It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

-Sir Edmund Hillary

Achievement can be considered the pinnacle of effort.  That which you have strived for, worked for, endured much, promised little and sacrificed to accomplish all becomes secondary to the pride and joy that comes with Achievement.  You’ve done it!  All feats, great and small bring with them a sense of satisfaction.  Once you’ve experienced that sense of wonder and awe at your own abilities you will finally understand what it means to be self-reliant, resilient, and persistent.  Picking a goal and powering through what life gives you to accomplish that goal has no substitute. 

Once you have reached that level of accomplishment and know what it takes to get there, you must push yourself even further.  You may have heard the old cliché “don’t rest on your laurels.”  Well basically that means you need to keep challenging yourself.  If you don’t, your achievement will fade.  I believe a fundamental goal in life should be to continually strive and push yourself to achieve ever greater accomplishments.  I can tell you personally, after 4 years, I’ve finally finished my Master’s degree.  I just received my diploma in the mail and it is now hanging on my office wall.  It means a lot to me, because I went through a lot, professionally and personally while trying to achieve that goal of getting my degree.  Now that I’m finished, I’m thinking of what my next challenge should be. 

Sir Edmund Hillary’s quote is quite apt, at least for me, but at the same time, I’m reminded of that little ditty we’d sing when we were kids “…The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain… to see what he could see.  He saw another mountain, he saw another mountain, he saw another mountain, so guess what he did.  The bear went over the mountain…”  Life is full of mountains.  Go climb them, and conquer!

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

Hennry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sometimes, we make a quick judgment about someone and decide they just aren’t worth our time.  Their disposition and demeanor seem to be so outside our comfort zone we can’t relate.  It may be however, that we’ve only misinterpreted them.  People sometimes present themselves as hard and unlikable simply because they are unhappy.  That doesn’t mean they’re not worth knowing.

www.myeccentrictees.com site information and similar sites

www.myeccentrictees.com site information and similar sites

Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling

Recovering from something traumatic, stressful, tiresome, profound or troubling can take a lot of time and effort.  It is possible.  Understanding, Acceptance and Perseverance can lead to recovery.  As simple as it is to say those steps, it’s infinitely harder to actually take them.  But Understanding is about having knowledge and wisdom together and using them concurrently.  What do you think?    

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

In your life, you will be confronted with a myriad of choices and decisions.  I doubt it’s possible to accurately equate just how many choices you will make in your lifetime, but I think it’s safe to say out of the ones you’ve already made you’ve probably made some pretty big mistakes.  I’m not talking about the minor, insignificant ones.  You know, “Oh, I took a wrong turn and now we have to sit in traffic” or “Oops, I burned the toast.”  I’m talking about the whoppers.  The huge ones that change the course of your life and make you re-evaluate everything, or almost everything. 

You must understand, though, mistakes may feel like the end of the world, but they are not.  Granted some people make massive mistakes that take years to recover from.  Other people seem to never learn from their mistakes and are doomed to repeat them, over and over and over.  Sometimes, those nagging, backbreaking, sorrowful mistakes make you question your value and worth.  Sometimes those mistakes make you feel defeated and lost.  Even worse, sometimes your mistakes affect more than yourself.  Other people are hurt, or made to suffer.  It’s a terrible thing to have to live with knowing you cause someone’s death, or injury, or loss.  But it’s not the end of the world.  Want to know how I know?

Learning from our mistakes makes us better people.  If you take the time to actually sit down, examine the whole situation and figure out what went wrong, where and when, you can find a lesson to take you through the sorrow and pain of that mistake.  Beware though!  If you chose to ignore the mistake or actively deny it, the crisis or chaos that came with it the first time will happen again.  Don’t let that happen.  I’ve made some really big whoppers of mistakes, but I’ve honestly tried to learn from them.  For the most part I’ve been successful at learning from them.  You can too, you just have to be willing to Learn!  

PS: The title of this post is a quote from James Joyce.  I thought it was pretty apt.  Check out some of his books at amazon http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=James%20Joyce&tag=starlingtechnolo&index=books&link_code=qs

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.

