Posted on by BWThomas

What would our life look like if we reached our potential?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Don’t set limits on your unlimited potential. Unknown

What is our potential? How good are we compared to how good we could be? Is there a limit on improvement? If we continually improve something in our lives, our lives can be richer, and what if we don’t know how good things could be? Does this apply to individuals, families, communities, countries, and the world?

What part of our lives would we like to see improved? Do we have enough friends, or should we join a group of like-minded people? Do we get enough exercise and have enough fun outdoors, breathing in fresh air with the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair? Are we robustly healthy for our age and stage in life? Is the food we eat as wholesome and colorful as it can be?

We watch children grow and develop, but when do we decide we are developed? What if we didn’t reach the magical age of adulthood and settle into building a life, and often give up on earlier dreams? What if we kept those dreams alive for later when we have time to pursue them? Doing for our families takes all the time, energy, and resources we have, but what if, after the heavy lifting of raising children is over, we have a new lease on life and potential to make something out of the later years that didn’t fit into those years of heavy lifting?

Life is a journey, and what if we never finish improving something until we breathe our last breath? I’m looking around at women who are aging gracefully, who are active in their eighties, going to the gym, swimming, joining book clubs, travelling, and active in Toastmasters or other groups like horticulture societies, and quilting guilds.

Our health might not be as much in our control as we’d like; seemingly healthy people are blindsided by cancer, and some overcome it, and some will not. Maybe it isn’t so much the years in our life as the life in our years.

Believe in your potential, even when others don’t see it yet. Unknown

I wonder if I am living as fully and deeply as I can. Where can I improve? Is every relationship in my life as great as I would like? Will there always be room for improvement in relationships, and is it possible if I set my mind to it?

Life is ahead of us until it isn’t, and none of us know when life will take a turn we didn’t see coming. Change is coming for all of us; we can embrace it, live with it, and love it, live with it and hate it, but we can’t change what we can’t change.

Seeing the potential in our own and others’ lives is what we can do. Who can we encourage who struggles with seeing the potential in their lives? Who can we uplift, encourage, and support?

Sometimes we want to do big things, but maybe focusing on small things we can do right now will make the biggest difference in our lives. The more we get the little things right, the more we will get the big things right, because little things add up to big things. Are we too busy focusing on the big things that we let the little things slide, so we never figure out how to get the big things we want in life?

If our daily habits are what build our lives, then it makes sense that all change must come from our daily habits. What does a good day look like? What would a good week look like? Of course, perfection is the enemy of the good, and do we look down on little satisfactions and pleasures which add up to a good life, thinking about big things others are accomplishing, which makes our life look small and insignificant?

What if comparing ourselves to others is one of the worst things we do? What if we should be comparing where we are to where we used to be, and take satisfaction in the forward momentum of our lives? Small incremental steps will get us somewhere, so will big leaps, but what if the small incremental steps lead to the possibility of big leaps?

We are where we are, and we have to be okay with that; it doesn’t mean we can’t move in the direction we desire. We might want to be the hare, but what if we are the tortoise? We applaud early bloomers, but what of those who make continual though not applauded progress in life, and what of the late bloomers? What if some of the best moments can still be ahead of us if we have the right attitude? What if we embrace getting better in all areas of our life, and we don’t know where that will lead, because there is always room for improvement, and when we get to the top of one mountain, we see another mountain to climb?

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein

Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking your potential. Winston Churchill

You are the master of unspoken words, but a slave to the words you have spoken. Winston Churchill

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts, click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

A rich life is not all about money.

Don’t let money run your life. Let money help you run your life better. John Rampton

Do we have enough for our needs and most of our wants? Are we rich enough in material blessings? How do we stack up in non-material blessings?

Do we have harmony in our relationships?

Freedom from fear, failure, and disappointment, because we know we have resilience and can handle what comes even if it brings us to our knees.

Do we have the hope of an achievement, and are we shining a light in someone else’s life?

Do we trust the process of life, believing the bridge will be there if we need it?

Are we willing to be generous, share our blessings of time, money, and knowledge, and lift others?

