Why Persist?

I am currently reading a book by Joyce Meyer and she lists some people that refused to give up on their dreams and goals so I thought I would share some of the people from that list.

It is by no means complete and it is not the first time I have seen these people listed for their refusal to quit so I am sure that many of you have heard this before but it cannot hurt to be reminded.

Henry Ford-failed and went bankrupt 5 times before starting the Ford Motor Company

Basketball star Michael Jordan failed to make the cut for his high school basketball team

After his first film audition, Fred Astaire was told he couldn’t act, didn’t have enough hair and could dance a little. He was also told his sister was a far better dancer

Max Lucado’s first book was rejected by 14 publishers before being accepted by the 15th. He became a best selling author.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper because he lacked ideas, he also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

A young Burt Reynolds was told he couldn’t act. At the same time his buddy, Clint Eastwood was told he would never make it in the movies because his Adams apple was too big.

Each of these people succeeded not just because they had a dream they refused to give up on but also because they refused to let anyone tell them who they were or who or what they could be.

A Heavy Sigh

is what I caught myself doing when I sat down to write this post today. Why is that you say? Because I am kind of tired of writing about the same old same old. But I know that I must do this in a thousand different ways until everyone gets it so here goes;

Your thoughts create the things and occurrences of your life, period. Okay maybe its exclamation point, I don’t know but what I do know is that what you think about, what you believe in your heart of hearts is what you create and then you attract more of that to you and in turn are attracted to more of it. So if you think thoughts of inferiority, you are attracted to those who hold low opinions of themselves and vice versa. If you think thoughts of negativity or complaint you attract things to complain about and people to share complaints with and vice versa. And yeah, by vice versa I mean if you have a good opinion of yourself you end up surrounded by like minded individuals and a positive attitude brings surprise, like minded individuals around.

That's it in a nutshell, you simply decide who you want to be and you control what you allow yourself to think and in time-and I say in time because you have to give yourself time to create a new habit and the universe time to rearrange things-you can create the things that you say that you want. The choice is entirely yours and nobody (or nothing) else's.

In a Previous Post….

Yeah, once again I am referring to a previous post,  but that is because I believe that it is important, so here goes.

I wrote about people not thinking, not spending time alone with their thoughts, and being uncomfortable with their own companionship.

So this post is about considering the law of thinking and how people don’t really do that much thinking. They always have stuff on their minds but it’s mostly ‘busy’ with things that do not actually constitute thinking. I have noticed that people tend to have ‘background’ noise going on all the time that interferes with actual thinking but they do not realize it and many would argue that it helps them but it doesn’t. If you look back through the annals of time you will see that most of the great thinkers lived in a time when music was not ubiquitous. Today we are surrounded by not only music but also television even in stores, doctor’s offices, restaurants. We even have music in elevators and on our cell phones and if we don’t want music there is always talk radio and audio books. We carry MP3 players so we don’t have to go anywhere without having something to occupy our minds and that impedes thought.

Every great invention, every great idea, every great everything began with thought so I would say it is critical to a  persons life to spend a bit of time thinking and that thinking should be done where it is quiet so that you can hear your subconscious guiding you to the thoughts that will serve you best. So ask yourself, how much time do I spend on an average day just thinking?

I Found This Poem…..

Yeah, I found a poem but I don’t know who wrote it even after I searched all over the web and we all know that just about every anything can be found on the web these days. But anyway, I read it in the back of a book by Raymond Holliwell titled “Working With the Law’ and I wanted to share it with you;

You Can

If you think you are beaten, you are,

   If you think you dare not, you don’t,

If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,

   It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

 

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,

  For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will-

  It’s all in the state of mind.

 

If you think you’re outclassed, you are,

  You’ve got to think high to rise.

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

 

Life’s battles don’t always go

   To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

   Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

What Can You Learn From a Palm Tree?

I found a passage in the Bible, Psalm 92:12 that says “the righteous man will flourish like the palm tree.” and it reminded me of fact that a palm tree can withstand hurricane winds & bend all the way over and touch the ground for hours at a time but when the wind stops blowing the palm stands back up as if there had been no wind at all. I recently heard that when that sort of stress happens to a palm tree it  strengthens the root system so strong winds actually benefit the palm tree. But what happens to those trees such as the mighty Oak when hurricane winds occur? Oaks don’t bend very well, instead they break.

