Believe In Yourself

Well it’s good to be back! Life certainly can get moving so quickly that you miss out on the things your really enjoy the most. I have working at a local funeral chapel since November and for the first time in over 20 years I love getting up in the morning to go to work. Yes! Believe it or not, I do love my job! I have also been taking a course on Tuesday nights that will see me certified as a Life Cycle Celebrant. And then there’s been the regular life stuff. I also had a bit of a writing block. So I gave myself permission to take some time off.

Now I’m back. Writing is always cathartic for me. So when I ran out of juice last month I knew that cathartic or not, pushing would only undue that for me.

I like this gem. Five admonitions all in one gem:

• Believe in yourself.


• Push your limits.


• Experience life.


• Conquer your goals.


• Be happy.

The first one seems so simple. Yet we all know it can be one of the most difficult challenges in life. It’s difficult for a young person new to the workforce to believe in himself if he has a boss or supervisor who constantly criticizes, blames, breaks him down. It’s difficult for the man in a codependent relationship with an addict (no matter what the addiction) because he is caused to constantly question everything. It’s difficult to be part of life when the media, family, friends, work, religion constantly undermine who we are. But it’s not impossible. For me, it’s about shutting off the noise of criticism, whether that be external or internal (this is usually my biggest battle).

After leaving an abusive relationship a few years ago I hadn’t really seen the damage to my self-esteem. I hadn’t seen how the constant exposure to abusive behaviours had slowly chopped away at who Me is. It took months, literally, to believe in myself again. And still I battle with it every now and again.

Push your limits! Go ahead. Push! If you have a goal surpass it! If you want to walk for five minutes a day, do 7, then 9 then…. But keep in mind, you are human. Be gentle on your psyche. We are delicate creators, we humans. Yes, push. But do so wisely.

Experience life. Now this reminds me of an online conversation I had not too long ago. A reader asked me if I was so busy trying to solve life that I might be missing out on it, not enjoying it. It was a valid observation. I am a pretty intense guy at times. However I am so much better at stopping to smell the roses and smile and laugh and play now. It was a great reminder for me. Thank you.

I would like to reword number four. I don’t conquer my goals, I achieve and/or surpass them. Conquering is so competitive, so driven, so archaic. When I set goals I set out to achieve or surpass them. But what about the times when I miss the goal? Again, be gentle. Re-assess. Set a new goal. Perhaps you can still achieve and surpass the original but for now you need to do something else or just do it differently, slower, with help.

Be happy. Be happy! BE HAPPY!!!

Believe In Yourself

Lizzie Velasquez - The World's Prettiest Friend

From The Friend Movement: ...
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Lizzie Velasquez - The World's Prettiest Friend

Crazy Love...Surviving Spousal Abuse

Leslie Morgan Steiner was in “crazy love” — that is, madly in love with a man who routinely abused her and threatened her life. Steiner tells the dark story of her relationship, correcting misconceptions many people hold about victims of domestic violence, and explaining how we can all help break the silence.

As a ‘survivor’ myself, I was truly moved by this TED Talk.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1yW5IsnSjo&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Crazy Love...Surviving Spousal Abuse

Timing is Everything!

Timing is everything! I don’t belive anyone dies before they have agreed to do so. I don’t believe in happenstance or coincidence anymore either.

Everything has a season and there is a season for everything.

(Ecclesiastes 3)

I may not always (seldom in fact) understand why something has happened or why something has not happened. But I do believe it has happened, or will happen, at the perfect moment in our lives.

Life is full of mystery. But I have come to accept the great and small mysteries of life as part of the perfect ingredients we need to be who we are.

MY TRUTH: Thank you for the mystery of life. Thank you for the ‘timings’ in life. Thank you for LIFE…period!

 

Timing is Everything!

Dry Spell

Have you ever gotten on a roller coaster and wondered, “What the heck am I doing this for?” Have you ever left the park feeling like you’ve exhausted yourself and you have no more energy to give to riding the roller coaster and all the yelling and laughing and jerking around?

Well, that’s been me on this ride for the last couple of months, to be honest. And honesty is what this blog is about. I promised when I started to write this blog that it would include the ups and downs, the laughs and screams.

Since just before Christmas things in my life have been up and then down, up and then down further, then up a bit, and down a bit, then up a lot, then down a lot. It has been a long ride. In fact I think that some of the ride had water features, because I’ve felt all wet too, at times! Oddly, I say that, but I’ve been experiencing quite the dry spell with all my writing, including my private journal writing.

I have prided myself with writing a couple of weeks or more a head on my blog so that when this sort of thing happened, or I got too busy to write, I would still be on top of the ride. But I ran out of steam over a month ago now.

Now I’m not telling you this to get sympathy. Sympathy is a useless tool. It doesn’t really help anything. The last couple of weeks I’ve been reading two books. One is called Make Miracles in Forty Days: Turning What you Have into What you Want by Melody Beattie, and The law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money, and Miracles by Marianne Williamson. Both are two of my favourite authors. Well I have many favs actually. But I was calling for a Miracle in my life, several actually, and Melody’s book was sitting on my Kindle for quite some time and I’d ‘forgotten’ to read it. Well I don’t believe in happenstance or coincidences. So I read it. I’m now working with a friend to create some miracles in both of our lives. I recommend it highly.

Then part way through that book I cam across another book that was on my wish list (mentioned above) and so I started reading it as well. They compliment each other amazingly. 

Miracles, it seems, are not about
creating changes in circumstances.
They are about changing
the way we view circumstances.

For me, the miracles are already starting. I am so grateful. Some may be a while yet, in coming. That’s okay too. The first one is that I actually feel like writing again. It may not be daily for a bit. But I am getting back to it.

How has your ride been lately? Feel free to comment below or write me privately. I promise to reply.

Great people are not those who have never fallen down. Great people are those who, when they do fall down, dig deep within themselves and find the strength to get back up. Sometimes that dark night of the soul teaches us some very important things about ourselves…

The law of Divine Compensation:
On Work, Money, and Miracles
by Marianne Williamson

Dry Spell