Just a quick reminder to speak only truth and to do so diligently. Ask yourself, is what I am now saying truly reflect on who I am and what I wish people to think my character is?
It seems in our modern world people feel compelled to say something. Focus more on quality over quantity. This holds true for everything in life, but especially in our speech. Nobody enjoys being around someone who talks just to hear the sound of their own voice.
A quick parting thought. If you wish never to be thought a fool, speak life, empowerment, and encouragementto all that you encounter. There is always room for words that uplift.
We are all like this bar of iron. We have so much potential inside of us. What we do with that potential goes a long way to determine our worth. This is why it is so important to do what feeds your soul. You may not be lucky enough to do it for a living, but you can even pursue it on the side as a hobby. What you create and bring to the world will be amazing. When people live with passion, everyone in the world benefits.
Perhaps, like myself, you are in a job that does not make the best use of your talents. What you should do is find a way to put those talents on display. It may cost you some recreation time, and maybe even a little sleep. Let me assure you that the sleep you will get will be far better knowing that you allowed the gift inside you to see the light. It will not only bring you more inner peace, but may also lead to a new, more fulfilling career.
Another thing to be careful of is letting others determine your worth. Some may look at you and believe that you are that bar of iron. Not worth much. Try to limit your exposure to these people. Some can see the horse shoes or even the watch springs inside of you. Meaning, they can see how amazing you are even if you are not there yet. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and see the best in you. That belief may help you push yourself to be the best version of you that you can be.
Here is something I have been wanting to write for a while. With my crazy life, the opportunity has not presented itself. The world is a crazy place right now. In a minute everything can be turned upside down. Many people are hurting and afraid. That is why what we do here is so important. Secret2anamazinglife.com is not only an online community, but a place to come that is safe and inspiring. My life purpose is to leave the world a better place than I found it. Right now, that is looking a little challenging. What I can do is exactly what the quote above tells us to do.
In my first book, A Happy Life for Busy People, I share the story of what inspired me to begin writing and working on improving myself. I cannot assume that you have read that book. I must say it is a quick and good read. Even has a nice smiley face on the cover. You can pop over to Amazon and order yourself a copy right after you finish reading this. To catch you up to speed, I am going to give you the super abridged version of my story.
After a very bad day that included losing a job, bad home relations and a host of other things, I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I checked the mail on the way out the door. In there I found my electric bill as well as envelopes asking for charity donations. I did donate them to the recycle bin. One caught my attention however. On it was the quote above, “Better to light a single candle than curse the darkness.” That single quote has taken me on a journey over two decades in the making. It has allowed me to write and publish 3, going on 4, books. I have done my best to light as many candles and inspire as many people as I can.
It sure can feel good to vent and attack the evil we see in the world. It is good to speak up if you see wrong being done. What is even more powerful is to ‘light that candle’. If you see a group of people being persecuted, make sure you go out of the way to make people of that group feel safe and welcome. Worried about what is happening with our planet and the climate? See what actions you can take to help heal our planet. Remember that cursing the darkness does not make the room any brighter, but lighting even one candle does.
As much as we would like to, we cannot change all the ills the world faces. What we can do is make a big difference in the life of one person at a time. Think if you just inspired, encouraged or reassured one person a day. That would be 365 people in a year. Considering what an inspired, empowered or reassured person can then go on to do, the ripple effect could affect a great many more. If we just yell and complain about how terrible things are, we do not help anyone, least of all ourselves. Light candles my friend. When the world is dark, you must be the light.
I love this quote. All too often, when something does not work out as we planned we can feel so down on ourselves. I’m sure we have all been there. I know I have. You had grand plans and it can feel like not only your plans, but your life, can be headed south.
Still, it would be a great truth to be able to dust ourselves off, look in the mirror, and say, “At least I was brave enough to try!” Most people will do anything to mitigate risk in their life. When you do, yes you do decrease your chances of failure. You also decrease your chances of a great victory. More importantly, you eliminate your chance to learn something new!
Failure, if nothing else, is a great education. We learn what doesn’t work and are one step closer to what does. Be proud of your failure my brave souls. At least you had the courage to try!
Let me begin this by saying that I FIRMLY believe cauliflower cannot become pizza. In fact, I feel it is not good for much at all. Personal opinion part now over, let’s get on with the post.
Often you may think you are not cut out for your dreams. Perhaps you may think you just don’t fit in the role you are striving for.I think today’s technology where they make plasticout of plants, and a million other things, it should be evident that you can make anything out of yourself as well.
