Category: Blogging

Joyfear

One of the most popular blogs in the world is written by Leo Babauta. I think his post below will resonate with a lot of the readers here at Making All Things New.

Joyfear

The moment my first daughter Chloe was born, I was filled with an overpowering joy — she was a living miracle! I was also filled with soul-trembling fear — here was a fragile new life, entrusted into my incompetent hands.

It was overwhelming, this mixture of two powerful emotions.

I call it Joyfear.

I discovered this word in an exercise on Sunday at the World Domination Summit during a talk by the amazing Andrea Scher and Jen Lemen of Mondo Beyondo (check out their site, it’s awesome). During the exercise I came up with the word and wrote it on my arm.

Joyfear.

It turns out that the birth of each of my kids was filled with Joyfear. And it turns out every single defining moment in my life has been filled with Joyfear, with a mixture of intense joy and intense fear into one ball of powerful emotions that both lift me up and make me see things clearly when I hadn’t before.

My first marathon was filled with Joyfear (actually every marathon had it). I felt Joyfear when I quit my day job and became self-employed. Joyfear was there when I fell in love with my wife and then when I married her, when I moved my entire family with absolutely nothing to San Francisco last year, when I published my first book, and in a smaller way every time I create something new and put it out into the world to be judged.

Having only joy is great. Having only fear sucks. But having both … that’s life-defining.

Do not shy away from Joyfear. Seek it out. Recognize it when you happen upon it. Joyfear will change your life, and you’ll never forget the moment you find it.

Blogging Body Fitness Inspiration Mind Nutrition Personal Development

Life Happens To Everyone

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Todd Burrier of toddburrier.com

I realize that because I blog on topics related to living a better life, and with a positive perspective, that I could easily be seen as someone who is either wearing rose-colored glasses all the time or just doesn’t have to deal with anything difficult.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I admit that my glasses are rose-colored more often than not…but that is a choice. And one that ANYONE can choose. There is a positive and negative to everything, why not choose to look at the positive? It is generally a healthy way to view things and it sure feels a lot better! As I have related in past blogs, written in my books, speak about in my seminars, and share with everyone I coach and mentor…it has taken me years to grow from someone who could always point out the negatives and why things are bad for me, to someone who sees the world the opposite way.

Life Happens to me just like it happens to you. I don’t ignore the challenges and adversities in life…THAT would be unhealthy. I do however, focus on how to overcome. It is true that it is not what happens to us that matters, it is what we do about it, and with it, that really matters. I was just overseas on an amazing trip. One in which I received a major award, saw tremendous fruits from my efforts and spent time with incredible people. I left home on a great note as well. While I was away, there was a major “life happens” event in our family. It was handled incredibly well by my wife and my sister, but it is not something that will go away any time soon. It will require adjustments. This is what you do…when things happen, you deal, and then you adjust. You don’t spend time wallowing or wishing it wasn’t so…this is how things get worse, not better.

As I write this, I am using my wife’s computer. Mine crashed the morning after I got back. This cost me many hours of productivity yesterday and will over the next several days. I have to admit…I was a little…upset…yesterday for a few minutes…but after I realized the situation, I have no choice but to work around it. Life Happens.

The key to dealing with “life Happens”, is mental outlook and living a balanced and productive life. When you feed your mind positively you are more up to the task when something confronts you. Balanced productivity means that you are never in neglect in the important areas, so a temporary interference won’t cause you too much issue. These are bigger topics and not for today’s blog.

Blogging Inspiration

Changes Are Coming

Over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of times with a small group of friends talking about the internet. We are trying to figure out how we can tap into this unbelievable market, make an income, and at the same time help people better their lives.

First sitting at a local restaurant, and then coming back together in my home office, we are moving forward, separately and together. Each of us has a story to tell, and we’re approaching things slightly differently, but we’re forging ahead, and its exciting. The potential reach is virtually unlimited.

Blogging diabetes Fitness Nutrition type II diabetes

Metabolic Syndrome

The other day, I realized that it had been a very long time since I posted anything about type II diabetes. Recently, one of the people from my church asked me to meet with her.

She had just been diagnosed with pre diabetes, and she was scared. She asked if it would be possible to sit down with her and her son to talk about diabetes and how they could prevent it. Their desire to get back on track while there is still time is pretty common. Actually doing something about it is not.

