What People Seek

What People Seek

I am a people person. For me, it has always been about building relationships. The many people I’ve met over the years of my living have added such color and freshness to my life. That is one of the reasons I write along the lines that I write. This I understand about people.

“One of the great cries of the human heart is this ...

People Seek Meaning 

People Seek Connection

People want to know that their lives matter, that they are making a difference, a contribution in this world.

I think often of Oprah’s comments on her last televised show. She said this.

"I’ve talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: They all wanted validation.

"If I could reach through this television and sit on your sofa or sit on a stool in your kitchen right now, I would tell you that every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire. They want to know: ‘Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you? 

~Oprah Winfrey

People seek meaning in their lives. They want to know if they mean anything special to someone else, and they want their lives to have some kind of impactful meaning.

In a quiet house, on a quiet street, the mailman was working his way to every home, delivering whatever was in his bag for each residence.

Later that same day a phone call was placed. I answered.

“Hi, Michael. I got your note today.” And then she broke down and sobbed.

After later reflection, this is what I know. Though she could not put into words at that moment what she was feeling, she communicated, nevertheless. And what she said was this:

“I felt cherished today.”
“I felt loved and appreciated.” 

“You thought of me.”
“You recognized me.”

For me, it was a simple note of thanks for some act of kindness my friend had performed at our church.

For her, it was recognition, validation. Someone (me) stopped and said, “Hey, I see you. I know you and I thank you.”

Oprah said it well: “One of mankind’s greatest needs is the need to feel validated.”

When I was ten, my brother and I were mowing the yard one hot August afternoon in Tennessee. Our Dad pulled into the driveway, tossed out a brand-new baseball and glove, and then drove away.

He didn’t say anything -- he simply waved and drove away. We felt significant, cherished.

Everyone needs to feel esteemed, loved, acknowledged and that they are significant. Everyone, at some time in life, needs to be cherished.

How can we do this for others in our lives?
-Place an assuring hand on one’s shoulder and offer affirming words.

-Place a well-timed phone call and say esteeming words. 

-Send a handwritten note in the mail.

-Write a significant email of appreciation and thankfulness. 

-Send or hand-deliver a bunch of flowers unexpectedly.

-Buy a small gift, simply because it fits someone you cherish, and you want to acknowledge their significance in your life.

Back in 2012 I wrote a blog that got more clicks than any other to date at that time. It was called “Carolyn Left Me Today.” She had to fly to Phoenix to see her parents.

As we were nearing the airport we were having light conversation and she turned to me and said. “One thing I know as I go on this trip is that my cup is very full because of your love and esteeming ways and for the way you care for me.”

What an incredible thing to hear.

We look for ways to fill each other’s buckets. We esteem each other.
We talk.
We listen.

We take time for each other.
We love to take our 2-night 3-day getaways just to be together.

Just this past Friday I received a text from her. She is out of town with her daughter and granddaughter. She texted – “Just thinking of you in the in- between moments. I love you.”

I’m not a trained therapist, nor a marriage counselor, not even a relationship expert, but as I think about this blog today, some things come to my mind that I think make a huge difference in our relationship. May I share them with you?

1. We love. We find ways of loving each other. Sometimes it is a phone call. Sometimes it a $5 bunch of flowers from Pike Place Market. Every morning it is my responsibility to make her breakfast. She loves my scrambled eggs. Found out recently so do some of our grands. She will occasionally surprise me with an amazingly special dinner. Recently it was pot roast. Oh my. All these tiny actions say, “I love you.” “I cherish you.” “I adore you.” And we use the words too, in our relationship, every day – several times each day.

2. We play. We both carry a heavy schedule every week, but we live for Saturday and Sunday. I’ll never schedule an Up-Words day on the weekend without first talking with CB and finding out what she is interested in doing or where she wants to go. I can write anywhere, and at any time. I don’t want my writing to interfere with our time together. We put a lot into our days together. We do some “on- purpose” living on those days. Sometimes it a trip to a museum, or to the beach. We’ve caught more sunsets during our years of marriage than I caught all the rest of my years of living put together.

