inner peace – Page 6 – ramblrWrites.com

What is Life?

What is life?

 But the essence of something wonderful that ends too soon. 
A moment
 in a thousand other little moments wrapped in comfort food.
The whisper of a promise, 
half fulfilled.
The knowing of not knowing but knowing there is a mystery to uncover.
The thrill of discovery.
The agony of loss.
To be born and know life is to find the rainbow.
To live it is to know the rainbow has no end or beginning.
 It just is.

To count:
1
2 
3...
Like counting gains of sand.
It's a happiness that shifts this way and then that way
never to be contained.
Never for sale.
It's the joy of knowing that every fiber of your being 
has power shooting from each limb.

To know death but not fear it.
To be small, yet stand tall.

What is life if not a dream?
When bad days become good days and 
you hold both in the palm of your hand.

Lovepainjoygriefsmilelaughrunwalktalkeatsucceedfailnoregretsjustbe
Just
breath...
1
2
3...

What is life?
Too many answers.
Too little time.

What is life?

Make it matter.

      - Simone Grant

Brown, Gray, and Black Butterfly Perching on Human Finger

Motivation

“When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do you no harm.”
African Proverb

Is it then true that the only locked doors we have are the ones we construct in our minds? Is it as simple as this?

It’s hard to know what’s true, but what is true about each of us is that our minds are the most powerful and valuable possession we have. It is also true that if we do not use our minds for good, it will turn on us. It will produce what we plant there and can either build or destroy our dreams.

Image result for May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

It’s hard to know what to do when you’re the only one complaining. When you’re the only one who see something more, just out of reach, if only so many eyes were not looking at you, judging, waiting to tell you, “you see, it was all a bad dream, it will never be”. It is hard to keep going when you do not trust the process and your doubt s block your vision. It makes you sick to your stomach, when you look away from the Light that has kept you for so long, and look instead into a bottomless pit. You may smile, but we know that behind that smile is a helpless quivering mass of human frailty and fragility.

Do not quit they say, even when you are staring death in the face. If you do then you will surely die. Do not give up. even if physically, your body betrays you, because if your mind does that too – let’s not imagine that!

Let us not imagine, with a damaged vision, where we do not want to be. Instead let us focus on where we want to be so we can get there. Focus on what you can be and not what you are, especially in the eyes of others. Outside of God, your future depends on you and no one else. Anyone can give you advice but no one knows you better than you can know yourself. Be good being you, and do what you are being led to do by the Holy Spirit, even if no one can understand, that’s okay.

It is good to be an outsider, because you will always add something interesting to a predictable mix. Decide to follow the path that is for you and confidently go forward. With any storm you face, God will bring all that is good.

Also, here’s a secret you may not know or have forgotten:

In the midst of life we do not die but become transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Image result for Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you

Be Flexible.

Sometimes we have our hearts set on what we think we want or need. However, it is when we are most desperate in pursuing what we want, that we should be flexible, so we bend and not break.

Being rigid in our opinions and thoughts should not be how we live our lives. This is dangers. It is dangerous because it means we are not willing to change and learn from the mistakes of the past. We need to realize that we have limited power, to order our world, unless we rely on the wisdom of God and His power to strengthen us.

It’s easy to believe in our own power when things seem to be going our way. We slowly begin to replace God with our own sense of self importance. Then, we no longer thank God for what he does for us but instead boast “hey look at what I did”.

It is often times when we are most blind to our faults that life steps in and reminds us of our humanity, our mortality. We are attacked by diseases, doubts and anxieties that seem to flow like a never ending river. We are swept along and taken to places we never imagined we would end up and we have to be alright with this.

We have to be alright when our plans fail, because we did not consult God. When we leave Him behind and jump off the ledge, He may allow us to fall, but He will always, in His own time and in His own way, provide us with the means of getting back up. We will just have to accept that things are not going to workout the way we want it to –

But things will work out.

