Strong Start! Strong Finish! Strong Faith!!

Strong Start! Strong Finish! Strong Faith!! The New Year is rapidly approaching! I am sure you like me are amazed at how rapidly this year is coming to end. As I look around, I cannot believe it is time to prepare for Christmas! The sparkling tree lights with bursts of decorations are all amidst as the holiday music surrounds us. What commands even further thought is that the end of the year is an alarming reminder that the clock is on…time is passing quickly! This past week I attended two funerals of young people who sadly passed away far too young. All serve as continual reminders that we have this gift of life. What are we going to do with it? Will you start the New Year off ahead or behind? Encouraged or discouraged as you reflect back over this year? Imagine, not to rush the holiday, there are 21 days until we are back at our desks at work or school ready to begin the new journey.

Last year on New Year’s Day my family made a time capsule and each of us with great expectation wrote down our goals and hopes for 2017. Strong start! Yet somewhere in the middle of this year for me, that cards mission on some days got lost in translation! Overshadowed by the demands of everyday living, well intentioned “tomorrows” took center stage. 21 days…that is the amount of time that neuroscientist say is needed to create a new habit and change a behavior. Some say this 21 day window is a fact based on the physiology of neuroscience. Some say it is a myth simply used to give people false hopes. Ironically the Bible talks about miracles that happened after 21 days of consistently seeking God. The book of Daniel describes how the prophet Daniel in great despair prayed for 21 days with seemingly no response. Daniel 10: 11, 12 speaks of Daniel being “greatly beloved” as the reason the angel came to his aid. “From the first day, your words were heard.” Divine help came because “God heard his words. ” What encouragement! A beautiful reminder that God” hears our words” the first time we pray them, understands and sends help when we need it most. With this year in review, I know it is difficult for us all to be consistent. As I talk with my patients about “finishing strong” this year, many smirk and roll their eyes! Like me they started the year strong but somewhere along the way, the consistent motivation to follow through got hijacked. Many of us are wading through clutter, inconsistent exercise, and are now trying to escape the abundance of chocolate and Christmas treats that call us. Our missioned “ to do list” remains undone. Identify with any feelings of frustration and disappointment about unmet dreams as this year ends? 21 days to a miracle of change. What is truth? What do you think: fact or fiction? For me, any effort I can do that moves me toward an increased level of personal confidence, control, and a sense of well-being, (no matter how large or small), is a miracle I am running toward! Strong Start! Strong Finish! All made possible by our Strong Faith! Our trust and faith in God is our secret weapon to success. Please join me as we put this theory of 21 days to move toward victory to the test. I am on the battlefield with you! Boots on the ground! Your input and interaction is welcome! Miracle Verse: Isaiah 40: 28-31 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no man can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Power Quote: “If your life were a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go? That’s the question that changed my life forever.” Amy Purdy

Encouraging Words: Ted X Talk: Amy Purdy: “ Living beyond Limits” Ted.com As we face the end of this year let us together move toward miracle moments, miracle days and a year we will look back upon as VICTORIOUS! Let’s start this New Year feeling ahead and not behind! Embrace Hope! Let our mantra be: STRONG START! STRONG FINISH! STRONG FAITH!! Is our 21 day strategy! I am in it to win it with you! Day 1: Strong Start! Strong Finish! Strong Faith! Write It Down! “Write the Vision and make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. The just shall live by faith.” Habakkuk 2:2-4 On an index card write down your “Miracle List”. Be specific! Write down 3-5 things that you feel would be too much to hope for. Write down today’s date. Commit your goals to writing. Those goals don’t have to be big to anyone but you. Writing your goals, will add clarity, and give you a sense of excitement and hope as you see and feel the possibilities that your “Big picture” for your life can actually happen. Research done at the Dominican University in California by a psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews supports these findings. Dr. Matthews recruited 267 participants from a variety of businesses and organizations from around the world. She found participants who wrote down their goals and sent weekly updates to a friend had a much higher success rate than those who kept their goals to themselves. Her research has been cited in The International Business Times, Forbes, and the Huffington Post. Conclusions: Research supports the powerful effect of accountability, public commitment and written goals made a significant difference in achieving success. Writing down your goals fuels your subconscious mind. Writing down our goals with daily review and repetition has a positive effect on the dopamine levels of the brain. Increased dopamine levels improve concentration, focus, and enhances our ability to finish what we start. This in turn results in an increased sense of well-being. Remember we are talking baby steps, movement each day that will have an additive effect toward manifesting your goals. This belief will you give you a new energy, a quiet inner joy that makes your soul smile. Let’s not just not keeping talking about an empowered live…let’s LIVE IT! Ref: Dr. Gail Matthews Dominican University of California. May 2015 : Ninth Annual International Conference of the Psychology Research Unit of Athens Institute for Education and Research