I believe Mindful Management and Self-Regulation are life’s two most difficult skills to master. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, who he called his son, and encouraged him to follow God’s rules in the same way an athlete follows discipline rules or else is disqualified. Here are the two rules in the simplest terms possible (so simple a first grader can understand):

• Today don’t do anything you know is wrong for you to do!
• Today do everything you know is right for you to do!

In basketball terms, this is the same as “Taking care of the basketball” that all coaches state.

To keep it crystal clear and uncomplicated, the following is Coach Crowell’s Six Ways to Develop Mindful Management and Self-Regulation (or how to “take care of the basketball” in life).

1. Make a decision. WANT to master Mindful Management and Self-Regulation. The Want To trumps How To.
2. Present your body as a living sacrifice. Mindful Management begins with self-regulating the body, the food you eat and the fluids you drink. Eat less and move more. The body then becomes the servant of the will.
3. Daily engage with God. Select a place you will be alone, at peace and quiet (maybe lighting a candle as well). Then have a personal meeting with the Holy Spirit almost like you were having an invited guest to dinner, listening to God’s will given in His scriptures. The Holy Spirit opens our understanding. Finally, have a personal colloquy with the Heavenly Father. This is a good time to appreciate Him.
4. Write a NOT-DO and TO-DO list. What will you not do today that you know you should not do, and what will you do today that you know you should do?
5. Live gratitude. It helps first to write on paper 3-5 gratitudes.
6. Pray, giving your life, your day, all that you have and call your own to your Heavenly Father. Ask Him also regarding things on your heart.

It is easy to give lip service to these Crowell Six, yet to do them daily for one year is a challenge but worth the effort. Our lives soar when we have mind mastery and self-regulate. Go for it! I will join you in this worthy life challenge for 2020. When we join with our loving Creator, it will be the most exciting way to optimize our lives.

In the end, we must all live for something. If we live for other things more than God Himself, we become trapped. These other things become things we seemingly have to have, so we run exhaustingly after them. Often, suffering eventually occurs. We finally realize God is our real wealth, our real pleasure, our ultimate good.

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