There is HOPE!

"As long as there is breath, there is hope!"

It's hard to believe, but it has been three years since I first began doing my podcast back on March 2, 2009. And, the very first podcast I did was focused on another of my catch phrases that I use as often as I can - it's the phrase that you see just below the image above... "As long as there is breath, there is hope!" 

What message is more needed today - RIGHT NOW - than a message of hope? We live in a world - not just in our own country, but the WORLD - that seems to increasingly lose sight of hope. Desperation, depression, discouragement, doubt and defeat. This is NOT the life of a winner and it is NOT the life that was designed for you to live!

I do believe that even in the midst of dire situations one can find HOPE. I do believe that it is imperative that one DOES find hope in such situations!

Several years ago I was in a defeated state of mind. I had applied for several jobs that I was qualified to fill and usually had not problem in getting. However, I kept running into roadblocks and, at the time, I had no idea why. One night after receiving another phone call telling me that I did not get the position applied for, I lay in bed with tears in my eyes and told my wife, "I have lost all hope." That's right - I was WAY down and honestly felt that all hope was gone. Thank God for women like my wife who replied, "Mike, if we lose hope, what do we have?"

THAT'S RIGHT! If we lose hope, what do we have? I can answer that for you - NOTHING!

This is why people that feel that they have lost all hope many times feel that they have nothing to live for and, often, attempt and sometimes succeed in taking their own lives.

LISTEN TO ME - as long as you are ALIVE...as long as you are BREATHING - THERE IS HOPE! Regardless of how "dark" things may seem and no matter how "hopeless" your life and situation may seem. God has given you the ability to THINK, REASON and ACT upon those thoughts and your reasoning.

Know this - it likely will NOT be a speedy process but you CAN and MUST understand that you CAN and MUST start taking steps TODAY to make changes in your life. It may be simply making changes on what you allow into your mind - get rid of the negative and replace it with the positive! It may be you changing the way you interact with your family or your coworkers or whoever it may be TODAY. Start TODAY! Don't try to do it all at once, but start making changes NOW.

You are breathing, you are alive and you are ABLE to do what it takes to change the direction that your life is headed at this time. "As long as there is breath there is HOPE!"

There is likely someone out there waiting for YOU to impact their life in a powerful and positive way. Who? I have no idea. When? Again, I have no idea. But here's the key - neither do YOU! But you never know who you will come into contact with that needed your smile or kind word.

Dictionary.com lists this as the first definition for the word "hope" - "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best".

Whatever you do, NEVER GIVE UP! Whatever you do, NEVER GIVE UP HOPE!

Why? Once again, without hope, you have nothing and, my friend, you have EVERYTHING to live for, to work for, to love for when you have HOPE!

Get it? Got it? Good!

Thanks for being a part of Future You University - especially those of you that have been with me over the past three years. And, for those of you that are "newcomers" - I encourage you to stay with me and let me hear from you. I love getting feedback from my readers/listeners.

Whatever you do, be sure to...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike

CHANGE: No Fault of Our Own

"CHANGE: No Fault of Our Own"

Hey listen, sometimes (like we discussed in the last article) we screw up and bring changes into our lives BECAUSE of something we have done, right?

And then, there are those changes that come into our lives at absolutely NO FAULT of our own. And, sometimes, these are the hardest changes to handle for many.

Before we get too far into this, let's look one more time at the four different categories that I've put together as to the different kinds of changes that we face in our lives:

TYPES OF CHANGES: (1)Those we voluntarily bring on ourselves... (2) those that we have no choice in but are not "against" us (change of seasons, life changes due to age, etc.)... (3) those that come at us DUE TO our actions and (4) those that come to us 100% involuntarily and at no fault of our own.

If you haven't done so, take a look at the changes that have taken place in your life over the past month and even the past year and see what category these changes would fit into...even get out a piece of paper and jot this stuff down. You may be surprised at what you find IF you are completely open and honest with yourself.

Now back to the topic for today: those changes that come into our lives at NO FAULT of our own.

Has your life ever changed due to the death of a loved one or a close friend? Obviously it was no fault of your own but the change impacted your life anyway, right?

Has your home ever been damaged or loss due to a flood or some sort of storm or fire? Again, this was no fault of your own bu the change came anyway.

Have you ever lost a job due to circumstances out of your control such as the company "downsizing" (what a "nice" word, huh?)?

Has change come into your life due to some health issue that has developed due to circumstances out of your control? I'm not talking about situations like this that developed due to you smoking or other unhealthy habits. I'm talking about something that you had NO control over at all. Perhaps it was due to a car accident that was caused by someone else. Maybe it was even just some freak health issue that was undetected all of your life up until this point.

Guess what... in all of these situations change comes REGARDLESS of who was or was not at fault.

Friend, I'm not trying to be the bearer of bad news but if you've not experienced such change in your life then know that you WILL if you live long enough.

This type of change is a part of living and it's not easy to handle for anyone.

May I offer a word of kindness to anyone that is still dealing with the changes that have come into your life due to some such incident? Hang in there! I KNOW from my own experiences that this type of situation can leave you with far more questions than answers and I want to encourage you to find some people that will support you an allow you to struggle while encouraging you at the same time.

One of the worse things a person can do with this type of change is to attempt to handle it all by themselves.

You see, we like to be able to pinpoint who is at fault when something goes wrong...that's just our human nature.

We may even shake our fist at God because we don't know who else to blame but, in the long run, that doesn't help us deal with this change either.

As I've said on the podcast and as the picture at the top of this article states, "The only constant in life is CHANGE!"

If you've experienced such change in your life could you be of assistance to someone else that is just now beginning such a journey? Could you be of help in listening because YOU understand in ways that those who have yet to go through such a change can't?

My wife and I have been through some rough times in our life in many ways (no, I'm not trying to get you to feel sorry for us) but these rough times have helped us to be able to understand and reach out to others in ways that we never could have without going through these changes in the first place.

Does that mean I'm glad the change happened in our life? NO! But, it does mean that I can use the experience to hopefully help someone else that is left bewildered by changes that come at absolutely no fault of their own.

Take a look around you. Who may need YOUR sympathy and understanding that only YOU can give because of change that has come into YOUR life at no fault of your own?

I can promise you that there are people around you each and every day that could use your insight into these difficult times.

Remember, we're in this thing called life TOGETHER!

I do hope that, in some small way, what I do through Future You University is of some help and comfort to all of you as we work our way through this thing called "life".

Think about it. Hang on. Help others.

And, even in the midst of these changes always remember to...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike