TODAY'S QUOTE:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle
This is such an important lesson, and this teacher was wise beyond measure. It was just as true when he related it first hand as it is today; most concepts that come from such a deep thinker never change no matter the length of time that passes. When we view everything we do as a habit, (either good or bad), it is so much easier to grasp our ability to alter our actions to better suit our nature.
Growth demands change. Positive growth demands forethought and dedication to a mindset that does not wobble no matter which way the wind blows. Once we are dead set on a path of positive change there is not anyone or anything that can stop our forward motion. We must be willing to do all we can to improve what goes on inside of our precious 3 feet of personal space. Once we gain positive control there nothing is ever quite the same again.
We soon learn to measure the importance of things that touch our space with an eye always alert for hidden danger. Our actions take on a added meaning as we replace bad or indifferent actions with positive ones and make a habit of repeating them until they become second nature. We become a re-creation that better suits our true self and reflects more clearly our creators true intentions.
We think and rethink in a deliberate fashion, redecorating our mind with notions that will demand we become better in some way with actions that promote a blooming spirit. A habit is an automatic pattern of behavior... so flip off auto pilot and steer manually toward a better self. Think about it... Let it ride... Then decide!!!
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
PERSONAL SUCCESS
TODAY'S QUOTE:
Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be. - Zig Ziglar
Trying can be a triumph all its own once any effort at all becomes a burden to the weary and faint of heart. Life takes strength of every sort to just break even sometimes. Any weak point can wobble the whole structure, but possessing even a speck of hope, or a grain of faith will keep you centered until all the fragments can reconnect. The floor may slant, the walls may buckle, but the right point of view will transform the imperfections into a uniquely fashioned masterpiece. Reconstruction is mandatory or failure is certain.
The attempt alone matters in ways that are impossible to explain to anyone who has not been knocked to their knees, or tossed face-first too many times to calculate. Unless you have been there and done that there are no battle scars to compare. The cost of every tumble and the effort needed to rise again is multiplied with each new challenge. The trick is to die trying rather than committing soul suicide by not trying at all. Just the thought of silent surrender will drive even the weariest warrior to action. Speed may vary, but it is a personal journey, not a public race.
Viewing the rate of acceleration as a point of success will only add to the effort necessary to take any steps at all. Counting the times of landing is not a positive pastime either; it is the number of standings that measure the strength we possess. We cannot control what life tosses in our path, but we can master our point of view and alter our actions to better reflect a victorious nature. The only other alternative is to simply be satisfied to settle into the role of victim. The choice is easy enough... if the price is costly then the rewards will be priceless. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be. - Zig Ziglar
Trying can be a triumph all its own once any effort at all becomes a burden to the weary and faint of heart. Life takes strength of every sort to just break even sometimes. Any weak point can wobble the whole structure, but possessing even a speck of hope, or a grain of faith will keep you centered until all the fragments can reconnect. The floor may slant, the walls may buckle, but the right point of view will transform the imperfections into a uniquely fashioned masterpiece. Reconstruction is mandatory or failure is certain.
The attempt alone matters in ways that are impossible to explain to anyone who has not been knocked to their knees, or tossed face-first too many times to calculate. Unless you have been there and done that there are no battle scars to compare. The cost of every tumble and the effort needed to rise again is multiplied with each new challenge. The trick is to die trying rather than committing soul suicide by not trying at all. Just the thought of silent surrender will drive even the weariest warrior to action. Speed may vary, but it is a personal journey, not a public race.
Viewing the rate of acceleration as a point of success will only add to the effort necessary to take any steps at all. Counting the times of landing is not a positive pastime either; it is the number of standings that measure the strength we possess. We cannot control what life tosses in our path, but we can master our point of view and alter our actions to better reflect a victorious nature. The only other alternative is to simply be satisfied to settle into the role of victim. The choice is easy enough... if the price is costly then the rewards will be priceless. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Saturday, February 13, 2016
EVERY DAY GRATUATION
TODAY'S QUOTE:
Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference. - Arie Pencovici
The school of hard knocks is an around the clock institution. There are no scheduled holidays or summer breaks. The classes vary and the teachers come and go at an astonishing rate. Most of us weave in and out as lessons are learned, but others never really leave. They evolve from student to teacher then back again over and over... never graduating and never achieving tenure. I am proud to be a member of the lifers. Not because of prestige or material gain, but due to the simple fact that helping others elevates my own pain to a level that makes every wounding worth the agony.
