Unleashing the Power of Positive Thoughts: A Guide to Embracing Optimism and Happiness

Poeticpotpourri

In the realm of thoughts, where magic lies,
Positive sparks within us rise.
Like sunbeams breaking through the mist,
They embrace our souls with a gentle kiss.

With each dawn, a chance to renew,
To plant seeds of positivity, true.
Let go of worries, let go of fears,
Embrace the strength that optimism bears.

When dark clouds gather, and storms may brew,
Seek the silver lining, find a different view.
For in every challenge, a lesson hides,
And in every setback, potential resides.

Nurture gratitude, let it bloom and grow,
Count blessings like petals, watch them bestow.
Embrace self-love, with kindness and care,
For positive thoughts begin within, right there.

Radiate positivity, touch lives around,
A ripple effect, profound and profound.
Spread smiles and laughter, lend a helping hand,
For positive thoughts can change the land.

In this tapestry of life we weave,
Let positivity be the thread that won’t…

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That Tiny Eyes Girl

ishambhavirhyming.wordpress.blog

That tiny eyes girl
Shrinks it more and stretches lips fore,
When her huge heart blooms with happiness.
In solitude!
That tiny eyes girl 
Shrinks it more and rolls down the pearl,
As the pursed pain unfurl.

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Creating Community and Togetherness

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To remember

basics about us as humans = very social creatures.

• massively increased our population > more & more find ourselves to be rather lonely.
• western cultures > normal for a child to move out when they’re 18 and to begin their own lives
•  focusing on careers => families + friends pushed aside
• very toxic view of life
• time to reach out to those you love, those you care about + maybe those you don’t know

When remaining angry

MSW blog likes to tell his clients

“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. Now, just imagine if you spent those sixty seconds providing self love and/or kindness.,,”

(in a reaction on How could I possibly be offended?: about  being angry, resentful, filled with hate and plagued with a vindictive heart, which is tantamount to drinking poison.)

Read also:

From a stumbling spiritual pilgrim on his way from one place to an other on a journey of self-discovery, in the spirit of service, generosity, and gratitude, but has little sympathy for the perpetually aggrieved:

1. How could I possibly be offended?
2. How could I possibly be offended?
3. The kind of danger we are ready for is the kind we can face from a safe distance
4. When you can’t look on the bright side, I’ll sit with you in the dark -Alice in Wonderland

Plus from Real Life of an MSW

1. Kindness Gone Awry
2. Radom Act of Kindness

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Related

Anger: When I get angry, I suffer, because anger is always unjustified, and, deep inside, I know that.  Help me to turn to my journal and vent there when I am overwrought.  I never get angry unless I am stressed.

Beauty comes from the inside out

Love yourself.

It is important to stay positive
because beauty comes from the inside out.

Jenn Proske

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Dutch version / Nederlandse versie: Schoonheid komt van binnenuit

To come to live in the peace of fulfilment of our own Divine Identity

We had a look at Susan Billmaier her views on the turbulence of life, and the transformation of the self.

At her blog SusanWithPearls – Living Life. Learning to do that better. Sharing it here.- she often wonders how we know ourselves and how we do get at what is inside.

Lots of people question their own self and look for way to have a good life. For years they try out several things. Most often they go looking for

The self that… is a deeper self, some say a “higher self”, some say a “Christ self”, or the “Buddha/enlightened self”, in some Native cultures it is called, simply, “beauty”. {Knowing your Self is more than knowing the size of your stomach.}

She writes

 Whatever it is– the moral self, the good will– I am not too particular about the label, or the words– it is simply the best that a person can find within themselves and everyone has it…whether they know it or not. {Knowing your Self is more than knowing the size of your stomach.}

She also knows that man has to come to a point where the individual comes to see that it has its own value and its own reason to be, demanding to take personal action and own personal focus on personal awareness.

