Who is Jewl – Alternative Solutions

Where Are You?

As this year comes to a close it’s the perfect time to reflect on where you are and where you’re going.

Self-examination is a necessity of life – it helps us move forward. Do you feel you’re in a rut or not where you want to be, then this is especially for you – it’s amazing how it will help you focus. Regardless of where you’re at this can be a fun self examination of where you’re at. We want to challenge you to take inventory of where you stand right now, today, on your path to where you want to be.

Do a self-assessment as to where you are, physically (weight, fitness levels, and overall health), mentally (attitude, temper, peace of mind, emotions), relationships (spiritual, marriage, kids, other family members, friends, coworkers), financially (debt, financial peace, direction, overall wealth), purpose (do you feel you spend your life focused on making the difference you were born to make?), and passion (are you excited about your life?). Finally, ask yourself if you are having fun and doing what you love to do. Grab a pen & paper or start a journal or notebook to track your journey.
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Now take a few minutes to think about your dreams. What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in the future? (i.e. goals for the areas being examined above–physical, mental, relational, financial, purpose, direction, and fun). Record your thoughts below or in your journal.

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If you were living life to the max, what would that look like?

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Measure on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = Terrible, 10 = Excellent)

Overall health
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Energy level
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Stress level
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Attitude (Are you generally happy and positive?)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Time management skills
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Relationship with God
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Relationship with Spouse
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Relationship with kids
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Relationships with others
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Financial stability
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

On course to finding and/or fulfilling your goal/mission in life
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I once heard it said “The ball is in your court, the next move is up to you.” How will your next move impact your future?

To Your Success!

Did you guys see the news this morning?  Sandy Vinge, a 75 yr. old grandma was badly beaten and held captive for 26 hours.  You can read the whole story on MSNBC Today Show.  What an outrage!  Our prayers go out to Sandy and her family.

You have to admire Sandy’s spirit.  Her sweet spirit was shinning ever so brightly during her interview.  Very inspiring!

It is a reminder for all of us to be mindful of our surroundings, who we let in our home, and to do what we can to watch out for our neighbors. 

Be careful out there this Christmas season.  Things are tough for a lot of people.  Be Kind, Be Aware, Be Helpful to those in need.  We love the Christmas season at our household, but remember the true meaning of Christmas is not about us or what we get.

Colds, flu got you down?  Check this out, it has helped us and thousands of other people

Click Here For A Healthy Option

To Your Health!

Are you a Closet Procrastinator?  Do you have a procrastinating side?

Do you find yourself saying things like –

I’ll pay bills later…

I’ll call them after …

I’ll wash the dog this afternoon, but never do

I gotta clean my room, let me do this first then…

I’ll check the mail on my way back…

I’ll put this in the mail…

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said one of the above.  For instance, I’m always saying “I’ll check the mail on the way back from the store.”, but when the time comes I tend to say “oh, I need to get this cold stuff home, I’ll check it on my way out”.  Its funny how at times my mail gets checked less then once a week.  Here’s another example, we went on vacation last week and I had to mail out a bill – instead of mailing it right then and there I thought I would just mail it on the way, do you think I did?  Your right if you guessed no, luckily I didn’t lose it and I did finally mail it when I got home.  But it is so easy for us to procrastinate and we don’t even realize that that’s what we’re doing.

Here’s a couple of things I’ve put into active practice that have been working –

1. First you have to reprogram your mind.  When that first objection pops up it’s ugly head catch yourself and say “not this time, I’m gonna just do it”  Try it, it feels good.
2. I hope you notice what I said above “active practice”.  You have to take action.  Think of it this way – I told you we went on vacation last week, if I never took action to plan our vacation we would never have gone on vacation – but we did and had a blast.  The same is true for those things you have listed on your to-do list.  So, instead of putting them off just take action.  Have a mental image of how you’ll feel at the end of the day when you can look back and see that your day wasn’t wasted.  Don’t waste your life – by the way that’s the title of a great book everyone should read.
3. Plan your day.  Start out by having a little to-do list.  Maybe you start with just 3-5 little things you want to accomplish for the day.  Put something fun, then list 2 or 3 things you might consider mundane, then finish with something fun. 
4. Make a mental note each time you find yourself wasting time.  I did this a few months back and I was amazed.  I love to stay up once everyone has gone to bed, I’m a night owl.  I started taking note of what I did and evaluated just how productive I was being.  I don’t know about you, but I have found myself saying on more than one occasion “I can get lots of stuff done at night”  Well, I busted that myth – I really wasn’t getting much done at all.  I found that by going to bed just a bit earlier and getting up earlier I actually got more done.  Test it out.
5. Also, we have what we call “15 minute drills”.  We’ll set an egg timer for 15 minutes, we pick a room, and clean like mad-men (just as fast as we can), like a game of “who can pick up more”.  Once the 15 minutes are up we stop and go on to something else.  It’s amazing how much you can get done when you race around for 15 minutes.
6. Turn the TV off!  Live life!

