i was in the middle of writing an e-mail to one of my bestest e-mail pals, and all of a sudden i realized i needed to examine my headlines....

i first heard the idea of "personal headlines" several years ago when i was reading a book titled don't sweat the small stuff - for teens by richard carlson... just as newspaper always has a series of headline stories designed to grab the reader's attention, so do we in the form of personal headlines. our headlines are the stories that we that we highlight in our minds and - either knowingly or unaware - we share with others. these are the stories we give the most attention to, sometimes they are reoccuring; other times they are isolated and change.

the reason it's important to examine those headlines is that often we don't realize what we're broadcasting to others. they become so automatic that we don't even see them. even though we rarely see them, they affect our lives in significant ways. we define ourselves as a certian type of person without even knowing it. perhaps we are defining ourselves in ways we don't want to be defined.

i was in the middle of writing this e-mail to my wonderful pal, and suddenly realized he thought i was so busy and he didn't seem to want to take up much time. now, he is one of the nicest, most sincere gentlemen i think i've met and he was being kind and thoughtful of what was happening with me and being considerate of my time. but i'm a people-person...and am on earth for relationships, for others. without my relationship with God and contact with people - being able to encourage them, i know my life would be so depressing.

i'm going to purpose to make sure my friends and the people i value most know i'm never too busy for them - anytime, anywhere. if they need someone, that's why i'm here!

do keep in mind that headlines aren't necessarily bad. often they are wonderful. the idea isn't to be self-critical, but self-observant. check in with yourself and you might decide a change is necessary - or you might see your headlines are great! i am thankful to have this information at my fingertips and that i can help what headlines people read!

what are some of your own personal headlines?

special thanks to eph2810 for the awesome glitter tag! doesn't it just complete the post?