3. We talk. No, seriously – we talk. At meals, in the morning while getting ready, and any other time we are together, there is conversation. And especially at night, when I come home, we make it a point of stopping what we are doing, we embrace, we kiss, and then begin dinner prep.  We focus on each other, we look at each other, and we are in the moment, together. This is huge!

4. We laugh. During our phone chats each day I always look for something to say to crack her up. We laugh together. We enjoy life together. And we love.

All these points simply add up to this: we fill each other’s buckets. We don’t dip into each other’s bucket with hurtful, sassy, demeaning comments. We esteem one another. We look for the good. We say words that heal, not words that hurt. What a way to relate.

Our buckets are very full.

We seek on purpose to live in relationship, to offer meaning to each other and to find ways to connect.

You know what? The people around you want the same connections and meaningfulness in their relationships.

Give the greatest of gifts – VALIDATION!

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Who Are You Becomming?

 Who Are You Becoming?

See this picture quote?

I know for sure what we 

dwell on is who we become

I happen to believe this. I’m living proof – past and present.

I talked of being a writer for over thirty years. And that is pretty much all it was – talk. Oh, I published my first article at age 28 and got paid $22 for it. But I didn’t buy into me being a writer.

Later, in other jobs, I wrote a lot of stuff – video scripts, marketing brochures, you know the drill, and yet never adopted the label ‘writer’.

Ah, but in 2009 I started taking my writing urge seriously and began my first blog. Even then, the fear of not having enough content to sustain a weekly blog plagued me. Mystery of mysteries, I kept finding subjects that needed my touch, my perspective. And now, fourteen years later I own six blog sites.

And ... I have published five books. After publishing my first book, I finally found the courage to call myself a ‘writer’.

In my earlier adult life, I attracted images of myself that were less than esteeming. As time wore on, I’m afraid I dwelt on those negative, harsh words and phrases that others had attached to me, and I began believing some of them.

The worst of all was this ... “You’re an accident looking for a place to happen.”

I’m glad many of you didn’t know me in those days. Even though those words were spoken to me almost fifty years ago, I believed a bit of that idea, and thus it affected my self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, and my ability to perform on a consistent basis in life.

You see, the principle of “Whatever a man thinks in his heart (mind, soul and inner being), so is he” was at play, only I was tuned into the negative images and words. Wise sages, ancient philosophers, and men and women of learning have taught us for years about the importance of good and wholesome thoughts and how we should direct our attention to those ideals and lay off the negative, put-down language that tends to run free-will though our minds in constant stream mode.

This is a hard lesson to grasp. And those negative thoughts and ideas that we allow to live rent-free in our minds are hard to corral sometimes.

But corral them we must! We must take charge of our minds when in neutral, or when discouraged, or disappointed, or after a major loss of some kind.

It is a conditioning of the mind of which I speak. WE are the masters of our own minds. Others may say those awful words of hurt, however, we are the door keeper of our own minds. WE decide if we will allow them to run free or do we arrest them sooner than soon?

There are many excellent words and phrases that disciplined people find useful. Here are some of them.

I can.
I will.
I like myself.
I approve of myself.
I am capable.
I am better than that.
I may be down but I’m not out.
If I fall seven times, I’ll stand up eight.

What are you listening to in your mind?
Can you see the importance of changing those loop-to-loop soundtracks to different, more positive words and phrases?

I so strongly believe in the power of words that my company name is Up-Words. I say – I will speak Up-Words to every person I meet. I will look for the good in others and compliment those good traits on every occasion in which I am able.

I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.

Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."

Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.

The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.

The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."

He continued.

"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."

My favorite quote on the power of words.

“Never underestimate the power

of the right words spoken at the right time.”

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time!

How Far Have You Come?

 How Far Have You Come?

We’re all on the road again, aren’t we? Some of us occasionally have flat tires, we lose our transmissions, our motors give out, we run out of gas, we get dented, bruised, and need a paint job. It’s all a part of the journey we are all on.

And if you think I’m writing about an actual road trip, then keep reading.