What do you do to break out of the procrastination mode?

Are you in the right business?

I went to a great seminar on Home Based Business a few weeks ago.  Even though being in the business for many years attending seminars or reading is a great way to learn, and network.  I would encourage you no matter what your age to keep learning.  It’s a great way to stretch ourselves.

A couple of things I’d like to share with you.  One, as you explore starting your own business make a list of things that interest you.  For instance, with our daughter Epileptic and our son being a preemie out of necessity we became very interested in alternative ways to help our children besides conventional medicines.  Medicine does have its place, but knowledge of what other alternatives are out there can make a big difference in your health.  As was the case with our kids, It changed their lives.  And ours too for that matter.  We have never been so healthy.  We feel better, look better, it has saved us a ton of money that we were spending at the doctors, plus it’s made us money, and we see how what we offer can help others.  So as you can see, nutritional supplements are of great interest to us.  It is one of our passions!   So I would encourage you to make a list of some things that interest you and weed out what might be one of your passions.  When you like what you do it makes a big difference in how you do it and your commitment level.

Once you have your list, talk with others who are already doing what you would like to do.  See how it’s going for them.  You can learn a lot this way just by asking some simple questions. 

Then decide what you’re going to do.  Commit to it – true commitment is not trying something for a month or two and saying “this doesn’t work”, even 6 months is not enough time to make a logical conclusion.  When the guru’s say commit they are talking commit to it for 2-5 years.  That’s commitment!  In other words, be like a stamp and stick too it!

If you’re doing an online business, get your sponsor and/or upline to help you write up a business plan.

To Your Success!

In all of life what you do matters!  Every choice we make has an outcome, some for the good and some not so good.

I humbly ask you to be aware of your choices and how they impact you, your family, and the world around you. 

I just got an email today from Project AWARE.  It is sad to see such senseless nonsense when this seals death could have been prevented.

Take care of Gods creation and it will take care of you.

For More information on how you can help go to projectaware.org

Amazing Grace has been a long time favorite song of mine. If you think about the words they are so powerful and freeing. It brings tears to my eyes when I deeply ponder how much God loves us by sending his son – Amazing. Before our daughter was born we would sing this song to her and to this day, almost 11 years later, it still has a calming effect on her.

Little did we know, that at age 2 1/2 she would be diagnosed Epileptic. Any of you familiar with Epilepsy know how trying it can be, needless to say we’ve had many occasions to sing Amazing Grace.

As I have been listening to the news, reflecting on the struggles most of us are having with the economy the way it is, and being inspired by a 12 year old boy who put others above himself by paving a way for handicap children to ride a train I wanted to share this song of great hope with you.

Here is a video of Chris Tomlin singing his version of Amazing Grace. And yes, for those who believe we have been set free.

I pray this song brings you a peace and opens up a world of amazing opportunities for you.

That’s right, I hate to admit it but I’ve been scammed.  I don’t know about you, but when someone is talking to me I try to be discerning in what they’re saying.  But I’m sure this time the person was thinking “gotch ya”.

We were at one of our favorite restaurants eating a late lunch.  We had the 2 kiddos with us.  We were ordering from our menus and the kids where ordering from the kids menu.  When the waitress took our order she asked “do they want lids”?  She was referring to the kids drinks.  For our 10 year old we said no, but the 8 year old we said yes.  (ok, our 8 year old is a boy – need I say more as to why he gets a lid (smile), and I mean that in the sweetest way.

When our waitress brought out our drinks I thought it odd that she brought our daughter such a huge glass of milk.  But we were talking and I didn’t give it much thought except for the initial shock. 

We had a great meal.  Got the check, double checked the bill, and long and behold, for my daughters drink we were charged a full adult price instead of the child’s price.  I thought wow, that was smooth.  Normally, you’re asked would you like a small or lager – if you say large you know you’re going to be charged more.  Never in a million years would I have thought by “do they want lids” that I was being upsized.  What a sneaky approach, we had been scammed.  Needless to say I was not happy – I don’t like it when people try to pull a fast one on me (or anyone else for that matter).

Yes, it was only $2.29 instead of $.99, but it’s the principle of it.  Deception is one thing I have a very low tolerance for.  It just goes to show us that in all of life we need to be aware of what’s going on.

As Ike prepares to hit the gulf coast we lift up our fellow Texans and all who may be impacted by this hurricane.

Austin caught a break on this one, we’re just expecting some wind and of course rain. 

Our prayers are with those who had to evalucate, who are caught in the path of Ike, and for all the first responders. 

Be Safe!

I still remember as if it were yesterday just turning on the TV hearing what had happened and then bam here came the 2nd plane.  I’m sure a lot of you can remember what you were doing as well.  Our prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones.  We honor those who lost their lives helping others, those who lost their lives serving our country, and those who defend her still today.  We want you to know – we have not forgotten!

I hope we all can use this day as a day to remind us on how the whole country came together.  May this day spur us to help our fellow man.  See someone in need – lend a hand. 

United We Stand!