Life Angles: LIFE - Living Intentionally For Excellence!

Those four words engender so much meaning! They instill within me a recognition of an innate passion that has been a part of me since before I came to this sojourn. I am going to attempt to articulate what they mean to me in this blog post.

But first, let me tell you where I got them. Over the weekend, I was privileged to meet the #7 Leadership Guru in the WORLD. Credit for those four words must go to him. As far as I know, he came up with the acronym (perhaps with help from others).

Hearing this acronym, and seeing him speak several times, has inspired me to go back to my dusty blog for some more inter-mind interactions, which will be portrayed here in this outer-mind communication medium called a "Blog".

I am trying to write faster than I have in the past, because a friend of mine suggested that I post every day for 100 days, and I rather liked the idea.

Considering that my blog was already named "Life Angles" long before I heard this LIFE acronym, it seemed fitting. So I've decided to come up with a new acronym for LIFE every day, and write a post about it. :)

This brilliant idea would have normally been immediately shot down by me, owing to the busy nature of my life of late, combined with my tendency to be a perfectionist when composing a blog post.

As a result of the intersection of those two things with my new goal to write a post every day, I have of necessity decided to curtail my perfectionistic nature, and just pump these blogs out of my brain as fast as they can flow.

But, I hope and pray that I will still be able to inspire you, my loyal readers (whoever and wherever you are) with my words. Inspiring others is the secondary purpose for which I created this blog in the first place (the first purpose is that I enjoy writing).

And, rest assured, when I speak, I am speaking with passion. These things really do come from within my heart. I do not simply compile a string of words that are likely to inspire people. I write from my heart, about what inspires ME.

I write about the multifarious subjects that have ever caused, or will cause a stir, big or small, within myself.

When I first created this blog, I had planned to comment on anything political or humorous as well, and I may still throw some of those anecdotes into my blog here and there.

But for the next 100 days, I want to focus primarily on whatever inspires me, and hopefully may inspire you as well.

L.I.F.E.! "Living Intentionally For Excellence!!!" These four words enshroud my spirit in a conscious power! They define so much of what I am all about! Let's dissect them:



1. LIVING

Living! We are all living, breathing, original, creative, powerful beings who were created by a loving God, and placed here on Earth upon our own consent and ardent desire to experience, learn, grow, and progress!

Think deeply for a moment about what the word "life" itself signifies. Life boggles my mind at times, just as time and space do. And "life" is what you and I are. We are intelligent life!

We have the agency, and the powerful faculties of our minds and bodies, to enable us to do anything that we want, and make anything of this LIFE that we want and decide to. And we can help and lift other living, intelligent beings (people) along the way as well.

We can even bless the lives of animals. Animals have a lower intelligence than humans do, but they are our chums here on Earth, and are still "LIFE", just as we are. As such, they deserve our respect. But I suppose that that is a subject for another post. On with the subject at hand...



2. LIVING INTENTIONALLY

"Living Intentionally"! INTENTIONALLY! Will Smith in one of his movies said, "Begin each day as if it were on purpose". Think of the many people out there who seem to be living life "on accident". They need to be reminded why they are here! That task can fall upon you and I, if we will let it. But first, let us make sure that WE are living our OWN lives on PURPOSE!

Those two words, "Living Intentionally", carry so much meaning for me. They send vivid pictures into my mind of the way that I have always dreamed of living, and have been working hard to live.

I have not found my sweet, strong, virtuous, beloved angel wife yet, but I know that she's out there. I often imagine and visualize the type of husband and father that I want to be. And I work constantly to learn, grow, and prepare myself more and more to be worthy of such a woman.

Here and there in life, I see and hear of people who are hurting inside, and don't know where to find relief to their emptiness.

Picture the struggling teenagers, the at-risk youth, or the college drunkards and partyers who obviously have no meaningful purpose driving their actions. Picture the rock stars and the celebrities that use drugs, have many other glaring problems, and are not happy.

Picture the struggling marriages. Picture the fights. Picture the divorces and the torn families. Picture the miscommunication, and the absence of a conscious plan and effort to grow closer, and understand one another.

