What Seeds Are You Planting

"Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later."
- Og Mandino

Yesterday was an opportunity to do something good.
You had an opportunity to plant a thought of kindness.
You had an opportunity to do something good for another person.
You had an opportunity to set the world in motion towards something better.

That same opportunity exists today.
You can plant a thought of kindness.
You can do something good for another person.
You can set the world in motion towards something better.

Plant today and harvest the goodness tomorrow.

Stay inspired my friends.

The Biggest Fish Ever

“The hype cheapens the hyped, as right things are then made wrong by exaggeration.” ― Criss Jami

ex·ag·ger·a·tion: A statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is. The action of making statements that represent something as better or worse than it really is. Other words one could use are; overstatement, overemphasis, magnification, amplification, aggrandizement.

Is exaggeration the simple method of trying to get your point across?

Most of the time it is used to take an innocuous event and describe it in such a way as to prove a point or state a position? In many cases, doing so can make you look dishonest and manipulative to those who see through your exaggeration.

The use of it often times will backfire, causing people to dismiss your point even if it might be true. Yet many times exaggeration is used because the actual truth is not supported by the actual truth. Using hyperbole might create a certain air of belief but in fact it is only a sly attempt to deceive.

Do you post outrageous memes on social media in order to make your political point?
Do you declare every restaurant or meal you have had the most awesome of all?
Do you see your belief as the one truth of all the truth out there?

How many more times will it take before people simply start tuning out and stop listening to you? Will you ever have the capability to give people a reason to change their minds when all you do is bombard them with the hyperbole of exaggerated truth?

In the end, you are more trustworthy if you are more accurate in your stated evaluations. People will listen and consider your argument more often instead of tuning out. You will become better understood in the long run. A simple statement as close to the truth as you can make it will do more than the creation of noise.

Stay inspired my friends!

Who Is My Neighbor

“Neighbors are given to us on the same basis as we are given our families. There is no element of choice involved - none at all.” ― Alexander McCall Smith

Just yesterday, September 11, 2016, a remembrance occurred of tragic and horrifying events which took place fifteen years prior. The 9/11/01 date will remain etched in the minds of many Americans as the day in which the unthinkable occurred.

Nearly 3000 innocent people lost their lives in the initial events and scores of others who have and will likely perish as a result from injuries and exposure to toxins in the attacks carried out. This is something the history books will carry for a long time.

There were hundreds of stories of heroism by the first responders, people within the sites and those who came to the scenes to help those in need. There are also stories of complete strangers helping others in the exodus from the sites of tragedy.

People treating others as their neighbor.

As you read the stories of those fleeing lower Manhattan as the towers began to crumble, your instincts are to run as fast and as far as you can. The mass exodus of people trying to find an escape from the thick and suffocating debris was human survival on display.

Yet one can see in the still images, the videos and stories of people assisting others in their escape. Helping to carry, provide a shoulder or cover them in protection from the fallout. There were stories of people in distress being pulled up and into the safety of closed buildings. Others were sheltered or literally covered by a stranger behind cars to protect them in their distress. So many small acts of kindness among a sea of people who normally pass by each other on a normal day never taking notice.

Who is my neighbor than?

Look around you and you everywhere you look you will find your neighbor. As you drive to work this morning, the guy with the flat tire along the road is your neighbor. The mom trying to get her kids and groceries into her vehicle is your neighbor. Even the broken and homeless on the street who may only want money to support an addiction is your neighbor.

Individually acting as a neighbor, we may never solve the problem, but we can make a small difference. All of us acting together as neighbors, we can certainly do a lot to make a bigger difference in the lives of others. So who is your neighbor? Just open your eyes and you will see them everywhere.

Stay inspired my friends!

Where Does The Buck Stop

"When you blame others, you give up your power to change." - Robert Anthony

When things go wrong, some people will refuse to accept the blame or consider themselves to be at fault. They prefer to blame external factors, forces, people, situations, or circumstances.

In extreme cases we may deny that there is a problem. In other cases, we may try to reduce the reasons for its severity or as for our involvement by assigning the blame elsewhere so that fingers are not pointed at us.

There is an old saying, "When you point a finger at somebody you point three fingers at yourself."

More times then not, the idea that three fingers are pointed back at you is a subtle reminder that you may need to accept responsibility.

Someone who carried responsibility was United States President Harry S Truman. A sign on his desk was there to remind him. It simply said, "The buck stops here." There was no one else to blame. As president, he could not kick the blame higher.

This is not the case with the rest of us.

We tend to assign blame to others. Yet why do we do it? Are we taught to do so? How does it affect us? How does is keep us from becoming better individuals?

There are three things you can think about when it comes to stopping the blaming and accepting responsibility for your life;

1. Learn to accept and value yourself just the way you are now. Even though it continues to be important to maintain goals for your future, self-esteem is how you can evaluate yourself here in the present.

2. Learn that people should not be blamed for their human frailties. Meaning people will have faults, no one is perfect. So don't blame people simply for not being perfect.

3. Learn how to acquire and appreciate positive reinforcement. When you treat others with dignity and respect, it is very likely you will receive positive treatment in return.

There are many other ideas on how to accept responsibility in your life.

There could be others at fault at various times, but be quick to understand your part in all that happens. You will find that you learn more and take away more from the situation then would have occurred by blaming others. Blame does not advance our lives, it only holds us back.

Assume responsibility for your life and take it farther than before.

Stay inspired my friends.