Inspiration
" YOUR LIFE"
Your life is your train.
You are the conductor and a passenger.
How your train moves and where it ends up
Is totally up to you.
Your talents and abilities, dreams and goals
Are your tickets.
Now, don't get excited just because you have a tickets
If you do not use it, you won't go anywhere.
If you are not at the station on time,
You will be left standing at the station
With all the other people who merely have tickets.
The train will not wait for you.
You cannot hold the train for people who are late.
You cannot stop the train at every station
To make sure everybody who wants to ride
Is on the train.
Keep your train well fuelled,
Keep it clean, be on the lookout for
Nicks and cracks in the tracks.
Above all else, be sure you don't run over people.
Move out at a steady pace, slow, but sure.
If you are a conscientious and alert conductor,
Your train will never take a wrong turn.
--Authored by Iyanla Vanzant
AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN FIVE SHORT CHAPTERS
By Portia Nelson
I walk down the street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk,
I fall in
I am lost... I am helpless It isn't my fault,
It takes forever to find a way out.
I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk,
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place,
But, it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out
I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk,
I see it is there.. I still fall in
It's a habit,
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
I walk down the same street
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
I walk down another street
FEAR OF FAILURE
So much of life involves risk
and the possibility of failure.
If you are not afraid of failure,
you will take many more
risks in your life.
And the more risks you take,
the more alive you will feel.
You fear failure because
you fear rejection.
The moment you give up seeking
acceptance from others,
your fear of rejection will
disappear.
And with it, the fear of failure.
- Copyright Author Lipanovzc 1995
THE FEAR OF REJECTION
Because you won't let yourself go anywhere near rejection, the fear of rejection gets bigger and bigger in your mind.
But the more you allow yourself to experience rejection, then the fear of it gradually diminishes until only a flicker is left.
And that must remain, because that is the very nature of vulnerability. The fear remains as a flicker, but if you are rejected, then that is all you will feel.
Just a flicker of rejection. And I can assure you that it is not a problem for you. The problem arises when you do everything to avoid rejection.
The fear of rejection takes on inflated proportions and you avoid it even more. But in the process you deaden yourself to life.
- Copyright Anthony Lipanovic 1995
FINDING YOURSELF WHEN LOST
Stand still.
The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost.
Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen, It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you.
You are surely lost. Stand still.
The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you,
Stand still.
THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS
One of my teachers had each one of us bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. For every person we'd refuse to forgive in our life experience, we were told to choose a potato, write on it the name and date, and put it in the plastic bag.
Some of our bags, as you can imagine, were quite heavy. We were then told to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week, putting it beside our bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to our desk at work.
The hassle of lugging this around with us made it clear what a weight we were carrying spiritually, and how we had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, and keep leaving it in embarrassing places.
Naturally, the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty slime. This was a great metaphor for the price we pay for keeping our pain and heavy negativity!
Too often we think of forgiveness as a gift to the other person, and it clearly is for ourselves!! So the next time you decide you can't forgive someone, ask yourself ...isn't your bag heavy enough?
The Invitation
'It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon... I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened to life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from the fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being a human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy! I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you source your life from it's presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘YES'.
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I wont to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
- ORIAH mountain dreamer, indian elder, may 1994
Advice for Lovers on the Search
- If you want someone who'll make a total fool of himself because he's so glad to see you, get a dog.
- If you want someone who's always ready to go out any time you ask, Get a dog.
- If you want someone who'll be content JUST to snuggle up and keep you warm in bed, get a dog. (You can always kick him out of the bed and make him sleep in the laundry room if he snores.)
- If you want someone who eats whatever you put in front of him, and never says
- "Why can't you make it like Mom did?" get a dog.
- If you want someone who can scare away burglars without brandishing a lethal weapon, endangering you (and all the neighbours), get a dog.
- If you want someone who will do anything to please YOU, get a dog.
- If you want someone to bring in your newspaper without tearing through it first for the sports page, get a dog.
- If you want someone who never criticizes ANYTHING you do, doesn't care how bad you look, acts as though every word you say is worth hearing, and loves you unconditionally, get a dog.
- If you want someone who NEVER touches the remote, couldn't care less about Monday Night Football, and watches teary movies with you as long as you want, get a dog.
- AND ON THE OTHER HAND
- If you want someone who totally ignores you when you walk into a room, get a cat.
- If you want someone who acts as though you are there only to see that HE's happy, get a cat.
- If you want someone who'll prowl around all night and come home only to eat and sleep all day,
- get a cat.
- If you want someone who leaves hair all over the place, get a cat.
- If you want someone who never comes when you call him, get a cat.
- If you want someone who'll walk all over you, get a cat.
- If none of this works for you and your expectations can not be fulfilled, live with and love yourself for a while and see how you get along.
- Remember, don't give up, you always can try to love a goldfish.
WORDS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Swear words: Replace with:
can't won't
should choose to / want to / will
must choose to / want to / will
ought choose to / want to / will
have to choose to / want to / will
never sometimes / often / seldom
always sometimes / often / seldom
but and
try do it or don't
