Rising Above Self

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Early in life, each of us live in the narrow vision of who we are and what we can do for ourselves. I am not really sure if that is a biological need for survival or a formed psychological response. But I do find that it seems to be a natural progression we take in life.

After some amount of time it can become and old and tired way of living life. What I am referring to is selfishness. Part of the maturing process in life is to get up above it or get out the way. Life is lived in community. It is lived in support of each other.

In turn, it truly becomes about us.

Some people call it "getting over yourself".

I simply call it becoming a part of life, of the bigger world. When you look beyond your own life, your world grows to greater wonders. There will be so much more that unfolds in front of you. Much more will come back to you when you get beyond self.

Rise above yourself, find something greater for your life and as always stay inspired my friends.

Gaining Momentum

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens." - Kahlil Gibran

What kind of attitude do you have this, the third week of the new year?

Are you still going strong with your resolutions?

Is the new leaf you turned over still inspiring you?

Just know that the number of days within the new year is not the measuring stick. The measuring stick in keeping momentum is your attitude.

I have heard it said, "it is easy to have an attitude, but deciding to have a good attitude is hard." In order to keep your mind adjusted to achieving a goal can be difficult. So in order to achieve your goals and to remain motivated, you need to keep a great attitude inside.

Be strong, be motivated and immerse yourself around people who are like-minded and positive. There will be no end to what you can achieve with a great attitude throughout the entire year.

Stay inspired my friends!

What Rules Your Life

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

In life, we try to set ourselves in the company of others and within circumstances that allow us to experience opportunities to grow and advance. The kind of people we associate with, the places we hang around, the types of books we read and the things we watch. All of these things can have an impact on our life and many times in subtle ways we barely detect.

And many times we do not get to choose our circumstance.

Life has a way of placing a rock in the bag of stuff we are carrying in our lives. Driving to work and nails poorly secured on another vehicle creating a flat tire to impact your morning. An illness that seems to come out of nowhere. A local power outage right in the middle of your favorite television show.

How we respond to every circumstance depends upon one thing...attitude.

Charles Swindoll wrote, "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our Attitudes."

It is with that by which we control how our day will be and in turn how we will treat others.

Circumstance will not rule our lives if we have the right attitude.

Stay inspired my friends!

I Choose to Be

On Choosing to Live Well

Lee Wise

I choose to be grateful, not hurtful.
I choose to be better, not bitter.
I choose to be content, not critical.
I choose to be attentive, not indifferent.
I choose to live well, not just live.

We all can use moments of direction in life and I am one that does not always succeed in meeting those things "I Choose" to be.

But the statements do give me reason to reflect and goals to achieve when I have nothing else.

You can choose to live your life hurtful, bitter, critical and indifferent, simply living life.

Or you can choose to be grateful, better, content and attentive, while living well.

It is your choice, it is your life; choose to live it well.

Stay inspired my friends.