When all is stripped away

June 29, 2020Blog, Personal Growthpriorities, stripped, valauesdebio7 Leave a comment

What do you have?

When the accolades, excesses, superficial and shallow are gone, what remains? When the cupboards are bare, the accounts low, and energy depleted, what is left?

What is it that is important? Is it things, memories, accumulations, accomplishments or status? Maybe deeds, holdings, achievements or awards?

When all is stripped away, what matters most and still stands, and will always stand?

What values do you hold true to? What characteristics do you cherish, honor and hold in high esteem? What truths are immutable? What ideas are solid yet evolving?

Who are you, deep inside, when all is stripped away?

Who are we as a society, when all is stripped away?

This is your bedrock. This is our bedrock.

Bedrock = the lowest point; solid rock underlying surface materials; fundamental, basic or relaible

What is it that can never be taken away from you? Your family?

What is it that cannot be taken away from your community, your nation?

Now is the time to see very clearly what is important, valuable, worth fighting for and burning at our core of who we are.

Remove the filters, reduce it all to the basic common denominator, and stand strong and unapologetically for those very values, ideals, truths!

If you do not, you, your family, your community and your nation may very well change forever into a place that you no longer recognize, prize, or desire.

When all is stripped away, I want to stand proud and unashamed for the principles, characteristics, morals, ideals and mores that I am built upon. When all is stripped away there are “these truths” that I hold as self-evident and I will not compromise them. No matter what. And I will not allow anyone to rip them away from me.

When all is stripped away, I will answer to the One who made me for who I am and what I did with what He gave me. And I will stand proud upon those things of eternal value.

When all is stripped away, what about you? Who are you? What do you stand for? What is important you you? What remains of value?

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.