My own Loving Presence is my Self. I turn my attention inward and become aware of my own Loving Presence. With my focused awareness, my own Loving Presence fills me, grows brighter, and grows warmer. {Claim only the Self that you love. A Journey of Purpose: Day 32}

Being faced with the self one may not loose that self nor the faith in the self. Being confronted with the surroundings one need also to be willing to go into confrontation with it and with the inner thoughts, at the same time willing to perceive the necessary changes to be taken or the changes going on around the self.

as a guiding thought can be notated

Accept your light and your lightness! Feel your Self expand! As you perceive change around you, remain anchored in your Being of Light. Allow yourself to sit peacefully in the still place of nothingness as life moves quickly around you. {Arguing with myself and losing: Journey of Courage 2017 – Day 19}

Too many people do forget that we are here on this earth because we are allowed to be here by the Most High Divine Creator. Many do not want to know about that Omnipotent, Omniscient, Powerful Eternal Divine Source of all life, existence and knowledge, but also of peace and joy Though daily they are confronted with “Existence” that surrounds them.

In ““Self Fulfilled”: Journey of Fulfillment 2.0 – Day 05” Susan Billmaier looks at the guiding thought

In Divine Mind, I am filled full! All are equally filled full. All are equal in Love. I fill my mind with thoughts of fulfillment and remember what I already know. I am determined to fulfill my purpose, to know my Self as Divine Love, and to share the fullness I am.{“Self Fulfilled”: Journey of Fulfillment 2.0 – Day 05}

For her “Guiding Thoughts”

acts like a guided visualization and I see/experience the words. There are days when reading the Guiding Thought seems to open a channel within me and I can feel energy within me moving in a new or different way. {“My Self Has My Back, Now if It Would Scratch…”: Journey of Abundance 2.0 – Day 33}

First page of “On the Difficulty of Knowing One’s Self”, 1744 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can only ascertain that lots of people are afraid of looking at them self in the light of a Higher Being that would be Master over them and would be responsible for their being. We can enact that it is difficult for man to accept that there is a Higher Being Mightier than them and giving them all what the can see around them. That High Being wants us to come into a good relationship with our self, with others around us and with Him. He wants us to get filled with that what made Him create us in the first place. Even when the first man rebelled it was His love for man that made He wanted to allow them to take care of themselves and to find solutions for themselves, but providing also The solution to bring an end to their agony, suffering and continues wandering. Also that foreseen solution, the sent one from God, the Messiah, God His own begotten beloved son shared that love of God with mankind and gave his life for all. Like that man of flesh and blood did not want to do his own will, but only did the Will of God, we too should come to a point where we want to do the Will of God and share His love with others.  Only that way we can come to fill our mind and heart with love, aligning with the Light of Truth. Steadfast and focused on our own Loving Presence, than we shall be able to live in the peace of fulfilment of our own Divine Identity.

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Preceding

Inner Voice

Transformation is easy, when you step into something that already IS.

In the turbulence of life, listen and wait.

How to Live Beyond the Ordinary

Learning that stuff is just stuff

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Additional reading

1. No curtain placed over tomorrow
2. There is no true and constant gentleness without humility
3. Only the contrite self, sick of its pretensions, can find salvation
4. For those who make other choices
5. Knowledge of Christ and fear for God
6. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #4

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Further writings of interest

1. Body image bullshit
2. If I could talk to my younger self
3. Scattered Thoughts
4. Spring Cleaning for the Mind
5. Solitude..
6. Desires
7. What’s Happening To Me
8. “I don’t know what living a balanced life feels like..”
9. Dear self
10. Your Greatest Privilege
11. One-Forty-Five AM Exert- Self Discovery
12. My sensory problems: The Big List
13. Flush the Ugly and Soar
14. Vacay
15. On Strength
16. Rejection: What Others Think (Our Challenge)
17. Color and Character
18. Making Sense of the Senses
19. Issue With the Self-Image
20. It is not what it seems… maybe
21. Knowing Me…
22. Am I, a Romantic?
23. Self Obssession is Getting Out of Hand
24. The Paradox of Being in the Present Moment
25. Unity: Coherence of the manifold self (1): Introduction
26. Unity: Coherence of the manifold self (2): Mental multiplicity
27. Unity: Coherence of the manifold self (3): Material causes
28. Who Do You Find Your Worth In? Part 2
29. A Female Factory Worker & a Writer, the Features of a Woman
30. Putting Yourself Down: Don’t
31. Intellectual, maybe not
32. Work from within: Combatting inflammation with lifestyle changes
33. Dreaming in India
34. Connection
35. The Monkey-Trap
36. To Open Up, Once More, Memories of a Plant
37. Selfie Woes
38. Lets put the self in selfie
39. The Well of Knowledge
40. Initially, you are unformed
41. If I could only…
42. Time for Changes
43. Thoughts to Myself
44. What is love?

