Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe

The holiday season is a season of expectation.  We expect to celebrate, enjoy friends and family, give and receive the perfect gifts. We want the house manicured and the decorations displayed. We expect to be happy and to make others happy as well.   We want perfectionism … just like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Holiday Deadlines & Expectation

Anticipation builds as we look forward to specific events.  Most of us will plan multiple events that are scheduled with exact dates and times … the school play, the Christmas concert, dinner at Aunt Susan’s, shopping for presents, the holiday office party … the list usually fills up very quickly.  We will watch our calendars inflate with “happy deadlines” as we work in everyone and everything we want to include. Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Judy Mosley

When my husband and I decided to have children in 2004, I had believed we were well prepared.  We were healing as couple.  He had been a youth minister prior to our marriage and I had worked at a children’s home when he’d met me.  We loved children and had assumed that would carry us as we had our own.

It was quite a shock really to discover how unprepared we were. Not necessarily financially or physically, but mentally and emotionally.  Many people told us that we would enjoy being parents.  What they didn’t tell us is that, sometimes, you will be at an absolute loss as to know what to do next.  They didn’t let us know that our children would be our mirrors as to how we live and would challenge everything that we believed.  No one said that your heart had to be open, available, and ready at any given moment to give that child exactly what they needed. Read More »

Article by Kevin L. DeWitt

For all the tips and advice on being productive, it’s all ineffectual if we can’t focus on what we’re doing.  We need to work as efficiently and in as stress-free a way as possible to be productive. 

Yet we can’t do any of that if our mind keeps flicking to other things every two minutes.  Having had my own struggles with focus recently, here are some tips to get back on track when focus is lost: Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Chris Bennett

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.”  This prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr may seem more familiar to some than others, but it provides an equal opportunity working toward balance and calm in our life.

Acceptance and courage are strong foundations for a healthy mind and spirit, but neither a healthy mind nor spirit can progress in life without wisdom.  When either one is broken or on the verge of collapse where do you turn for serenity?  What do you need to do everyday to move onward and upward with an honest peace of mind? Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Marie Monroe

Love

Alcohol

Food

Substances

Shopping

Anger

Gambling

Drama (in Our Lives)

Each of these can represent an addiction … addiction to food, alcohol, or even to behaviors.  This definitely isn’t an exhaustive list, either.  There can be many more addictions.  Just with substances alone they can range from hard drugs to nasal spray.  And they are all powerful. Read More »