Plan, plan, and plan. If planning is all we’re doing, we’re not doing much. We’re a lot like a gerbil running as fast as he can on his gerbil wheel. Whatever it is that we want we have to take a leap away from planning. Whatever we choose to do, it’s not going to be perfect, there will be challenges and setbacks. Those are wonderful gifts, they make us stronger, they sharpen our minds, they increase our vision. Is it time to say, “Enough with the planning. It’s time to leap.” Trust yourself. Trust that you are able to adapt to the challenges. Give it your best and place the outcome in God’s hands. You’ll surprise yourself.
optimism
Today’s Thought: Make Failure Your Fuel for Future Successes
A man is great not because he hasn’t failed; a man is great because failure hasn’t stopped him. ~ Confucius
Failure happens. It’s part of life. When we choose to push on in spite of failure we turn failure into lessons. Failure can be our best teacher if we’re open to learning, changing, and understanding how to make our failure our fuel for future success.
Today’s Thought: Find a Way to Have a Great Day
The temperature will hit 103 F (39.44 C) today in south Texas. Bring it on. I love the heat. I’ve got iced team in the fridge. The air conditioner is working fine. I’ll lather on some sunscreen and go for walk (while it’s still cool (in the nineties – lol). We can’t change our weather. We can change our attitude toward it. That’s how it is with a lot of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We can always find a way to make it a great day. Hope you’re having one.
Today’s Poem: Here’s Hopin’ by Francis Lebby Stanton
Here’s Hopin’
Francis Lebby Stanton
Year ain’t been the very best;—
Purty hard by trouble pressed;
But the rough way leads to rest,—
Here’s hopin’!
Maybe craps way short; the rills
Couldn’t turn the silent mills;
But the light’s behind the hills,—
Here’s hopin’!
Where we planted roses sweet
Thorns come up an’ pricked the feet;
But this old world’s hard to beat,—
Here’s hopin’!
P’r’aps the buildin’ that we planned
‘Gainst the cyclone couldn’t stand;
But, thank God we’ve got the land,—
Here’s hopin’!
Maybe flowers we hoped to save
Have been scattered on a grave;
But the heart’s still beatin’ brave,—
Here’s hopin’!
That we’ll see the mornin’ light—
That the very darkest night
Can’t hide heaven from our sight,—
Here’s hopin’!
Today’s Thought: It’s Why I Wear Earplugs
The voices they’re all around us. They tell us we can’t do it. They tell us we’re foolish. They demand we listen to them if we know what is good for us. That’s why I wear earplugs. I won’t listen to naysayers. I won’t listen to people who are doom and gloom. I look for sunrises and rainbows. So what if I fail. It won’t be the first time and it won’t be the last. I’ll keep on trying. I’ll wave to the voices as I pass on by. Let’s live with hope. Let’s live with optimism. Let’s live with a vigor and vitality that refuses to quit.
Today’s Quote: Always Looking Ahead
“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” —Māori Proverb
Today’s Poem: Walkers with the Dawn
Walkers with the Dawn
Langston Hughes
Being walkers with the dawn and morning,
Walkers with the sun and morning,
We are not afraid of night,
Nor days of gloom,
Nor darkness—
Being walkers with the sun and morning.
Today’s Poem: Life Doesn’t Fighten Me by Maya Angelou
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Today’s Poem: Character by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Character
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sun set, but set not his hope:
Stars rose; his faith was earlier up:
Fixed on the enormous galaxy,
Deeper and older seemed his eye;
And matched his sufferance sublime
The taciturnity of time.
He spoke, and words more soft than rain
Brought the Age of Gold again:
His action won such reverence sweet
As hid all measure of the feat.
Today’s Inspiring Quote – Optimism Works
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” — Mary Lou Retton