Here’s the basis for today’s thoughts.

You Didn't Come This 

Far to Only Come

This Far!

I latched onto the parable of the servants in the Bible story who were given differing amounts of talent.

You know this, perhaps.

One was given 5 talents. He turned those into 10 talents.
One was given 2 talents. He turned those into 4 talent.
One was given 1 talent. He buried his in the ground and it was lost. No growth, no production, no future possibilities.

The moral of the story is to take what you have been dealt and make the best use of it and multiply its value.

Expand your enterprise. Grow.
Become more.
Do more with what you have.

Of course, setbacks will happen. We will get knocked off the horse a time or two. Surgeries will pop up. Illnesses will happen. And twenty or thirty other hurdles will pop up on our path.

And we keep going anyway.

We keep moving. We keep taking our pills. We keep going to the gym. We keep eating better. We keep listening to great information. We keep reading superb books.

WE GET BETTER.

The quote above challenges me.

"I didn’t come this far to come this far!"

Heck no!

There are times when issues arise, medical circumstances happen, job losses slap us down, and perhaps we think “Well, I’ve come a long way. Maybe this is where I get off.”

I don’t think so.

If you have a measure of talent, if you care, if you dream, if you have a goal and a mission in life, then you go a bit further. You reach back for a bit more strength, a bit more creativity, and a bit more will to do something more.

~Oh, we may move slower than before the attack happened.
~We may not be able to do the broad jump anymore.
~We may not sing a high C again.
~We may get our sticks tangled up and drop one or both occasionally, but we play and sing and move at whatever pace we can NOW move and play and sing.

If you can no longer speak, write.
If you can no longer sing, hum, or teach, or enjoy the music.

We find ways to continue using our talents and gifts.

I still want to write the blog heard around the world.
I still want to write more books, and especially finish my novel, for I feel it has redemptive power. (This probably makes no sense to you unless we’ve engaged in conversation about my book. It is still my little secret, and yet someday I will present it to the world.)

I don’t bother counting my talents these days. I just find ways to use them. That is the great joy in life at this age and time.

So, I’ll repeat our premise.

We didn’t come this far to only come this far!

Can you go a little farther?

P MiCHAEL BIGGS

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Our Dark Days Make Us Prove We Are Strong

Our Dark Days Make Us 

Prove We Are Strong 

I once thought I was not a strong person. My self-esteem was almost non- existent, my self-confidence was in hiding, and I suppose my mindset was one of ‘I’ll coast through life and see what happens. After all, I’ll take what comes and I probably deserve what comes.’

Oh my. What a lousy way to approach life. Trouble comes, so do nothing, say nothing, assume you deserve it and that’s that.

No way. I say NO WAY.

I’ve had a few dark days in my years of living. And with the living I’ve done thus far, I can look behind me and see those dark days.

And look what I learned and look how I came out.

You don’t know the inner strength you possess until you really must dig down and use it. Oh, my friend. You have strength inside of you. I hope you believe that. What you must do now is let that strength, that intestinal fortitude rise to the surface and show us that you may be down, but you’re not out.

That bears repeating.

“You may be down, but you’re not out.”

Many of us have experienced divorce, or bankruptcy, job loss, loss of a loved one, horrible surgeries, and the list goes on.

The great news is this ... some of us have found the strength to rise from the ash-heap and make a new start. We’ve found the strength from somewhere within us and pulled ourselves up by the bootstrap. We’ve determined that this too shall pass, and this situation is not going to be the end of us.

It is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.

It, however, could be the beginning of a new beginning. That’s not double- speak. That is what it is – a new beginning. Every beginning has a starting point. Where is yours?

A personal story:
When I went through toe amputation surgery on my left foot three years ago, I had dark days. I wondered, questioned, and worried over my ability or inability to ever walk at a normal pace. And I thought pain in walking was going to become the norm for me for the rest of my life.

Look at me today. I can walk. I do the treadmill at the gym. I work a 40- hour week. This past summer I discovered I can ride a bicycle again, and the weekly improvements keep on coming.

