 No More Participation AwardsIf you played youth sports you received a certificate of participation. The thing is no one cherishes participation awards. Regardless if we want one or not we all receive participation awards for our life. Our life has to have more meaning than a cheap certificate acknowledging that we lived. Participating does not mean you are winning only existing.
The truth is a lot of us are content with just participating. Not you. You are not content with just existing you want more out of life that is why you are reading this right now. You don’t want to go through the motions you want to live with a sense of purpose and meaning. Deep down you know that you possess greatness. The thing is we all do but few pursue their greatness. You are one of the few that will not accept participating without engaging at the highest level. You will push yourself regardless of who is there to support you. You will win because you don’t accept losing. You don’t take no for an answer. The point is we all can be tempted to settle for less than who we are. But we know what settling get us. A certificate of participation is something you receive no matter if you win or lose. You receive a birth certificate when you are born and a death certificate when you die. What happens in between is your choice. You write your life’s story through your choices and actions. Don’t settle for just existing, your life has meaning. Find out what you were born to do and don’t waste time, do it now. When you do your life with be filled with rewarding experiences that will leave a story to tell the generations to come.
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 If we are honest, we like to be distracted. We don’t want to see ourselves without the filters we carry with us. So we play make believe. Trying desperately to prove that we belong and that we are not a waste of space. We want to be someone more than what we feel we are. So we play pretend. We put on our capes and dress the part of super heroes with special powers able to do the impossible. We ignore anything that resembles truth because the lies look and sound better. The lies are louder. We like loud because there is a pain that can only be heard in silence. That pain is what keeps us from being who we are. It hurts too much to confront yet we can’t escape it. The truth is there is nothing scarier than loving yourself unconditionally. I mean every aspect of you. Everything.
How can you love your mistakes? How can you accept your flaws? True love is scary because it causes you to let go of your capes and filters and fully expose yourself with no condemnation attached to you. It causes you to confront the person in the mirror. You have to face reality which is not always pretty. It is not refined and it is not always attractive. The unmasked you is worthy of love and worthy to love. When you take the hard road of self-acceptance you discover that loving yourself is your superpower. That is your gift to share with the world. Meaning the world is easy to point out what is wrong with you. There is a long list of things that show how imperfect you are. But Love is what matters, everything else is a distraction. When you love unconditionally it gives your surroundings to do the same. You empower others to accept themselves. You free them from the monsters they have been tormented by in their minds. You show the world that we don't have to put on a cape to have the power we already possess the power. You are a superhero. You have the power to change the world through the love in you. You don't have to play pretend, you are the real thing. There is one thing that can stop a dream before it starts; non-action. You can say you believe in your dreams but never take action towards reaching them. When you don't act on your dreams, you forget about them. Life happens and as reality sets in you have no time to dream. The life you want may be a fantasy, it may seem impossible but what is wrong with that? What is wrong with having a dream so big that it scares you? It is okay to be scared as long as you don't let fear stop you from action. Your actions reinforce your beliefs.
You are more than able to reach your dreams. More importantly you can live the dream now. Your actions now may seem insignificant but they are purposeful. They shape your life and prepare you for where you are going. Keep believing in yourself. No matter how hard the journey may see, you are worth it. Your life matters. Your dreams matter go live them out.  The Attitude of Success
The world defines success by the accomplishments and positive outcomes you achieve. Basically, it is about your performance. Your performance determines how successful you are, but I have discovered you can be successful by the world’s definition and still feel unfulfilled. Your life can be void of purpose and passion even while having all of the achievements in the world. So, are you truly successful if you are unfulfilled? I am learning that success comes from within; it's a part of me, not something I achieve. Success is who I am. I am successful because I choose to be who I am in all things. I choose to be present in spite of my insecurities and fears. I choose to love myself even when I feel I don’t deserve it. My success is not measured by the number of awards I receive or the reviews I get for my work. My success is rooted in the infinite love that dwells inside of me. My connection to the infinite allows me to live freely in who I am created to be. The Infinite created me and that means my identity is enclosed in unconditional love. No longer trying to prove I belong, I accept who I am and carrying an attitude of success wherever I go.  What does it mean to live your dream life? Honestly do you know?
