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One More Time

19 Jan

The first time we try to do something we really want to accomplish sometimes things don’t work out. We don’t succeed and the path we tried didn’t take us to the goal. When that happens we have to decide how to go forward. We can quit and let the goal go, and determine that it’s too hard or will take too long or any other reason we choose. Or we can try again. If we really want to accomplish the goal we can try a different method, take a different road, or get help from others. It depends on how important it is to us. But every choice we make that takes us off the road to the goal we’re seeking or takes us closer to it is ours. We just have to choose what we want to do. We will do what we want to do most. We can try again or we can let it go. But if we decide to try again one more time, and we reach the destination we’re seeking we will be happy.

Sometimes we all complain about our lot in life. We may be disappointed with the way things have turned out and feel like we should have more. Fortunately, nobody’s life is frozen in time. We have the power to change. We can change our personal situations, our relationships, our location, our jobs, and everything else. There isn’t anything we can’t do and if we aren’t happy with our lives as they are now, we can begin moving in a different direction. When we choose a new path it will be foreign to us, and we may stumble. We might face a detour or even a dead end. But we can try again and adjust our trajectory until we get pointed in the right direction. We can find our way to any destination we choose. We may not get there on the first try, we may get lost on the second try, and we may hit a road block the third time out. But we can always try one more time. We get unlimited chances in this life. There is nothing that can stop us from reaching our goals if we want them badly enough.

If we’ve been trying to go forward for a while and don’t feel like we’ve made any headway, we may feel discouraged. But discouragement is just a distraction and can be eliminated. We are learning as we go. If we haven’t yet succeeded, we’ve learned which ways won’t work and which roads don’t go where we’re headed. That’s valuable information that will help us moving forward. When we know what doesn’t work, we can move forward with what does. Life is full of opportunities for growth and understanding. The more we learn, the smarter we become. If we keep knocking on doors, one will open and lead us closer to our goal. But if we want to succeed we have to keep knocking, we have to keep going, and we have to be willing to try one more time. No matter how many one more times that turns out to be. We can do that. We are resilient and strong enough to accomplish anything.

Today if you’ve been discouraged because you haven’t been able to achieve your goal, try one more time. Choose a different path, or try a different method. You can achieve anything you choose. There isn’t anything you can’t do. Try again, and you’ll get there. The goal is in sight. Look carefully and you’ll see it. Extend yourself and you’ll reach it. You can accomplish anything. Keep going.

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Taking the Risk

7 Jan

In our lives, we all get the chance to try something new we want to do. It’s fun to try new things, but since they are unfamiliar to us there is some uncertainty and there may be some risk involved. Sometimes the risk is physical – if we want to try snowboarding or rock climbing it looks exciting but we may fall. And sometimes the risk has nothing to do with our bodies, and everything to do with our futures. If we want to change careers but we’re well established where we are now, letting our security go for something new, even if it’s something we really want, can rattle us. Should we do it or should we play it safe and stay where we are? Risk exposes us to possible loss. What that loss is depends on the situation. Of course, we can go through our lives avoiding new situations and staying on the same familiar road if we choose. But if we don’t try new things, if we don’t stretch out of our comfort zones, we’ll never know what we can do. We are all capable of greatness. But we can’t become great unless we push ourselves to do everything we can to get there.

There are more things to experience in this life than we’ll ever be able to accomplish. But the more things we expose ourselves to, the more unique situations we face, the deeper we become and our understanding of life broadens. If we keep our lives small, don’t venture far, stay away from things that are different than what we’re accustomed to and ask for nothing more, our sense of the world will be small as well. Imagine wearing the same color every single day. We know what color it is, and we know how it will look every time we put it on. The repetition of doing the same things can make us feel secure because we know what to expect. But if we put on a new color every single day, and try colors we never thought we could wear, we would see ourselves in many different ways. And that sense of newness and diversity would deepen our experiences. We might find that trying new colors makes us feel happy, something we would never have learned if we had remained in our old pattern.

