Tag: Success

Letting Go

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

Isaiah 43:18

Don’t wait for a new week, a new day or the new year to start making changes. You know what you want and you know how to get it!

Image result for The art of living... is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive

There are a lot of things in the past that in the past I have been stuck on. Sometimes I look back and which I could go back to make some tweaks here and there. Perhaps prevent a certain meeting or totally erase another. If only I could.

But sadly there is nothing we can do about what we have already done. But wouldn’t life be easy in the present if we could?

We will never know because it is impossible. While we focus on the past, our present is passing. There it is waving at us. It looks sorry for us- as it should, what a waste of a present!

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Yes the present is a gift that will keep giving if we remain fully committed to it. Yet, many of us are careless with it and are either looking behind or ahead, but never living in the present.

We hurry to do everything and then wonder where the time went. We hope that one day we can get to live in the present. However it has been there all along, slipping between our fingers until very little is left to enjoy.

It’s important to remember what matters, let go of what is keeping you from holding to the present that you have for as long as you have it.

Image result for The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.

What A Way To live!

If you take yourself seriously you will be offended the rest of your life

Deepak Chopra

Imagine if you lived a life that was totally free from worry about what others think and say about you? What if we did not what for things or people to make us happy? What if we try to find our own joy?

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I say easier said than done!

When someone looks your way or seem to, you begin to wonder what they see when they look at you and then a full blown script has been written and performed in your brain because you just don’t know how to take being criticized. I can say that because sadly I have been doing a lot of this lately.

You are at the mercy of every stranger you meet on the street, if they say something nice you’re flattered for the rest of your life and if they say something nasty, you’re offended for the rest of your life.

Deepak Chopra
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Sadly again we become so fixated on getting approval from others that we deny that we are doing it when we do it! Many – not all- cannot relax in any situation because our sense of well being is too dependent on how people react to us. We depend on the approval of others like how a drug addict depends on drugs to get a high. If the reaction is good we are on cloud nine but if it’s bad we are hang out limbo, waiting to see if we can redeem ourselves in the eyes of those who just rejected us.

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So let us make a conscious effort not to take things so seriously, after all we are all playing with the hand that we were dealt. Many people dish out exactly what they see of themselves. So often it’s less about us and more about them. None of us are perfect, so really there is no perfect answer to any question or solution to a problem. Just do you, live your best life because there is nothing else you can do. Just put one foot forward and go about your day.

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Strength…

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Inner strength is an experience that leads to a sense of peace and having a sense of well-being. Being strong is hard especially when others do not expect you to be. We can easily allow situations to overwhelm us to the point where we cannot move forward, because we only can see the path we left behind. When we would rather stay in the happiness of the “good ol’ days”, then we can say forget being strong and just be complacent.

I have had to be strong many times. The first was when my mother left me behind and I, out of sheer terror ran behind her only to be beaten back to my new home. I had to learn to live without her. To only see her once per week and sometimes months in between. I felt like an orphan.

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I had to learn how to be strong when my grandmother, my second mother, died the day before my first exam, in the first year of university. When I had to attend her funeral I made sure to cry before and not during it. I had to be strong when I was told after the first year that since my grandmother’s death the little money available to me to go to school, had evaporated over night. I had to be strong, when Mondays to Fridays I went most days at school eating very little or nothing at all because I did not have enough for food and bus-fare. I had to be strong when all it seemed I was working for was not to leave university without a degree. I had to be strong working from 6:00 a.m to 7:30 p.m Mondays to Fridays each summer, after her death, so that I could have some money to go back to University, even with student loans. At least I had a way out.

And once I left I thought, ” well, I no longer have to struggle, once I get a job” – how Naive! I lost my strength many times since then and from most of life’s hard knocks I have not recovered. But I still have to be strong in order to get back to my true strength to meet my true true self again. So I can say hi, hello, how are you to the girl I once knew.

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Prayer For My Ego

“If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.”

― C.S. Lewis

When ego gets in the way, as my granny use to say, ” all hell bruk loose”.

A prayer for my Fragile ego

Heavenly Father,

I pray for my ego when it gets so out of control that it takes me away from reality to a far far place where no happiness can be found. Help me to remain humble, when everything seems to be going my way, so that I do not become a pest to everyone else. Let me remember that what I gain I can also lose in the blink of an eye. May I never take for granted the importance of everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – I meet in high high places and low low ones especially. Finally Lord, may the wrong never become right nor the bad become good; let my heart, mind, spirit and eyes never become blinded by material gain.

Amen

Image result for The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear. If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue.

A lot of the misunderstandings, anxiety and fear that we have stems from an ego in crisis and many of us do not recognize this. Sometimes our problems do not stem from external forces but begin with how we see ourselves. When we feel as if the world has turned its back on us, hey it could be because we first turned our back on it! It could be that we never gave people the chance to give us a chance and now at the end we feel cheated from really being a part of something.

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We allow ego to take the reigns when we feel the need to always be guarded and never trust – not even the old lady down the road, because who knows what secrets she could be hiding; it doesn’t matter that she can barley get around much less carry out a plot to harm us. And God forbid we should have a streak of good fortune, that is when some of us really start acting crazy!

It’s really hard to always keep a reign on criticizing, judging – even when we aren’t ones to talk – comparing and generally finding fault with everyone and everything around us – as long as we get the blame off of us. When we are too consumed with gaining recognition and always being first, never helping someone who may outshine us, then we have allowed our ego to grab the reigns. This can be a disaster for us.