My first steps after surgery were not a pretty sight. I was in pain with every step. When I came home from the hospital, I was fearful of having to climb eight steps up and then eight steps down into our condo.

I’m way past all that.

Along the way, with Carolyn's help, I found my inner strength, my intestinal fortitude to persevere, to be persistent and to keep doing what I knew needed doing, for I was not going to let a little thing like missing five toes stop me from living a good and full life.

They were dark days. And guess what. They made me prove just how strong I already was.

I found the strength within. How about that.

Now, I’ve used a lot of “I” words to tell my story, and I trust you will forgive me for that. The point is this ... we all have that measure of inner strength. Sometimes, we never see it until the hard places come, the seemingly unsurmountable experiences in life. And when those times do come, we have a choice.

Will we wallow in our self-pity and doomsday mindset? Or will we rise, take up our bed and walk.

Just to be clear, I am a man of faith. I have no doubt that the God of my understanding was by my side through all that I have experienced in life.

And I do know that He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

What can you do for yourself? Sometimes we can only do small acts, and those small, somewhat insignificant acts lead to more small acts, and muscles that start firing, and neurons and nerve endings that fire, and mindsets that start changing from a can’t do to a CAN DO!

Dark days are no fun, granted. And look what they teach us.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Never A Good Time to Stop

 Never a Good Time to Stop

I don’t want to bore you with my medical history, but I need to use a part of it to illustrate a point.

I had complete toe amputation on my left foot three years ago. Between that surgery (actually four surgeries) and my open-heart surgery 6 years ago my body has taken a beating. Just in the last few months have I rounded a corner and have started to feel better than ever, even before heart surgery.

I’m going to LA Fitness, working on my own and with a personal trainer, and have been doing very well.

I’ve missed working out for the last two week. TWO WEEKS. And I can tell a difference. Climbing steps had been getting a bit more difficult. The simple act of getting out of a chair had become more of a challenge and a few other muscular observations of note. All because I took two weeks off.

Oh, I could rationalize and say I’ve been busy, which I have, or we’ve been out of town, or I’ve been too tired to go for my personal training session, which I missed two weeks in a row.

And I have paid a small price for all of that.

Happily, I returned to the gym today. I was able to pick up where I left off and believe it or not, I can already tell that my body is responding. Rising from a chair has suddenly become easier, and other movings and motions of my body have become easier again.

Can you believe all this? If I want to live a longer life than others with similar medical experiences, then I must keep up with my weekly gym visits, my treadmill walks, my weight machines and all else.

I can never ask, “Can I stop now?” No, not now. Not ever!

Is that a depressing prognosis?

Not on your life. Do you know the euphoric feeling I sense after working out each time? Some of you do. It is like a special kind of drug that is good for you – it’s all good for you.

I felt that way this morning. I’ve felt it before.
And I will continue to feel it every time I pay the price and go to the gym.

Even when I’m ninety-two, which is a long way off, I’ll be doing something in the way of physical activity, for I like the differences I feel in my body.

I wonder where else in life I can apply this idea? And I wonder about this for you, my loyal and faithful readers. When you reach 75 might be considered by some a good place to stop. Probably not. Perhaps curb your activity some but never stop.

I’m already curbing some activities. The weights are a bit lighter than twenty years ago. Some of my personal trainer activities must be modified specifically for me, and Monica, my trainer, is perfectly okay with that.

Changes happen. Adjustments must be made. Stopping because I’m too old or too weak? Not today.

Take a break occasionally if you must.

That’s called sharpening the saw, thanks to Stephen Covey

But keep doing something, some level of activity as you can.

     Your body will thank you. 

          Your heart will thank you. 

               Your family will thank you. 

                    Your mind will thank you.

And you just might find time to write about your own experience sometime and let us all hear of your health successes at your ripe and good age, whatever age that may be.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

You Can Bounce and Not Break

 You Can Bounce and Not Break

It’s such a simple thought, isn’t it? It almost doesn’t need to be written on, and yet we need to remember this great concept.

