Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 380 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (5) - The Awakening of Spring

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 380 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder the truths about life and creating your living legacy. Today we will consider The Constant, Predictable Pattern of Change within the Cycles and Seasons of Life.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. On Wednesday, we invested the day with our local client assisting with the monthly billings and other back office duties.  After we had finished with the client, we went shopping for all the food and supplies for the Chamberlain reunion that starts Friday evening and runs through Monday morning. Some of our family will only be in for a day, but overall we are anticipating 75 -100 family members in attendance. While we did not complete all of the projects we had planned, the most important ones were finished, and we are ready for family to arrive. My sister Rebecca and sister-in-law Ann helped Paula prepare the meals on Thursday. Our nephew Adam came up with Rebecca and helped me with some remaining projects that I worked on.

While change is a constant part of our lives, being able to renovate The Big House also gives us a realization how important a solid foundation in life really is. With the house being over 110 years old, it is still as grand and beautiful as ever. With all of the fast pace changes in our lives, a strong, solid, lasting foundation is an important part of the living legacy that each of us should work toward.

As part of the Cycles and Seasons of Life, today on our trek we will explore change through…

The Constant, Predictable, Pattern of Change

The tide comes in and then recedes; the sun rises, giving light, and then sets, bringing darkness. Drought plagues the farm fields of the world, followed by rain in abundance. On this day, we swelter under the intense heat of the July sun, and soon we clothe ourselves against the penetrating cold of the mid-winter storm. Prosperity brings her abundant opportunity and rewards, but will withdraw at a future time when confronted by a receding business climate. The smile gives way to the tear, as does the joy to the sorrow and the jubilation to the tragedy. Close friends become hated enemies. The guns and bloodshed of war are followed by the stillness of a temporary peace.

For each of us existing on this spinning blue-white sphere called earth, confidence is replaced with the passage of time, by doubt; patience is replaced by stress; expectancy by boredom; and achievement by disillusionment.

As the wheel of life continues its constant turn, all human emotions appear, disappear, and appear once again. We sit in amazement in the role of spectators, as a generation living in morality becomes an immoral generation. This gives us cause to predict the end of the world, as did our forefathers when confronted by the same dilemma generations before.

The confrontations, disappointments, and challenges of life are treated by each generation as though they are the first to experience such events, when in fact, the pre-Christian years saw the same occurrences both appear and dissolve.

In Ecclesiastes 1:4-11 Solomon describes it this way,

"Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.  The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.  The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.  Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 379 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Hope Deferred Make the Heart Sick - Proverbs 13:1-12

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 379 of our trek, and today is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday we will explore for nuggets of wisdom to help you to grow in wisdom, insight, and understanding. Today we will dig for these treasures in Proverbs 13.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. By the time this day’s trek is completed, we should have the exterior trim and front porch painted. We also need to paint the gas lamps in the yard and a table for the front porch. The details for the reunion are coming together although we were not able to complete everything in our plans. Over the subsequent weeks and months, we will continue to complete the projects on our renovation list.

Much to our surprise and enjoyment after being away for nearly a week, the two young hawks have returned. Although we do not see them frequent the nest, they appear to be practicing their calls, flying, and hunting. It has been very interesting to watch.

Another subject that I find very interesting and useful are the nuggets of wisdom from Proverbs 13. Today on our trek, we will explore the first 12 verses in what I am calling…

 Hope Deferred Makes The Heart Sick

1 A wise child accepts a parent’s discipline;

a mocker refuses to listen to correction.

Parents who instruct their children well are those who disciple them. To be able to disciple properly, you must also live a life where lessons can be caught, as well as taught. Yes, instructing children does require various forms of discipline through the process, but a child who is gaining wisdom will accept that discipline as part of their training for life. On the other hand, a child who is unwise rejects the discipline from a parent. He will mock and ridicule that instruction.

 

2 Wise words will win you a good meal,

but treacherous people have an appetite for violence.

When you are wise, your words will be full of wisdom. This will satisfy the soul like a good meal satisfies hunger. In contrast, the unwise and unfaithful person is one who is always seeking to be satisfied, but their hunger is never filled because they seek that which is wrong and cannot bring any lasting satisfaction

 

3 Those who control their tongue will have a long life;

opening your mouth can ruin everything.

