Talk is cheap

   Talking about it doesn't matter if you don't put action behind it. Talking about it is just chatter unless you walk the talk.

  You may have a great plan but if you don't follow through with what you have planned you just waste your time. It is bad enough if you waste your time but if you don't follow through with your plan you have with others, you waste their time too. 

  When someone ask you for help don't tell them yes you will help if you have no intentions of helping them. An honest NO does far less damage. 

  If you tell them yes then they won't look for anyone else to help them. If the answer is NO then say NO. 

  If you want to achieve what you have planned it is only possible if you execute your plan by actions. If you don't get up and get going you won't get anywhere.

  To GET 'R DONE you got to get up and do whatever it takes to GET 'R DONE.

  

FLUSH away your doubts

   You can either be your biggest cheerleader or your worst enemy. You can do it if you stop telling yourself that you can't. You need to FLUSH away your doubts.

  If you keep telling yourself that you can't do it then without a doubt you will never do it because you will never try. 

  Now of course there will be some things that you try that you decide you don't like doing. It's a fifty-fifty chance. But you have zero percent chance if you don't try it.

  There will be times when you try something and it fails. That is part of the learning process that is necessary for you to figure out how you can do it.

  What works for someone else may not work for you. But that doesn't mean that you can't figure out how you are going to do it. That is as long as you don't keep telling yourself that you CAN'T and never try.

  The encouraging words that you say to yourself will give you the courage you need to try it. 

Letting go doesn't mean you will forget

   Letting go of it is necessary to move forward. It doesn't mean you will forget about it. You will remember it so you can protect yourself from it ever happening again.

  But at the same time you have to let it go to protect yourself from it. You can remember it without RELIVING it and letting it hurt you over and over again. 

  You may have had no choice when it happened to you but you do have a choice to not relive it so it can hurt you again. Once was enough.

  It is through your experiences, both the good ones and the bad ones that are both a part of what made you who you are today. Your past doesn't define you but it is what you learned from it that made you who you are.

  The wisdom that you learn on your life's journey will make you wise. Some life lessons are painful lessons and some of them are treasured memories.

 

  

Hard to imagine being thankful when you get knocked down

   When you are faced with negative circumstances that knock you down it is hard to be thankful. But as long as you can get back up on your feet, you have to be thankful.

  It may be a tough time for you but you have to be thankful that it wasn't worse. You have to be thankful that you can get back up.

  Just like it may be expensive if you have to replace your roof on your house, you still have to be thankful that you have a house to put a roof on. Because some people don't.

  Or like an expensive unexpected car repairs need done, you still have to be thankful that you have a car. 

  Sometimes in life one negative thing after another can happen all at the same time. I describe it "when it rains it pours" but you have to be thankful because it always could have been worse.

  I know everyone has experienced a time in life when we have complained to someone about all the "raining" we are dealing with. Only to then realize that the negative situations that they are facing make us feel embarrassed to even had complained about it at all. 

  We admire those individuals who triumph despite the many obstacles they face. You too can admire how you overcame all the obstacles that you face on your life's journey.

  Especially the obstacles that we are all facing while navigating our way during a pandemic. Times are tough but you have to be thankful because you can look around you and see that it could have been a whole lot worse. 

  Just waking up each day to face the obstacles is a reason to be thankful. 

  Be kind to everyone you meet because you have no idea what they may be facing.

 a whole lot worse. 

One thought can turn into an avalanche

   Our minds have an endless stream of thoughts trying to GRAB our attention. You have to learn to quickly recognize those that evokes negative thoughts and JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind.

  If you let it GRAB your attention you will have an avalanche of negative thoughts that before you know it they are clogging up your mind. 

  It's like seeing a cockroach come out of your shopping bag. If you don't squish it immediately, before you know it your house will be infested with cockroaches. 

  So when a negative thought pops up front and center in your mind JUST FLUSH IT just like you should to prevent an avalanche.

  There is no way to prevent negative thoughts from popping up to GRAB your attention. You will have to just learn how to JUST FLUSH IT out of your mind at a quick glance.

  Since your thoughts are the reality that you live make sure you GRAB on to the good thoughts and choose the reality you want to live. 

  And learn how to JUST SQUISH IT.

  

Being in the right place at the right time

   You can't get where you need to be if you don't get up and get going. You can't be right where you need to be at the right time if you don't get up and get there.

  You can't sit there and wait for something to fall into your lap. You have to be ready to catch it when it falls.

  You can't be there at the right time unless you make sure you are there on time. If the time is right then it doesn't matter what time it is as long as you are there in time.

  Whether you are one minute late or ten minutes late you will be too late, so don't wait until it is too late. Remember the early bird catches the worm.

  Don't waste your chance by not taking chances. Opportunities don't come often so don't miss your opportunity. Missed OPPORTUNITIES are never lost they are just taken by someone else who was waiting for the opportunity. 

  When opportunity comes knocking you have to be waiting to open the door to take advantage of the opportunity. 

