Thinking Out Loud

Thinking Out Loud:

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Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Erica Jong

NOTE: Discovering and following our talent takes great courage. It means, in many cases, letting go of what we’re doing now to go after something our heart tells us is the right choice. Choosing to follow your talent often means great sacrifice, enduring numerous setbacks and criticism. It’s as if the universe is asking us if we’re worthy of possessing the talent. It is assessing our courage and fortitude as we pursue it. The quest in following our talent, is akin to Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. If we dare to follow our talent, the quest will change us. Are you ready for the change?

Thinking Out Loud: It’s Time to Take it All Off

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If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears. ~ Cesare Pavese

NOTE: I love this bit of wisdom from the Italian poet, Cesare Pavese. Happiness happens when we shed the extra emotional weight we carry. Shedding emotional weight isn’t easy. It takes work and is more like peeling an onion layer by layer. When you think you’re finished peeling, there’s another layer to peel. As we shed our emotional layers we get closer to what were born to be, happy, joyful, grateful, and overflowing with love for ourselves and all of creation.

Thinking Out Loud: You are Strong

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Are you going to let the obstacles in your life be stumbling blocks or stepping stones? Choose the positive. You are the master of your attitude. ~ Bruce Lee

NOTE: I’ve witnessed it hundreds of times where someone encounters a setback and stops. The person makes a decision to quit his/her pursuit and changes his/her direction. When they make the decision to quit, they are often close to the finish line. In higher education, students who quit when pursuing a doctorate often get through all the course work. They find the dissertation too difficult. They become known as ABD’s (all but the dissertation). Stumbling blocks become stepping stones when we refuse to quit, desire to learn from our missteps, and develop the patience to endure whatever is tossed at us. Each obstacle we overcome adds to a cumulative effect that prepares us for the future obstacles we’ll face. You are strong. You’re getting stronger. Never quit.

Thinking Out Loud: You Have an Inner Beauty & Goodness

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It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see. ~ Henry David Thoreau

NOTE: We all have an inherent goodness and beauty within ourselves. On one hand, our circumstances and environments can bury our inherent goodness and beauty beneath heaps of shame, criticism, and false beliefs. We may not believe what we are capable of becoming. On the other hand, our inner goodness and beauty can be nurtured to unveil itself much like a rose moves toward full bloom. We can’t help our initial environment and how we were nurtured, that happened. As we mature, we can catch a glimpse of our inner glow and begin the process of letting our inner goodness and beauty unfold into full blossom. It doesn’t happen overnight, it may take years, but it will happen and your goodness and beauty will radiate in the noonday sun.

Thinking Out Loud: You Got This!

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Life comes at us in waves. We can’t predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf. ~ Dan Millman

NOTE: When my five daughters were young I taught them to swim and to survive in the water. Each summer we’d swim off Cape Hatteras. We respected the ocean and its power, but we did not fear it. It’s the same way with life. As we grow through life, life tosses challenges at us. Some of the challenges knock us flat on our backs. While we’re on our backs, life is screaming at us, “Get up! Get up! You got this!” When we rose we were stronger, more experienced, and more confident. Challenges will never stop coming. They’re like the waves in the quote. Learn to ride them. Life’s given us an education, if we use it and keep learning we’ll keep getting stronger and gaining experience.

Thinking Out Loud: Learn to Think and Question

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Don’t listen to the person who has the answers; listen to the person who has the questions. ~ Albert Einstein

NOTE: We’ve all worked with or lived with them, the answer man or woman. They have the truth. They can’t be shaken. And, they challenge anyone who would dare suggest there’s a different way of looking at an issue. I don’t know the cause of the malady. I do know one way out is to continue to question, understand, and explore. Answers don’t always come easy. They require hard word, patience, and persistence. We may discover the answer we were pursuing was the wrong answer; if we take what we learned, apply it to a different question and begin investigating we may have success. Having an open mind is always preferable to a closed mind. One grows, the other decays.

Thinking Out Loud:

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But how could you live and have no story to tell? ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

NOTE: Most of us never think of ourselves as writers. Yet, every day we are writing (figuratively) a chapter to our story. Our stories have villains and heroes. They are filled with love, betrayal, success and loss. There are twists and turns in our stories that we can’t predict. We are writing our story and we are the central character in our story. Our central character (you and me) each day enters into a new and often unpredictable adventure. We can’t predict the events of the day, we can determine how our central character reacts to the events. It is the central character’s reaction to the events of his/her day that will color who the central character is, what is important to him/her, what he/she values, and the kind of person he or she is. Playing the leading role is powerful stuff. It’s up to us how the story turn out. We can change the direction of the central character, his/her attitude, values, and speech any time we choose to do so. Is it time to change?

Thinking Out Loud: Today and Tomorrow are Linked Together

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If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one. ~ John Galsworthy

NOTE: Tomorrow is where we will end up when today is over. What will your tomorrow look like? Our tomorrow has its genesis in today. Today and tomorrow are intertwined. One cannot live without the other. When we live fully in the present moment we can focus our efforts on making our tomorrow brighter. I am writing this post as south Texas is experiencing an Artic blast. We had freezing rain overnight and the current temperature is a frigid 20 F (-6.7 C). Prior to the Artic blast arriving, I covered my plants to protect them from the freezing temperatures and ice. With a bit of luck when warmer temperatures arrive in a few days my plants will have survived. In a way this illustrates the connection between what I do today and the tomorrow I want to help create. Whatever you do today, make it add to the creation of a brighter tomorrow for you and those you love.

Thinking Out Loud: It’s The Small Things That Matter

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In July, 1942, Anne Frank’s parents received a summons from the Nazi’s to report to a labor camp. Instead, they went to a secret annex to hide from Nazi’s. Thirteen year old Anne Frank remained there until her arrest on August 4, 1944, deported and eventually killed. Anne Frank maintained a diary while in the secret annex. The following excerpt is taken from Anne Frank’s diary.i

“As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?” ~ Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

NOTE: We strive for the big things, material things, accumulation of things. In the end, it is the small things that matter. The feel of warm sun beating on one’s back. The grasp of a child’s hand. The kiss from a lover. Seeing a rainbow as a storm clears. A phone call from someone close to you. The smell of coffee brewing. A hug from a friend. The list is endless. Small things are really big things, and they are the things that make life worth living.

Thinking Out Loud: Are You Using Your Superpower?

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In July, 1942, Anne Frank’s parents received a summons from the Nazi’s to report to a labor camp. Instead, they went to a secret annex to hide from Nazi’s. Thirteen year old Anne Frank remained there until her arrest on August 4, 1944, deported and eventually killed. Anne Frank maintained a diary while in the secret annex. The following excerpt is taken from Anne Frank’s diary.

“Whoever is happy will make others happy.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

NOTE: We project to others what we internally feel. We’ve all experienced being in a great mood only to get caught up with someone who is in an ugly mood. Their ugly mood sucks us into a black hole. It’s one reason I minimize contact with these people. They are more contagious than COVID-19. Alternatively, our good mood can lift the spirits of another. We have an amazing power within us to transform another person’s day. Did you realize you have that superpower? You do! To develop and use this power takes personal work. We begin by loving and forgiving ourselves. Then we develop a deep sense of gratitude both big and small. Once we do our inner work, happiness happens. You don’t have to find it. When we encounter other people our superpower kicks in and we brighten their day. They feel better because they encountered a happy person filled with love and gratitude.

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