Change – Page 12 – Inspiration for the Mind, Body & Soul

A Beautiful Life

It’s a Beautiful Life

by Sandra Futter

Oh, it’s a beautiful morning.
Today’s gonna be a great day.

I’ve got that wonderful feeling,
That everything’s going my way.

No matter if the skies be stormy
And the wind’s blowing things in my way.

That doesn’t worry me any,
I know everything’s gonna be ok.

The obstacles don’t even slow me,
I pass by each one in my way.

The messes prove just to grow me.
I get stronger each and every day.

Life is truly all about how you approach it. If you start your day off in the mindset that no matter what it’s going to be a good day, you will be amazed by how the small things don’t faze you. And even when things don’t quite go your way or when things go sideways, you are able to handle it much better and your mood isn’t ruined. Attitude means everything. Never underestimate the power of your mind. So, when you wake up tomorrow, before you get out of bed, say out loud “Today will be a good day and if obstacles come my way, I’ll deal with it and move on, for nothing will dampen my spirit today.”

Don’t Sweat the Small Things

Once a hunter met a lion near the hungry critter’s lair,
and the way that lion mauled him was decidedly unfair;
but the hunter never whimpered when the surgeons,
with their thread,
sewed up forty-seven gashes in his mutilated head;
and he showed the scars in triumph,
and they gave him pleasant fame,
and he always blessed the lion that had camped upon his frame.
Once that hunter, absent minded, sat upon a hill of ants,
and about a million bit him, and you should have seen him dance!
And he used up lots of language of a deep magenta tint,
and apostrophized the insects in a style unfit to print.
And it’s thus with worldly troubles;
when the big ones come along, we serenely go to meet them, feeling valiant, bold and strong, but the weary little worries with their poisoned stings and smarts, put the lid upon our courage, make us gray, and break our hearts.

― Walt Mason

Don’t sweat the small stuff. It is so easy to let the little things that happen in life get you down and make you unhappy. It is unbelievable the amount of stress we find ourselves under at all ages. At some point, you need to make the choice to prioritize what is truly worth worrying about and learn to let go of the rest. Choose to cut the tethers of the weights holding you back and free your soul.

Some Thoughts on Life

What is Life?

Poem by LeKeisha Suggs

What is the purpose of life?
This is a question that many of us ponder.
Is it a journey filled with strife?
Or, a journey full of wonder?

At times, you wish life were like a video game
where you could hit start over.
Other times, you wish you could fast forward
through heartache and pain.
And replay moments of joy when the floodgates open
and you must take cover.
Sometimes, you press play letting life take you
where it will for you stand but to gain.

Then one day you will come to understand
that life waits for no one.
You can sit here fooling yourself
that you have control over the hand you’re dealt.
But you will soon learn, the control you have
over the cards themselves is none.
You must accept that life is not a puzzle to be solved,
rather it is a journey to be felt.

Here’s another original work I created to express my thoughts on life and the journey each of us undertakes. I hope you enjoy and invite you to comment and share your thoughts!!

The Joy of Life

Improvement

Poem by Edgar Albert Guest

The joy of life is living it, or so it seems to me;
In finding shackles on your wrists, then struggling till you’re free;
In seeing wrongs and righting them, in dreaming splendid dreams,
Then toiling till the vision is as real as moving streams.
The happiest mortal on the earth is he who ends his day
By leaving better than he found to bloom along the way.
Were all things perfect here there would be naught for man to do;
If what is old were good enough we’d never need the new.
The only happy time of rest is that which follows strife
And sees some contribution made unto the joy of life.
And he who has oppression felt and conquered it is he
Who really knows the happiness and peace of being free.
The miseries of earth are here and with them all must cope.
Who seeks for joy, through hedges thick of care and pain must grope.
Through disappointment man must go to value pleasure’s thrill;
To really know the joy of health a man must first be ill.
The wrongs are here for man to right, and happiness is had
By striving to supplant with good the evil and the bad.
The joy of life is living it and doing things of worth,
In making bright and fruitful all the barren spots of earth.
In facing odds and mastering them and rising from defeat,
And making true what once was false, and what was bitter, sweet.
For only he knows perfect joy whose little bit of soil
Is richer ground than what it was when he began to toil.