Picture a husband who comes home from work, plops down on the couch in front of the TV and demands dinner. Then, he gets upset when his wife asks him to do something for her to help out around the house, saying that he's been working hard all day to put food on the table, and a roof over HER head.

Next, picture that one of his beautiful children (we'll say a 3-year-old) comes up to him and says "Daddy, let's go play with toys!", but is met with "not now honey, I'm busy". His wife then decides to harp on him because she can't take it anymore, and the children see their parents raising voices with anger and malice toward one another. Eventually, the children may have to cope with the caustic experience of seeing their parents split apart.

Don't get me wrong. I know that SOMETIMES, divorce is the correct remedy. But, that is only true because we are all on different levels in our own personal growth and progression. Divorce and many other difficult experiences may be a part of our learning process here on Earth.

But, what if you knew that there was a way to better yourself faster, climb higher in your goodness and strength, and leave many of those harsh experiences in the box labeled "what may have happened if I had not grown myself to who I am today"?

There is a way, and it's called "LIVING INTENTIONALLY"!!! To me, "Living Intentionally" means that you are constantly measuring yourself, constantly looking into your soul and spirit to find out why you do the things that you do.

It means that you SEEK to learn how to change yourself, so that you do more of the things that you want to be doing, and less of the things that you don't want to be doing. It means that you do not "go with the flow". It means that you are not COMPLACENT!

LIVING INTENTIONALLY means that you MEAN to be the way that you are, and that the way that you are is not a result of the sundry experiences that have shaped you over the years, but rather is a result of the MULTITUDINOUS exertions that you and God have INTENTIONALLY applied upon your life over the years, to shape and mold you into a better, more intentional, more prudent, more loving, more powerful, more serving, more influential, more sacrificing, and more SCRUPULOUS, ethical, and principle-centered person than you would have been absent such catalysts!

That was a very long sentence on purpose. I didn't want to deliver that message in a slow, methodical way like a college professor would. I wanted you to hear me saying those words with power and passion, as a motivational speaker would, with a growing speed and intensity as the idea progressed! So go read it once more real quick.



3. LIVING INTENTIONALLY FOR...

What are you living FOR? What word would you put at the end of those three words, if it were required that that fourth word be a word that accurately describes what your most prevalent, and you most powerful desires and purposes for living are?

Do not just put the word that describes what you feel is most important. That would be the answer if you were asked what you SHOULD be living for; what SHOULD be your purpose.

To find the right word to describe what you live for, you must close your eyes and think of the things that have consumed the majority of your thoughts, actions, passions, and desires over the years. To find what you really live for, look at the most up-front, obvious outward things that have at times driven you to stay up late, write journal entries about, or make sacrifices for.

If you are really passionate about something, the majority of your closest friends and family will recite that very thing, if asked what they think you are passionate about.

It's not the things that you consider are the most important that you are really passionate about, it's the things that consume you the most. THAT is the true measure of a man's passion. THAT alone betrays what you really live for.

So, what do YOU live for? God gave the Israelites 10 commandments. Just 10! 10 things that were most important to Him; 10 things that He hoped they would follow before worrying about any of the smaller things.

One of those 10 is translated thus: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Gospel scholars hold that this primarily refers to the idol worship that was so prevalent during that particular time in Earth's history.

But, applying it to today, I would wager that there are millions of people who would feel comfortable defining the word "idol" as it applies to religious things thus:

Idol:
"Anything that consumes so much of a person's thoughts, desires, and actions that thoughts of God, His will, and His Kingdom take a secondary or lower place in that person's mind, actions, and most powerful desires".

That said, think of your thoughts. Replay your last week, your last month, your last year, your last decade. What has consumed you? Did it take precedence over your daily communion with Deity?

Did it slip into a higher slot of priority than you think it deserved? Remember those days when you couldn't sleep because you were so excited? Did you talk to God and share with Him your thoughts about the matter? Did you talk to Him about your number one, most high priority, which was to serve Him and His children here in Earth; to do His will and live for Him, and build His Kingdom? Did you talk about how that subject that you were so excited about was related to and could be applied to those number one priorities?

