Daily Mood Quotes - December 9, 2011

Daily Mood Quotes

Day 217 – December 9, 2011

Rebellion against your handicaps get you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world – making the most of one's best.

~Harry Emerson Fosdick

Okay so, none of us are perfect!! We all have varying degrees of imperfection; some visible, some not-so visible, and all too many have spiritual handicaps. Even the person who can look in the mirror, and see a perfect physique, surrounded by all the riches of the world can and often do have inside them a vast wasteland of confusion and longing. Just look at the trail of "A list" celebrities that are emotional train wrecks. An emptiness despite the wealth, despite the superficial appearance of completion and fulfillment, people can still be unhappy, handicapped. So, yes in some way we are all handicapped.

The key is and the great journey of our lives is, to overcome those handicaps that we are born with, or that we may acquire over the course of our lives. The great battle lies not without, but within. Our attitudes about our selves and our possibilities can become either an ally and trusted companion along this journey, or they can be the potholes, snares and barriers that we meet along the way. Our attitudes about other people, our attitudes about ourselves, our attitudes about life and it's meaning are all under our control. Attitude is the mechanism of free will that does the real heavy lifting in our lives.

John Maxwell said, “Attitude determines success or failure.” In his book Attitude 101, he eludes to the fact that attitudes are learned and once they're acquired, not so easily changed. But he also says that they can however be changed with commitment, energy and a little faith. It may not be easy, but I believe its worth the effort. In the book, Maxwell mentions road signs in Northern Canada that read “Driver, please choose carefully which rut you drive in, because you'll be in it for the next 20 miles.” That could just as easily read, “Life traveler, please choose carefully which attitude you pick, because you'll be stuck with it for the next 20 years...at least.”

The point is, I believe that for every handicap in a person's life, the universe provides and equal and opposite gift. If you think about it some of the most noted people in history, have overcome physical, mental and emotional handicaps to achieve greatness beyond their more apparently gifted peers. If you read history (a passion of mine) Mozart overcame what would today be classified as ADHD and depression, to become arguably the most noted composer in history. Helen Keller, who was struck deaf and blind, understood and expressed more about humanity than most of us who can see and hear. In today's world Stephen Hawking, confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak, has helped science to unlock the mysteries of the universe. Although, I also believe bitterness has colored his conclusions about the spirit somewhat. I heard a saying on NCIS Los Angeles a week or two ago, I think it went like this, "Haters gotta hate." To be honest, I never felt sorry for someone so successful, until I read excerpts from his latest book. There is a palpable sense of abandonment that drifts through his writing. But, I am not a book critic and this is not a book review. Just my observation.

One more point John Maxwell makes that I agree with, “In order to achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity (your disabilities) and make failure a regular part of your life. If you're not failing, you're probably not really moving forward.” It is one of my beliefs that all of us are presented with handicaps of one manner, or another and that they are all necessary catalysts that are there to help propel us forward on our great journey. When people let their disabilities stop them, instead of accepting and embracing them, they deny themselves a true and necessary guide to finding their bigger purpose and best possible self.

What "possibilities" will you discover today?

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Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quotes - November 25, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day 205 – November 25, 2011

“Never let the fear of striking out, keep you from playing the game.”

~Sam's Dad (Whip Hubley) from A Cinderella Story with Hilary Duff.

The Cinderella story is as old as time itself and the message is more common than we know. But, it is more than just the stepmother with ugly daughters taking over. It can be family, friends, co-workers, anyone who has an inferiority complex (fears) and will do or say anything to keep you from the game. How do they do this? By attempting to instil fear, doubt and insecurities in the hope of their target becoming so discouraged with themselves, that they give in and do exactly what the bully wants. The victim either quits, or is made too afraid to step up the plate, because they don't want to strike out and fail.

How do I know this? Well its through tough life experience. I was raised by a woman (who claimed to be my mother), who did everything in her power to keep me from achieving in everything I tried. From achieving good grades in school (there was always a punishment if I got good grades), to high school color-guard/rifle corp (she made me quit), to finding the love of my life (her violent behavior caused a break up that lasted nine years). It seemed as if she was determined to take away all the things that brought me any happiness. When that didn't seem to work, she stepped it up with verbal abuse and then moved to public embarrassment. There just came a point when I began to count down the days to age 18... Freedom, or so I thought. So, enough about me.

In his book Attitude 101, John Maxwell points out some interesting stories of people who have succeeded in spite of striking out at the beginning. He noted, that in his first game as a major league player, Henry Aaron, the best home run hitter in baseball went 0 for 5, but he didn't quit. And, his career is an astounding success story. It's just that simple. Keep swinging and don't let failures get in the way. When Julia Child had a soufflé fall flat, she just smiled and said, “Well, you can't win them all. Bon Appetit!” and that's the way it is.

People, timing and circumstances have always and will always get in the way, at one level or another, of us achieving, and being the best we can possibly be. It can seem like an uphill battle, while dangling on a cliff face some days. My husband has an old story from his advertising agency days. One day he walked into his supervisor's office, and complained out loud (remember he was young and inexperienced) “these account exec are driving me “F'n” crazy!” At this point the sage old creative supervisor, who was half in the bag at the time (drunk), looked at him with blood-shot eyes and said, “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” Hmmmm. The fact is being successful, achieving your best is not now, nor will it ever be “easy.” In our impatient, immediate gratification culture, people tend to forget that and when anything they try becomes difficult, they just give up and walk away. That's why we see so few who “make it” in any area of life, and so many who fall along the wayside, or those who ride on other's backs and somehow call that a success. Yet, they are also the ones who end up miserable, despite wealth and fame.

I believe most people don't understand what success is. John Maxwell defines it this way, “Success is...Knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.” This is where most people fall down; they only seek to benefit themselves. Because that is what our sensationalistic, hyperbolic culture focuses on. The individual success and of course...the stuff. We so often forget “the benefit others” part of the definition in our daily lives.

Again from one of my favorite books, Worthy of Their Esteem by Ian C. Martin, a Lincoln quote comes to mind, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” If success includes “benefiting others”, as Maxwell offers, then we must also bear that fact in mind as we seek to overcome the challenges in our lives. It may be just the “batting coach” we need. I'm going to continue swinging for the fences and I hope others will too, despite the road blocks that life may put in our way.

How will you ignore fear and “swing for the fences” today?

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Thank you for reading