Do the Thing…
Don’t have the energy to do what you want to do? Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing and you will get the energy to do the thing.”
A Secret Path
And if every way is
closed before you,
the secret One
will show a
secret path
no other eyes
have seen.
~ Rumi
Wise Words by Will Smith
This is a great compilation of interviews with Will Smith. I didn’t know much about his philosophy apart from a few soundbites I’d heard around the time The Pursuit of Happyness came out, but check out what he’s got to say. His passion and his message provide a crucial voice for today’s world, where people often believe they are the victim of circumstances outside of their control (the economy, the government, et cetera). Will offers a different, and refreshing, perspective:
Greatness exists in all of us.
Lay one brick at a time.
Focus on making a difference.
Represent an idea.
You have to believe.
Nothing is unrealistic.
Be willing to die for the Truth.
Protect your dream.
And one of my favorite quotes: “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.”
Do One Thing That Scares You
This week’s Kniss Connection video: Do One Thing That Scares You… Stepping toward success in spite of fear.
Blog Challenge: Best Book
from Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge 
The Question: What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
I’m re-reading Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love right now and it’s pretty much altering the way I perceive everything — again. Of course there is the famous quote that is always a good reminder…
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
But there are so many other, equally potent gems scattered throughout the pages. My copy is already filled with underlines from the first go-around, but I’m finding new ideas on almost every page that somehow resonate with me in a way that is both novel and familiar.
Want to play along? Check out the list here and blog about your favorites for ‘09 all through December:
http://www.gwenbell.com/blog/2009/11/30/the-best-of-2009-blog-challenge.html
Speak from that place in your heart…
Henri Nouwen slays me…
“Speak from that place in your heart where you are most yourself. Speak directly, simply, lovingly, gently and without any apologies. Tell us what you see and want us to see; tell us what you hear and want us to hear….Trust your own heart. The words will come. There is nothing to fear….” ~ Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
Thank you to Mark David Gerson for posting this on his blog yesterday. It’s exactly what I needed to hear, particularly as I get into the habit of writing A LOT everyday (NaNoWriMo).
Here’s to pulling our words from that place in us which is most authentic.
The Final Third
I’ve been working in threes recently… it’s unintentional, but everything seems to divide nicely into thirds. The memoir I’m writing has developed into three sections, the marketing system I’m creating is a three-part process, and today I am considering the last four months of this year, the final third.
There are also three commitments that I’ve made, things I want to accomplish by December 31, 2009 and I’ll share them here to kick the accountability up a notch.
1. Complete a full first draft of my memoir – part one is mostly finished, two and three, not so much…
2. Remember the Spanish I’ve forgotten over the years and reach a comfortable fluency. I would love to be able to offer coaching services in both English and Spanish next year.
3. Grow my business to reach the monthly income goal I’ve held for some time now. This is absolutely possible in the next four months.
I don’t know much about numerology, but I always find it interesting to see what certain numbers symbolize when they consistently show up in my life. Here’s some cool stuff I found on http://www.crystalinks.com/numerology2.html about the number Three:
-
Three (3)
The third dimension – we do things in threes so they will manifest in our physical realm.
It’s roots stem from the meaning of multiplicity. Creative power; growth. Three is a moving forward of energy, overcoming duality, expression, manifestation and synthesis. Pythagorean three means completion.
Good! So here we go, into the final third…
At the End of the Day
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”
~ Radmacher
Sometimes a little quote like this is the perfect ending for a day seeming all too short.
Lincoln Wisdom
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
Occasionally, when I read a quote like this, the left side of my brain sparks and rationalizes, “yes, this is true.” The right hemisphere is comfortable in the desire for expansion, for change. Then the left asks, “But how?” and wants to make it more difficult than it needs to be.
I am at a turning point, this stormy present. I can choose to accept the teachings of this lesson I am receiving and go forth with new thought and new action, or I can, yet again, fall back on old ways and ideas, and expect the same lesson to haunt me hence.