Think of the people who make unwise financial decisions, so that they can get that next fancy car, boat, or anything like that. When something causes someone to be foolish because of their brash determination to have that thing, it is an idol. It just slipped into the number one spot in their priorities, and proved to everyone what that person is living for at that moment.

Picture the men who wash and wax their fancy cars and boats so often, and will scarcely share those things with others or let other people use or even touch them. Those men are like CHILDREN!

Picture how they get angry and yell at people if someone accidentally touches, smudges, dents, or scrapes that idol of theirs.

When someone yells at a person for something so trivial, it shows that they value that thing more than they do the person.

A man or woman should never value things more than people, and when they act so rashly, it is an outward sign that they do just that. That thing is more important to them than the person.

There are other ways to handle such situations. He could have been gracious about the accident and told the person not to worry about it, but kindly asked them to please try to be more careful in the future. Such actions would betray that he values that person more than he does that object (idol).

"Living Intentionally For..." Tell me, what is it that YOU live for? Is it what you would prefer to be living for? Is it the thing that you feel you SHOULD be living for? If not, make a conscious decision and a goal to push the things that you know you SHOULD be living for into first priority as much as you can in your life.



4. LIVING INTENTIONALLY FOR EXCELLENCE!!!

ex·cel·lence
[ek-suh-luh ns]
- noun

1. the fact or state of excelling; superiority; eminence
2. having excellent qualities or features
3. superior, wonderful


SYNONYMS:
accomplished, admirable, attractive, capital, champion, choice, choicest, desirable, distinctive, distinguished, estimable, exceptional, exemplary, exquisite, fine, finest, first-rate, good, great, high, incomparable, invaluable, magnificent, meritorious, notable, outstanding, peerless, priceless, prime, select, skillful, sterling, striking, superb, superlative, supreme, top-notch, transcendent, world-class


ANTONYMS:
bad, failing, imperfect, indistinguished, inferior, poor, second-class, second-rate, unnoteworthy, unworthy


ex·cel·lent
[ek-suh-luh nt]
- adjective

1. possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good.
2. extraordinary; superior.


su·pe·ri·or
[suh-peer-ee-er, soo-]
- adjective

1. above the average in excellence, merit, intelligence, etc.



To sum it up, the word "Excellence" basically means:

"having excellent qualities or features, possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good."

This is the type of thing that I shoot for. This is why the words "Living Intentionally For Excellence" mean so much to me!

I see so many "lemmings" in this world, who are happy to just float along through life, and live, act, and be like society in general says that they should be.

They wake up, go to a job that they are not passionate about or interested in, come home, and entertain themselves with TV, movies, video games, or going out to dinner. They sit around and chat about menial subjects (nothing of real significance), they do a BBQ, or some home improvement projects. Then, they go to sleep, and do it all over again the next day. On the weekends, they go to the lake with the boat that they financed with debt, or they go ride financed recreational vehicles in the mountains.

This is America.

Don't get me wrong. I believe strongly in the importance of a work ethic, and I applaud those people who can do that so well, and provide for their families, even though they hate or are bored of their jobs. But, I submit that there is a step above that.

Our society has turned work into something that you do because you have to, and once you're done with that, your focuses can be spent on relaxing, having fun, entertaining yourselves, refilling your tank, etc.

HERE is what I envision as the step above. I recommend that people find something that they're truly passionate about or enjoy doing, and creatively find a way to meet their temporal needs with THAT thing, rather than just working for some big corporate conglomerate, and being just another number on someone's list; just another investment that a corporate manager buys at wholesale and sells at retail.

As a contrast to my earlier visualization, picture this:

Imagine a man who spends the majority of his daily time and efforts on something that truly MATTERS; something that has real SIGNIFICANCE, and something that he is PASSIONATE about. He's making a real difference in someone's life, and perhaps many people, or the whole world (it's said that once you affect 17% of the people, that's the point where it breaks loose and spreads to most of the rest).

