It was 6am as I boarded the train to work one cold morning and I was thankful to get a seat. At that time of the morning my eyes are not yet fully focused and at times I’m still half asleep. During that time the train is usually filled with construction workers and a few blue-collar men heading out to start their 7am shift. On that particular morning I found myself drawn to the shoes of men sitting in about 10 seats across from me; maybe it was because that was the only view I had, but nonetheless, my eyes were focused on those shoes.
Granted, they were shoes of polished leather, designer runners, construction shoes that were well worn, some that were new, and some showing signs of labor, and work.
So there I sat analyzing the shoes of men. Men from different walks of life, holding different jobs, thinking different thoughts, living different lives and despite all of what they do and how they looked, they all had something in common. They were of the working class; they were sons, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, boyfriends, lovers, co-workers, friends; men with dreams doing the 9-5. Some may be in hot pursuit of following after dreams, some starting, some seeking to find something to pursue, and some living their dream.
One day each of those men had to visit a shoe store to make a purchase of a brand new pair of shoes; buying a type that fits their working needs. For a short time those shoes looked so good, they may have been sprayed for protection from the outer elements. Then one day those shoes loses their shine; they’re no longer look as good, but guess what? They feel right; feet have found a home within the comfort of those shoes.
If those shoes could talk what kind of a tale do you think they would tell? If your shoes could talk what do you think they would say about you the person wearing them?
Would the story depict a journey filled with great experiences and memories, joy, laughter, and fun? Or would the story be one filled with kicking cans of failures and disappointment, emptiness, regret and blisters?
We choose the shoes, where we take them and when and how we wear them is up to us. Say, do you own a pair of clown shoes, or how about some dancing shoes?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tell yourself you can!
Why is it that when we're sometimes faced with life's challenges or changes, the first thing that pops into our minds are the words "I can't". Negative responses jumps out too quickly without us taking a moment to process. Chew on the thought, the idea, the opportunity like a cow chews on its cud, before blurting out - I can't!
I can - yes, it may be a sacrifice, it may require extra time, discipline etc, but I'm up for the challenge...sure, I can!
Once you convince self and commit to holding yourself accountable, then begin the doing process.
Telling self "I can" will set your mind in motion that will commence the creation of a movie within your mind whereby you will visually see yourself walking out the "I can".
Come on go ahead and do it and reap the rewards of a job well done!
I can - yes, it may be a sacrifice, it may require extra time, discipline etc, but I'm up for the challenge...sure, I can!
Once you convince self and commit to holding yourself accountable, then begin the doing process.
Telling self "I can" will set your mind in motion that will commence the creation of a movie within your mind whereby you will visually see yourself walking out the "I can".
Come on go ahead and do it and reap the rewards of a job well done!
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Dig your heels in and
When the going gets tough, when you’ve made a plan, when you’ve committed to investing your precious time, money and sacrifice. What is it about life that seems to rise up, ruffle your feathers, and stir the pot, to challenge your goals? You can count on obstacles to rare its ugly head to test the depth of your commitment. It is like nature seeks to confirm to self if you are really in for the long haul, or if you’re all talk.
So, what’s it going to be? You made a plan to get into shape at the beginning of this year – your intentions were solid, your fitness and nutrition plan in place, then you got side swiped by the cold and flu bug. Do you delay the plan? No, so you can’t exercise, but you can still implement your proper nutritional eating!
You plan to begin saving extra money for a holiday, or large purchase then the pressure to splurge tugs at your pocket book. Will you dig deep and stick to your budget or throw caution to the wind and spend, spend, spend?
You commit to spending more quality time with your loved ones or tackling a course instead of endless TV watching, but your favorite reality shows are hitting the screen faster than before, and can you keep up. You simply limit yourself to a certain amount of time for TV, and follow through on your promise.
Bottom line? You made promises to yourself with every intention on keeping them. No one likes being lied to, or let down, so why lie to yourself? You have it in you to follow through on the promises made, don’t disappoint and lie to yourself any longer. The fulfilling feeling you experienced while setting those goals will be over the top once those goals are kept and completed. So come on, dig your heels in and finish what you’ve started to build, it will turn out to be something wonderful!
So, what’s it going to be? You made a plan to get into shape at the beginning of this year – your intentions were solid, your fitness and nutrition plan in place, then you got side swiped by the cold and flu bug. Do you delay the plan? No, so you can’t exercise, but you can still implement your proper nutritional eating!
