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

Daily Mood Quote - August 2, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 91 – August 2, 2011

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

~Henry David Thoreau

When I was a little girl, I kept a journal, a dairy. A place where I could put my thoughts, ideas, dreams, wishes, goals and fears. I loved to write. I had a secret dream in my dairy, something I never told anyone, because I never wanted anyone to crush my dream. Sometimes, my dreams where the only things that got me through a day; especially when my mom was having a bad day.

I wanted to be a writer, make a difference, change the world, add a different perspective, make people think. Unfortunately, my mother found my dairy and everything I had ever thought was now known by her. From wanting to be a nun (I was young) to wanting to change the world as a writer was in that diary. So, from that day forward, she told me; I was a terrible writer, I was stupid and nobody would ever read anything I wrote. She worked very hard to stop me from chasing, or fulfilling my dream as a writer. Did you ever hear the saying, “Tell someone something long enough and enough times, they begin to believe it?' This is what happened to me. For many years, I listened to how stupid I was, how ugly I was and what a terrible person I was. Eventually, I began to believe it. My grades dropped in school, I struggled with friendships, but most importantly; I stopped the one thing that made me feel alive...writing.

Harriet Tubman said, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” It took me a long time to find my way back to writing again. Even in college I struggled the first two years with papers, now in my first year of grad school, I can't seem to shut up and have to watch my word and page count. Even in this blog, I have written varying lengths, some long and some short depending on the mood of the day. 

In the movie Sister Act 2, Rita Watson (played by Lauryn Hill) says to a friend, “my mother thinks singin' is a dead end. No security.” But later in the movie, Sister Mary Clarence (played by Whoopi Goldberg) says to Rita, “I went to my mother. Who gave me this book...called Letters To a Young Poet. Rainer Maria Rilke. He's a fabulous writer. A fellow used to write to him and say: “I want to be a writer. Please read my stuff.” And Rilke says to this guy:”Don't ask me about being a writer. If, when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing...then you're a writer.” This was said to Rita to inspire her to read the book and to be the singer she was meant to be. She didn't have her mother's support or blessing, because her mother didn't understand, or didn't want to believe in the talent her daughter possessed, much like my mom didn't believe, or couldn't believe.I'll never really know, we never talked about it.

When we are young, our dreams and talents can be buried under a mudslide of other people's fears, ignorance and the emotional baggage of our family and friends. But like a seed buried under a mudslide, they can reemerge when the weight and pressure is washed away by the gentle rain of passing time. When the dreams surface again, it's then up to us to either nurture and grow them, or to let them lay. Sometimes, they grow anyway and we are compelled to attend to them, until they bear the fruits they were always meant too. I love to write and my husband is a painter and for years, many have tried to squash those talents, but they just keeping growing, bigger, stronger and better. I guess some things are just "meant to be" (thank you Robert from Everybody loves Raymond). Destiny awaits us.

What dreams will come to the surface for you today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quote - August 1, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 90 – August 1, 2011

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.

~Mary Dunbar

Eleven years ago our world collapse around us. Everything we had worked for was taken away in an instant. At least it seemed like an instant, but was actually “a series of unfortunate events.” First our entire life savings was pilfered by our accountant and at about the same time, business dried up and our remaining clients went from paying in 30 day cycles to 180 day cycles. Then several of them filed bankruptcy at once, leaving us holding the bag for all the expenses. Oh by the way, the ne'er-do-well accountant also had misfiled our tax returns for several years. This was not a happy year for us. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't cover stupid. Actually naive would be a better word, we knew the business, we just didn't “know” business. Trust me there is a big difference between the two.

At the time, we made the only decision we felt we had. We went home after months of pressure from family to come home and be “safe.” What a grave mistake, we took the bait, “hook, line and sinker” (thank you Die Hard with a Vengeance). Needless to say, the family did not have our best interest in mind, they had their own agenda. It would have been better to face the fear than to run from it. We learned nothing by running, at least at that time. Well here we are again, different place, different players but the same game. In the movie Die Hard 2, John McClane (played by Bruce Willis) said, “How can the same s#$% happen to the same guy twice?” I personally believe that when you are faced with the same situation twice in your lifetime, it means you have something to learn from it. So, the question is, do we buckle under the pressure to run and move somewhere else to satisfy our “families” desire to have us safe and in their grasp, or do we stand our ground, work through the problems despite the fear and palpable uncertainty?

In the movie, Sister Act 2, Sister Mary Clarence (played by Whoopi Goldberg) said to her students, “If you wanna go somewhere and you wanna be somebody...you better wake up and pay attention. Because if every time something scary comes up you decide to run...y'all are gonna be runnin' for the rest of your lives.” Moving - running doesn't always yield the best results, if we can't make it here, then what is the guarantee we can make it somewhere else? Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” In his classic Sci-Fi book series Dune, Frank Herbert wrote an interesting mantra about fear, “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” It has been my experience that fear has never made a good life decision. I'm not taking about “getting out of the way of a speeding bus” type fear, but long-term health and welfare decisions. What others think and fear only matters to other people. Not this time fear, not this time.

How will you stand your ground and face “fear” today?

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading

Daily Mood Quote - June 21, 2011

Daily Mood Quote

Day 48 – June 21, 2011

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

~Reinhold Niebuhr

I chose this quote today because it speaks directly to how I am feeling. The realization of getting older, carrying a few extra pounds (that are impossible to lose), being considered to old for employers to hire (I blame the current poorly educated state of human resources people for this one) and desperately trying to find the fountain of youth, so you can feel alive and feel a part of society again.

Yesterday, quitting would have been so easy, I'm tired, I'm frustrated, I'm disappointed. Not necessarily in myself, but in the behaviors of others. If I'm not careful, it can cause me to behave just as badly. Not because it seems to be the norm, but because frustration can cause an outburst. Sometimes, I feel that people deliberately try to frustrate people just to get a reaction. They can't be that completely oblivious, can they? How sad is it when one gets satisfaction in another's pain or difficulties. What makes the situation even worse, is the sense of abandonment that happens. Even “friends” bail out on folks going through tough times, as if it's contagious. Is it ignorance, lack of education, or just simple meanness? Is it that it is easier to judge someone from an arbitrary statistical chart or number, than it is to get to know them and give them an opportunity? I don't know, but today I must seek wisdom in order to put things in perspective.

Things I cannot change: getting older, time to accept it with grace and dignity. Forget the few extra pounds and go out and buy some pants that fit, and for all those people who won't hire me because they think I'm too old (I'm only 47, not 97), well you'll have to compete with me. So be prepared to lose business, because I will take your customers. I have the courage, coupled with wisdom and a determination that you can't teach in an undergrad human resource class.

In the movie The Associate with Whoopi Goldberg (Laurel Ayres) said, “I have drive and courage and ambition. And if you'll look at the prospectus, you'll notice that I have a very, very sound business mind too.” To all those who made the wrong decision to not hire me, it's your loss. My business, my customers/clients will benefit from my education, my experience and my drive.

To quote George S. Patton, “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”

Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote

Thank you for reading