Sally Hanan's Blog, page 15

Imagine you’ve worked incredibly hard to get to where you are.

You’ve written more than ten books.

You’ve taken every class on speaking you could find, and you’ve taught for free wherever they’d have you.

You’ve spent decades working on your artistic skills.

You’ve served in every position you could find that would teach you more about how to start and lead a company well.

You’ve spent decades improving your acting skills, and you’ve kept working every job imaginable to fund the dream.

You’ve done all that and you’re still not famous. Are you okay with being one of the 9,999 in every 10,000 people who will never be famous? Are you okay with being you, with your heavenly mix of everything God gave you? Are you okay with giving that to the world as a gift? Because you are God’s gift to the world. Not some day. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday you were too. God gave you life and filled you with gifts that made you feel that life. He’s given you the ability to bring heaven to earth. He told you to do everything you can to connect people with his heart and make them whole. Do you need to be famous to do that? Your life purpose is to be lived out every day in every moment. It’s all the little things. It’s all those interactions with people. It’s all your skill going into doing each thing well. No matter where you are or how many big bodacious dreams you have, know that simply because you have it in your heart to love people, your heart will be in the right place to maximize their blessings if and when those dreams materialize. And that’s the best place for your heart to be.

If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don’t hoard it. Don’t dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke. –Brendan Francis

The post Still not Famous appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I’ve been thinking about engagements and marriage lately, why people choose the ones they choose, and how all that played out in real life over the years once married.

I have no regrets, but when I think of the standards I had for a future spouse back in my early 20s, I think they’d be very different now. Back then I just wanted a man who was funny and short and who loved God. Twenty-five years later, I know that’s it’s not so much about who I want to SPEND the rest of my life with, it’s about who I want to DO life with.

Marriage is not easy. We can hurt each other, stop giving, and nurse offenses.

It’s also wonderful. We laugh together, we comfort each other, we pour everything we are into our kids and watch them turn into great adults, we build our future together.

For me, the best parts were definitely when we joined our unique strengths and passions and worked as one. So looking back, how would your list of qualities in a potential spouse have changed, were you to make a new list?

The post Why People Choose the Ones They Choose appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I did a six-minute interview in August with the Bridge Radio about Coach Yourself with the Father. Listen to it here.

If you feel lost or like you have no purpose and don’t know what to do with your life, Coach Yourself is a workbook designed to help you figure it all out. Discover God’s purpose and plan for your life!  This workbook will help bring clarity, purpose, and meaning to your reason for being on this earth. As you work through each chapter, you can stop feeling stuck and confused; gain self-esteem in who God has designed you to be; find direction for your unique mix of personality, gifts, experience, and talents; and grow a new level of confidence to navigate change and pursue your dreams.

Chapter after chapter is filled with insights, open-ended questions, Scriptures, personal assessments, interactive activities, and people’s stories. See your worth, find your purpose, and pursue your goals. It’s time to find yourself.

Because this is in workbook form, it can be adapted for use in small groups, with a mentor, or in workshops.

Buy it on Amazon.

Buy it on Barnes and Noble.

Buy the eBook.

The post Interview with the Bridge Radio about Coach Yourself appeared first on Pick Your Life .

I have a friend who did something that hurt me about ten years ago. She’s not that close of a friend anymore, and it’s not because of what she did; it’s because she can’t let it go. Every time she sees me, she brings up “the thing,” as if her focus on it will somehow prove how bad she feels about it.

I wonder if that’s all she’s going to keep bringing to the friendship–something that gives no life.

It’s like bringing gone-off steak to a meal and saying Hey, I know we’re about to sit down to an amazing dinner, but let me put this in front of you instead because this is what we ate one time and I want you to remember how bad it tasted. No thanks. Let me enjoy what we’re about to eat right now, because I know it’s going to be good.

It’s ten years on. My friend has grown in so many ways into her true self. But she can’t enjoy it because all she sees when we get together is that one thing she thinks marks her as inadequate. And only she has the power to put that replay button away and start making new movies based on who she is today.

Just like us.

Let’s focus on what brings life rather than keep digging up dead bodies and spreading the stink everywhere.

 

(And yes, I’ve told her how I feel. Me not saying what I think is like it not raining in Seattle.)

The post Let Go of the Shame appeared first on Pick Your Life .

David’s name means beloved. What if he didn’t know he was loved?

What if he’d decided he wasn’t worth loving?

What if his lack of self love in turn caused him to lack love for others?

What if that lack of love made him not care if his people’s enemies mocked his people and their God?

What if one man’s courage, motivated by love, had never defeated his people’s enemies?

You cant afford to have a thought in your head about you that is not also in God’s head about you. Millions of lives could depend on it.

