courage

Thinking Out Loud: Choose to ACT

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“Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” ~  Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

NOTE: The scariest part about making a decision is the fear of making a decision. Will it be a good decision? Will it be a decision I regret? When we think of things in that way we become paralyzed, unable to act. We will never have enough data to make the decision with certitude. Thinking about making a major decision? Choose to face fear head on. After you’ve collected the data, ACT. Choose to decide. Toss all the life boats over the side so there is no turning back. When the last life boat is tossed over the side something amazing will happen. You’ll have a deep sense of peace. You’ll focus on moving forward. You’ll make the decision you chose turn out to be the right decision.

Episode 22: A Giant Step Forward in the Grieving Process.

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In Episode 22 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, M told me I took a giant step forward. My grieving group experience has been extremely beneficial for me. Only one more grieving group session. I’ll miss the group when it’s over.  M asks me if I’ve emotionally accepted Babe’s death. It causes me to think about my emotions.
You can listen to Episode on your favorite podcasting app or you can click on the following link:
https://shorturl.at/pFVY0

Today’s Inspiring Quote: Rise Each Time you Fall

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The key to life is resilience….We will always be knocked down. It’s the getting up that counts.

Dominique Browning

Thinking Out Loud: Live, Swim Upstream

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“Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

NOTE: I have a talented friend who lives in fear. He had many opportunities to have a more prestigious job, he turned them down making one excuse after another. He has a basement stocked with supplies in case of emergencies. He doesn’t venture more than a hundred miles from his home unless a business requirement necessitates travel. He is a prisoner to his fears. Fear can do that to us. It makes us turn unreal things into catastrophes in our mind. I like to recall my childhood memory of going with my dad to the herring run and catching herring with my hand as they swam upstream to spawn. It’s a great metaphor for life, swim upstream. That’s were life waits. If the salmon and herring didn’t swim against the flow of the rivers they’d become extinct. Live, swim upstream.

Episode 19: Using my Grieving Journal to Tell Babe What I am Experiencing

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In Episode 19 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing I follow M’s advice and talk to Babe through my journal. It was a tough journal to write. Like so many other parts of the grieving experience it’s not what I want to do. It’s what I have to do if I want to experience healing.
You can listen to this episode on your favorite podcast app or click on the following link:
https://raycalabrese.podbean.com/e/episode-19-using-my-grieving-journal-totell-babe-what-i-am-experiencing/?token=d61f1d6827ba4878ff5942ed0f146844

Today’s Inspiring Photo: No River Is Too Wide to Cross

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Thinking Out Loud: Don’t Listen to the Lies

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“Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

NOTE: The door is always unlocked for us. There’s no bolt on it. There’s no alarm system set to sound if we open the door. All we have to do is to put our hand on the nob, twist it, push the door open, and walk through it. Fear holds us back. Fear lies to us and tells tales of the horrors that await us. We listen to the lies and they paralyze us. The other side of the door holds the promise of something better. It holds the promise of opportunity. Yes, it holds the promise of challenges. The challenges are there to strengthen us and teach us wisdom. Dare to open the door and step out into the sunlight.

Thinking Out Loud: Rise Up and Take on the Challenges

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“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

NOTE: Have you ever failed? I have and combined we don’t have enough toes and fingers to count the ways I’ve failed. It happens. Failure only stops us if we give it power over us. Failure only stops us if we give in to despair and hopelessness. When life throws you a challenge in 2024, don’t give up. If you’re knocked to your knees, rise up. Let the challenges you’ll face in 2024 know they better be ready for a fight and you won’t back down.

In Memoriam A.H.H. ~ A New Year’s Eve Poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

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In Memoriam A.H.H.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Source

Episode 16:Grieving in the Parallel Universe of Not Knowing

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In Episode 16 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, I describe grieving as walking through a parallel universe of not knowing. I do not know how it will end. I do not know when it will end. I do not know my way through. This is what grieving feels like to me.
You can listen to my podcast on your favorite podcast app, or, you can click on the following link to listen to it:
https://raycalabrese.podbean.com/e/episode-16grieving-in-the-parallel-universe-of-not-knowing/

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