on a mission..and its called life.

its been a while. so welcome back- if anyone is here.
the last couple of weeks have been up and down for myself. ive learned a lot about myself, my friends, and more importantly my family. first, i want to say thank you for everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and condolences sent to our family for the passing of my grandpa. he was a great man- as i heard over and over from many different stories from many different people. i definitely learned a lot more about him and about my family over the last weeks. i knew my grandpa was a devout christian, good man, a hard worker-- what i didnt quite grasp or understand until lately is the fact that he: was a great friend, a man who truly loved his job, someone who put others before him, knew what he wanted to do in life, set goals and set out to reach them, was a mentor, and so many other things. the one fact that so many people told me and the one thing that stuck with me is the comment that "i might not of been your grandpa's best friend, but i tell you what, whenever i ran into him or whenever i got the chance to talk to him, he made me feel like i was the most important person on earth- he made me feel like his friend." wow. for real? how amazing and how awesome is that. im envious of that. i want to strive for that. i want to be able to make people feel that way. my grandpa was a genuine man! i challenge you to do the same. how often do we just go through the motions as we "talk" to someone on a daily basis? how often do we reply to the question "how are you doing" with a quick "im good" and then walk around not thinking twice about it? im at fault- more then once. but thats not what we are called to do. that should not be our mission. our mission should be to reach out to others- "to treat every single person we pass as the most important person in the world-- treat them like our friend". we should take time to listen to them, to truly ask them and to truly care "how their day is going"-- instead of just passing by through the motions. thats my challenge to you. thats my challenge to myself- to strive for that. to strive to be like my grandpa.
so over the last week, i have been thinking about my life- and about my life's mission. what exactly do i want to be? its not so much what i want people to say about me or think about it, its more about what i can do for people. i dont care what people say about me or think about me--- if im living out my mission then that will take care of itself. so i came up with my life mission. i sat down and thought about it- i brainstormed exactly what i crave for, what gets me fired up, what i truly love to do... and i came up with this statement:
"I'm here to add positive value and effectively influence others' spiritual, physical, and mental growth."
thats it. one sentence can sum up what i want to pursue. and thats what im going to do. have you ever thought about a mission statement for your life? if not, do it! right down exactly what you want from yourself. it not only is exciting to do, but its a challenge and it keeps you on track. so stop reading and go and think about it. write it down. post it somewhere. let others know. and then, go out and make a difference. life is a mission and we are called to be on.
ps. one way that im striving toward my mission is im going into the twitter world. so follow me if your on there- i will be sending daily, weekly, honestly whenever i think about it- tweets (is that what they are called?) to motivate, to educate, or just to have a good laugh. but for real, follow me: @gm1ll3r


until next time. 
breakthrough.
gabe. 

feedin' your body

so here is another post about fitness. its not about motivating you to go workout or posting workout examples for you guys to try-- i want to talk about nutrition, about what kind of food you are putting into your body. theres a quote that states, "tell me what you eat and ill tell you what you are".
i think that is exactly right. in todays society all of the hoopla that is put on fitness and working out can easily be subsidized by what people are putting into their bodies. so what i want to do in this post is to give my top 5 food choices- i dont know if they are the best choices, but they work for me. when your body breaks down food, the macronutrients (fat, protein and carbs) are used basically for energy. so think about that for a minute-- what you are putting into your body correlates with what type of energy you have. take care of your body and it will take care of you. so again, below is my list of top 5 foods-- snacks, dinner, lunch options-- they are what work for me. whats your top 5? let me know!

Top 5 Foods:

1) Peanut Butter
"-Why it's good for you: At least five major studies confirm that eating peanuts can lower risk for    coronary heart disease. So it's no leap to think that peanut butter confers the same benefits. "Suffice it to say that eating peanut butter or peanuts has been associated with lower total cholesterol, lower ldl or 'bad' cholesterol, and lower triglycerides, all of which are associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk," says Richard Mattes, Ph.D"


2) Lean Turkey
"-Turkey is an excellent source of lean protein. One serving of turkey provides more than half your body's protein requirement, with half the fat of beef and 30% fewer calories. Also contains selenium, niacin, and Vitamin B6."


3) Chocolate Milk
"-Studies now show that chocolate milk aids the body in recovery, most importantly the muscles"


4) Beef Jerky
"-Part of the jerky-preparation process involves trimming away excess fat, so jerky may provide a heart-healthy way to enjoy the taste of red meat...Animal protein, such as red meat, contains all nine essential amino acids, making beef jerky a high-quality protein."


5) Sweet Potato (plain)
"They are high in vitamin B6, a good source of Vitamin C, contain Vitamin D, iron and also magnesium."






again, this is just my list of some of my favorite foods/snacks that i have found work for myself. to get some of the best results for this year, keeping tabs and paying attention to what you are feeding your body is huge. take it for what it is.


breakthrough. 
gabe.

'march'in into a new month

whats up people. how are things going? hows the week going? good? great? poor? maybe you're thinkin its thursday, already put friday in the past and youre clocked out and ready for the weekend? whatever it is, today is thursday march 1! thats right, a new month. #3 in the year. currently we are 1/6 of the way through 2012. 16.66% of the year has passed. crazy huh? so the question that i ask is what have you done so far? whats the 16.66% of the year you cant get back look like? did you get anything accomplished? did you stick to any of your new years resolutions that you had planned to? or are you thinking " i have 83.34% of the year left. ill just wait until then to get started. ill wait until then to make an impact. ill wait until tomorrow. blah.. so what i want to do with this post is just check in and see how things are going? if your still doing the 30 day challenge, i wanna see how thats going? (i have 9 days left of no sweets!) what about yours? if you havent started a challenge, scroll down to a few posts ago and check my challenge! its a great way to push yourself and see some changes that you would like to see in a fun and challenging way. 

not only do i want to see how your year is going so far, i want to see what you have planned for this month? what are you wanting to accomplish? do you have any idea? one of the best ways to see things get done is to set realistic goals-- and take steps to get there! we all need to strive to make this the best month so far! it doesnt matter what you did or didnt do in january and february- those are over, done, in the past- but what does matter is what you will do this month. what youll get done today. what you will do tomorrow--this weekend---next week..  we have 31 days to make this the best month so far. weather thats at your job, with your family, with your relationship with God, your workouts, your diets, whatever it is-- they need to be at top notch for this month. in the video below (its a quick 4 minute watch, so please do) the speaker talks about how success is not a one way street. and thats exactly right. to be successful in whatever it takes work! ok, some people might get lucky here and there and "achieve success" in the blink of an eye- but for the majority of situations success comes from hard work. i love the outline he gives when he explains success is 8 principles. passion. work. focus. push. ideas. improve. serve. persist. how are you going to implement those 8 principles in this month? i challenge you to think about, think about what you can do this month to challenge yourself- to strive for something you didnt think was possible or you thought you had no opportunity to do so. success is not a one way street. its a constant trip that we need to be on. when we learn how to develop those 8 principles into our life and every day activities thats when we will have success- and not only have it-- but we will sustain it!

step up and step out this month. do something that you have wanted to do for a long time but never thought you could. dont wait for the opportunity. create yourself! and when you do, thats when you will see a breakthrough. 

until later. 

breakthrough.

gabe.