Just because there is a pandemic, and you’re at home doesn’t mean you should not exercise, in fact, the opposite is true, right now it’s more important than ever to exercise, without exercise your body and mind degrade, and with it your body improves along with your general health. This is especially true when it comes to your immune system. Your immune system is vital to fighting off infections whether it’s COVID-19 or just another flu without a strong immune system you’ll be sicker for longer, and with worse symptoms, or in a worst-case scenario you could end up in the hospital.

My point is exercise is important, and no, it doesn’t have to be at the gym, take a walk (socially distancing of course), do home exercises such as pull-ups and push-ups, or ride a bike, everything adds up as long as your moving and not sedentary, doing this every day is vital to your health.

While we may be apart, everyone is together in a time like this, and we have to be if we want this to end. Do your part to slow the spread, exercising does just that, improving your health reduces your risk of sickness, and your reduced risk of sickness reduces the risk of others getting sick from you.

Be safe, and remember, together we will get through this.

We all know the feeling of being sleepy, but you can prevent it in the future just by following a few general tips.

1. Actually attempt to go to sleep at a good time, even when you really want to stay up. Most people stay up at night for no reason, and ignore their body yelling at them to do the opposite, why? Don’t be most people.

2. Leave your animals outside of your room, research has proven animals are no good for your sleeping patterns, you may not even realize it but any sound they make impacts your sleep, your bedroom should be as quiet as a library, and if your cat meows for attention that’s impossible.

3. Stop relying on sleeping medications, taking a Benadryl at night can make you fall asleep and if that works then great! But taking it every single night makes your body dependent on it to sleep, meaning when you don’t take it you can’t sleep. And that’s no good.

Just make sure to remember to get some sleep, whether you think it’s important or not, it impacts every single thing in your life, and trust me when I say you are really missing out if you aren’t sleeping well.

Every night I like to write something I am grateful for on a post-it-note and place it near my bed. In seeing this note when I wake up, it sends positive endorphins into my brain and overall increases my happiness and provides a positive attitude. This helps me stay motivated throughout the day.

People often overlook the impact of a positive attitude. Negativity is like a 20-lb weight that you have to carry in your head. This weight drags you down. It prevents you from accomplishing your goals. It pushes away your friends. It makes you feel like you’re not as good as you actually are. Keeping this weight in your head just slows you down overall. It is something that can be prevented by taking a couple precautions and by changing your overall mindset.

If you surround yourself with positive people, give yourself encouragement, and acknowledge your accomplishments; it will go a long way and you will see a difference in the way you feel. Programming your brain to apply this in your day-to-day life will improve your lifestyle. It is a small, simple, and easy to do task that goes a long way. Acknowledging how positivity can impact your life is the first step in understanding the power of positivity.

1. Keep in mind the “spirit” of the holiday. It’s so easy to get caught up in the frenzy of finding the perfect gifts for people, worrying that it’s not enough, stressing over how spectacular the day will be. Christmas is about celebrating God’s greatest gift to us, not getting the perfect gadget for your spouse or child. If we keep in mind the reason for the season, it’s easier to relax and enjoy the more simple aspects of this beautiful holiday.

2. Reach out. Christmas is a great time to go through your phone list and give people a simple “Merry Christmas” text. Ok, it’s not as good as the card you forgot to mail, but the very act of remembering people brings a certain amount of happiness to them and you.

3. Focus on the positive. Of course not everything is perfect, it really never is. But that doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful as it is. Regardless of what’s going on, there are always positive things, no matter how small, to be grateful for. These are usually the things that matter the most anyway, but we tend to forget them in all the chaos of life.

4. Do something nice for someone. Resolve to do an act of kindness. It could be someone less fortunate than you or even a random stranger. It doesn’t have to be something spectacular. It could be visiting an elderly neighbor you know is alone on Christmas just to say hello, or making a small donation to a worthy charity.

5. Forgive yourself. Nobody is perfect so stop striving for it. Progress is a much better goal. If you have a tendency to be hard on yourself or negative, try some self love. Affirmative statements, making a list of things that are good about yourself, or even meditating on the positive aspects of you as a person can go a long way toward feeling good.

6. Set boundaries and keep them. Nobody can be all things to all people, so let’s not try. Know your limits. Have you slept enough? Have you overscheduled? Are you trying to make people happy by buying stuff? It’s a good practice and ties into the first tip, to remember the significance of Christmas. It doesn’t have to be a stress filled, expensive, hectic event. Instead, it can be a quiet beautiful spiritual experience where we remember our Lord’s birth and simply enjoy being.

This year, let’s resolve to enjoy the holiday and all the little joys, sorrows, and whatevers that happen to be. Be kind to ourselves and remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas to all.

Your mind is a powerful thing,
when you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.

-Unknown Author

Never forget that your mind is the most powerful thing that you possess. 

Positive thoughts breed a good attitude, which influences your day-to-day life. Do not be the one that holds yourself back. Think positive. Strive to be the best you.

Life is filled with challenges. No matter who you are, what you do, or how much money you have: at one point in your life, you will face a challenge. Some people are fully paralyzed and cannot leave their house while others are able to sip margaritas while basking in the Hawaiian sun at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday. Regardless of who you are, each person will face some kind of obstacle that will impact their livelihood. The way you deal with an obstacle is what helps define you as an individual.

There are a lot of factors in how a person solves a challenge. I personally like to write everything down and evaluate how I will solve the problem that has fallen onto me. Physically seeing the issue written down is therapeutic to a lot of people, myself included, but that is for another article. There are a million ways to tackle a problem, but right now I am going to focus on motivation.