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Related articles

• Looking at Love Through a Cardboard Tube
• Pleiadian Consciousness ~ Healing The Emptiness Within ~ March 18, 2017
• Moving From kNOwing To kNOWing
• Just Give Me Jesus: A Closer Look at Christians Who Don’t Go to Church
• As the Sap Flows
• Your Cursed Curses Are Useless
• Scripture Verse Of The Week ‘Psalm 119 Verse 104’
• Palm Sunday: Cleric Urges Leaders To Emulate Christ’s Sacrificial Nature
• ‘It is vital that I reach a place of self-forgiveness’: A death row inmate’s thoughts days before execution

Oh god, this is never going to end!

How many times do people block themselves by putting in their head that they can not help themselves?

Each human being, like any mammal, has received the capability to heal him or herself. Most human beings have forgotten how to do it, but if they really want to heal and become stronger, they themselves can make themselves stronger, without help of others even.

We also, when we have reached a point where we do not see any way out and can not help ourselves, dare to go to professionals who can come to our help, bringing us back on the road to self-growth and successfulness.

Being aware you need counselling is already a very good step in the right direction. Now you need to find the love for yourself again and find love for what is around you, by opening your eyes and your heart, plus opening your mind to let bad things go out of it and let good things enter your head and heart.

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To consider:

When there is a wonderful, amazing, caring, patient boyfriend why should you not want to live any more?

Good to talk with the partner or friend.

When you are thinking about suicide and think the other can’t help go find a medical professional.

Never believe everyone has had enough with you, because that just can not be.

You also never deserve all the hate that is reaped upon you. How often we interpret something as hate or badness, whilst it has not to be so?

Hating yourself is often that what gets you down. First of all you have to start finding love for yourself again.

Do not hate yourself nor the other.

By punishing yourself you shall not help yourself.

When you know you are not what you want to be and therefore feel not perfect, know that nobody is perfect and that we may have dreams of what we would like to be but that we should not be ashamed that we not always can become who we would love to be.

Allow yourself to be happy.

Do not punish yourself  berating yourself for doing something “normal” like knocking a cup over, but dare to laugh it away and to see the funny things and pleasant things of life around you.

Do not think you will always make everyone’s life a misery with your misery. Try talking about it and try meeting others, in your own surroundings, in the park, etc.

Try to enjoy the small things of life.

Good Luck

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Please do read: Fear, struggles, sadness, bad feelings and depression

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Related articles

• What doesn’t kill me . . . makes me? (brake5.wordpress.com)
  We toss relationships so easily in a minimal way in the words of ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’?  To be honest, strength is a good God characteristic; but when not balanced with the love of God we lose our gentleness towards others killing our reflection of Christ.  The question then rises . . . How tough do we want to be; tough enough that we miss God’s leading in areas that exemplify His love.
• Things I am growing in since turning 25…part 5 (nissiknows.wordpress.com)
  I used to hate getting hurt – I still do…but less so. With every emotional and physical battle I find myself fighting I now know I am learning a little more about myself and taking on a quality in me that causes strife and division.
• Embraceing The Darkness (peternavratillife.wordpress.com)
  Darkness is all around us.  I am not just talking about the physical darkness of the night sky and under the bed and stuff, but of the darkness that lurks everywhere in our lives too.  Darkness is the absence of light.  And every time we choose to reject the light of Christ and turn away from God and what He has to offer and focus instead on ourselves and what we can get, we are embracing that darkness.  I’m not just talking about things like abortion, suicide, rape, but mostly the little things like lying, swearing, and not passing the salt at dinner.  Every time we do something selfish, we are inviting the darkness in.
• America, land of 1,000 addictions (wnd.com)
  Of course, toddler iPad problems, video-game addiction, even the mushrooming epidemic of online gambling as well as the massive numbers of people reportedly “addicted” to the Internet itself, to Facebook, to texting and so on – all these pale in comparison to the truly gargantuan and society-ravaging problem of Internet pornography.
• Wallow not in self-criticism and blame, (ifewale.wordpress.com)
  Wallow not in self-criticism and blame, as it destroys self confidence. Your negative beliefs are not necessarily true. Since confidence is founded on a positive view of self, believing that you are always good enough the way you are (created in the image of God) and that you deserve the best is vital in getting the things you want.
• Afflictions That Heal Us (brokenbelievers.com)
  Any affliction that keeps me from going astray—that drives me deeper into his Word—is healing. God’s most gracious healing force spiritually and physically can be afflictions.

Living with the black stuff

Today, I have told my wonderful, amazing, caring, patient boyfriend that I do not want to live any more.  I feel like I can’t take feeling like this for eternity.  I have had a massive chat with him this morning, we do usually chat quite a lot about my feelings and how I am today, but this is the first time I have “fessed” up to thinking about suicide (well, I think about it 24/7).  He can’t help me, I know he wants to, but he cant.  I can’t help myself, I push him away so he hates me, then I can be hateful to me when everyone has had enough with me.  I will deserve all the hate that is reaped upon me.  I can then finally say, “yes, this is what I want and this is what I deserve”.  I am such a shitty girlfriend.  We are waiting…

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Watch out

Expectations have to be build on hope, believe and faith. Without believe in him or herself a person shall not be able to get somewhere hoped so easily.

Believing in yourself is the first requirement to get forwards. Having a positive attitude and willingness to dream is the second requirement to get somewhere. Every human being shall have to face difficulties. It is how he or she can cope with it which is going to influence his or her life in the positive or negative way. Going through quite a lot of struggles even can make somebody stronger, more resistant. What is important then is ‘to never give up!’

Others may consider you to be a clown, a swaggerer, a dreamer, or a loony or stupid one. Let no negative reactions stand in the way and go for what you want to achieve. Without dreams nothing can be build up.

If things would not go how you want it, you should try to adjust them so that they can work for you. No matter what you try, how it works out, how negative reactions may be, keep trying, keep going forward trying to pursuing your dream.
Whatever happens try to see the positive in it and always be ready to pursue your happiness. That is the positive lesson in our life where we should keep at.

There always have to be motivation to may the dreams work, but some kind of realism is also necessary to not fall to deep in a well. We always should be careful not pursuing our goal out of greed or lechery. Leering at something materialistic can bring us in a spiral where we do not have an eye for the human thing and spiritual matter. A person can become overtaken by the power of money by the desire to have financial gain, more than spiritual gain.The desires of the flesh can break a person instead of building him up to become a better person. We always have to be careful where we want to set our priorities in life.

Today we can find more people who love wealth and modern gadgets? Wealth has become their biggest motivation. when they are young it may be working very well, and they can love it to swim in their fulfilling dreams of material wealth. But what about their spiritual wealth? Are they interested in that also?

It is not by going to have the latest model of phone or pc tablet a person is going to find the real luck and staying happiness. Soon the phone shall be an old model and the person shall be feeling again not so happy because he has not the newest model any more.

It is good to see and to know you need your “best friends” for ever, around you, because they will be there at the more difficult times and they shall be ready to catch you when you fall down. Because each person has to grow up and learn things by falling and standing up again. And that last bit is very important. Never to get so frustrated that you do not want to get up any more. Everybody can mess up things. To start over again is what you have to dare. Do not stand still by what happened, but get up to try again and go every-time in a new adventure.
You have to keep believing in your dreams and aspirations, no matter what negative things may happen or others may say. But never forget also to be realistic and be taken in account others around you. Never go over death bodies to reach your goal and always stay honest to make it come true.

The biggest difficulty to conquer when trying to build up a financial wealthy life, shall be the ‘sharing bit’. Without willing to give also to others, without allowing others also to have part of what you have, no real happiness shall come into your life. Around the corner shall always be the material egoism and the avarice, which by some even can turn in the acquisitive and stingy. We always should be careful not to become so greedy or money-grubbing. That is not going to bring happiness, though it may be very attractive at a young age. the jealousy of others can also bring bullying with it, making you feeling so alone, being cast out. And people do need other people.

