Susan Boyle from Chris Yehuda Zimmerman on Vimeo.
I’ve jumped on the Susan Boyle bandwagon. It was a pain trying to find an HQ embeddable video though. I can’t wait until she shows up on iTunes. Enjoy Stunning Susan!

Apple jacked up the price in the iTunes Store. Songs now cost $1.29. Give them feedback about this price increase. Here is what I told them:

“There seems to be a bug in the iTunes Store. The songs are no longer 99 cents each. I purchase ALL my music through iTunes and I’ve purchased a ton over the years. I will not be purchasing any more music until this bug is fixed. See ya.”

I struggle. One of the things I struggle with most is listening to negativity and offering negativity about other people. Most negative statements are not designed to tear down a person in one shot. Negative statements are frequently designed to put question marks in the head of those who are listening. If enough question marks are communicated then the character of the person being talked about is damaged. This happens all the time. Just think of a person you have “questions” about and try to spend time with them face to face. It is difficult to completely trust that person. It is difficult to truly help that person. I’m sad to say that I have participated in this form of negative questioning.

I have justified communicating negativity about others by acting like I have their best interests in mind. I say to myself, “I will listen actively and provide a solution to the problem.” Something that I’ve been reminded of recently is that the solution has already been provided. That solution is grace.

I do not need to listen or provide negativity. Instead I can politely choose not to listen and I can show grace by keeping my mouth shut. I am well aware that people talk about my failures, blind spots, and quirks. I would appreciate it if they told me first before sharing it with the rest of the world. I’m sure most people would appreciate that courtesy. It hit me this week that I don’t want to get halfway through my life, look back, and see all the people that I have trash-faced (behind their backs). Here is my game plan for victory:

• Acknowledge my faults and ruthlessly seek out my blind spots.
• Laugh about my quirks and suppress them around those who are annoyed by them.
• Find the source of my negative feelings and stop making excuses for my lack of grace.
• Kindly let people know how their attitudes and actions effect my relationship with God and others.
• Recognize that I will sometimes fail in my goal of grace and keep trying in spite of my failures.
• Refuse to listen to negativity about others if that person is not present.
• Pray
• Take a chill pill. Life is too short for me to fix perceived problems in others. I have enough problems of my own.

All this stuff I have known how to do for quite awhile. I’ve often faulted people for showing a lack of grace to others. Yet the thing I despise most in them has trapped me as well. From now on I will look in the mirror when I find something in others that I dislike. Sometimes that stray nose hair or zit is on my face too.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:32

Huckabee provides a name for the Stimulus Bill.

Albert Einstein said, “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” I don’t intent to be a judge of Truth and Knowledge, but I do intend to become a better pupil of Truth and Knowledge.

Focus
All those little roads in my head sometimes become traffic-jammed because my curiosity is sparked very easily. When this happens, my valuable thoughts do not have room to roam. My brain becomes grid-locked and I end up creating nothing of value. For instance, my wife tells me she wants a Bohemian necklace and I spend hours researching Bohemianism. Then I end up with a bunch of useless knowledge and I still have no clue what kind of necklace she wants. This year only those thoughts that have value will receive the right of way. I will do whatever it takes to keep those “Bohemian” cars off of the mind roads.

Language
Everybody wants to learn another language, but we never take the necessary steps. Over my short lifetime I’ve studied Navajo, Spanish, Ancient Greek, and Ancient Hebrew. At the time I was learning those languages it was required (not to mention I had tons of other things to study for). Now that I have a little more time on my hands I want to become proficient in Ancient Greek. I’ve also been studying a modern language early in the morning. I will let you know what language that is if I become moderately skilled at speaking it.

Meditation
What good is knowledge if you don’t track and review it? Meditation is my tool for revisiting those truths that have caught my attention. My journals become the tracking tool for those thoughts. I’ve also found that mediation helps me verbalize my thoughts to others in a slightly understandable manner. I’m going to make much more use of mediation this year. The main result should be a greater sense of clarity for me and for others.

The gist of all this rambling is that I NEVER want to stop learning. I’m going to have a disciplined system for learning this year.

NOTE: This post is Part 6 of a series on my 30 Day Trial New Years Resolutions.

I was three years old when this was introduced.