PERSEVERE TO THAT END OF A NEW BEGINNING

Oh he never misses! I meant my online friend who always sends me quotes with special instructions that I write. But I tell him that stuff like this are open to interpretations as whatever experiences a person comes up with in his own life journey. Because only when one can see himself in it does he eventually take it for his own. And thus ...do I write. Thanks for this quote, buddy!

"People do not always make breakthroughs because they refused to quit. Sometimes they make them because they know when to quit. When they realize that enough is enough, that old patterns aren't serving them, that it's time to repack their bags."
(Richard J. Leider)

That's a good one. But are we really willing to let of old patterns? Even if we see how they serve more to block us from moving forward with our lives. Some do, some don't, and some take a wee bit longer to decide. We all fall in one or two of those categories. We each have our reasons I believe.

To make sense of our lives at whatever point we find ourselves in, we must learn to sit back and see it for what it is. Objective may be a hard word to use in this, I think, because one can't truly be objective when things are happening to self. But as a friend once said ... 'that's the point when you just have to push yourself harder to step back and reevaluate'.

Well, each of us has his or her own way of going about this. We each as an individual would know what would work for us and not. But it's wisdom to know and understand that change won't happen unless we make room for it. If we need and desire a breakthrough in our life, we need to give it some space to happen. And we can only do that if we learn to let go of old patterns that serve us no more. Of what use is holding on if it no longer is the blessing it's supposed to be?

Change may be slow but given time will eventually take us there to where we individually want to belong. That place where wonderful blessings can and will happen and where our joy is complete. Persevere to that end of a new beginning.

May God bless us all with increased faith, courage, and strength.... and the wisdom to use it.

STICK-TO-ITIVENESS

‘Stick-to-itiveness’ – that’s a word Mom would freely use when reminding me of my goals. She’d say ‘be like glue and be sticky!’ She was kidding of course but she made sense I soon found out on my own when she passed away several years later.

It’s something like this. It’s determinedly focusing on something which you strongly believe in no matter what other people may say to the contrary. It’s working harder than the rest because you know well deep inside that it’s all going to be worth your blood, sweat, and tears someday. It’s pushing the button even harder when friends say you should give it up. It’s trusting in yourself and in what you are capable of even if they say that you can’t or never can. It’s strongly believing in possibilities and potential and that this could happen to you -- Because, to quote Mom, ‘whatever you give fully from your heart and soul the universe in its wisdom will give back to you in full measure too’.

Goals and dreams are not easy to pursue… whatever they are or whatever size they may be, big ones -- small ones. You’d be up against all known resistance or conflict and impediment that all seem to conspire to get you off the track or make things so hard for you that you’d begin thinking of shifting gears and taking another road – an easier one. I often wondered just where these difficulties real or imagined come from. They usually crop up when least expected or least needed. But then again Mom would say ‘they’re there to see if you got the stuff to follow your dream’. Oh they do huh?! Well, I told Mom with the best bravado I could muster ‘this is one person who won’t buckle down with the slightest difficulty’. Mom would simply smile to that (and that made me feel quite uneasy). Why do mothers always see through their children?! And so to make a long story short -- I persevered doggedly, determinedly, persistently, resolutely, tenaciously, and whatever-else-you-may-call-it but which should mean ‘stick-to-itiveness’ in Mom’s dictionary. But I did get there (…to some of my goals; am working still on the rest) and I’ve loved that word ever since…using it like I use my toothbrush everyday. Next to God, Mothers know best.

Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there." -- Josh Billings

(That's Maxie in the picture there, the youngest of our three dogs. She sure can teach you what 'determination' means. lols :-) Yeah, she succeeded to win a piece of Skittles from us.)