By changing yourself to fit in for others it never is going to work. A person has to stay his Own. You have to believe in yourself, accept yourself for who and what you are. Without the love for yourself you can not give the right love for the other. Also be sure that in case the others only would become your friend because you changed yourself to their way of thinking, than they would not be the right friends. Good friends are those who are willing you for what you are and respect your own personality, your real ‘I’.
Adapting to people is not the right way and shall not bring the solution. Trying to impress people is what many today try, with their gadgets, their capital gain, their way of clothing and their loose way of living. Presenting their world better than it really is. Look at so many Facebook postings which try to present ‘the would like to be’ people and would like to be ‘friends‘. Always try to stay your own self, being honest to yourself and being honest to others, respecting them, also if they do not fit your plan or dreams, or would not agree with your personality. By time they will turn by and get to know your true self and shall come to respect you too.

Without dreams, hopes and aspirations no new worlds can be build, so keep dreaming, keep going forwards, and above all always stay positive.

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Please do find also:

1. Greed more common than generosity
2. Misleading world, stress, technique, superficiality, past, future and positivism
3. Intellectual servility a curse of mankind
4. Gender connections
5. Within despair
6. Preparedness to change
7. Getting fate in your change to positiveness
8. Helping to create a Positive Attitude
9. With Positive Attitude
10. Not holding back and getting out of darkness
11. Your struggles develop your strengths
12. Pain and Suffering is inevitable but Misery is optional
13. Your struggles develop your strengths
14. When discouraged facing opposition
15. Begin your day by, Living your positive attitude
16. Science, scepticism, doubts and beliefs
17. How we think shows through in how we act
18. Don’t be the weakest link
19. Be a ready giver
20. 30 things to start doing for yourself – #6 is vital.
21. Count your blessings
22. God should be your hope
23. Always set a place in your life for the unexpected guest

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Other articles of interest:

1. Celebrating diversity by looking the same?
2. Gender Roles & Self Sacrifice
3. If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
4. Positivism and The Quantity Theory of Money
5. If you’re afraid to do it, do it afraid.
6. Positivism for Millennium 3

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Related articles

• Global education and the ‘American Dream’ (universityworldnews.com)
  Put most simply, the ‘American Dream’ is the belief that everyone has a reasonable chance – although not a guarantee – of achieving success through means under their own control. It is the assurance that personal qualities such as hard work, frugality, honesty and self-discipline can make for a good life, however you (or I) may define that.
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  Poorly conceived, however, global education, like the American Dream itself, can overemphasise the pursuit of material wealth and leave learners ignorant of how systemic and structural inequalities in most, if not all, societies frustrate so many dreamers and so many of their dreams.
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  The recent movement by some scholars to calculate the gross domestic happiness of a country, in contrast with a simple financial measure, both expands the universe of goods constituting success and allows for cultural variety within this expanded universe.Other cogent criticisms of the American Dream focus on the socio-economic and institutional obstacles to the achievement of success by disadvantaged or disenfranchised groups, which may include women, racial, ethnic or religious minorities, the poor or their children.

  From this perspective, the American Dream offers a false promise of fair and equal opportunity to achieve success by ignoring the many ways in which the social order fails to recognise and reward merit.

• What is your dream job ? (beautiful69.wordpress.com)

  Most people I know have a dream. In fact, I’ve asked hundreds, if not thousands, of people about their dream. Some willingly describe it with great detail and enthusiasm.
  Others are reluctant to talk about it. They seem embarrassed to say it out loud. These people have never tested their dream. They don’t know if others will laugh at them. They’re not sure if they’re aiming too high or too low. They don’t know if their dream is something they can really achieve or if they’re destined to fail.

