Without Love

"Be careful how you treat those weaker than you. Remember, there is always someone stronger."

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:35:25 -0500

“Be careful how you treat those weaker than you. Remember, there is always someone stronger.”

"A leader that does not desire accountability, has no business being a leader."

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:13:59 -0500

“A leader that does not desire accountability, has no business being a leader.”

"It is much easier in the long run to forgive then to hate."

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:55:15 -0500

“It is much easier in the long run to forgive then to hate.”

"It’s not the words people use that exhibit their character, it’s the words they keep."

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:59:08 -0500

“It’s not the words people use that exhibit their character, it’s the words they keep.”

"One kind act will go farther then a thousand personal sacrifices."

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:00:05 -0500

“One kind act will go farther then a thousand personal sacrifices.”

"Failure can either knock you back or drive you forward. You decide."

Thu, 13 May 2010 10:44:00 -0500

“Failure can either knock you back or drive you forward. You decide.”

- via Twitter

"You are a human BEING not a human DOING. Your worth does not come from what you do but who you are."

Fri, 07 May 2010 17:13:23 -0500

“You are a human BEING not a human DOING. Your worth does not come from what you do but who you are.”

Rule #9- To Change the World

Mon, 03 May 2010 22:06:20 -0500

ACT don’t REACT. The difference between the two is simply time. It’s the ten seconds you take before responding to criticism. It’s THINKING before you SPEAK. Because sometimes our quickest reactions are the ones we regret the longest.

"…It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word..."

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:57:06 -0500

“…It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony into chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it…”

- The Apostle James

There's An Off Button?

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:38:00 -0500

A few weeks ago after watching this video, I began to think about all the noise in my life. Noise that I thought helped me but actually just distracts me from what is happening right in front of my eyes.

It’s sad when you realize that when your kids are talking to you, you are spending more time looking at your phone or laptop then your their eyes. I love technology but it has created this “hum” in every minute of my life, and without realizing it, I have become addicted to that noise.

So last week I decided to experiment with the noise in my life, starting with my cell phone. My phone is my second brain… my memory. It has my calendar, my contacts, my todo list ect… I can’t live without it. But on top of the things my phone does to help me be productive, I also have it set up to receive email from three different accounts, notify me whenever anyone on Twitter say’s anything about nothing, Facebook alerts me whenever anyone comments on anything I post, or if anyone likes something I post, or if anyone comments or likes anything that I already liked or commented on which leads to an endless abyss of Facebook notifications that go on forever and ever and ever. (That’s a whole different post)

Between email, twitter, Facebook, and regular old fashion communication like telephone calls and text messges, it’s not an exageration to say that my phone is constantly making noise and wanting my attention.

When I started thinking about all this extra noise in my life and if I really needed it, I was surprised by the answer, it was no.

No, I don’t need to know every time one of my friends was eating lunch, or at Starbucks or had just increased their bean crop on Farmville. I didn’t need to see the latest Twitpic of someone seats at a concert, funny sign they just passed or plate they just licked clean. And honestly, when I leave the office, there is nothing that is so important that I need to be able to read email about it when I’m with my family.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy that stuff. (except Farmville, I HATE that) I LOVE that it is so easy to communicate with my friends around the world and around the block. But I don’t NEED it. Not all the time.

So… I turned it off. Just on my phone. (Except email during business hours and only work email)

It wasn’t easy. In fact, it took a few days to break the habit of constantly looking down at my phone.

It might not have been easy, but it has been one of the best things I have ever done. You might not believe me, but the simple act of turning off those things on my phone has brought a level of peace in my life that I would have never imagined.

Am I still gonna Twitter, use Facebook, check email, write and read blogs? Yes, but I don’t have too.

Until I stopped I never knew what kind of habit I had developed.

There will always be noise in my life, I can’t control that. (I have two kids after all) But there is some noise I can control. Noise I can regulate. And from now on, I’m going to try to do a better job with the regulation of that noise.

I would encourage you to try the same thing. We all can’t move to the woods and live in a tent, but it is possible to unplug, even for just a few hours a day.

"So many people are striving to be heard, that no one is listening anymore."

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:26:54 -0600

“So many people are striving to be heard, that no one is listening anymore.”

- Tentlife

"Don’t argue with critics, outlast them."

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:31:26 -0600

“Don’t argue with critics, outlast them.”

The Power of Our Words

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:54:24 -0600

I’m not quite sure we understand the power of our words. One negative, hurtful word, said out of hand or without thought is like a seed that is stuck deep into a persons soul. You might think that what I’m saying is extreme, but think with me a minute. Think back to the earliest memory you have of someone saying something hurtful, and tell me how it STILL feels. OUR WORDS ARE POWERFUL.

We get mad or we’re annoyed and we strike out. An off handed comment, a verbal jab, done without thinking. Except that word sinks in. It begins to grow. It feeds on self esteem and the only fruit is bears is insecurity.

As the word grows larger, it grows stronger, and so does the insecurity. Over time the persons spirit get weak, brittle, then broken.

Most of the time the only think left is BITTERNESS.

Now a person who was once full of joy, is nothing. Destroyed by a stray thought, a word spoken out of a flash of emotion.

A PERSON IS DESTROYED BECAUSE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF OUR WORDS.

But all is not lost. If this is what we can do with a thoughtless word spoken, imagine what we could do if we learn to speak words that BUILD. Those kind of words bring LIFE.

"If we would stop striving to get our own way and spent our time striving to help others get theirs,..."

