Meaningful Mondays - Arrows Out

“We don’t get to pick when the finish line comes, and I don’t believe in finish lines anyway, only milestones. But we do get to choose what flows from us along the way.” – Lee Brower “Every choice you make in the NOW becomes part of someone’s future. Choose what you send downstream.” “We don’t always get to choose the lessons life gives us. We do get to choose what those lessons make possible.”

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” — John Wooden “Sometimes the greatest value in an experience isn’t the nectar we went looking for. It’s the pollen we bring home.” — Lee Brower “Possibility begins when I stop meas...

“What if the greatest value of where you’re going isn’t the reason you went?” — Lee Brower “Never mistake activity for achievement.” — John Wooden “Get in motion toward what matters. You never know what you’ll pollinate along the way.” — Lee Brower

“The tree that never had to fight / For sun and sky and air and light / But stood out in the open plain / And always got its share of rain / Never became a forest king / But lived and died a scrubby thing.”  – Douglas Malloch, “Good Timber” “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” A proverb – If we calm all the seas, where do they learn to sail? Friction is where discernment resides. It is wher...

“Gratitude unexpressed is ingratitude perceived.” “Gladness is what happens when gratitude becomes visible.” Today I challenge you: Before today is over, make the gratitude that is within you visible to one person.

“There are no losers in this tournament. Only winners and learners.” — Nick “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” — Jackie Robinson — (he took more bad calls than anyone). “It was never about them. They were playing for something much bigger.” “All you get to decide is the next pitch. And you never decide it alone.” “Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 perc...

Vision creates motion; worry gives us Motion Sickness “Is the future you’re imagining inspiring your NOW, or stealing it? “Vision and worry are both acts of imagination” → “Vision borrows inspiration; worry borrows trouble” → “we pay for both NOW.” TEARs = Time, Energy, Attention, Resources. “Worry imports an imagined FUTURE into the NOW and charges us for it today.” “Worry does not empty tomorrow...

What you feed follows you. What you starve loses its power. You have the power to redirect your TEAR’s. From worry → gratitude and action. From regret → wisdom. From resentment → forgiveness. From comparison → contribution. From scrolling → connection. From “if only” → “knowing what I know now.”

“Can’t find gratitude today? Look anyway. The looking may be where gratitude begins.” “When you can’t find something to be grateful for, look anyway.” “It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place.” Grateful FOR asks, ” What happened that deserves my gratitude?” Grateful IN asks, “Who will I choose to be in this moment?” “Gratitude isn’t the reward we r...

What if you’ve spent years looking for something that was never lost — only idle? “Don’t wait for purpose to give you direction. Make a contribution—and let contribution reveal the direction.” — Lee Brower Maybe purpose isn’t something we find. Maybe purpose is something we activate. — Lee Brower “Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.” — Viktor Frankl

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” — Phil Collins “Wisdom held is inventory. Wisdom moved is a legacy.” — Lee Brower “A river doesn’t make its own water. Not one drop.” — Lee Brower “Nobody is the river. Everybody is a tributary.” — Lee Brower

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero “Don’t wait for answered prayers to become grateful. Let gratitude become your prayer.” “What can I be grateful for today… before I know how today turns out?” “Gratitude nurtures humility. It strengthens faith. It fuels generosity. It opens our hearts to compassion. It shapes our character.” “Gratitude does...

“Character is what you do when no one is watching—and especially when no one is expecting.” — Charles Swindoll (adapted) “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” — John Wooden “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”

Life doesn’t ask us to become someone new in moments of crisis. It asks us to remember who we’ve been becoming. The greatest leaders don’t trust themselves to rise to the occasion. They prepare themselves to retrieve from a lifetime of intentional learning. “This week, don’t ask yourself, ‘How will I handle the next crisis?’ Ask yourself, ‘What deposit am I making today that my future self will so...

I asked Warren Buffett what he considered the keys to his success. He shared three keys that reflect humility, gratitude, and stewardship. “We don’t simply inherit freedom. We become stewards of it.” – Lee Brower

The Unfinished Promise… America wasn’t finished in 1776, it was launched. The Founding Fathers gave us the possibility of America. Whether that possibility continues to grow… depends on what you and I choose to do today. This Independence Day, don’t just celebrate freedom—participate in it. The possibilities envisioned by those who came before us won’t be realized by spectators. They will be reali...

Reposted on June 23, 2026: – The Miracle of Butterflies Repost: In the coming weeks, you are going to hear more about the miracle of butterflies, including something else your kids don’t know.  To kick it off, listen to this Meaningful Monday almost 10 years ago and let me know what you think.  – Lee Brower What can we learn about the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly? Quote to remember: “I...

“The people who believed in you before you believed in yourself weren’t wrong. They were just early.”  — Lee Brower “Drifting, without aim or purpose, is the first cause of failure.” “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”  — Viktor Frankl “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become — because He made us. He invented us. H...

Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. What if a child’s emotional needs become more dependent on a device than a parent? “Am I giving my children and grandchildren more conveniences—or more opportunities?” “Confidence is not taught. It is discovered one uncomfortable experience at a time.” – Lee Brower “The goal of parenting is not lifelong dependence; it is lifelong capabili...

“Calmness is the rarest quality in human life. It is the poise of a great nature in harmony with itself and its ideals.” – William George Jordan “The strongest leaders are not those who control the storm, but those who remain steady enough to steady others. – Lee Brower “Gratitude is the trim tab that turns calmness into influence.” – Lee Brower People don’t need leaders who can predict every stor...

“A grateful nation is not measured by what it remembers once a year… but by how it chooses to live every day.” – Lee Brower “The greatest way to honor sacrifice is to create a future worthy of it.” – Lee Brower “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” – Ronald Regan “The best storehouse of truth is the generations of the past.” – Gordon B. Hinckley “When sacrifice is forgo...

“Gratitude does not remove pain. It gives pain purpose.” – Lee Brower “When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation.” – Henry B. Eyring “Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi

“Few things are worse than running in the wrong way enthusiastically.” — Lee Brower “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles, 1841 Emerson was right. But here’s what he didn’t say. “It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.” — Arthur Balfour, 1900 Nearly sixty years later, B...

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius "Conflict may visit us without permission... but contention only stays when we invite it." - Lee Brower Conflict is inevitable. Contention is a choice.

“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” — Viktor Frankl “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” — Helen Keller "A grateful heart looks for light — and light is what keeps you walking straight." "Your Enduring Vision isn't a destination. It's the sun. Always there. Even when you can't see it." "Most people don't drif...