Words once spoken by Henry David Thoreau

To me, that statement has special meaning.  I’m a dreamer first and foremost.  Yes I can get things done and be routinely diligent in my responsibilities, but left to my own devices I’d have my head in the clouds.  So actually following my dreams to make my life what I’ve always imagined is a great thought to live by.  What do you think?

PS: Originally found this picture from the following url: http://www.everything-beautiful.com/dream/ there's a great poem that goes along with it.  Check it out!

Take Time to Play

There is always work to be done.  It doesn’t go away and barring any of us winning the lottery, we’ll probably only live a life of pampered luxury in our dreams.  But you know what, that’s okay.  Real honest work can give us a sense of purpose, fulfillment and self-respect that is extremely important to our self-worth and self-esteem.  Sometimes, however, work, whether it be a 9-5er, the struggle against a disability, trying to cope with loss, dealing with someone with a mental disability, or your own, and life in general, you just have to let go and have fun. 

Play is just as important as work.  Not just relaxing and putting aside work for a moment, but actual, real Play.  Now playing for enjoyment can mean different things to different people and that’s fine.  Getting something positive out of the endeavor is the real value here.  If you like sports, play one.  If you like puzzles, put one together, if you like board games, go for it.  Even trying something new can be a great way to find a release through Play.  I never realized how fun surfing was until I actually tried it.  I never realized how bad I am at basketball until I tried shooting a few hoops.  There is a whole list of things I’ve tried and liked, and tried and didn’t.  Now I have a whole list of Playtime activities I can try to escape from the chains of work. 

Play for the simple joy of it.  Let it help clear your mind of all your worries, fears, and troubles.  Remember, the work will always be there, so take the time to have some fun and play! 

The Final Frontier

Captain Kirk would say that Space is the Final Frontier, and for a kick ass Sci-Fi show, I’d say he’s right.  But in real life, I think that the Mind is the Final Frontier, but also the true beginning of life.  Think about it, can you not think?  Throughout your entire life, you live inside your mind.  Your senses tell you of the outside world, but you interpret that stimulus, thereby forming your impressions of the world.  Now I’ve said before that if you change your perspective, you change the world.  That is so very true, but that change begins with the Mind.  Your consciousness is truly your own, and uniquely yours.  Sure, you might have similarities to some, or many, but no one is exactly like you.  For some, these ideas are not new.  For others these concepts have never dawned on them.  But guess what, it’s in the Mind’s eye that you draw meaning.

They say you can’t change anyone, only yourself.  I totally believe that is true.  I’ve had people ask me advice, wonder what they should do, waffle, and procrastinate even after I told them what I would do in a certain situation.  I think it’s because on some levels people don’t want to do something that goes against their way of thinking.  But if you learn to control and alter the way you think, interpret things, and perceive things from different angles, you might find that the broader scope of understanding can be very rewarding.  Think of it as fluid thought.  The process where you can take in multiple ideas, understandings and perceptions and come to a conclusion that is much more meaningful and dynamic than it would be otherwise.  Granted, if you’re new to this idea, it can be difficult to try, or even grasp.  But see that’s the beauty of the mind.  It Can adapt, and will, if you give it a chance.

Sometimes I get bored.  Not because I don’t have anything to do, but because I’m not challenged.  I need mental stimulation that is challenging and new.  This is a personal thing and I wouldn’t expect everyone to thrive on new experiences or intellectual puzzles.  But, changing the way you approach something can yield surprisingly creative solutions.  Your mind is the most powerful tool in your arsenal of personal creativity.  Challenge your mind and it will richly reward you!

Changing lanes and Twisting Turns

Douglas Clark
-Head writer, The Inspiration Engine

What do you do when life makes you change directions?  We all have plans, or at least we should.  Dreams and goals motivate us and drive us forward; otherwise we’d all be sitting on the couch watching TV.  And if we’re smart, we take that motivation fostered by our dreams and goals and work toward success.  Sometimes it takes a lifetime to achieve, and sometimes we never quite actually get there, but part of the value of the whole endeavor is the experience we gain along the way.  But what happens when those dreams and goals become unattainable?  What if after you’ve put forth so much effort, time, and energy you realize it will never happen? 

