This Is Your Life

This is your life.

Do what you love, and do it often.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit.

If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.

If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.

Stop over analyzing, life is simple.

All emotions are beautiful.

When you eat, appreciate every last bite.

Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences.

Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them.

Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.

Some opportunities only come once; seize them.

Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.

Live your dream, and share your passion.

Life is short.

Filed under: Inspiration

Successful People

*Originally posted on April 7, 2008

• Successful people accept life as it is, with all its difficulties and challenges. They adapt to it rather than complain about it. They accept responsibility for their own lives instead of blaming or making excuses. They say YES to life in spite of negative elements and make the most out of it, no matter what the circumstances.

• Successful people develop and maintain a positive attitude toward life. They look for good in others and in the world, and usually seem to find it. They see life as a series of opportunities and possibilities, and always explore them.

• Successful people build good relationships. They’re sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. They’re considerate and respectful. They have a way of bringing out the best in other people.

• Successful people have a sense of direction and purpose — they know where they’re going. They set goals, accomplish most of them, and then set new goals. They accept and enjoy a challenge.

• Successful people have a strong desire to learn: about life, the world, and themselves. They see learning as a joy, not a duty. They continually enrich their lives by learning new things and improving themselves. They are always discovering, always growing.

• Successful people are action-oriented. They get things done because they’re not afraid of hard work, and they don’t waste time. They use it in constructive ways. They don’t get into ruts or become bored because they’re too busy looking for new experiences.

• Successful people maintain high standards in their personal conduct. They know that honesty is one of the main ingredients in the character of a good person. They are consistently truthful in both their private and public lives.

• Successful people understand the difference between existing and living, and always choose the latter. They get the most out of life because they put the most into it. They reap what they sow. And they enjoy life to the fullest.

(ht: The Maverick Spirit)

Filed under: Inspiration, Life, Success

Whispers

Walking by the train tracks on my way to work one day, I noticed a tiny tree sprouting from the rocks alongside the tracks. Headphones on, and power walk in place, I saw it—but really didn’t “see” it. But a “whisper” told me to stop. So I did. Taking off my headphones, I knelt down and took this picture. The whisper said “there’s something here. something to think about… How can tree grow in a place like this?”

With the image captured I went about the rest of my day but couldn’t stop thinking about it. And it made made me realize a few things. Life thrives in unexpected places and beauty can be found anywhere. Technology helps us capture a moment, but it can also keep us from hearing the whispers that are so important for our own development.

Life’s whispers are often soft and subtle. They come without warning. The whispers are always there—but we’re not always listening. The noise we surround ourselves with often keeps the whispers at bay. We become incapable of hearing them, until we choose to. At this point we see through fresh eyes.

I’m choosing to listen. But first I had to slow down and stop in order to do so. I had to be willing to miss the train if it meant learning something, even if just for the day. The whispers are there, waiting for us to notice them. But only if we’re open to turning our own volume down, even if only for a brief moment in time. For me, this moment just happened to be the right one.

(Written by Logic + Emotion)

Filed under: Beauty, God, Inspiration, Life, Technology, Trains, Trees, Whispers

Just Do It

Too often we are scared.
Scared of what we might not be able to do.
Scared of what people might think if we tried.
We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes.
We say no when we want to say yes.
We sit quietly when we want to scream.
And we shout with the others,
when we should keep our mouths shut.
Why?
After all,
we do only go around once.
There’s really no time to be afraid.
So stop.
Try something you’ve never tried.
Risk it.
Enter a triathlon.
Write a letter to the editor.
Demand a raise.
Call winners at the toughest court.
Throw away your television.
Bicycle across the United States.
Try bobsledding.
Try anything.
Speak out against the designated hitter.
Travel to a country where you don’t speak the language.
Patent something.
Call her.
You have nothing to lose
and everything
everything
everything to gain.
JUST DO IT

(reposted from August 6, 2004)

Filed under: Advertising, Barry Sanders, Fear, Inspiration, NIKE, Risk

Lawn Theology

I finally got to mow my lawn today. It’s been over six months since my last mow, and boy did I miss it. I’m not one of those people that have finely designed lawns on anything. Far from it to be honest. I have more rocks, sticks, and weeds in my yard than I know what to do with. And don’t get me started on the hills and valley’s (stupid moles).