When we realize or “buck up” these flaws and before we try to crucify ourselves, we need to take the time to acknowledge our very flawed humanity and take back the reigns of control. Life has both the good and the bad after all, and each of us is no exception. What we should always strive to do, is to somehow ensure that the darkness never wins, though it is always there just lurking to take control. We must never allow this to happen.

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I’ll Slay My Goliath!

I can feel the sweat pouring down my face. Or is it my blood. I know there is a metallic taste in my mouth that no a mount of mouth wash or toothpaste can dislodge. I feel my heart trying to escape my chest but the bars of its cell keeps it at bay. There is a sharp ringing pounding me and I don’t know if it is within or outside. All I know is I cannot stop. I must no fail…

Though go blind and the world disappears I know this road like the back of my hand. I do not need to see where I am going, because I know what I have to do. But then again a loosening of the earth nearly becomes my undoing as I am drawn tighter than any string in any bow. When I thought I have recovered from the mishap of nearly falling then macka juk mi and nearly kill mi. Yet still I am too tough to be defeated so easily by this spear of the soil; it becomes a part of me like osmosis.

Though the spear and sword and shield and helmet and shoes and bag and, God knows what else was too much, what I have is enough; just me nothing else but God. Even when confusion comes to mix mi up and twist mi round, I will not stand still, frozen in fear of the what ifs.

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Though small, I’ll be large and wide and deep to take on anything that thinks I can be contained in its small shortsightedness. I’ll grow in a moment to heights unheard of, a wonder yet unseen.

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And when each time I stand before this enemy that has become my shadow I will not hesitate to let loose a hailstone of the power within. And I will make sure that when the curtain is lifted I will be the last one standing.

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Carpe Diem

Scale back your long hopes

to a short period. While we
speak, time is envious and

is running away from us.
Seize the day, trusting
little in the future.

Horace in 65 B.C.E from “Odes “

Often time the phrase Carpe diem brings to mind the idea of seizing today and not fretting about tomorrow. It has motivated a lot of persons to grabbing opportunities and running with them, while you have the chance to do – because hey everything is transitory. Therefore I would like to add my own voice to the many messages about seizing the day.

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The word seizing can be defined as a length of rope or cord used for tying and fastening or to take something quickly and keep or hold it. The latter suggests an impulse which can be dangerous. So, when opportunities come should we take them because we can? The answer is yes. Often times we are too afraid to do something unexpected or that seems hard to do but usually when we are properly informed we can make use of opportunities we never dreamed we would have.

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Carpe diem linguistically speaking is also a horticultural metaphor that, particularly seen in the context of the poem [“Odes”], is more accurately translated as “plucking the day. Now that adds to the need to not be lazy about getting on board when faced with new opportunities. Many of us are discouraged by naysayers who think they have live figured out and can see all the trouble waiting just ahead for you. However, our gut instinct never fails us and are often more reliable than those well intention friend or family member.

But going back to the more accurate translation of the expression. Plucking literally refers to picking fruits. And here the past also plays a role. The best time to pick fruits is when they are ripe. So while we may want to pluck the day, we need to do so when the time is right for our fruit; and, not when we see everyone else harvesting! So seize the day but when the time is right to so. Not because we develop a case of F.O.M.O. Yet still while we wait for our fruits to ripen we need to also keep in mind the extended version of the expression:

‘carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero’

Right Time!

“When the time is right, life will have a meaning.
When the time is right, world will be bright again.
When the time is right, things will fall into place.
Just remember, never regret.”

― Akash Lakhotia

Today I woke up late. But I was not late.

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I woke up- God forbid- over an hour late and this is unheard of! But today I woke up not when the alarmed at 4 a.am. but when a voice smugly asked if the alarmed had gone over an hour ago. Normally I would panic, cuss and cry -dry tears of course- and wonder if crosses ( Jamaican:problems, causing trials ) would follow me all day.

But today was different. I decided not to rush things, not to stress but take things easy and just do what I had to do and leave in a good mood. And when I was ready to leave, I left. I reached the bus park, without looking at the time through my journey from my house to catch a taxi to when I reached to catch the bus . When I reached the bus unlike other days there was no line because the bus was already there – I did not have to wait for half an hour or more for one. At the steps of the bus, there was a man in front of me and because I was unsure if there were any empty seats left, I asked him to check for me- but he did not. So I stepped up, fully prepared to step out if there was none – standing all the way to U.W.I is not easy with the morning traffic! Alas, there were many seats available for me to pick and choose from and that’s exactly what I did. And as I sat I realized that today, when I woke late and decided not to panic was the day I got the 6:30 bus I had been trying to get every week since taking this route. Imagine that, I really was not late, it was the right time!

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I started thinking about all the times I had gotten up early to catch this particular bus and never made it in time. I remember once reaching before it left only to realize there was no seat for me and there were many already standing. Though I was disappointed I had no choice but to wait on the next one. When things are meant to be all you need to do is show up at the right time and with the right attitude. I realized that the level of stress I have been experiencing lately,was really unnecessary. Though there are many things I want to do, and wish I could do them ALL now, it simply is not the right time. Instead what we all should do is make sure we are prepared to act when the right time comes along. Even though I thought I was late I had already prepared what to wear the day before, done my hair so I wouldn’t have to do it in the morning – I would have time but you never know – and I already knew what I was taking with me. I have been feeling really tired and so I needed that extra hour of rest. So when I woke there was no need to panic, just do what I had to and go. I didn’t stop to cuss and worry, because that would have slowed me down.

Sometimes we all need to be reminded that at the end of the day we have so much control and no more. So, when we think we are late or behind in any way, we need to know that we are always on time when we accept and work with God’s time.