A little change can make a big difference

Have you ever made a little adjustment in your attitude that resulted in a major change in your life?

I just took a short tennis lesson on how to improve my second serve. I’d been hitting the ball into the net and double faulting too often. In fact, I was feeling a bit hopeless about my second serve wondering if I’d ever get it right!

Well, two minutes into my lesson, my coach had me adjust my grip on the racket slightly. I served again. Boom! The ball went over the net correctly, and with spin too. Wow! I proclaimed. A long sought after success!

I was ebullient with my newfound freedom. And I couldn’t help but notice that such a little change made such a huge difference.

I looked for the spiritual lesson.

Sometimes we agonize over troubles that go on and on without relief. They go on so long that we might even give into despair and discouragement about relief. But a simple and slight little adjustment is often all it takes to make a complete turnaround.

That’s what happened to my second serve. I already had most of the basic moves down correctly, but my grip was not quite right for what I was able to follow through with on my swing. A little adjustment in how I held the racket made all the other moves work and the ball started going over the net correctly!

Likewise, in life, you could very well be “making most all the right moves,” but in need of one slight adjustment that enables all those right moves to bear fruit.

Have you ever noticed in the past that a little more patience, gentleness or kindness immensely improved a human relationship? Maybe a bit more understanding, willingness to listen and consider another’s point of view was the difference between out-and-out conflict and a fruitful conversation.

Sometimes just a little adjustment in attitude, perspective or inclination can make everything else work together for a good outcome. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. This rule applies to resolving relationship issues, finding financial solutions, and curing the body of disease. Just a little change in perspective can be the difference between repeatedly struggling and getting into the flow.

So, look for those little adjustments that can make a big difference! A little may turn out to be a lot.

Have a great day.

God didn’t make you grumpy

Do you ever wake up grumpy in the morning? Ever sit down for breakfast in a sour mood, sending all nearby neighbors in the opposite direction or make them wish they were sitting at a different table?


A depressed attitude is not a good place to be, and definitely not a necessary mood to entertain.


God didn’t make you grumpy!


God is your Mind, and that Mind is filled with inspired points of view, reasons to rejoice and gratitude. If you’ve not feeling inspired in the morning, then you just haven’t awakened yet. So, it’s time to wake up, to wake up to reality.


The reality is that life is spiritual. It’s not a series of events happening over time. It’s Spirit’s ever-unfolding goodness making an impression on your life through spiritual mindedness. To participate, it helps to stay spiritually minded, awake and alert to spiritual messages coming from God.

We can’t just roll out of bed half-dazed and aimlessly wander through our days and expect the results to be reliably fun and enjoyable. We need to put in some effort, some prayer and study, to stay spiritually minded and in mental touch with God’s goodness. That’s part of waking up in the morning. And it’s part of keeping ourselves in a good mood.


Waking up is not just opening our eyelids. It requires us to open our thought.


Open thought to what? To God, to good, to infinite divine Love!


We can’t stay in a grumpy mood if we’re doing our job of being receptive to God’s omnipresent love for one and all. The more we see how much God loves us, the more we love others. Love displaces grumpiness. One can’t be a dark sink hole and a bright ray of light at the same time.

You can choose to be a light.


So, no more grumpiness in the morning. Wake up. Wake up to reality, to God, and let your light of spiritual inspiration shine.


Put in the effort it takes to be a positive influence on neighbors, family and friends. It’s a much happier way to start the day.

Set the tone

As a child of God, as a reflection of divine harmony and peace, your health, happiness and success are not influenced by other people's attitudes, the weather, contagion or the economy. God is your source, and an unlimited supply of all you need to stay healthy, happy and well.

Understanding this fundamental spiritual truth enables you to go through your day, not as a thermometer rising and falling according to the emotion of the moment, but as a thermostat that sets the tone of the moment and determines the surrounding atmosphere.

Be a thermostat today, not a thermometer.

A good attitude

I loved this decal that showed up on my wife's bulletin board this morning.

