Live and battle just this ONE day!!

There are two days of the week about which we should not worry...two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is called Yesterday, with it's mistakes and cares, it's faults and its blunders, aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday.

We cannot undo a single act we performed or erase a single word we said.

Yesterday is GONE!

The other day we should not worry about it Tomorrow, with it's possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance.

Tomorrow is beyond our immediate control.

Tomorrow's sun will rise, whether in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.

Until it does, however, we have no stake in tomorrow, for its yet unborn.

This leaves only one day - TODAY!

Any one of us can fight the battle of just one day. 

It is when you and I add burdens of two awful eternities - YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW - that we break down.

It is not necessarily the experiences of today that disturbs one's peace of mind. It is often times the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring!

Fight the urge to dwell on the past,  and embrace tomorrow with faith, hope and courage - but do not fear what it may bring!! 

Let us therefore live ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Stay Strong!   Just One Day!!!

Who knows better?

"Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right. "
  - Max Lucado

We all struggle at some point with our Faith and with the circumstances that we often find ourselves facing in our lives.

For some these life events are not life threatening, earth shattering or life altering in the grand scheme of things.

For others of us the events are devastating and seemingly impossible to overcome.

Whether it is illness, divorce, loss of a job, loss of a loved one, a parent, a child, physical or mental abuse, financial troubles or family strife, we all have our crosses to bear on this earth.

One thing I can guarantee is that no matter what we have weighing on our minds today, there are many that have more serious and difficult challenges to deal with today.

By way of  this comparison we are able to put our own troubles in perspective,  but we rarely look past our own worlds to do this.

If we could truly focus on what we have going for us and the many blessings we have as opposed to our current concerns, we would quickly be able to shift our worry, fear and anxieties away from panic toward peace and solutions.

What is most important in this practice is that we have Faith that everything will be ok and will work out regardless of our own belief about it!

It is not always visible to us the path or mission we have been given to fulfill on this earth. 

But if we can accept the notion that even if WE don't see why things happen to us, or why that door closed to us, or why we have to carry this burden or hardship at this point, if we can somehow accept that there is a VALUE in these challenges and this too shall pass, we will have no other option but peace and joy!!

Trust that there are bigger powers than us in motion and if we place our Faith in these forces, we will find our battles to be much more manageable and find our strength to be insurmountable in the face of ANY adversity !!!

What we want and what is best for us in the long run are not always the same thing!!

Stay Strong!!

The Key

"Try to make at least one person happy every day.

If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word.

If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought.

Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime!"
   
        - Lawrence G. Lovasik

The secret to happiness and peace lies in the words above.

When we lose ourselves in our own worries, problems, and daily challenges, it becomes even more difficult to see the forest from the trees.

Simply by shifting our focus on helping others with their daily challenges and making other people feel stronger and supported, our own problems seem to diminish and pale in comparison!

Try it today.....it can start with a smile and kind word.  It does not have to be an elaborate plan!!

It is the key to the right path!!!

Stay Strong!!

Re: Happy Birthday Mother Teresa

> What an amazing and stunning example of a life dedicated to serving and helping others!!
>
> Mother Teresa gave her entire life to making those who were considered untouchable and pariahs feel valued and worthy of love.  And she did this out of love and service, not for personal gain or recognition.
>
> She was an amazing example of what can be accomplished if we set aside our own wants and focus on those who need our help on this journey. 
>
> And as she said so perfectly, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
>
> Happy Birthday Mother Teresa!!  If we can follow your example even to the smallest degree, we too can make a difference!!!
>
> Stay Strong!!
>
> "Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give the world your best anyway."
>    - Mother Teresa
>
> "It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."
>    - Mother Teresa

Happy Birthday Mother Teresa

What an amazing and stunning example of a life dedicated to serving and helping others!!

Mother Teresa gave her entire life to making those who were considered untouchable and pariahs feel valued and worthy of love.  And she did this out of love and service, not for personal gain or recognition.

She was an amazing example of what can be accomplished if we set aside our own wants and focus on those who need our help on this journey. 

And as she said so perfectly, "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

Happy Birthday Mother Teresa!!  If we can follow your example even to the smallest degree, we too can make a difference!!!

Stay Strong!!

"Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give the world your best anyway."
   - Mother Teresa

"It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."
   - Mother Teresa

Daily Martial Arts

There is a beautiful form of martial arts called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 

The foundation of this art is essentially that a smaller, weaker person can use their own body weight, or leverage, to defeat a  stronger, larger opponent.

This is an amazing and valuable concept for all of us to grasp as we take on our "seemingly" larger, stronger daily opponents of worry, fear, and anxiety!

How great is it to know that instead of surrendering to these daily battles and giving up, we can use the core concepts of BJJ to USE their alleged strengths against them!!

When confronted with fear or worry or anxiety, flip those feelings to our advantage by understanding that life is full of TEMPORARY challenges, disappointment, failures and defeats!

That is what life here on earth brings with it - it is just a fact!!!

So why do we lament and let these temporary setbacks rule our emotions and ruin our days?

Why not ACCEPT that we have been put into our current situations for a reason, ACCEPT that we are being tasked with a challenge for a reason, and we need to use this knowledge to our advantage!

Welcome it....embrace it...and then get to work on the Solution!!! 

Do not focus on the minutiae of the circumstances, or why we have been given this battle...just accept it as a fact, KNOW that it too shall pass, and work toward resolving the issue!!

But go forward with Faith that nothing can harm you and ask yourself "what is the worse that can come from this?"

