We have had a leak in our bathroom for a little while now. I have kept it maintained and there hasn’t been any lasting damage, but I put off really finding out what the problem was until this morning. The solution? A 5 dollar part.

Fortunately this was a small drip and not a major issue? But, how many other things in life do we ignore only later to find out that major damage has been done because we didn’t address the issue when it was a five dollar problem?

I can think of many other examples of this. Addressing a cavity early prevents a root canal later. Frequent oil changes will prolong the life of the motor and prevent early breakdown. Apologizing and making things right today will keep a marriage far way from divorce later.

Moral of the story? Fix it while it is small and prevent a huge flood in the bathroom later.

It occurred to me some time ago that I needed to be putting better things into my head if I wanted better things to come out of it. For months all I would listen to was the same music over and over, the same audiobooks over and over, and watch the same movies over and over. I wondered why my thinking never really evolved past where it had been. It is obvious looking back.

What you put in really is what you get back out. If you put in good, you get good in return. If you put in crap, you get crap in return. If you put in a random assortment of unconnected crap, you get an unsettled mind that can not find firm ground. But, here is the cool part: If you put in a stream filled with awesome, inspiring, instructive, thought provoking stuff….you fill in the rest of the sentence. It is like a light bulb came on in my head. What I was putting in is what I was getting out.

So, I have been trying to do this very thing. I have stopped listening to standup comedy. (There are some artists that are doing it right, but many are not. Why does it seem like a competition of who can be more vulgar or outlandish? I will save that for some other time…) I have stopped listening to some of the music that I had let slip in. For the most part, I have stopped watching TV. (I reserve the right to hang on to the Biggest Loser and the Food Network). I have made a huge attempt to remove many of the negative influences that have had a free pass into my mind.

The result? For starters my mind has found some peace. For a while I had my iPod in my ears most of the day. I wasn’t giving my brain any downtime. I take periodic times for quiet now. I have chosen some thought provoking listening (the writings of John Eldredge, Andy Andrews, CS Lewis, Mark Batterson, Seth Godin, Dan Miller, Dave Ramsey, and others). I have soaked up much of the information like a sponge. I see some of what I have read coming back through in my daily decisions. Also, I find I don’t have much bad to say about anyone. I am not putting negative into my brain, so I don’t feel the need to let negative come back out of it. There are positive ways to get through the issues.

What do you think about the most? What are you allowing into your mind that is shaping your thoughts? The good news is we can replace the negative thoughts for good ones. It takes work. It takes time to build new patterns. But, in time when we put good things in, we will definitely be getting good things out.

I looked in the mirror not too long ago and was disgusted with what I saw. I weighed over 280 pounds. My face was puffy. I felt horrible. I looked horrible. It felt like it was something I couldn’t control.

We all know that this is not the truth. One of our most basic freedoms is the freedom to choose. I had the freedom to stop putting bad food in my mouth. I also had the freedom to exercise like a maniac, though I wasn’t. The problem was this: It was something I couldn’t control then, because I thought I couldn’t control it. Perception became reality.

Then, one day I woke up. Somewhere deep inside I made the choice to change. I am 40 pounds lighter now, and I am still a work in progress. I know that if I want to make the long term goal I have set I have to break it down into smaller goals. What I want to do five years from now is affected by what I do today. So, I simply have to make sure I have a goal for today. That goal has to be a part of my goal for the week, which are a part of my goals for the month, for the year, and for five years out. If I choose to what is right today, I can choose the same tomorrow and for the time to come. The goal will become a reality.

I am proof of this. I look in the mirror now and then back at pictures of me from then. The power of choice is quite evident.

Around my house there is no shortage of cartoons. I live with an awesome two year old. He loves Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., Robots, and many others. His current favorite is Meet the Robinsons. I hadn’t seen this one until a few months back. It is one of the best kids movies I have seen in a long time.

There is a scene in the movie where the main character, Louis, messes up trying to fix a peanut butter and jelly sandwich maker. PB&J goes everywhere. He is devastated and starts apologizing to everyone around. They look puzzled at him and then congratulate him for his failure. One character tells him, “From failure we learn. From success…not so much.” He is then introduced to the motto Keep Moving Forward. It is a great scene.

I love it when there are adult sized lessons built into the kids stories. Louis thought that failure was the end and that he would continue to be a failed inventor. He later finds out that he is the one that invented the future he sees around him. He is not a failure at all, because he didn’t let himself be. He kept creating and looking for new ways to do things. He kept moving forward with his dreams.

There is a great quote from Walt Disney at the end of the movie. I shared it in an earlier post, but it is worth sharing again:

Around here, however, we don’t look backwards very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we are curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

This is a note of encouragement this evening. You have dreams inside of you. You may have failed a time or two, but it just might be the time to pick back up and try again. What are they? Why have you put them on hold? Have you been looking backward too long and not been able to focus on what is ahead? You can do it.

Don’t be afraid of failure. That will happen from time to time. The main fear I have of failure is that I won’t learn the lessons and have to do it all over again. I want to learn. I want to grow. Years from now I want to know that I gave it all I could. It is hard to do that when you are looking back too long. Failure is only permanent if you let it be.