As Solomon points out many times in Proverbs, speaking too much is not wise. If we can learn to speak only when it is appropriate, and we have something worthwhile to say, then it will spare us much sorrow and lead to a full and long life. The opposite of this is someone who speaks without thinking or wisdom. They also speak too often, and as a result, their lives will be full of hardship, both for themselves and those around them.

 

4 Lazy people want much but get little,

but those who work hard will prosper.

A person who is lazy does not understand the basic principle and direct correlation between work and prosperity. They desire to have much, but end up with little. Those who are willing to work hard and not chase fantasies or get rich quick schemes will have an abundance of all that they need. One aspect of this concept that many do not understand is that you cannot spend more than you earn. The reason so many people feel that they work hard and still do not prosper is that they are living beyond their means. We can get by in life with so much less than we realize. If we are disciplined, frugal and work hard,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 378 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Guide to Motivation (2)

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 378 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday we will provide a shot of motivation to encourage and inspire you to make it a great week. Today we will finish up a two-part exploration of A Guide to Motivation.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. We had an extremely busy weekend of restoration work. All of the woodwork and floors that we had planned to refinish at this time are completed. We also are making progress on the exterior painting and hope to finish it up by Wednesday. There are some other miscellaneous projects that we desire to complete this week, but they may have to wait until later. Before the start of the reunion, I hope to get a video capture of the renovations that we have completed so far.

Some of the Wisdom-Trek and client projects have been delayed until the middle of July when we return from the Podcast Movement conference. Our focus on the renovations, Chamberlain reunion, and conference where I will be speaking, has consumed most of our time this month. Since the conference is focused on podcasting, I am sure we will be highly motivated to make good progress when we return from Chicago on July 9th.

As we think about motivation, let us head out on the 2nd segment of our trek today to explore 20 ways to sustain motivation when you are struggling…

A Guide to Motivation (2)

The second half of our guide to motivation explores how to keep yourself going when you don’t feel the same excitement as you did in the beginning. Perhaps something new has come into your life, and your old goal isn’t as much of a priority anymore. Perhaps you skipped a day or two, and now you can’t get back into it. Perhaps you screwed up and got discouraged.

If you can get yourself excited again and keep going, you’ll get there eventually. But if you give up, you won’t. It’s your choice — accomplish the goal or quit. Here are 20 tips to assist you in reaching your goal:

Hold yourself back. When you start a new exercise program, or any new goal really, you are full of excitement, and your enthusiasm knows no boundaries. You may think you can do anything. It’s not long before you learn that you do have limitations, and your enthusiasm begins to wane. One lesson to learn and sustain motivation, even if you have a lot of energy at the beginning of a program and want to go all out — hold back slightly. Remember that any goal worth achieving will best be accomplished over an extended period of time. Don’t let yourself do everything you want to do immediately. Plan out a sensible course of action where you slowly increase over time. For example, if you want to go running, you might think you can run 3 miles at first. But instead of letting yourself do that, start by only running a mile. When you’re running that mile, you may tell yourself that you can do more, but don’t. After that workout, you will be looking forward to the next workout, when you will run 1.5 miles. Keep that energy reined in, harness it so that you can run even further long term.

Just start. There are some days when you don’t feel like heading out the door for a run, or figuring out your budget, or whatever it is you’re supposed to do that day for your goal. Instead of thinking about how hard it is and how long it will take, tell yourself that you just have to start. I have a practice where I lay my exercise clothes out the night before, so they are ready when I get up. It is starting that is the most difficult time. Once you start, it is never as hard as you thought it would be.

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 377 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (4) - The Value of Attitude

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 377 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder on an aspect of life that will help us to create and grow our living legacy. Currently, we are in a multi-part series of exploring the Cycles and Seasons of Life. Today we will hike the Value of Attitude Trail.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. By this weekend, I should have all the upstairs woodwork, floors, and the front stairway coated with polyurethane. This has been quite a feat with a total of 11 doorways upstairs. Even after living here for nearly 30 years, I had not thought about the number of doorways. With applying polyurethane to that many doors and trim, it became painfully obvious that there were a lot. They do look nice, and the time invested now will bring pleasure to many for generations to come. We do consider this our passion project for the extended family and part of our living legacy.