You plan to begin saving extra money for a holiday, or large purchase then the pressure to splurge tugs at your pocket book. Will you dig deep and stick to your budget or throw caution to the wind and spend, spend, spend?
You commit to spending more quality time with your loved ones or tackling a course instead of endless TV watching, but your favorite reality shows are hitting the screen faster than before, and can you keep up. You simply limit yourself to a certain amount of time for TV, and follow through on your promise.
Bottom line? You made promises to yourself with every intention on keeping them. No one likes being lied to, or let down, so why lie to yourself? You have it in you to follow through on the promises made, don’t disappoint and lie to yourself any longer. The fulfilling feeling you experienced while setting those goals will be over the top once those goals are kept and completed. So come on, dig your heels in and finish what you’ve started to build, it will turn out to be something wonderful!
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Don't lose your shine
One day for no particular reason I found myself paying close attention to my place of dwelling. It is a six-year-old condo with a fresh contemporary look and feel. However, though it is still fairly new, and I’ve no pets or kids running around, I noticed that the walls have lost their shine; certain features and fixtures now have a dull look to them.
After making this observation I realized that as it is with lifeless things, so it is at times with humans.
Some of us are convinced that as we age in years, we tend to lose our shine, our edge, our sharpness and I must disagree. Well, we lose our shine as we age because we do so by choice. We think that way, because we buy into the norm, the stasis quo and that has a mental affect on how we think, dress and act.
You don’t need to lose your shine at all, nada, never, no way!
So, how do we as aging adults maintain our shine and keep shining? Let’s begin with the mind – we have to reprogram and reinstall the right thoughts about how we think and see ourselves. For one thing, we need to stop using our age as an excuse to avoid doing certain things. The truth is, when we challenge our minds we become mentally energized and fresh ideas with positive affirmation rises and grow strong within us. Then there’s the obvious overflow, which is portrayed in how we speak, act and carry ourselves.
Then there the physical aspect – get moving, commit to and actively get involved in some form of physical activity for about 30-45 min a day. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
And finally there’s the spiritual part to balance out keeping and maintaining your shine. Spend at least 15-20 min a day meditating, and make the decision to live a forgiving, thankful and giving life. With those components actively present in your daily life, you’ll never lose your shine!
After making this observation I realized that as it is with lifeless things, so it is at times with humans.
Some of us are convinced that as we age in years, we tend to lose our shine, our edge, our sharpness and I must disagree. Well, we lose our shine as we age because we do so by choice. We think that way, because we buy into the norm, the stasis quo and that has a mental affect on how we think, dress and act.
You don’t need to lose your shine at all, nada, never, no way!
So, how do we as aging adults maintain our shine and keep shining? Let’s begin with the mind – we have to reprogram and reinstall the right thoughts about how we think and see ourselves. For one thing, we need to stop using our age as an excuse to avoid doing certain things. The truth is, when we challenge our minds we become mentally energized and fresh ideas with positive affirmation rises and grow strong within us. Then there’s the obvious overflow, which is portrayed in how we speak, act and carry ourselves.
Then there the physical aspect – get moving, commit to and actively get involved in some form of physical activity for about 30-45 min a day. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
And finally there’s the spiritual part to balance out keeping and maintaining your shine. Spend at least 15-20 min a day meditating, and make the decision to live a forgiving, thankful and giving life. With those components actively present in your daily life, you’ll never lose your shine!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Don't sell yourself short or settle for less than
the best! How often have we done what we really didn't feel or know was right, but did it anyway? We find ourselves succumbing to peer pressure, and that can be at any age or stage on our lives. Peer pressure isn't just about "Teen or Tween years". It affects all of us, because we all want to be accepted and we all want to fit in.
However at what cost? Your integrity, morals, beliefs and values?
We also sell ourselves short by the limitations we set within our own minds, and sometimes use excuses from our childhood to justify why we do what is harmful and destructive to our lives.
We settle for less than what we're worth when we lack the faith and confidence in ourselves that we not only can do it, but are worth it.
So, how about making a change right now and put a stop to this vicious cycle? It begins by simply believing that you are of value, and that you deserve the best.
What is your best? OK, now begin to make plans to go after your best, and don't stop until you have it.
However at what cost? Your integrity, morals, beliefs and values?
We also sell ourselves short by the limitations we set within our own minds, and sometimes use excuses from our childhood to justify why we do what is harmful and destructive to our lives.
We settle for less than what we're worth when we lack the faith and confidence in ourselves that we not only can do it, but are worth it.
So, how about making a change right now and put a stop to this vicious cycle? It begins by simply believing that you are of value, and that you deserve the best.