You will probably be surprised by the answer and wonder what you were stressing about in the first place!

If we stand on that Jiu Jitsu mat against a larger opponent and just let them run over us, shame on us!

Use their weight to our advantage!!! 

Do not fear them or shy away from them!!  Expose them to the light!!

Like when we encounter a bully, a strong punch to the nose usually resolves the problem quickly and we are surprised that it was so easy to fix! 

Talk about wasted energy and worry!!

Embrace our challenges, welcome them, and with Faith and Trust you will surely overcome and pin them quickly!!!

Stay Strong!!

Words to keep us on the right path

"The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."
  - Norman Vincent Peale

"Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities. Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."
   - Norman Vincent Peale

We ALL have the power necessary to attain peace and happiness!

Today!!!

We constantly seek and pursue what we think is peace and happiness only to find out a little too late that we are way down the wrong path!

It has been proven that if we actively and passionately pursue opportunities to help others with their daily battles, immerse ourselves with the goal of assisting others, as opposed to letting our own challenges, temporary setbacks, and troubles weigh us down.

The answer to our challenges are already inside us and within our very own reach!

We just need to have Faith and Belief in our purpose here on this earth, whether or not we know that purpose yet, and the best way to dig out of our own issues is to turn to help others do their digging!!

It just takes one person to start!!  Find that person today and change your life!!

Stay Strong!

Photo courtesy of R. Pellechia ..all rights reserved

All you need is one to start....

"Count your blessings.

Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence."

    - Og Mandino

One of my greatest concerns in life is that I will fail to count my blessings every day.

I struggle almost daily trying to appreciate the gifts that God has given me and to give thanks for each of them.

I know all too well that "there but for the grace of God go we" is a truth that we all oftentimes fail to realize and each morning before I get out of bed I make an effort to reflect on all the good in our lives and to give thanks for it!

The beauty of this is that all we need to do is identify one of these blessings to start!

We are so trained to pursue material goods, to compare ourselves to the rich and famous, and chase things that we feel will bring us that elusive happiness and peace and joy.

These things will not deliver what we seek!

Not at all!

If we can step back and start with the  mere fact that we can get out of bed in the morning, using that as our first blessing and building from there, we can start to put things in perspective and truly understand ALL the many blessings we take for granted!!

Today, list out ten blessings that you can celebrate and give thanks for and you may be shocked at how far off our measurements of our happiness and luck have been!!!

We only need one blessing to begin this daily exercise and believe me we all have many more than we know and appreciate!!!!

Count them up and enjoy them!!!  

They don't always last forever!!!

Stay Strong!!!

Seek them out.....you will not regret it...

"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch.

Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

—e e cummings

This is the massive power that we have and control to positively influence and really assist others in our lives every single day.

We encounter countless people all day long, friends and strangers alike, who are in desperate need of some encouragement, some inspiration, some kind words or a sympathetic ear to listen to their concerns or fears.

Be on alert for these opportunities each day because by sincerely helping and uplifting our brothers and sisters will provide us with even more energy, peace and joy than the receiver gets as a result!

And by uplifting them we reveal to them their own power and spirit!!!

So let's forget our issues and worries, seek out others in distress or crying for help....and trust me you will know what to do when you find them!!!

Mother Teresa said you didn't have to help the entire world, just start with one person. And she knew a little bit about uplifting and inspiring!!!

God Bless and Stay Strong!!!

Her words always speak volumes!!

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.
    - Mother Teresa

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
      - Mother Teresa

Happy Monday and Stay Strong!!!

Simplify. Slow down and truly LIVE this Gift of Life....as it is all too fleeting..

"As we traversed rural India at the speed of a couple of miles per hour, it became clear how much we could learn simply by bearing witness to the villagers' way of life.

Their entire mental model is different—the multiplication of wants is replaced by the basic fulfillment of human needs.

When you are no longer preoccupied with asking for more and more stuff, then you just take what is given and give what is taken.

Life is simple again.

A farmer explained it to us this way:

"You cannot make the clouds rain more, you cannot make the sun shine less. They are just nature's gifts—take it or leave it."

When the things around you are seen as GIFTS, they are no longer a means to an end; they are THE means and the end.

And thus, a cow-herder will tend to his animals with the compassion of a father,

a village woman will wait three hours for a delayed bus without a trace of anger,

a child will spend countless hours fascinated by stars in the galaxy, and finding his place in the vast cosmos.

So with today's modernized tools at your ready disposal, don't let yourself zoom obliviously from point A to point B on the highways of life; try walking the back roads of the world, where you will witness a profoundly inextricable connection with all living things.

–Nipun Mehta, PATHS ARE MADE FOR WALKING: Four steps to take on the road of life, Parabola, Fall 2012.

Choose wisely....

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."
- Norman Vincent Peale

Be very careful with the thoughts you let into your world today.

Discriminate and be picky about which thoughts you will allow to demand your attention today.

Whichever ones you choose to focus on will make or break your day!

Keep track, play gatekeeper and choose wisely!

Stay Strong!!

Your job...

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."
  - Anonymous

We all have one only job to do today!  One main priority that we really need to focus on - we need to find someone today who is struggling and needs our help getting on their feet!!

If we keep a list by our bedside and each night we check off the calendar - marking the day as successful - if we indeed took some action to help someone else with their challenges, how many  marked days would your calendar show??

We constantly talk about what we should use to measure success in  our lives so why not use this as one of them??

There are more than enough people that we see daily that need you to uplift them...seek them out today!!

It is our most important job!!!

Stay Strong!