by Clarence E. Stowers | May 22, 2009 | Current Affairs, Decisions, Empowerment, Other Stuff, Relationships, Success
Everyone has made poor choices or done something in their past that could possibly be coined as “regrettable.” It’s easy to play the blame game, pointing fingers at someone else or circumstances as to why you have stumbled or why your life is difficult. Taking personal ownership that your past actions resulted in bringing about your currently reality is the first step to moving past regrets and moving toward a brighter future.
Here’s what I’d like for you to do:
ACKNOWLEDGE A MISTAKE HAS BEEN MADE
If your past actions or words have harmed another person an apology may be in order. Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes. Continually berating yourself for past actions is self-defeating. Righting a wrong is not always feasible. If you feel badly about a past action, forgive yourself, others, and let it go and move on!
by Clarence E. Stowers | May 19, 2009 | College Life, Communication, Current Affairs, Decisions, Success
If you had a chance to go back and time redo life, would you? Everyone has made poor choices or done something in their past that could possibly be labeled as regrettable. But, think about it. The fact that you are now able to look back and realize that a mistake or mis-step occurred means you have learned a valuable lesson. Some of my choices may have landed me in unpleasant circumstances, but experiencing these things certainly built my current character. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for those character-building situations.
Mistakes are stepping stones to an evolving life.
If I had to live my life over again, I’d try to make more mistakes. Why? Mistakes give us experience which, in turn, makes us wiser.
If you had to live your life over again what 3 things would you change?
by Clarence E. Stowers | May 15, 2009 | Decisions, Other Stuff
Life has a way of rearranging your schedule without your permission.
First, allow me to apologize to my blog family for not posting in a while. I’ve been extremely busy setting up our community development corporation, pastoring, meetings, shuttling my children to their events, being a husband…you get the picture. So, I thought I’d start Monday’s post with a question everyone has thought about:
If you had to do it all over again…would you?
by Clarence E. Stowers | Apr 27, 2009 | Decisions, Empowerment, Leadership, Other Stuff, Success
Who you’ll be in five years depends on:
- what friends you surround yourself with
- what you read
- what you eat
- what you watch
- what you hear
- what you change
- what you let go
- what you plan for
- what new thing you try
- what new places you go
- what you believe about God
- what you believe about yourself
- what you believe about others
- what you invest your time in
- what you volunteer for
- what skill you’re learning
- what courage you have to make mistakes
- what mistakes you’ll make
- what you’ll learn from your mistakes
So WHAT are you doing today?
by Clarence E. Stowers | Apr 15, 2009 | Church Issues, Communication, Decisions, Empowerment, Money and Finance, Politics, Success, Vision
“It was the best of times, the worst of times…”
The opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, referring to the time of the French Revolution describes the economic reality of today. The question that’s on everyone’s mind, but, seldom asked is: How are you doing? The answer depends on your individual circumstances, of course – but also on your perspective. The glass is either half full or half empty for many of us today. This morning when I woke up, my first emotion was profound gratitude. Even though my financial worth had been decimated by the events of the last three months, I realized that nothing could touch the things that are most valuable to me.
I also realized that I have a choice: I can focus on what I have lost or I can focus on what I have. I started making a mental list:
- I have my health.
- I have a loving wife, who is also my best friend
- I have three wonderful children. “I am particularly fond of each of them,” as Papa says in The Shack.
- I have several profound friendships that encourage and challenge me.
- I have meaningful work that I would do even if I wasn’t getting paid.
- I have incredibly competent co-workers whom I truly love and respect.
- I have a church that grows dearer to me with each passing year.
- I have a relationship with God that is endlessly fascinating and fulfilling.
And the list goes on. I could name a hundred more things, but you get the idea.
My guess is that the Economic Downturn is going to get worse (I pray I’m wrong) before it gets better. You and I have very little control over what happens in the external environment. But we do have control over what happens inside our hearts. It all depends on our mental focus.
Question:
What do you have that the Economic Downturn can’t touch?
FYI – I want to thank my friends from Facebook for sharing their tips. If you would like to read more, please click here.
by Clarence E. Stowers | Mar 20, 2009 | Decisions, Other Stuff, Web/Tech, Weblogs
I’m back…
First, I want to thank my web/blog designers Chris and Erin for designing an incredible site. Thank you Chris for masterfully handling the coding and hacking. Also, thanks Erin for the design work – especially the color selection. My web designers, Chris and Erin of Arcane Palette Creative Design, spent the last two weeks porting my blog from TypePad (my previous blogging platform) to WordPress. This has been a big project-much bigger than I expected. Oh, I only wished I had started with WordPress when I began blogging two years ago. You’ll notice several changes:
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