Against The Wind

Two Trees Diptych by Christina Goodman

“Rise up, warriors! Take your stand at one another’s sides with your feet set wide and rooted like oaks in the ground.”” - King Leonidas I of Sparta

Each of us go through seasons in our life. The good ones which spring forth promise of joy and great things. All that happens is good and we seem to float along without a care.

There are cold and wintery times when we want to crawl under a blanket and shiver from the seemingly bad which encompasses us. We long for greater things but the darkness of winter never seems to abate.

It is during both the good and bad that we should never stand alone.

As different as we are from one another, we can stand firm for someone in need. And while we might wilt against the bad, someone will be there for us.

Women have a very intense understanding of this. But men have a built in belief it makes them less of a man not to stand alone. We fail to see other men are going through the same types of issues. We fail to see it is okay to lean on a brother.

One who stands alone is easy prey while ones which stand together are an imposing force.

The ancient Spartans knew this lesson and used it very effectively. When being attacked, they stood together in close formation and their shields became one impenetrable shield. Then as one they moved against the enemy, one unbroken force that no enemy could stand against. They accomplished more than one single man could do alone, shoulder to shoulder, brother to brother.

Each of us are different as the trees in a forest. But together we can become a wall which breaks the force of the wind. A wind that would try to bend and break us individually. A wind that can be beaten back if we stand together.

Stand with your brother through both the good and bad.

Stand in support of others when the winds try to break us apart.

And stay inspired my friends!

Changing Winds

"You cannot tailor-make the situations in life, but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations." - Zig Ziglar

In the throes of all your plans being washed away, what would you do?

The circumstance we find ourselves in can ruin a pretty good day for sure. But in the big scheme of your life, you should not let it have an overbearing impact on your attitude.

Take for instance a wedding planned to be held beach side. It was to be a great sunset ceremony along the beautiful Pacific Ocean. What was to be was over run by a coming rain storm.

All hope and happiness could have been lost.

Yet we keep our senses about us knowing that life throws circumstance around. We maintain a good attitude and in the last minutes opportunity provides an option. One person knows another who might know someone capable of getting you a banquet room overlooking the ocean.

It happens and the Pacific Ocean becomes a part of the wedding ceremony.

One could have wallowed in despair over the ruined plans. You could have cried over lost plans to stand on the beach and exchange wedding vows. You could have given up, that is always an option.

Quitting would only have left you with no ability to take advantage of other opportunities. Your energy would have been consumed by thinking of what could have been instead of what can be.

Did you miss out on something wished for?

Sure, but keeping a great attitude about the situation allowed you to see a new kind of opportunity open up. By keeping your eyes and mind open even those things not going the way you would want, other options became available right there in front of you.

Opportunity will be there for you to see if you keep looking forward. Eventually you will get to walk along the beach with the sand between your toes. What you wanted ended up being exactly what you wanted.

Stay inspired my friends!

Your Windmill Effect

"Your spirit is like the wind; you can not see it but you can see where it has been." -Unknown

So many people have so many different characteristics and ways about them. There are the funny, always have a joke for you type of people. There are the serious and very business kind that march in a very definite manner. We even know some of the downtrodden, "woe is me" people in life that only the bad things in life happen to them. The opposite exist as well, the ever upbeat person that never lets anything bother them type of person.

Whatever type you are, each of us has a spirit about us that can not be seen.

It is the "something" about us that others have felt after an encounter. Think of the last time you spent around one of these types of people. Did you feel "downtrodden" or "upbeat" after the encounter? Maybe you came away with needing to be more serious about life or maybe not so seriously?

But we will be impacted by everything that happens around us.

The spirit or nature of another person will have touched us and left its mark in our life. How you conduct your life, how you express yourself; your spirit will come through and leave its mark as well upon others. While it is said that only you can determine your own attitude, which is true. You can be influenced by others and their attitudes.

You can also influence others with your attitude...with your spirit.

Think about what your true spirit is and look behind to see what is left in your wake. Same as the wind blows through a windmill, we do not see the wind. What we do see is the effect it had upon the windmill. Our spirit will go unseen, but how it affects others can be seen. Understand what your spirit is and have a positive effect upon others.

Stay inspired my friends!

Blow Thou Winter Wind

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ―Steve Maraboli

Only a few more days left in this year and for those in the northern hemisphere, winter's cold wind blows with a cold fierceness. It is a time when emotions can get the better of us. The lamentations of another year gone by can consume our thoughts of perceived failures.

It is easy to sit and question the wrongs we feel others may have exacted upon us. We can let past wrongs consume our future as the cold wind howls outside. Thoughts of how thankless and false love and friendship can be will creep into our minds. It seems as if all life is made up of human ingratitude.

We pull our coats tight in order to fight the winter winds. But the idea that people can be thankless is worse than the harshness of that same winter wind. We allow these thoughts to take over and debilitate us.

What should never be forgotten is that life is worth living. One should move forward, be happy, forgive and forget the failings of others. Forgive your own failings.

Shift your thinking and your world will shift for the better.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
by William Shakespeare

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Stay inspired my friends!