Tell

“The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they are alive.” ~ Orlando Aloysius Battista …

Why does it have to be so hard to tell those important to us that we love them? We all need that affirmation now and again in our lives–that we are important, that our time here on Earth is appreciated, that we mean something to someone. Over the years, people have come in and out of my life constantly, and so rarely have I told them how much I care for them and appreciate them–I often take it for granted that this much is assumed by my presence around them. Some of them I will never see again, and will therefore never have the chance to tell them what they mean to me. And although many of them I will see regularly, I often do not tell them enough how much I care for them, even though I know how much it means to me to hear the same thing from others.

Neutralize Hurt!

“The difference between holding on to a hurt or releasing it with forgiveness is like the difference between laying your head down at night on a pillow filled with thorns or a pillow filled with rose petals.” ~ Loren Fischer …

Not very many of us would be comfortable laying our head down at night on a pillow filled with thorns, yet that is exactly what we do when we hold the hurt and the pain inside instead of releasing it with forgiveness, compassion, and love. The bitterness, anger, vengefulness, and resentment we hold on to, pokes us like thorns, causing sores that can grow and become infected if we ignore them or fail to work to heal them.

Your Feelings And Intuitions

“You closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too–even when you are in the dark. Even when you are falling.” ~ Morrie Schwartz …

Perhaps you have participated in one of the activities known as “trust falls.” In these exercises, an individual must stand with their back facing towards someone else, and fall backwards without preparing to brace himself or herself for the fall–essentially placing all their trust in the person who is catching them. Life is a lot like this; we cannot always believe what we see, but we can believe what we feel.

Work Towards Turning A Dream Of Yours Into Reality

“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” ~ Douglas Everett …

I, for one, do not want to live in a society that mocks the dreamers–a society that tells us that our dreams cannot become our realities or that their version of reality has to be our version as well. We are marvelous and unique beings, created by a loving God for a purpose that is quite perfectly our own. Who is to say that our dreams have to be like theirs, or anyone else’s in this world for that matter? Just because someone else dreams of amassing new things, more power, greater wealth, or more fame, does not mean we, too, share the same passion. Perhaps we just want to travel the world more, or dream of a simpler life with less stress and more peace.

Purpose For Everything

“Things will happen in your life that you cannot stop, but that is no reason to shut out the world. There is a purpose for the good and for the bad.” ~ Walter Sparrow …

Bad things will happen in life, but we must not let them close us out from the world; for even if we do not understand it at the moment, everything has a purpose and a time. I recall occasions in time past in my life in which I felt that it was pointless to press on or to try so hard because of the failures and bad results I was experiencing; a part of me did not want to take the risks because of previous hurts and failures when I tried before. But doing so only kept me away from realizing the growth and potential that was available to me.

Concentrate On Your Strengths Instead Of Your Faults

“You may think there is a lot wrong with you, but there is also a lot right with you.” ~ Joel Osteen …

We all have our faults, problems, and shortcomings–that is a truth of life. But we do not have to let them define us. Yet that is what many individuals do–they get so busy focusing on those things, that they virtually guarantee that they will eventually become a major part of their lives. When we keep our thoughts negatively focused on our lack, we strengthen our fear and doubt, often times giving it more power, creating additional poverty of self, and bringing more negativity into our lives as a result. But this is not what most of us really want.

Be Yourself

“Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?” ~ Fanny Brice …

Have you ever found yourself displaying to the world a version of yourself that did not quite match up to the one you really are inside? Perhaps you remember being told by a parent to smile and say thank you for a gift you received even if you did not like it? Or maybe you were asked by your employer to always be cheerful and smile to the customers. Not the easiest task, eh, especially if you are feeling awful inside.

Surrender Not!

“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.” ~ Michael J. Fox …

Whether we keep our dignity, or surrender it, can only be done on our own terms–no one can take it away from us without our consent. If you think about it… there really is nothing in life that anyone can take from us if we do not allow them.

Pass It On

“The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.” ~ Julia Alvarez …

It was impressed upon me as a child, that if someone showed me kindness, it is imperative that I repay that kindness back. And for much of my younger years, I never did really give others the opportunity to simply give to me, and receive only thanks and gratitude in return. Nor did I truly understand the value and the awesome power of passing on a kindness that was done to me. I simply strive to pay back the kindness.

Still Possible

“Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.” ~ Pope Saint John XXIII  …

How much of our lives have been spent focusing on our fears and frustrations, guided more by our theories of our limitations rather than our potential? As a boy, I can recall watching Joe Montana lead the 49ers to victory with his game-winning touchdown passes and inspirational comebacks, and thinking to myself, “I want to be just like him.” I spent a lot of time practicing football with my brothers, passing, catching, and throwing the ball through tires and the spacers on our swing set. But I also remember many failures over the years, interceptions, dropped snaps, failure to win election to the National Assembly etc. Frustrated at my lack of success at the election or other endeavor, there were times I felt like giving up. But I knew that if I wished to realize my full potential, if I ever wanted to achieve my dreams, I would have to conquer my fears and let go of my misguided beliefs. Since realising this, I’ve been successful in all I set my mind at.