Rejection teaches us 

that we can bounce 

and not break!

I love that idea.
I know this to be true. And you do too.

Everybody gets rejected.
Everybody loses out at some point. 

Everybody gets defeated sometimes.

Ever been divorced?
Ever been in bankruptcy? 

Ever had open-heart surgery?

Ever had an amputation?
Ever lost in love?
Ever had a foreclosure or a repossession?

Here’s the thing.

All the bad stuff I mentioned above, and there is a lot more that could be added to this list, all of that stuff is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it could, perhaps, be the beginning for a different take on life or on any of those circumstances listed.

WE CAN BOUNCE AND NOT BREAK!!!

We should take out an ad in every newspaper in the world, yes – the world, and proclaim this from every mountaintop.

This I’ve said in many blogs, and yet it needs saying again and again.

Failure Is Not Final!

~We walk away from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) ~We overcome failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)
~We bounce back from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.) 

~We learn from failure, (or hardship or sickness or defeat.)

Failure is not the end. Oh no. It is a teacher. It is a hard lesson in life that we take to heart.

Yes, we must grieve our failures. We must take time to process, and reflect, and wonder and ponder and do all that other stuff a smart person does after a failure.

And then we move on. WE MOVE ON!

Is your mindset that of an overcomer? Do you want to bounce, or do you want to break into thousands of tiny pieces?

I say – Let’s Bounce.

Rebuild.
Reinvent yourself, your dream, your one thing that is always on your mind.

Do you remember what Muhammad Ali once said? 

You don’t lose if you get knocked down.

You lose if you stay down.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

On Becoming You

On Becoming You

The greatest compliment you can possibly pay to mankind is to become a true-blue representative of YOU. Become YOU!

A great quote.

When you die and go to heaven,

your maker is not going to ask,

“Why didn’t you discover the cure

for such and such?” 

The only question we will be asked 

in that precious moment is, 

“Why didn’t you become you?”

Elie Wiesel

A personal story:

I’ve had nine or more different careers thus far in my life. Some were a perfect match for my skill set and some were a strain and I really had to work at being good.

One day, in my fifties, I decided to do a bit of self-examination and took out a yellow lined pad and a pen and begin thinking.

My thoughts were on jobs I had had and why I liked them or disliked them. A picture soon began to emerge. It looked like this.

I like to encourage people.
I like people.
I like to build people up.
I like to influence people for the good. 

I’m musical.

I’m creative.
I can speak and sing before audiences.

And then thoughts of past careers came to mind.

In every instance in all nine careers, it dawned upon me that I had attempted to do some kind of work of encouragement, even in selling life insurance and mattresses. Can you believe that?

And today, I’m a writer of hope, encouragement, and inspiration. How about that?

Enough about me.

What about you?

Are you becoming a real version of you?

Once upon a time there was very successful heart surgeon. This doctor was the most amazing and skillful physician at his hospital.

He had a son. As most fathers do, this surgeon wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. The son grew, went to college, got into medical school, and earned his white coat and a prestigious position as a budding surgeon, following in his father’s footsteps.

Dad was happy, the son was miserable.

You see, he didn’t have the finger dexterity of his father. The father could manipulate those tiny instruments during a procedure with such finesse. The son’s skill was sloppy, and careless.

Finally, to dad’s dismay, the son left the medical world and became a real estate developer. He just didn’t have the basic skills required as a surgeon and he realized it.

See the point?

We have innate skills and desires lying silently inside of us and sometimes we just need someone, or some set of circumstances to come along and show us a better picture of who we might become and what we might become.

A huge part of becoming oneself is the great adage of “Know Thyself.”

How can you become YOU?
Do you know and understand you?
What do you like?
What do you think about in your alone moments?
What do you dislike?
If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?

And what about relationships? To what kind of people are you drawn? And there are so many other avenues to pursue in this vein.

Have you considered taking a personality assessment test?
Do you know your strengths, and weaknesses, and do you have a good idea of the kinds of jobs you should seek out or the ones you should leave alone? Are you good with numbers or are you good with using your hands?