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:49:06 -0600

“If we would stop striving to get our own way and spent our time striving to help others get theirs, eventually we would all have what we needed to fullfill the things we dreamed about.”

"Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened."

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:34:45 -0600

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.””

- Dr. Seuss

"The greatest tragedy of life is not death, but living life without a purpose"

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:12:34 -0600

“The greatest tragedy of life is not death, but living life without a purpose”

- M. Munroe

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you..."

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:02:01 -0600

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.”

- John Wesley

"You were made for something more. You know it."

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:21:52 -0600

“You were made for something more. You know it.”

- @marccleary via twitter

Brown Bag Campaign 2010- Please Repost!

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:11:41 -0600

withoutlove:

Last year, 2009 we launched the Brown Bag Campaign as a way to unite bloggers and tweeters to step away from their keyboards and change the world around them in a practical way.

Our goal, which we called The Valentines Day 1000, was to collect and donate 1000 bags of food to local food banks around the world. Though we did not reach our goal of 1000 bags of food, we did collect 184 bags of food loaded with over 2000 items. (You can read the recap and view the photos of last years campaign here)

WE MIGHT NOT HAVE HIT OUR GOAL LAST YEAR, BUT BECAUSE OF YOUR GENEROSITY PEOPLE HAD FOOD THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT. THAT IS A HUGE SUCCESS!

As 2009 is coming to a close, what better way to start 2010 then by CHANGING SOMEONES WORLD AGAIN!

This year we are going to keep the same goal as last year: COLLECT 1000 bags of food by Valentines day.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

1) Go to the grocery store, pick up a brown paper bag, and fill it with non-perishable foods. (Canned vegetables, canned fruit, rice, pasta, peanut butter in plastic jars, canned fruit juice, dried cereal, oatmeal, cookies, crackers, ect.)

2) Take a picture of what you collected and post it to your blog.

3) Email withoutloveblog [at] gmail.com / or twitter @withoutlove The link to your picture and how many cans you collected and I will reblog your picture. (so that we can keep a running tab, and keep everyone updated)

4) Deliver the food to the reputable food bank of your choice. (Just google food banks near you)

5) Encourage your friends to do the same.

6) Go to the withoutlove twitter page, follow this blog or become a fan on Facebook (You might just be the first) to stay updated with how many cans of food get collected. (http://twitter.com/withoutlove)

7) Spread the word.

Last year I was overwhelmed by the response to the Brown Bag Campaign. I know that this year is going to be even bigger!

-withoutlove

FILL A BAG. CHANGE A LIFE.

PS. Last year I spent hours on my computer sending out emails to ever blog I followed, every friend I had on Facebook and every twitter feed I followed. Do you think you could do the same? Could you re-post this and ask your friends to do the same?

UPDATE: It would be awesome to get #withoutlove as a trending topic on Twitter! Maybe you could copy and paste this in your twitter feed:

RT @withoutlove FILL A BAG, CHANGE A LIFE. Join the Brown Bag Campaign against hunger! http://bit.ly/58Qyu4

Brown Bag Campaign 2010- Please Repost!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:48:00 -0600

Last year, 2009 we launched the Brown Bag Campaign as a way to unite bloggers and tweeters to step away from their keyboards and change the world around them in a practical way.

Our goal, which we called The Valentines Day 1000, was to collect and donate 1000 bags of food to local food banks around the world. Though we did not reach our goal of 1000 bags of food, we did collect 184 bags of food loaded with over 2000 items. (You can read the recap and view the photos of last years campaign here)

WE MIGHT NOT HAVE HIT OUR GOAL LAST YEAR, BUT BECAUSE OF YOUR GENEROSITY PEOPLE HAD FOOD THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT. THAT IS A HUGE SUCCESS!

As 2009 is coming to a close, what better way to start 2010 then by CHANGING SOMEONES WORLD AGAIN!

This year we are going to keep the same goal as last year: COLLECT 1000 bags of food by Valentines day.

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

1) Go to the grocery store, pick up a brown paper bag, and fill it with non-perishable foods. (Canned vegetables, canned fruit, rice, pasta, peanut butter in plastic jars, canned fruit juice, dried cereal, oatmeal, cookies, crackers, ect.)

2) Take a picture of what you collected and post it to your blog.

3) Email withoutloveblog [at] gmail.com / or twitter @withoutlove The link to your picture and how many cans you collected and I will reblog your picture. (so that we can keep a running tab, and keep everyone updated)

4) Deliver the food to the reputable food bank of your choice. (Just google food banks near you)

5) Encourage your friends to do the same.

6) Go to the withoutlove twitter page, follow this blog or become a fan on Facebook (You might just be the first) to stay updated with how many cans of food get collected. (http://twitter.com/withoutlove)

7) Spread the word.

Last year I was overwhelmed by the response to the Brown Bag Campaign. I know that this year is going to be even bigger!

-withoutlove

FILL A BAG. CHANGE A LIFE.

PS. Last year I spent hours on my computer sending out emails to ever blog I followed, every friend I had on Facebook and every twitter feed I followed. Do you think you could do the same? Could you re-post this and ask your friends to do the same?

UPDATE: It would be awesome to get #withoutlove as a trending topic on Twitter! Maybe you could copy and paste this in your twitter feed:

RT @withoutlove FILL A BAG, CHANGE A LIFE. Join the Brown Bag Campaign against hunger! http://bit.ly/58Qyu4