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Protect Yourself

Worn Out
Creative Commons License photo credit: Jason Dunnivant

It’s always your next move.

— Napoleon Hill

Do you know what you believe and do your beliefs empower you?  We may think we know what we believe but over time our beliefs change.  We can be so busy that we don’t notice and  unconscious beliefs can be the most helpful/hurtful beliefs that we hold.

For me, I find that I can be a great cheerleader for other people, because I see the possibilities in other people more easily than I see them in myself.  AND I believe that other people can achieve, while being not so sure about what I can achieve.

Lately I’ve been suffering from writer’s block.  For me writer’s block doesn’t mean that there’s nothing out there to write about.  Rather, it means that there’s nothing that I want to write about.  The problem is that after a while, I begin to believe that the writing drought is reality – forever.  As a result, I Continue reading » Protect Yourself

Get Out of That Pit

Down in the hole
Creative Commons License photo credit: <<graham>>

Of all the traps and pitfalls in life, self-disesteem is the deadliest, and the hardest to overcome, for it is a pit designed and dug by our own hands, summed up in the phrase, “It’s no use – I can’t do it.”

— Maxwell Maltz

Lately, my friends have been facing some major challenges.  One of my friends is struggling with a breakup – which she initiated.  She’s now considering getting back together with the guy because she’s lonely – and her biological clock is ticking.

Another friend has both of her grown sons living with her.  The older one just lost his job – AGAIN(!!!) – and the younger hasn’t worked in many, many months.  She’s heading towards retirement age but still has a house full of kids that she’s supporting.

Both of these people are Continue reading » Get Out of That Pit

From Gratitude Comes Hope

Adidas Dublin Marathon 2007
Creative Commons License photo credit: infomatique

To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

— Anonymous

Recently I received the following story in an email.  I don’t know who wrote it as it wasn’t attributed to anyone when I received it.  If you know who wrote it, please let us know.

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to Continue reading » From Gratitude Comes Hope

Digging Out

Housekeeping help - again, and again!
Creative Commons License photo credit: Julie Smith David

There was no need to do any housework at all.  After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.

— Quentin Crisp,
The Naked Civil Servant, 1968

Recently, a friend of this blog wrote on her blog that “A friend of mine and her partner contribute meaningful articles on their blog every day…and I do not mean comments like “well I guess I’ll sign off and start dusting!!!”

Well, not to be disrespectful, today I’d like to focus on “dusting.”

The reason for this is that despite the fact that housekeeping isn’t my #1 interest in life, I’ve spent a fair amount of the time that I’ve been working on clearing out my folks’ house trying to create spaces that are clean enough to “live-in” temporarily.

I’m the kind of person who likes to see the change when I clean.  To some extent, I need Continue reading » Digging Out

Is It Adversity or Is It Life?

Leo Stanely Mager: a timeless smile
Creative Commons License photo credit: magerleagues

old man and his pint
Creative Commons License photo credit: gagilas

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare.  It is because we do not dare that things are difficult.

— Seneca

Remember that commercial – “Is it real or is it Memorex?”  They would usually have an opera singer hitting a really high note and breaking a glass and then play the recording of the singer and break another glass.  It was a way to show the true fidelity of the recording.

I’ve been noticing how much we, as a society, have been talking about our troubles.  Have you noticed?  We talk about what bothers us more than we talk about what pleases us.  There’s been a lot of conversation about how bad things are economically and how the Baby Boomers won’t have the retirement that they expected.  It seems that we’re on a perpetual downer around here.  The conclusion that I’ve reached is that somehow, we’ve decided that problems aren’t part of life, which is why we get soooo bent out of shape when a problem turns up.

I blame it on the Declaration of Independence.  Continue reading » Is It Adversity or Is It Life?

Cup o’ Inspiration

cup with steam swirl

Take a short break and consider the following:

“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”

Stuart Chase

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