Self-understanding is HUGE!

This article could go on, but it is best to bring it to a close. Now is the time for you to go off somewhere by yourself and do some mulling, some cogitating and some serious self-examination and determine the important ideas to which you are attracted for your life and make whatever alignments are right for you.

There is only one YOU. Become the best YOU!

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration 

Where Does Your Worst Enemy Live

Where Does Your Worst Enemy Live? 

Our worst enemy is nearer than we might think, for it is closer than your breath.

Make Sure Your Worst

Enemy Doesn't Live

Between Your Two Ears.

Laird Hamilton

You know those negative thoughts, those imaginary battles we all face. You and I know all about those conversations that we have with ourselves about the never-gonna-happen events and circumstances in life, and yet, we persist in continuing these conversations.

We fight a constant battle in this arena, and we constantly have to be on our guard. Sometimes, these arguments and scenarios feel good, and we feel self-righteous and victorious with the arguments we create in our minds. And we probably win a lot of these made-up battles that no-one ever sees.

And the enemy still exists.

I’m reminded of a Bible verse I learned a long time ago. 

“Take Every Thought Captive.”

To me, it means:

~Stop the fight. Be aware of what is happening and bow out of that fight. 

~Redirect and place your thoughts onto truth, what is or what should be. 

~If the issue is real and needs addressing, take the appropriate measures and have the hard conversations.

These are such easy words to write, and yet I fight this same enemy from time to time.

I’m in this battle with you.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

 Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

Have you had dark days recently? Life sometimes has a way of upsetting the apple cart, as we used to say.

Ponder this quote. What does it whisper to you considering your dark days?

“My dark days made me strong. 

Or maybe I already was strong, 

and they made me prove it.” 

~Emery Lord

At this point in life, I’m finding strength and persistence that I never knew I had.

I’m six years past my triple-bypass heart surgery and doing quite well. My blood pressure is in good ranges, I see my cardiologist regularly and he gives me good marks all around.

Over Thanksgiving I began frequent trips to the gym again, and I’m loving it. Remember I had all my toes on the left foot amputated 3 years ago. You would never know of the amputation to watch me walk now.

Dark days haven’t slowed me down. The quote for this blog IS true.

I hope you are proving some things to yourself now that might have been a bygone way of living.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

I Came to Live Out Loud

 I Came to Live Out Loud

Welcome to the new and clean sheet of paper we have been given in this new year. Resolutions will abound. Spoken ideas and intents will be declared. Goals will be posted. Conversations will be had.

And ... We’re off!
Here is my idea for this season of life. 

If you ask me what I came 

into this life to do,

I came to live out loud!

Now I know a little bit about ‘loud’ living. I am a drummer and musician. Drummers are loud. We can’t help it. Oh, we can play soft if we must, like in Ravels “Bolero.” But give me a drum solo moment and I’ll shake the earth. It will get loud.

But that is not what I’m talking about. Nor am I talking about living a boastful, braggadocios life. I’m not a raging alcoholic, nor a rebel-rouser, so my life will not speak in those terms.

Rather, I am an encourager. I am a writer of hope, encouragement, inspiration, and the effects of my work appear in the lives of others. Somebody somewhere may read my words or hear my podcast or read my books and a shift might happen inside of them. They may think differently. They may begin a new action or activity that causes a chain reaction in themselves and in others. And they may go out and change their world as they know it. Now wouldn’t that be something?

The center of my focus, words and deeds will be in these areas. 

~Live a life of grace that is offered to every person, every day.

~Speak words that help and heal, not words that hurt and hinder.

~Become the best version of ‘ME” that I can.

~Use all the tools/talents in my toolbox.

~Allow the God-of-my-understanding to speak through me, as loudly or as softly as He chooses.

If I can pull this off, I shall then look back over this life and say, “I wrung the towel dry. I didn’t leave a drop of my life unused. I really did live out loud.”

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Anything Can Be

 

Anything Can Be

Shel Silverstein just rings my bell sometimes. In his whimsical, often silly ways, he brings home a truth that is simple and astounding. Such as this one.