You have to change lanes.  The old saying is ‘life’s a journey, not a destination’ but it’s really easy to use the analogy of a life being like a highway.  Sometimes, while driving down that highway of life, you have to change lanes just to keep going.  It might be unpleasant, and it might certainly be not what you wanted, but changing direction, focus, your goal, you might just realize you were headed in the wrong direction all that time before.  My greatest fear is that I won’t live up to my potential.  It bothers me sometimes and I worry that my choices have all been wrong and I’m wasting my time in life.  But then there are some shining examples in my life of greatness (not trying to toot my own horn here) and I realize that it isn’t all bad, some of it is pretty great. 

But how do we know what direct to take if our purpose in life is now different, changed or even gone?  That can be a hard question to ask and answer.  Remember that your life is the sum of all your experiences.  If you take a look at them and realize those experiences are negative, it’s time to reevaluate yourself, your choices and your motivations.  That new path could finally lead you to a more positive life.  If your experiences are overwhelmingly positive, yet you feel lost because your goals are now unattainable, remember that you are the master of your own life.  You can choose a new path, one that matters to you, has meaning and depth.  Now it might take a while for that path to reveal itself, but keeping an open mind is an absolute necessity. 

If you’re not paying attention to exit signs, you might just blow past your next great adventure without even realizing it!

Thanks for reading!

Perseverance Pays Off

What keeps you going?  How do you go on when you know it may never get any better than this? 

Hope.  As corny as that sounds, it’s true.  It’s very rare that you find a person who’s life is absolutely nothing but despair, or total happiness.  Life has a way of fluctuating and changing without you even lifting a finger to help it.  But if you don’t even try to direct it on a course that you can live with, it will become oppressive.  That attempt at driving your life forward can be hard, but it can also be rewarding. 

Those clichés about ‘giving it your all’ or ‘never giving up’ and the like are clichés because people have used those thoughts and ideas to persist, strive, endure.  The mere act of living through hard times is an act of perseverance.  Now, I’m not talking about continuing on a path you know will lead to failure.  I’m not suggesting that you take on an endeavor you know to be fool-hearty and just shlog through hoping it will all work out in the end.  No, what I’m talking about is staying focused on your dreams, accepting your limitations, learning to deal with them and exploring new ways to achieve your goals. 

Remember, life can and does change if you change the way you look at it.  Striving for the ideal is motivational, comparing your success to the past is logical, and driving yourself to not give in to despair will help in your longevity.  Perseverance isn’t just about not giving up, it’s about doing better with what you have, even if what you have is less than yesterday.  Tomorrow can be better, you just have to give it your all.

  

You gotta believe you’re awesome to Be awesome.

Dreaming Should Lead To Doing

I sometimes let my imagination run wild.  To some that’s a good thing; to some that’s a bad thing.  There are times when letting your mind wander to far off places is perfectly fine, healthy even.  But there are also times when staying focused and getting the job done is just as important.  You’ve probably heard the old saying “you’ve got your head in the clouds” or “all work and no play makes you a dull person”, well if you’ve ever heard those being applied to yourself, you’ve probably taken the dreaming or doing way too far.

It’s all about balance (aren’t most things…?).  There are times when I know I should be Doing something, working hard at finishing a task or a goal I’ve set for myself.  An excellent point is my writing.  For years I’ve written short stories and dreamed of being a published author.  But I never submitted anything.  Dreaming far outweighed the Doing in that case.  So finally, I submitted several of my stories because it became important to have that balance between Dreaming and Doing.  I felt a sense of accomplishment I could never have gotten by just writing alone.  But see, that’s where the balance comes from.  Experiencing both is far more rewarding and enriching than either on its own.

I say, let your imagination run wild, but keep your nose to the grind stone.  They both have their merits, you just need to balance them out.   Case in point, in my effort to be artistic and creative, but also productive, I designed a shirt that I very much like.  Check it out on this link:

  (   Mystic Face  )

If you’re lacking inspiration, concentrate on being imaginative, when the spark hits you let it flow.  Just remember to make time to actually Do the work involved in making your dream a reality too.  Trust me, it will be worth it.