Thoughts and Butterfly Wings

Saturday, February 20, 2010

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: He catches the changes of his mind on the hop." ~Vita Sackville-West

I am ever so thankful for this blog. My journey to metamorphosis has not only brought with it many changes, but many emotions. At times, the thoughts and the feelings echo within my mind, as fluttering wings of thousands of butteries, tickling and teasing my brain to insanity.

There are days of agitation and discontentment, days like today, that no progress seems enough and patience have no bearing. Days that the butterflies inside my head are surely being chased my some flop-eared puppy, as they flutter and fly as if there safety and their lives depended upon it.

Although too few, there are days of calmness and peace, days that I am content with my progress. Days that the butterflies alight themselves in the meadow, drinking in the nourishment of the nectar, resting for the journey of the days ahead.

Some days bring excitement and exuberance, days that I feel inspired and elated at the results of my tribulations. Days that the butterflies soar to new heights, spreading their wings as they reach toward eternity, fully opened to the world.

And there are days of emptiness and nothingness, days that you feel dead and alone, as if no one around you understands the journey you have embarked upon. Days that the butterflies prepare the infrastructure of their cocoon, drawing their wings tightly inward to shelter out the world.

"The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet". ~Paul Erlich
Just as the thoughts inside our heads can effect the changes within us. They effect our attitudes, our influences, our outlooks, and our successes.


The ability to type out and share these feelings has been my savior. Within my head, my thoughts can be overwhelming, unrealistic, even catastrophic as they bounce around and intermingle, to the point that nothing makes any sense and one thought or feeling can not be heard over the other. They become chaotic and uncontrollable. But as they are written down and sorted out, line by line, my thoughts become clearer, manageable and more realistic. And within the comments left by others, you find that you are not the only one being tickled and taunted by the butterflies within your head. You realize that you are not alone.


"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." ~Maya Angelou

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Don't Be A Jill

Friday, February 19, 2010

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after...


There are generally two types of people in this world; people that see the glass as half empty, and people that see the glass as half full. And you know how to tell the difference.

The half empty glass seers never have anything good to say. They find the positive in nothing. There is never anything good going on in their lives. They walk into a room with a rain cloud hanging over their heads and the whole room instantly feels the gloom and doom that they bring with them.


On the other hand, the half full glass seers always find something good to say. They find the positive in everything. They are grateful for their lives. They walk into a room and it instantly lights up with their radiating glow of sunshine.


Who would you rather surround yourselves with?

I don't know about you, but I enjoy the warmth and brightness of the glowing yellow sun much more than the damp and cold of dreary gray rain clouds.

We can't avoid these negative people. The world is full of them and they surrounds us. Chances are, some of your friend fall into the category of half empty glass seers. Some of your family may also fall into the same glass and inevitably bring you down too.

Here's the key...Don't be a Jill. Just because you have negative people in your life, doesn't mean you have to join them. Don't go tumbling down after their fall. After all, as the old saying goes..."Misery loves company". Oh yes it does! But that doesn't mean that you have to open your door to them every time they come knocking.

So what do you do?
1. Try not to buy into the negativity by changing the subject.
2. Replace their negative statements with a positive one. Ultimately they will get sick of not being
heard.
3. Praise their good attributes; they may then feel less of a need to be negative
4. Avoid being alone with them, but engineer your times together so that other people are around.
This helps to "dilute" their impact.
5. Be assertive. Announce "Enough of the doom and gloom" and change the subject.

Don't be a Jill... be a Rose or a Sunny. Help those that fall get back up on their feet and lead them back up the hill for their water.


“The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.”

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I Believe

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Every time you state what you want or believe, you're the first to hear it. It's a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don't put a ceiling on yourself.
-- Oprah Winfrey

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Perseverance

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I would normally apologize for the length of this blog entry but ....for those of you that are struggling, those of you that are discouraged, those of you that are hurting, those of you that are frustrated... I cannot apologize. This is for you!



PERSEVERANCE

"Like water, which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed."
~Indra Devi



When the veil of darkness has draped itself around your life and concealed the tears of your pain and despair, when the destiny you had envisaged has all but faded like water amongst the golden sands of the desert, when you stand alone in your hour of adversity and need and no-one is willing to stand beside you, when the battles within your life are on the verge of defeat and ruin, when you are in exile within your own mind, when your heart is empty and is merely watered by the tears of your agonized and anguished soul.

When you feel like a bird caged behind bars which once flew high above snow capped mountains free and unhindered and now reach out to touch the essence of your dreams, when tears and sorrow have embraced your soul, when the temples of your dreams lie in ashes like the ruins of an ancient age gone by and there are no traces of your footsteps within the valley of your dreams.

When the haunting silence of the darkness hangs like a shadow within the depths of your heart. When you cling like a child to the dreams of yesterday, when the light of dawn refuses to appear and the sun refuses to shine, when each day has become an eternal struggle to survive.

When there is no light amongst the darkness within your existence, when your wounds cry out to be healed, when fear has held courage ransom, when your soul stands in solitude and loneliness choking on its tears of isolation under a moon which no longer smiles and no longer yearns to gaze at his children; the stars, when all those around you have betrayed you, when love has left your heart and refuses to return.

When you no longer believe in yourself, when pain and grief are your constant companions, when there is no vision within the mists of your agony, when no one is willing to listen to and understand you, when peace seems to be in a distant world, when life no longer has the belief to run within your veins, when you have become a fugitive within your own mind and shackled like a slave within your own insanity, refuse with every last drop of sacred blood within your bruised and battered body, to surrender your soul to the pains of your existence.