This weekend and the first part of next week, I should be able to finish up the back stairway, and the downstairs hallway and foyer. There is much to complete before July 1st when the Chamberlain reunion starts. We will accomplish as much as we can, leave the rest in God’s hands, and realize that we can continue on as we have opportunity in the months ahead. We are blessed that in this season of life we have time and opportunity to gradually work on the restoration of The Big House.

As we think about life, let us head out on the 4th segment of our trek today to explore The Value of Attitudes within:

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (4)

Regardless of your own religious or intellectual inclinations, it is difficult to believe that humans somehow came about by random chance and circumstances. For all of us, what we believe about the origin of life, and particularly humans, is based purely on faith. Scientific proof requires observation and testing. No one is alive to verify what really happened in the ages past. Recorded human history is only from the past few thousand years.  For me, it is more logical to have faith in a divine creator opposed to random chance and circumstances. I am personally convinced that the entire universe, including the earth and everything living on it, were created by God. Humans are a special creation since we are created in God’s image as describe in Genesis 1:26-27, "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.' So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." 

Based on this belief, you were created to grow in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God and His precepts. In light of your eternal purpose and existence, even if you live beyond 100, your life is just a speck in time. As it says in James 4:14, "How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone."

Your life on earth is but a mere stepping stone within your eternal existence. How your earthly trek finishes is based on the choices and decisions that you make each day. The impact of those choices will remain throughout eternity.

The more that I study, read, ponder, and speculate about people, their deeds, and their destiny, I become more deeply convinced that it is by God’s design that our natural destiny is to grow, to succeed,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 376 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Truthful Words Stand the Test of Time - Proverbs 12:17-28

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 376 of our trek, and today is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday we will explore for the nuggets of wisdom found in the book of Proverbs. Today we will continue with chapter 12:17-28.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. On the renovation front, we were able to finish painting the swingset/fort, and we are working on painting the exterior trim on the sun porch and front porch. Both areas are quite large, so we hope to finish that painting by the end of this next week. Inside, I am continuing to apply polyurethane to the woodwork and both stairways with the hope to also finish the floors before the start of next week so they will have adequate time to dry solid. Our renovation contractor was in this week and able to finish up the small amount of crown molding that had to be custom made for three curved areas on the walls. It turned out really nice.

It appears that both the parents and young hawks have left for their summer home. We will miss watching them and hope that they will return again next year.

It is now time to go exploring for those precious nuggets of wisdom that are found in Proverbs. Today our title is…

Truthful Words Stand the Test of Time

17 An honest witness tells the truth;

a false witness tells lies.

On the surface, this verse appears very obvious, but if you have ever been in the courtroom during a major trial, you know that there are many times where lies are made to appear as truth. I had a friend that went through a very long drawn out legal battle where the prosecutor pushed very hard for a plea bargain. This would have required him to confess to a lesser crime when he committed no crime at all. Although he had to suffer through the process of 18 months, he finally had his day in court and was vindicated of the charges because he was steadfast with the truth. In the same way, God desires us to always be honest in our testimony and cling to the truth. Regardless of the circumstances, we need to stand on the truth. Justice will prevail because a false witness will be known for his lies.

 

18 Some people make cutting remarks,

but the words of the wise bring healing.

Cruel words can cut to the very soul of a person, and those who speak them are not wise. You can know if a person is wise by how they talk to and about others. In contrast, a wise person will heal instead of cut. They are willing and ready to heal the wounds of those who have been cut down by the unwise. It is our responsibility to be kind and compassionate at all times and in every situation.

 

 

19 Truthful words stand the test of time,

but lies are soon exposed.

There is no substitute for always telling the truth. Although it may be difficult, there is never a reason to lie. When you practice telling the truth all the time, you never have to be concerned about what you told to whom because it is the truth and the truth does not change. Our society has become so accustomed to situational ethics, that it has become the norm in both personal and business life. Our ethics, which are driven by our integrity, should never change based on the situation that we happen to be in from one day to another. Truth lasts forever, but those who practice telling lies will be exposed for what they truly are - liars.

 

20 Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil;

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 375 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

A Guide to Motivation (1)

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 375 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday on our trek, we will assist you to motivate yourself so that you can maximize your week in creating and living your legacy, which will positively impact your world.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. During this past week as I have been looking out our office windows, I have made two noteworthy observations. First, our two young hawks are now out of their nest and testing their wings. While they are a little unsteady, they are flying pretty well. They continue to preen the fluffy white down from their bodies, as the new dark feathers are now covering them quite well.

The second observation is the damage to the trees from the cicadas laying their eggs is starting to manifest itself. Most of the time the cicadas will pierce the bark on the tips of the new growth at the end of the tree limbs. As the eggs grow into grubs, it kills the tips of the limbs, which eventually fall to the ground. While it does not impact the large oak trees on our properly in a significant way, I did experience the major damage that the 17-year locust caused to the trees in our apple orchard while growing up. It had a major impact on the trees that took several years to recover from.

This past weekend we had the blessing of having four of our grandkids stay with us Friday night and Saturday while Elizabeth and Nat went to see the musical Oklahoma at the newly renovated Peoples Bank Theater here in Marietta. During high school, I played the part of Little Jake in Oklahoma, thanks to my small stature.

We also had the privilege of attending church with Dad on Father’s Day and also treat him to lunch at his favorite restaurant Cracker Barrel. It is motivating to me to invest time with Dad with his simplistic love for life. He has taught me so many lessons as part of his living legacy to me.

It is now time to head out on our trek for today as we consider some guidelines for motivation so that motivation becomes a habit that is integrated into your daily life. Today and next Monday we will explore…

A Guide to Motivation (1)

Although it may not be obvious at first, the lack of motivation many times stems from fear. Fear that we will fail. Fear of not knowing how to proceed. Fear of looking foolish. Fear that we are not as good as someone else. We start to see all of the obstacles that on our trail, and we are fearful to move forward because we are not sure how to overcome those obstacles. I still suffer from some of these thoughts, and I consider myself both optimistic and motivated most of the time. Some have called this the imposter syndrome, where we lack the motivation to move forward because we lack confidence.

To stay motivated, you need to have a burning passion and desire to succeed and reach your goals regardless of the obstacles on your trail of life. Henry Ford put it this way, “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”  You also need to have a plan in place to continue on as Proverbs 21:5 tells us, "Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty."

One of the biggest challenges in meeting any goal, whether it be related to productivity, waking early, changing a habit, exercising, or just becoming happier, is finding the motivation to stick with it. If you can stick with a goal for long enough, then there is a chance that it will become a habit. Once a habit is formed,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 374 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (3) - Choose Friends Wisely

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 374 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday on our trek we ponder life, consider our purpose within life, and how we can make the greatest impact on the world around us.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Paula should be heading back to Marietta on Friday and will be dropping Mom Jarvis off at her sister’s as we are making our final preparations for the reunion and will be traveling the week after that. Our daughter Elizabeth and Nat are celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary, so we have the blessing of watching four of our grandkids on Friday night and Saturday.

We also continue to prepare for the Chamberlain reunion, which starts in two weeks. The following week Paula and I will be driving to Chicago for the Podcast Movement Conference. At the conference, I have the privilege of speaking at one of the sessions about creating and living your legacy. We are also honored that Wisdom-Trek has been nominated for the Academy of Podcasters Award in the Religion and Spirituality category. In addition to that, our client work has been steady but not overwhelming this week, so it has allowed us a bit more time to focus on some of our longer term projects.

It is now time to head out on the third trail of our trek for Philosophy Friday as we consider and ponder The Cycles and Seasons of Life.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (3)

This is the third Philosophy Friday trek within this series as we consider how others impact our lives and legacy either positively or negatively and how we must consciously choose who we invest a significant amount of time with. Today we will continue along that same trail.

Life is a delicate maneuver of selection, rejection, review, and change. Each person entering your world brings either a contribution or destruction. Trying to accommodate everyone is to invite certain disaster. Those with poisonous attitudes, strange opinions, and caustic conversations love to look for someone accommodating or nice who will listen to them. They love to dump their verbal garbage into the mental factory of anyone willing to listen. A major challenge in life is that you must learn the art of standing guard at the doorway of your mind. Carefully examine the credentials and authority of those seeking to enter within that place where your attitudes are formed.

The words, opinions, and comments of others are constantly shaping your mind and life. You must be careful who you invest time with because subtly, the conversations of fear, gloom, despair, complaining, condemning, and criticizing are forming your temporary moods and your permanent personality and character. Remember that 

Children are often told by well-intentioned but misguided parents that they are bad, naughty, selfish, or shy. Teachers by their actions or their expressions sometimes report to the parents that their child is slow, uncooperative, or poor as a student.

