2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

I think Slay is busy this morning, so I'll tag in

January 31st



Open-ended miracle




You are alive, and that is amazing. You can make a difference, you can change things, right here and now, and that is a boundless opportunity.

There are challenges, and they are difficult, even painful. Yet they are nothing when compared to the possibilities.

What?s happened in the past makes you wary about the future. Fortunately, you can act in the present to influence the future in a positive and meaningful way.

Life is an open-ended miracle and it is yours today. Get clear about what you would most like to do with it, and get busy working to make that happen.

You are immersed in a sea of energy and abundance. You have the outstandingly good fortune of being in a position to make something truly meaningful out of it all.

Make your beautiful, amazing presence known in a positive, creative and loving way. The miracle is yours to live right now.

? Ralph Marston

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 2nd


See the beauty




Much of the beauty you admire and enjoy is really your own beauty being reflected back to you. The beauty you nurture inside yourself is what enables you to see beauty in the world around you.

Beauty speaks in the language of the heart. It is powerful and wonderful because it touches something within you, and does so in a profound way.

Delight in the beauty you experience, and it increases the positive energy available to you. Look at life through thankful and loving eyes, and you?ll find much of it to be beautiful.

There is beauty in every direction -- in your world, in your home, your family, the work you do, the things you love, your faith, and the people in your life. Appreciate and enjoy the beauty that is all around you, and you bring the abundance of that beauty to life.

When you find joy in beauty, it is because you are truly beautiful. Take delight in beauty, and you?ve made even more.

? Ralph Marston

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 4th


The Awakening



A time comes in your life when you finally get it ... when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out ENOUGH!!! Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

You realize it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change...or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that you are neither Prince Charming or Cinderella and that in the real world there aren't always fairy tale endings (or beginnings for that matter) and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you...and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance. You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are...and that's OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions. And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself...and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval. You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn that people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and that it's not always about you.

So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself...and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance. You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties...and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness. You realize that much of the way you view yourself, and the world around you, is as a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche.

And you begin to sift through all the junk you've been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, how much you should weigh, what you should wear, what you should do for a living, how much money you should make, what you should drive, how and where you should live, who you should marry, the importance of having and raising children, and what you owe your parents, family, and friends. You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for. You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with...and in the process you learn to go with your instincts. You learn that it is truly in giving that we receive. And that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix.

You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn that you don't know everything, it's not your job to save the world and that you can't teach a pig to sing. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO. You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.
>Then you learn about love. How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes.
And you learn that alone does not mean lonely. You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn that feelings of entitlement are perfectly OK...and that it is your right to want things and to ask for the things you want...and that sometimes it is necessary to make demands.

You come to the realization that you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect and you won't settle for less. And you learn that your body really is your temple. And you begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drink more water, and take more time to exercise. You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play. You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you believe you deserve...and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different from working toward making it happen.
More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance.

You also learn that no one can do it all alone...and that it's OK to risk asking for help.

You learn the only thing you must truly fear is the greatest robber baron of all: FEAR itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms. And you learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn that life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions you learn not to personalize things.

You learn that God isn't punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It's just life happening. And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state - the ego. You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.

You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls. You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower. Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than your heart's desire.

And you hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. And you make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

Finally, with courage in your heart and God by your side you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can.

Author Unknown

[Slaythefear]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

Angel, I have that on my fb page. I don't remember where I found it, but it was quite some time back. GREAT FIND, GIRL! Beautiful! :h I haven't read it in awhile, so the reminder is good!

Love,

Slay

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

I found it quite awhile back too... maybe we found it at the same place/time! lol
It's so great to hear your strong voice again, have a wonderful day my friend! :l

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 5th


The magic in each moment



The gentle rain falls, and life sings a new song. The cool breeze blows, setting all the world in motion with its invisible hand.

The magic in each moment cannot be explained or defined. Yet it is easy and wonderful to feel.

Certainly life can be painful and inconvenient, frustrating and disappointing. Still, it is absolutely worth all the trouble and more.

In each moment there is unique and endless richness, if you?ll merely open yourself to it. Though it is wonderful and beneficial to do more and more, it is also more than enough just to be.

Whatever you have, wherever you are, there is much for which to be thankful. In the ups and downs, in the certainties and in the mysteries, there are always great treasures to be found.

Allow the magic of this moment to fill your awareness and to nourish your spirit. And joyfully realize how truly rich you are.

? Ralph Marston

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

On this 6th day of February...


Which are you?



A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

~Author Unknown

[Slaythefear]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

Love it, Fallen Angel...great food for thought.

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

Slaythefear;1458271 wrote: L...great food for thought.

no pun intended, right??? :H:H:H

[jenniech]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

wow, that was really powerful FallenAngel
I will strive to be the coffee bean.
Right now I am fighting against the carrot in some ways and the egg in others.

And I LOVE coffee
:H:thanks:

[Slaythefear]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

FallenAngel;1458294 wrote: no pun intended, right??? :H:H:H

Heh! :H

Btw, you are doing a great job with the encouragement. I'm inspired!:thanks:

:lilangel: are inspiring!

