The Courage To Confront
Recently I purchased TD Jakes newest book entitled Reposition Yourself – Living Life Without Limits. I knew that it was going to be good just by reading an excerpt of it on the internet. The first chapter deals with confronting the things in your life that need changed. By the end of the chapter I was in tears because it hit home and “punched me in the mouth.” I know that by the time I am done with this I will be living the life of my dreams because I am going to have to deal with things that I have run from.
One of the points that Jakes made that hit me the hardest was an illustration of an intervention with “people” that are in your life. The four “people” that were at the intervention was: Distant Dreamer (the part of you that dreams); Listless Lover (the part of you that looks for love in all the wrong places); Manny The Manager (the rational part of you); Blinded Believer (your spiritual self). These are the voices that we all have and we attempt to muzzle them and not listen to them. By the time I was done with Manny I was in absolute tears because the things they were saying was were I am.
Another point he made that totally made sense was on page 10. He was talking about having the “courage to confront” and he said “You can only correct what you are willing to confront.” This hit me like a ton of bricks because for so long I was content to live in the past life of hurt & regret. I used these two things as a crutch to not living to my full potential. I know have the understanding that this wasn’t only holding me back but also my wife and child. I made the decision last night (9:14pm) to not live in the past; I will learn from the past and use it to thrust me into the future.
Look for more updates as I continue this journey to Reposition Myself.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Amazing Thought
I received the following article from Michael Pink. It's an awesome article that deals with focus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Intensity.
There's something about intensity that generates results like nothing else. I watched a documentary yesterday on the life of Keith Green. Talk about intense! His passion was a consuming fire! His music moved a generation of young Christians in the early eighties. And I was stirred, just watching.
Where does intensity come from and what happens when you have it? Well, first of all, it's highly contagious and anyone with any contact with you will catch your intensity. If they don't appreciate your intensity, it will drive them away, but others, many others will be drawn to it. Therefore, make it about the right things. Until you value intensity or as some call it, passion, you will never have it. You may be moved by it in others, but you will never be possessed by it, consumed by it, animated by it. You will never benefit from it directly, nor will others be benefited by the potential of it in you.
Think about this... How long does it take to weld a bridge using a candle versus a blowtorch? Which are you? Have you lost your intensity lately? It happens. It's time to relight the blowtorch. It's time to ignite the passion, the intensity for what you are doing with your life. It's time to ignite the passion for your product or service if you are in business. And always, it's time to keep your intensity strong for the Lord.As they say, I would rather burn out than rust out. How about you?
I want to continue the discussion on intensity. Where does it come from? I submit that intensity is the result of FOCUS. When I was a child, I guess I had a cruel streak or at the very least an insensitive streak. On a lazy summer afternoon, we would grab a magnifying glass and go looking for ants.Some of you already know where I am going with this. We would find some slow moving ant near an ant hill and try to focus the light of the sun upon the ant. If we were way out of focus, there was no effect. If we were nearly in focus, it got us excited, but the ant didn't seem to pay any attention.It was only when we sharpened that focus to a virtual pinpoint that suddenly the ant upon which that light beam fell, suddenly withered and fried before our eyes. The ant represents the goal, the objective, the thing you are in pursuit of. With poor focus, nothing at all happens. With some focus, you get excited, but with precision, pinpoint focus, your actions become like a precision guided laser and the goal is accomplished with remarkable speed.But focus requires intentionality. Deliberateness. That's the subject of my next blog, but in the meantime, if you want to grow your mental capacity a bit, meditate on what it takes for you to focus. When you know that, you are well on your way.
Intensity.
There's something about intensity that generates results like nothing else. I watched a documentary yesterday on the life of Keith Green. Talk about intense! His passion was a consuming fire! His music moved a generation of young Christians in the early eighties. And I was stirred, just watching.
Where does intensity come from and what happens when you have it? Well, first of all, it's highly contagious and anyone with any contact with you will catch your intensity. If they don't appreciate your intensity, it will drive them away, but others, many others will be drawn to it. Therefore, make it about the right things. Until you value intensity or as some call it, passion, you will never have it. You may be moved by it in others, but you will never be possessed by it, consumed by it, animated by it. You will never benefit from it directly, nor will others be benefited by the potential of it in you.
Think about this... How long does it take to weld a bridge using a candle versus a blowtorch? Which are you? Have you lost your intensity lately? It happens. It's time to relight the blowtorch. It's time to ignite the passion, the intensity for what you are doing with your life. It's time to ignite the passion for your product or service if you are in business. And always, it's time to keep your intensity strong for the Lord.As they say, I would rather burn out than rust out. How about you?
I want to continue the discussion on intensity. Where does it come from? I submit that intensity is the result of FOCUS. When I was a child, I guess I had a cruel streak or at the very least an insensitive streak. On a lazy summer afternoon, we would grab a magnifying glass and go looking for ants.Some of you already know where I am going with this. We would find some slow moving ant near an ant hill and try to focus the light of the sun upon the ant. If we were way out of focus, there was no effect. If we were nearly in focus, it got us excited, but the ant didn't seem to pay any attention.It was only when we sharpened that focus to a virtual pinpoint that suddenly the ant upon which that light beam fell, suddenly withered and fried before our eyes. The ant represents the goal, the objective, the thing you are in pursuit of. With poor focus, nothing at all happens. With some focus, you get excited, but with precision, pinpoint focus, your actions become like a precision guided laser and the goal is accomplished with remarkable speed.But focus requires intentionality. Deliberateness. That's the subject of my next blog, but in the meantime, if you want to grow your mental capacity a bit, meditate on what it takes for you to focus. When you know that, you are well on your way.
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