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“Good Morning, God!” or “Good God, It’s Morning!” ?
What is my attitude when I open my eyes for the first time each day?
Is it a Good Morning?
This picture of a little chickadee is in my bathroom, asking me that very question.
Attitude affects and effects perspective, always. AFFECT is defined as influence; produce a change in; to move or stir the emotions. EFFECT is defined as the power or ability to bring about results. PERSPECTIVE is defined as a specific point of view in understanding or judging things or events, especially one that shows them in their true relations to one another.
You may ask me why this is important. The answer is a simple one: How we view our world and interact with it begins with the second we open our eyes. Our first waking thoughts “set our sails” and will determine our journey for the day..the winds that come, as they always do, will catch those sails and blow us completely off our intended course unless we first set them properly and then adjust them as needed.
Is your world a fright-filled one where you have to turn on the morning news to get your first dose of negativity or pick up your newspaper to do the same? Or do you get a fresh cup of coffee and sit down out on the patio to quietly greet the day? All of your first actions in the morning will influence the rest of your day.
You control your reactions to what happens to you by starting to make small changes in your schedule to accommodate new beginnings. Are you willing to take that tiny amount of time to make a difference in your life?
Awareness of Beauty
It has been said that, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I find that to be mostly true.
We all have our own definitions for Beauty and what it consists of. Out West here, it could be seeing a beautiful horse in full gallop, or a sunset over the mountains, or the sight of an eagle in the sky. It depends on your frame of reference really. Perhaps it is a sailboat on the horizon, or windsurfing, or zip-lining through the top of a forest somewhere. Perhaps it is a smile on a loved one’s face. Perhaps it is a beautiful flower or barn swallow babies on the nest.
Whatever it consists of, one thing can be ascertained: We can get so wrapped up in our work, our jobs, our To Do Lists, emotions, etc., that we lose our awareness of Beauty in any form.
I have been with a friend, looking at a beautiful sunset over the mountains, and standing in awe at the colors before me. I turned to my friend to comment on it, and she said, “What? I don’t know what you are talking about.” She was so consumed with some sad issues that she had totally lost sight of the moment and her surroundings.
Have you ever done that? If you have, are you willing to let yourself become more aware so that you can wake up your senses to the loveliness that surrounds you? After all, the only day we have is right NOW, the PRESENT. It is the only place we really live, second by second. Not yesterday, not tomorrow…Do you want to LIVE NOW?
Mountain Sunset
Gardenia
Barn Swallow Babies
Peace Begins With Me
This new year presents us with a brand new page to begin again, to change what we want to change, to become the person we were meant to be, and one place to start is a song by Vince Gill:
“Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth,
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father,
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my berother
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me.
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take,
Let this be my solemn vow:
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.”
Each day, with every word we speak, with every thought we think, we are creating our reality as we know it to be.
We are, indeed, planting the seeds that will bloom in our tomorrows.
Do you want a more peaceful life and experience less chaos?
It all begins with your thoughts and emotions. Do you REACT in lieu of ACT? Did somebody else make you angry?
Do you feel justified in these negative feelings because it is somebody else’s fault?
Guess who pays? It is not the other person, who has moved on and could usually care less.
You baggage just got heavier, didn’t it? Is it worth it to you to drag it around, every moment of every day?
Peace can be maintained as an attitude and a reality if you can truly realize that “Peace begins within you!”
There is nowhere else it can start. Life is so short. Why drag around chaos-creating emotions when you can choose to let it go?
If you could pretend to yourself that you are a spectator on some aggravation going on in your life, would your point of view change?
What advice would you give yourself when you see it from a different point of view? Is it really all that important? Is there something you can actively do to effect a difference in outcome? Are you listening to yourself? Are you listening to others?
Peace is not something that comes wrapped with a bow. It takes work on yourself and your perspective to calm down so you can experience something else that is far more livable and lovable.
Are you interested in PEACE, personally, and moment by moment? Figure out what the price is and pay it in whatever coin required. It could be the coin of forgiveness of self or others, the coin of blessing others on their way, or even the coin of loving yourself enough to be happy anyway. This is not an oxymoron. It is TRUTH.
It is in your hands. What do you choose?
Hibiscus – Adding Beauty
Hibiscus at Christmas
Autumn Seeds
Autumn Seeds
Change your tomorrow
If you want to change your tomorrow,
you must begin today to look at
what you are thinking about and dwelling upon.
These generate feelings, which are the power of the engine,
be it positive or negative.
If you truly want to change something,
you begin by writing down what it is you want to change.
You don’t have to be eloquent — just sincere.
That can begin a Synergy which begins to make a difference inside of you.
Are you willing to take a chance on yourself?
Sometimes
Sometimes…like today,
When sad things happen along the way,
I have to stop and ponder
So I can return to the wonder
Of the majesty of Life.
Sometimes…when tears fill my eyes
And my heart can feel the sighs,
I have to lift up my spirit
Because the mundane has stolen my joys…
Over a trifle of no importance.
Sometimes, when my feet are leaden,
My body weighs heavy from sadness,
Laughter beckons me with a smile:
“Follow me,” she says,
And I do, so willingly.
Sometimes, the sun breaks out from behind the clouds
Of confusion and despair,
Lighting my way along the path
To a profusion of colors and scents
In my garden of Peace.
The flowers that grow there
Grow nowhere else in this world.
One sniff brings Heaven,
Along with the sight of the Beauty
That guides me along my way.
Refreshed, I return to my world.
I hear the birds singing…
My being is winging
Its way aloft
To Higher pursuits more fitting.
No longer a broken-winged bird,
Caged in my unhappiness.
I am free to flit and float
In the sunlight,
Singing my song.
Drifting along to a happier sound am I…
No longer tied to the woes and agonies.
They are but a moment in Reality.
I do not feel bound to them anymore.
Sometimes, I am Spirit, and It is enough.
Are you willing to release
whatever is weighing you down
so you, too, can soar?
Sun breaks out
Lighting my way
Profusion of colors
Thoughts and Feelings
I often ask myself, “What do I choose to be today: bud, blossom, or withered stem?
The thoughts and feelings I dwell on will determine my choice:
The bud is my tomorrow…
The withered stem is my yesterday…
The blossom is NOW — this moment.
The choices I make today will determine what buds are made tomorrow.
Out of the cocoon of my yesterdays
comes what is happening today.
Today, I can choose once again to be reborn
into a new sense of awareness.
Again, I ask myself, “What will I choose?”
What do you want to choose?
Would you rather cling to those withered stems,
refusing to let go because of some worth you attached to them?
Could they ever again produce a bud or blossom?
Not likely.
Remember the good those stems once brought to you,
and choose to begin today to look for buds and blossoms.
They are all around you, if you but look.
They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes.
Widen your horizons and focus!
Quiet Reflections
Quiet Reflections,
Like the image of the candle on the water:
the slightest ripple changes the image.
Our thoughts and emotions do that,
just like the ripples on a calm surface
when a pebble is thrown in.
Some people have really turbulent waters,
and their lives reflect the chaos within.
The answer lies in quieting the mind and emotions.
Do you have the courage to try that?
Reflections
Quiet Reflections
Reflections
upliftingthoughts4u 