Choices we make create the life we have. If we want a better life we need to make better choices.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The best way to prepare for death is to live life to its fullest. John Bytheway

This week I’ve finally gotten back to the gym. I didn’t think it would take this long but I’ve done some morning exercises and even though it isn’t much, working out at the gym wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and I wasn’t as sore as I expected.

The lesson learned is a little bit of exercise will do more for us than we think. A little bit of everything that is good for us will probably do more for us than we think, the flip side is a little bit of what is bad for us will do more for us than we think as well.

We replace our bad habits with good habits and we feel good, we pat ourselves on the back because life is going in a good direction. If we start replacing our good habits with bad ones our lives can slip in ways we never thought they would and they slip quickly.

Another birthday is rolling around and I can’t believe how high the number is getting but if everyone around me is getting older how could I not be as well? The girls at the gym are so young, and slim, it’s a new set from when I last went in March of 2020.

How many people will never go to a gym again because they quit in 2020 when everything shut down? How many people have better lives than they had then because they’ve taken stock and made some changes? How many marriages haven’t survived? How many families suffered in countless ways? How many looked at their lives and saw changes they needed to make and are making them and reaping rewards they never thought they could reap? We need to embrace change throughout our lives. We may love certain times of our lives more than other times but we never get them again. We have to create new lovely times to enjoy.

Keep moving forward. It’s the way to live life. Leo Martin Ganace

Our grandson is no longer an infant; he’s already six months old and already eating solid food. Time doesn’t wait for us and what some people have accomplished in the same years I’ve had, amazes me. We think we’d do so much better if we got a do-over, what if that’s not the way to look at it? What if the way to look at it is, I’m here, and it’s okay, but it could be better? How can I make it better? What could I do now, with what I have to make tomorrow, next year, five, and even ten and twenty years down the future better? Who can we help, who can we encourage, and who can we inspire?

Are we all we could be? What could we do if we knew we couldn’t fail? What if we tried and failed, would it be so bad, or would our life be elevated by trying? It’s not missing the mark that is so bad; it’s not having a mark to miss. We need an aim, there are times in my life when I’ve been aimless and it wasn’t good. Sometimes I think we get the idea that to have a better life we need to demolish everything in the one we have and start over. It might be true sometimes but most of the time we need to work with what we have. Do we really think a new husband or wife won’t bring their own baggage, the baggage we won’t like, and won’t know what to do with? Maybe the baggage we have is enough and if we deal with it, we can be surprised by what we can make of the life we have, right here, right now.

This is why I love Jordan Peterson’s books, “12 Rules for Life, and Beyond Order” they are about dealing with what we have, where we are, and taking up a load that is good for us and society. He tells us being responsible is more important than chasing happiness and will give us a greater sense of accomplishment. I think he’s right, love is a verb, not a feeling, and sometimes we want the feeling but not the work. Joyce Meyer tells us everyone can find someone to love because everyone needs love. She doesn’t mean someone who will love us, she means someone we can pour our love onto in ways that make their life better. A kind word and a smile as we go about our day can encourage others and make us feel better. Helping out at a homeless shelter, food bank, or animal shelter will uplift our lives.

Are there choices we could be making that would elevate our lives? We sometimes think big choices are more important, but is it the small choices we make every day that might make the most difference in our lives?

We make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new. Socrates

Whatever good things we build end up building us. Jim Rohn

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.