Inspired Thoughts by Waves of Gratitude

Within our hearts there are certain things we know to be true, and though sometimes our choices, life or other events seem to be telling us something quite different we must stand firm in our knowing. Over the last 5 years I have journeyed down some very unfamiliar territory. In doing so I have made mistakes and at the same time made some amazing discoveries.

In our minds without even our 

Think about the times in your life when you’ve really needed your friends.  I know for me they have rallied around in times of tragedy but they are also there to celebrate occasions big and
small.  I remember as a little girl in Brownies we would sing this song, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”  I don’t think that there is ever a time when we can’t make room for a new friend.

Everything shifts and changes, nothing stays exactly as it was at a given moment.  Like a stream altering its direction from shifts in the banks, our life shifts.  It slows and sometimes seems to stop and then a shift and once again it is flowing.

Tonight my mom’s baby brother passed away.  Less than 6 months ago he was a healthy man, married for 43 years to his first love.  Then one day a headache became a tumor and within months his life has stopped.  His memory will live on in the life of his wife, children, grandchildren, family and friends.  Yet, his time here has come to an end.

“It is wise to direct your anger towards problems — not people; to focus your energies on answers — not excuses.” ~ William Arthur Ward

When we fail to reach a goal or accomplish a task the first thing we often do is make excuses and then we find somewhere to place the blame. This only keeps us grounded in the negative thoughts and actions.  If we instead accept the outcome and examine the steps that lead to the outcome we are now able to learn from where we have and been and start moving towards where we want to go

You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.” ~ Rene Descartes

In life there are times things don’t move according to the time frame we have in mind.  Sometimes this is outside of our control.  Yet, other times if we are to be completely honest with ourselves we can see points where we are responsible in some small way.  Maybe we procrastinated or ignored a situation.  Maybe we decided we were going to wait for fate to step in and bring us a better choice. 

hope“Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it’s what’s in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will!” – Hope Floats -1998

I recently heard a speech in which the speaker was saying that sometimes we just need to “let it go.”  It was 

Opportunities, many times, are so small that we glimpse them not and yet they are often the seeds of great enterprises. Opportunities are also everywhere and so you must always let your hook be hanging. When you least expect it, a great fish will swim by.” ~ Og Mandino

I thought this morning, what seeds can I plant today to help me work towards my goal.  Then, I realized, I was unsure of the seeds I had planted the day before.  So starting

John Petit-Senn said, “Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”

How very true.  Over the years we have done many things as a family that didn’t cost us anything financially but created some of our best memories.  We would go to the park or beach or rake up a big pile of leaves and jump in them.  As the kids got older, we had fun fishing at a local pond or hiking in the state park.  Some of the most abundant memories are just shooting hoops and the boys learning from their dad

“In order to be utterly happy the only thing necessary is to refrain from comparing this moment with other moments in the past, which I often did not fully enjoy because I was comparing them with other moments of the future” ~ Andre Gide

Part of staying positive is learning to live your life today. Not the life you had, not the life you think you will have, instead live this moment today. How often in the past have you thought if this could happen I would be set, I would be happy.

You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action. So act! Whatever it is you know you should do, do it.” ~ Unknown

When we are pushed in life and feel at the edge of where we really want to be our emotions have a tendency to be a little sensitive.  This has been my case for a few weeks. In a discussion with a friend I shared with them a comment they had made which left me feeling a little wounded.  Rather, than receiving a response that was supportive, I received this comment.  ”Maybe you shouldn’t act like Pollyanna then.” The conversation proceeded to go down a path of how if hurt their feelings that they can’t be themselves a

“Every thought we think is creating our future.” ~ Louise L. Hay

I believe when we are guided to a place in life there is something to be learned in that moment so I usually follow my gut and make time for the lesson.  Today, author Lisa A Romano lead me to a video by Louise Hay which I have included here.

“Detached action is unselfish work.” ~Bhagavad Gita

Life unfolds in its own time, sometimes not to the pace we had hoped.  When this happens it has the potential to distract us from the vision and the goal, so we must learn to detach. In fact, as I type these words I realize we spend so much of our life trying to attach to things in our life. We entered the world with nothing and yet our pursuit is to obtain things, which in essence is to become attached to things

Sometimes life is like a balancing act between the good things and the bad that happen in our lives.  We are challenged to remain hopeful when it seems that Murphy’s Law has tipped the scales of justice to the bad side.  It is at these times when we need hope the most. We need to have a bright hope that there is more good to be found than bad and that if we did not experience anything disappointing, difficult or unpleasant we would never have on the other side the experience to know the difference when life is going smoothly and all seems good.  The forces of nature or the universe 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” ~ Robert Collier

In my initial discussion with Kevin Hall we discussed the importance of visualization.  Kevin reminded me that our subconscious mind works all night on the last thought you have before sleep. He suggested visualizing myself standing in or by a clear body of water and seeing my goal flowing to and through me.  

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” — Buddha

It does not take a large bank account, a beautiful house or fancy car to have an abundance of peace.  Peace is something that is found within us by the way we choose to view the world.  Peace is found in knowing there is enough in the bank account for your needs or being able to happily adjust those needs to match its balance.  An abundance of peace is found in a home filled with warmth and family you love and loves you, not in its furnishings or location.  Peace is found in knowing you have a way to get where you want to go, even if it doesn’t have leather seats. It’s about where you choose to go in your mind. 

“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 H. Everett

Reality is in larger part a single persons perception. Yet, in life there are real situations which happen and to me those are part of reality. Over the course of the last 2 years I have been searching for a new career. I have work and it holds things together yet it is not where I wish to be or stay.  The purpose of these 30 days was a result of a discussion with Kevin Hall about changing things in my life. Yesterday, a fact, a 

There is a peacefulness and sense of belonging that comes from reuniting with someone who belongs to a family that has been a part of yours for generations. I spent the evening with a young mother, whose mother was my babysitter when I was young. When this young mother was a teenager, she babysat my kids, and now my kids were holding and caring for her baby. But it goes beyond that

“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.”  ~ Arnold H. Glasgow

One of the hardest tasks in 30 days of positive is remembering to focus on our goal.  Not to ge

“What we think, we become.” ~ Buddha

We all know thoughts seem to play through our minds like an ongoing movie trailer.  We have lists of things to do, frustrations of things that have happened, doubt over what will happen.

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” ~ Proverb

Such a powerful lesson in those words.  Of course the best time to have taken action may have been in the past, yet that is behind us and can’t be changed.  Therefore, the next best time to take action is now.  Yet somehow we all seem to come up with a million reasons why we will get to it tomorrow, me included.

We ask questions about