to blank spaces in between words I’ve already written.

Here’s an example of my entry for the mission trip I wrote about last week.

It would take a while to write a few sentences about every item on this page. However, in this format I can fill a page with several words about the trip that will instantly trigger my memory when I read them.

For this trip I also wrote some daily entries in sentence form for specific elements of the trip I wanted to capture in greater detail. This, coupled with the mind-mapping technique, provided a great way for me to thoroughly journal the important memories from this trip.

Give this journaling method a try and see if it works for you. You have nothing to lose and memories to gain.

Last week some folks from our church and I were on the Flathead Reservation in Pablo Montana. We were there on a work and witness trip.  We helped the church in Pablo with some painting projects and assisted with their Vacation Bible School for the children on the reservation.  It was a fun week!

While I was visiting with some of the locals, I learned about several great resources the tribe offers to its members, such as free dental, free healthcare, free college, and a cash payout when tribal members when they turn 18. I was amazed at all these great benefits and thought how fortunate tribal members are to have them, because it really sets them up for a potentially healthy and prosperous start in life; if they choose to take advantage of those resources.

However, during our week on the reservation, we saw more poverty, ill health, and dental issues than I have seen in any other community. It was such a paradox that a community with an abundance of resources would be suffering the effects that those resources would alleviate.  I was frustrated that more people weren’t taking advantage of them.

In light of that experience, I can’t help wonder how many of us aren’t taking advantage of the resources we have available to us. While we may not all have free dental, healthcare or a generous windfall, we are surrounded by numerous and equally valuable resources just waiting to be utilized.  Perhaps it’s a person we know with some knowledge we’d like to have, who would gladly share it with is if we only ask.  Maybe it’s a healthier diet that we only have to choose over the less-healthy one we’ve been selecting.  There are good resources all around us just waiting for us to avail ourselves to them.

Be on the lookout for the resources and opportunities that we’ve previously been overlooking, and decide to take advantage of them. Who knows; they could potentially change the trajectory of your life for the better.

“The ambitions we have will become the stories we live.  If you want to know what a person’s story is about, just ask then what they want. If we don’t want anything, we are living boring stories […].”

~ Donald Miller – “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”

 If your life is a story, would it be a story worth reading?  Here’s the bigger question:  do you want it to be?

We’re blessed that we get to choose what we want to pursue during our lifetime.  It seems a shame therefore, that we would reject this blessing by not having any ambitions, desires, or goals we’re chasing.

Sure, pursuing such things involves struggle and the ability to overcome obstacles, but isn’t that what makes a good story?  Wouldn’t overcoming obstacles in pursuit of something worthy also make for an interesting and fulfilling life?  I think so!

Be aware of your ambitions.  Know what they are and what you need to do to move toward them, and then, take those actions that will bring them about.  By doing so, you’ll be writing a story, and a life, worth living.

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” ~ Aristotle

I saw this quote on a colleague’s email signature this week and it instantly became a favorite! It reminds me how much control we have over our lives by the choices we make.

The quote says nothing about our present situation, our upbringing, or any other excuse we use to explain why we’re not currently living the life we desire. The focus is clearly on intention and intelligent and wise action.  I don’t know about you, but that’s extremely encouraging to me!  We are the ones who get to choose what shape our lives take.  If we want to become something different from what we currently are, we simply need to choose to take actions that move us in our desired direction.

Let’s not let the world shape us because we decided not to choose for ourselves. This ability, this privilege to choose for ourselves is too great a freedom to neglect, so let’s not squander it.  Instead, let’s choose wisely.

I’m currently struggling; and I’m thankful that I am.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been playing the electric bass guitar for about 15 months now.  While it’s been fun, it’s also been a struggle.  I know where I want to be as a bass player, and then I listen to myself and realize where I currently am.  Let’s just say there’s a gap!

It takes effort to improve and often that improvement has not come quickly or easily for me.  Yet, as I struggle to make progress with the bass, I can look back over several weeks and realize that I have indeed made progress, and that the struggle to this point has paid off.  That encourages me that my current struggles to master the bass will also pay off in the days ahead.

Most undertakings to achieve a worthwhile outcome will require struggle.  Whether it’s solving a problem you currently don’t have an answer for, learning a foreign language, or becoming a better version of yourself, plan on having to struggle your way to success.  If success didn’t require struggle, we would have done it already.

Be encouraged by the struggle you face in your worthwhile endeavors, knowing that the struggle is what will bring success.  Also remember that you can punch out and quit and your struggle will be over, but so too will the opportunity for success in your chosen pursuit.

Struggle on!

Sunny days and Oregon Strawberries! These are 2 of my favorite things about living in the Pacific Northwest in June.

I think what makes each of these items so special to me is that they’re both limited in their appearance, making them somewhat scarce. (The berries more so than the sun, despite what you might have heard!) Since sunny days and strawberries aren’t available every day in Oregon, I enjoy them both as much as I can while they are available.

It’s important not to take for granted the enjoyable things in our life that we only have for a limited time because… we only have them for a limited time.

Imagine a scenario where you’re gathering information and doing research regarding:

• Taking a vacation
• Going back to school
• Losing weight
• Getting out of debt
• Quitting a bad habit
• Starting a good habit
• Or any number of other activities you’d like to undertake

Now here’s a question to consider: How would you know when you’ve gathered enough information and done enough research?  The answer would be, when you know what action you should now be taking.

Gathering information and doing research is an important step in any planning process. However, once our research has made clear what steps we should be taking, it’s time to stop researching and start executing on what we know we need to do.  Continuing to research at this point provides little more than a barrier to progress.  It can be a comfortable way to procrastinate.

As you’re gathering information for your next big undertaking, be sure to frequently ask yourself, “Do I have enough information to take action?” If not, then continue to gather information.  But if you know what action you should take, stop researching and take action.  Because the sooner you take action the sooner you’ll see results.

A couple of months ago I started playing the bass guitar on my church’s worship band. It’s been a lot of fun, and I always learn a lot each time I play, which is good because I need it!

One aspect I’m eagerly trying to get better at is bringing my own creativity to the songs we play. For each song we play, I have chord chart that shows what chord (note) to play at a specific point in the song.  The cool part is that there are a lot of places on the chart that don’t have any chords referenced.  These are the places where a musician can apply their skills and offer their own creativity to the song and the audience as well.  This is the part I find most enjoyable.

I think it’s a lot like that in life. We’re certainly not given a chord chart for life.  Sure, there are times when we need to “hit a note” at a certain point, but I also think that there are far more times when what we do is up to our own creativity in how we apply our skills and talents.

Let’s make sure that we’re offering up our creativity as we navigate through life. Your mix of talents, skills, and experience put you in a position every day to offer uniquely creative solutions.  Let’s not hold back.

This week in Salem Oregon there were some warnings about the city’s water supply.  Basically, there is some algae bloom going on at the source and people 6 and under, as well as pets, should not drink the water.  This is an extremely rare occurrence and reminds me how fortunate we are to regularly have clean drinking water accessible in our homes.  This blows me away!

It also reminds me of all the other things that “magically happen” like electricity, internet service, heating and air conditioning, garbage pickup, and a host of other services we rely on every day.  I’m thankful for these blessings because I am aware that for many people in the world these things are not a part of everyday life.

While these services can easily be taken for granted, Salem’s water supply issue reminds me just how much we rely on them, and how different life would be if they were suddenly gone.

Is there anything you’re currently taking for granted?  If so, spend a moment or two in reflective gratitude.  And if it’s a person you’re taking for granted, let them know that you appreciate them and ensure that your actions, moving forward, reflect that appreciation.