Daily Mood Quote - August 7, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 96 – August 7, 2011

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

~Abraham Lincoln

Funny thing about responsibility, it affects everyone; no one escapes. Sometimes, we have to be responsible for the actions of others, whether we choose to or not. It has a lot to do with the decisions we make and how late we enter the process. Sometimes, the last guy in is the one holding the bag. It isn't his bag and he had nothing to do with developing the bag, but he is the one who will ultimately be responsible for the bag. That is the choice we make when we Step-up and Step-in© and accept responsibility. How many of us have witnessed a job that was vacated, or left by an employee who was let go, who did not do the job they were assigned and the new employee is left holding the bag? They are stuck solving the problems. And, being the one who accepts the responsibilities for all their predecessor's decisions and actions. In some cases, the successor ends up losing the job, before ever having a chance to make a change and fix the mess. I guess that's the risk we take.

Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” From choosing to be a parent to choosing to run for the Presidency of the United States; people take risks. When people assume lead roles they not only assume responsibility for themselves, but for others and sometimes that includes those to which they have no connection to, or any control over. That is the price of responsibility and greatness.

In the movie Twister, Bill (played by Bill Paxton) said to Jo (Helen Hunt), “...Things go wrong. You can't explain it, you can't predict it...” The point is sooner or later everybody is faced with the responsibility to stop kicking the can down the road and do something before the “can” becomes the size of a tractor trailer, that is so far off in the ditch we can't even see the right road anymore. Just the direction from which we came, via the damage path. Yet, so many are quick to judge and quicker to criticize. The view from the cheap seats must be pretty good...(thanks Michael Douglas from the movie The American President). The world is full of Monday morning quarterbacks; from sports to politics, to business and family decisions, there is always going to be someone who is second-guessing. The fact is great people step up, assume the risk, accept the responsibility and try regardless. Sometimes, that means cutting a new, and often highly criticized, path back onto the right road. And the rest...well, they're the rest.

Will you be a quarterback on the field today or a critic tomorrow?

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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?

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Daily Mood Quotes - August 5, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 94 – August 5, 2011

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

~Henry Ford

It seems the harder one tries, the harder the wind comes against them. What's that old saying (paraphrasing here) “fall down seven times, get up eight” in the hope of staying on course. Unfortunately, that is how you succeed; never giving up, never letting someone tell you “you can't” and never allowing anyone “to control your actions or thoughts.” Family and friends are gifts and although their intentions “seem” to be in your best interest, I have found that agendas, hidden or blatant, always come to the surface. So, much like the airplane who takes off against the wind, find your wings and soar, you won't be disappointed, follow your dreams and not someone else's.

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

~Henry David Thoreau

Everyone longs for those happier times, the past, the good things we remember (most adults have selected memories), and when times get tough, the first thought is go back to the “past.” Maybe, it's a place where you were happier, had more friendships or made a better living... wherever the happier memories were. Difficult times are no fun, but if we run back to the past, then the lessons we are supposed to learn are never realized and I promise you history, usually the bad part, will repeat itself. So, onward, upward and ever forward; as long as you go forward. Life is meant to be lived, not longed for.

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

~Beverly Sills

When you have life dreams, there is usually a reason for it and the reason is to help aim you in the direction you were meant to go. Dreams are our guide posts for where we are supposed to be going and what we should be doing with our lives. So, when we ignore them, we ignore our true selves and end up going places, where perhaps we ought not go. We are almost guaranteed to be unsatisfied with the journey and the destination. We all may not be “set up” or “gifted” to be the very "best there ever was" (thank you The Natural). There is only one “best” in seven billion. Not all of us are Roy Hobbs (played by Robert Redford in the movie The Natural). However, there is a whole lot of room for people aspiring and trying to be the best they can be. The world needs you and your dreams, otherwise they wouldn't be there. If you never try...

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.

~Danny Kaye

Life is a series of ups and downs, twists and turns, successes and failures. But the fact is, if you don't try, then your canvas will be blank. You can think about painting the “perfect life” all you want, but you have to put the paint down in order for something beautiful to emerge on the canvas of your life. Practice makes perfect.

What picture will you paint today?

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Daily Mood Quote - August 4, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quote

Day 93 – August 4, 2011

Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

~Betty Friedan

I have a question: When did uneducated and inexperienced become the solution? Isn't that the same kind of thinking that is responsible for some of the problems we face today? I don't know, but it seems when experienced and educated professionals come to the table, instead of respecting those who have earned it, the behavior begins to mirror that of an unruly teenager who rolls his/her eyes and the frustrated parent who knows he can longer teach, because they're not going to listen anyway. Game over.

Last night, I watched The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, interesting reporter Mr. Pelley is, he seems to ask the hard hitting questions that many gloss over. In a news report, he interviewed four unemployed, educated, experienced professionals, who have been out of work, from 14 months to more than two years, due to lay offs, downsizing or closing companies They had positive attitudes and believed they will find jobs. This despite the fact that one was told in an interview, “they were looking for someone younger with newer, fresher ideas.” Just another way of saying, “your too old?” Where I live, they don't say anything, or they just lie. Either way, still game over.