The experience of taking a risk and trying something new is different for everyone. Some people thrive on the thrill of never knowing what’s coming next, and others prefer to plan escapades into new arenas. If we’re unsure, we could start small and decide to try something we’ve never done before but that will have little impact on us. We could explore new areas for work by volunteering in those arenas and trying them out instead of making a decision to change all at once. We don’t have to bungee jump over a 100 foot drop to take a risk. Just trying something new, something we want to do but have never attempted, will bring us great experience and often big rewards. There is something wonderful about being terrified of a new experience, doing it anyway, and surprising ourselves by succeeding. We can do anything we want to do. We will be enriched as we understand that no matter what comes we’ll be able to navigate it. This life was meant to be experienced. And we have everything we need to try anything we like.

Today if you’ve been thinking about trying something new but have been concerned about the risks involved, you can do it anyway. Plan for it, learn about it, and then take it on. There isn’t anything you can’t do. You are capable of stretching and learning anything you want. Enrich your life by stepping out and pushing yourself a little further. You can conquer any obstacle and on the other side your confidence will soar. Go for it. You can do anything.

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Suddenly

8 Dec

When we’re trying hard to accomplish something very difficult, or trying to change something in our lives that’s hard, it can seem like the road is never ending.  We push, and we inch forward, and then we have a setback, and it seems despite all we’ve done, we’re back at the beginning again.  Change takes time and when we’re trying hard to accomplish it, we can get frustrated and feel stuck.  But if we keep going forward, even when it feels like we’re going nowhere, eventually something happens that breaks us through.  Something finally goes right, and we feel recharged and hopeful again.  It’s like suddenly everything changes and we realize we can do this.  When we get a break, even a small one, we realize we can keep going and when it happens, in that moment everything is different.  If we were discouraged, we feel buoyed up.  If we felt defeated, we feel we can prevail.  It’s amazing when it happens.  Suddenly everything has changed and we’re renewed.

Although we know we can accomplish anything we choose to do, if it’s something big, something far reaching or we’re trying hard to change, it can be daunting and overwhelming at times.  We know what we want to do, and we know how to get there, but the road is long, and filled with detours and complications.  We can get discouraged and sometimes we might even consider giving up.  We might think we should just let it go and move on to something easier.  But accomplishing something difficult isn’t impossible – it’s just difficult.  We are capable of facing difficulties, and we’ve proven that over time.  We can face them, we can process them, we can manage them, and we can overcome them.  If we keep that in mind, if we remember the successes we’ve already had, we can press forward and day by day we will get closer to where we want to go.

That light at the end of the tunnel will come.  That break we’ve needed will finally arrive.  And when it does, everything will change.  Even the smallest gain, or the tiniest encouragement, can change everything.   Perhaps one person notices our efforts and compliments us, or maybe there is one small adjustment that allows us to move up.  Whatever it is, when the positive moment comes, suddenly we can see the road ahead and we know we can traverse it.  We are resilient and capable.  There isn’t anything we can’t do.  We have all the courage and stamina we need to make any change we want to.  And when the blessing finally comes to us, when we achieve the objective and grab the gold ring, it will be worth everything we did to get there.

Today if you’ve been pushing and trying so hard to make a change and it seems like you’ve been constantly going uphill against the wind, hang on.  The break you need is just around the next bend.  It’s right at the doors.  Take another step forward, and hold on for another day.  All the blessings you are seeking are there for you, and will be worth everything you’re facing now.  There is sunshine and light just ahead.  You can do everything you need to get to it.  You are amazing and you have everything you need to succeed.  Just keep going.

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Risking It All

27 Nov

We can do anything we want to do with our lives. We can accomplish monumental tasks, we can plan for success, and we can work to make all our dreams come true. But we can’t DO anything by sitting around thinking about it. We can’t accomplish anything if we’re afraid of the risks and don’t even try. There are risks with everything. What we want might be harder than we first envisioned, it might take longer than we imagined, and despite everything we do, we might fail the first time we try. Sometimes we imagine the risks to be far worse than they turn out to be, but whether real or imagined, we will face them with every endeavor. However, if we’re determined to work on the issue we’ll figure things out as we go. The greatest risk isn’t that things may go wrong. The greatest risk of all is not trying. If we do nothing, we will never succeed at the things we want most. And if we let that happen, if we don’t even try, our lives will never be the lives we desire.