Listing of my shortcomings or pointing fingers at any certain offender would only invite the negatives to harden like cement shoes and drowning would be my certain fate. I choose to suggest positives that littered my battlefield in a fashion that will apply in a universal way to as many of the walking wounded as I can reach. I do not do so for worldly gain... I do it because it is my life's purpose. I do it because God gave me a gift and He takes away what we do not willingly share with others. I do it for my souls health and I do it for yours as well.
When a brutal lesson begins it does us no favor to fight against its arrival as if we have any choice whatsoever to stop its forward motion. We try to shove it away and when that does not help we run as if outdistancing it is even a possibility. Our pain is certain, but its duration is not. Our scars are mandatory, but their depth is totally optional according to the speed of our adjustment to our ever changing reality. The quicker we recognize the lesson the faster we can absorb it. The greater focus we invest in our understanding, the less damage control is required once we truly absorb what we are destined to learn.
If we do not find the clarity the lesson offers it will not end there. What we do not learn will be retaught again and again until we, "get" it soul-deep. Do not waste time struggling. Do not fall into poor me mode. Do not look for a scapegoat. Simply examine all that it offers and hidden among the negatives is always a positive that is the entire purpose of the exercise. If it hurts then avoid the necessity of more pain by putting into action what must be done to make the pain result in a gain. None of us will ever be trouble free, but all of us have the power to learn and grow enough to stand firm and face whatever lessons we must to become a better person tomorrow than we are today. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference. - Arie Pencovici
The school of hard knocks is an around the clock institution. There are no scheduled holidays or summer breaks. The classes vary and the teachers come and go at an astonishing rate. Most of us weave in and out as lessons are learned, but others never really leave. They evolve from student to teacher then back again over and over... never graduating and never achieving tenure. I am proud to be a member of the lifers. Not because of prestige or material gain, but due to the simple fact that helping others elevates my own pain to a level that makes every wounding worth the agony.
Listing of my shortcomings or pointing fingers at any certain offender would only invite the negatives to harden like cement shoes and drowning would be my certain fate. I choose to suggest positives that littered my battlefield in a fashion that will apply in a universal way to as many of the walking wounded as I can reach. I do not do so for worldly gain... I do it because it is my life's purpose. I do it because God gave me a gift and He takes away what we do not willingly share with others. I do it for my souls health and I do it for yours as well.
When a brutal lesson begins it does us no favor to fight against its arrival as if we have any choice whatsoever to stop its forward motion. We try to shove it away and when that does not help we run as if outdistancing it is even a possibility. Our pain is certain, but its duration is not. Our scars are mandatory, but their depth is totally optional according to the speed of our adjustment to our ever changing reality. The quicker we recognize the lesson the faster we can absorb it. The greater focus we invest in our understanding, the less damage control is required once we truly absorb what we are destined to learn.
If we do not find the clarity the lesson offers it will not end there. What we do not learn will be retaught again and again until we, "get" it soul-deep. Do not waste time struggling. Do not fall into poor me mode. Do not look for a scapegoat. Simply examine all that it offers and hidden among the negatives is always a positive that is the entire purpose of the exercise. If it hurts then avoid the necessity of more pain by putting into action what must be done to make the pain result in a gain. None of us will ever be trouble free, but all of us have the power to learn and grow enough to stand firm and face whatever lessons we must to become a better person tomorrow than we are today. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Sunday, February 07, 2016
THE LION KNOWS
TODAY'S QUOTE:
The past can hurt. You can either run from it or learn from it. - The Lion King
The past does hurt if you've done more than simply exist. There's so much more to life than full lungs and a beating heart. A life where you've survived any kind of hardship is preferable to one where you had no hardship at all. An existence may be free of pain, but there's an absence of real to the soul pleasure too; possessing one requires the ownership of both. Running from your pain never works anyway, because it's a squatter that lives inside of you. Eviction is necessary, making facing it a mandatory step in the process.
No pain, no gain is a valuable prompt for a heart and mind stuck in a spot rough enough to make giving up seem like a likely reaction. The ability to remember the prize will help even the weariest traveler to continue struggling toward journey's end. Never look too far forward or the distance yet to go will overwhelm even the best of intentions. Never look backward overlong or you may lose heart altogether. Pay careful watch just ahead and be always mindful of every sign of any new lessons to be learned along the way.
Regret is a mighty teacher... anger, sorrow, and envy will instruct soul-deep if you validate them without allowing them to define you. There's nothing quite as liberating as making perfect sense of your pain by gaining something positive for the sake of the ache. And people who knee-jerk from one over-reaction to the next gain no ground worth possessing. They bellow the loudest and stomp the hardest, satisfied to be stuck in stupid for no good reason. Engage your brain... understand your emotions... direct your footsteps, and reap whatever positive harvest is possible from even the most weed-ridden terrain. Think about it... let it ride... then YOU decide!!!