What is a good life? What is the measure of a life well lived? These are questions that we all ask as we navigate our way through life. And for me, I like to reframe the question to the following: “When my time is up and I pass on from this life, what do I want to be remembered for and what kind of person do I want to be remembered as? And the answer is simple; I want to be remembered for having left this world a better place than when I came into it. I want to leave a positive footprint. I also want to be remembered as a person who shared love in a world full of hate. This is my legacy in the making. . .what will yours be?

Moving Forward

Changing Everything

Jane Hirshfield

I was walking again
in the woods,
a yellow light
was sifting all I saw.

Willfully,
with a cold heart,
I took a stick,
lifted it to the opposite side
of the path.

There, I said to myself,
that’s done now.
Brushing one hand against the other,
to clean them
of the tiny fragments of bark.

Throughout life, you will find yourself looking over your shoulder at the path you’ve already traveled. But, what good does this really do? You’re not going that way. So, make the decision to look back one final time and say that’s done now. Then turn around and face forward in the direction you have yet to go in. Choose instead to look forward onto the uncharted waters you have yet to explore. . .because it is what lies ahead of you that truly matters.

Smile

A smile

By Anonymous

Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner,
And someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized,
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile,
Then realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine,
Could travel round the earth.

So, if you feel a smile begin,
Don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
And get the world infected.

One smile, one laugh can brighten another person’s day. Being genuinely positive and exuding confidence is contagious. We’ve all been around a stranger in an elevator when we’re grumpy, tired or just had a bad day and you initially think, “Really, someone else just had to get on . . .great.” And, then that person turns to you, smiles and says “Have a great day,” and gets off. You then find yourself echoing the same sentiment with a genuine smile on your face. It’s amazing how such a simple and seemingly small gesture can brighten your mood. So, instead of walking around with that frown on your face, try something crazy and smile. If you try this, you’ll soon notice two things – (1) that eventually that forced smile soon becomes a real smile and (2) you’ll notice that others around you will start echoing your smile. So, let your smile radiate across the room and the world will be a little brighter for it.

Heartprints

By Anonymous

Whatever our hands touch –
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There’s no escape.
As we touch we leave our identity.

Wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.

Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.

Send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
“I felt your touch,”
May they also sense the love
that is deep within my heart.

As I’ve said time and time again, life isn’t about what you get, rather it’s about what you give. And, what gives true meaning to a life is to give and spread as much love in this world as you can. Every time you encounter a new person – whether it be the person standing in front of you at Starbucks or sitting next to you on an airplane – it is an opportunity to leave a heartprint. Strive to create within yourself, the type of person that when you leave the room, others are better off for having been around you. When you create a life full of love, you attract blessings and positive energy.

The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

When the cards are stacked against you, will you choose to “show up”? No one person was meant to live a small, bleak life. Every single person is capable of great things and should settle for no less. Whether it be rain or sunshine, you should strive to always “show up” for every moment of your life. You get but one chance at life, so make it count!

Life Steps

~ Catherine Pulsifer

Our entire life is made up of choices,
What we decide,
the action we take,
the attitude we display
All represent the steps of life.

Sometimes we take two steps forward
And one-step back.
Some of us take baby steps
Some of us take giant steps

But the secret is not to let that
one step back turn into a failure.
Learn from backward steps

And keep on stepping forward in this dance
Called Life!

In life, you will inevitably take a step backwards. The key is not to let life’s setbacks completely derail you from being able to move forward again. Instead, use every setback as a learning and growing opportunity. And most importantly, always remember that life isn’t about the number of times you fall; rather, it is about the number of times you find the strength to stand back up.

Unconquerable Soul

Invictus

by W.E. Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

When the storm clouds roll in and the darkness envelopes your soul, it often feels like the rain will never let up. You see no way out. But, it is at these moments when you are at your lowest that you must remember that even though your body may be broken, your spirit will never be defeated. You, and only you, are the master of your fate . . . the captain of your soul. So, go calmly into the night, unafraid of what awaits you for you have an unconquerable soul.