Meaningful Mondays - Arrows Out

Deep vs Shallow Belonging

While belonging has increased, the quality of belonging has declined.

When meaning weakens, belonging looks for substitutes.

The greatest gift we can give future generations isn’t comfort, it’s meaningful belonging with purpose.

Think of a moment you have felt proud to be a "_____" (insert your family name)

"When anchors weaken, substitutes take over."
- Lee Brower
Meaningful belonging requires anchors: faith, family, principles, and service to something larger than ourselves. When those anchors weaken, substitutes rush in—noise, pleasure, and distraction that promise connection but rarely deliver fulfillment. True belonging stretches us. It calls us to rise, to serve, and to strengthen one another across generations.

When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure."
- Viktor Frankl

“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing; they then become capable of believing in anything.”
- G.K. Chesterton

Me to We to Thee

What strength might re-emerge if I stopped carrying junk that was never mine to begin with--for the sake of those watching me?

Most people don't struggle because they lack strengths; they struggle because their strengths are buried.

Acknowledging strengths isn't ego. It's responsibility. Real strength isn't pretending you can do everything.

Strength that only serves me stops with me.

Unacknowledged limitations isolate us.

Acknowledged limitations invite collaboration.

Self-reliance has value — but it has a ceiling.

I'm not the source--I'm the steward.

Revelations from the Yellow Brick Road

“Clarity doesn’t come from arriving somewhere—it’s revealed once you’re willing to move."
— Lee Brower

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Life is a journey, not a destination."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The road doesn’t guarantee clarity—but it’s where clarity most often appears.”
— Lee Brower

“The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that cannot come without it.”
— Russell M. Nelson

Who rings the doorbell at 5:13 a.m. on New Year's Day?

“Gratitude doesn’t change the moment--it changes who's in control of it."
- Lee Brower

“When I NIX negative thinking and FIX gratitude, I take the wheel back.”
-- Lee Brower

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it.”
- Marcus Aurelius

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”
- William James

Nix, Fix, Mix, in "26" will make 2026 your best year ever!

“Progress doesn’t come from wanting better—it comes from choosing better, one moment at a time.”
-- Lee Brower

“Being deliberate means deciding what to remove, what to strengthen, and who to move forward with.”
-- Lee Brower

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
-- William Arthur Ward

Resolutions and Regrets

"The future won't judge us by our plans--it remembers us by our presence."
— Lee Brower

"Recognize regret early enough to choose again."
— Lee Brower

“In the end, the memories we cherish most are not of the things we have done, but of the people we have loved.”
— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“The day is short, the task is great, and the time is now.”
— Pirkei Avot

If You Snooze, Don't Lose

“Guilt is information. It’s your inner compass saying, ‘This matters to you.’”
- Lee Brower

"When we Begin In Gratitude, we stop judging ourselves and start asking better questions."
- Lee Brower

“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”
- Coach John Wooden

"We are what we repeatably do."
- Aristotle

The Power of One Letter

“That tiny shift—from got to get—is what helped my friend Steve move from obligation to opportunity and from bitterness to betterness.”

“Letters look small, but they shape legacies.

This is the quiet power that transforms experience into wisdom, and wisdom into Positive Generational Impact™.”

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”
—John Wooden

What are you training your brain for? The Neuroscience of Your Focus.

What you complain about, you create more of.

Are you unknowingly shrinking your prefrontal cortex?

The world doesn't need more people pointing out what's broken. It needs people who are wired to see what's possible.

“What’s one small shift in my self-talk that would train my brain toward gratitude, courage, and better choices today?”

What is one thing you're grateful for right in this moment? I'd love to hear it.

If you're waiting for clarity... you'll be waiting forever

"Purpose rarely reveals itself until you’re already in motion."
- Lee Brower

People spend years waiting for clarity before taking action. Waiting for certainty. Waiting for their “why” to magically appear. But purpose is not discovered at the dock. Purpose is revealed on the water. You can’t trim your sails when you’re tied to the pier. You have to be moving. Even a little.

Be the Bee. — B.E.E. — Brave Enough to Engage.

You don't need to know all the answers. You just need enough bravery to take intentional motion. “Nectar First.” Take the first step. Move toward something good. Your intention is the nectar. And your true impact — your “pollen” — shows up along the way.