Wag more

Bark less

A good attitude may save your job

I came across a great article in the Christian Science Monitor titled, “Be happy and keep you job,” that explains how a bright disposition helps workers navigate darker times.

The piece points out how employees with dour or sour attitudes are likely to be axed first because of the negativity they bring into the workplace. Workers with cheery outlooks and likable personalities were likely to hold their position, even over peers who were more proficient or talented, but less positive.

The article is a useful reminder that attitude and outlook matters and has worth and value.

So, when you dress for work today, be sure to put on your happy demeanor! It might save your paycheck.

The most important obligation

So, what is the most important task for you to accomplish today? Get to work and back home again? Call your customers? Put on a smiley face? Complain? Study? Pass the time quietly? …

A lawyer once asked Jesus what the most important demand was for him to rise to. Jesus told him to love God with his whole heart and to love his neighbor as himself.

As I pondered this command, it struck me how many other obligations we embrace that are unproductive, and even harmful to our progress.

For instance, have you ever felt obligated to worry? What about feeling pressured to correct someone? Or becoming inordinately preoccupied with the body or with illness? Have you felt fear was necessary? The list of errors, when indulged, that waste time, thought and energy can become quite lengthy.

As I ponder my number one obligation to God, which is to love my neighbor as myself, the load is much lighter. I love the inspiration that I am not required to fuss, fret or fume about anything. I’m only asked to live a life of love, peace and harmony, expressing God’s unselfish and unconditional love toward one and all.

If I do worry or fear, then I’m not trusting God. I’m acting like a god unto myself, and no wonder the feeling is unpleasant, I've realized. It’s not a spiritually right activity to be engaged with! It necessarily brings suffering along with it.

So, a quick route out of suffering is often to rise to the simple straightforward demand of “Have one God and love your neighbor as yourself.”

If we spent all of our time loving others there would be no time or mental space left for unloving attitudes and beliefs to absorb our attention. And angst or inner turmoil that cause pain and suffering would be gone.

Love your neighbor as yourself! It's all you have to do today.

Now that’s an obligation I can happily embrace and run with!

Our angel

Unbelievable!! Is the best word I can think of to tell this story!

I’m in the Blue Mountains with my family for Christmas break. I stay active with my practice, but break occasionally to be out and about with family and friends.

Yesterday, my son and I took a good friend out snowmobiling who had little experience on a sled, but enough that I didn’t worry about his judgments.

We zipped up to the top of a mountain with a gorgeous view and wide open meadows to spin around on. Within five minutes, I noticed my friend venturing over into what we call “no man’s land” on a long side slope of the canyon edge. It was “no man’s land” for our trail sleds because once you go a bit over the edge, you never get back up. It’s down, down, down all the way to the bottom of the canyon, and no one in our family wants to find out what happens if you ever slide that far!

Well, my friend was oblivious, and I hadn’t forewarned him. It was too late for me to reach him. I helplessly watched as he frantically tried to steer back up the hill, but to no avail. Down, down, down, he went zigzagging most of the way until he stopped dead still in a huge snowdrift just above the tree line.

I got off my sled, walked over the edge of the hill to find him, and there he was standing waist deep in snow looking miserably at his snow-sunken sled.

My son and I made our way down the hill to help. We huffed and dug and huffed and sweated and yanked and pulled for 90 minutes, and moved the sled 6 feet. No way were we going to get that sled back up the mountain side.

I stopped. I listened. I prayed.

Seeing no other option, I decided to point the sled downhill, and go all the way to the bottom, hoping for a turnaround opportunity, and the possibility of gaining enough speed to zip up the canyon wall to the top.

I paced a path downhill to leave markings to follow, because split-second decisions would be required. I got on the sled, took a huge breath, sent another prayer to heaven, started the engine, and down I went through the snowdrifts and trees. Through the grace of God I made it safely to the bottom and found a place to circle back. But right when I almost made my complete loop, I slid past a crucial turn, and wham-o, into a deep snowdrift I sunk. The sled was locked into the depths, and would not budge even slightly.

I was bummed, but not despondent.

I listened for answers. None came.

I yelled to the top of the canyon. No response.

