"How long is a minute?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I’m not exactly sure how long a minute is anymore. Sometimes a minute seems longer than at other times. For instance, I’m driving to an appointment and I’m running a little late. The traffic light I’m approaching turns yellow, then red. I have to stop. A minute seems like a long time.

Or, I’m traveling and simply must stop to go to the bathroom. When I arrive at a convenient mart and run in and the restroom door is locked, a minute seems like a very long time.

But when my wife and I are enjoying a romantic meal, just the two of us, at our favorite restaurant, and we’re laughing and happy and the food is great, a minute seems like a short time.

Or, when our daughters sit next to me and tell me about their day and their friends and we’re laughing and enjoying being a family, a minute seems like a very short time.

So how long is a minute? As you listen to life today, enjoy all the minutes God gives you, the long ones and the short ones.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you laugh much?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I speak to lots of groups—small groups of 25 managers to a thousand or more people participating in an international convention. Regardless of size, I can always tell who’s in the room by how much they laugh.

I typically begin my sharing with something humorous. I do that to determine the stress level of the group. If they are pretty relaxed and dealing with stress well, they laugh spontaneously and loudly. If they are pretty uptight and worried about what’s going on in their offices or at home, they don’t laugh much. And of course there are groups that register in-between.

Notice around your office or at home. The ones who smile, the ones who laugh, the ones who look like they’re having fun, are the ones who deal with stress well. The ones who frown, the ones who look like if they laughed their face would break, the ones who appear to have forgotten how to have fun, they’re the ones who are stressed out.

God gave you the ability to laugh. So laugh today and melt your stress away as you make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you sing along with the radio in your car?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

It starts early in your life. You go to school and it’s time for music. Your music teacher says, "Today class, we’re going to sing." She plays something you know like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." And you think, "Oh boy, I know this one!" So you sing at the top of your lungs, because you know this one and are sure to get an A in music.

But the teacher says, "Sweetheart, don’t sing so loud." She plays it again and this time you sing softer, but you know the song and love it and you want an A so you sing from your heart.

Then the teacher says, "Honey, move to the back row."

"But nobody can hear me from back there," you say.

And she says, "I know." So you hang your head and move to the back row. And now you don’t even sing with the radio when you’re alone in your car.

Today, please sing. Sing loudly regardless of what your teacher said. You see most of us go to our grave with our life’s music trapped inside.

Sing as if your life depended on it today as you listen to life and make a life, and not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Are you ever alone?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I remember from my childhood one particular visit to the circus. The clowns were hilarious, and I recall one stunt in which one of them drove out this teeny, tiny car, stopped, and then it seemed like a hundred clowns got out.

Does it ever seem to you like all of those clowns have moved into your home? Or, your office space? Or, your vehicle?

I coach a lot of people who are stressed, or have lost their focus, vision, or passion for making a life. When I ask, "How much time alone do you spend daily?" most every one of them says, "None," as if that was an idea too strange to consider.

If you truly want to listen to life and make a life, not just a living, you must ask the clowns to leave you alone for an hour or so each morning, or at lunch, or before you go to bed, so you can settle your mind, invite peace into your heart, and ask God to speak to your spirit. Spend some time alone—at home in a special room, close the door to your office at lunch, or by yourself in your car and make a life, not just a living today.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Is your birthday today?"

Discover more great stories like this one!

Today is my Mom’s birthday. So August 20th is always a special day to me, because the woman who brought me into life received life herself on this day. But it’s special for more reasons than that.

You see, my mother’s father was also born today. Can you imagine his thrill when he was told that he was the father of his first daughter on his birthday? And there’s another reason today is special, as if the fact that my mother and grandfather were both born today weren’t enough.

You see, my grandfather’s mother was born today as well. Can you imagine her joy when she birthed a son on her birthday?

And there’s more! When my great-grandmother birthed my grandfather on her birthday, she did so knowing that she was born on her father’s birthday—August 20th. So you have four generations all born today!

Each of these four generations was thrilled by a birth today. Can you imagine God’s joy, how thrilled God is each and every day of the year by the births of children around the world? Share the joy as you make a life today.

Discover more great stories like this one!