Monday, April 5, 2010

What's It Supposed To Feel Like?

I had a birthday last week and it was some kinda milestone I guess.... I hit 60. Even when I put that down on paper it sounds kind of old to me....60..... but to be really honest I fell so much younger than that. Somewhere in the depths of my mind I still see myself as a 40 something, doing a whole host of things I may not have done in quite some time.

I was listening to Dr Lou Niles a few days ago on YouTube and he was talking about how our lifespan is actually 113 years. Wow, what would it be like to live another 53 years. Would I even want to. Lot's of questions and right now so few answers. Interesting is that seems to be what life's about at any age?

I hope to uncover what I am supposed to know/learn about me, my loved ones, friends, and surroundings one day at a time no matter how long I am blessed to be here.

I feel young mentally, and working on feeling young physically, and am working on acquiring wisdom spiritually and I think that's what I am supposed to be doing right now.

How about you. I would love to hear from you.

Have a blessed week!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Check Your Negativity At The Door!

WOW! Last week I came with what Joyce calls "tude". Another term might be negative attitude. She set me straight so fast my head about turned just about 360 degrees.

You see in our business, as in life, a positive attitude is required for real success and there really isn't any substitute. The problem is every once in a while I decide I need to whine about how something isn't fair, or how I should have gotten this, that, or the other thing, and it didn't work out that way. Joyce knows that she not only needs to set me straight but I have given her permission to say or do whatever she needs to so that I can adjust my attitude. It's wonderful having a wife that is willing to be my best friend and also my partner. Someone willing to be honest with me at the times when I need honesty the very most.

So here's my tip for today..... find someone in your life or invite someone into your life to be accountable to. Find someone that will be direct and honest with you so that you can keep your attitude from becoming a "tude". Life is too short to not be successful and your mental state is what determines your success. I am not talking about the money kind of success, but the kind of success we achieve when we accomplish what's important to us.

Have a GREAT weekend and let's talk soon.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Breakfast Is Good!

Went to my Monday morning men's breakfast/bible study this morning. Always nice seeing my friends in that setting because none of us are trying to be guys...we are just men that want to be better at being men, husbands, and fathers. We have in common looking into God's Word to find wisdom to achieve that end. It's kind of cool when we let our hair down and just do that!

This morning wasn't any different than any other Monday morning breakfast except the message I left with might have been. Even though we were discussing wisdom and what God wants us to do in search of it, I left with something else....you guessed it hope! Hope that as long as we are prayerful, looking for the Lord's will for our life, he will be with us sharing His wisdom with us regardless of the path we go down.God is with us every step of the way!!!! If that doesn't bring a smile to your face and hope into your heart than what could.

Have a hope filled day!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I Need A Lot Of Work!

Over the last 4 days I have had plenty of chances to reflect on where I am in my life and what I need to improve in.

I attended Super Saturday this weekend and had a chance to listen to several dynamic speakers and I was touched by more then one, but with limited time and space to write I just want to let you know the main areas that I need to improve in so here goes.

I have had my priorities in the wrong order is the bad news but the good news is I have the right 3 priorities. The order should be 1) God 2) Family 3) Mona-vie. It seems lately I have more consumed with my work than I have with the other two more important priorities. This out of balance position has made it impossible for me to accomplish the things I want to accomplish with my walk with the Lord, with my family, and even on my work.

So what am I doing to change things? Each day I am spending more time talking with God. Thanking Him for all that I have and am, asking for forgiveness, and especially asking for His will for me this day. I am reading the Word daily and seeking answers to my questions regarding God's word.

I am spending more quality time with my wife. Doing more couple stuff. Doing more of the things she likes to do. And most recently trying to spend more time with the grandkids, at least the ones that live close. I will be putting a plan to spend more time with the ones that live out of state.

Lastly regarding work, I am reading more personal developement material. I have an incredible background in a linear business but working in the network marketing business is so different and in order to be the best I can be I still have so much to learn and so much to put into practice.

So at my ripe old age of _____, not tellin, I am on a self improvement quest. My hope is that I will make major improvement in all areas of my life so that I can become the person I really think I can be.


What is your hope? PLease share your's with me when you have a chance as I would love to hear from you.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Even The Unsuspecting!

Joyce and I had a chance to go to Isleton yesterday to watch our 9 year old grandson, Will, play in a basketball league. What an experience for us. Joyce wrote about it on her blog too so if you have a chance check it out at www.onthejourneywithjoyce.blogspot.com.

Will's team won the game by a point and Will was the leading scorer, but there was so much more going on than that. My son, Adam, was the teams coach and I watched him instruct his team and son in a loving way. At 9 years old they need to know that however they perform they are cared for and life goes on and I was amazed at how well he was able to do that and still keep the focus on playing well and winning the game.

