An interviewer said to Mike Tyson, “you are a great person.” Mike responded, I don’t want to be great, I want to be good. I know a lot of great people, but they aren’t good people.”

Life doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it. We crowd our days with meaningless things and miss the most important lessons.

We are only human and in need of affirmation from time to time. We don’t always admit it, but we all go through our personal struggles with doubt and fear. Sometimes it takes a reminder from someone who believes in us to get us back on track.

Every day is a gift. There will never be another opportunity to live this day again; therefore, it is important to get the most out of it. Things will not happen to us by accident.

Life does not have to be full of complications. Try your best to avoid chaos in your life and see how much happier you will be.

You will not get more out of life than you are willing to put into it.

Many people are clueless about what drives them. This often leads them to settle for lives of mediocrity and unfulfilled dreams.

In last week’s blog post we looked at important tips for self-love. Knowing how to love ourselves helps us to make better decisions about our lives

In Mark 12: 31, Jesus gives the second of the great commandments “and you shall love your neighbor as yourself”.

Habits are routine behaviours we repeat regularly, consciously or unconsciously. Habits are usually choices we make which eventually become patterns in our lives.

The things we believe shape abundant living. In Proverbs 23: 7, the wise king Solomon puts it in perspective our outward behaviours are significantly driven by what is going on internally.

We moved to our new home in 2008 and, like any proud homeowner; I planted some trees.

What we believe about ourselves will shape the way we live our lives. Our thoughts are so powerful if we convince ourselves we are failures, we will do everything to fail.

As we navigate life, the ability to think critically will be very useful. Sadly, most people we meet daily are not critical thinkers.

A mind is a powerful tool, yet it is also the most destructive if not used properly. Proverbs 23: 7 is a reminder that what we think about will eventually come out in our actions.

Worrying can be a painful and unhealthy experience. We rarely change anything about our circumstances by indulging in this useless activity.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” This prayer of serenity gets me every time, and I try my best to live by it. I don’t get it right all the time, but I find when I do it makes my life less complicated.

Overthinking stuff is as bad as procrastination. Overthinking will cause us to refuse to pursue our dreams because we look at all the ways things can go wrong.

Peace of mind seems like a scarce commodity in today’s frantic world. There is talk everywhere of the importance of taking care of our mental heal. Our minds are working overtime to find balance while doing our best to safeguard our future.

Nobody is born with the capacity to remain happy permanently. Happiness is a process, and every process requires work. Everyone deserves happiness, but our ideas of happiness differ from one individual to the next.

Psalm 73 is an interesting literary composition from the bible. The opening words of Asaph paint a daunting picture of a soul disillusioned because of life’s circumstances. He has difficulty coming to terms with disruption in his life while contending with the prosperity of the wicked. He loses sight of God’s benevolence and sinks into despair because life has dealt him a hard blow.

Everybody gets 168 hours each week. Why it is some people can accomplish so much, while others achieve so little? The answer begins with a question. What are we doing with our time? Spending our 168 hours productively working, looking after our families, spending time with friends, and pursuing various hobbies and interests is about finding balance. If we feel we never have enough time to make it through each week, it may be the right time to do an inventory of the things we spend our 168 hours doing. One of the tragic things about lost hours is that they are irreplaceable. Once they are gone, they are gone forever, along with all the opportunities life would have afforded us.

If we learn the art of positive thinking, we can change our outlook on life. People who feel better about themselves also deal with stress and life’s issues more productively. Positive thinking is a key ingredient to purposeful living and helping us combat everyday issues. Here are a few things to remember as we embark on the journey to controlling our thoughts:

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” These words spoken by Job in the depths of his suffering make me contemplate the strength of my faith several times. How could one human being endure so much pain and loss yet remain standing? I believe the answer is in his attitude. Job reflects the attitude of someone who does not have all the answers to his present circumstances but held on to the faithfulness of God.