Do we have something we love to do, not all aspects of it, but enough, and do we add value to other people’s lives?

Do we have an open mind on all subjects so we are in a state of learning?

Do we have self-discipline and can delay gratification? Is our plan unfolding through visions, strategies, and tactics?

Too many people spend money they earned… to buy things they don’t want… to impress people they don’t like. Unknown

Do we have the capacity to understand people? Do we have easy communication with them, understand what makes them tick, and motivates them?

Do we have economic security, financial freedom, and freedom of choice, time, and purpose?

If we can tick off a few of the questions, and others need work we are a work in progress. Shouldn’t we always be a work in progress, because progress is what we are after as we build our lives with purpose, faith, and gratitude?

What does a rich life mean to us? A rich life can’t be all about money because if we have no one to share it with how rich is that? Do we have friends, and people around us we love and care about? Are we loving, generous, and kind to those around us? Do we encourage, uplift, motivate, and notice a step in the right direction?

When we think of someone, do we call them, and do our best to help without enabling them? Is someone’s life better because we are in it? If we are rich in more ways than just money, aren’t we rich indeed?

It is the loving, not the loved, woman who feels lovable. Jessamyn West

If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed. Edmund Burke.

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. Jim Rohn

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Discovering wisdom on our journey.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Every missed chance becomes a memory filled with regret. Unknown

Do we regret what we don’t do more than what we do? Does this mean we should follow every whim, every crazy idea that comes into our heads? I don’t think so, but over the years, a still small voice has spoken to us, prodded us, and encouraged us. When have we listened and been glad we did, and when have we not listened and regretted it?

Looking back over a lifetime, there are missed opportunities and u-turns we wish we’d taken. Here we are, for better or worse, and we can go forward, but we can’t go back.

I heard of a lady crying in a shop saying she’d been unhappy in her marriage for fifty-four years. She envied the person who was leaving a relationship at almost age seventy-five. The person leaving a relationship at almost seventy-five no doubt has regrets of her own, but it is the courage to take action the lady envies. The courage to say enough, there is only so much time left, and I want something different than what I have.

Grey divorce is a phenomenon of our time; as people reach a certain age they want something more, or at least different out of life. It takes courage to stay and courage to go, who has the most courage might not be evident at first glance.

Regret about yesterday takes away the beauty of today. Unknown

Courage to take action in life and knowing which actions to take is where we build a good life. We will never take advantage of every opportunity. We will not always make the best decision, and I doubt anyone gets a life with no regrets, but living a life with few regrets seems a good goal.

What are the opportunities in front of us, what are the choices ahead of us to make the best of the years to come?  Who can we be an example to, who can we encourage, and who do we turn to for support and encouragement? Regrets are painful reminders of what we think might have been, but if we embrace the lesson we can take a step toward wisdom. We don’t get wisdom from information, but from our journey, and no one can spare us the lessons we learned.

The weight of regret is often heavier than the pain of failure. Unknown

Regret in love is not loving enough, or loving too late. Unknown

Regret is the scar we carry from the battles we didn’t fight. Unknown

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Is change the catalyst we must embrace, maybe we can’t do, be, and have exactly what we want, but what if we can?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. John C. Maxwell

What do we wish and hope for that we will never take steps to bring to fruition? It is easy to think I’d like that, and we would, if we didn’t have to do anything to achieve it, but what are the goals we are willing to take the steps to make happen?

Today, I’m giving a speech to a Toastmasters Group that contacted me because I am a writer. For years, I wanted to write, thought about writing, and even occasionally dabbled in writing, but I never created a writing practice that I kept up until October 2000.

My husband brought home an old laptop with floppy discs, and I put that old laptop on the kitchen table and started to write every night after I put the kids to bed. We had a better computer, but I used it for work and went into work mode, not writer mode as I sat behind it. But, that little laptop brought the writer to the fore and the daily practice of writing became a reality.

