Living Life Fully’s Daily Pick-Me-Up

I love to think of the fact that I’m in the middle of eternity now.  I love to keep in mind that eternity doesn’t start tomorrow, and it doesn’t start on the day I day–eternity is going on right here, right now, and we’re all right in the middle of it.

I am an eternal creature.  I’m not completely sure of the form I’ll take when I leave this human form, or where I’ll go or what I’ll do, but I do know in my heart and with my spirit that I don’t end when this body gives out.  And I was around before this body was created for me to grow and live in.  It’s a pretty cool thought, and an amazing realization.

When we see life as just the trappings of our humanity, then we see life in a very small way.  We see its limitations, its lackings, its barriers.  When we see life for what it is, though–an amazing opportunity to experience this wonderful planet and the wonderful people all around during our limited time here–then we see the possibility and potential that should define who we are, all the time.

You are an eternal being.  It doesn’t really serve you much to see yourself as anything but a marvelous, amazing, eternal creature who’s spending time here in your body and your current persona, before moving on to something different, but surely just as amazing.  Do yourself a favor, and treat yourself as the marvelous eternal being that you truly are.  Don’t make life small; live the grand and awesome life that you’ve been given.

Eternity is not something that begins after you’re dead.  It is going on all the time.  We are in it now.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Comments(0)

I think that we often think too much about taking risks.  Sometimes we over-analyze them, look at them as things that we have to “take” if we want to get somewhere in our lives, things that can have drastic negative effects on us if we don’t live up to the challenges that they present.

But sometimes I think that we should just go on with our lives and not really consider if something’s a risk or not–if it’s something that’s in our path, we should just continue on down that road and move ahead with our lives.  Whatever we do, whether we see things as risks or not, will have outcomes.  And we’ll deal with those outcomes when we need to, whether our action was perceived as a risk or not.

If we start to label things as risks, we start to distinguish them as things that we may not do, even if we want to very dearly.  If we see them as risks, we may pass up some of our most important opportunities when we decide that the risk is too great.

Of course, there are certain things that generally warrant a decision not to do them based on common sense, but it’s hard to call them risks if we never even consider doing them.  If we decide not to walk on a bridge made of old, decayed wood, we could hardly say we’re avoiding a risk.  After all, it would simply be foolhardy to do such a thing.  Most of our “risks,” though, aren’t physical at all, but emotional or financial or work-related.  People said that my wife and I took a huge risk two years ago when we bought a motor home to live in while we worked at the Grand Canyon for a year, but it turned out to be one of our best years ever.  We never saw it as a risk–we just saw it as a great adventure.  Now, two years later we both have better jobs than we had before we quit our jobs, and our “risk” is a beautiful set of memories.

Are you facing a risk or two in your life?  Then ask yourself if it really is a risk, or if you’re just concerned about what the potential results of an action will be.  Sometimes redefining our ideas of what’s what can help us to see our lives in much more positive ways.

Any life truly lived
is a risky business,
and if one puts up
too many fences
against the risks one
ends by shutting
out life itself.

Kenneth S. Davis

Comments(0)

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just what a gift we have in the sky that is above us every day.  It’s one of the most beautiful things that we have the privilege to experience, and each day it shows us a new side of itself, a new way of being, a completely new artistic achievement that far outshines anything that any human beings can create.

In some places the sky is much more expressive than in others, with amazing displays of clouds and sunsets that can make a person stop in breathless wonder just to stare at the amazing sight that the sky presents.  Sometimes it seems that the sky is boring when it’s covered by a thick layer of clouds or when it has no clouds at all and simply shows us its marvelous shades of blue.  But the sky is never boring, especially when we consider its breadth and depth, its moods and emotions, its personality and its passion.

We shouldn’t take such a thing for granted.  Gazing at the sky with an appreciation for the gift of its beauty allows us to keep in mind just what a remarkable world this is that we live in, just what an incredible gift we all have in all that is here for us to see and do and feel.