Let me begin this by saying that I FIRMLY believe cauliflower cannot become pizza. In fact, I feel it is not good for much at all. Personal opinion part now over, let’s get on with the post.
Often you may think you are not cut out for your dreams. Perhaps you may think you just don’t fit in the role you are striving for.I think today’s technology where they make plasticout of plants, and a million other things, it should be evident that you can make anything out of yourself as well.
This picture came up in my Facebook memories from 12 years ago. What a different lifetime ago that was! I had not even met the love of my life yet. I was also an entirely different person. I have learned and grown so much in the last 12 years, I would not even recognize myself in the mirror if I were to look back. This made me think of the difference in what syndrome they might name after me now verses then. It is an odd and somewhat humorous way to look at things, but it could really serve us.
How about you? What characteristics do you think people think of when you pop in their mind? Are they positive? Are they negative? If it is the former, keep it up! If it is the latter, you know what to do, change them! Do you have some qualities that you would hope that people would associate to you? If so, just start working to embody those very traits more often. Personally, I would like people to think of someone who encourages and empowers others when I come into their mind. Therefore, in the new year I am going to do my best to live those qualities. How about you? What traits do you think you are an example of? What traits would you want to be?
A reminder today to be yourself. Copies are never worth more than the original. You can be the best version of who you think people want you to be and it will never be as good as the best version of who you were put here to be.
Each one of us has our own gifts and talents. Maybe you are a good listener? Maybe you are a good conversationalist? Do you cook well? It could be that you do a great job cleaning, or planning. Whatever it is that speaks to your heart, do that. You will not only find the most enjoyment in life, but you will be at your most beautiful.
This quote and picture are obviously not just about candles. Before we get into what this means in our daily life, let us look at it from the point of a candle. You are in a dark room and you have a lit candle. It gives off a certain amount of light. Someone else walks in with a candle. The room becomes twice as bright. If you were to walk over to them and blow out their candle, the room would become darker. In addition, your candle would not burn twice as bright to make up for the loss of light. Suppose there were other unlit candles in the room. If you were to use yours to light them the room would continue to get brighter.
This all seems rather obvious from the point of candles. What the light of the candle really signifies is the light inside all of us. Some get jealous when they seem another person’s light shining and look to extinguish it. As if that would somehow make their light shine brighter. In only results in making the room, or this case the world, a darker place. Conversely, if you were to use your candle to light as many other candles as you could, the room would continue to get brighter and brighter. What this translates to is using your gifts, and the light inside of you, to brighter the lives of as many people as you can. If we fill the world with happy people, the world only becomes a brighter place. Just like the more candles you light, the brighter the room.
Next time you brighten someone’s day, know that you are really doing so much more. You are making the world a brighter place. The more people you do this for, the brighter the world becomes. Remember there are lots of people blowing out candles. They put people down, they are cruel and unkind. Therefore, you may have to light the same candle more than once. It takes a continued effort to keep all of the candles around us lit. It requires us always looking to empower and uplift each other. Let us work to make the world as bright as we can.
The world can sure be a rough place. It can feel dark and overwhelming at times. It is then that we should think of this analogy. I ship in the ocean is surrounded by water, only a tiny fraction of which could sink it. Yet it can survive years, decades or longer without the slightest issue. Even an occasional leak can be fixed and the ship can continue to sail the oceans without succumbing to the water. We are not much different when it comes to the negativity of life. We are often surrounded by it. Some sink and some continue to sail through life unencumbered. What makes the difference?
The difference is, much like the ship, those people who sail through life have found a way to not let the negativity get inside of them. It comes down to having a good defense for the mental, physical and emotional challenges that we will come up against. The time to come up with this plan is now. As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is today. Do not wait until your drowning to learn how to swim. Yes, that was a lot of metaphors in a row, but I am hoping it helps get the point across. Life may be smooth sailing now, but a storm is always right around the corner. Yes, that was another analogy.
There are many ways to set up a defense. Some people meditate. Some, like my mother, walk in nature. My fiancé likes to shop and create. I go to the gym or write. You have to find a constructive way to keep the water, in other words the stress, out of your ship. Should a leak develop, and you start to feel the negative creeping in, patch that sucker and get back to sailing. Having a healthy stress reduction plan could be a therapist to talk to, a journal to write in, a friend to meet for coffee or a dog to go for a walk with. What is your defense against the ocean of negativity we are all sailing through?
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 