It’s so easy to live in a dream state. We can go through the motions, face our days as they come and just get along. It’s simple and takes very little effort. We can dream of how things could be, we can even spend time planning, but if we do nothing, it means nothing. At some point we have to decide what kind of life we really want. Do we want to take the easy road, play along, go along, and never reach for something more? Or do we want to try, really try, to do the things we dream about? We can do anything we want to. We can make our lives any way we want them to be. But it takes effort. It takes courage, and it takes the willingness to face whatever comes as we move forward. If we aren’t willing to risk whatever it takes to be completely happy, we will never achieve it. We deserve to be happy. We deserve every advantage, but we have to give it to ourselves. We’re the only ones who can make it happen.

What if we try and we fail? What if we get hurt? What if nothing works out the way we thought it would? Can we face that? Of course we can. If we try one way and it fails, we learn what doesn’t work and we can change our plans going forward. Few things are accomplished in the first attempt. But if the first failure ends it for us, if we give up after one loss, we have no chance of success. We don’t have to quit even if everything goes wrong the first time, or the second time, or even if it takes a while to figure it out. We have the stamina and the patience to try again no matter how many times it takes. We can find the way by continuing to go forward. If we keep moving forward step by step, we will find success and achieve the goal.

Today if you’ve been wanting to change something in your life, if you’ve been trying and haven’t yet succeeded, don’t stop. You know more now than you did when you started. You are smarter and more aware of what you need to do. Try again. You will find the answers. There isn’t anything you can’t do. Face whatever risk you must and press forward. The goal is in sight. Keep your focus. You’re almost there.

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Earthquake

17 Nov

Life is unpredictable and we are sometimes stunned or even shocked by the way events unfold. Situations can change suddenly and unexpectedly, and in an instant we may find ourselves in a completely different place. When it’s somewhere we never expected to go, it can be startling and unsettling. Like an unexpected earthquake we are caught off guard and feel like the ground beneath us may give way. When everything shifts and the bottom suddenly falls out, we may be left dangling trying to figure out what to do. But we can hold on and go forward once the shaking stops and get our bearings again. If everything is suddenly changed we have to let it all go, and get down to our very foundation to begin again. This can be a stunning and difficult experience, and we may feel great sadness and disappointment. But we can start over in a new and more successful direction. We can re-set, revise, and modify our course going forward. We can find the right road, and we can still succeed.

When our lives suddenly change and nothing remains the same, we have to reorganize our thinking. If we’ve invested a lot of time in the situation we may feel angry at how much we’ve lost. However, as long as we’re actively engaged in our lives, we aren’t wasting time. No matter what comes to us we gain something from every experience. We learn things as we go, even if the situation disintegrates. If nothing else, we’ve learned what can go wrong and that is valuable information. Every experience brings some bit of information we can use again that will be helpful. Even when we fall, we learn more than we knew before.

Deciding how to go forward when we’ve had a serious realignment in our focus may take some time and thought. Sometimes a sudden turn changes our destination, and we must clearly determine where our next step will take us. We must decide where we want to go now, and what we want our lives to look like when we get there. Once we’ve decided that, we can plot a course and make a plan to succeed. There really are no straight lines in life. There are lots of curves, detours, changes, and complications that pull us here and there. But if we keep the destination in our minds, and keep our eyes on the goal, no matter what happens, we’ll get there. We will do whatever it takes to succeed.

Today if you’ve had a stunning development that has shaken your course off its axis, regain your footing and reevaluate your plans. Decide where you want to go. You haven’t wasted any time, and you will use the knowledge you’ve gained from this experience to be successful going forward. You are strong enough and smart enough to figure this out. You have everything you need already.

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