A Positive Moment...

My husband told me about a wonderful and inspiring website. It's called The Wendling Group. You can sign up for emails which will be inspiring and very helpful, motivational messages sent to your email address. Below is an example of one such email. If you are interested in signing up, you will find a link to the site on the lower righthand side of my blog, just above my link list. I hope this post will be as inspiring and encouraging for you as it has been for me.


COURAGE THAT CHANGES YOUR LIFE

"Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared." David Ben-Gurion

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers." Dorothy Bernard

Courage. It is a word that conjures up images of great and dramatic actions. And yet I realize that we all have the opportunity to be courageous every day, in small and large ways. And it is when we choose to be courageous that we change our lives and the lives of those around us. Can you name anything of any significance that did not emanate from some sort of courageous decision? I can't. Think of the changes that we have experienced in the last few decades and trace them back to their initial decision. Chances are, someone exhibited courage.

So what is courage? It is simply acting on what we want to do, regardless of any fear we may have. It is the choice to disregard worry. It is the choice to do right, to pursue our dreams, to be successful people, to lead the way for others.

Courage changes lives. Yes, it changes lives.

First, the day you begin to stare down your fears and worries, and instead act courageously, your life will change. You will be set free to fly like you never have before. You will accomplish things you once only dreamed of. You will experience things you thought were only for others - the courageous ones. You will realize that your fears were baseless and just paper tigers, a mirage. You will begin to live your dreams. You will become a person of character!

You will also change the lives of others. Simply put, courageous people pull others along with them. Everybody benefits from courageous people. I have a friend who I admire greatly. A little over a year ago he decided to leave a lucrative career and pursue a dream. All obstacles were thrown his way. The day he left his company, he found out that his wife had cancer. He went into a great deal of debt to finance his dream. He raised millions of dollars, putting his name and reputation on the line. He acted courageously. A year later, he has over fifty employees and growing monthly. Those employees are reaping the benefit of his courage! And his wife, who beat cancer, is acting courageously with him!

Here are some quick tips for acting courageously:

Know what you want. Courage is about choice. If you are to act courageously, you need to know what the right choice is. Be clear about your dream and vision.

Do not worry. I once heard that worry is the wrong use of the imagination. That is perhaps the best definition I have ever heard. Worry is just thinking about all of the bad possibilities, isn't it? Well, courage is just thinking about all the great possibilities and then acting upon them!

Do your homework. It helps to get the facts. It helps because then you can make an informed decision that will put your heart and mind to rest. There will probably be a downside but we understand it, choose alternatives, and act decisively instead of those.

Act. There is no substitute for the first step. Do you know what you want? Have you thought of the possibilities? Have you done your homework? Then what are you waiting for? The next step is to take the first step, and ACT!

by Jim Rohn
Make this a Positive Day...unless you have other plans!

This week's poll....

For this week's poll, I decided to create a scenario. Suppose you found yourself alone on a deserted island....which of the following choices would you want to have an unlimited supply of? For a moment, I almost put Daniel Craig as one of the choices, but then I figured the popular choice would be too obvious :). I have no idea which one I will choose, but I will give you my answer at the end of the poll.

I really can't wait to see what all of you vote for. I think this one is going to be a lot of fun! I hope you all will take a moment to choose an answer. The poll is located at the right of this page. Thanks so much for playing!

North by Northeast...

We took a mini road trip in a north by northeast direction. A very dangerous stretch of highway, but at least we weren't being chased by a cropduster. The California landscape was beautiful. I tried to capture it through the window as we drove. You can sort of see my reflection in one of these photos...






{P.S. Please don't forget to vote in this week's poll on the righthand side of this page, and thanks!}

This Week's Poll...

It's that time again, friends! This week's poll is for all of you readers out there. As an avid reader, I thought this one would be interesting. You will find this week's poll on the righthand side of the page.

I am always cursing the poll feature for Blogger because it only gives you a maximum of four choices. For this particular poll, I wanted at least five choices. So in the end, I decided to make one of the choices Realistic Fiction instead of Classics. Still, I know there are plenty of genres missing. I may have to do this one again with the other genres I couldn't fit in.

I love to read all kinds of books so this will be a hard one for me to narrow down. I hope you will participate in my little poll. I think it will be fun to see what the results are. At the end of this poll I will tell you what my choice is. Have fun!

Seven Random Things....

About me. I've been tagged by Tina of Pfeiffer Photos. I’m a bit late in posting my seven random things, but better late than never…

1. I can't stand the sound of tearing paper. I know, weird. I'm sure a psychiatrist would have a grand time analyzing that one.

2. I love muscle cars and sleek, sexy fast cars. Always have. When the car shows come to town, I try to go to them.

3. Everyone in my home is a Libra. My husband, daughter, son and I are all Libras. Makes for a very harmonious atmosphere!

4. I paint. Oils on canvas. I don't get the chance to do it much these days, but I've been painting since I was 13.

5. Old movies are a passion of mine. I rarely watch anything else on TV. That's really not a mystery to those of you who follow my blog though, is it?

6. I love to bake. My specialty is biscotti.

7. I like reading 3 or 4 books at a time. All kinds of genres. Yay for books!

I thought this was great fun and actually, I could add many more random things that I’m sure none of you are all that interested in. It’s my obsession with lists (another random thing about me). I think that’s why I love these types of activities.


The Tagging Game "Official" Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name and a link to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my seven people I’ve tagged (please don’t hate me for tagging you).

1. Darling and wonderfully gifted Brenda of
Phydeaux
2. Fabulous and brilliant Kateri of Leaves of Glass
3. Sweet and super talented Shana of
Shana Says
4. Fun and delightful Lefty of
Two Left Hands
5. Loving and creative Suz from
Hometown Girl
6. Lovely and inspired Lauren of Lauren Bacchus Designs

7. Enchanting and artistic April of Lost in the Forest


Ladies, please don’t feel pressured or rushed to participate in this little activity. Some of you have probably been tagged before, and forgive me for adding to what is most likely a very busy schedule for you all. Be random and have fun!

Love,
me