Every car seems to have a personality of its own. They each have their quirks, their charms, and their irritations. My wife’s previous car seemed to have a gas tank the size of a thimble. I know that wasn’t true, but it seemed like we had to fill the car up every time we left the neighborhood. She has a new car now and a tank of gas lasts forever in this car, despite the fact that both cars tout the same gas mileage. The latter car obviously has a larger tank. That doesn’t make it better; we just make fewer trips to the gas station. The new car also takes regular gas. I wonder whether it would benefit from premium gas – or whether the last car would have suffered from regular gas. 

Our lives work like our cars (hopefully better). The same principles that govern our cars govern us also. 

1) We all have different size tanks. A big tank is not better than a small tank, just more convenient. The key is to know the size of your tank.Problems arise when we think gas is still in the tank and we are running on fumes. So many people suffer needlessly because they don’t fill up their gas tanks regularly. In fact, many people have never thought about how to fill up their gas tanks. Is it rest? Is it quality time with a few close friends? Is at reading a good book? Too many people keep on pressing forward even when their tank is on dead empty. Bad things happen when your tank is on empty: tempers flare, bad habits rear their heads, negative thoughts run rampant.

2) Everyone benefits from better fuel. In the gas crisis of the 70’s, people used to try watering down their gas in an attempt to make their gas last longer. It didn’t work! More than cars, the quality of the fuel we take in has a massive impact of the quality of how we run. We may get by when we watch TV to refuel our tanks, but how much better would it be to take a long bath or relax with a good book? We refuel for the day every morning by means of our morning routine. Are we cheating our day by taking in cheap fuel, or worse, taking in no fuel at all? The quality of our days tells the tale of the quality of our fuel.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Do you refuel often enough? 
• Are you always running on empty? 
• How do you effectively refill your tank when you sense you are running on fumes?
• Are you filling your tank in the morning and evening with high quality fuel? 
• What simple change could you make to improve the quality of the fuel you are taking in to make it through each day?

These are not easy questions. Mull on them. Small changes can make a big difference.