Throughout your early years, you may have been subjected to impulsive remarks of those who were unaware that it was those very words that were forming your character. As we become adults, we then seem to choose to associate with those most like you. The weak attract the weak; the poor are most comfortable with the poor; the successful are drawn toward those who are successful; those of optimistic views and attitudes select those of their own kind.  The old proverb “Birds of a feather flock together” is certainly true.

Fortunately,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 373 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Don't Be Stupid - Proverbs 12:1-16

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 373 of our trek, and today is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday on our trek, we will dig for the nuggets of wisdom found in the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore the first part of chapter 12.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. As I continue to work in and around The Big House, Paula headed south to Charlotte for a few days to collect the mail, meet with her quilting group, and take her mom to a doctor’s appointment. She should head back to Marietta on Friday if all goes according to plan. I have finished sanding the upstairs and downstairs hallways and both flights of stairs. I am working on cleaning up the dust and getting ready to start applying polyurethane to the woodwork and floors. We continue on our trek of life, one day at a time.

As we head up Wisdom’s trail today, let’s start digging for those nuggets that, if applied to your life, will truly make you healthy, wealthy, and wise. We will explore Proverbs 12:1-16 today, and the title of this trek is:

Don’t Be Stupid

One thing that I really like about the wisdom nuggets in Proverbs is the compare and contrast element of most verses. Solomon does not mince words in most of the passages, so it is easy to understand and apply to our lives. So let’s start right in with verse 1.

1 To learn, you must love discipline;

it is stupid to hate correction.

One area that I don’t think is taught well at home or in school is that if you desire to learn, it is required that we integrate discipline into our daily lives. In fact, we should love that discipline. Most of us would not describe discipline as something that we love, but just as love for another person is a choice, we must choose to love discipline if we desire to learn. If we instead hate discipline and correction, then we will be considered stupid. There is little difference between someone who cannot learn and someone who will not learn.

2 The Lord approves of those who are good,

but he condemns those who plan wickedness.

We all like approval of others, and it is even more crucial that we are approved by God. If we live according to His Word and precepts, then we will have that approval. In contrast, those who habitually plan wicked deeds will not have the same approval from God.

3 Wickedness never brings stability,

but the godly have deep roots.

A life that that is lived contrary to God’s Word will be shallow and have no substance to it. This is a foolish person who builds his house on sand. A life that is grounded in God’s Word will have deep roots and a solid foundation, just like a person who builds his house on solid rock.

4 A worthy wife is a crown for her husband,

but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.

Speaking from my own experience of having a worthy wife, I can certainly agree with this proverb. Paula is a shining crown in my life. On the other hand, I have seen marriages where a nagging and complaining wife eats at the core of her husband. Of course, an unloving husband will also be cancer to his wife.

5 The plans of the godly are just;

the advice of the wicked is treacherous.

When you are able to obtain counsel from those who have high moral integrity you will know that their advice and plans will be fair, both to you and the person giving advice. This is not true of a selfish, proud, and wicked person. Beware of accepting their advice, or you will be tricked by their schemes.

6 The words of the wicked are like a murderous ambush,

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 372 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

How to Achieve Anything You Desire

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 372 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Each Monday our trek is designed to motivate and encourage you to make a significant positive impact on the lives of others. Today our trek will take us to the land where we can achieve anything that we set our minds to.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. As we continue inside and out on our renovation projects, I power washed the fences around “The Cabbage Patch” house my brother Jack owns, the children’s play fort, and the trim and front porch of The Big House. The temperatures over the weekend were in the 90s, so it was great to be working with and getting soaked by using the power-washer. We were also able to use the walk behind weed trimmer around the house, the trees, and the path through the woods.

Between our client work and the renovation projects, we do work hard and are able to accomplish a significant amount, but it is not because we have any special abilities or talents. We have a drive and motivation to accomplish certain goals and tasks. We also have a belief that we can achieve anything if our desire is greater than the work and risk involved.