• A Journey Toward Your Goals (robertjrgraham.blogspot.com)
  Too many of us assume if we just have a larger goal in mind and work towards it then success will follow. Well, guess what?! This rarely works in practice. All of us have dreams, but to be truly effective at goal achievement we need to focus on the path toward the goal and let the ultimate dream be our motivation.
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  Set realistic goals. This doesn’t mean that you should not aim for the stars. However, keep a realistic state of mind, taking into account your level of talent and capabilities, as well as, your individual situation. If you presently don’t possess the talents or qualifications to reach your goal, make sure that one of your short-term goals is to acquire some of those skills so that you can reach your long-term goal.
• Sebastiano Serafini 030 – Dream a little every day – (sebastianoserafini.wordpress.com)
  In order to live our lives without limits we must be willing to never let our imaginations die, and we must never forbid ourselves from dreaming at least a little bit every day. Without our dreams we have nothing in our lives to reach for or to go after.
• 10 Habits Of People Who Follow Their Dreams (theunboundedspirit.com)
  People who are true to their purpose and are really successful didn’t always get there because they had the financial means to do so or were just lucky enough to have been brought up in a confidence boosting environment. There are actually a few common habits that have helped them get to where they are.
  People who are true to their purpose and are really successful didn’t always get there because they had the financial means to do so or were just lucky enough to have been brought up in a confidence boosting environment. There are actually a few common habits that have helped them get to where they are. The best part is that these are habits that anyone can attain! – See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/10-habits-of-people-who-follow-their-dreams/#sthash.lfFd7SzI.dpuf
• Greed is Wrong, But What About Wealth Itself? (palamas.info)
  Is it morally wrong to pursue wealth? The question was asked because both of my conversation partners had heard from different priests that in fact, yes, the pursuit of wealth is wrong. Christians especially, we are frequently told, should not seek to become wealthy but focus our lives on more noble goals.  On the one hand I agree with this. Wealth is not an end in itself and to make becoming wealthy the sole, or even central, goal of one’s life is not compatible with a wholesome human life much less the Gospel. While granting that working to become wealthy simply for the sake of becoming wealthy is immoral, does this mean that is it morally wrong to pursue wealth? In other words, it is sinful to want—and so to work to become—wealthy?
• Virtuous egoism (profitableandmoral.com)
  Egoism is virtuous because it makes possible the achievement our long-term well-being and happiness without initiating physical force on others. The moral justification of egoism is that it makes it possible for us—who don’t have automatic knowledge about the goals we should pursue and about the means to reach them—to achieve our values in the long-term: to survive and to be happy. It is a moral code for living and flourishing.
  Starting from the premise that the pursuit of self-interest is moral and necessary for our well-being and happiness, Ayn Rand identified seven egoist virtues—principles that define the actions required to achieve long-term self-interest: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, and pride. Rand and others have written much about these virtues, so here I focus only on rationality, the primary virtue on which the others rest. Rationality guides us to use reason—to adhere to reality through observation and logic—as “our only means of knowledge, our only judge of values, and our only guide to action.”
• Chasing Your Dreams (landeniv.wordpress.com)
  

  “Go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is.”

  “Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams or wake up and chase them.”

  “It’s not enough to dream your dreams. You’ve got to pursue your dreams.”

• Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams (sarahcolevaondemand.wordpress.com)
  Every day you are faced with a choice and that is, do you pursue your dream with determination and zeal or do you sit and wait for that dream to materialize by itself?  I believe in taking action steps every day in order to be a participant in the realization of our dreams.
• Pursuing the Guyanese dream (guyanatimesgy.com)
  Hundreds of Guyanese are now in a position where it is possible for them to pursue the Guyanese dream, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, ethnicity or political beliefs.The Guyanese dream refers to a situation in which nationals possess the ability to access equal opportunities to work and recreation. It also refers to the ability to achieve prosperity and a higher standard of living through hard work and determination.

  The Guyanese dream is founded on the principle of a realistic society where there are high levels of religious, political and social tolerance. It contemplates a situation where a largely mixed, plural and diverse cultural and ethnic society can co-exist with little or no conflict.

Anthony's au pair experience

I realized something.
It came to me rather slow.
I was pursuing a thing,
I barely even know.

Living up to people’s expectations.
Doing what others think is best.
Handling a lot of limitations.
Maybe this was all a test?

I must say, by all means,
Realizing this is not the way.
Living other peoples dreams,
While mine are slowly fading away.

Missing out on opportunities.
Missing my life because others take it away.
Being part of all those communities.
Being part of something where I have nothing to say.