And the sky does all that it does just because.  It never shows a marvelous sunset in order to garner praise, nor does it send us a refreshing rainstorm with the idea of getting something in return.  There’s something for us to take from that, something that we should learn from.  We all can shine and we all can allow our beauty to be on display for the whole world to see all the time, even when our beauty is seeing its darker days, even when we get no feedback or return at all on that beauty.  We can shine as the amazingly creative and incredible beings that we are, all the time, and when we do so we should be just like the sky–not looking for any return on our efforts or on the gifts we give to others.  The gift of the sky is a marvelous gift, and the gift of you that you give to the world can be an even more amazing gift, for you are an absolutely amazing being.

Comments(0)

Today’s a good day for a message from someone else:

If we were to keep a record of all the things we worried about during a given period of time, we would discover, in reviewing them, that the great majority of our anticipated problems or troubles never come to pass.  This means that most of the time we devote to worrying, even the constructive kind that prompts us to try to come up with a solution to what is troubling us, is wasted.  Thus, we not only caused ourselves unnecessary mental anguish, but also took up valuable minutes and hours that could have been spent elsewhere.  

To avoid this, it is often necessary to subject potential sources of worry to the coldly objective and analytical light of reason. Once, shortly before a major concert before a standing-room-only audience, a member of Arturo Toscanini’s orchestra approached the great Italian conductor with an expression of sheer terror on his face.  “Maestro,” the musician fretted, “my instrument is not working properly.  I cannot reach the note of  E-flat.  Whatever will I do?  We are to begin in a few moments.”  

Toscanini looked at the man with utter amazement.  Then he smiled kindly and placed an arm around his shoulders.  “My friend,” the maestro replied, “Do not worry about it.  The note E-flat does not appear anywhere in the music that you will be playing this evening.”  

The next time we find ourselves in the middle of worrying about some matter, we might be wise to stop and ask ourselves what the odds are of the problem really coming to pass.  We may be able to go on to something more constructive.  

by Brad Stevens

Comments(0)

I’m currently teaching a dual-enrollment class at a high school.  Dual enrollment means that the students are taking a college course at high school, enrolled simultaneously in high school and in college.  For this class they get credit for a high school class and for a college class.  Almost none of them are actually ready for college.

As a teacher, I find this to be quite a dilemma.  While my instinct tells me to be kind and nurturing to students, there’s my experience that tells me that if I do that, I’m most certainly not preparing them for the rigors of college work.  So what do I do–do I treat them kindly or do I push things in the course, forcing them to reach deep inside of themselves to find what they need to meet the demands of a rigorous course that challenges their abilities and pushes them harder than they’ve been pushed before?

I know what the answer has to be.  I wouldn’t be doing my students any favors by treating them softly, giving them a decent grade and allowing them to move on to college without even proving that they’re able to work at the college level.  Sometimes it’s important to let go of the niceness, no matter how much against our nature that may go.  I could be nice to them, but then I’m not preparing them for the future.  And while I won’t actually be mean to them, I really can allow them no chance to slack off and to work below their potential, for that would teach them bad habits that could sabotage their entire college careers in the future.

Sometimes we have to treat others in ways that go against our natures.  Sometimes we have to look at what’s best for them, and choose that over what’s more comfortable for us.  I want these students to leave my class being able to function on the college level, and given their current levels, I’m not going to be able to accomplish that without pushing very hard.  People will rise only to the level that you demand of them, usually.  So if I demand a high level and then give them all that they need to reach those levels, my students can achieve what I ask of them.  It may be uncomfortable for me, but if I’m really in teaching for the sake of the students, then that truly shouldn’t matter.

The teachers who walk in the shadow of the temple, among their followers, give not of their wisdom but rather of their faith and their lovingness.  If they are indeed wise they do not bid you enter the house of their wisdom, but rather lead you to the threshold of your own mind.