It’s the same for people; if you have strong winds of say ‘ill fortune’ you can bend or you can break. I know that when you are right in the middle of a less than perfect situation you may feel like you will break but if you understand that this too shall pass then it is easier to bend knowing that you will come out of it stronger than ever.  The palm tree doesn’t try to fight the wind, it lets the wind fly by. For you to develop strong roots lies in knowing you really need to do is to keep the positive mental attitude that will change the direction and velocity of the wind and bend don’t break. This doesn’t mean that if you have a problem you let it mow you down, it means that when things seem dire, you allow the negative aspects of the situation to fly by and concentrate on solving the problems. It means not letting negativity set in and break you. It means keeping your focus on the calm sunny days ahead.

Thoughts Are Things

Today I want to share a poem from Henry Van Dyke called Thoughts Are Things

I hold it true that thoughts are things;

They’re endowed with bodies and breath and wings.

And that we send them forth to fill

The world with good results, or ill.

That which we call our secret thought

Speeds forth to earth’s remotest spot,

Leaving its blessing or its woes

Like tracks behind it as it goes.

We build our future, thought by thought,

For good or ill, yet know it not.

Thought is another name for fate;

Choose then thy destiny and wait,

For love brings love and hate brings hate.

I think that this poem about sums it up and I don’t know if it could be better said. I’m just sayin’.

What You Make Of It

Today I share a quote from Zig Ziglar; “If you help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want.”  Now you can take that quote anyway that you choose to but I would encourage you to think of it this way; what we all want is to be happy regardless of what we think it will take to achieve that, and if all we need to do to be happy is to help other people, then why not?

Now that doesn’t mean that you never say no to people, it doesn’t mean you let people walk all over you, it means that you do nice things for people when you can because whether or not you get a tangible reward for it, you get the intangible  good feeling of knowing that you did something to help someone. And when you feel good then good things tend to happen to you and for you.

Who could ask for anything more?

Mother Nature-The Ultimate Guide.

Yes, you read that correctly, I say Mother Nature is the ultimate guide. Why is Mother Nature the ultimate guide? Because nature has no problem that it cannot solve, and embraces each and every season knowing that each is as important as the next.

So you skeptics out there are saying or thinking negatives things about nature having no problem it cannot solve but it is true. No matter the natural disaster, with time, nature returns and life goes on. Yes, sometimes the life that goes on is not the same life that came before however, nature evolves just as we do-or should. I also know that many people do not relate the seasons of the year with the times of their lives and yet every one of us has experienced the seasons of life over and over again. For most people winter is their least favorite season but without winter real growth doesn’t happen. Only through adversity do we become  strong enough to deal with whatever comes up. Only because of spring do we learn to sow every possible seed to ensure a bountiful harvest. In the summer we learn to appreciate the foundations laid in the spring and in the fall, we reap the harvest from our spring and summer labor. And nature does the same things, germinating seeds, supplying insects, birds and other animals to maintain or facilitate growth in the summer and in the fall the same ‘workers’ harvest from their labor and prepare for winter.

Mother Nature has much to teach those who would learn from her.

Living in the Now

I heard someone speaking yesterday about now being the only true time, that the past is gone and that the future is not certain so only the here and now is true time.

In some ways this makes sense; they tell us you can’t change the past and we all know that you cannot foretell the future, or can you? In a way you can because what you do right here, right now determines the future. You can decide right now to take the actions that will move you toward your goals, you can decide right now to adopt a new attitude that will change everything in your future and you can believe right now, that everything always turns out the way it is supposed to so there is never a reason to worry about anything. And all of these things are all about living in the now but something is missing isn’t it? It’s called gratitude and it is all about remembering the past and paying attention to the now; being grateful for what you have already gotten or experienced and grateful for what you have or experience right now.

And that is also the key to happiness; not just being grateful but really feeling grateful. Unless you are the exception that has had some recent catastrophe & is grateful to be alive yet has much to mourn, you cannot experience a negative anything if you are truly feeling grateful. Every single day is an opportunity to live in the now, to feel good about yourself and what is possible. Carpe Diem!