WHAT DO YOU THINK OF LIFE? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 117

We all know people who are upbeat, positive, cheerful and optimistic.  They love life and no matter what befalls them they continue to love life.  We also all know people who are bitter, negative, dour and pessimistic.  They do not love life, and everything that happens to them is just one more validation to them that life is not good.  Which type of person do you enjoy being with the most?  Unless you are one of the unhappy people yourself, then I feel certain you choose to be around the people who love life.

Someone once asked me if I thought they deserved the life they had.  I replied that she did not get the life she deserved but rather the life she chose.  My reply offended her, but I went on to explain that we all get the lives we choose as we begin making choices at a very young age and we continue to do so daily for the rest of our lives.  The more bad choices we make the more our lives are impacted.  It is never too late to stop making bad choices though and to begin making good choices.

Certainly there are things which happen that are beyond our control like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, blizzards, and fires.  These events can certainly negatively affect our lives in the short term and even in the long term.  These events don't happen every day though so most of the things which happen to us or for us are because of our choices, our attitude, our behavior, and the people with whom we surround ourselves.

Things are very bad in the world right now with so much anger, hate, killing, greed, poverty, deceit, lust for power, and ignorance. This does not mean that life is bad but rather that many people are bad. Many people have no respect for life or even value their own lives. These are the people who make life difficult for so many others, but even though difficult at times life is still good.

Choose to remind yourself each day of what is good in your life or what is good in the world.  Even the poorest of the poor can see beauty in a sunrise or sunset, the magnificence of an ocean or river, and the grandeur of mountains, valleys, and deserts.

Today's message is:

LIFE IS GOOD!

WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 83

Someone said, "You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can control your attitude and how you deal with it."  This is one of the truest statements I have ever read, and I try to remember it as things which I do not like happen to me.

Each morning when you awake you have a choice about the way you are going to face the day.  You can be sullen, depressed, angry and complaining, OR you can be smiling, upbeat, calm and happy with the things that are right in your life.

Today's message is:

CHOOSE JOY!

DO YOU FOLLOW YOUR "GUT" FEELINGS? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 39

From childhood on through life most people have instincts that will serve them well if attention is paid to them.  Little children soon know the difference between right and wrong if their parents will take the time not  only to teach them but also to model good behavior for them.  Sooner rather than later children develop a conscience or quiet voices in their heads to tell them when they are about to do something they should or should not do.  Not all children learn to listen to their consciences.  Some learn to disregard it until it can become totally silent which usually leads them down a troubled path in life.

If children are taught to pay attention to their consciences and trust them, they will learn to make better choices and decisions as they mature.  They will develop instincts that will guide them in making right choices for friends, colleges, careers, marriage, travels, residences, health care, politics, and all areas of life.

Whether referred to as a conscience, a small voice, a gut feeling, or intuition it is important to learn to rely on it at all times.

Today's message is :  Have faith and

TRUST INTUITION

DO YOU WANT EVERYTHING TO BE VANILLA? - CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 17

Are you set in your ways?  Do you dislike change?  Are you fearful of things you do not understand or with which you are unfamiliar?  Do you willingly try new foods?  Are you a fan of only one type of music? Are your friends just like you?  Do you try new ideas?  Do you make new friends wherever you go?  Do you always visit the same section of a bookstore or library?  Do you tend to wear the same colors all the time? Do you always vacation in the same place?  Can you discuss politics or religion with someone who has opposing views?

We live in a world which offers abundant choices and opportunities.  You don't have to be wealthy or even solvent to try many things which cost little to nothing.  Open yourself up to new experiences, people, sounds, vistas, foods, cultures, and changes in general.

Today's message is:

Love diversity!

What To Think OR How To Think?

It seems to me that many young adults are graduating college without a clue about how to think for themselves.  They can be very opinionated, but those opinions are not necessarily their own.  From kindergarten until under graduate degrees are distributed our children should be taught how to think for themselves.  They need to know how to take the information available to them and make the best possible decisions or reach the best conclusions. They should be able to explain why they make the decisions they make or form the opinions they hold.   When was that type of teaching replaced with teaching our children and grandchildren what to think, what opinions to hold, and to have little or no regard for civil discourse when differences of opinion are voiced?  Our children and grandchildren are just "short people" who early on are able to make decisions as to whether or not they want to eat, whether or not they want to be held, by whom they want to be held, with which toy they wish to play, etc.  As soon as they have language skills we should give them choices so they learn to make decisions for themselves while we still can protect them from making bad choices. Do we know our children's teachers in grade school or high school well enough to think that we want our children to adopt their beliefs or parrot their opinions?  Do our children have enough self-confidence in college to not just automatically accept a professor's personal opinions or bias as their own?  Have we taught our children how to think for themselves or how to challenge other people's opinions in a civil, respectful manner?  If not, why not?  Debate classes should be offered to all students in order for them to learn how to research points of view which may or may not be their own, defend points of view, and prove their stances on different topics.  When I see the way journalists, politicians, talk show hosts and their guests behave rudely to each other, talk over each other, disrespect each other's right to have different opinions, etc. I wonder how we expect our children to behave differently?  We must watch what comes into our homes from our television sets and ask ourselves if that is how we hope our children will behave when they are adults. If the answer is no then we must do our part not only in teaching them how to think and behave, but we must also be role models for them when they witness our interaction with others with whom we may or may not agree.