Two minute tuesday blog

What are you thankful for? What are you grateful for? Even in your lowest and darkest times, you must find gratitude. You must. I started doing this thing every morning where I feel my feet on the floor. Literally. I sit and feel the floor beneath me before I do anything else in the day. I started taking 20 deep breaths and then added one breath every month. I’m at 29 breaths every morning now before I do anything else. Then I pray a prayer of gratitude about the things I’m grateful for. Not ever knowing the pains of war or true thirst or true hunger. The sounds of my kids downstairs. The smile on my wife’s face. My health. My job. My house. My car. I have so much to be grateful for. So do you. Even if you’re not praying, be aware of what you have. Be thankful. If you have clean water, shelter, and your health, you have more than most of the people on the planet. Literally billions of people would love to have what you have today. And with that also means you have the roots to grow beyond your wildest dreams. You’re blessed. Be grateful. 

Even at your lowest. Even at your darkest. In the miry bog. In the desolate pit. Among the villains and enemies and monsters. Find your roots. Find something to be grateful for. Then start with that and let it grow. Be thankful. Be grateful. Watch it spread.

Jesus loves you.

I set some goals for September. Presumably the biggest was to go from 1-2 bottles of wine a day to none. My thinking got worse, my sleeping got worse, and my eating got worse. But I did it and sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. I know that. It's by design. I also had a list of other things like working out 4 times a week, spending more time with the kids and our pets, eating out at restaurants less. All of these were no problem. The other one on my list was not checking my phone after 7pm. That one had a 24% success rate. That was unexpectedly hard. 

I feel I don’t have an addictive personality. I don’t like the thought of anything having a hold over my freedom or choices but the “weekly report” from my phone giving me the details of how much time I’m on my phone daily was staggering. It’s too much. It’s too much wasted time. So, I’m resetting goals for October. I won’t check my phone after 10pm. This should be an easy one because I’m usually asleep by then. Next month 9pm. Then 8pm. Then better-than-24%-no-matter-what the next month. Then continue until I get it. It’s a similar game to the one I played in my book where I’d let my thoughts dwell in the misery of my trauma for 2 hours a day. Then 90 minutes, then 60, then 30, then 10, then 2. If you miss a goal, don’t give up on it. Reassess it. Give yourself more time. Try getting it from a different path. Whatever your addiction is, don’t let it take over your freedom or choice. You don’t have time in this life for something or someone else to steal it from you. Beat the addiction. I’ll get there. So will you. I can be better. So can you.

Jesus Loves You.

One friend read my book and sent me a song by Lauren Daigle called “Rescue”. It’s a song about God sending out an army to rescue you in your darkest hours. How He hears yours whispers when you have nothing left and sends out the perfect people at the perfect time. She said the song reminded her about the parts of the book when the most unlikely group of people were there to help pick me up out of the miry bog. I often think about that group and what they’d be like all together. What an odd ragtag team God sent me in my lowest time. And the perfect team. But that’s just it right? That’s what God does. The Apostles were fisherman, tax collectors, sinners. The most unlikely team. The perfect team.

When true tragedy strikes, you will not have the skills, the strength, the wits, or the ability to get through it by yourself. It’s of no fault of you own, in fact, it’s a testament that your heart is kinder than the malevolence this world will bring. You weren’t ready for it. You couldn’t be. But when you fall and think you have nothing left, God will send you angels. They won’t be wearing halos. They may be fishermen, tax collectors, sinners. Or maybe priests, doctors, daycare teachers, construction workers, old friends. But you’ll recognize them when they come for you and they’re on their way.

Jesus loves you. 

You’re only as good as the company you keep. Ever hear that one? It’s a hard truth. Throw yourself in a war, and you become a soldier. Throw yourself in with drug users and you become an addict. Throw yourself in a sport and you become an athlete. I knew a guy who was Vice-President of a company and had a long political career background. He once told me the number one rule he used when hiring someone was to hire someone who was smarter than him so he could become better and look good while doing it. 

It's hard though right? Letting going of long relationships. Letting go of people who aren’t going where you’re going. Letting go of that toxic relationship. Letting go of friends, and maybe even harder, letting go of enemies. Proverbs 13:20 writes: “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.” If your life is falling to pieces. If you’re down and can’t seem to get up. If you’re headed on a road you don’t want to be. If you’re somewhere you don’t want to be. Maybe it’s not you. Maybe it’s the company you’re keeping. 

Jesus Loves You. 

One of the things that will improve you overall attitude and mental health is shutting off the news. Besides the fact that the news has become so hard to navigate as to what is real and what is not, what is exaggerated and what is not, what’s a full truth and a part truth, but the bigger part of it is that it’s predominantly all intentionally bad news to keep you watching. Even the weatherman will tell you there’s a 30% chance of rain instead of saying a 70% chance of sunshine. 

Mel Gibson’s mom had a good one: “Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see.”. I’m not saying some issues and topics are important and you certainly need to be aware of worldly events, but sitting in front of the news or social media for hours on end is nothing but a trainwreck for your personal good well being. Turn it off. You don’t have time. Work on yourself. Focus on yourself. Give yourself what you need. What is YOUR news? Work on turning your own personal news into good news. You helped someone today. You broke a bad habit today. You got something done you’ve been putting off. You called a friend. You had a nap. You ate a great meal. What is YOUR news? It’s the most important thing that matters. 

Jesus Loves You. 