The past can hurt. You can either run from it or learn from it. - The Lion King
The past does hurt if you've done more than simply exist. There's so much more to life than full lungs and a beating heart. A life where you've survived any kind of hardship is preferable to one where you had no hardship at all. An existence may be free of pain, but there's an absence of real to the soul pleasure too; possessing one requires the ownership of both. Running from your pain never works anyway, because it's a squatter that lives inside of you. Eviction is necessary, making facing it a mandatory step in the process.
No pain, no gain is a valuable prompt for a heart and mind stuck in a spot rough enough to make giving up seem like a likely reaction. The ability to remember the prize will help even the weariest traveler to continue struggling toward journey's end. Never look too far forward or the distance yet to go will overwhelm even the best of intentions. Never look backward overlong or you may lose heart altogether. Pay careful watch just ahead and be always mindful of every sign of any new lessons to be learned along the way.
Regret is a mighty teacher... anger, sorrow, and envy will instruct soul-deep if you validate them without allowing them to define you. There's nothing quite as liberating as making perfect sense of your pain by gaining something positive for the sake of the ache. And people who knee-jerk from one over-reaction to the next gain no ground worth possessing. They bellow the loudest and stomp the hardest, satisfied to be stuck in stupid for no good reason. Engage your brain... understand your emotions... direct your footsteps, and reap whatever positive harvest is possible from even the most weed-ridden terrain. Think about it... let it ride... then YOU decide!!!
Friday, February 05, 2016
THE WISDOM OF SILENCE
TODAY'S QUOTE:
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked. - Mark Twain
This is such a simple truth. For more years than I care to add up I was forced to shut-up. I was trained from birth then married a mighty silencer. I was slow to have an opinion, because it wasn't safe to voice it, so why bother. That stunted growth took years to kick-start.
I often thought that I was the only one that had functional ears. I often wondered about the sanity of loved ones who said such lame and hurtful things. I sometimes pondered about the danger of stacking bull-shit so high, but I didn't dare criticize. I silently questioned why any love that reached me was always so dark and twisted. It's really hard not to think there is some major defect in you when loved ones are less than loving. Unconditional love seemed a fairy tale and a happy ending pure fantasy.
The absence of so much kept my expectations barely an inch out of the dirt. Little things grew in importance; big things were insurmountable, and overwhelmed was my middle name. It took me 40 years to get mad enough to demand that others help me row or get off my ship. I suddenly realized that I'd accepted the role of victim as a young child and nothing attracts a bully faster than a ready made patsy.
Now I don't stress about any of that because what we live through and how we shoulder what we must is what makes us who we are. If you don't buy into the role other people have shoved you into then stop acting and get real. Whoever they defined you as isn't written in stone so if you can't change their opinion at least change your own. Chances are they won't like losing control, but I can guarantee that you'll love finding out who you truly are.
We each have only one life... so if you're trying to live more than one you're too greedy by far and if you don't seem to possess even one you're a hostage. Take back what they're misusing and see what you can build without any interference. Make your own mistakes and gain your own victories, that's what life is all about. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked. - Mark Twain
This is such a simple truth. For more years than I care to add up I was forced to shut-up. I was trained from birth then married a mighty silencer. I was slow to have an opinion, because it wasn't safe to voice it, so why bother. That stunted growth took years to kick-start.
I often thought that I was the only one that had functional ears. I often wondered about the sanity of loved ones who said such lame and hurtful things. I sometimes pondered about the danger of stacking bull-shit so high, but I didn't dare criticize. I silently questioned why any love that reached me was always so dark and twisted. It's really hard not to think there is some major defect in you when loved ones are less than loving. Unconditional love seemed a fairy tale and a happy ending pure fantasy.
The absence of so much kept my expectations barely an inch out of the dirt. Little things grew in importance; big things were insurmountable, and overwhelmed was my middle name. It took me 40 years to get mad enough to demand that others help me row or get off my ship. I suddenly realized that I'd accepted the role of victim as a young child and nothing attracts a bully faster than a ready made patsy.
Now I don't stress about any of that because what we live through and how we shoulder what we must is what makes us who we are. If you don't buy into the role other people have shoved you into then stop acting and get real. Whoever they defined you as isn't written in stone so if you can't change their opinion at least change your own. Chances are they won't like losing control, but I can guarantee that you'll love finding out who you truly are.
