Inspired to inspire - Part 1

Let's ask some questions today, YOU know the answers. This is part one  : -

Are you making a difference in your life?

Are you making a difference in someone else's life?

Are you growing tired about something in your life?

Are you doing anything about it?

Are you waiting for someone to change?

Are you going to be the change you want to see?

The most important question is are you living for yourself? This means are you living out people's expectations of what you should be, or are you truly living out what you believe in, what inspires you, doing what motivates you? Pursuing your dreams, acting out and actualizing your goals and dreams.

Do you do things because others are doing them?

Do you fear being unique, being different, being you?

Do you sleep knowing you did all you could that do?

These are a few questions we need to consider today, now, not tomorrow or later. They are to be asked everyday, every time you wander in your own little cocoon. Did you hear the story about the ugly caterpillar that died? Apparently, this was announced tragically via the 1 o'clock news, just kidding.

But the caterpillar died in its cocoon after a hard tedious journey through the vast bushes, eating everything green it came across. And then one day it knew life was going to end and it spun its own 'tomb' (cocoon). After a long dormant almost death-like experience, a beautiful butterfly emerged flying to soar the air, sharing the stage with likes of birds.

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.

George Halas

Can you apply that to your own life? What the caterpillar (you) thought was going to be the end of an ugly, treacherous life (filled with failures, let downs, mockery, mistrust, fill in all the scars in your life) in the bushes (your circumstances, unfulfilled expectations); was actually the beginning of transformation, the beginning of beauty in the midst of scars. Suffering has a way of molding us into the next phase of life. You have to go through tough stuff so as to get tougher.

Lessons to learn :

• Learn from the past

Definition of Past: having existed or taken place in a period before the present 

Everything you go through in life helps in building a foundation for what tomorrow holds. You have to learn from the past. The past does not define who you are, nor does it dictate who you are meant to be. Don't live, don't dwell on or in the past. This will defeat the course of your journey.  Learn from your mistakes.  Take the strides you need to move away from the past. Let it be THE PAST.

This also means don't carry with you the grudges of yesterday, the let downs of ages ago, the broken expectations and promises of the past to today. Let them go.

• Your present state says nothing about your future. 

 Definition of Present: now existing or in progress

This is where you are at in life. The present will be the best place to be if you are not holding on to the past or are not trying to manipulate the future. It is what you should be able to change. You can choose to live your present life differently. Don't let your present circumstances and fears determine how you live. Take them as opportunities to greatness and not hurdles as they may seem. Use them as steps to actualizing your dreams.
If you answer the questions above, then the present will be one good place to be.
Remember that you make the choices and decisions that shape the future. You may not know what it holds, but everything you do now will have a trickle effect into what the future might hold. Do your best. Today do your best with what you have now.
Don't sit worrying about the future. Otherwise the present will pass you by like the wind.

• Your future is out of your hands. Get used to that!

Definition of Future: expressive of time yet to come

The future is molded by your present. It is a reflection of your past and present culminated into one. Very unpredictable.
Everyone would want to know their future if given a chance. The truth is your future is in God's hands.
You don't know whether you will be breathing in the next minute. It's not a given. People live all their lives for tomorrow when today is all that matters. NOW is the big picture.
What if you lived your life starting from the end (death) towards the beginning (birth)? Would you live differently?

Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

Let's answer these questions honestly and we will start the journey of being ourselves.

Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

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O the bliss of letting go - THE END

Don't we all love endings in fairy tales, soap operas that we all hate to love and
the close of a chapter in life and opening of a new one, it may even be finishing a book or a chapter in the book you* are reading. Think of the merry graduations after years in the treacherous exam rooms. What a relief, right?

But don't talk about ending a relationship - some are over even before they began - but somehow we went through them. What's with saying goodbyes, you feel like the world should just let this moment not have to be. This friendship might be a bad one, it may be bringing more hurt than it does joy. Let it go. Just let it go. But oh, how complicated it gets.

Questions like why do I have to do it, why not them, just maybe it will be a mistake I'll regret (Remember No Regrets, just learn from the mistakes.). Maybe time will heal the hurt, maybe,please wait for it - they'll change (That's a big one.)

I hate maybes...

People never change in a day. It is a tedious process that requires first, a determination to change and God, God changes people.

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others. 

Benjamin Franklin

Ending a habit
The wise ones say you can form a habit after doing it six days in a row, it may be that you watch too much television, or you don't finish a book once you've started, or you never finish anything you start (this is a major one - you have to end this), or you never start doing anything you say, some people well I included, so let's say, people tend to talk more than they accomplish. We should spend more time doing.

...Remember "well done" is much better than "well said". Don't just talk about your potential dreams, visions and ideas. Step out now and determine to do them.


Myles Munroe, Releasing Your Potential

You may have a habit of getting angry quite fast, or the anger might be stemmed in the need to be perfect and therefore you don't feel you are adept at making errors. Someone points out a mistake, you run to the defensive like a dirty dog running from piped water.

I dread such endings in fact any stories I hear about endings better be the first lot, otherwise they are just that, stories.

They cease to be stories the day, I'm the one who needs to do the ending.

The day I need to let go.

The day I need to say goodbye.

The day I need to kick the bad habits off and start new ones that have a lasting effect.

I'm having cold feet right now, just shuddering at the thought.

Why me? Why now? Why? Why? Why?

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to; all they need is one reason why they can. 

Willis Whitney

I have a reason why I can.

I don't want to hurt again.

I have many reasons in fact.

I deserve more.

I am tired of giving me second place. The question what about me is right sometimes ... I tend to feel people in the pain, I forget myself in the whole process.

Goodbyes give room to the new awkward HI.

Yes, there are other people I can befriend.

The TV will always be there, I just need to manage myself to read books and finish them, start assignments and see them come to fruition, or just start what I've always wanted to do.

I can do much more, much more than I've done. I've got so much potential. I've had many accomplishments, but there is much I can do. Only I need faith to start. That's where beginnings come...

What do you need to end, or who do you need to let go?


Disclaimer : You may just mean I. No undue pressure is intended or implied :-)


THIS IS NOT THE END, WE'VE GOT MUCH MORE TO END. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE END

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

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