SUMMARY
HOW THE E5 PILLARS ORIGINATED
SUMMARY
BLESSABILITY
SUMMARY
DISCIPLINE
For me January 1st is always a strange time of year.
In this strange way, it’s intimidating. I look back on the past year with some regret, thankfully, a good amount of satisfaction, and I look forward to the upcoming year with a lot of anticipation.
Knowing my goals, knowing the path I’ve chosen and knowing there is never an end to growth, I am excited. Yet, even with the excitement, I am also a little intimidated.
Intimidated because my bar is high. Knowing that all the change I require will take a ton of work!
AWARENESS
Here is a little known fact about me. You may not believe it. Trust me, I’m telling you the truth.
I love the Little House on the Prairie book series.
I do! Really!
My love affair with Little House started when I was a kid. I would lie on my couch and watch the TV show. Often.
I carried this love for the Little House TV series into college, no joke. My two college roommates were just as hooked. We’d rush back from class to catch the latest airing of the old series.
ATTITUDE
Have you ever been stressed over buying a loved one a gift? Wondering: Will it fit? Will she like it? Is it the right color? Does she already have one? Is this too little? Too much?
For me, this used to happen every Christmas. I didn’t mean to get overwhelmed with the gift buying process. It’s not that my wife was super picky, needy or finicky. She didn’t have it all. For all intents and purposes, she should have been easy to buy for.
I think I know how I got this way, though.
There was one time. . .
I got a detention. Yeah, me. If you haven’t picked up on it already, I was quite a mischievous kid. I liked making people laugh and sometimes that got me into trouble.
Well, this one time, I was pressured into tossing a huge wad of toilet paper, soaked in chocolate milk, on the bathroom ceiling of the boy’s bathroom. Just as an aid walked in to check on us, it dropped at her feet.
It’s funny when I think of it now! Not then though because I got a detention!
We are all communicators and connectors. We are communal beings and we love good company and fulfilling conversation.
On one hand, communicating is very natural to us. Then, there is that other side to communication: where it can be awkward, it can feel contrived, it can be confusing and undesirable.
My dad was the best communicator I’ve ever known. He was never awkward in a conversation. When he spoke, it was never contrived. People loved him and connected with him with ease!
I’ve asked myself: what was his secret? You know, it was just a few years ago that I figured it out.