I never had my first drink until I was 23. My boss ordered me a rum and coke and I was trying to climb the corporate ladder and it seemed impolite to refuse. It was disgusting, so I searched for something a little more pleasant for social settings and eventually settled on red wine. Even Jesus drank wine. I don’t know exactly how long it’s been, but I’d guess for 15 years I could easily consume a bottle of red wine a day. Particularly during my trauma, red wine flowed freely through my veins. Even by doctor’s orders. For the record, I was seldom incoherent while I drank. Seldom a hangover. Just something to scatter my mind enough and help me sleep to ease some thoughts and pain. I mentioned it in my book, but a great part of “Be Bulletproof” was written over a bottle of red wine. Proofreading and editing weren’t. 

Outside of Lent, it would be safe to say I’d drink 1-2 bottles of red wine a day. Every day. I don’t believe I have an addiction and truly believe I sleep better, think better, I’m healthier, I’m more creative, more relaxed and WAY funnier when I’m drinking. Of course those are all things someone who has an addiction believes as well. The other problem with alcohol is you let your guard down and there’s just too many wolves among the sheep to let your guard down. Ever. So I stopped drinking.

For how long? Well, we’ll see. Long enough to see if I see a difference. Long enough to see if it makes me a better person. That’s the beauty of life. Every day you have the freedom to be someone different. New again. However long it takes. Whatever it takes. No matter what. I’m on a path to be better and I will do whatever it takes to do it. So are you. So will you. Whatever it takes. No matter what. 

Jesus Loves You. 

One of the hardest things to do is to let it go. Whatever you have done wrong, whatever someone has done to you, whatever pain you're holding on to, let it go.The past only lives in your mind. It's not there any more. It happened. It's over. You cannot change it. You cannot go back. There's nothing there. Nobody is living in that moment in the past that's haunting you, other than you. The enemy would love nothing better than for you to constantly hold on to it. Hold on to the anger, the revenge the resentment. But it's only hurting you. Not them. 

Like a literal weight on your shoulders, you feel lighter, better, more free when you let it go. Picture that. Literally. These huge weights on your shoulders and carrying them through life. Can you still go forward? Yes. You're strong. Can you still look ahead? Yes. You're strong. But now pretend throwing those huge weights down to the ground and walking forward. It's easier. Faster. Kinder. Not for anyone else, but just for you. Keep moving. Drop the weights. Let it go. 

Jesus loves you.

Resilience is defined as the ability to recover from, or adjust to, misfortune or change. That's us. 

We're resilient. Regardless of the pain, hurt, suffering. We're still standing. Not only still standing, but soaring. Soaring above where our enemies are. Soaring above what the medical report may have said. Soaring above the odds of defeat anyone would have given us. We have survived all of our worst days and we're still here. 

When God planned your life, He took into account all of the hardships you would face and purposely made you with the resilience you have. You're stronger than you think. Tougher than they think. You...are...bulletproof. 

Jesus loves you.

Remember the last time you ran a race? Maybe you were just a kid in school. One of the biggest mistakes kids make running a race is either seeing all of the people ahead of them and giving up, or checking behind them. When you look behind, your body actually physically starts to move off course. You slow down. You're not at your full potential. 

Not much changes from a school race to the race of life. Yeah, I said, it. Life is a race. But not what you think. It's not a race against other people. It's a race just you are running. A race toward a destination. Your greatest potential. Or perhaps a race against time. You may be running on the journey of life and see people ahead of you. That may discourage you. But they're not in your race. That's what you don't realize. They may have stared early. Or late. They may be finishing early. Or late. They may wear out. Take a turn. Be completely of course. They're not in your race or your path.  And when you look behind, those people are behind you for a reason.  You're headed somewhere else. Somewhere better. 

You can take a pause on your race. Take a breath. Slow down. Jog. Walk. Crawl. Fall. But don't ever give up because there's people ahead of you. And don't ever look behind. Keep going. You're headed somewhere nobody else could possibly go. 

Jesus loves you.

Got a bad habit? Me too. Got some good habits you're not doing enough of? Me too. I started doing this thing, where I gave myself an abundance of time to get rid of bad habits and an abundance of time to keep doing good habits. Let's go back to my book where I talk about how my mind would stay in the trauma all day until finally I decided I would only give it two hours. For two hours I would let myself fall into a pit of muck and get angry and cry and throw things and yell and be alone. But after the two hours was over, that was it. No more for that day. NO MATTER WHAT. Then when I was ready, it went down to 90 minutes. Then 60. Then 30. Then 5. Then 1. No matter what. Same with a good habit. Start with one pushup today. Just one. Do one push up every day for a week. Maybe even a month. But then two. Two for a week. Then three. Four. How high can you go? 

I started mediating in the morning with one slow, deep breath. Just one. Two years later, my morning starts with 27 long slow breaths. Thinking of nothing other than the breath and the number. Clearing my mind. Then followed with a morning prayer of gratitude. Treat every habit the same. Slowly come off bad habits. Slowly grow good habits.  Within a year, you'll be a new person. You'll look new. You'll feel new. You'll be new. I promise. Go slow. But stay with it. No matter what. Get in the habit. 

Jesus loves you.

When I started to write "Be Bulletproof", the odds of it ever becoming an actual book weren't in my favour. Ten percent of the people who decide to write a book actually write a book. I'll give you that statistic again. I didn't say ten percent of the people write a book. I said ten percent of the people who decide they're going to write a book actually finish it. And of that ten percent, only ten percent make it to an actual printed physical book. It's hard. It's expensive. It's a lot of work. But I prayed about it, like it already happened. Like it was a matter of fact that the book would come to fruition. I had this complete certainty. 

I've prayed about other things that way. Like I already have it. Not in a shy way. Like in a confident way. Already thanking God that if it's His will, what I need is already on the way. He loves us. Like any parent wanting to give their children things that are good for them, God wants to do the same for us. Pray with confidence. Pray that as long as it is His will, you're already rejoicing and praying prayers of gratitude that it's on the way. He wants your happiness. He wants what's best for you. You already have it.

Jesus loves you.