Motivation, as defined by Webster, is “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”
Without motivation, the challenges of everyday life will pile up. Without the “willingness” to do something, nothing will get done. Motivation, as basic of a principle, is one of the most important steps in accomplishing the many challenges we, as humans, face.

Well.. What gives you the willingness to do something?

Here is a list of 7 ways for finding the “will” to get motivated:

1. Goal Setting.
Goals are an important motivation tool, it is something that you can tangibly see and lets you know that you have something to accomplish. Humans are naturally competitive (not everyone), setting a goal gives you something to work for. Not only that, setting a goal is a way of making you self-aware that there is something you want to do.

2. Positive Encouragement.
One issue that eats at people motivation is negativity. Negativity, whether created by another or yourself, is like a parasite on self-development. You need to get away from negativity and surround yourself with positive encouragement. Positivity not only makes you a happier person, but it allows you to stay motivated. You can ask other people to try and encourage you, you can pat yourself on the back when you do something good, or you can write yourself happy notes. Just avoid anything negative.

3. Believing in something greater than yourself
Motivation can be derived from the will to help others. Whether the “something greater than yourself” is family, your basketball team, your job, or a higher power; striving to satisfy that entity gives you a motivation to succeed..

4. Surrounding yourself with motivated people
“If you run with dogs, you’re going to catch fleas.” This old saying is just a fact. If you are constantly surrounded by motivated people, that motivation is going to rub off on you. Whether you are a loner, a leader, or a follower: you are like the people you hang around with. Try and surround yourself with motivated people!

5. Getting out of your comfort zone
You can easily learn motivation if you stay in the same routine consistently, and that routine also happens to fail. Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone. A change in environment will lead to a more motivated outlook.

6. Acknowledging accomplishments, no matter the size.
How can you stay motivated if you don’t appreciate the things you have accomplished? Pat yourself on the back every once in a while, you deserve it.

7. Inspiration
Find a motivational speaker, an excellent podcast, read more articles on Do Not Be Discouraged: find something that inspires you to improve yourself and motivates you. It doesn’t have to be one thing, but strive to find things that inspire and motivate you.

Find your desire and will to stay motivated. Every person is unique and needs to find and understand their set of strengths and weaknesses. In order to over-come the challenges and obstacles you face, find your motivation. Do not let you stop you from achieving what you want out of life.

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”
-Ralph Marston

Let me know how you stay motivated, obstacles that prevent you from staying motivated, or something that you would like to be discussed more!
Thank you for reading & have an amazing day!
-Joshua

Of course, we know we can not fix other people’s problems. We can offer our empathy, we can venture to offer advise if we dare, we can even physically assist someone in certain circumstances. But, we can never “fix” other people. We are not gods, nor do we have the power over other people that enables us to do for someone what they can’t or won’t do for themselves. So we must learn detachment.

But, when we detach from other people and stop trying to control or fix them, we are left with ourselves. We see our own flaws more clearly and come to realize that we need some control and fixing. It can be uncomfortable. Yet, it’s necessary for personal growth. How can we begin to heal and grow if we aren’t really looking at ourselves and seeing with a clear head who and what we are?

And more importantly, once we do see ourselves, can we accept what we find? To know and love ourselves is the real challenge. Learning to love ourselves in a realistic way depends on seeing our selves in a realistic way. Once we truly start to see ourselves, we can strive to focus on the good and accept what needs some fine tuning. In a way, this is a further detachment from even ourselves. We know who we are and we accept it. That’s a real focus and a real detachment that can foster drastic personal growth.

So, first detach from others and stop trying to control and change people, places, and things. Then, get to know yourself for who you really are. Lastly, accept and love yourself completely and without reservation. Know that you can’t truly love another until you’ve learned to love yourself.

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
– Lucille Ball

A miracle was if a Maia had swooshed in on a horse named Shadowfax and grabbed his body seconds before the crushing blow. A miracle was if he could still move his limbs. A miracle was, perhaps, if the accident hadn’t happened at all. He was only seventeen. Just a young boy fated to the life of a quadriplegic, incontinent (until he received a leg bag connected to a urinary catheter) invalid, with the immune system of an infant. How was that a miracle? How was that being alive?

Years passed, boys became guys, girls were still girls and I moved away. I heard that the boy had travelled to India to undergo a mystical massage treatment to reverse the paralysis. It was about the same time that I read about Hellen Keller who was born blind and deaf, yet against all odds she became a famous author, activist and lecturer. Reading her inspiring story is when I received my own miracle, the eureka moment I was too ignorant to see. I realized that to my selfish eyes, they were disabled, to others afflicted in body or mind, they were a beacon of hope, of life.

It took Helen Keller for me to realize that a disability was not an impediment to a full life. Now that men are men and women are women, I realize that in my narrow minded short sightedness, I was the disabled one.

My friend of a friend is still looking for his miracle. I’m hoping some day he’ll find it in Science.

[custom_author=Deed Craig King]

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered!….not yelled.

Meanness don’t just happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about, ain’t never gonna happen anyway.

Don’t judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good and honorable life,
then when you get older and think back,
you’ll enjoy it a second time.

Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.

Timin’ has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole,
the first thing to do is stop diggin’.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with,
watches you from the mirror every mornin’.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier
than puttin’ it back in.

If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence,
try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.

Live simply, love generously, care deeply,

Speak kindly, and leave the rest to God.

Don’t pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.

And, finally…………………………………..