[Slaythefear]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 7, 2013...Live the life you were meant to.

5 Ways to Live the Life You Were Meant to – Living the Dream

Written by Mark



Are you living the dream?

Every single one of you reading this thought of a different answer. There are also different types of dreams. There’s The American Dream. They’re Childhood dreams. There’s also Personal dreams. Then there are the stereotypes for what “living the dream” is supposed to mean. Nice house, fast car, hot wife. What follows is the road map you must follow to get there. Go to school, get a job, work work work, buy nice house, buy nice car, get hot wife, work work work, then die. “Living the dream” has become a consumerist contest measuring success only by comparing ourselves to others around us. It wasn’t always like this. When we were children, we were told the world had unlimited potential. We could dream and they could come true.
Adult life is where childhood dreams go to die.

Possibility, potential, and hope became na?ve childish delusions. The lifestyle ignition of your childhood was extinguished by the pragmatism of adulthood. You were looked down upon if you strayed from the pack. Dreams became wishful thinking. You needed to buckle down and get serious. You needed to be “real”. But what is real, and whose reality is this? Usually, it was somebody else’s notions and ideas. If you are blindly following somebody else’s ideas you are not living the dream. The first thing you must do in order to live the dream is identify what your dreams are. But they actually have to be your dreams. Not society’s dreams. Nor your parent’s dreams, nor anybody else’s.
Identify your dreams

One of the biggest challenges is being able to identify your dreams. You’ve been so conditioned as to what your dreams are supposed to be, that it can take some time to actually develop what your dreams are. This is ok. They’re your dreams and your life. Think of what you like to do. Allow yourself to think about what gets you excited and what you’re passionate about. Write these thoughts down. Let them run wild. Barring all barriers what would you do? Where would you go? Who would you interact with? Nothing is too crazy. There was a time when those who thought the world wasn’t flat were considered blasphemous, flight was deemed madness, radio waves insanity, and a horseless carriage impossible. (Horseless carriages are called cars nowadays). Although it would be nice, you don’t need to come up with the next greatest invention. You just need to identify your dreams so you can live them when you’re awake.
Making your dreams reality

If everyone’s dream is different, then everyone’s path there should be different to. Don’t get stuck on a path because you have already started to go down it. You only live once. Do not continue down a path you know is not right for you, just because of the blind assumption that “it’s the right thing to do”. It might be the safe thing to do and the most practical thing to do, but not the right thing to do. When you’re sitting on your death bed, do you really want to say you led a practical and safe life?! You didn’t take any risks, you didn’t follow your dreams, but you made it through life; you got by. I know I know, you have spent years studying and working in a certain field. You’ve spent incredible amounts of money getting this degree and have thousands of dollars in student loans to pay back. However, each day you continue down the path doing something you don’t like, is another day of not living your dream. More money, more time, more resources spent furthering a career, path or dream that isn’t yours.

I used to work at a bank. I had a nice job with a comfortable salary. Yet, I didn’t like it. It was “practical” and the right thing to do was to stay, but I wanted to experience something more. It’s better to do something you enjoy than something that doesn’t click with your inner being just because it’s reasonable and safe. Now, I am living my dream and it’s an incredible feeling. I am free to do what I want when I want. I can fly to Los Angeles for a week to visit a friend without having to take a vacation day. I can plan a world journey. My schedule is flexible. Life is fun and life is great. It’s an incredible feeling to be having fun and loving what I do in life. It’s in that mindset that creativity takes flight. Practicality has the illusions of safety and success, yet it’s usually unpractical ideas and dreams that account for world change and progress. I am able to pursue my dream of starting a company. I am doing it with my good friend Jeremy Smith, who also follows his dreams. We have the time and flexibility to focus our time and creativity on an idea of our own. We make our own schedule, and blaze our own path through life with sights set on living our dreams.

If you live to 75, you will have lived 27,375 days. If you’re twenty years old, you have 20,075 days left to live. If you’re thirty; 16,425, Forty; 12,775, Fifty; 9,125 and so on. The days of your life are limited. Take control of them! Live the life you were meant to. Live the dream.

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 8th


Inner Child Healing = a path to freedom, serenity, and empowerment



It is through healing our inner child, our inner children, by grieving the wounds that we suffered, that we can change our behavior patterns and clear our emotional process. We can release the grief with its pent-up rage, shame, terror, and pain from those feeling places which exist within us.

Because of our broken hearts, our emotional wounds, and our scrambled minds, our subconscious programming, what the disease of Codependence causes us to do is abandon ourselves. It causes the abandonment of self, the abandonment of our own inner child - and that inner child is the gateway to our channel to the Higher Self.

The one who betrayed us and abandoned and abused us the most was ourselves. That is how the emotional defense system that is Codependence works. The battle cry of Codependence is "I'll show you - I'll get me.

We need to rescue and nurture and Love our inner children - and STOP them from controlling our lives. STOP them from driving the bus! Children are not supposed to drive, they are not supposed to be in control.