I have been in pursuit of my dream ever since it came to me. As adversity followed me the dream resembled more of a nightmare. No matter how many good things came to me doing what I loved, it was never enough. I wanted more. I would write a life changing book and share it with the world. Then move on to the next book. I never took time to rest because I was in pursuit of something greater. I would work so hard that I would forget to eat or drink for hours. My eye would twitch and I just kept on working. My pursuit of the dream clouded my vision. I lost sight of what I loved to do because I was blinded by ambitions of greater. You see, I wanted it so bad that I was stressing myself out. My grip was so tight that I was squeezing the love out of the dream. What happened then is the work took over and love sat on the sidelines. Like Peter on the fishing boat toiling all night and not catching one fish. I doubled down on the work but was getting further from the dream in the process. Peter had Jesus on the sidelines. Jesus was on the shore and yelled out to Peter to cast his net on the other side. He obeyed and caught a full net of fish. Peter was in position but needed direction and vision to receive what he desired. In my situation I was praying about pursuing the dream and God spoke to my heart. "You are living the dream." Light flooded my spirit and a heaviness was lifted. I had it all wrong. I did not need to pursue anything. I had all I desired living inside of me the entire time. Love directs us to look inside of ourselves for answers and vision. When you can see again you don't have to work for the dream it works for you. You can do what you love and love is the prize. Nothing outside of you can satisfy you. You will always long for more. But what is inside of you can satisfy you. The divine spark that caused you to dream is the same energy that will cause you to live the dream. Until next time. My writing projects have been stretching my writing gift. I am learning to embrace all of me. Every one has a gift and it is important to our well being to use it. I learn more about myself through my gifts than I do any other way. Gifts have no expiration date they never get old but they are not meant to remain on the shelf. It takes using your gifts to show you how precious life really is. I am thankful for every opportunity I get to write. It does not matter what people think about it, for my joy comes from writing not accolades or praise. When you do what you love that does not mean others will love what you have done but no one can take away the joy that comes from creating with your gift.
Anyone that reads this blog I hope that you find your gift and use it. It will change your life. It will change your world. A great sign to find what your gift is, is recognize what comes easy to you. When you find what your gift is, start spending time learning more about it and it won’t be long before you are sharing it with the world. I overlooked my writing gift for years, doing other things that I was not as gifted in. When I discovered my gift I found life. Now I am excited about each day for I love what I do. It does not matter what life brings I have a way to express myself that frees me from the suffering and challenges in this world. When you discover that gift you will never be the same. In a society that wants to present a perfect image. I rebel against it. I don't want to blend in. I don't want to have my life filtered into an image of who I should be. I just want to be who I am. I want to be my best; living at a standard set in love. Why should I hide behind filters when who I am is good enough. I feel I am not alone. I believe there are many that are tired of hiding who they are. Our beauty lies in being ourselves. Giving the world a true reflection of what perfection is; the person you see in the mirror.
 I yearn for peace. One that is not rooted in the external. I want an internal peace that rests in hope. A hope that bleeds passion and positive energy. Peace can fade in hands of one that places it in the shallow waters of opinions. Unstable is the footing of minnows. I don't want to be a minnow when I am a whale.
What is the point of being alive if I don't live on purpose? I don't get it. Why following people that are afraid of deep water? Is there peace if there is no evidence of adversity? Is there growth if there is no pain? I don't want people to follow me if I am not going anywhere. It makes no sense. We empower people to tell us what to do, what to eat, how to live yet these same people don't participate in living on purpose. They are spectators that have no vested interest in our success. They want followers but have no clue on how to lead. Don't follow me if I am not walking. Non action is death covered in laziness. Our mouths speak but are feet sink. We dig our graves in the words we refuse to follow. Allowing worry to be our shovel and fear to be our coffin. We rest in everything but peace and pass on the slow death to our witnesses. We tell stories. Our fiction is our existence and the roles we live only masks the person we are. I don't want to hide anymore. I am insecure and that is okay. I am afraid and that is okay. I am aware and that is where I find peace. A peace that tells me it is okay to not be perfect. It is okay to not have all the answers and have it all together. A peace that leads me to live in spite of my perceived weaknesses. A peace that frees me from the casket of fear and uproots the worry that has covered me. Resurrecting me to the present and clothing me in purpose. I am free and regardless of the results my life is ....all I discover it to be. I don't need to know to act. I choose life so I live. Let the chips fall where they fall.  When I played football in high school. There were a lot of guys that talked about how good they were and if they wanted to they could to this and do that. The problem was they never even joined the team. They sat in the stands watching us play but never experienced the game themselves.
I don’t want to be “all talk”. There is a saying: “Don’t talk about it, be about it”. I am learning that it really is hard to be about what you talk about. But I am embracing the challenge because I want to “be in the game” not just “watch the game”. What we want means nothing until you put “weight” on your thoughts. I am learning to keep my mouth shut about what I am going to do until I actually start doing it. Until next time.  Letting go of things is hard but holding onto them can be deadly. It does not matter if it is a relationship or a career change. Letting go of your world to create a new one is not easy, but it is necessary to move forward.
Many people hope for big changes in their life but are not willing to let go of who they’ve been. You can’t receive change, if your hands are full. Seasons changes and though a tree looks amazing during the fall they become bare in the winter. Their bareness is necessary for new growth. I am learning to embrace bareness for with it brings new growth, new experiences, new perspectives and a new life.  I can’t give up on my dream.