This was the place where God had brought Israel in His promise to protect, preserve, and provide for them. This place became a source of familiarity and comfort for them. God’s statement in Deuteronomy Chapter 1: 6 reveals a disturbing trend with Israel. Familiarity and comfort breed complacency. Israel, in their comfort, forgot that God did not intend the mountain to be their final destination. As God’s people, Christians, today are not different from the Israelites.

In a world where everything fake is celebrated, it is tempting to want to follow the crowd. The average person is afraid or uncomfortable standing out and willingly exchanges their true self for a fake existence. It requires courage to be unapologetically you, but it is the best thing you can do to live a happy life.

Jeremiah 29: 11 God through the prophet Jeremiah reminds Israel of His thoughts towards them. After spending some 70 years in Babylonian captivity, God reminds His people of His intention to bring them back to their own land. This generation of Israelites was about to step into the unknown. Imagine the feelings of apprehension threatening to overpower them going back to the land of their fore-parents with nothing but the stories handed down to them.

We live in unusual times, and all around us, people are making strides. It is easy to get lost in the minefield of achievements that make human beings feel worthy. Most people have someone they admire and look up to, and that is acceptable.

There is an uncomfortable contradiction that exists in the world that leaves a chill in the bones. It is strange, but in the same space, we can see much beauty and ugliness at the same time. We see the affluent and dirt poor living within yards of each other separated most times by a mere walkway.

Christianity is a practical religion. The sad truth is that many Christians are not practising what they preach. We are settling for a watered-down type of Christianity that appeals to our emotions rather than fulfilling the Mission of Jesus Christ. James outlines what it means to practice pure and defiled religion (James 1: 27).

“I forgot to live”, these were some of the final words of someone I knew for many years. On paper and according to society’s standards he would appear to possess everything. He had a string of letters behind his name, travelled extensively; a mover and shaker in coveted social circles; held key positions on the boards of several prominent companies and doing well for himself financially.

The measure for success is not found in the type of job, career or vocation a person chooses to engage in, but in how well they perform what they are called to do with passion. How success is measured will look different for everybody because being successful has much to do with the things that are considered important to each individual.

Amid this COVID19 pandemic, a remarkable thing has happened. The reset button of the world was pressed, and the hand of God is revealed. There are lessons to be learned from this crisis and how we emerge from it is dependent on our actions going forward.

Social media, be it Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Pinterest, Snapchat or whatever the newest craze is on the block can be a useful tool in getting your presence felt in this technologically driven world. But as much as social media can be a helpful tool, it can also be a dreadful master.

There will come a time when you come to a crossroad and have to decide which direction you want to go. You can turn left, right, and go forward or backwards but whatever you do it’s all in your hands. Life is about choices and you have to live with them so it is important to make the right one.

One of the most heart-rending things to have to deal with are people who persistently try to kill the dreams of others. It can literally suck the life out of you! Dream crushers come in all forms. Sometimes they are the people closest to us like family and friends; at other times they the people we choose to associate with.

The mind is a powerful tool. What we spend time thinking about can either propel us to success or make us cower in fear. We find ourselves attending the occasional pity party because we are convinced we are not as talented or successful as the people around us

One of the things about abundant living is the ability to form and sustain healthy relationships. People who are able to maintain good friendships and spend time in fellowship seem to do better at handling difficulties.

This could be the motto of many people, we are always on the move, doing something or going someplace. The funny thing about having a million things to do is that if we are not careful, we get very little done or nothing at all. Some of us fool ourselves into thinking that if we have a million things to do, it makes us appear more valuable.

Sometimes we become so concerned about what other people are doing that we lose sight of the fact that we are on the same journey. We waste valuable time believing the seeds that are in other people’s storehouses are worth more than our own.

As human beings, we tend to want to hold on to things even if they are not good for us. One of the deterrents to living an abundant life is investing in unhealthy relationships. Relationships are a part of the human experience we all need them to survive, but the toxic ones we can do without. We should never become so dependent on another person that we allow them to dictate the terms of our happiness.