No one knew what had happened to me. I was alone. It would be dark in an hour. I was miles from home.

There was nothing I could physically do, so I headed toward the top of the canyon, hoping to get the boys, bring them down and help me out.

I knew God’s power was there. I had nothing to fear. And I did not fear. I was expectant of getting out, totally, one way or the other. I just didn’t know how or what way!

With confidence that all was well and would be well I tromped up the hill through waist deep snow. No sooner did I exit the trees and begin my ascent, but a whiz-bang, state-of-the-art, high-tech, mighty powered machine, with the noise to match, raced out of the woods to my left zipping up the hill at an astronomical speed. I jump over a bit to avoid getting hit. The sled was a blur whipping past me, but shortly makes a sudden turn back down the hill, swooshing over from the right and stopping right smack in front of me. The rider, in his high-tech colorful garb, stands up, lifts the shield on his helmet, and I am astounded. It’s my brother!!

You have to understand that my brother is like one of the most capable and advanced snowmobile drivers in the country. He has tackled the most difficult of difficult terrains from the Pacific Northwest to the Rockies in Canada. Out of the hundreds of different places he could have been sledding this weekend, and the thousands and thousands of acres he could have been traversing in the Blue Mountains, he crosses my path exactly when I need him most. He had no previous idea I was there. None.

With a smile on his face, and not another word to add, he says to me, “Are you stuck?”

I spare him the details and point back into the woods.

He cheerfully responds, “No problem. We’ll get you out.”

He tags down his partner, and comes back a few minutes later. He builds a trail in front of my sled with his, and within 3-4 minutes, I am unstuck and sailing up the mountain side to freedom, pumping my fist in the air as I get to the top letting the other boys know we finally got the sled out of the canyon!

My brother is gone in a dash continuing his adventure. I said to my friend and my son, “That was my angel!”

And he truly was.

Unbelievable! To the human mind, I suppose, but looking back, totally believable from a spiritual point of view. God is always with us and sends us the aid we need in the form that is most helpful when we need it.

Later, I asked myself, “How could that possibly have happened? What was going on in thought that allowed that seemingly miraculous turn of events to occur?”

The best answer I have is that I never allowed my thinking to turn negative. When I first saw my friend jammed in the drift, I made a conscious decision to not allow one negative or critical thought to enter my consciousness about the incident. I was going to see only goodness, and make sure my buddy didn’t feel any kind of condemnation or burden about the accident. I was committed to loving my way through it, and accept solutions as they appeared. We all kept a very positive attitude the whole time, and were fully expectant of finding a solution somehow, someway. And we did. God sent an angel.

Thank you God!

Worthy attitudes

Read the below on the wall of a high school teacher's room last night during an open house.

"Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?"

Watch your mouth

From Woody, one of my readers and favorite story writers:

One of my sons decided to ride a bike cross-country to the east coast starting in Montana. This trip became a truly growing experience for him. Upon his return, he shared a few of his experiences.

One day he was out in the middle of Wyoming pedaling up a long slow grade of some 10 or 15 miles. To make matters worse, he was working against a headwind and the shoulder on the road was narrow. As the 18 wheelers passed him, he became both frightened and frustrated at his predicament and slow progress.

With no relief in sight, he looked up the long grade to the distant horizon and became angry with it all. Or rather he decided his best choice was to be mad. And with that, he began to rant and yell as pedaled his bike up the hill against the wind.

At the very peak of his raging, with his mouth open, a large bug flew into the back of his throat and began to gag and choke him. The uninvited guest instantly stopped the rampage. Unable to either swallow the bug or spit it out, he pulled to the side of the narrow shoulder, stopped, and went to great lengths to finally dislodge the unwanted creature.

Later, he told me he had learned a very important lesson about life from this incident.

“When things get tough,” he said, “Keep your mouth shut!”


This story is a new twist on the old adage, "Don't put your foot in your mouth." Don't let a bug get stuck there either!

Sometimes its best to keep our lips shut and pray for a more loving and positive perspective. Then we're in no danger of being rebuked by unwanted pests!