morningstarmen

More than we're generally aware, the personal  identity we  embrace and the sources from which we receive that understanding will form not only our internal compass, but our external behaviors. Not only in the moment, but for decades to come. Many a man can look back with either small or large feelings of regret when considering how a personal identity formed in the past is still controlling his life in the present and even creating for him a future which he'd never intentionally choose. Let's look at that.

What are the messages which you've heard spoken over you or about you? Which ones have you allowed to penetrate your thinking and your beliefs? Are you operating according to a script for your  life that's be influenced more by the inaccurate messages than by the voice of God. Let's take some time to listen carefully and thoughtfully  as one man shares his journey from accepting - unchallenged - the messages spoken into his life by others to an awareness and a belief that God's message is more trustworthy and more accurate than the voices of his past.  

If you have something important to say or a powerful way to say it, then the last thing you would ever want to is get in the way of that important idea. Let's consider ways in which we can help the important ideas we want to share to be heard and understood. After all, all great  and selfless communicators believe the ideas they are sharing are important and deserve a hearing. But that never happens if we as the advocates and champions of those ideas allow our own speaking and writing handicaps to get in the way.

We can all become better. Let's dig in and together explore ways to become better at sharing vital ideas.

This week we begin a 2 part series on communication.

We'll explore the basics that contribute to anyone's becoming better at sharing ideas with others.

 

This is review week. In this podcast, we'll try to tie all the pieces together and also introduce some critical understanding which can help any Dad to father more effectively. These ideas are not new. The challenges to fathering in this more intentional way are many. But the results can be great. Let's dig in.

Happiness, Contentment, Life-Satisfaction, Joy. These are objectives or motivating factors in the lives of most people, even people who would deny that. They will certainly be motivating factors in the lives of our children. Truthfully, when centered and guided, they are excellent motivators. Yet when we chase after happiness alone, unguided by higher principles, we find that it crumples and decays while still in our hands. We watch it evaporate and even rot while still fresh and new. So we chase after more. What we've tasted for moments we crave more of. It becomes a drug whose last fix isn't quite enough to make us quite as high this time around.

What if there were another way? What if there were actually secrets to joy and contentment which could be found, yet they would never be found by looking where most look or doing what most do? Would we want to know? Would we want to be able to share these insights with our children so they could pursue genuine life satisfaction in the right ways? Yes of course this is something every good parent would want. Let's look at that today.

 

Is success normal?  Is failure abnormal? We know what success looks like, and we know what failure looks like. We know, because we have both observed and experienced each. Perhaps not on a grand scale, but at least at a knowable level. Yet it is success which we sometimes believe is the natural and normal course of effort.  Perhaps there's another way of asking the question. Is either a final outcome? Is success once achieved a final and irrevocable result? That depends on the way it's defined, doesn't it?  What about failure? Is that also a final and irreversible outcome?  Again, how we define it will determine how can should answer.

Let's take some time to consider the nature and scope of failure this week.

This week we'll explore the importance of character. Character isn't actually what most people believe it to be. We'll break things down in this teaching and discussion session, so you can appreciate the foundation for character, the challenges to our character, and why - ultimately - we say that there isn't good or bad character, but instead strong and weak character.

Let's take a closer look.

Did you know that the skills and character traits needed to be great at earning money are not the same ones needed to manage money. I hope you do, but if not, you as a father must know the differences and the skill needed to be a great manager. As a great Dad, you also want to be certain that your children grow up and grow into a full understanding of both these sets of skills.

Let's look at that this week.