“We can become artists in our own lives, listening to the call of our own inspirations.”

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe

As an art therapist, I have been in the business of creativity for 25 years.  My job has been to help others, typically non-artists, to engage in creative work.  What I have learned long the way is that all of us can become “artists” in our own lives with our own brand of creativity … no matter what our calling is or what we do in life.

To understand the benefit of creative work for the average person, it’s helpful to consider how artists behave and what happens along their life journeys.  This gives us a snapshot of creativity in the extreme … a caricature, if you will, in which we can see some interesting detail. 

A look at artists can deflate some tough, lingering myths about creativity that scare many people, even the interested people, away.  The chief boogie man - standing at the gate of creativity - seems to be the notion that an artist is born an artist, that talent is first present and then work is produced.  This is, with the exception of prodigies and savants, typically backwards. Read More »

Article By Kevin L. DeWitt

Focusing on gratitude can change a person’s life for the better.  Just giving thanks.  It’s one of the simplest actions we can take, and yet it has the power to transform.

I have been working at being conscious of all the things I have to be grateful for … my wife, my family, health, a loving forgiving God … and also trying to recognize that while I feel the recessionary pinch to be very real, I have so much more than many who are less fortunate.  Gratitude has affected everything.  

It has made me a more positive person – although that is a work in progress!  I’m not perfect, but gratitude has made me better.

Gratitude can change your life.  No one will get the exact same results, because no one is in the exact same position in their life.  However, the simple act of gratitude on a regular basis will change anyone’s life, positively and immediately.  How many other changes can claim to be that simple and fast, and that profound? Read More »

God promises to protect you from fear …

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, through its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)

Article By Kevin L. DeWitt

We have so much to be grateful for … and most of us are.  But what do we do when we work hard to achieve something, and yet we still feel less than satisfied? 

Part of the challenge is asking ourselves “do you have enough.”  Part of it has to do with learning to filter everything that the media bombards us with every day … trying to convince us we will never be happy unless…

But today’s basic question is “When we have enough, our needs are met, and perhaps even our goals and dreams are being achieved – and yet we still feel empty and unsatisfied – how can we find the excitement”?  In other words, how to we rekindle the magic of our dreams and find satisfaction? Read More »

God promises to meet all your needs…

“And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

 Philippians 4:19 (NIV)