Jaymes Downer

Empathy | Charlottesville & Harvey

Imagine that you let me borrow your new car. You love your car. It’s beautiful.

I tell you I will return it to you the next day.

As I pull into your driveway the next day to drop your car off, you notice that the…

Starlight.

I had a surreal moment tonight.

I was playing basketball at the gym by myself, something I do often nowadays. It’s my recharge time. It’s my time to step away from the weight of my responsibilities.

Circumstances

Yesterday I saw something that really struck a chord with me. I was stuck in traffic on the highway because of a wreck up ahead. I became aware of the people around me for some reason. The first person that caught my attention was a lady on her phone. She didn’t seem to be very happy. I’m not sure what…

Work | Life Balance

I have this problem.

I have 2 notebooks.

The first is one that I use during work hours to jot notes down throughout the day. I am a Product Manager by day, so there are tons of things I just can’t trust my brain to retain, so I write a lot of…

When I’m my best self

I’ve been doing some soul searching lately. Honestly, I have felt a bit off for quite some time now. I can’t really put my finger on when this change happened, but I can clearly look back to a time in my life where I feel like I was a much better version of myself.

Living to your full potential

The 2015 NBA Finals just finished up last week, and I caught myself seeing more than just some guys playing a game with a ball on the tv. This year, I noticed a select few individuals that really stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Imposter Syndrome

As a web developer, my greatest struggle is believing in my knowledge and worth.

No matter how much my skill level may increase, it seems as though it’s never good enough. There is always someone out there that knows more than I do, or can do the things I do much better.

Hang the Picture

Today I did something amazing; I hung a poster I got for Christmas up in my office. It was pretty awesome.
I know it may not seem like as great an accomplishment as I’m making it out to be, but all jokes aside, it was a pretty big deal to me.
This poster is a framed posted from IKEA that I’ve…

Overwhelmed

I have a confession. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed with life. There are just so many freakin things to do.
Not only are there a ton of chores that need to be completed, but then theres all the other categories in life like reading, learning new things, eating healthy, working out, big projects like…

Power in Choice

Lately my wife and I have been spending a lot of time talking about our will. I’m not talking about the kind of will where you list who all your stuff is gonna go to, I’m talking about the mind/will/emotions kinda will. Specifically we have been talking about the power that lies in our will.

Kingdom of God

Today I went to class 3 of 5 in the Foundations of Freedom series. This class is designed to help us focus on the Kingdom instead of our problems. So often we can walk into a freedom class or a church for that matter with our problem as the focus. My marriage is struggling, I have anger issues, I need…

Levels of Change

This week I went to the second Foundations of Freedom class, Levels of Change. This is probably my favorite class. After learning who you are in class 1, Levels of Change breaks down the way you walk out the process of changing who you are.

1. Environment

Here and Now

This weekend I went out with a couple of my close friends. That 24 hour period was one of the best I’ve had in quite some time. Typically I’d have more than a few photos on my iPhone to prove my point, or at least try to. I made a decision this weekend though. I decided that I wanted to be present the…

You’re No Better Than Them, & I’m No Better Than You

I have a confession.

I have a really hard time with people who think they know it all. Like a really hard time. You know, the people that are so sure of things that liquid judgement spews from their sureness. The…

Why Am I Not Happy — Things Happy People Do

We all know people that aren’t happy. We all have someone in our life that just seems to never be satisfied or in a good mood. That person may be you. Have you ever asked yourself, ‘why am I not happy?’ Below are some things that I’ve learned happy…