Challenges in Front of You
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Challenges in Front of You Challenges in front of you
Don’t drag old troubles along from yesterday. Don’t borrow imagined troubles from tomorrow.
Focus on the challenges in front of you. Work on the affairs in which you can make a positive difference.
Cleanse your awareness of the things you can’t do anything about. Enable yourself to direct all your energy toward making meaningful progress.
Rise above any disappointments you may be holding on to. What matter most now are the good things you can do to move life forward.
Let go of the need to impress, of any worries about what others will think. Replace them with confidence that your actions are good, valuable and productive, right for you and your world.
Offer full attention and persistent action to the challenges in front of you, and to the opportunities they represent. Reap the rewards of focusing your power where it matters most.
— Ralph Marston
Don’t drag old troubles along from yesterday. Don’t borrow imagined troubles from tomorrow.
Focus on the challenges in front of you. Work on the affairs in which you can make a positive difference.
Cleanse your awareness of the things you can’t do anything about. Enable yourself to direct all your energy toward making meaningful progress.
Rise above any disappointments you may be holding on to. What matter most now are the good things you can do to move life forward.
Let go of the need to impress, of any worries about what others will think. Replace them with confidence that your actions are good, valuable and productive, right for you and your world.
Offer full attention and persistent action to the challenges in front of you, and to the opportunities they represent. Reap the rewards of focusing your power where it matters most.
— Ralph Marston
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
What if...
We didn't spend another moment regretting yesterday, or trying to fix that which is not fixable?
We didn't spend a single moment worrying about what may or may not happen tomorrow?
We spent all our energy on today, planning for dreams we can make come true...even thought they may not be the broken dreams we have been hanging onto?
We spent an hour or maybe two, just basking in nature, walking in a park or in the country, sitting with a coffee at sunrise and listening to the birds bring in a new day, or lighting a candle of hope and then spending a few moments in silence., letting the silence speak to us.
It's all about focus and we DO have a choice of what we will allow our minds to focus on. Positive thoughts bring positive actions and results, negative thoughts drag us down to that dark place of despair.
Let's choose positive. Try it, for just one day. It will be a challenge but I thrown down the gauntlet and challenge each one of you to join me in a perfect day of positive...and joy. Okay, maybe joy is just pushing it a little, but we'll start with positive and go from there.
Who's in?
We didn't spend another moment regretting yesterday, or trying to fix that which is not fixable?
We didn't spend a single moment worrying about what may or may not happen tomorrow?
We spent all our energy on today, planning for dreams we can make come true...even thought they may not be the broken dreams we have been hanging onto?
We spent an hour or maybe two, just basking in nature, walking in a park or in the country, sitting with a coffee at sunrise and listening to the birds bring in a new day, or lighting a candle of hope and then spending a few moments in silence., letting the silence speak to us.
It's all about focus and we DO have a choice of what we will allow our minds to focus on. Positive thoughts bring positive actions and results, negative thoughts drag us down to that dark place of despair.
Let's choose positive. Try it, for just one day. It will be a challenge but I thrown down the gauntlet and challenge each one of you to join me in a perfect day of positive...and joy. Okay, maybe joy is just pushing it a little, but we'll start with positive and go from there.
Who's in?
Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 471
What if we didn't spend all our spare time trying to figure things out - and just take one moment, one hour, one day at a time - trusting in our Higher Power.
What if I didn't let a text, a phone call, someone else's drama distract me from my life purpose?
What if I stayed within my positive boundaries and let negative things slide off like water off a duck's back?
What if I could let go and let be?
Ann - I will take up this challenge. I know it will definitely BE a challenge, and I am also sure that I won't do it perfectly, but even if I'm not perfect, my world will be better for the trying.
thanks for the idea!
What if I didn't let a text, a phone call, someone else's drama distract me from my life purpose?
What if I stayed within my positive boundaries and let negative things slide off like water off a duck's back?
What if I could let go and let be?
Ann - I will take up this challenge. I know it will definitely BE a challenge, and I am also sure that I won't do it perfectly, but even if I'm not perfect, my world will be better for the trying.
thanks for the idea!
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,698
Thank you Ann! I am dealing with a situation that had been dragging me down (not related at all to JJ though) and I have been in anxiety and stress for the last 2 weeks. I will read this as often as I need to be able to let go of what I cannot control. I have made so many scenarios in my head which is a very bad place to hang out sometimes!
I commit to taking this message to heart today and every day when I feel my serenity slipping!
I commit to taking this message to heart today and every day when I feel my serenity slipping!
Nature Girl
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
It was a good reminder to me too. In my career I always had a very responsible "management" position. Even working for myself. I was the chief problem solver, it was up to me to "make things happen"...and I DID. I think my codependency was constructively used in those situations.
But it somehow got blurred when my son's addiction became a focus of my life. It bothered me that I could manage multi-million dollar companies and transactions on three continents...but I could NOT, for the life of me, get my son to stop taking drugs. I didn't know what to do with "failure" except to try even harder and harder and literally knock myself out trying to change what was not mine to change.
Now here's the rub....or perhaps the "strangely wrapped gift" I spoke of earlier. I learned from all this, I learned from my sponsor and meetings to live a healthier more balanced life, I learned from SR that I was not alone and that mama's the world over share the same problems I do and feel the same heartache. I learned to be a better person!! Wow, that was huge and a "tell" of my lack of self-esteem even in top notch management positions. I got to know that "stranger called me" and, in time, I learned to like her and treat her with respect and care.
And yet....as I read this today...I know that I must be diligent, I must keep feeding the healthy part of my mind and nurture my spirit.
So, yeah, I WILL choose positive and I will let yesterday and tomorrow take their proper place in infinity and just find the joy in today.
One tiny example...those who know me KNOW I love nature, particularly birds. Today two mourning doves that hang out in the tree across the lawn, came to visit on my patio and mated right in front of my window, lol.
Trust me, it was over in a flash, but it made my day that these little feathered cuties would share their love with me. Yesterday, I would never have noticed in a million years. Today, it was nature at its finest right outside my window. That's recovery sneaking through I think.
But it somehow got blurred when my son's addiction became a focus of my life. It bothered me that I could manage multi-million dollar companies and transactions on three continents...but I could NOT, for the life of me, get my son to stop taking drugs. I didn't know what to do with "failure" except to try even harder and harder and literally knock myself out trying to change what was not mine to change.
Now here's the rub....or perhaps the "strangely wrapped gift" I spoke of earlier. I learned from all this, I learned from my sponsor and meetings to live a healthier more balanced life, I learned from SR that I was not alone and that mama's the world over share the same problems I do and feel the same heartache. I learned to be a better person!! Wow, that was huge and a "tell" of my lack of self-esteem even in top notch management positions. I got to know that "stranger called me" and, in time, I learned to like her and treat her with respect and care.
And yet....as I read this today...I know that I must be diligent, I must keep feeding the healthy part of my mind and nurture my spirit.
So, yeah, I WILL choose positive and I will let yesterday and tomorrow take their proper place in infinity and just find the joy in today.
One tiny example...those who know me KNOW I love nature, particularly birds. Today two mourning doves that hang out in the tree across the lawn, came to visit on my patio and mated right in front of my window, lol.
Trust me, it was over in a flash, but it made my day that these little feathered cuties would share their love with me. Yesterday, I would never have noticed in a million years. Today, it was nature at its finest right outside my window. That's recovery sneaking through I think.
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