Give me 5 minutes a day and I'll give you a happier, more successful life

Gratitude journal

The power of words

Our words have a lot of power to affect our mood. When we say “I love you” it probably helps us just as much as the person we are saying it to. Try it sometime, tell someone you love them and think about how good it makes you feel. You will almost certainly feel happier.

Many people teach their children to say “please” and “thank you.” If a child says “I want more milk” the parent says “What are the magic words?” The child says “please” and after the milk is poured says thank you.

Start the day right for a happier day

I don’t know who began calling them the magic words, but there is a lot more truth to that than we realize. Most people realize that when you start your day in a good mood, the whole day goes well. But if something goes wrong in the morning, like stubbing your toe as you walk half asleep to the bathroom, it can make the day go badly, unless you shake it off and think about things you are grateful for. Being grateful puts us on a higher plane, so to speak, and sets the tone for the entire day.

Some people say thank you as their feet hit the floor getting out of bed. They stop and think about how happy and grateful they are that they have a job to go to, or they have a bed to sleep in, food to eat for breakfast, a toothbrush, running water, and a myriad of other things.

Today we live like kings

Just one hundred years ago most people in the world did not have indoor plumbing, electricity, air-conditioning and many other things that we take for granted. In fact, even today hundreds of millions of people don’t have these things.

Today we have good transportation that can bring us a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and other good things to eat. It was not that way one hundred years ago.

It is so easy to forget about the hundreds of blessings we have and think about the few problems we have. But when we say thank you for every blessing we can think of as we start the morning, it brings about good feelings and makes the day go better. When we are grateful we begin to see more things to be grateful for and it actually brings about good things because our brain can see opportunities that it would not have seen otherwise.

So, “thank you” and “please” really are magic words that have a lot of power.

A man went to the doctor with two burned ears. The doctor was surprised to see this and asked the man how he burned both ears.

“Oh, I was ironing my clothes and my cell phone rang. I accidentally answered my iron instead of my cell phone.”

The doctor was even more curious. “But both of your ears are burned, how did that happen?” he asked.

“Oh, he called back.” the patient answered.

Mustard plant and seeds

An amazing miracle:

I read a story about a man and wife who lived in Colorado (USA) many years ago. The wife became very ill and was in the hospital for a period of time. The hospital bill was very large. To make matters worse, her husband lost his job the day she came home from the hospital. It didn’t take long to use up their meager savings. They reached the point where they had no food left in the house and they had nothing but five dollars left to their name. But they knew about the law of sowing and reaping. They knew it was an iron-clad law that works, and it works every time, for every person.

“Give and it will be given unto you.” Luke 6:38 This verse is taken from the Bible, but this idea is found in many religions around the world. It is similar to the idea of karma found in Eastern religions. Isn’t it interested that this idea is agreed upon all over the world? So even if you don’t believe the Bible, you can still believe that this law is true.

They decided to give away their last five dollars. They gave it to a ministry they had heard about on TV. Not only that, they expected a miracle. They didn’t just hope for a miracle, they expected it.

Within a few days the man found a job. In fact, it was the best job he had ever had. Not only that, but her hospital bill was completely paid for in an unexpected way.

Answers to prayer

I’m sure we have all prayed for things and didn’t get what we prayed for. On the other hand, I’m sure you have prayed and received what you asked for. We often forget to thank God when he answers our prayer. If we kept a journal of our prayers and looked at the number of prayers that were granted over the years it would build our faith and our joy.

The seed

Jesus said if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can tell a mountain to move and it will move. Matthew 17:20 What does that mean?

What does the mustard seed represent? A seed can be eaten or planted. The mustard seed is not good to eat, so it can only be planted. It has to be given away. If we try to keep a seed in a jar, it doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t produce anything.

When a person dies they are buried in the ground. We have to take the seed and bury it in the ground. We have to give it away. A mustard seed is a tiny thing, but it grows into a very large plant. That takes time. Sometimes the most difficult part of prayer is waiting for the answer.

The man and his wife gave away something, it was like seed-faith.

The mountain

When Jesus talked about a mountain people understood what that meant. In those days, many cities were built on top of a mountain or hill. A mountain made the city strong against the attack of the enemy. A city on a hill was a stronghold. If it was an enemy city, that would be a bad stronghold.

We all have strongholds in our lives. An addiction can be a stronghold. An illness can be a stronghold. Financial difficulties might be a stronghold. Marriage problems, children going the wrong way in life and career problems are strongholds.

Jesus said speak

Jesus said speak out loud to the problem. He said you can “…say to the mountain, move, and it will move.” I have written about the power of the spoken word before in this blog. click here

When God created the earth, he spoke to cause it to come into existence. In fact, in the first words of the book of John in the Bible, it says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. That is not an easy concept to understand. If you meditate on that it will become a little clearer. But suffice it to say that words are very important. We have to speak to the mountain in our life.

What is faith?

Faith is more than just believing something. Satan believes in God, he talks to God. But he does not have faith in God. True faith involves love.

Belief + love = faith

Answers to prayer

Many extremely successful people talk about the power of faith. Some of them are not even Christians. Henry Ford said “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, either way you are right.” What that means is that if you really believe you can do something and you have faith, that will give you the power you need to get it done. On the other hand, if you believe you can’t do something, you won’t even try.

If we want to be successful, we have to learn from successful people. Henry Ford was certainly successful. He did amazing things, not only in the auto industry, but in the aircraft industry also.

It is always easy to find people who tell us that we can’t do something. In fact, they are probably the ones who have not achieved great things in life. Don’t listen to people who know how to fail but don’t know how to win. Listen to the winners. Take their advice and it will help you succeed. I wrote a book about this. click here to look at the book

Never give up

Many people fail because they give up too early. Keep trying. You have never really failed until you give up. The great statesman Winston Churchill said “Never, never, never give up.” Even when it looked very bleak for Great Britain in World War 2, Churchill told his people not to give up. The Germans had almost twice as many airplanes as England, but through ingenuity and persistence, Great Britain won the battle of Britain and the war.

I have heard it said that if a person is will to work hard enough, they can get whatever they want in life. Do you agree? read more