Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow.
It only saps today of its joy.
Leo Buscaglia
Something we all need to remember.
But we often tend to forget.
Why is that?
Monday, musings…
Tag: choices
Thursday thoughts…
Most folks are about as happy
as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln
I know from experience this is true. In the past, I spent lots of time thinking about the negatives in my life. I was so serious about all that was bad that I rarely thought about what was good. What a waste of energy!
It took me some time and hard lessons to learn that being sad and unhappy was how I chose to live, and it didn’t have to be that way. My attitude and perspective needed to be changed. What I thought and how I looked at life was wrong.
I am not a Pollyanna type of person who only sees the good. I know there is bad stuff happening out there. But I have a choice about how I deal with it. I can focus on the ugly things I can’t change and complain about them and be unhappy. Or I can look for the good that may not be easy to see but worth the effort to find it.
I now choose to look at life positively. In the world today, it isn’t always easy to find the good. Sometimes we have to pull out the weeds to see the flowers. It does take a bit of effort but is worth the work.
Image by Sonya Lindberg at Pixabay
Monday Musings…
“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”
Wendell Berry
Most people seem to think joy is something that just happens and only when good things happen. Often they think that one is either a joyful person or not. I think these thoughts are a bit sad and I think they are confusing joy with happiness.
It is true, we are happy when good things happen and unhappy when bad things come our way. But joy does not come and go. It is not dependent on circumstances or events. Joy is not simply emotion like happiness. It is a seed planted within us, and when cultivated over time its roots draw on the well-spring of our heart and it grows. The health and strength of that well- spring requires our vigilant tending and care.
I am usually happy and in good spirits but not always and no one would call me a happy-go-lucky kind of person but there is joy within me. Joy, for me, is the foundation of my life. It wasn’t always so. There were many years when I didn’t know joy, it wasn’t a fact of my life. I denied its presence. I won’t go into how joy became a reality in my life, I will just say it had to do with getting to know and spending time with, you know Who.
Joy is given to each of us.
Being filled with joy is a choice.
That’s a fact!
Monday Musings…
“Most folks are as happy as
they make up their minds to be.”
Abraham Lincoln
I totally agree with Abe on this. It’s up to us whether or not we are happy. I am not a Pollyanna kind of person who thinks everything is wonderfully rosy all the time. I know there are times in all our lives that are pretty awful. Bad stuff happens that’s a fact of life but how we choose to respond is up to us.
We can choose to wallow in self-pity feeling sorry for ourselves or we can stand tall and look for solutions to the problems we face. Yes, we may become depressed and sad. Not everything in life brings a smile or laugh. Some things make us angry or we cry in our distress and feel alone. How we react to our feelings will determine how we respond and the next steps we take.
Life is a journey that is, if not easy usually enjoyable, but not always. There will be mud puddles and some trash along the path and sometimes mountains to climb or tunnel through or places that have been flooded and need a bridge built. It is up to us how we do what needs to be done and what we focus on, the trials or the trail up ahead still to be explored.
It takes a strong will and courage, a sense of humor and a loving heart, and the people we love who love us to face the challenges of life. It may be easier to be miserable but being happy is so much more…much much more!
Choosing Kindness, reflection…
Kindness Challenge, week 5
Choosing Kindness
Reflection
For the most part, it easy to be kind; to smile and say hello to someone you pass while walking or at the mall or grocery store. It’s not difficult to pick up something someone dropped or get something off a high shelf for someone who can’t reach it. Little acts of kindness are easy to do.
Some difficult things are easy to do when you are doing them for someone you care about or have empathy for and understand why they need help. To send cards or flowers, take a meal to them, go to the grocery or pharmacy to get what is needed, do the laundry or straighten up the kitchen, be encouraging or just be there to listen to them. When love is the motivation kindness is not difficult.
It is easy to be kind…except when it isn’t.
We sometimes have to choose to be kind. When we are busy and have a lot on our mind and in a hurry it’s a choice to smile and pass the time of day, to help someone struggling to get on the bus with an arm full of packages, let someone go ahead of you in line at the bank, post office or store. It’s inconvenient to be kind sometimes but does that make it any less important?
When we hear of an illness, accident or death and it doesn’t concern someone we know well or involves someone we don’t care for it takes extra effort to help them and to be kind. If a person needs kindness does it matter whether or not we like them or their lifestyle or beliefs, whether or not they have good hygiene or clean clothes?
In her Challenge post for this week, Niki included this quote:
It’s not our job to play judge and jury, to determine who is worthy of our kindness and who is not. We just need to be kind, unconditionally and without ulterior motive, even – or rather, especially – when we’d prefer not to be.
Josh Radnor
It may not be easy but it is simple…
love one another.
Fill in the blank…
Friendly Fill-Ins, Week 35
I have seen more than a few rock bands but my all time favorite to see is symphony orchestras play in concert.
I would like to attend a Cleveland Symphony Orchestra concert. It’s been too long!
In the dead of Winter, I bake a lot.
The main ringer on my cell phone is Calling You, it’s one of the choices that comes with the phone.
Patricia's Place 
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