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It’s Monday, Time For YOU To Get Reved Up!

Rev up the engine, your internal engine, and get yourself moving!!  I know, of all days, Monday!  The day when more people on earth die than any other day?  What a pleasant motivating thought…  Hey, you’re still breathing!  Be grateful and give thanks!!

Last Friday I wrote about on Form a Habit Through the Power of 40 Days .  So have you started?  If not, I’m not interested.  Throw all the excuses off your table (they’re not anyone else’s!)and BEGIN!  TODAY!  MONDAY!

We all have our baggage, regrets, countless mistakes and “if I only would have’s”.  This isn’t the time to dwell on them!  Make amends, and move forward,

Move forward, look straight ahead, and keep walking!  To quote Joan Rivers: “You just have to move forward”.  She does, and so will YOU!  Have a New Monday!

You matter, Chad 

Be immersed in the Presence of GOD!

It begins at 9:3oam in Santa Ana, CA 92707 at Mater Dei High School.  There’s still time for YOU to get there!!

-Chad

http://chadebriggs.com/2630/diocese-of-orange-sponsors-forum-to-avert-foreclosures-july-24th-california-catholic-conference

The Diocese of Orange is bringing together the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department, private lenders and other organizations to offer practical loan modification assistance to distressed homeowners.  According to HUD, the Making Home Affordable Program, with which the Diocese is partnering, has already offered permanent modification to nearly 300,000 homeowners nationwide and potentially will offer significant payment reductions to participants attending the July 24, 2010 event.

For residents in other parts of California, the Federal website Making Home Affordable or California’s Keep Your Home can help locate a mortgage counselor near them, explain assistance programs and eligibility and help with tips on avoiding foreclosure scams.  The benefit of Diocese of Orange event is that it brings all the relevant agencies and lenders together at one time, in one place.

“The protracted foreclosure crisis continues to tear at the social fabric of our communities.” said Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange.  “This program is yet another effort we have undertaken to help families struggling with the ongoing effects of a difficult economy. I felt it was essential to help bring this assistance program to Santa Ana, whose residents suffer from the largest number of foreclosures in Orange County.”

Shelter is a basic human right according to Catholic social teaching, as is the responsibility to meet one’s own needs when possible.  But the recession, unemployment and loans with ballooning interest payments have left many adrift in their ability to afford shelter because of circumstances beyond their control.

Houses that once seemed affordable have turned into financial disasters as hours are cut or jobs eliminated.  Lacking the resources to support mortgage payments, many homeowners faced the largest financial crisis of their lives.  Nationwide, 250,000 new families enter foreclosure each month. And with the Golden State’s high property values the problem is even worse here.

Click here for details on time, place and location (in Spanish and English)

San Bernardino and Imperial counties are the hardest hit in the state.  Merced, Stockton, Riverside, Modesto, Bakersfield and Vallejo-Fairfield are among the metro areas with some of the worst foreclosure rates.

Orange County is also high on that list.  In 2009, 34 percent of the county’s home sales were foreclosures.  Mid-year 2009 saw two percent of homes in foreclosure and six percent had ninety day delinquency on mortgage payments.  As of May 2010, one in every 264 homes in Orange County was in foreclosure, with the majority in the northern part of the county.

In response, the Diocese of Orange teamed with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Orange County Home Ownership Preservation Collaborative (OCHOPC) mortgage assistance fair.  OCHOPC is a partnership of non-profits, government agencies and businesses attempting to preserve and promote home ownership through outreach, education, counseling and financing.  (The event will be held on July 24 at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.  Click here for event details.)

HUD approved housing counseling agencies, lenders and non-profit legal counselors will assist homeowners in evaluating options to restructure mortgages at no cost.  The public is invited, but encouraged to make reservations at myhousingforall@aol.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  HUD’s “Making Home Affordable Program” has offered permanent loan modification to nearly 300,000 homeowners nationwide.  This will be the focus of the Santa Ana event.

Additional programs will be forthcoming to assist Californian’s struggling with mortgage debt.  In February 2010, the Federal government established the Housing Finance Agency Innovative Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets.  California will be one of the first five states to participate and receive $699.6 million of the $1.5 billion funding.  To qualify, states had to experience a 20 percent or greater decrease in housing prices.  Each state gathered public input and crafted programs to meet challenges facing their respective housing market.

California’s plan will offer four options administered under the Housing Finance Agency.  It’s called Keep Your Home and should be operational in the fall.  It will provide:

• Assistance to reduce principal with earned principal forgiveness
• Funds to address delinquent loan arrearages
• Mortgage payment subsidy to unemployed families
• Assist families that have executed a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transition to stable housing

Challenges in the housing market threatened both people and the community.  Some may become homeless.  Children, once stable in school, may have lapses in their education as they relocate.  Emotional tension in the family increase dramatically.  Businesses and government see sales and revenues drop, as people have less income and decrease their personal spending.  So, governments like California struggle to provide public services and maintain safety net programs.  Charitable organizations face a decline in donations, at a time when people need their services most.

Helping people stay in their homes maintains the emotional and economic stability of communities as it affirms the human dignity of individuals to one of the basic necessities of life.

image at flickr.com/photos/lwr/2455251434/

Form a Habit Through the Power of 40 Days

Form a habit in the next 40 days!  You don’t have to wait until Lent or New Year’s Day.  When September 1st arrives, you will have a great sense of achievement knowing that you actually did something different for your life this summer!  And it won’t cost you anything, except hard core self-discipline! 

