John Pape Online Blog

1. Any and all compliments can be handled by simply saying    “Thank you”
2. Some people are working backstage, some are playing in the  orchestra, some are on stage singing, some are in the audience as critics and some are there to applaud. Know  who and where you are.
3. When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste.
4. Never continue dating anyone who is rude to the waiters  and doesn’t like dogs/cats.
5. You need only two tools. WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn’t  move and it should, use WD-40.  If it moves and shouldn’t,  use the tape.
6. The five most essential words for a healthy, vital relationship  “I apologize” and “You are right.”
7. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
8. When you make a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier  to eat crow while it’s still warm.
9. The only really good advice that I remember my mother ever  gave me was, “Go! You might meet somebody!”
10. If he/she says that you are too good for him/her- * believe it.
11. I’ve learned to pick my battles; I ask myself, ‘Will this  matter one year from now? How about one month? One week?   One day?’
12. Never pass up an opportunity to pee.
13. If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have  another chance!
14. Living well really is the best revenge. Being miserable because of a bad or former relationship just might mean that the other person was right about you.
15. Knowing how to listen to music is as great a talent as knowing how to make it.
16. Work is good but it’s not that important.
17. Never underestimate the kindness of your fellow man.
18. And finally… Be really nice to your friends. You never  know when you are going to need them to empty your bed pan.

by Nate Sakany

Do you know your Unique Core Ministry?

About the Author

Nate Sakany is the founder and President of Incubator Creative Group. He is Christian music’s top expert in emerging artist development for the local church marketplace having served as a full-time professional for 30 years. Nate has founded and managed three artist development companies including his own agency, a non-profit educational organization, and Incubator Creative Group (the Christian music industry’s only incubator organization).

I’ve added several new resources to the John Pape Online Blog.

• Bible Trivia – Test your knowledge of the Bible
• Daily Bible Story – A new story every day from the Bible
• Christian News – News items with an emphasis on Christianity.
• eBooks – There are many resources available to help you to grow and learn in your Christian faith.
• Shopping – A shopping section has been added to help you easily find items such as books, software, musical instruments

Here is an excerpt of an article that I came across that I thought would be beneficial the the readers of this blog.  Setting goals is a way to help create your future.  Here are some tips that can help you in the pursuit of you dreams and ambitions.  Enjoy and feel free to make any comments you would like in response to this article

– John Pape

Most of us set goals for our lives. Whether the goal is to climb Everest or to buy a pair of shoes, setting goals can sometimes seem like second nature to us. Even so, setting a goal doesn’t automatically mean getting the result. Sometimes goals are gradually forgotten about and fade away into the back of our minds.

As with most things, it’s better to keep this process simple. These are five suggestions that I use. They’re easy to do and don’t take much time, but the effects are obvious once you do them.

1. Create a “vision board” or “board of dreams”.

The idea is to get a notice board, and let your artistic side out.  Don’t just write a list. Stick up things that remind you of what it is that you want. Photos, gifts, memorabilia, letters, notes, pages from books. Anything that provides you with a reminder of that original inspiration.

Be creative:  This board will engulf everything about your goal and show you all the reasons you want to achieve it.

2. Photos (everywhere)

Images are a source of great inspiration. Seeing a sunset isn’t the same as reading about it, no matter how good the writer. Get photos of what you want to achieve and stick them everywhere you can. Pictures of the people that inspire you doing what they do best are great. Decorate your home with them, put them on your desktop background, put them on your cell phone background, have photos on your desk of things that represent your aims. The picture isn’t as important as the emotional connection to your goal that comes with it.

3.  Leave notes (everywhere)

As well as the photos, have notes dotted around the place. Write notes that explain the photo you have chosen. A photo of a mansion with a pool with a note saying “I am going to buy this house” will further reinforce your goal. The more unavoidable and obvious your goals are, the easier it becomes to remember what you are working for. Notes can be left anywhere. I leave notes on my desk, by my bed, on the refrigerator door, in the bathroom.

4. Your most used applications

What applications do you use most? The majority of applications that are used everyday will have some way of keeping a note, whether it was meant for that purpose or not. I’m an avid user of iGoogle and my iGoogle homepage displays my goals every time I log in. Microsoft Outlook can do the same. Firefox can (there are handy notes add-ons!). Even Windows can. Google’s Desktop sidebar lets you save notes so that they’re ready for you when you log in. Whatever application you use the most, have it remind you of your goals.

5. Tell people (but be selective)

Tell others about your goals. Tell the people that inspire you and will throw encouragement your way. The inspiring people in our lives will add to our momentum. Have a conversation about your goals often. If your goals are well known and a regular talking point, you’ll never lose that inspiration.

Staying motivated past the original spark of inspiration is not easy. It can take discipline and a strong will to keep working towards a long term goal, but at the very least we can make things easier.

Remind yourself of the original moment you set your goal. The reasons you want to achieve that goal. The potential results of your hard work should be seen around your home or workplace.

Hopefully with the above methods, you will find your goals become part of who you are, and you’ll find the journey to achieving them much easier.

Source Dr. Mercola, Lifehack

Resources

Entries for an art contest at the Hirshorn Modern Art Gallery in DC.

The rule: the artist could use only one sheet of paper.

“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.”
– Theodore Levitt

“Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.”
– William James

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
– Mary Lou Cook

“Creativity is seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.”
– Michele Shea

“God is really another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just goes on trying other things.”
– Pablo Picasso

“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
– Vincent van Gogh

“I began by tinkering around with some old tunes I knew. Then, just to try something different, I set to putting some music to the rhythm that I used in jerking ice-cream sodas at the Poodle Dog. I fooled around with the tune more and more until at last, lo and behold, I had completed my first piece of finished music. ”
– Duke Ellington

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.”
– Albert Einstein

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
– Edward de Bono

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.”
– Jack London

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.”
– Edward de Bono

“Creative power, is that receptive attitude of expectancy which makes a mold into which the plastic and as yet undifferentiated substance can flow and take the desired form.”
– Thomas Troward

“Every day is an opportunity to be creative … the canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story, the complete picture is a work of art called, ‘my life’. Be careful what you put on the canvas of your mind today … it matters.”
– Innerspace

There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
– Lewis Carroll

“When you are describing, A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don’t state the matter plainly, But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things, With a sort of mental squint.”
–Lewis Carroll

“Life is trying things to see if they work.”
– Ray Bradbury

“An artist paints, dances, draws, writes, designs, or acts at the expanding edge of consciousness. We press into the unknown rather than the known. This makes life lovely and lively.”
– Julia Cameron

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
-Buckminster Fuller

“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
-Pablo Picasso

“Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way. ”
-William James

“The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.”
– Linus Pauling

“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.”
– Rita Mae Brown

“You become more divine as you become more creative. All the religions of the world have said God is the creator. I don’t know whether he is the creator or not, but one thing I know: the more creative you become, the more godly you become. When your creativity comes to a climax, when your whole life becomes creative, you live in God. So he must be the creator because people who have been creative have been closest to him. Love what you do. Be meditative while you are doing it – whatsoever it is!”
– Osho

“Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem.”
– Rollo May

Here is a copy of an email I received.  Being a part of this group I can say I did survive.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren’t overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing…that’s why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were

‘With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’
Jay Leno