Her first post is directly linked here:  http://sautesimmerredux.blogspot.com/2013/12/herb-crusted-pork-tenderloin.html

Please follow her and encourage further posting.  I can attest to her abilities in the kitchen.  I had little control when it came to taking seconds.  When we married I weighed 165 lbs and when we divorced I weighed 200 lbs, and I was an active person who ran at least 4 days a week and we rarely ever had any alcohol in the home.  Suffice it to say her food was always delicious and deserved a second or third helping.

I know I will be following her.

As far as my book reading is concerned I have put together a spreadsheet with all of the books I intend to read.  Some I have read before some I have not.  While I have a goal of reading 24 new books, I have added 3 additional books just in case I exceed the 24.  I may make adjustments along the way but this is a good structured first start I believe.  The spreadsheet is here.

As time permits I will provide hyperlinks to each of these and update the copy on my drive linked above.

I am completing the finishing touches on a personal fitness plan for the year.  I will make it available via drive as soon as it meets my approval.  For now, I am following the 100 push up plan as well as the associated 200 Situps and a running plan designed to get a sub 20 minute 5k.  Full Calendar will be posted as I said when complete.

The remaining resolution plans will be posted and consolidated here by the morning.  

Example:  Patrick is walking down the sidewalk after a rain storm.  A car that is driving along side of him hydroplanes and loses control.  The car ends up swerving and narrowly misses Patrick but does completely soak him when it splashes through a puddle.

Patrick could be very negative about this:  “Oh look at this freaking crazy driver, just soaked me.”  

Or he could look at this differently:  “This could have been far worse, I’m only wet.  I wonder if the driver is ok.”

There are two things at play in the second instance.  First Patrick is not viewing himself as the center of attention.  Second he is looking at the positive immediately.  Today’s focus however will be on the latter.

One of the single most important things you can do to improve your point of view to looking at the positives is an exercise of doing just that.  I’ve talked about an exercise that came from the Army’s Resiliency Training called Find the Good Stuff.

Another great idea came from eHow

Personally  I think as a transformative exercise this would  be better conducted on a monthly or even twice a month.  The more you begin to look at the awesome stuff that happens within your life.  The more you realize life is pretty awesome and could always be far worse.

Edit:  Of course if you really want to start changing your perspectives and be a Happier person then you should read The Happiest Life and Happiness is A Serious Problem.  I’ve written a review of The Happiest Life by Hugh Hewitt already, and I think it might be time to review of Happiness is a Serious Problem by Dennis Prager as well.  Of course you don’t need to take my word for it.  Kevin Gregory over at Best Books For Men wrote an excellent review of The Happiest Life that is far more compelling than anything I could tell you.

When you do pick up a copy the best advice I can give you is to take notes and take advantage of my 7 Gifts tool.

#happiness 

Siting this post by American Elephant

The key to take away is this paragraph

“And THAT is what this outrage is all about: a tolerant Christian who believes I am a sinner, like he is, but loves & tolerates me nonetheless, vs INTOLERANT leftists who want to permanently silence anyone who disagrees with their world view.”

I would take it a step further.  It isn’t that they want to silence those who don’t share their world view, it is that they have no interest in establishing common language and understanding of conflicting world views.

When Christians for instance identify sins and proclaim them publicly many take this as public judgement against the sinner.  For some Christians this may be the case, but for the vast vast majority that I have met it isn’t at all.  This is conflict faces all Christians in a great capacity.  It is the largest stumbling block in proselytizing as loving words often fall on the deaf ears.

Yet these deaf ears do not have to exist.  Christians in the modern world have been losing the battle of conversation because they haven’t been laying the groundwork to establish a common understanding or common language when it comes to sin.

Phil Robertson is facing blow back not because he believes  homosexuality is a sin, but rather because instead of defining sin well, he defined a group of sins and those together seem quite offensive.  A better approach would have been to say

A sin is a human action that severs our relationship with God.  There are perhaps two categories of sins those which completely sever our relationship and those that simply bruise it.  Both cases can be overcome through Christian faith.  Sin is a constant struggle we are born into it, even the nicest kindest person is plagued with their own sins that they must overcome.  This doesn’t mean they are a bad person, by the Christian definition a sinner is a good person as sin in it’s simplest definition is neither good nor evil.  

There are of course evil sins: murder being the easiest to identify, but there are good sins as well.  For instance Charitable work in the name of a false God may do a lot of good for society, helping people in the name of Government not in the name of God is a good thing it isn’t evil, but it is a Sin by definition.  

This language that Christians intuitively understand is taken for granted when it comes to dealing with the secular world.  Sadly both the secular and the Christian suffer for this shortcoming.  It is time for real conversation regarding our understandings of each other.  Without this conversation we are sadly both talking to brick walls.

‘via Blog this’

If you sign up with the link below you will get an additional 500 Megabytes as will I.  Merry Christmas everybody.

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Patrick

Among the reviews of several good books came this post concerning the timeless advice 3rd President of the United States Thomas Jefferson gave to a young boy

the list is both simple and important.  I encourage you to check out Best Books For Men as well as to head these 10 points offered by our most accomplished President.

1.  Never put off till tomorrow what you can do to-day.
2.  Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3.  Never spend your money before you have it.
4.  Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
5.  Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6.  We never repent of having eaten too little.
7.  Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8.  How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
9.  Take things always by their smooth handle.
10.  When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

Timeless advice best repeated and headed to often.