living your best life – Page 4

Between Two Shores.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

It’s a wonder that many people can get anything done nowadays. Imagine constantly having to review and alter all you believe. Imagine having to decide that you believe everything and nothing. Imagine caught between two or more ideas about who you are and not knowing which one should be the real you.

The world has become a very strange place to be. In this world where many seek and find good opportunities , until they are not. At the point where the wool has been lifted from their eyes they start complaining about all that had to change now that they got what they wanted all along. So, they hate the job they had and so get a new one, only to start thinking of moving on a week later. Or has it always been that way? Is this what they meant about the grass not always being greener on the other side?

It is interesting to observe people, because you can learn a lot from observing them. Many people want change and grab the opportunity to realize it, but never fully comprehend what it means, for the life they led before that change. Somehow they do not realize that the change means they can never have things the way they were. Then they realize that the things they took for granted did matter, but it does not matter any more, because they have left them behind, willingly.

When we chase what we desire, and get it, it doesn’t mean the story ends. Sometimes even in the midst of worldly success, we have to find the answer to who we are with each rung we climb on that slippery ladder:

We have to become accustomed to a new way of being when we enter a new season. It is never easy to be between two shores…

In spite of it all, I believe that this too is good. Our moments of discontent with what we gain lead us to remember the source of everything right and good… I AM, who is The Creator.

Are You Making The Best Stuff Ever?

Just because you do the most doesn’t mean you’re doing your best work.

Just because you give a lot doesn’t mean it’s doing a lot.

Just because you have the most doesn’t mean you’ll give the best things.

Just because you are the best doesn’t mean you do the best.

Just because you have the most doesn’t mean you deserve the most.

Just because you love the most doesn’t mean you love the things you claim to love.

Just Because you can tell a story doesn’t mean you should tell the story.

Just because you have a key, doesn’t mean you are welcome.

Just because you have eyes doesn’t mean you should see it.

Just because you have a voice doesn’t mean you have the right to say it.

Just because you have the diamonds doesn’t mean you know a person’s worth.

Just because you are creative and brilliant doesn’t mean you are the only one.

Just because you did something doesn’t mean you did your best.

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

The world seems to appreciate people who do the most, the fastest. Those who seem to be on the fast track and decry those who seem to be moving at a snail’s pace. I have come to love the idea of going slower, of finding success in little things and taking my time to do things right. I do not believe you have to be the first, in order to get it right, the loudest to be heard or work the hardest in order to get the job done. Instead in whatever we do when we do it, what should be important is if we have done it the best we can by taking the time to do it properly.

No one reaches their full potential by themselves, words that make me pause. No matter how much you try to do alone, you’ll never make it on your own. And it matters how you treat the people who help you to get to where you eventually reach. If you can’t stand and say, ” this person helped me” or if you can’t remember, you are lying. That person who helped you without you knowing is one of the realest person who will ever help you. There wasn’t a friendship to keep alive, networking to keep them on your radar, no future favor to collect on, no recognition that they craved; Just the desire to support you silently.

Are you really making the best stuff ever, when no one benefits but you, from what you have created and can do?

Lighten Your Load.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11: 28

To go to work I carry a backpack because it seems easier and less strenuous. However, there are times when the bag gets so heavy that I feel as if I am bent double. Then again, there are times when I do not carry much and I feel a little taller and step a little lighter.

When we carry load that weighs us down we feel compelled to stop and rest too often. We get tired quickly and we feel as if it may be too much. That may be when we regret carrying what we are carrying and begin to dream of the day when we can carry much less.

Our situations may be similar. We may feel as if the load we carry in life is too much and so we rest and end up resting for too long. Even though I know the load I carry today won’t be there tomorrow, I may still be consumed by this burden.

However, we need to remember that the load we carry is for a time and will eventually lessen; so, even if we are not at first convinced about this, we need to say it until it is true; the burden I carry will become less with time.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak
Isaiah 40:29

Bait and Switch.

You only have time for people who deserve you and see your value.

Seeing the above somewhere made the proverb, all that glitters is not gold, even clearer. Distractions can be found everywhere and is both internal and external. We may think being lazy benefits us in the short term but it could be the difference between getting to that place you need to be or staying right where you are.

Bait and switch usually refers to a tactic that sees a projected desirable outcome as in reality, a scam.

So, in Life we may see the easy way out or the brightest light as the think to take us from point A to B. However, when we get closer the easy way out could lead to many dead ends and the bright light, just a spark quick to burn out.

So we do not read the fine print and don’t sweat the small stuff until they get to large that they threaten to overrun us.

It is important to know all you can before you make that move but also to see things for what they truly are and not what you would like them to be.

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.”
Jack Welch

To Know Peace…

The way of peace they do not know;
there is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads;
no one who walks along them will know peace.
Isaiah 59:8

There are many paths you can take in life and many can lead to peace and others lead to war, whether it is internal or external.

There are times that we seek peace in the wrong places. Also, we seek it from people we surround ourselves with. Peace is not a commodity that can be traded and therefore, though free, it requires a great deal of spiritual connectedness to tap into much needed contentedness.

The absence of peace begins inside a person and overflows to impact those he or she becomes connected to, whether directly or indirectly. Sometimes it’s necessary to tune everyone out and walk in peace. I recently went walking through my home town of Spanish Town. It is a town notorious, in the past and maybe the present, for sudden violent outbreaks, usually based on gang related activities. But today I walked through narrow streets and lanes that I had never walked with anyone. And on my walk I felt a sense of being at peace in the world. There was no one with me on that walk and it felt good to have a clear solitude, that was only concerned with putting one foot in front of the other.

Peace is not something that can be bought nor traded, it is available for all to experience.

ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know
Romans 3:16-17

While I walked, I had to decide whether I would travel in the areas that seemed uncertain, less traveled and so I took a chance, veering on to an empty road. Walking on that road I saw no one, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the path I had chosen further extended the sense of peace and quiet I was enjoying. The area far from what I thought it would be, was aesthetically pleasing to the sight. The road was so clean, that it seemed not to match the rest of the town. The old fashioned Georgian styled homes that echoed a colonial past, had been brought back to live with vibrant colors and love. On passing through that seeming oasis, I realized that peace is available anywhere if that is what we seek. After I had left that little wonder, I came out feeling revitalized, as I too had been brought back to life on my solitary walk.

Therefore, when I reemerged into the hustle and bustle of the terminus to take the taxi home, I felt I would be alright.

That all that had troubled my mind before, had been beaten into submission and taken away.

He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Mark 5:34

Mouth Full Not Full Belly.

I thought about this and if you view this in passing, you would probably say it makes no sense. Yet it does.

There are many times when we feel we do not have enough, that we should have or even deserve more. We take for granted what we do have and say that we are not blessed because our lives are not overflowing.

Have you ever eaten too much? I have, and have regretted it until I am no longer full to bursting. In the hours that it takes to get comfortable, I have regretted being so mindlessly greedy. I obviously had bitten off more than I could chew.

It’s not the case in the song by Bob Marley and the Wailers: Them Belly Full (But we Hungry):

Them belly full but we hungry
A hungry mob is an angry mob
A rain a-fall but the dirt, it tough
A pot a-cook but the food no ‘nough

It’s not that we have nothing, but that we may feel that more would be better than just enough.

So, we buy more things than we need, and try to be a part of everything that is happening around us. We can’t be still, worse silent, because we may miss out on something. What is that something? We may not be sure but we just might.

Full mouth, but around it we complain. Perhaps maybe we need to stop complaining about having just enough, we may choke ourselves and never truly appreciate and benefit from what that full mouth can do for the body and soul.

Filling Life With What is Important.

To make life simpler, how about we keep only the important things. I know I have often found myself with lots of stuff that I really do not need and so treat poorly. Yes, at times we want to be accessible to everyone and we may feel that if we don’t get something now, someone else will snatch them up. Well, let them if you don’t really need them.

Image result for quote about filling your life with important things

Some Important Stuff…

There are persons who you need in your life. Keep those who think and speak positive, not just about you but about others as well. Persons who always see the bright side, so, their optimism can rub off or shame you out of your existential dread. Those who will not accept being negative in any way and not support it.

Do what makes you happy, being mindful of how it will impact others. Ensure that there are things you do because you want to do them and not because you feel you have to. If you wake up one day and want to relax, relax. If you feel like doing something that no one else wants to do, do it by yourself. Also, and one that can be hard to do, if you want to go somewhere but no one else wants to go with you, become a solo traveler.

Develop on what you have. Do you remember the parable of the talents? Make sure you develop on what you have been gifted by God. Use it to make the space you occupy that much better. By focusing on all the things you can do and do well, you won’t have time to compare yourself to others.

Know that everything you achieve, in spite of your mistakes are because you are good enough. It’s easy in the age of stiff competition to lose sight of your true worth and so, it is important to remind yourself of your worthiness. We may be disappointed from time to time with the things we do but they should not be our beating stick forever. Just do the best you can.

Do what makes you happy, no matter what anyone may say or think. Happiness is vital for instilling a sense of well-being and meaning in life. Being happy can affect your mental health, your physical and spiritual sense of well-being. Therefore we should protect it at all cost. Even if it means staying away from things and people that compromise it. Consider that discontent and unhappiness can lead to conflicts and even war! So find a way to make what gives you happiness a part of your daily life.

We don’t need everything, we just need the things that matter.

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