Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
The starting point for a better world is the belief that it is possible. Norman Cousins
My grandson tells me with certainty that lettuce and apples don’t go together. He’s talking about my purple cabbage apple dish on the table for dinner the other night. He doesn’t differentiate between cabbage and lettuce but knows what he knows. Where does this certainty come from, and how many of us suffer from the certainty of things which are not true?
How many of us have been held back by believing things that weren’t true, we didn’t have enough, guts, determination, smarts, luck, education, opportunity, money, looks, courage, etc? Looking back I see so many missed opportunities, why didn’t I see them when there was time to make the most of them? Taking advantage of opportunities is hard work, and sometimes I realize I didn’t work as hard as I should have to make things happen.
I’ve been better at helping my husband in his business than I was at trying to develop one of my own. It is sobering to realize all the things we coulda, shoulda, and woulda done, if only. What was holding us back?
Perhaps life unfolds as it should, and ideas and opportunities find their home with those willing to do what needs to be done. Even the best of us can’t do everything, and take advantage of every opportunity, but it seems some people have vision and some don’t.
What if a good life is learning from our missteps and our accomplishments, but what if we learn the most from our failures? Not wanting to fail or make a mistake leads to a smaller life. Every time we risk failure, we risk success and sometimes we might fear success just as much. What would happen if we took the chance, became a big success, and our lives changed forever? We love our life and worry we might not love our new circumstances as much.
Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives. Tony Robbins
Do we want to stand out and fit in at the same time? Do we have to choose one? Life is about choices, and what we choose to believe might be one of the greatest choices we make. What we believe about ourselves, the world, and what is possible creates our habits, and our habits create our lives. Self-control might be the most important achievement we can attain. Aristotle said, “We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
Self-control allows us to rule over ourselves, and create habits that work for us instead of against us. What if our habits hold us back the most, and if we develop better habits, we create a better life? What if courage is a habit, hard work is a habit, but it isn’t just working hard, it’s learning what to work hard at?
What if what holds us back the most is our beliefs, habits, comfort zone, and fears? What if a good life is available to all of us if we make the right choices, create the right habits, and take advantage of opportunities in front of us? What if small changes over time create big dividends in our lives? What if not doing the small thing holds us back, we could do the small thing, but we want a big thing, not realizing by refusing to make small changes in the right direction, we never see the big changes it would become.
Life is about choice, and we choose what to believe about ourselves and others. We can believe lettuce and apples don’t go together, or can we expand the boundaries of our beliefs, and perhaps our lives?
We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon. Konrad Adenhauer
In order to gain new experiences, to expand your horizons, to give fate – or serendipity or whatever you want to call it – a chance. And that only happens if we say yes to things. Charlotte Lucas
It is the power of belief that causes things to happen in our lives. Zeenat Merchant Syal
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