What is your best? OK, now begin to make plans to go after your best, and don't stop until you have it.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Surround yourself with the right people
How important is it to surround yourself with the right people? Well, how important is your mental, physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual state to you? Who in their right mind would seek to hang around people who are negative, disagree with everything and everyone, see the worst in others, have a low self esteem, make fun of other people and lead a pessimistic life?
If you said yes, then you are that person or have little or no value in your personal self worth.
What you listen to, and hang around will eventually influence your life and will benefit or break you; it is that simple. Even if you have a leader type personality, you will eventually get burnt out or broken down.
If you're married to someone like that, you aren't stuck...no, you're not! You just need to make the decision to begin to change you by empowering yourself with the right words, thoughts, people, and image to take the place of all that negative stuff.
Want your life to be better in every way? then begin to take care of you! You are a gift and you have the power within to change. It begins by making the decision, then by acting on that decision.
You are worth it aren't you?
If you said yes, then you are that person or have little or no value in your personal self worth.
What you listen to, and hang around will eventually influence your life and will benefit or break you; it is that simple. Even if you have a leader type personality, you will eventually get burnt out or broken down.
If you're married to someone like that, you aren't stuck...no, you're not! You just need to make the decision to begin to change you by empowering yourself with the right words, thoughts, people, and image to take the place of all that negative stuff.
Want your life to be better in every way? then begin to take care of you! You are a gift and you have the power within to change. It begins by making the decision, then by acting on that decision.
You are worth it aren't you?
Friday, October 19, 2007
Laugh a litte, laugh a lot!
Living in a world that is too fast paced, we find ourselves moving to the beat, we’re caught up in the rat race; not knowing where we got on and exactly how to get off.
Not sure why I began to pay attention to this, but over the past three months or so, I found myself paying attention to the faces of people – most of the faces I see carry no smile or pleasantness. Why? Why the “oh so serious, sad, stressed, deep in thought look?” Is life that bad for a large percentage of this planet that we’ve either forgotten how to relax and let our faces reflect how we feel, or is it simply that what we see on our faces, is a true reflection of how we feel inside?
Could it be that the busyness of our lives have stolen the joy and peace we need to lead healthy, joyful lives? Or could it be that we have fewer things to smile or laugh about? When was the last time we walked about with a pleasant relaxed look on our faces, just because? Laughing yoga and laughing clubs are on the increase, because a majority of adults do not laugh enough.
A recent survey states that children laugh on average 417 times a day, compared to adults who only laugh about 17 times a week! How about taking a page from the books of kids and make the decision to do ourselves a great favor and laugh a little…heck, laugh a lot, and as we do we’ll find that the muscles in our faces will relax and when we make eye contact with another face, we’ll realized that the kind gesture is returned, and we’ll find ourselves smiling back at the face, and suddenly realized that hey, that face is ours.
If you fall into the category of not laughing enough or have a not so pleasant look on your face, take this challenge, and do this exercise – crack a smile at yourself in the mirror, do some facial exercises and make the conscious decision that you will project a pleasant facial expression and remember to laugh a little, laugh a lot!
Not sure why I began to pay attention to this, but over the past three months or so, I found myself paying attention to the faces of people – most of the faces I see carry no smile or pleasantness. Why? Why the “oh so serious, sad, stressed, deep in thought look?” Is life that bad for a large percentage of this planet that we’ve either forgotten how to relax and let our faces reflect how we feel, or is it simply that what we see on our faces, is a true reflection of how we feel inside?
Could it be that the busyness of our lives have stolen the joy and peace we need to lead healthy, joyful lives? Or could it be that we have fewer things to smile or laugh about? When was the last time we walked about with a pleasant relaxed look on our faces, just because? Laughing yoga and laughing clubs are on the increase, because a majority of adults do not laugh enough.
A recent survey states that children laugh on average 417 times a day, compared to adults who only laugh about 17 times a week! How about taking a page from the books of kids and make the decision to do ourselves a great favor and laugh a little…heck, laugh a lot, and as we do we’ll find that the muscles in our faces will relax and when we make eye contact with another face, we’ll realized that the kind gesture is returned, and we’ll find ourselves smiling back at the face, and suddenly realized that hey, that face is ours.
If you fall into the category of not laughing enough or have a not so pleasant look on your face, take this challenge, and do this exercise – crack a smile at yourself in the mirror, do some facial exercises and make the conscious decision that you will project a pleasant facial expression and remember to laugh a little, laugh a lot!
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