Whatever we want to do will happen when we change the things we do daily. Exercise only fits into our daily schedule if we find time for it. A walk at lunchtime, before breakfast, or after dinner can fit in a daily walk. If we don’t have a daily schedule it is easy for a day to end without getting much accomplished, but if we have a schedule it is amazing what we can do. We all have the same twenty-four hours, and what we choose to do with them builds our lives.

Every morning we are born again. What we do today matters most. Buddhist Proverb

Sometimes I wonder if those elusive goals sound good. Why do we focus on goals that sound good when we can focus on what we want out of life? Do we think we sound more interesting if we say we’d love to learn another language, write a book, or see the Seven Wonders of the World? Is talking about what we want to do one of the surest ways we won’t do them, because talking feels so good, almost as good as accomplishing something, do we have to keep our ideas to ourselves to fuel our actions?

At the Writer’s Group on Saturday, the workshop was on collaborating with other writers to critique each other’s work. It’s a good idea, it might work for many, but if we share our writing too early I think it might be a mistake. First drafts are not to be shared, and partial first drafts are even worse. Collaborating might be so much fun (just like talking about our work), that we never spend enough time writing.

Spring is in the air when all things seem possible. Is there something we would like to start, or finish? What daily actions can we take to bring something to fruition? What daily improvement can we make? Daily deposits create dividends in our lives.

Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change. Jim Rohn

It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently. Anthony Robbins

Any day we wish we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year. Jim Rohn

Thank you for reading this post please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

What if we can always get better and that is our true purpose in life?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Those who seek a better life must first become a better person. Jim Rohn

Listening to Jordan Peterson in an interview yesterday, he said, “We have a moral obligation to be optimistic toward the future.” What would it mean to be optimistic about the future, and what does it mean not to be?

Some people go on like the sky is falling and everything will be ruined, and we may be in for hard times. Some of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents went through hard times but through it all they moved toward better, and why are we thinking we can’t move toward better too?

We should always be moving towards better, but that doesn’t mean mistakes aren’t made, unintended consequences don’t occur, and we don’t have to regroup and reorient ourselves. How can we make this year better than last year? Spending our time worrying about what someone else has to do won’t make our lives better, we might feel we can analyze world affairs better than those tasked with the job, but I’m pretty sure it’s hubris on my part to think I see things the people in charge don’t see. How to make things better is for the people in charge to interpret and implement, and we will see the results in the fullness of time, some things they will do well, but there will be mistakes and missteps, and there will be no matter who is in power.

Since most of us have no impact on governance other than our vote, and many don’t exercise our vote, does complaining give us a sense of power? Do we waste our time complaining about what we can’t change instead of changing what we can? It seems like a thankless job to pour your heart and soul into running a city, province, or country; do we need to be grateful people are willing to step up and take on the challenge? How could anyone make most of us happy? Good governance might not be about making the people happy, but doing what is best for the city, province, or country, and what is best might make many people unhappy.

You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. Marcus Aurelius

We know the government isn’t run perfectly but is our life? I see improvements I can make, but it is easier to complain about what someone else should do than to do what I can do. Perfection is the enemy of the good, and things could be so much worse. I have to remind myself to be grateful for how things are because it is a miracle we have the lives we have, with the conveniences, opportunities, and security we enjoy.

Jordan Peterson tells us we shouldn’t take for granted things going right because they could as easily, or more easily be going in the other direction. How often have we felt something could have been catastrophic, but somehow we escaped?

Are we all wandering in the wilderness; why else are self-help books so popular? Do we need to come upon a burning bush to set our feet on solid ground, find a purpose, and work on becoming better? What would our lives look like if we improved something every year? How would our relationships, health, and interactions in the community improve? Who would we encourage, and whose lives would be better because our lives touched theirs?

Jordan Peterson talked about firing on all cylinders, and he was asked how many cylinders there are. Maybe an unlimited amount was his answer. What if this is true and finding the right cylinders for us is the challenge? What if we can make a difference in our own and others’ lives? What if being better is truly possible if we choose to make it our goal?

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn

When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves. Viktor E. Frankl

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale from the Amazon affiliate program.