And they are not supposed to be abused and abandoned. We have been doing it backwards. We abandoned and abused our inner children. Locked them in a dark place within us. And at the same time let the children drive the bus - let the children's wounds dictate our lives.

It is necessary to own and honor the child who we were in order to Love the person we are. And the only way to do that is to own that child's experiences, honor that child's feelings, and release the emotional grief energy that we are still carrying around.


~ The Dance of Wounded Souls by Robert Burney

[FallenAngel]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

February 9th


Inner Child Healing - How To Begin



Inner child work is in one way detective work. We have a mystery to solve. Why have I have I been attracted to the the type of people that I have been in relationship with in my life? Why do I react in certain ways in certain situations? Where did my behavior patterns come from? Why do I sometimes feel so: helpless; lonely; desperate; scared; angry; suicidal; etc.

Just starting to ask these types of questions, is the first step in the healing process. It is healthy to start wondering about the cause and effect dynamics in our life.

In our codependence, we reacted to life out of a black and white, right and wrong, belief paradigm that taught us that is was shameful and bad to be wrong, to make mistakes, to be imperfect - to be human. We formed our core relationship with our self and with life in early childhood based on the messages we got, the emotional trauma we suffered, and the role modeling of the adults around us. As we grew up, we built our relationship with self, other people, and life on the foundation we formed in early childhood.

When we were 5, we were already reacting to life out of the emotional trauma of earlier ages. We adapted defenses to try to protect ourselves and to get our survival needs met. The defenses adapted at 5 due to the trauma suffered at earlier ages led to further trauma when we were 7 that then caused us to adjust our defenses, that led to wounding at 9, etc., etc., etc.

Toxic shame is the belief that there is something inherently wrong with who we are, with our being. Guilt is "I made a mistake, I did something wrong." Toxic shame is: "I am a mistake. There is something wrong with me."

It is very important to start awakening to the Truth that there is nothing inherently wrong with our being - it is our relationship with our self and with life that is dysfunctional. And that relationship was formed in early childhood.

The way that one begins inner child healing is simply to become aware.

To become aware that the governing principle in life is cause and effect.

To become aware that our relationship with our self is dysfunctional.

To become aware that we have the power to change our relationship with our self.

To become aware that we were programmed with false beliefs about the purpose and nature of life in early childhood - and that we can change that programming.

To become aware that we have emotional wounds from childhood that it is possible to get in touch with and heal enough to stop them from dictating how we are living our life today.

That is the purpose of inner child healing - to stop letting our experiences of the past dictate how we respond to life today. It cannot be done without revisiting our childhood.

We need to become aware, to raise our consciousness. To create a new level of consciousness for ourselves that allows us to observe ourselves.

It is vitally important to start observing ourselves - our reactions, our feelings, our thoughts - from a detached witness place that is not shaming.

We all have an inner critic, a critical parent voice, that beats us up with shame, judgment, and fear. The critical parent voice developed to try to control our emotions and our behaviors because we got the message there was something wrong with us and that our survival would be threatened if we did, said, or felt the "wrong" things.

It is vital to start learning how to not give power to that critical shaming voice. We need to start observing ourselves with compassion. This is almost impossible at the beginning of the inner child healing process - having compassion for our self, being Loving to our self, is the hardest thing for us to do.

So, we need to start observing ourselves from at least a more neutral perspective. Become a scientific observer, a detective - the Sherlock Holmes of your own inner process as it were.

We need to start being that detective, observing ourselves and asking ourselves where that reaction / thought / feeling is coming from. Why am I feeling this way? What does this remind me of from my past? How old do I feel right now? How old did I act when that happened?

One of the amazing things about this process, is that as one starts to become more aware of our own reactions, we also start to become more aware of others. We start seeing when the people in our lives are reacting like a little kid, or adolescent, or teenager, or whatever. The more we become aware of their reactions, the easier it becomes to stop taking their behavior personally - which then makes it easier to detach from our own reactions and observe ourselves.

It is an amazing, miraculous process, that can help us to change our relationship with our self, with other people, and with life. Becoming more aware, becoming conscious of a new way of looking at ourselves and life is the beginning of a process of learning to forgive and Love our self.

A detective always looks at cause and effect. By becoming a detective, solving the mystery of why we have lived our lives as we have, we can start to free ourselves from our past. By doing the inner child healing, we can start to learn how to really be alive instead of just surviving and enduring.

Quote from Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls

[Elliesmom]

2013 Daily Encouragement Thread

Wow. I think I have to get that book. Thanks, Slay for starting this thread, and AF, too for the daily quotes. Don't think you're in an echo-chamber. I've been reading these for the past several days and have found them really valuable. On Day 1, I began a private journal. It's hand-written, because I remember a friend telling me that the act of writing by hand is healing and more personal and honest. I've been including a quote in each entry and have come here to get them. I also loved the carrot, egg and coffee parable and am going to remember that with my kids. If I can ever find something worth contributing, I will - but I just wanted to say thank you! :thanks: