23Sep 2014 by CJ

Everything worth anything is worth waiting for

Life & Living
“And you know what I realize now? That we're all waiting on something, no matter where we are in life. It's the human condition.” - Melanie Shankle Growing up, I would always stand at the front door patiently waiting for my grandparents when I knew they were coming over. Whenever I’d see a set of headlights turning the corner at the top of our hill, I found myself excited over the possibility that it was them. I did this ritual so often that I could identify their car by the shape of their illuminated headlights, and the fact that my grandfather was leisurely driving down our one-lane street at 15 miles per hour. It might sound silly, but when they finally pulled into our driveway I felt the anxiety of…
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22Sep 2014 by CJ

When feeling down remember, this is temporary

Life & Living
For anyone who’s ever found themselves lost, alone and discouraged by the unforeseen challenges life continually hand us, it can be utterly impossible at times to believe that better days are coming. Humans seem to be wired to focus on the negatives in life – to overlook and underappreciate all the blessings we’ve been afforded as we swirl further and further into personal pity and despair. A friend of mine continually tells me that “this is temporary” whenever I’m feeling as though my life will never return to a feeling of fulfillment, prosperity and joy. However, that’s not so easy to remember when you feel as though your life is void of purpose and security. It can be frightening at times to look ahead and see nothing but a black…
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19Sep 2014 by CJ

If you don’t respect others, chances are you don’t respect yourself

Life & Living
“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson What would you say of a student who has utterly no respect for his teachers? A student who follows his or her own rules, answers to no one and often uses offensive and many times inappropriate language when addressing the head of his or her class? You might scratch your head wondering why so many children today seem to be entitled – unafraid of authority; disrespecting of anyone they don’t personally invite within their social circles. But the answer is easier than you might think, though good luck ever hearing politicians, school boards or students themselves brand this group as the culprits. I’m talking about parents.…
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18Sep 2014 by CJ

Living a simple life leads to the most happiness

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with—that’s poverty—but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.” ― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty It’s rare that we ever take the time to evaluate the material (and personal) clutter in our lives and ask ourselves, “how can I simplify my life – what could I truly live without and still be happy?” For me, a highly anal organizer, there’s no greater feeling than purging the unneeded “stuff” we seem to hoard. We’ve got closets, basements, garages, attics, sheds…
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17Sep 2014 by CJ

Failure provides you with another opportunity to succeed

Life & Living
I consider myself fairly handy and ingenuitive when it comes to home improvements – a skill set I no doubt acquired from my father and my grandfather during all the invaluable times we shared together. Even today, regardless of the household task at hand, I’m always reminded of the two of them. Sometimes I actually feel as though they’re still there guiding me and educating me on an easier way to strip electrical wires or how an ordinary bar of soap rubbed on the threads of a screw make it easier to drive into difficult substrates. But of all the lessons they taught me perhaps the most important is that there’s more than one way to do something. I not only use this piece of wisdom during any home improvement…
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