No, I love mowing because it’s 45 minutes that I get to slap on my ipod and meditate. And it never ceases to amaze me how many epiphanies I’ll get by simply mowing my lawn. I’ll solve the worlds problems, not to mention my own, by simply walking back and forth in my yard attached to a beat-up Briggs & Stratton.

Last year my favorite epiphany came to me when I solved a problem I had been having all Summer. You see there’s this one stretch of about 50 feet where I have to define the line between mine and my neighbors yard. And every single time I’d get to the end of that stretch only to look back and find a winding mess. I couldn’t mow a straight line to save my life. But then one day I tried something new. I focused on this tree that was on the line between our plots, and kept my eyes focused on that tree the entire length of the strip. Wouldn’t you know it that when I looked back my line was straight as an arrow.

The problem I was having was that my focus was one foot in front of me, instead of seeing a much larger goal. A bigger target. With all my effort trying to perfect my route inch by inch, and foot by foot, I couldn’t keep the line straight. I needed an ending point. A object of focus to guide me in. I couldn’t help but think about my walk with God. How often do I take my eyes off Him like Peter did, only to find myself waist deep in the ills of life—all the time being able to walk on water had I only kept my eyes focused on Him.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:12-14

Filed under: Faith, Goals, Inspiration, Religion, Theology

Successful People

• Successful people accept life as it is, with all its difficulties and challenges. They adapt to it rather than complain about it. They accept responsibility for their own lives instead of blaming or making excuses. They say YES to life in spite of negative elements and make the most out of it, no matter what the circumstances.

• Successful people develop and maintain a positive attitude toward life. They look for good in others and in the world, and usually seem to find it. They see life as a series of opportunities and possibilities, and always explore them.

• Successful people build good relationships. They’re sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. They’re considerate and respectful. They have a way of bringing out the best in other people.

• Successful people have a sense of direction and purpose — they know where they’re going. They set goals, accomplish most of them, and then set new goals. They accept and enjoy a challenge.

• Successful people have a strong desire to learn: about life, the world, and themselves. They see learning as a joy, not a duty. They continually enrich their lives by learning new things and improving themselves. They are always discovering, always growing.

• Successful people are action-oriented. They get things done because they’re not afraid of hard work, and they don’t waste time. They use it in constructive ways. They don’t get into ruts or become bored because they’re too busy looking for new experiences.

• Successful people maintain high standards in their personal conduct. They know that honesty is one of the main ingredients in the character of a good person. They are consistently truthful in both their private and public lives.

• Successful people understand the difference between existing and living, and always choose the latter. They get the most out of life because they put the most into it. They reap what they sow. And they enjoy life to the fullest.

(ht: The Maverick Spirit)

Filed under: Inspiration, Life, Success

10 Things To Do Today

1. Play with a child. There are only 6,574 days between a child’s birth and their eighteenth birthday. Don’t waste a single one.

2. Keep that wallet in your pocket. Time is money and money is time – don’t spend either without a good reason.

3. Stop and smell the roses. You’re never too busy to enjoy the simple pleasures that life affords you.

4. Tell someone that they’re doing good work and that you appreciate it. Then tell their boss about it.

5. Do something you’ve never done before. You might have a hidden talent you’ve never known about.

6. Take a step towards one of your goals. You have goals, right? If you don’t know what the next step is, figure it out – that in itself is a big step.

7. Laugh out loud, and make someone else do the same.

8. Put some money away for the future. Anything at all, even if it’s just a dollar. One dollar a day starting at birth in a 4% savings account adds up to $120,000 at age 65. If you put away a bit more than that and just let it be, you won’t have a thing to worry about when you’re old, just chasing a grandchild across the yard.

9. Tell someone you love them. Your mother, your wife, your child, a person who influenced your life a ton – whoever you love.

10. Do something unexpectedly kind for someone else, just to help them out. If they ask you if you want repaid, tell them to just do a favor for someone else.

(ht: The Simple Dollar)

Filed under: Inspiration, Life

Rules For Life

Ten rules from the Immaculate Heart College Art Department.

1. Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.

2. General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher, pull everything out of your fellow students.

3. General duties of a teacher: pull everything out of your students.

4. Consider everything an experiment.

5. Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

6. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.

7. The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.

8. Don’t try to create and analyse at the same time. They’re different processes.

9. Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

10. “We’re breaking all of the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.” – John Cage.

Helpful hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything always. Go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully often. Save everything, it might come in handy later.

(ht: BoingBoing)

Filed under: Inspiration, Life, Rules