“Listen to the musin’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. 

Listen to the shouldn’ts 

The impossibles, the won’ts. 

Listen to the never haves, Then listen close to me ... 

Anything can happen, Child. Anything can be.”

For years, too many to count, I was told I shouldn’t buy a circular saw. They said, “Why, you’ll cut your foot off.” I bought one, used it successfully for a bunch of years, and never cut off my foot. The fact is, I discovered a real love for woodworking and still have a bookcase that I made in the ninth grade.

Once, I was told while looking at a reel-to-reel tape recorder to “Leave that thing alone, boy. You don’t know nothing about machinery.”  

I owned two different reel-to-reel machines, learned to operate a dozen other recording-type machines, and now produce my own podcast using a Mac Air and iMovie. I learned you see.

What do you want to be? It could happen, you know. If you have the aptitude for it, and the desire, and a will to learn. “Anything can be”, as Shel Silverstein said.

There is one thing, though, that I’ll never be. I’ll never be a ballet dancer. First – I don’t want to be one, and second, I don’t have the physical body size and muscle strength to become a ballet dancer.

But look at what I do want to do. I want to keep writing encouraging and hope-filled blogs and books and continue producing my podcasts along the same lines. I have been doing that, and I have a strong desire to do that, and it appears I have some skill in doing those crafts.

Want to know what the best part of all of these wants and desires that reside inside each of us? We don’t need a permit. We don’t need a license in most cases. We just do it.

This short line from The Treasure of Sierra Madre speaks my point very well.

“Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges.”

You don’t have to wait for the phone to ring, the talent agent to call, or for your invitation to arrive in the mail. You just “screw your courage to the sticking place” (thank you Beauty and the Beast) and do it.

YOU DON’T NEED A PERMIT!

Some unknown person said this:

Do not wait for the perfect time and place

to enter, for you are already onstage.”

Find your spot and belt out your lines. We’ll listen, and perhaps applaud, and buy your books or music or widget.

Be courageous. Do the hard thing – that of taking the first step toward your dream. The rest will follow.

Morning Notes

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Where Does Your Worst Enemy Live?

 Where Does Your Worst Enemy Live?

What a great question. And one worth some thought.

This is important, so stay tuned and read all the way to the end. I found this quote tonight and it is the centerpiece for this blog.

“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” ~Laird Hamilton

Oh my, the conversations we have with ourselves. They would be great comedy if they weren’t so true.

I’ve had running monologues with myself along these lines: 

~I can’t.

 ~I don’t know how. 

   ~ I might fail.

    ~People will laugh.
     ~It’s already been done before.

      ~I tried once and failed.
       ~I don’t want to look like a fool.

        ~She might say ‘no’.
        ~ I will lose my shirt if I invest in that.

         ~I don’t trust myself.

Well, I could continue, and by now you get the general idea.

We sabotage ourselves by what Zig Ziggler called ‘Stinkin’ Thinkin’.

Bottom line, we don’t believe. We are non-believers in ourselves and our worth.

I’ve told this story before, and again it proves beneficial. I was in my sixties before I realized I could do some things with great success and confidence.

One day, while reading Louise Hayes’ book “You Can Heal Your Life”, I read this four-word phrase.

I approve of myself.

I remember that day very clearly. I stopped reading, put the book down, and had a serious heart-to-heart with myself. For the first time in my life, I realized that I really had never believed in and approved of myself. Oh, I had had a few successes in life. I was a capable drummer, a fair singer, a good minister of music, and good at a few other career tracts I had followed, but in the course of life and in the study of P Michael Biggs, I had one major failure. I have never come to the place of approving of myself, my talents, my likes, my personality, my good side, and my own ideas.

I suppose it took me nearly an hour to cover that idea in relationship to my own life. At the end of that hour, I decided, yes, DECIDED that it was about time that I stepped up to the plate of self-esteem and self-analysis and start the process of approving of myself. I was not a bad person with a ton of secrets. No, no. I had not robbed a bank, cheated anyone, committed murder, or done anything worthy of jail time. I simply had never fully and completely believed in myself, my goodness, and my worth.

I made a laminated business-card size pocket reminder and for the next year, I suppose I pulled that card out and read it a dozen times a day. And the magic began to happen. I began to approve of myself.

I didn’t suddenly become Model Citizen of the Year, nor the best employee my employer ever had. I didn’t win the Noble Peace Price, I didn’t run for President, and I didn’t win the lottery. Carolyn didn’t like me, yeah, love me more. I doubt she even noticed the changes taking place inside of me, but I noticed. I walked with a bit more confidence. Not cockiness, not self- righteous pride, or narcissism. I just simply began approving of myself. I was quieting the voice in my head that had been plaguing me all my life. The voice of can’t, won’t, not worthy, I’m inferior.

The little kid that used to wear torn jeans and black tennis shoes was going away. You see, white tennis shoes were the fashion statement of my day, and torn jeans wouldn’t come along for another sixty years. I was beginning to believe in ME.

Just writing these words and going into this much detail is having a cathartic effect on me. I’ve never told this much of this part of my journey toward self-approval. It was indeed a marker in my life. And it made a difference.

Because of these circumstances, I realize now that my life’s mission is directly tied to those feelings of failure, and lack of confidence in myself. I want to help others find their own sense of self-worth and self-confidence, and I want to help a few people come to a place of declaring “I APPROVE OF MYSELF.”

If you have followed my blogging for the past thirteen years, you’ve read several blogs dealing with failure and how to overcome the label of “FAILURE”. The bottom line is this ... I may have failed at something, but I am not a failure.

My prayer is that this blog today will speak to someone’s heart and mind. I hope and pray you find your own ways to defeat your own worst enemy, the one living between your two ears. It takes hard work. It is not easy, and it IS necessary.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

The Courage to Start

 The Courage to Start

Anything worth going after takes courage. To put it another way, it takes courage to start.

You’ve heard this – “The journey of a thousand steps begins with the first step.”

Ben Franklin once said – “Nothing ventured. Nothing gained.” I’ll say it again – 

It Takes Courage to Start.

A wise person once said this:

“If you do not go after what you want, you will never have it.
If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.
If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.”

For thirty or more years I dreamed of and talked about being a writer. Oh, I wrote a few things here and there. I had my first article published in a magazine in 1978 and got paid $22 for it. I wrote other stuff but not on any kind of consistent basis. I certainly did not earn the title “writer” with what I produced.

Finally, in 2009 I started in earnest to write with one blog site. I had the courage to start on that day and have continued ever sense.

What do you want to do? Write, draw, paint, sing, act, start a business, build products? Now is a dandy time to begin.

What’s that you say? You’re too old? Nonsense.

I wrote a blog on January 23, 2023 (What Will I Accomplish Today). Here’s a reminder of some important facts.

A study in the U.S.A found that the most productive age in human life is between 60-70 years of age.

~The 2nd. most productive stage of the human being is from 70 to 80 years of age.
~The 3rd. most productive stage is from 50 to 60 years of age.
~The average age of NOBEL PRIZE winners is 62 years old.

~The average age of the presidents of prominent companies in the world is 63 years.
~The average age of the pastors of the 100 largest churches in the U.S.A. is 71.

~The average age of the Popes is 76 years.

This tells us that the best years of our lives are between 60 and 80 years. A book review published in NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE found that at age 60, you reach the TOP of your potential, and this continues into your 80s.

Does that inspire you, encourage you? I hope so.

Here’s the thing. Begin. Just begin. And in the early days, it’s okay to copy your heroes. Copy the people you love. Who inspires you to do what you want to do? Copy what they do, and sooner than soon you’ll find your own voice and start making your work your own with your unique touch and style.

Seth Godin inspired this next bit of writing. I call this his Manifesto to Begin Something.

Draw the art you want to see. Start the business you want to run. Play the music you want to hear. Write the books you want to read. Build the products you want to use. Do the work you want to see done.

Just find the courage within you to start.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration