toughness

Thinking Out Loud:

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For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

NOTE: I don’t know about you, but I was born on Spring Street, not Easy Street. I believe that is the way it is for most people. Using my street as a metaphor, if one wants to move off Spring Street it will take a dream, a big dream. The dream only remains a dream until we agree to enter the struggle and fight for the dream. It’s not easy, there are hundreds of times we are tested to see if we are worthy of claiming the dream. If we’re steadfast, disciplined, and endure the struggle, Spring Street becomes the launching pad and the source of strength not allowing us to quit.

Episode 52: A Letter to Babe Asking Her Forgiveness

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In Episode 52 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, I write the first of the four letters M suggest I write to B. It is a letter expressing regret for my actions and asking her forgiveness. I discovered, in hindsight, that writing these letter, although emotional difficult, created a breakthrough for me in the grieving process. 

You can listen to Episode 52 on your favorite podcasting app or click here for Episode 52.

Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to receive notifications of future episodes.

Today’s Inspiring Photo: Storms Never Last, Tough People Do!

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Thinking Out Loud: It’s What Emotionally Healthy People Do

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If I had stayed for other people to make my tools and things for me, I had never made anything. ~ Isaac Newton

NOTE: Our lives are in our hands. When we come to the realization that our lives are our responsibility we become powerful and shed our powerlessness. We no longer hold on to a sense of alienation believing we are separate from the outcomes of our labor. It’s true, things don’t always turn out how we plan. Because they don’t turn out the way we planned, it doesn’t mean we’ve lost or we’re stuck. All it means is that it is up to us to find another way and perhaps a different destination. If we don’t take responsibility for our lives we remain a victim. No emotionally healthy person wants to remain a victim. An emotionally healthy person shakes it off and moves ahead with hope.

Today’s Inspiring Quote: Never Give Up Hope, Never Stop Trying

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The years of anxious searching in the dark, with their intense longing, their alternations of confidence and exhaustion and the final emergence into the light — only those who have experienced it can understand it.

Albert Einstein

Episode 50: Making Progress in my Grieving Battle and Ready for Next Steps

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In Episode 50 of my podcast, Journey from Grief to Healing, I share with M the healing I had while visiting Dolly and her family over Christmas. I was ready to more forward. M said the next two hurdles to clear were excuse making and daring to let go of the past. 

You can listen to Episode 50 on your favorite podcasting app or click here for Episode 50.

Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button to receive notifications of future episodes.

Thinking Out Loud:

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The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. The only adventure that is doomed from the start is the one we do not attempt. ~ Paul-Emile Victor

NOTE: I read the news online. I read where people see life with the same lens that they have been viewing it for years. The result is tumult and tragedy. When we see life with new eyes we dare to see what is possible. Robert Kennedy said, “There are those that peace-filled future with a sustainable environment is possible when we dare to see with new eyes and set out with hope as our guide and a deep abiding faith that we will succeed.

Thinking Out Loud:

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The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal. ~ Victor Hugo

NOTE: Those who let fear capture their hearts surrender their freedom to autocrats who view themselves as people who alone can lead in the darkness. The fear controlled people exist but never live. They are fearful of leaving the safety of their confines to take life’s challenge to move toward adventure and discovery. Those who master their fears are explorers, discoverers, and willing to risk walking into the unknown. They hold their freedom close to their hearts will not surrender it.

Today’s Inspiring Photo: No Fear

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Thinking Out Loud: Do What You Have to Do

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There were a number of definitions of courage, but now I was seeing it in its simplest form: you do what has to be done day after day, and you never quit. ~ Eric Greitens

NOTE: Life’s not easy. It takes heaps of courage to stay the course, accept responsibility, and never quit. I often think of my mom and dad as heroes. They were uneducated and poor, yet I never felt poor. They didn’t talk about their poverty. We worked as a family to grow a large garden. We walked and took public transportation until I was in sixth grade and they could afford a car. Even though I grew up in a tenement building next to factories and the railroad tracks, the four room cold water flat seemed like a mansion to me. There was love and always the smell of sauce or pasta fazool cooking. They did what they had to do day after day so the family would survive. That’s often all it takes to be a hero, taking responsibility and doing what you have to do.

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