We each have only one life... so if you're trying to live more than one you're too greedy by far and if you don't seem to possess even one you're a hostage. Take back what they're misusing and see what you can build without any interference. Make your own mistakes and gain your own victories, that's what life is all about. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Thursday, February 04, 2016
LIFE STRIKES
TODAY'S QUOTE:
Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens... Andy Rooney
There is a huge difference between happening to life or simply allowing life to happen to you. The first will train you to pro-level in every aspect of how to control your reactions before they have a chance to get control of you. Our bodies are able to function correctly when all systems are connected and work as a team toward a common good. However we are not by nature hooked too tightly at the brain, heart, and soul; life would be so much simpler if we were. With practice and persistence the bonds can be strengthened and fine-tuned, but repair will be a full-time, life-long occupation.
All three of those complex portions of our being spend a large portion of time arguing. Each wants to run the show... not simply rule for a day, but rule all the way. And there is no sure fire way to make them work in perfect sync. One says stop, one says go, and the other one wants to study the map carefully before the trip even gets started. Two may agree, although that is a rarity, but the third will dig in its heals on principal alone and refuse to budge an inch. If it did not occur inside such cramped quarters it would be great entertainment, but it is, "too" in too many ways to be any fun at all.
It is too loud... too intense... too childish, and too much your own fault to inspire laughter. Almost every time it begins as a free-for-all and ends in a draw with no positive outcome. It is a war without end, unless you are willing to pick a valiant leader then follow their direction. Free choice can be bothersome, but it beats the hell out of no choice at all. Do nothing and that is exactly what you will reap. If total confusion is your chosen destination just lean back and you will get there lightning quick.
My personal opinion is simple nowadays. I believe that the portion of our being that is eternal should be put firmly in charge. Our mind either wobbles back and forth flying this direction then that or it hits a snag and refuses to move at all. Our heart gets bruised and broken so decisions rooted there too often come from a wounded point of view. Our heart and brain are each capable of producing enough raw emotion to cause untold destruction. One or the other... or heaven forbid both of them working in tandem will happily knee-jerk us into deep shit and not bat an eye. If regret and drama are your things you will produce mountains of them without any effort at all.
The soul is the only part of us that always has the good of all as its only agenda. It possesses the sum total of all of our knowledge and emotion. Since it is the keeper of the keys it only makes good sense to give it total access to every locked door. Allow it to make peace between your twisted thoughts and your runaway emotions. All the answers are there, just take the time to listen. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
Happiness depends more on how life strikes you than on what happens... Andy Rooney
There is a huge difference between happening to life or simply allowing life to happen to you. The first will train you to pro-level in every aspect of how to control your reactions before they have a chance to get control of you. Our bodies are able to function correctly when all systems are connected and work as a team toward a common good. However we are not by nature hooked too tightly at the brain, heart, and soul; life would be so much simpler if we were. With practice and persistence the bonds can be strengthened and fine-tuned, but repair will be a full-time, life-long occupation.
All three of those complex portions of our being spend a large portion of time arguing. Each wants to run the show... not simply rule for a day, but rule all the way. And there is no sure fire way to make them work in perfect sync. One says stop, one says go, and the other one wants to study the map carefully before the trip even gets started. Two may agree, although that is a rarity, but the third will dig in its heals on principal alone and refuse to budge an inch. If it did not occur inside such cramped quarters it would be great entertainment, but it is, "too" in too many ways to be any fun at all.
It is too loud... too intense... too childish, and too much your own fault to inspire laughter. Almost every time it begins as a free-for-all and ends in a draw with no positive outcome. It is a war without end, unless you are willing to pick a valiant leader then follow their direction. Free choice can be bothersome, but it beats the hell out of no choice at all. Do nothing and that is exactly what you will reap. If total confusion is your chosen destination just lean back and you will get there lightning quick.
My personal opinion is simple nowadays. I believe that the portion of our being that is eternal should be put firmly in charge. Our mind either wobbles back and forth flying this direction then that or it hits a snag and refuses to move at all. Our heart gets bruised and broken so decisions rooted there too often come from a wounded point of view. Our heart and brain are each capable of producing enough raw emotion to cause untold destruction. One or the other... or heaven forbid both of them working in tandem will happily knee-jerk us into deep shit and not bat an eye. If regret and drama are your things you will produce mountains of them without any effort at all.
The soul is the only part of us that always has the good of all as its only agenda. It possesses the sum total of all of our knowledge and emotion. Since it is the keeper of the keys it only makes good sense to give it total access to every locked door. Allow it to make peace between your twisted thoughts and your runaway emotions. All the answers are there, just take the time to listen. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!
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