Perfect Timing.

Is there really a perfect time to do anything? I use to think so, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe the idea of the perfect time does not rest with luck but with us.

We seem to belief that things happen by chance – well some of us do. Therefore, we sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity to move, to chase things down or receive what’s always been coming to us. When none of that happens we instead fall back on the comfortable cushion of, “it wasn’t the right time guys”. For some of us when we never see what we want to see, it never ever will be the right time.

It will never be the perfect timing because we have cultivated a negative perspective of our circumstances. Sometimes when we are waiting for the right time, we do not realize that things have been happening to and around us and worse still that the perfect timing was always there, waiting for us to seize it, before it left us because of our inactivity. We feel we will make a move when we are ready but on our own, we will never be ready.

Does it mean we have to act on everything right away? I also do not think we need to grab whatever comes and run with it. We really need to think about what we are getting into before we commit. There is real value in waiting, because it is what is required at the time. But if we pass up opportunities because we are waiting for the perfect time then this reason alone is flawed. The opportunity that you think is a great one that just came at the wrong time according to you, may never come your way again. Maybe it’s not up to you to determine the right time. If you prayed for something and you are given it, why then do you refuse to accept it because for you it came ten days too early? That thinking is madness, and don’t worry it is a madness That I too have been guilty of.

How often do the stars align? Here is what I think, everything will never come together perfectly. Thinking about it, do we really need that to happen. Don’t we get more excitement out of the journey than the destination? Or maybe not, but the idea that things happen perfectly, only happens in a perfect world and we don’t have one. Also guess what? Stars are usually aligned, and will always be, as long as they are around. So too, you will find that there is no grand event that will make you rich, successful or happy. The opportunities have already been set aside for us by God, all we have to do is to forget the perfect time and reach for them in time.

Living With Extremes.

Most of us think in extremes and therefore live in extremes. We will not admit it but there it is none the less. We have been gifted it, we developed it and carefully craft it as a “all or nothing” mentality. Having such a mind set leads to more and more stress and eventually off our course.

We either stifle the dreams or the potential we have with our uncompromising attitudes, slashing at items and actions that have not been perfectly conceived or executed from the jump. I have seen how this has compromised my own development as a person. I believed that if something was not done right, forget it and give up. However, the idea to “do it right or not at all” is often times taken the wrong way in my estimation.

The phrase is usually seen as a call to striving until you achieve your goal. However, it can also be taken to mean that we don’t make a move until we know we are doing things perfectly. This mindset does not believe in learning as you go, but breezing through unhindered because you waited for the right time, the right set of circumstance and with everything you need already laid out before you. From this angle then, something that could have taken a few days, takes months or even years. By then, ironically, you have succumbed to the not at all aspect to the phrase unintentionally, and begin to wonder where the time went.

“Anything doing is worth doing well”, is true also. But we can’t expect everything to go the way we want them to go. So, we say we are waiting until things are perfect! What, gives us the idea that we can do anything perfectly? We give ourselves too much credit. Therefore, we delay because we are waiting until things are right and end up with the wrong P. We end up with PROCRASTINATION instead of PERFECTION.

Those among us who operate in extremes can do so for the wrong reasons. We cannot see when we are wrong and so continue down a path that really is a circular maze, with no beginning and no ending. We continuously find ourselves in the same place and wonder each time how we ended up here. We ask ourselves and others why we have not advanced further and find every excuse and no solution.

Many have noted the good aspects to being extreme, in that it can lead to success and give you a sense of purpose. However, if living by an extreme mindset has limited us, maybe we need to take one step at a time instead of thinking that by working out the science long enough, we can jump the whole staircase to get to the top.