  Timing is everything and everything takes time and effort. Be where you are supposed to be by being where you are supposed to be.

  

  

You won't know until you try

   Anything you do the first time you won't know if you can do it, but you decide to give it a try. You may not have an easy time the first time, you have to learn as you go.

  Now you may find that you don't like it at all and decide you don't want to do that again. But since you tried it you know for sure that it isn't something that you want to do.

  It may also be something that you like to do and realize you are good at it. You would have never known if you hadn't tried. 

  The only way to know is to try it so you will know. You may assume you know or guess but you won't truly know until you try it.

  It may be hard but you have to put the work into it if you want to truly give it a try. Just like you  knew when you were young that learning how to ride a bike wouldn't be easy but you knew that you wanted to learn so you kept trying. 

  Keep in mind that even some kids learn how to ride a bike but decide they didn't like it so they never ride a bike again. But then they can proudly say they know how to ride a bike but they just choose not to. 

  Many adults try out careers then decide that they just don't like it and go on to another career. That doesn't mean that they weren't good at it. It simply means that they tried it but they didn't like it. 

  They don't have regrets for learning it because they thought they would like it but they didn't. You only regret things that you never tried that you wish you would have.

  To live life with no regrets make sure you try it so you won't have regrets that you didn't try it. 

  

Did you read your fortune cookie?

  My favorite part of getting Chinese food for dinner is reading the fortune cookies. To me they are food for thought.

  In nearly fifteen years of collecting them I have only got the same one twice. They make you stop and ponder what the meaning is to you. 

  For fun occasionally I have shared a few of the fortune with others to see what the sentence says to them.

  It's amazing that their interpretation is so different than mine yet when they tell me what it says to them, I can see how they could think that.

  Just like art or anything else, it is all in how you look at it that determines what you see. Ten people could see the same thing or read the same fortune cookie, yet see totally different things.

  And every point of view that each person sees is there to see. Not every one sees the same thing because we each look at things differently. 

  Nobody is wrong and everyone is right. Just because you see things from a different point of view doesn't change what they see. 

  

Don't let something someone did destroy the friendship that you treasure

  No one is perfect so don't don't judge anyone so harshly that you forget how special they are to you. Don't let your anger destroy the friendship.

  If you do something wrong to anyone just let them know you are sorry for doing it. If someone apologies to you, accept their apology.

  A misunderstanding doesn't mean that they did it on purpose and they understood what they were doing. 

  Just because you burn your meatloaf once by accident doesn't mean you will never eat meatloaf again. You will just have to make sure you don't burn your meatloaf next time.

  Whoever said that being in love meant you never had to say you are sorry apparently has no idea what true love is. 

You may be wilted like a flower with no water but....

 You may be wilted like a flower without water but when something comes along that replenishes you with water, you will stand straight and tall again. 

  During your lifetime you will go through times of drought but eventually it will rain again. Don't give up when times are tough because just around the corner you will be able to quench your thirst.

   Life is like a rollercoaster and there will be ups and downs. Just don't do anything when you are down that will keep you down. Because it will go up again.

  There will also be twists and turns that you will have to navigate through. You may even have to bend like a pretzel but hang on and before you know it you will be smooth sailing.

Some of the changes we have had to make during a pandemic are changes we will be glad we made

 As I have had more time on my hands during quarantine, I find myself just glancing through cyberspace. I read things I never would have read about if I didn't have to be in quarantine.

  I must admit that it has been fun. I also have learned a lot of things that are inspiring. Some things I have learned will be life changing for me in a positive way that I am so grateful for.

  After a year of all the negative and heartbreaking events that the pandemic has brought, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

  It's time to get out some pen and paper to write down the things that you couldn't do that you are looking forward to doing again. You also need to write a list of all the things you couldn't do that you have no interest in doing again.

  Write a list of all the new things that you have had to change to get by that you will be thankful to change. And a list of all the things that you had to change that you look forward to continuing doing.

  There are many more list you need to make as well as a list of people you can't wait to see again.

   What was a positive change you had to make that you are glad you made?

You never know what will come blowing in the wind

 Throughout your life you will have brief encounters with a lot of people and see many things. They just appear and dissapear as they are blowing in the wind.

  

You have to be careful that you don't throw away your stable life for someone or something that will eventually flow out of your life when the wind blows.

  It's okay to enjoy the brief times with someone or something when they show up, but don't let it mess up the important people and things that are forever staples of your life.

  Remember if it sounds to good to be true then it probably ISN'T true. It's okay to have fun every now and again but life is not only about all fun and games.

  You have to keep your feet planted firmly in the ground and grow wherever you are planted, while you enjoy the fresh breeze as it is blowing by you.

  

It's important to be proud of yourself

 What other people think about you doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that you are proud of yourself.

  At the end of the day as long as you are proud of everything you do then you should be proud of yourself. So before you react to anything and everything you should ask yourself will I be proud of myself?

  Peace of mind is only possible if you did what you thought was best.