Time to step up my game and live my life.
Not the one other’s tell me to live.
Time to step it up and go all in on my thrive.
Believe me, I have a lot to give.

My motivation is enormous,
My dedication is grand.
Watch out for my performance,
‘Cause everything is going as planned.

You can be…

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The Person Who Cannot Despair

Despair is the absolute extreme of self-love. It is reached when a person deliberately turns his back on all help from anyone else in order to taste the rotten luxury of knowing himself to be lost…Despair is the ultimate development of a pride so great and so stiff-necked that it selects the absolute misery of damnation rather than accept happiness from the hands of God and thereby acknowledge that He is above us and that we are not capable of fulfilling our destiny ourselves. But a person who is truly humble cannot despair, because in a humble person there is no longer any such thing as self-pity.

“The desert is the home of despair.  And despair, now, is everywhere.  Let us not think that our interior solitude consists in the acceptance of defeat.  We cannot escape anything by consenting tacitly to be defeated.  Despair is an abyss without bottom.  Do not think to close it by consenting to it and trying to forget you have consented.

This, then, is our desert: to live facing despair, but not to consent.  To trample it down under hope in the Cross.  To wage  war against despair unceasingly.  That war is our wilderness.  If we wage it courageously, we will find Christ at our side.  If we cannot face it, we will never find Him.”  (Thoughts in Solitude)

The Seven Storey Mountain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

– Thomas Merton (1915–1968),  French-born writer who converted to Catholicism after a long and complicated intellectual journey becoming a Trappist monk, was one of the most well-known Catholic writers of the 20th century. He was the author of more than 60 books, including the story of his conversion, Seven Storey Mountain, a modern spiritual classic.

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Find also to read:

1. Cosmos creator and human destiny
2. Control your destiny or somebody else will
3. Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair
4. No time for immorality
5. Old age
6. Companionship
7. Not following the tradition of man
8. Looking for True Spirituality 8 Measuring Up
9. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #10 Prayer #8 Condition
10. What Jesus did: First things first

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Related articles

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  In 1941, a brilliant, good-looking young man decided to give up a promising literary career in New York to enter a monastery in Kentucky, from where he proceeded to become one of the most influential writers of this century. Talk about losing your life in order to find it. Thomas Merton‘s first book, The Seven Storey Mountain, describes his early doubts, his conversion to a Catholic faith of extreme certainty, and his decision to take life vows as a Trappist monk.
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  In despairing over something, [a person] really despaired over himself, and now he wants to be rid of himself.
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  If he had become Caesar, he would despairingly get rid of himself, but he did not become Caesar and cannot despairingly get rid of himself. Essentially, he is just as despairing, for he does not save his self, is not himself.
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  When you feel like everything you do is wrong
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• Thomas Merton on self-idolatry and solitude (resistanceandrenewal.net)
  I have just finished reading The Seven Storey Mountain, the spiritual autobiography of Thomas Merton. Its a beautiful book which chronicles his journey through childhood and student days to becoming a Trappist monk. Merton was born in 1915 and experienced an eclectic upbringing in USA, France and London. However, his
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  He locates the dangers of ambition down to the most basic of Christian temptations, a ‘self-idolatry’ which fuels a relentless need for achievementearly life was marked by tragedy as both his mother and father died when he was young.
• Typewriter of the moment: Thomas Merton (timpanogos.wordpress.com)
  One of Thomas Merton’s typewriters sits on display at the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, Kentucky.
• Political orphaning of moderate unionism is source of wonder and despair. (sluggerotoole.com)
  What party represents the vast majority of unionists — those who are not Orangemen, bandsmen, gunmen, Bible-bashers, flag-flyers, bonfire-builders or all the other overlapping little constituencies that unionist politicians never dare to disappoint?
• The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing by Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M. (evolutionarymystic.wordpress.com)
  In The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton, Franciscan friar and author Daniel Horan shows how, both before and after he became a Trappist monk, Merton’s life was shaped by his love for St. Francis and for the Franciscan spiritual and intellectual tradition. Given recent renewed interest in St. Francis, this timely resource is both informative and practical, revealing a previously hidden side of Merton that will inspire a new generation of Christians to live richer, deeper, and more justice-minded lives of faith.