Things to be grateful for each moment:
- People who love you.
- One’s health.
- A paying job.
- Good friends.
- One’s faith.
- Freedom.
- Clean air and water.
- A loving pet.
- Food to eat.
- A safe place to live.
- People who love you.
- One’s health.
- A paying job.
- Good friends.
- One’s faith.
- Freedom.
- Clean air and water.
- A loving pet.
- Food to eat.
- A safe place to live.
We’re having a drought in south Texas. We’ve been placed on stage two water restrictions. It’s been this way before. It will pass and Texas style we’ll get ten inches of rain in a day. Everything comes and goes in life, there is a constant birthing and dying. It’s all part of life. Learning to roll with the ebb and flow of life is an important part of our learning. There’s lessons from all parts of this process if we’re willing to see them. Roll on.
Having talent is a great advantage. Yet, I’ve seen less talented folks who work hard and stay focused on the goal out play the talented people. Goals are reached, dreams become real through dedication, commitment, and believing they can be achieved if one works long and hard enough. Don’t ever count yourself out, dream, commit, focus, and work hard. Your dreams will come true.
Sometimes the best decision we can make is to stop making a bad decision. We’ve all made bad decisions. The longer we stay with our bad decision the worse the results. It’s not going to get better. It’s better to think of a better decision and change directions. When we stop a bad decision and replace it with a good decision life instantly improves.
The singer, Hayes Carll’s, song, “Wild Pointy Finger” is about his pointy finger and how it easily finds faults, assesses blame, or judges others. All the while, he says, there are three fingers pointing back at him. His song contains much truth. It’s easy for us to judge others and to find fault with others without looking internally at ourselves. This happens at the individual level and at the larger international level. When we stop pointing, we open the door for honest dialogue and potential breakthroughs to healthier relationships.
Confucius said that one is great not because he/she hasn’t failed, he/she is great because he/she was not stopped by failure. That applies to all aspects of our lives. It applies to the times we want to get in shape, lose weight, or struggle in a relationship. Failures happen. They happen to all of us. They hurt. The only time failure has any power is when we hand our power to the failure. When we get up and try again and again, we defeat failure. It doesn’t matter how many time we try, what matters is the time we knock it on it’s ass and head forward.Â
I have fond memories of my mom. She taught me to respect women. She taught me to be kind. She taught me to reach out to others who are hurting. We were a poor family living in four room cold water flat. She never talked about poverty. She found ways to turn dinner meals into a table of plenty wether it was an overflowing bowl of pasta or a huge pot of pasta fagioil. If you stopped by, there was always a place for you at the table. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Thank you. I love you.Â
Life would be a heck of lot easier if it were a straight line. It would be more predictable. Life is more like a winding road, with hairpin turns, and driving through the mountains with no guardrail to prevent us from going over the edge if we’re not careful. The ride isn’t for the timid. Don’t hide from the road. You can handle the twists and turns. Oh, there will be times when you grip the wheel with both hands, not to worry, you’ll make it. When you do hit straight piece of road, you’ll take a look over your shoulder and think, “Yes, I did. I did it. It couldn’t stop me.”
Do you live in a ghost town? I see lots of ghost towns. Folks stay locked inside their homes or apartments. Neighbors don’t know each other. Oh, they’ll wave and say hi, but they don’t know each other’s name. It happens in large apartment buildings too. Ride down the elevator and people stare at smart phones, the numbers passing on the elevator without saying a word to each other. When we connect with each other, we build a sense of community. We discover our neighbors are much like us. Our world becomes a whole lot friendlier.
Storms don’t last forever, they come to an end. When we endure life’s storms, we may wonder if they’ll ever end. Have you had that experience? I’ve had it. When it happens there are times when we wonder if we’ll have the strength to make it to tomorrow. If we endure the storm, it’s winds slowly decrease, breaks in the clouds appear, and one day a rainbow appears in the sky. Hang in there. Never quit. Take the next step. The storms will end and blue skies will appear again.