As for Will's performance there were many high and low points although I am not sure that he can differentiate between them. One moment Will was grabbing a rebound and in one smooth move putting the ball right back up into the hoop and the next moment he might not be able to figure out where to stand during free throws. His ability to focus for more than 30 seconds at a time was flawed. The hope is that as Will matures those moments of focus and thereby brilliance will increase and the staying power of that focus will also last for long periods at a time. This made me think not only of my life but also of some of the greats in life and of course basketball.

In looking back on my life, I can reflect on the times that my focus was acute and some of things accomplished that may have seemed difficult to almost impossible. Also unfortunately I remember times where lack of focus meant failure.

If you take a look at some of the most memorable players in the game of basketball, why were they so memorable? Usually it meant performance at an amazingly high level for prolonged amounts of time and peaking at the most critical time of a game. But not just once but time after time. How many times, for instance did Michael Jordan hit a game winning shot and more importantly why was he able to perform at that amazingly high level when others with seemingly as much talents couldn't compare? Focus. That's right, focusing on the task at hand.

As I watch Will just starting out and I see the pinnacle of an amazing career like MJ's I can't help and look at my journey, it's highs and lows. With extremely high hope I move forward working on my ability to focus for prolonged time and at the most critical times at the task at hand to deliver my goals and dreams for me and my family. How are you doing with your focus? What are your hopes? Please let me know by sending me your comments.

Have a hopeful day!

Friday, February 5, 2010

This is hard........

Someone close to me has disappointed me and has really hurt my feelings. I know this kind of thing happens all the time. Some of you are sitting there reading this saying to yourself, Come on Zeller, Man Up. Get over it. Someone hurt your feelings-so what. This kind stuff happens all the time. Don't be a whimp.

Maybe I just take stuff like this seriously but I take sense of family, team, working together very serious and it seems to affect me deeply for some reason.

The important thing for me is to not let it affect my spirit of hope. Humans are going to disappoint... friends do it.....family do it..... I know I must do it too. Yep I am also human.

I am hoping that I will continue to trust, continue to believe in others, and continue to hope for my family, friends, business associates and all of my personal relationships to be positive even knowing that these people are human and may disappoint.

If you have a story or comment about this topic I would love to hear it as I think it will help me get through some of the negative feelings I have right now.

Have a hopefull day!

Monday, February 1, 2010

It's Been A Few Days.....

I haven't written in a few days. Guess I was hoping for a new theme about "hope" I could explore and make interesting so we could enjoy reading this blog together. Sometimes we have stuff right under our noses and don't even know it. lol

I encountered a friend trying to really get in touch with God's will for his life. This friend is praying for guidance and hoping to hear God's voice let him know what he needs to do to please the Lord. This made me think about me and how I communicate with God.

When I can slow down and get myself quiet on the inside and talk to God I find I become lead to do what I believe the Lord's will is for me. The hard part for me is clearing out all of the noise, strife, the crazy voices in my own mind trying to dictate what direction I should go. One of those voices continuously tells me that what I am doing will not work... is destined to fail... can't possible happen.

By quieting the inside voices, asking the Lord to come and show me the way I find hope because when I ask and receive guidance God not only tells me what I need to do but tells me that I can achieve anything I set out to do. When God is for me who can be against me.

Friday, January 29, 2010

No Thanks, I'll Do It Myslef!

Have you ever thought, No thanks I'll do it myself? I know I have gone there before and usually when I have been disappointed in the way something was being handled or I was just trying to control a situation that wasn't really worth trying to control.

I had coffee with a friend a couple of months ago and this wise man brought my attention to a fact about me that needs to be corrected and that is I try to do to much by my self. In my case it's not about not letting other people do things to help, although I can stand some improvement there as well, but it was about taking on the responsibility for everything going on in my life. My biggest problem is that during the day while trying to be a mover and shaker I forget that I have God on my side and that when I turn things over to Him not only does the outcome turn out better but it also takes the pressure off of me. I don't have to be perfect because He already is.

It's kind of funny about me. Over the years I have seen so many difficult situations that if I had handled them without God's help could have turned into disaster, yet, because I was able to let go and let God they turned out just the way they were supposed to. Being human I seem to forget how this whole thing works and then what happens is something gets messed up because I tend to mess them up.

Here is my hope not only for today but all days; that I will remember to turn everything over to God and then do what I am lead to do. Psalm 62 verse 5:

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him."

Have a hopeful day!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Hope To Hope!!!?????

Ever met anyone whose biggest hope was only to be able to hope again? I have.

I have a very close friend whose goal is to hope again. Life has beaten this guy into submission. He has lost wives, businesses, money, friends, etc. Basic he has lived life and somewhere along the way life won and he lost. I asked him recently what his biggest goal was and his response was, "to be able to pay my bills." When I questioned him again he insisted this was the most in life he could hope for. I just thought to myself, unbelievable!

Do you know someone whose life has taken a turn for the worse and they have given up on all of the things hoped for in past days? Is there anything you can do to help these poor lost souls?

To start with you can't do anything to make a shift in their thinking so please don't ever blame yourself for not getting them out of their funk. What you can do though is to suggest help in the form of something you have read, listened to or watched that help shape your thinking. Let them know you are there for them if they ever want help getting through whatever it is they need to heal. Be a good friend and listen.

You say you have done all of those things and they haven't changed? Then here is what you might consider doing. Maybe the best solution is taking care of yourself. If you are going to be around people that might not have their head on straight make sure you are taking your own advice. Read, listen to, and watch things that positively motivate you. You can't help anyone else if you can't take care of yourself. Be the best you can and just maybe it will be an inspiration to those negative people around you. Whatever you do, if you find an individual that continually brings your attitude to a low place minimize your contact with them. I'm guessing you do not want to be a brought into their spiral of wrong thinking.

Be hopeful, live hopeful, talk hopeful, and just maybe it will find it's was to someone that needs it most.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Where To Begin?

I really don't know where to start. Last Saturday I went to the Regional Meeting Mona-vie held in Anaheim and what I expected was information to help me grow my business, encouraging words to help me become even more enthusiastic than I already am about what I do for a living(Didn't think being more excited was possible.), and connecting with other people in the business. That's what I expected. What I got was something very different.

I am not going to tell you everything that happened or that touched me Saturday. First of all it wouldn't be the right thing to do as my goal here is not to turn this blog into a commercial, but to offer hope to everyone free of recruiting or any salesmanship and secondly, I don't think I can state the things that happened at that meeting and give them justice in the printed word. What I am going to offer you is hope from what I experienced.

I saw a 30 year old woman that should not be alive today, that has defied the odds not only to still be breathing but to have the courage to have given birth to a perfectly healthy son, beating all the odds against her. I saw normal people like you and me that mustered up enough belief in themselves to turn their financially crippled existence into unbelievable wealth. I saw a man receive a $2,000,000 bonus check and remains humble before the Lord and gives thanks instead of braging about what he is/does. I saw a 13 year old girl from Brazil that attends a school that we help pay for come to Anaheim and have the courage to seize her moment and fulfil one of her dreams by singing to a crowd with literally thousands of people.

This weekend I saw people with real hope and felt not only hopeful for me but for eveyone that attended this event, and for you. I watched amazing courage. I cried more tears than anytime that I can remember, and prayed and did all of things with my wife, close friends, acquaintances, and some folks I will never really get to know. This all came to pass in one building in a span of 8 hours and the subsequent bus ride back home and I can state to you unequivocally I am a better person for it. The Lord blessed me this weekend and helped me to learn more about myself than I knew and I am so grateful.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Out Of Pocket For A Few

Well friends I will be in Anaheim at the Mona-vie Regional Meeting for the next few days. My hope is that I will be able to meet some people this weekend that will broaden my view point and things shared at this meeting will in someway help me to make a difference in more peoples lives. I would also hope that by my words and actions in some small way I can make a difference for someone else.

I will return to my keyboard no later than Monday with something interesting (We Hope-lol) for you to read and reflect on. Have a fabulous weekend for of hope!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

How Are You Doing With Your New Year Resolutions?

I have seen the studies that suggest that by the end of three weeks 90% of the folks that have made New Year resolutions have broken this pact with themselves and moved on to be the people they were before the ball dropped at midnight New Years. I'm wondering why that happens.

To me a resolution sounds like it's in concrete, it's a promise and once it has been broken there's no turning back, it's over, toast, stick a fork in it , done! So does that mean once we break this pact with ourselves we just revert back to who we were before, because we already broke our promise?

That's why I like goals so much better than resolutions. A goal is a commitment to work on yourself to improve over time and if we fail today that's ok because we have more opportunity to succeed tomorrow. With a goal we have hope, because, over time we can do anything we commit to. Once we make the decision to do something and believe that it can be done success is assured. If that doesn't muster up a little hope than what could?

Did you write out your 2010 goals? If you haven't done it now would be the time. This is serious stuff because once you take the time to write them down, look at them daily and start believing you can accomplish them, a power is unleashed and amazing things can happen in your life. Hope, believe, commit, and act on your goals this coming year and 2010 can be the most amazingly prosperous anf fulfilling year of your life. I hope this for you.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Does Noah Have An Ark In Northern California?

My list of things hoped for as of this writing is getting proportionately smaller with the additional rain that is being dumped in the community I live in; mainly safety for all and maybe higher ground-lol. In Sacramento we Aren't famous for wild weather but today we have outdone ourselves. High winds, rain coming down in sheets, power outages all over town are not the things we are know for. But ya know when you consider the 10's of thousands of lives lost in Haiti and the fact that they had an aftershock today of over 6, it is pretty easy to be grateful for us and hopeful for all of our friends and loved ones to come home tonight safe and sound.

Imagine what it would be like if so many people were being killed, or seriously injured and you couldn't find out if all of your family was OK and not in harms way. What would that feel like?

I hope and pray that none of my family, friends, and anyone reading this today will ever have to face that kind of situation. May God be with you and yours and may he continue to bless the USA with health and wealth beyond what most people on this planet ever know.

Thanks for reading this blog today and please feel free to enter any comments that you might have.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What Are We Talking About Here?

I've been wondering if anyone reading this questions what exactly hope is? I don't want to open a dictionary... that's too easy. So what are we talking about? To me hope isn't abstract, it's a concrete kinda thing. Let's take a look at dreams vs goals. To me a dream is something we really wish would happen or we can have whether there is any basis for this to actually come to pass is not required. A goal is something written, where we explain not only exactly what we want, but how we are going to achieve this, when, and where. In a sense we virtually will it into existence. We use faith.

Ah Ahhhh, we have gone all around the issue. Seems like we have considered everything but hope. We have discussed, dreams, wishes, goals, & faith just not hope.

When I consider hope I like to use it in conjunction with faith because I think they happen to work well together. If faith is the ability to will something into existence how does hope play into this? To me hope is the important sidekick to faith... without it faith wouldn't exist. You see in order to have strong faith to will/speak/work something like a goal into existence you must first have hope that the thing you want/expect will happen. A dream is just that, something that would be nice to have or do but hope is the grass roots believe that it the thing you want will eventually happen. Faith is the will we use to persevere, to plan, and act this desire into our lives.

I was talking with a friend last night that is having problems with hope. Circumstances are bad financially, they are looking for an additional income stream but things are so bad that they don't feel like they invest anything in themselves to get them out of this situation. They are hoping for something in their life to change but things are so bad that they don't want to be the ones that make a decision because they don't want things to get any worse. I bet some of you reading this can relate. My advice to my friend was to open their mind to the possibility that there is a solution to their problem. That if they will remain open to that possibility, dream about that happening, and then start imagining this actually taking place, in other words start hope process... hope that this thing will happen. Believe in themselves just one more time. Oh and one last thing... pray about it. God knows you are here and you are hurting and he wants you to come to Him with this. He will show you the way if you ask. This has always worked for me so hopefully it work for him too.

Well my sermon is over. Usually I leave the sermons to my son, Pastor Chris. Anyway, Hope you have a wonderful day full of the hope of good things coming your way and the faith to act on that hope.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I Have A Dream!

I am overwhelmed! I had 17 new visitors to this blog on it's first day. I am pretty tickled that I would have that many friends that would humor me that way. I guess now to have them return I will actually have to give them some substance. Oh my.

My goal is to bring a little hope each day for those brave enough to want to improve their lives. I don't really expect to say anything too profound but hopefully we can help each other by creating a positive belief system that fosters hope.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. This man was someone that knew how to dream. He had hope for a better life for his family, race, and all peoples. He had such hope for his dreams that he died for them. Today we live in a better place because this man and people like him were willing to be vocal about what they believe in, dream about, and hope for.

Eighteen days into 2010 have you taken the time to actually sit down and write what you are hopeful for this coming year? Have you put together a Dream or Vision board that is a constant reminder of what you want out of life? Take time to get in touch with what you want. Only by doing this can you have hope, because without knowing where you are going can you hope to get there.

Every 3 months Joyce and I redo our goals and by doing this we have fresh in our minds what we are working towards and hoping for in our future. This works, really. Try it and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Until tomorrow have a hopeful and prosperous day!

This is my first blog!

Yikes! What am I doing & why am I doing it. What ever possessed me to start blogging? I'm not sure exactly.



Hope is a big thing with me so probably the one thing I would like to accomplish by doing this is to be a beacon of hope to anyone that needs it. If that's you than you can count on hearing about what's going on in my life and why I am hopeful about all aspects from family & friends and those relationships to our financial hopes as well.



I promise not to lie to you, so if things seem bleak I will let you know how they feel to me and tell you why I am hopefull that those things are going to change.

Let's have fun together and please send me your feedback. I want this to be usefull to you and me. I hope to get as much out of this as you do so please tell me what you think.