A very wise man once said to me, “You know, when we're 18, no one can tell us or teach us anything, because we know it all. When we are 26, we realize we only know half of what we thought we knew when we were 18. And, when we are 40, we realize we know nothing and are now open to learning everything.” Except, now the 40 and older crowds are dealing with the 18 to 39 year olds, who have the power to hire and we are... well, “dinosaurs” in their eyes. I wonder if this attitude stems from parent/child relationships? I guess Tom Stoppard was right, when he said, “Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.”

My husband says, “The baby boom generation is just getting our due” he elaborated with, “This is how our generation treated their elders, the planet, and the economic system... complete disrespect, we abused it and let it to rot.” Then he asked the question, “What did you think would happen?” Boy, I want to believe he is wrong, but I don't think so. He says, “Not everyone is guilty of acting like this, but we are all, as a group, paying the price.” Last night I also watched (it was a television night) Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” I know we think our economic troubles are a huge issue, but when you think about the price we are about to pay environmentally, it seems that we have truly neglected our responsibility to the greatest elder on the planet... the planet. I don't think she is going to stand for it. The next generation will have that on their plate as well. No wonder they're pissed.

Again, it was our generation who drove this response and set the example. Did we not as a generation worship youth, say never trust anyone over 30 and put our parents in adult day cares, rather than take care of them, because we had “other things” to do? Ours is the first generation in history to leave the world a worst place than when we arrived. So, how do you think the next generation is going to respond to that? I'm not saying its right or that I like it, I certainly don't, but the examples have been set and you just can't turn an 18 wheeler on a dime. Payment is now due and the Bank of Human Trust is a tough creditor, my friend (thanks The Family Man with Nicolas Cage).

In the movie, Baby Boom, J.C. Wiatt (played by Diane Keaton) said, “I can't have a baby because I have a 12:30 lunch meeting.” Is this really the mindset of our generation and the example that was set by us? I know a woman from the very tail end of our generation (The Baby Boom), who from the very day she became pregnant, starting looking for a daycare. This is someone who “wants a baby,” just doesn't have the time to raise the baby, isn't that why daycare's were invented? Sad... OK, so the piper needs payed and our generation is going to have to dig deep to cough up our share. Whether we like it or not.

I usually end the blog with a positive spin and to that end I offer this thought. The thoughtless behavior of our generation may have put us in this jam, but better to be in a jam, with the “education” and “will” it takes to climb out, than to, without hope, surrender to the gravity of time and sink to the bottom of the jar.

What changes will you make today for a better tomorrow?

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Daily Mood Quote - August 3, 2011

 

Daily Mood Quotes

Day 92 – August 3, 2011

The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.

~William Safire

This morning on my Daily Mood Quotes Facebook Page, I saw a remark that made me wonder who is winning. They wrote, “I think ta survive u have to be a ruthless person.” I have always taught my children, “Two wrongs don't make a right,” sometimes you have to walk away and let the universe do its thing. I have witnessed the universe, a higher power, God, whatever your belief structure in action. Nobody ever really gets away with bad behavior; it creeps back into your life in ways you can't even imagine. Sometimes, its more profoundly and directly realized than the action itself. Here's an example: A woman in a grocery store we visited, was behaving badly towards the staff, and other customers. Her entire disposition displayed that she regarded others as if they didn't matter and it was their job to serve her. Needless to say, she offended many people. She left the store and loaded up her car with groceries, leaving the cart sit there. Then she went to leave, but found that her car didn't start. The battery had died. She exclaimed it was a new battery and the car was “just in the shop”. Nobody cared and no one stopped to help her. Well not exactly no one; my husband and I did, we believe two wrongs don't make a right. Sadly enough, she didn't even say “thank you.” She just hopped into her car and drove away. So, who do you think came out better in the long run for that experience? I have to wonder if she spent the rest of the day feeling guilty about not saying thank you, or did other “universal actions” continue to unfold, until she got the point?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Character is higher than intellect.” You usually receive what you put out there. If you are a ruthless person, you will be treated ruthlessly. Maybe not by those around you in the immediate situation, but surely the cost will be extracted over time. If you treat people harshly, you will be treated harshly, this list and cycle can go on forever. I believe in the Golden Rule, “treat others as you want to be treated” even if they can not return the kindness, or the better behavior. It is a comforting thing to look in the mirror at the end of the day and know you have nothing to feel guilty about, something to feel good about... and you don't need to look over your shoulder to see if fate, or an enemy is closing in on you. Ahhh, that's a good night's sleep.

In the movie Spiderman, Uncle Ben (played by Cliff Robertson) said to Peter Parker (Toby Maguire), “This guy, Flash Thompson, he probably deserved what happened. But just because you can beat him up doesn't give you the right to. Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.” We all have the power to be ruthless or not, to be selfish or not, to be a good example or not, regardless of what we do or don't do, responsibility for it will come around and there is no stopping it. It is just the way things work. Be careful your choices, you will have to live with them.

How do you choose to do right today?

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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?

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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?

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