Stand UP for yourself

For TOO LONG you have allowed the past to affect you!
For TOO LONG you have taken personally what others say about you!
For TOO LONG you have stood on the sidelines watching others thrive!
For TOO MANY NIGHTS you have gone to bed worrying about what may be.
For TOO LONG you have held a fear in your heart.
For TOO LONG you have settled for second best!!

NOW is the time to awaken!
NOW is the time to shine!
NOW is the time to ACCEPT that you are DIVINE!!

This is my message for you - allow it to touch the deepest parts of your being - to help you awaken to the truth - that you do deserve to live a GREAT life - and whatever that means for you!

Wanna trade favors?

Yep, trading favors is nothing new to us.  I think, im one of those traders at home, ...:"if you wash the dishes tonight I will cook...deal?"  or  "please go with me to the mall, I will buy you a milkshake!"
then, we trade favors at weddings, baby showers and.....yes even with God.

However, the favor I am referring to is as follows.....:
We do not need to negotiate favors from God, somewhere along the line what we negotiate with God is either going to be forgotten by ourselves or our attitude will change (for the good or bad) and if its bad its actually our suppressed sense of guilt toward God, because, remember, He is true to his word, we as humans are not, we fail often.
Being educated or ignorant of God’s word doesn’t have anything to do with God fulfilling His promises.
“You will obtain” meaning, He will do it regardless of what we do or do not understand. However, when we do grasp the concept of God’s mercy, it draws us even closer to Him.  No longer do we seek His blessings, but we seek Him because of Who He is not because of what He can do.

“Blessed (with mercy, favor) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6 NKJV)

God wants to give us His daily favor, but if we don’t ask Him or spend time in His Word, in prayer or believe it, we won’t receive it.  Mercy and favor from God was made ours the moment we first believed.

So, do YOU want to trade favor today?  Lets do it with the right attitude, seeking approval in a manner that is way beyond what is usual by showing and leaning toward that which would only uplift us in our emotions, and in our spirit, not because we have an Agenda.

fa·vorˈfāvər/Submit
noun1. an attitude of approval or liking.
2.  an act of kindness beyond what is due or usual.
verb:
3. feel or show approval or preference
synonyms: prefer, lean toward, opt for, tend toward, be in favor of;

Im going to trade a favour with you....how about YOU pray for people in similar situations as yourself, as myself, that God would uplift their spirits and fill it with Joy.  And, once you have done so, share this with friends and family.

Greetings.....

The Power of a Smile

Think about this for a moment.  How important is a smile to you?  How does it make you feel, to smile, to be smiled at?   For me, a smile can turn the day around. The Power of a Smile can instantly transform a frown or bring sunshine to a gray day. Yet how often do we take "the opportunity to smile" for granted?  Again, for me, I know I do.

When I was still working, I had a pic of a jester printed and stuck on the wall that said SMILE.  As you entered my office that was the first thing one saw, and no matter how down, stressed, frustrated or anxious a university student was, when they left my office they always left smiling, and, they quickly learnt never to enter the office without a smile.  I recently received an email from a graduate student, saying how she misses being encouraged with a smile, that this became the one thing she looked forward to when returning to student residence, know her spirits will be lifted.  

Sharing this with you has me smiling with memories, it makes one feel that nothing was in vain, that someone's heart was reached.

How often now, as we find ourselves in some or other frustrating health or physically challenging situation, do we smile....even randomly?  Are we so focussed on our own issues that we cant just smile at a stranger, at something funny and let the Power of our Smile affect those we come in contact with.

I challenge you today, next time you feel downhearted, frustrated or challenged by your health situation...dig out those pictures that make you smile, think back to moments that made you laugh and smile....as you walk about in a shopping mall, make eye contact with someone really looking down and SMILE....just smile for the sake of smiling...you will love how it makes you feel, and you will smile more when you see the reaction on peoples' faces.

A smile is a powerful tool, you can even break ice with it

Why is a smile important to you?

HALFWAY there...Be INSPIRED

Do you sometimes feel that your sense of creativity has abandoned you? Maybe feeling a little stuck and not able to get much out of you? Finding it difficult to get inspired?

This is more or less how I’ve been feeling for quite a while. Out of creativity. Out of ideas. Out of imagination. Out of inspiration. (Which explains the lack of posts lately). OK well I wouldn’t say totally out of ideas. It’s more like blurred or vague ideas that I couldn’t get my mind to really develop.

And I hate that feeling. I hate feeling stuck. Because usually, I’m the kind of person that gets inspired easily, and thoughts and ideas come flowing right at me. So standing in front of a blank paper and not being able to fill it really drives me crazy.  Or as the thoughts come to me it's like I go into a "brain freeze"...what now?

But then the other day, while I was having coffee with my friend in one of my favorite coffee shops, I saw this:

: “When inspiration does not come to me, I go halfway to meet it”. Wow.

It’s funny how we always wait for inspiration to hit us, to strike us, and to take us by storm. How we sometimes think that it is inspiration’s job to come to us, and our job to wait for it. Feeling uninspired is something very normal, and we all feel not very creative at some point and run short of ideas. But in life, we gotta work for everything and we gotta realize that waiting gets us nowhere. Even when it comes to finding inspiration. Seeing this quote made me realize that it’s also on us. We gotta give inspiration a hand, a chance to find us.

And so I decided that this is exactly what I’m gonna be doing from now on: Meeting inspiration half way. Whenever I feel that I am running out of inspiration, of creativity, I will go and meet inspiration and creativity halfway. And when I find inspiration, I will not stop there either. Because, like I once wrote in one of my very first post somewhere: “it’s not what inspires us that really matters, it’s what we do when we’re inspired“.

May you and I both take a leaf from our own thoughts.

Be inspired........

"The doors we open and close each day

decide the lives we live."

~Flora Whittemore

How many times have your heard the saying, "When one door closes, another one opens"? It seems no matter how many, we often forget this in times of crisis, disappointment and unrequested change.

We need not fully understand why a change is occurring to ask ourselves: Am I going to let this door hit me in the rear or am I going to 'break on through to the other side'?

Very often the doors that close are positive for us!  Let's be honest, whether it be fear or insecurities, we often wait too long to make the necessary changes on our own . There are times when we ought to be grateful for the closure and consider what new and more positive paths await us.

The choice is always ours. Are you a survivor or a victim of change?

I always advocate for survivor and therefore, thriver!

Go ahead, look back and ponder for a bit, always remembering, "The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live." 

Now, please spend the rest of your time and energies finding and going through the new, more positive door. It is through this door you will discover your best self and gain the ability to enjoy all the wonderful life experiences that await you.  

Believe: You too can "break on through to the other side".

Sharing this with you from:    Positive Adaptation and 'Think, Feel and Do'  your way into becoming the best you can be.  Remember, life is to be enjoyed, not survived!