Daily Mood Quote - August 24, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 113 – August 24, 2011

“Throw back the shoulders, let the heart sing, let the eyes flash, let the mind be lifted up, look upward and say to yourself...Nothing is impossible!”

~Norman Vincent Peale

Everyday is a new opportunity to make the impossible possible, to make a dream come true, to be a part of something you only ever dreamed about. Take a chance, soar, believe you can and achieve the impossible.

Norman Vincent Peale also said, “Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they're always there.” All we need to do is look. I have been writing ever since I was a little girl. I kept a diary and my first journal entry was around the age of nine and it was about my mom and how I wished she could love me. She had her problems and apparently I was one of them. But that's all right, because she did manage to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. I suppose that's all she was able to do, at least where I was concerned. She never “saw” the possibilities only the problems and realities of “the here and now” and even those in the worst possible light. I'm not sure how or why and perhaps that is best left unexplored. But it did impact the possibilities that we all saw. It's amazing how much impact a parent's mindset has on children and how long that effect can last.

Anyway... those days are past, but some of the echos remain. I love to write, but find myself at a point of ambivalence. I want to write and I love it, but those darned “possibilities” give me pause. I see them but I must admit to being shocked, because I'm just not use to looking for them in daily life. So, when they begin to “bloom” right in front of me, I am caught off guard. Paul Simon sang, “When something goes right, Well its likely to loose me, Its apt to confuse me. Its such an unusual sight.” Its just a matter of how one looks at life and the situation they are in. I wasn't working when I started this blog, but it gave me time to start writing again. I needed to begin to rekindle my life’s ambition. Since then, life has tried to dampen that kindling, but the internal fire is restarted and I wont let it fade out again.

So here's what I have learned about problems, opportunities and possibilities: We all have problems and “possibilities.” Our possibilities depend on how we view things. Even if we have put them on hold, for whatever reason, we have only to begin, in order to rekindle their potential. And, only when we explore and develop those possibilities can we feel our lives well lived. Even if it scares us silly. By action we build confidence, in confidence we form a foundation and on that foundation success is built. At least I hope. Michael Jordan said, “I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

In the movie The Pursuit of Happyness, Christopher Gardner (played by Will Smith) said, “You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.” Michael Jordan did, and so did many others. Nothing is impossible!!!

What "possibilities" will you see today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quote - August 23, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 112 – August 23, 2011

“How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself. So always think positively.”

~Norman Vincent Peale

Recently I have been struggling with managing my time and like all things in life, it is work in progress. Even at 47, still work in progress. When I was younger (in high school), I couldn't wait to be an adult. At that time, it seemed to me that adults had it all. They could come and go as they please, do what they want, when they wanted. They controlled their own lives, or at least that's the way it appeared to me. Well, I have been an adult for quite some time now and I can tell you without equivocation: grown up life is like being a duck on a pond, usually its “calm and serene on top, but paddling like crazy underneath.” Have you ever noticed how rare it is to have two days exactly the same? Just like the water in the pond, life can get choppy and sloppy. Sometimes, the water can appear placid, but strong currents lie just below. Poor little ducks...big surprise for us grown ups. That doesn't stop the paddling. The choice to sit? That makes you a "sitting duck" for problems, doesn't it? On and on it goes, hoping that the current is with you, or at least your with the current.

Yesterday, I changed the time of the blog believing that would help my schedule work better. Well, I remove one issue and end up with two more...enough said. Sadly to say, this is not going to work. So back to the drawing board beginning with the next blog, August 24, the Daily Mood Quotes blog will be back on the original schedule. Please accept my apology for the change and thank you for continuing to read the Daily Mood Quotes blog.

In the movie 17 Again, Mike O'Donnell (played by Matthew Perry and Zac Efron) believed he had all these problems because he didn't go to college, instead he married his girlfriend, had a baby and believed his life, a life unfulfilled. The janitor (played by Brian Doyle-Murray) approached him while looking at the case that displayed his high school fame and said, “High school star, never quite lived up to your potential. Sooner or later you all come back to your old school, stand there and look at the picture of the glory days wondering "What might have been?" Seems to me you guys are living in the past.” Mike replied, “Well, of course I wanna live in the past. It was better there...” Well, I once thought that same thing too, but you know what, it wasn't better, it was only easier. Our problems were viewed through a lens of inexperience and perhaps a bit less responsibility. I didn’t know that some problems don't have answers and some problems grow like weeds until you dig in and get to the root. There is a popular adage in business circles that “problems are opportunities.” "What a crock!!!!" (thank you Tom Selleck from 3 Men and a Baby). Sayings like this are why I'm no fan of pop psychology, as they cause untrained, or overly suggestible people (I'll dance around a few choice words here) to create unnecessary problems; so they can get to some, as yet unfathomed opportunity. That's backwards thinking to be certain. Well, to that phrase I respectfully submit: No not quite, they are problems. They can however yield opportunity, when approached with the right frame of mind. So, I juggle the schedule and start anew, wiser for the experience (hopefully), and the blog will get back on track. Thank you for all your input!

How will you view problems today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quote - August 6, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 95 – August 6, 2011

If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.

~Norman Vincent Peale

Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking also said, “Imagination is the true magic carpet.” I have always been a person who sees “the glass half-full,” even when dealing with negative people. Sometimes that requires a lot of imagination. I try to look for the best in others, but let's face reality, I am only human and sometimes its just not there, at least as far as I can see. So, occasionally you just have to “punt” (football season is coming soon!) to clear the slate and begin again. Letting frustration and disappointment build up is never a good idea. That includes letting the negativity of others wear on you. Eventually, repeated exposure without addressing the issue only drags you down. Is it really worth it? I don't think it is and yesterday at the grocery store I was on a tear... I'm not necessarily proud of it, but I had finally had quite enough. A forty cent increase on a loaf of bread (sweet Italian) was the last straw. Truth be known, my husband was the one who primed the pump by commenting on the price increase. So, there I was, in the middle of the produce department, looking at the dull and condescending stares of the other shoppers when the cork popped. Again, I'm not really proud of this, but a 33 percent increase, literally overnight, is a shock to an already tight budget. I was really looking forward to that tasty loaf of bread. Subsequently, I began to unload an impressive trail of derision and insult; commenting on just about everyone and everything. I was really rifting, right up to and through the checkout. Seriously, it was eerily reminiscent of Whoopi Goldberg on truth serum in Jumping Jack Flash. I'm not sure that “I'll be back” (Thanks Arnold Schwartzenberger, Terminator) there anytime soon. OK, enough said.

The point is that I finally got the negativity out of my system. Perhaps at the price of some minor embarrassment. Nothing worthwhile is without cost... But okay, now I can start with a clear canvas and its time to paint a happier, brighter and more colorful picture of the future. There is great power in imagination; it helps us to envision and begin to work toward a better, and more than half-full destiny. Napoleon Hill wrote in his treatise on self-empowerment Think and Grow Rich “Man's only limitation, within reason, lies in his development and use of his imagination.” Mr. Hill. might have been a touch chauvinistic in that statement, he was from a different time, so I'll just go ahead and include women too. If the first step toward a positive future is a positive attitude, then the walking stick is imagination. Dare to dream and dream big.

Let's end with a thought provoking quote, Ralph Marston said, “You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, and unstoppable determination.”

What positive possibilities will you see today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading