Don't Fight it - Yet still Overcome it!

The battle to stay positive, upbeat and happy is a constant one - every minute seems to matter as forces in our own minds tend to perpetually attempt to remind us of worry, fear and anxiety.

We struggle, battle and fight against this onslaught in an effort to stop from being overwhelmed and overrun by negative emotion.

Quite frankly, it is exhausting!

Well, it does not have to be exhausting if we grasp and understand one thing -- the battle and presence of these negative thoughts will always be there BUT we can ride them out and resist their urges each and every time!

We do not have to flail and continually fight back against each and every negative thought - but instead we can ACCEPT that we will be challenged and allow them to bounce off of us!

KNOW you will be faced with these negative emotions and KNOW that they will pass - that you have the POWER to let them roll off of your shoulders!

Often we are confronted with overwhelming pressure and we panic or overreact!

Be cool in the face of these enemy thoughts -- Be waiting for them and laugh them off!! Accept that they will nag at your mind and try to drag you down - and then HIT them with your FAITH, your Mental Aces in the Hole (MAITH), or simply respond with a prayer - recite it over and over a few times and you will be amazed how quickly these cowardly thoughts retreat!

THEY know they cannot beat you when you UNDERSTAND them and their intentions! And they disappear and wait to hit you again at another vulnerable time!

Forewarned is forearmed they say .. And it is true with our mind and thoughts!

Thought is SUPREME indeed and if you can control and have power over your thoughts - Happiness, peace and Joy are inevitably yours!!

Stay Strong!

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Choices

Sounds trite but when it all boils down to it, life is nothing more than a series of choices followed closely by the outcomes and effects of those choices on our lives.

Pretty simple really. All we have to do is make the RIGHT choices every time we are faced with a decision point!

How hard can that be?

Impossible, of course, is the answer and no matter how much we analyze, study, prepare, investigate, and research our choices, inevitably - at some point- we are going to make what is perceived to be the WRONG choice!

No one is immune to it!

But think about HOW MANY choices we make in a day. Sure, some of them seem trivial in the grand scheme of life, but even trivial choices and decisions we make every single day (sometimes hundreds a day) can impact our lives in a major way!

How often have you heard horror stories about someone making a seemingly small choice during their day only to have that choice be the difference between life and death? (Think Sept 11, 2001)

Or how often have you heard of someone's choice saving or impacting someone else's life by what appears to be sheer happenstance? (Think September 11, 2001)

If we break it down like that it can be overwhelming and downright frightening to think that "what time" I leave to catch my train can have lasting ramifications on my life and the lives of others!

Overwhelming, scary, paralyzing, and also fascinating!

Well, I have a way to avoid being overwhelmed, paralyzed, or scared by the cavalcade of decisions we face daily - DO NOT WORRY and follow your heart!

I can hear you now - "What does that garbage mean?". " That is a bunch of hooey". Etc....

Please - Hear me out!

I truly believe we have a guidance system in all of us and that guidance system is operated by a higher Power! Call it what you will! God, the Universe, Holy Spirit, Karma, etc.

I believe that the choices WE SEEM to make, and decisions WE SEEM to choose are actually chosen for us.

Sometimes we do not listen to the right choice in our hearts.

Sometimes we do not even know we CAN listen to the right choice and completely miss it!

As Bono of U2 says in his new hit tune, "How can you stand next to the Truth and not see it...."

Well, that is often us and it is because we do not ask for the right choice to be shown to us!

I will take it one step further too. I believe there are NO WRONG choices in light of what are lives are supposed to be!

A dear friend of mine just made a life altering decision with her career. I happen to believe that she made the RIGHT decision, yet others when given the facts may disagree based on their own life situations, value systems, fears, and opinions.

So was it the right choice to make?

I say ANY decision made with a pure heart of love, Faith and Trust is the RIGHT choice to make!

I believe that if you ask for the answer and you choose in Faith, you WILL NEVER make the wrong choice!

Sure, it may seem wrong at times, but you must look at the big picture and elongate the results before you know if it is "right" or "wrong".

We are led down paths - not by our own doings - but by a higher Power! And we MUST have faith, COURAGE, confidence and Trust that we will be led to where we belong!

I KNOW my friend had been led there and I am proud of her!

And I know she KNOWS it too...

So choose with these qualities in your heart and NO amount of FEAR can ever lead you astray!

Stay Strong and God Bless!

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Surrender your heart to God

"Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer, and give up your sins….Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge." 

-Job 11:13-166 

Do you have troubles?  Doesn't everyone? 

Consider what Dr. Peale said:  "It makes no difference what your problems are or how many of them you have, you can find an answer. The answer may be what you desire and want, what you have hoped for. But on the other hand, the answer may be something far different from what you expect.

But if it has been hammered out with God, it is the right answer.


There is nobody who has a problem for which there is not an answer through the wisdom and the guidance of God."  

How do we hammer out our problems with God?  You have already taken the most important step in doing so, by tapping the power of prayer.

Lift it up to the Lord by name and need.  Watch and wait in faith for an answer to your prayer. 

The right answer will surely come…even if, perhaps, not in the way you expect.

Stay Strong!
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Choices! What are yours?

"The really positive people wake up each morning deciding to love the world, even as they are fully conscious of their own and other people's sufferings"
--- Mark Van Valkenburg

"Bill Genovese is one of those, who despite his own troubles, chose a courageous and constructive life.

As a teen. He coped with the devastating and senseless murder of his older sister. In 1964, 28 year old Kitty Genovese was sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed by a man in her Queens, NY neighborhood. While she was being brutally attacked neighbors, who heard the screams but either did not understand the gravity of the situation or did not want to get involved, did nothing.

Bill Genovese struggled with his anger. Two years later he joined the Army and went to Vietnam. There both his legs were destroyed by an explosion and had to be amputated.

He was 19 years old.

Bill had a choice to make at that point and he could have understandably given into his anger and resentment and despair. Who would have faulted him given all he had experienced in his 19 short years on this earth?

Bill determined "not to sit on the sidelines of life".

He chose to love and live and forgive!

"He is grateful for the Blessings God gave him like meeting and marrying his wife Dale, a nurse, having three children, a home, a job, his Faith and eventually grandchildren."

He chose to love.

How different from Bill's are your circumstances today? Your challenges? Your struggles? Your first thoughts as you awake to take on the day?

We have a choice - and not just daily- hour to hour - minute to minute - to change our minds and CHOOSE happiness - CHOOSE joy - CHOOSE peace, CHOOSE to love and live and help and forgive!

No formal applications are needed - just accept it in your heart and minds and it will set you (us) on a path to joy and peace!

Stay Strong - and take time today to really reflect and remember all of your blessings as they often become buried in our perceived daily struggles!!

"I thank my stars every day of my life that I learned it is not money that makes you happy, but rather what kind of life you live. Real richness comes not from dollars, but with "sense".
- Eartha Kitt

(Story partially adapted from the Christopher News Letter)

Ask, Seek, Knock

Stop worrying - simply ask with Faith and Trust and it will be granted to you.. How can it not be??

Stay Strong!

"Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks WILL receive, and anyone who seeks WILL find, and the door WILL be opened to those who knock.

Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish?

As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children.

How much more, then, will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?

Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets."

(Matthew 6. 7-12)

Monday Blues? Only if you want 'em!

It was 6:25 this morning when I walked into the hallway and bumped smack into my 7 year old daughter. I was very surprised to see her not only awake, but fully dressed in her camp shirt, bathing suit underneath - Ready to take on the day!

"Wow, Sweetie, you are up early today."

" I already ate breakfast and brushed my teeth too Daddy!" She beamed.

"Wow - that is great! I am so proud of you! Why so early today?" I inquired.

" I just want my day to start now" she replied with a bright, dazzling smile.

It was quite the contrast - my daughter rip roaring to get on with her day and her Dad, sluggish, and slowly dragging himself to the shower to start his work week - safe to say with less enthusiasm as my little girl.

Now, I understand a day spent at the office versus a day spent literally at the beach and pool with your friends, playing, swimming and laughing are two vastly different motivations!

However,my daughter inspired me to get my butt in gear, lose the blah Monday attitude and get charged up for the day!

It is a matter of CHOICE! A choice in our minds that we control!

Which will you choose this morning?

Allow the Monday Blues to control you and run your day, week, life?

Or take control of it and CHOOSE to be happy, strong, enthusiastic, focused, enjoying and appreciating ALL the blessings you have been given this wonderfu day??

Remember - there are many people who cannot enjoy today's sunshine and walk around healthy - smiling and seeking positives! And you can bet they would trade their "Monday" for ours in a heartbeat!

Get it in perspective - give thanks for all the Gifts you are experiencing this morning - and go out and INSPIRE someone to have a great Monday like my precious daughter did to me today!

It does not matter what your situation - it is BETTER than the majority of people on the planet and chances are OUR perception of our so called "problems" are quite inflated when you start delving deeper into people's daily challenges!

Inspire someone today - pick them up from the Monday gloom! It does not take much to do it!

You will not regret it for a moment!

And please remember that You are not ALONE - Stay Strong!