“Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience… It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it.”

Sylvia Boorstein

If I could go back in time and tell a much younger self any particular habit to pick up and foster, it would be the practice of mindfulness. It isn’t the technique, the app, the teacher, or anything else external. It is simply the intentional curation of an ability to pause and reflect on the beauty of every moment regardless of the external context or label that I seek to apply.

Life is precious and filled with unbelievable experiences, some pleasant, some not so much. Having the capacity to pause, see, enjoy, reflect and learn, at the moment, not after, is incredibly liberating. Understanding and applying the question “is this useful?” has been quite liberating. The good news is that mindfulness is a lifelong practice, and I am merely glad that I discovered it in time.

If you are interested in getting started check out these resources. These are a tiny sample of what is out there, but I found them to be a great place to start.

• Books:
  • 10% Happier – Dan Harris
  • Stillness Is The Key – Ryan Holiday
  • Unbeatable Mind – Mark Divine

• Websites & Apps:
  • 10% Happier
  • Waking Up

“Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.”

Helen Keller

Why do we insist on finding examples of what others have that we don’t, and thereby diminishing our estimation of worth? It has been said many times that “comparison is the thief of joy,” and this is most certainly true. Not only do we compare to others, but we fail to appreciate our blessings and gifts objectively. We, as humans, fail to appreciate the opportunities we have to empower the betterment of others.  

What if instead of focusing on our diminished “lot” we were to put effort and energy into improving others’ lot? How much impact could your life have if your energy was invested into building opportunities for others?  

How would you measure your life if, instead of focusing on what you don’t have, you concentrated on what you gave away? What would your worth be then?

“If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.”

Will Smith

People give their time away without thinking all the time. “Wasting time” is a pervasive part of our society today, whether it is through social media, ‘reality television,’ or any of the other myriad ways that people expend their most precious and finite resource. Wasting time doesn’t scare most people if they are honest about how they spend their time. In reality, “wasting time” is the thing that should scare us the most.  

Perhaps another way to state this is, “if you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your life.”

No one wants to “waste their life.” Nobody gets up in the morning and thinks, “well, here I go, let’s see how meaningless and wasteful I can be today with my one precious life.”

The reality is that we all have good days and bad days, days where we feel incredibly fulfilled and meaningful, and others where we wonder what happened. That’s going to happen.  

The secret is never to lose sight of the reason we exist, the reason God put us here on this earth. We are alive to serve others and make lives better. If you find a way to do that every day, you will never be wasting your time, you will never be wasting your life.

“It’s easier to go down a hill than up it, but the view is much better at the top.”

Henry Ward Beecher

Why do you climb mountains? What is it that motivates you to put forth the effort? Are you climbing the mountain simply because it is there, or do you want to see the view? Are you taking in the sights along the way up and the way down?  

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to climb Mt. Yale, just outside Buena Vista, Colorado. Mt. Yale is one of Colorado’s legendary “14’rs” where the peak is over 14,000 feet above sea level.

The reason for the climb was to see something beautiful and take on a challenge I had never done before.  It was a grueling climb, primarily scrambling on hands and feet over the rocks for the last mile.  

But the view from the top was so worth the effort…

As were the sights along the way down…

The views we find at the top of the mountain are the inspiration we need to climb up a higher and even more challenging peak.  

“Discipline and constant work are the whetstones upon which the dull knife of talent is honed until it becomes sharp enough, hopefully, to cut through even the toughest meat and gristle.”

Stephen King

I wrote and published my first blog post on June 19, 2018. Writing a daily blog was something I had wanted to do for a long time but hadn’t “found” the time to make it happen. I read a great book, “Platform – By Michael Hyatt,” and realized that it wouldn’t happen if I didn’t just take the plunge and start. So, I started, and this was my very first post. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something, and it was a start. Getting going was the critical part.  

My purpose for sending a daily quote and now writing the blog hasn’t changed over the three and a half years since that first post. If you are interested, you can find the genesis at this link, “Why I Started This Journey”.   

My personal purpose for writing the blog was to create a regular discipline to build my writing skills and force me to practice intense critical thinking and self-reflection every day. I love to journal, but it is easy to skip a day or two here and there. I knew that if I made a public commitment, I would be accountable at a much higher level, which has undoubtedly been the case.  

Today’s post is # 1,000.  For one thousand days in a row, I have made an effort to practice thinking and write creatively. Not all of the posts have been good; I would say there has been a lot more chaff than wheat over the years. But, I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that my ability to construct and convey my written form thoughts has improved. I am confident that writing the hardest thing I have ever written, my post on my brother Grayson’s passing, would never have been possible without developing these skills over the years.  

My purpose for writing hasn’t changed.  I want to positively impact others’ lives by leveraging the time, talent, and treasures that God has given to me.  I have no idea if anyone reads what I write here, but I know that my ability to leverage God’s gifts has improved by embracing this daily discipline. Coincidently, these verses were part of my devotional time this morning: 

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”1 Peter‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬. 

“So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” Romans‬ ‭14:12‬ ‭NIV‬

Discipline and hard work are the only ways to take the raw material God blesses us with and turn it into something useful. I am nowhere near where I need to be, and I apologize to those that read my blog and have to sort through some of the junk I have written. I know this if the next 1,000 posts are as much fun and educational for me as the first 1,000, I will be a better leader, husband, father, and man than I am today. Thanks for taking the journey with me.