It is greater than just me. I have to keep pushing forward. No matter the resistance, No matter the temptations, or struggle. I can’t waste my time living in “what if”, My opportunity is now. I will not be afraid anymore. I will embrace my dream. I choose to live not simply exist.  Everyone has opinions on how you are suppose to live.
“Don’t eat that, Don’t wear that, Don’t listen to that, Don’t read that, Don't write that.” It is not that I don’t listen to wise advice because I do. It is that most advice I hear is fear based. I don’t want to live in anyone's box of fear. I meet people that are confused on what they are supposed to do in their life because someone told them what they loved to do was not good enough. The great thing about life is that no matter what has been said that we followed, we have the opportunity to change our mind. The uncommon voice that speaks leads us to truth about ourselves. It inspires us to be better than we have been. It pushes us to workout when we want to be lazy. It encourages us to pursue our dreams, when we want to quit. Happiness awaits our acceptance of who we are. When we follow our heart we discover a love that brings life to us. By letting go of the other voices we can hear the voice that speaks within our heart. The voice that leads us to living a life full of purpose. Until next time...  I remember having a crush on a girl in high school and actually writing her a letter telling her how much I liked her and I wanted to go out with her. When I called her on the phone she laughed at me. That experience made me afraid to share my feelings with other girls for a while; I did not want to be embarrassed again. It is funny how one event can frame a person for a lifetime.
How many adventures, relationships, opportunities have you missed out on because you held on to a bad experience? Life is too short to allow the past to determine your future. I don’t want to be afraid of what will happen, I want to take the risk and follow my heart. I had to take a risk in asking other girls out in high school and college. In doing so, I took my power back. Fear does not want you to make choices or take risks, it wants you to sit on the sidelines worried about what could happen if you were in the “game.” We have to take our power back and don’t live a boring, regretful, worrisome life. Now I am married to my best friend and it has been an adventure that I cherish. I am living not existing. I am going after what is in front of me not running from things anymore. Some may call it reckless but I call it exciting. Take a risk, step out of your comfort zone and enjoy life.  We need a moment of silence.
In the busyness of the day we can fall into the trap of hurrying through all that we do. By the end of the day our face is stressed, our bodies are fatigued, and we are looking for the nearest couch to rest on while we allow the television to distract us from all that we experienced in the day. We don’t want to communicate with our children. We don’t want to talk to our spouse. We just want to be left alone to enjoy our evening in silence. The problem that we encounter is we miss the most important time with our families because we don’t know how to handle the busyness that life presents to us daily. We don’t need to get away from our families we need to get out of being so busy. We need to relax and breathe in spite of what is going around us. We can then become an influence of peace to our surroundings. I don’t like to rush through my day but sometimes I allow what is happening to get me to rush when I desire to relax. Yes, we have responsibilities that cause us to meet deadlines and be on time but no one likes a product that is half done we all want the best. Believe it or not but when you give your best people will wait for it. When you have time it works for you not against you. Use the time you have to give your best. Take your moment of silence, breathe and relax for your best it is worth waiting for.  "If there is no door to your dream, create one." One of the biggest obstacles to reaching our dreams is we don’t see a door. Many hope that their dreams come true but few actually believe they will. Most don’t realize that what they see when their eyes are closed is more real than what they see when they are open. If you truly want the dream to come true, simply believe the dream.
Your faith creates a door to a world full of things deemed impossible. Faith is more than just positive thinking it is seeing beyond sight. It is connecting with what is in you and not allowing what you see naturally to blind your spiritual vision. You are a powerful being and when you begin to connect with that power nothing will stop you from seeing your desires and dreams manifest in this world.  "The race is not given to the swift or the strong but the one who endures until the end."
Talent is a great thing to possess but talent alone will profit you little. Your talent has to be nurtured and challenged for you to really discover the depth of what you possess. Many people can start a marathon but not everyone is willing to see it through until the end. Being consistent is a quality that will take you beyond just finishing one marathon. It will take you to the highest level and help you realize your potential. An important aspect of being consistent in what you love to do is, it eliminates the stress of trying to do it all at one time. No man can run across the United States of America in one day but if he consistently ran each day with focus and determination he would eventually get there. Why? Because he is not focused on the end, but rather the present challenge. Those that are consistent in life get things done. They may not be the most talented but they make up for it by having supreme focus for a short amount of time. Being consistent allows you to enjoy the journey and appreciate the present. No longer burdened by the massive goal set before you. You reach for the small goal ahead of you. If you are overweight, going from 300 pounds to 180 pounds would seem almost impossible and if that is your focus, you will eventually quit when adversity comes. It is not about a quick fix, it is about being fully present in your now. It is about being better than you were yesterday. The weight (burdens) will be a distant memory through consistently striving to do better than you did before. One day you will be where you set out to go but still eager to go even further. Your consistency will take you beyond your goals to places you never imagined going. “It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.” - Anthony Robbins “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” - Jim Rohn |
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