We don’t always have what we want, but we usually have what we need. Things usually don’t turn out the way we imagine they will, but they usually turn out the way they should.
Take it one day at a time, deal with what’s in front of you right now instead of focusing on what hasn’t happened. Right now is the only thing happening and this may be where it ends. If you make the most of the present you will also make the most of your future.
It’s good to have goals and a vision for the future, but…
Most of us don’t like silence, because it forces us to confront ourselves. And sometimes what we find staring back is emptiness.
We’re also afraid of silence, because we equate silence with insignificance. We want to be heard and seen. We want to make ourselves relevant. We want to be somebody in the eyes of others.
The desire to make ourselves feel relevant can be very strong. But in our quest to be heard and noticed and thought well of by others we often drown out our inner voice.
We’re constantly in search of something we already have. We already…
The less you own, the less you have to take care of.
The less you own, the less you have to replace.
The less you own, the less money you need to earn.
The less you own, the more time you have for other things (and people).
The less you own, the less things you need to protect.
It’s not always easy to want less, but we’re capable of doing it. It starts with appreciating what we already have.
While we’re thinking about what we don’t have, we’re forgetting about what we do have. We have more than we usually…
Purpose
-I will continue to give the world the best thoughts I have to offer. They won’t all be great thoughts, but enough of them will be.
-I hope that my writing can be a source of wisdom and comfort.
-The things I write in my blog aren’t a reflection of how I think or behave at all times. They’re a reflection of my desire to balance myself out. Those posts are reminders to myself.
-Have a message that outlives you. Part of what that means is being comfortable with not receiving recognition during your lifetime. …
All relationships involve sacrifice. That includes putting up with some things that annoy or offend us. This is true no matter how great the other person might be. Because no matter how good someone is, they’re not perfect.
When you get married you inevitably join yourself to someone who has a different inner constitution from yours. You married someone who thinks differently from you in many ways. There are certain compatibilities too, but if the differences aren’t complimentary they’ll likely become major obstacles. You won’t be able to change your partner and they won’t be able to change you.
In…
One of the United States’ most decorated Vietnam War veterans said in a 1989 interview that he respected people who protested the war in the 1960's. Including those who chose to go to jail. Because they “at least tried to help America within the system.”
But the “guys who went to Canada, I don’t respect them at all”, he said. “They didn’t help the system. They didn’t change the system…The folks who ran away to Canada didn’t do anything for the United States of America. Didn’t do anything for the brothers or the sisters. They didn’t highlight an issue. …
If you crossed paths with a coyote and it showed you its teeth, it would be frightening (photo of it here). It would seem “evil”. And if it attacked you, or you saw it attack another animal, that act would seem evil. But you would know that the coyote isn’t actually “evil”. You would conclude that the coyote is merely in survival mode. That it’s doing the only thing it knows how to do to survive. It would merely seem evil.
Conversely, if you saw a human being do such things, you would instantly conclude that you were witnessing an…
When I was a police officer I was taught that officer safety is essential to public safety. In other words, if you respond to an incident with reckless abandon you might end up dead or seriously injured. Then you’d be no good to the people you’re there to help. To be of service to others we needed to take care of ourselves, but we weren’t excused from making the ultimate sacrifice. If need be, it was our job to put ourselves in harms way to save people from the threat of imminent death or grievous bodily harm. …
On the night of June 5th, 1944 more than 156,000 troops from the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada (a contingent of the “Allied Forces”) were amassed along the English coast waiting for their orders. They were about to embark on the largest seaborne invasion in history. Their mission was to cross a 100-mile wide part of the English Channel at night and assault a highly fortified enemy position at Normandy, located on the northern shores of France.
They were up against 50,000 Nazi troops (protected by bunkers), 170 artillery guns, anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire, booby traps, and 4 million…
There’s something very natural about sitting in silence. It’s a return to a more
natural state of being.
Sometimes you have to sit with your silence for awhile before you have any
insights. While writing this paragraph (as with most things I write), I had no
idea what I was going to write. I sat in silence and waited for something to
come to me. This is the power of the unconscious mind at work.
You never know what’s in there until you quiet the conscious mind and simply listen. That’s what it’s about. It’s about listening. I sit with…
Dan Pedersen
Father, Writer, Investor, creator of Personal Growth publication. Writing mostly to myself, sharing some of it with you, hope it helps.