As we head out on our trek today on the Trail of Motivation, let us travel to that Promised Land where we can achieve anything that we desire, as I title today’s trek…

How to Achieve Anything You Desire

Is there a goal you want to accomplish but just cannot find the time or desire to start it? It might be something trivial like reducing your amount of TV watching or time spent browsing the Internet. You may desire to become an early riser or to quit drinking alcohol or to start a home business. Whatever it is, what is keeping you where you are instead of reaching your desired destination?

While I consider myself a pretty disciplined and motivated person, I too struggle at times with staying focused on my highest payoff activities that will bring the most value to my life. Overcoming these mental blocks and actually taking action towards our most important activities needs to be our focus on a daily basis.

Setting routines which form habits, even in the small mundane tasks of life, is an important element in actually achieving your dreams and desires. If you can continue these smaller tasks for a couple of weeks consistently, then push for continuing for a full month. If you can consistently do it for a month, you will have habituated the activity into your daily rhythm and be able to keep it up for a very long period of time. Even when you run into obstacles, if it is a habit, you will be able to continue forward.

The point of this podcast and journal is to extract the lessons needed for achieving a goal successfully and then applying those lessons to other areas of your life. In doing so, you will also have to analyze why you have failed to achieve your dreams and desires. Many mistakes are unavoidable. Learn to forgive yourself. It’s not a problem to make them. It’s only a problem if you never learn from them.

Bottom line:  Just because you have not achieved the level of success you desire yet, doesn’t mean you never will.  Sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right. That is how you gain experience, which is how you grow in wisdom, which allows you to live a legacy that will positively impact others. So, let's analyze some of the reasons for failure.

1.   You use the excuse, “I don’t have enough time.”

All of us fall into this trap.  You have to realize that the excuse “I don’t have t...

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 371 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Cycles and Seasons of Life (2) - Guard Your Mind

Thank you for joining us for our 3 days per week, 12 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 371 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Each Friday our trek will be philosophical in nature, and this is the 2nd week of the trek that is focused on The Cycles and Seasons of Life.  This information is a combination of my own life experiences and learning from one of my virtual mentors Jim Rohn as well as others.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. During the past month, we removed and refinished the name and address signs that hung at the entrance of our driveway. We finally hung them back out, and we are pleased with the results.

I am continuing to work on sanding the stairs and the downstairs hallway and foyer. Hopefully, I will be able to start applying polyurethane to the woodwork and floors next week. There is also a small amount of crown molding trim that needs to be finished by our contractor, so hopefully, he will be able to work that into his schedule this next week. Renovations on a large old home are never ending, but we do enjoy the process.

 

This is true of every aspect of our lives. There are different phases and seasons that we go through. If we live wisely, we will have much to be thankful for and enjoy the journey each day. This does not mean that we will hike a smooth trail every day but it does mean that we will be prepared for the rocks, limbs, washouts, and other obstacles that we encounter on our trek of life. If we are adequately prepared, then we will navigate life successfully.

It is now time to set out on our trek for today as we continue to consider how our environment affects our circumstances within the:

Cycles and Seasons of Life (2)

One of the most important aspects of how successful you are in all areas of life is who and what you allow to influence you, especially what you allow permeating your mind.

You sometimes can accumulate a mixture of the people and situations of life, which, if not altered in some way, will assure that your future, will be just about like your past. That could be either a positive or negative aspect of your future. Moving positively forward within your life does have its price, for each positive gain you make automatically produces a loss or a sacrifice in some other area of life.

With that understanding, even if you try to avoid it, you will be affected in a negative way by something each day. One of the great challenges of life is to have both the wisdom to recognize those sources of negativity, and the courage to cast them aside, if necessary. None of us would voluntarily drink a glass of deadly poison if we knew what it was, and yet each of us has friends, relatives, or business associates whose effect on us is just as deadly as the glass of poison.

The difference is that one form of poison kills instantly. Once consumed, the body recoils, weakens, and then all bodily functions cease. The other “poisons” that we receive from those we associate with kill hopes, ambitions, enthusiasm, and the thirst for achievement. The methods are different, but the ultimate result is the same. There is very little difference between one who has given up his life and one who has given up his hope.

There are those who will laugh if you read useful books, and yet there is little difference between those who cannot read and those who will not read—the result of both is ignorance.

There are those who will discourage you when you search for a better occupation or focus, and yet it is essential that you find your calling and pur...