THEN, after his daily expenditures of energy towards a worthwhile cause, imagine that he refills his tank by wrapping his arms around his sweet wife and telling her how much he loves her, and how much she means to him.

Then, he refills his energy tank by spending some time playing with his kids. Next, he does some household chores to help out his wife. He offers to cook dinner, and the family sits down together and eats.

Maybe the family goes to town for some fun, or goes in the back yard and plays games and makes family videos of the kids.

Maybe they watch a clean movie together, that's inspiring and/or fun. Finally, Mom and Dad put the kids to bed, after family scripture study and prayers.

The kids being asleep, this man sits down on the bed with this wonderful woman that is his wife, and talks about her day. They talk about his day as well, and the thoughts and concerns that prevail in their minds at the time.

They talk about their relationship, and as often happens, they learn another little tidbit of wisdom that will help them to better communicate with each other, and respect each other, and love each other.

They have gone though some difficult times, but those times have drawn them closer together, because of the obvious pure love and acceptation that they have for each other.

The man is truly happy, incandescently so, because of this life that he, with God's help, has created by working on HIMSELF over the years, and constantly striving to be the absolute best person that he could be.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, people, is PARAMOUNT. It is not something just for those motivation-hyped people who read self-help books. It is for EVERYONE, and that includes YOU!

There are thousands of wise people out there, who have learned many valuable lessons of their own accord, and are willing to teach US those lessons, if we will just open up the books that they've written!

There are thousands of people that are ready and willing to share with us their wealth of knowledge and PURE TRUTH (which must be discerned by us, with God's help).

But we have to listen to them! We have to take some time to say, "Yes, so-and-so author or speaker, I believe that you do indeed have something valuable that I can learn or REMIND myself of, and I am willing to prove it by actually TAKING SOME TIME OUT OF MY LIFE TO LISTEN TO YOU!".

If we will just PUT IN A CD that these servers and inspirers have authored, rather than listening to songs that numb our brains and discourage us from using the faculties of our minds for thinking, we will begin to open our world to a whole new level of happiness, knowledge, wisdom, fulfillment, growth, and joy.

GROWTH AND PROGRESSION, my blog-reading friends, is not meant to be an esoteric art. It should be UBIQUITOUS! But I am sorry to say that it is not as prevalent as I believe that it should be.

Once you delve into personal progression, self-help, personal growth, introspection and character shaping, you will wish as I do, that more people would do just that. And you will desire to SPREAD IT. And you WILL spread it.

Once you have helped to spread it, you will have the inner satisfaction of the knowledge that several people are today better, more effective, and happier people because of the influence that one person has had on them. That person is YOU!

So, what does "Living Intentionally For Excellence" mean to me?

It means that I dream big, because if other people have accomplished great feats, so can I!

It means that I consciously remind myself that human potential is vastly more great and far-reaching than I realize!

It means that I seek constantly to discover and develop higher levels of my own potential!

It means that I do not blindly "accept as truth" everything that society and the "majority" teaches to me, but instead I use the power in my own mind and heart, as well as my spiritual discernment, to determine what I believe and hold to be true.

It means that I am not content to just go with the flow, if I do not believe that the flow is the most productive and purposeful way for ME to be.

It means that I PURPOSELY, INTENTIONALLY spend almost daily efforts on learning how to grow myself into a more competent, confident, prudent, powerful, purposeful, loving, serving, sacrificing, accepting, encouraging, leading, influential, world-changing person!

It means that I constantly develop faith in Jesus Christ, hope, charity and love, virtue, knowledge, patience, humility, diligence, obedience, and many other similar character traits.

It means that I am not content to be complacent with my current state of goodness, nor will I ever be until I reach the pinnacle of perfection, which will not occur in this life.

It means that I choose to CAST OFF my garment of mediocrity in favor of a much brighter, resplendently gleaming, ornately decorated, finely crafted, more powerful, mightily radiating set of raiment called "EXCELLENCE"!!!