Commit yourself now to the rigorous hard work of being consistent. Because that’s what it’s all about. You are doing, what you said you were going to do. Form a habit and move forward!

How will you achieve, change and transform yourself in 40 days? How will you embed and form a habit that will last on the 41st day? That will last a lifetime? You know what needs to be done, accomplished, forgiven, and restored. 

DO IT!

Saints, Leaders & Presidents have all spoken and acted on how to form a habit. They have endured, persisted and ingrained the habits of success within them. St. Augustine, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Dr. King and Abraham Lincoln come to mind. Self-development gurus and motivational speakers of the 21st century all talk about the power of life changing habits.

It is by your unbreakable will that you will form a habit, your habit. You and you alone are the cause of your habits (good or bad). Use the powerful ancient practice of 40 Days to form a habit, embedding it consciously through your actions and daily routine. It boils down to moving your mind, heart and feet.

In this year of the World Cup and  Winter Olympics, countless athletes worldwide have taken their entire lives to form a habit through rigorous discipline, hard work, sweat, and the beating of unbelievable odds. They have overcome obstacles and have achieved well earned success.  Whether they won the game or medal or not, they are victorious!

Therefore, you can take a measly 40 days and start today. You must do it!  You cannot put off until tomorrow, and think it’s just one more day. It will be just one more day a year from. It will be just one more day a decade from now.

For starters, form a habit of being organized.  Get up earlier every morning at home to get something done. Turn off the alarm, get out of bed immediately (safely of course) and ignore the whiny voices in your head. Then get it done! Don’t piddle around.

Be laser focused and don’t get distracted.  Whether cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry or a work related project. You know best.

Energy creates energy and you will leave home feeling a sense of accomplishment.  Knowing that you achieved something already, no matter how busy your day looks in front of you.  Getting one thing done is getting one thing done!

It’s big deal, you will be ahead of most people for the day. Before even walking out your front door.

Form a habit now through simple, powerful and albeit boring routine(s) that will change your life!  At home, work, the gym, exercise, eating better, attitude, relationships and faith.

To your success, Chad

Do Your Summer (Quick) Getaways Include Fitness and Health?

Do your quick getaways include a trip to your gym or some kind of exercise routine? The quick getaways I am talking about, are your daily exercise routine and gym regimen. Your idea of quick getaways no doubt include escaping from the world in some way.

Is it vegging out on the couch for the weekend, getting out of town or a quick tropical respite from reality? Do your quick getaways include exercise, do they include taking control of your health on a daily basis?

So many of us in the 21st century are taking quick getaways and making an unexpected detour to eternity. Sooner than we had bargained for. It wasn’t the weekend escape we had in mind. But our mind had other ideas, or should I say our heart stopped, our brains went dark and our arteries had had enough!

The above fore mentioned body of yours, felt unanimously you needed one of those ‘quick getaways’. Since you wouldn’t do it for yourself, your internal board of directors made the decision for you.

Imagine your body in that decrepit condition, old beyond your years, lying on the embalming table. Bloated, out of shape, rusted and corrosive. And now you’re going to be filled with the sweet scent of foreign fluids to keep you just that way.

All because those quick getaways to the produce department, your gym, walking around your neighborhood, responsibly staying at your appropriate weight, and taking time to see your doctor, were too inconvenient for you.

It will always be Monday and Saturday. Your quick getaways need to include the days in between, for exercising and putting your fitness plan of health into action! You need to get back to health through a mandated state of conscious awareness, today! Make some hard choices and decide to live a healthy life.

Don’t take my advice, see your Doctor. But quit being stupid! Commit to yourself, stop being lazy and begin to achieve consistent physical, mental and emotional fitness. Exercise, eat right and choose health in all areas of your life.

As the Nike slogan goes: “Just Do It.” Only you can get back to health, no one will dive in the pool for you. You have to climb on the treadmill, you have to say no to unhealthy eating habits, and say yes to an apple. Make quick getaways to health, all day and everyday.

Who can you be? What you can do for others? You are great, act upon it, magnify it, and share your greatness!

To your success, Chad

Don't Look Back!

Don’t Look Back!

Don’t look back, you can’t look back!  Nothing’s there!  All that gobbledy gook of past failures, mistakes, unbelieveable screw ups and more, is only in your head.  I should know, I’m speaking from personal experience.

Don’t look back!  Take a hard, cold assesment of yourself.  Recognize your sh-t, what you did to f–k up, and Get On With It!

Don’t look back!  Keep MOVING FORWARD!  You’re not alone, you have great company, albeit the entire human race.  Seriously!  I’m not writing that, just to make you feel better.

Nature knows only how to move foward, it knows no other thing!  The same is with YOU!  You have such unbelievable capacity, strength, will and vim within you! 

Don’t look back!  Begin today anew, and know that everything you do, minute, small and big, is a victory!  At home, work, family, friends, for yourself, the world and worship.

Don’t look back!  Brush your knees, jump in the shower, and get that caked mud off of you, dry well and begin.  Begin to make things right, restore, make better, and live your life by the new example that You Are!

You matter, Chad