The post Wasn’t Worth Loving appeared first on Pick Your Life .

Some random thoughts I’ve had:

We each fit into a bigger picture somewhere, so never overestimate your own importance and, more importantly, never underestimate the significance of others.

 

If you always talk about people and say, “He’s/she’s great BUT…” that habit needs to be loved out of you, and it starts with loving yourself. Whenever you think something nice about yourself or others, stop at the “great” part. Christianity is an ongoing celebration of life, not a daily proclamation of death.

 

If you want people to like you and notice you, perhaps start thinking about liking and noticing them first, rather than about whether or not they are liking and noticing you.

 

Fat-shaming yourself into thinness is never a good idea because in doing so, you become your greatest adversary rather than your greatest ally. Even if it works, you will then use shame as a weapon to try and help others and end up crippling them. Kindness is so much kinder and more productive.

 

“There is a nahar (river), the streams whereof shall make glad the Ir Elohim, the Kedosh Mishkenei Elyon (the holy dwelling of the Most High). Elohim is in the midst of it [i.e., the Ir Elohim}; it shall not be moved.” — Psalm 46:4-5 OJB

 

You are the holy dwelling of God. The streams of his Holy Spirit are flowing through you, making you glad. He is in your midst. You shall not be moved from that wholeness.

 

You can try all you like, but you’ll never manage to legislate or punish people into love.

 

I wonder if God listens to prayers and rates them in the same way we’d rate a book or speech…. Do the angels hover over a board like Vanna White and cheer when one gets interesting? Are there high-fives?  Personally, I think that God prefers the shorter heartfelt and authentic prayers like Help.

The post Your Own Importance appeared first on Pick Your Life .

A collection of thoughts I’ve had:

We’ve been religious for decades about the words that come out of our mouths, but it’s not about the words, it’s about the hearts behind the words. Once your heart is whole, you don’t have to focus on what comes out of your mouth. You can just focus on the fullness of life within.

Most decisions in life are about the jump, not the destination.

God’s pretty good at yelling STOP if you’re about to make a monumentally bad decision. Thing is, though, he usually does it through your friends. Choose them wisely.

Re worry – you’re either going to trust God or you’re not, so every time you hear a “yes, but” in your head, shoot it down the chute into God’s hands and focus on taking care of the things you can.

It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

Tunnels were built because going over the mountaintops took too long, so if you’re in a dark tunnel in life, remember that you’re still on the faster route to the other side.

Powerless people’s approach relationships as consumers. They are always looking for other people who have resources of love, happiness, joy, and comfort to offer in a relationship to share with them, because they don’t have any. But powerful people get their love from the One and keep it on.

Don’t act like an indentured servant to your self-improvement list. You were free to begin with.

The post Religious for decades appeared first on Pick Your Life .

Back in my teens, I often ran to the front just as quickly as the one beside me when there was an altar call. “Will you go to the nations?” “Will you change the world?” “Will you obey the call and sacrifice it all?”

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”

It was such a noble and courageous thing in my mind–to go where the sick and poor needed me, where they would hear about Jesus and thank me for saving their miserable lives. I’d be a savior of sorts, bringing Jesus up in the rear.

A few decades later, I see more clearly. I don’t need to “go” anywhere to be like Jesus, to prove my devotion, to wave my obedience flag, to change the world. And if I went without love, I’d do more damage anyway.

The reality is that an ever-deepening love for God starts overflowing with genuine love for others — my husband, children, friends, the people at the grocery store, the political posters on Facebook, the homeless people at the stoplight. And that love doesn’t look like preaching or loud prayers. It’s a look in their eyes. A touch. Maybe some money. A quiet prayer. A text message. A smile.

Just like Jesus.

The post Will You Go? appeared first on Pick Your Life .

We all reflect something, but if the only time we sparkle is when we’re reflecting other people’s light, it begs the question:

Why is your own light so dim?

And if the only time you feel good about yourself is when other people give you attention, it begs the question:

Why can’t you give yourself positive attention?

And if the only time you feel happy is when everything around you is an opportunity rather than an obstacle, it begs the question:

Which perspective will you choose today?

The post Reflecting appeared first on Pick Your Life .

God had the Israelites pile rocks from the river bed as a memorial to the power of God to deliver them, and to bring them to the other side of the impossible and into their amazing futures.

We are all unique

seeing,

communicating,

loving,

resting,

supporting,

laughing,

organizing,

thinking,

teaching,

light-filled,

visible beacons—living stones—living memorials to the power of God to deliver us, bring us to the other side of the impossible and into our amazing futures.

When you’re in the river, you don’t need to go digging for gold—it’s all around you cleverly disguised in people.

The post Living Memorials appeared first on Pick Your Life .