You must believe in yourself-even if all those around you doubt you and in your ability to rise from within the insanity in which your life now finds itself and to stand tall against the obstacles and challenges within your life-and you will conquer all that you believe cannot be conquered and all that which you believed you had lost within your life.

It is from the darkest hours of our lives, from the depths of our despair and pain and in our greatest hour of adversity that we find an inner strength, an inner courage and an inner meaning so vast that it enables us to rise from our knees and stand tall and fight that which has made us weak.

Just as water runs from a stream, as the oak tree grows strong and upright, as snow-the softest and most peaceful of natures elements-covers the most fierce of mountains and tames its anger portraying it merely as a pawn within the hands of nature so new life and meaning will emerge from your own inner source.


Do not at any cost surrender your life to the weaknesses within your life. Do not surrender your life to the mediocre thoughts of others; do not surrender the belief you hold in yourself and in your abilities, do not surrender the dreams that you have worked so hard to hold within the palms of your hands. For what right do others have to judge another's dreams for they have not walked a mile in your shoes! There are no limits to your courage and determination. The only limitations are those that we place upon ourselves. Our thoughts make the world what we want it to be. Mold your thought into a weapon of immense power.

Wipe away the tears from your heart and let your life be brushed by the fingertips of your immortal soul, breathe deep, with purpose and a deep held conviction. There is an inner strength and an inner peace within us all, which the world cannot penetrate and the hypocrisy and ignorance of the human mind cannot poison. Embrace that inner source of strength and you will become fearless and the obstacles within your life will seem insignificant.



You must be undisturbed and stern in your resolve that you are a creature so versatile and resilient that you cannot be defeated and you must hold firm in the conviction that you will not be defeated. You are a creature of boundless beauty and perseverance. You are a creature which can and which will endure. There is nothing that you cannot achieve and there is nothing that you do not have the ability to overcome within your life. Harness the power of your mind for it is your greatest barrier.

You are an individual of immense courage within the battlefield of life and there is no greater battle than that which will be fought with your own life. You must not, despite the pain, the despair, the grief, the intensity, the loneliness within your life, surrender the very essence of your dignity and hope to the enemy which hovers around you in pursuit of conquering both your mind and your soul.

I do not believe in defeat because defeat does not believe in me. I do not believe in fear for I am fearless. I do not believe in pain for I find strength in the weaknesses of my enemies. Within the mist of your despair and the obstacles and challenges that life presents before you be calm and peaceful. An angry and misguided mind will make decisions and judgment based on haste and anger which in the long run will continue to merely add to your suffering whereas the peaceful mind within that moment of insanity will have the ability to bring forth a clear, reasoned judgment and solution to the challenges at hand.

No one owns you so you have not lost anything. Only you can give away or surrender all that you hold to the challenges within your life. Control your mind from its aimless wandering within your own insanity-guide it to think positively and with purpose. Once you have conquered your mind you will also introduce yourself to an inner peace, which will bring meaning and a freedom to both your life and thought.

Do not kneel before anyone for your knees were not made for such purposes, they were made for the purpose of enabling you to stand upright! Be like an elephant, which once upright will not easily be brought to its knees! Adapt your mind, thinking, actions and life to the challenges, which have surrounded your existence.


You and you alone hold the foundations of your dreams and your destiny in the way you approach the challenges and obstacles within your life. Do not falter in the face of adversity; rise to the challenge however difficult it may be. Your difficulties will only be difficult if you believe them to be difficult. How can you fear that which you have never challenged?

Endure and challenge the pains of your existence for freedom will wait for you and it will eventually embrace you. In defeating the challenges within your life continue to be a good person, do not become like your enemies for to do so will deprive your soul of the peace it desires.

You must be like the seasons of the year ever changing, ever adapting, ever growing, and ever challenging. Nature is always in constant change, the old give way to the new, and this is the course of life. Yet within this existence life continues, it evolves and continues to grow despite its pains.

Your time has not yet come to let nature embrace you in its totality, so go forth into the wilderness of your life and reclaim what mother nature granted you at birth; the right to dream, the right to live and the right to be who you want to be. Challenge with the might of your mind and your inner strength all the barriers that your existence places at the gates of your destiny. If you don't risk anything, you risk even more!

For within the midst of our suffering there is a meaning!



As Carl Jung once commented:
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."

--- Copyright © 2001 Naresh Jhali (England)

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Will, Mine and Yours

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

"That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson



You have the means to get it done. There is no question of that.
If it's not happening for you, there's really just one thing missing. Somewhere, somehow, you lack the will to do what it takes.

Yes, of course there are all kinds of obstacles. Certainly it is not easy and there are plenty of completely understandable reasons why you have not gotten it done.

Even so, you know it is possible. And indeed it is possible for you.

Excuses won't do it. Commitment, and the focused, persistent action to back it up, are what will get you there.

It's your choice and it's your life. Right now, your greatest possibilities await your will to make them happen.

-- Ralph Marston



"There are two choices really.
You can either surrender to the pressures of life and the struggles of this particular battle....
or you continue the fight...and do so with even more vengence and determination to reach your goals then you did before.
I choose the fight.....I know what it will get me."
~ Kim - Getting2Goal.com

Quitting is NOT an option. I can do this....You can do this....We can do this together !!

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