Image result for life is full of give and take give thanks and take nothing for granted

Just So…

…We have not wings, we cannot soar;
      But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more,
      The cloudy summits of our time.
The mighty pyramids of stone
      That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen, and better known,
      Are but gigantic flights of stairs.
The distant mountains, that uprear
      Their solid bastions to the skies,
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
      As we to higher levels rise.
The heights by great men reached and kept
      Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
      Were toiling upward in the night.
From: The Ladder of St. Augustine by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The poem, The Ladder of St. Augustine, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a reminder that nothing happens before it’s time. The old adage, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, applies to all of us as we traverse this life. However, once a goal or dream is achieved, it will remain in the minds, hearts and eyes of those who experience it directly or indirectly. It also reminds us of our humanity. The fact that we can only operate within the limits of our capabilities and not vicariously through others. further, each person will reach their destination at different times and such a destination may be in different locales, some higher than others.

Standing on what too long we bore
      With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern — unseen before —
      A path to higher destinies,
Nor deem the irrevocable Past
      As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
      To something nobler we attain.

This very motivational poem also reminds us of the need to move on from the wrecks which impede us on our journey. Instead of being buried under the rubble we must stand on them; make them our stepping stones when the path is covered by the landmines we are aware of and those we are not. To see the past, not as something to be ashamed of, but something that has provided us with the tools that we need, to navigate the uncertainty of the present and possibilities of the future.

Image result for heights of great men quote

Wherever You Are Led.

We can’t give the best of what we don’t know or are aware of. Doing your best is easy if you know how to go about it. The idea that our intention matters has some merit but if the execution leads to more complications, not so much. You want to do the right think but often times it’s hard to know what is the right thing to do. It becomes so complicated when you are being told ten different ways to go about getting something done or even about the person you have to engage with. I have tried to do what is right in several instances and have often failed. One of the main problems is that I never settle on an approach that has worked for me, but am quick to try something else because I want to find the “best way”. I didn’t take the time to recognize the knowledge I had gained for my own personal use, but instead kept chasing a formula that had been created by someone else. One that worked for them.

Image result for don't be pushed by your problems be led by your dreams

It’s important to always be expanding. So, it’s important to never get defeated by the mistakes we make when we don’t know better. Instead, we need to gain knowledge and develop the art of using the knowledge we gain to inform our decision. There may be times when we know what to do, but doing what we have to do may seem like a lot of work. However, if we want to experience change we have to get up and work towards that change. So, just like many people I need to move outside of my comfort space and shake things up. Often times it is in this way that we stumble upon people and things that expand our world and experiences.

It’s funny and not so funny when you’re blind to what’s in front of you, because you lack the knowledge to see. Many people look beyond the potential of what they already have because they see the finish product of someone else’s potential. We don’t realize that just like many we look to, we have the same potential and even the same opportunities but we do not make use of it. We don’t need someone else’s strength to be strong and someone else’s journey to begin our own. Think of it this way, someone may give a negative review of somewhere terrible that they have been and your experience is the complete opposite. Maybe we need to reconsider whether our trash is actually trash or our treasure.

Image result for it feels good to be lost in the right direction

It’s hard to know when to shift our perspective and look somewhere else. You may be too stubborn, like me, to know when to give up and move on. I always thought this was a good thing until I got older, and started making my own decisions. I can be stubborn to the point of cutting off my nose to spite my face. When things get too painful, not hard, painful, I try and try and try. When things start failing I say, “well this must be a burden I must carry”. But, when we do things that bear no fruit in a reasonable time or seem to be driving us to the brink of madness or death, maybe we need to pull back and do a u-turn and move on. Yes it’s important to dig deeper but not in quick sand! When we find ourselves in that predicament it’s better to grab the branch you see or one that’s being offered and get out, fast.

It’s important to be confident in wherever you’re being lead, but make sure you’re being led by the right source. I saw this recently and it resonated:

	Simone on Freedom from maladaptive …
	Farrah on Freedom from maladaptive …
	Simone on Maladaptive Daydreaming
	Priscilla on Maladaptive Daydreaming
	Simone on Maladaptive Daydreaming