Khalil Gibran

Comments(0)

I just went through another day of my life.  I woke up this morning, ate, went to work, spent my day working, came home–all that stuff.  And when I go to bed tonight, I may look back upon the day if I’m not too tired, and when I do I’m going to have to ask myself just whom I served today, and how.  And I hope that I like the answer to the question.

Did I serve my students effectively and with lots of love?  Another possibility is that I didn’t do anything effective with them at all, that they just passed time in my class without getting anything at all helpful from me.

Did I serve my community by serving the students?  Did my community grow any stronger by having kids that are learning important lessons about life and getting along with others from me?

Or did I just serve myself and my own needs, tuning out someone in need because their need wasn’t convenient to me, or because I needed a rest or something like that?

Or did I just walk through the day, not really accomplishing any sort of service at all?  Did I look for the easy way out of all situations, avoiding potential problems in order to keep my life simpler and less complicated?

Perhaps I served just the administration of the school, which needs a certified teacher in a classroom to manage the kids and present information.

And tomorrow, what will my day be like–will I make all my decisions based on my wants and needs, or will I look for the needs of the people I profess to serve and try to fulfill those needs?  And whom will I serve?  My students?  My community?  Myself?  Or perhaps all of the above, in ways that are productive and helpful. . . . That of course would be the ideal, and I hope that one day in my life, I’m able to reach such an ideal.

The value of all service lies in the spirit in which you serve and not in the importance or magnitude of the service.  Even the lowliest task or deed is made holy, joyous, and prosperous when it is filled with love.

Charles Fillmore

Comments(0)

It’s taken me a very long time to learn how to be who I am.  For the longest time I tried to be the person that I thought everyone else wanted me to be, but surprisingly enough I was pretty much always completely unsuccessful at that endeavor, and often rather pathetically so.  I don’t need to go into details, but I finally figured out that I was employing a strategy that was doomed to fail.  So I finally decided to be me, and only me, and authentically me, and I’ve been enjoying the ride ever since.

Sure, there are the times of weakness when I slip back into trying to be somebody for someone else, and I still fail at that.  But each time that happens, I learn a little bit more deeply about the true value of me–who I am and how I am.  And it’s nice to be reminded just how valuable we all are on this planet.

Usually I tried to be something or someone I wasn’t because I wanted another person to like me more, perhaps even to need me, but I usually came off as being pretty needy myself (which was true).  Nowadays, though, I know what I like and I know what I don’t like; I know what comes naturally to me and I know what doesn’t; I know how I want to act and I know how I don’t want to act, and I work hard at following the truths of who I am.  And while I’m not completely over wanting other people to like me, at least now I accept that they’re going to like me for who I truly am, or I’m not going to worry too much about why they don’t.  I’d still prefer for people to like me, of course. . . .

Who are you?  If you found a thousand dollars on the street paperclipped to a business card, would you look up whoever’s listed on the card?  If someone makes a dirty joke around you that offends you, do you tell them you’re offended?  If your friends are going to do something you don’t like to do or that you feel uncomfortable about, will you back out?  These and many more things are signs that you have a good idea of who you are, and that you’re willing to accept that and live with it and enjoy the truth and love of yourself, spreading both out into the world with all that you have.

I believe one of our souls’ major purposes is to know, love, and express our authentic selves.  To live the life and be the person we were created to be.  However, our true selves only emerge when it’s safe to do so.  Self-condemnation, shame, and guilt send your true nature into hiding.  It’s only in the safety of gentle curiosity, encouragement, and self-love that your soul can bloom as it was created to do.

Sue Patton Thoele

Comments(0)

As I grow older, I also grow more and more aware of many things.  One of the most important things about which I’ve raised my awareness is our ability to attract to ourselves different things, people, and occurrences based on how we’re feeling, what we’re thinking, and how we’re acting.  For most of my life so far, I believed that my feelings were a result of what was going on in my life and that I didn’t really have any control over them.  Now I realize, though, that things that I’ve done and said often have been the result of my feelings, and that those things have attracted results that have perpetuated–or made worse–those same feelings.