Blogging Inspiration Mind Spirit

A New Beginning

One year ago today, I published my first post on Making All Things New:

I’m embarking on a new adventure! For the last eleven months, God has been doing some amazing new things with me. It’s been a radical transformation of my body, mind, and spirit. I want to share with anyone who will listen what’s happened to me, with the hope that maybe they will find some good advice and make some changes for themselves.

307 posts and nearly a quarter of a million hits later, I want to thank everyone who has joined me on this adventure. It’s been fun, and I’m ready to start the next leg of the journey.

Blogging Body diabetes Fitness Inspiration type II diabetes

Could This Be Us?

Since I started this blog last March, I’ve been writing about the great need to work on improving our overall health. I’ve brought up the shocking statistic that by the year 2050 one in three Americans will have Type II diabetes.

Those with ethnic backgrounds will have it even worse. Unless things improve quickly, a full fifty percent of Hispanic and African-American children born in the year 2010 will develop the disease.

If you doubt these numbers, I want to tell you about the tiny island of Nauru. It has the unfortunate designation as the fattest country on the planet. Only 8.1 sq. miles, it has a population of around 10,000. It’s the smallest independent republic on earth, but the waistlines of those who live in what should be an island paradise are anything but small.

Blogging Inspiration Spirit

Simple Daily Happiness

Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution from Scott Dinsmore of Reading For Your Success.

Some days I wake up with rocket fuel in my veins, ready to take the day by storm. Happiness comes totally natural. But on others it can feel like I have lead weights strapped to my shoes.

Have you ever been there?

We all have.

Happiness is a practice. It’s on us to learn it.

While some days are easier to find a smile than others, happiness is a daily choice. It’s a mindset we can nurture and train. That doesn’t mean it’s there every second, but when you notice it’s missing often the tiniest shift can put you right back on top of the world.

Blogging

2010 in review

I got an email from WordPress today, and they shared some summaries of how my blog is doing 🙂 WordPress is the platform on which Making All Things New operates. The data below sets the stage for an exciting start to the New Year. Thanks Everyone!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 170,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 7 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 247 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 328 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 163mb. That’s about 6 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 12th with 1,356 views. The most popular post that day was -Type II Diabetes.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were WordPress Dashboard, blenza.com, mail.yahoo.com, dogpile.com, and facebook.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for making all things new blog, making all things new, +making all things new, makingallthingsnew.com, and making all things new paul gallagher.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

-Type II Diabetes May 2010
1 comment

-Vegetarian/Vegan May 2010

-St. Ignatius May 2010

Things I Like April 2010

Transformation May 2010

Blogging Body diabetes type II diabetes

Be Cautious

As I was first beginning makingallthingsnew, I spent a lot of time checking out the blogs which focused on diabetes. There’s one blog that had been around a long time, and I went through all his old posts looking to see how we addressed the various aspects of this disease.

I liked most of what I read, but I was surprised at all the pharmaceutical ads on the site. Then, in one of his posts, I learned that there had been a big diabetes blogger convention (who would have thought the pool was large enough to have a convention?) down in Florida. The blogger mentioned how wonderful it had been to participate in this all expense paid gathering. If you’re wondering who paid the expenses, it was a major pharmaceutical company. Big surprise.

Blogging Body diabetes Inspiration type II diabetes

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 11/06/2010
2 Comments on Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve asked some friends to write something for my blog. I think it makes sense to hear someone else’s voice from time to time, and I hope you’ll appreciate it too. Today, I’m really happy to have a young friend of mine share his thoughts on exercise. Jeff studied sports medicine in college, and now works in the physical therapy field, helping people get themselves in better shape every day. I’ve known Jeff since he was a teenager. He’s getting married next month, and I’m glad he’s going to stay in our area. I hope you take to heart what this great young man of faith wants to share with you.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. – Psalm 139:14

The human body. It can heal and strengthen with a specific and disciplined exercise program. It is so intricate and so awesomely beautiful that it is hard to not see the miracle that is within it; within my body, within your body. Just as your walk with Christ can be renewed and strengthened continuously, your body has the ability to heal and strengthen with the right direction and motivation.