Refreshing others

April 3, 2020Blog, Encouragement, Personal Growthrefreshingdebio7 Leave a comment

Isn’t it wonderful to hear the stories of people who choose to do good and help others in time of need? It’s inspiring! It brings hope and reassurance. It lifts our spirit. It encourages us.

Here are some recent such stories:

An anonymous do-gooder has made and left around Dana Point these encouraging surfboard signs

The Pacific Symphony members have been playing movements in trios, duets or solo on Instagram for the joy of their viewers
A non-profit was started to collect donations and then purchase meals from restaurants to have delivered to hospitals for the doctors and nurses
A salaried professor is Venmo-ing $20 to any neighbor in need, no questions asked
A couple who had to downsized their wedding and got married at home – but the entire neighborhood surprised them by celebrating from their cars, cheering and honking horns
A mob of cars showed up at a hospital and parked in the lot. From each car stood 1-2 people, with hands lifted toward the hospital in prayer for those affected by the virus in that hospital
WestJet threw a mini-graduation for 4 students who had to fly home due to the virus
Neighbors on lockdown sang Happy Birthday to an 80 year old from their balconies and windows

People who refresh others are so refreshing!

My hunch is that many of us want to be refreshing to others. We may or may not do so in a way that makes the 5 O’clock news but that doesn’t matter. I would like to offer this original acrostic as a means to encourage and inspire you to first be refreshed and then refresh others.

REFRESH

R – Reflect

E – Enjoy family & the small things

F -Find purpose & routine in each day

R – Reach out to friends & neighbors

E – Encourage others

S – Seek God

H – Hear his voice

Repeat the process…

These tidbits will help us find the refreshing that we personally need and also equip us to be that refreshing to others. You DO have something to offer others, even if it be only your smile.

” You can always give something, even if it is only kindness.”
Anne Frank

May you find refreshing today and give refreshing tomorrow.

Cheers to you.

Reset

April 1, 2020Blog, Encouragement, Personal Growthpriorities, reboot, reset, valuesdebio7 Leave a comment

Can you feel it lingering in the air?

That feeling that this is major and lifelong change is happening right before our eyes? The world as we know it is shifting and we are witness to history?

Maybe it’s not like that for you, but it sure seems to at least be a major reset for us. So, to that end, allow me to expatiate.

“Reset – to set again, or differently; adjusting or fixing something in a new or different way.”
Synonyms – reboot, restore, re-establish, restart
Common uses – to reset: an alarm clock, a broken bone, a different way, priorities, prices
Websters.com

We are truly at a reset time in our country. A time to re-evaluate our priorities, our values. What ways need to be changed? How can we do things differently? What has been broken that needs to be fixed? What alarm has been sounding and we better get to it? What needs major restoration? What shall we start up again?

These are questions I believe we should be asking on a global level, but I also believe that we should be asking and dealing with them on a personal level too. We have the time.

Now is the time to reboot, restart, restore and reset our thinking and priorities.

From my life, here are some simple examples of how my thinking has been reset: I now view grocery store clerks, workers, stockers and truck drivers with much more appreciation, respect and value. Restaurateur’s are due mad props for all they deal with and I will no longer take their fine dining wares for granted. That goes for fast food eateries too.

Hair dressers, teachers, plumbers, construction workers, florists, carpenters, small businesses, THESE are some of the jobs and people that have been overlooked, and undervalued in our society. We/I need to reset our/my thinking about them.

I value these jobs/people, they are important to me. They are more important to me than the multimillion dollar MLB or NBA player and what shoes they are wearing. Or the YouTube influencer and what lipstick they endorse. Geesh, how petty. How shallow we have become. Reset!

I value churches being able to meet. I value all Americans having the right to speak, even if I disagree with you. I value people disagreeing and yet still respecting each other. I value national traditions, even if they are not mine. I value life. I value hard work. I value family.

What do YOU value? I hope these days have given you time to see those clearly.

For me, these days are filled with major self-reflection and these 3 things keep coming up:

What are my priorities?
What are may values?
What are my interests?

If what I am doing, thinking, or planning does not line up with those, then I need a reset.

As America is resetting, may her members and citizens do the same. What is important to us – let’s keep it in focus and never stop using our voice and efforts to advance it. Otherwise, let’s adjust it and fix it or totally do away with it.

” Every sunset is an opportunity to reset.”
Richie Norton

Let’s PUSH the RESET BUTTON, today.

Cheers to you.