When I’ve been feeling down, for example, I’ve been acting down.  When something positive would come along, I wouldn’t trust it–I would treat it as if it couldn’t be real, or as if it couldn’t last, and guess what?  I perpetuated my own negative condition by allowing and even exacerbating my own negative thoughts and feelings.  And then I’d blame it all on the unfairness of the world!  It was actually pretty unfair of me to blame the world that way.

On the other hand, when I feel positive, and when I nurture my positive feelings by reading uplifting and inspiring material, I find that many more positive things come my way.  It is a law that like attracts like, and my positive attitude attracts things and people and events that help me to perpetuate that positive attitude.  It’s a pretty nice law, when all is said and done, as long as we take advantage of it and help it to be a positive force in our lives.

I would never say that everything bad that happens to another person is always his or her “fault.”  But I have had enough experience in watching other people live their lives that I now understand that people who often act and feel negative simply attract more into their life that help them to make that feeling grow stronger.  I’ve also seen that the people who focus on the positive and the possible tend to find more possibilities and more positive things in life than others.  It’s a fascinating law, and one that we can take advantage of to make our lives brighter, or one that we can ignore or even use to make our lives duller.  A law is a law, and what we do with our lives is what we do with our lives.

We don’t attract what we want;
we attract what we are.

unattributed

Comments(0)

I find it remarkable to see just how often I forget that the core of my being is spirit.  While it’s very easy to get caught up in life and living and forget this fact, once we realize that we are fundamentally spiritual beings having an earthly experience, it doesn’t seem to make sense that we should forget this fact so quickly and so often.  The fact that we do forget it so much means that we live our lives less richly and less simply, for it’s very simple to keep our focus on our earthly wants and needs rather than on the bigger picture that would allow us to develop our spiritual nature instead.

Our spirits aren’t nearly as needy or petty as our earthly selves have been conditioned to be.  In fact, it’s just that conditioning that causes us to forget our spiritual natures.  We’ve been taught over and over again that success is material and earth-bound, and we’ve allowed our egos to take charge of our beings so that we make most of our decisions based on what our egos need to strengthen themselves.  Instead of forgiving someone, for example, we may hold on to a grudge because then we’re paying attention to our egos rather than our higher selves, which is what we’ve been taught is the “right” or “best” thing to do.

It’s not, though.  When it comes to decision-making, the most important decisions that we can make come from and for our higher selves.  Forgiving another person–completely and unconditionally–frees us from limiting beliefs and actions, and allows us to move on to our next lessons.  If we allow ourselves to be hurt by another person’s actions or words, then that decision is playing to our martyr complexes, or the desire to have other people feel sorry for us.  If instead we let another person’s actions or words pass right by us, we can then focus on the things that are much more important than having others feel sorry for us–things like loving our neighbors, being good citizens, helping others to deal with their difficulties, or simply taking good care of ourselves so that we can help others even more effectively.

You and I are spiritual beings, but how simple it is to forget this fact, and how quickly we tend to do so!  I think that it’s time that I try to figure out how to remind myself, perhaps with a bracelet of some sort, or a ring–something simple that speaks to me only, to remind myself of just what I am–a spirit who is having an earthly experience.  The more I remember that, the more I can remind others that they, too, are beautiful spirits who deserve the best that this world has to offer in the way of treatment.

Whether you know it or not, one of the most important relationships in your life is with your Soul.  Will you be kind and loving to your Soul, or will you be harsh and difficult?  Many of us unknowingly damage our Souls with our negative attitudes and actions or by simple neglect.  By making the relationship with your Soul an important part of your life, however, by honoring it in your daily routine, you give your life greater meaning and substance.  Use your experiences–all of them–as opportunities to nourish your Soul!

Elisabeth Kuebler-Ross

Comments(0)