Tag: Take Chances

Life

Some Thoughts on Life by

Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum

“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”

       Life isn’t meant to be a cake walk. It’s supposed to be messy, painful and downright heartbreaking. You are here to experience the joys AND heartaches of living. When you take chances, you will inevitably fall and stumble, but that’s part of your journey-your story. So, embrace the fact that life will remain a roller coaster that has its ups and downs, along with its twists and turns before you reach the end.

Try, Try, and Try Again

Explore. Dream. Discover!

― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

        I’m so tired of hearing people say – “Oh, that’s too hard.” “Why bother, the likelihood of success is so small.” “You know it’s not going to work out, so why are you doing this again?”  So often in life, we give up without even trying because we automatically assume that we won’t succeed.  But, as I was telling someone the other day when they mentioned that it’s difficult to get a book published. . .I’m like, “I know, but I’m going to try anyway and at least I can say I gave it my best effort and then I can move forward to the next thing.”  For every experience you go through in life, you learn, you grow and evolve.  I firmly believe that years from now when my expiration date gets closer, I will not regret any of the chances I took, but only regret the chances I was too afraid to take – the times where I gave up the fight before even entering the ring.  So, the moral of the story is to try, try, and try again – especially when you think you won’t succeed.  For one day, you may regret never being brave enough to lose sight of the shore.

There is no Perfect Ending

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.  Delicious Ambiguity.”

― Gilda Radner

          Life is a crazy, beautiful disaster.  It is messy and unpredictable.  But for everything life isn’t, it remains an incredible journey that we are privileged to experience.  People so often say, life is hard – hard compared to what?  Maybe we need to spend less time trying to create this perfect life that society constructs for us – the perfect marriage with the 2.5 kids and white picket fence – and spend more time actually living our lives.  Maybe life isn’t about having all the answers.  Maybe life is truly about appreciating each moment of every day, for tomorrow isn’t promised.  So, today, spend a little less time focused on living for a future that has yet to happen and focus on embracing the present moment, for you will never get this time back.

I Can

Equipment

by Edgar Albert Guest

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You’ve all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes,
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began,
So start for the top and say ‘I can.’

Look them over, the wise and great,
They take their food from a common plate
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes,
The world considers them brave and smart.
But you’ve all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,
You can be great if only you will,
You’re well equipped for what fight you choose,
You have legs and arms and a brain to use,
And the man who has risen, great deeds to do
Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go.
How much you will study the truth to know,
God has equipped you for life, But He
Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win,
So figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You were born with all that the great have had,
With your equipment they all began.
Get hold of yourself, and say: ‘I can.’

           In this life, anything is possible. The only person who can limit you is you.  If you dream it, you can achieve it.  So, you should always approach life with an “I can” attitude.  And never hold back – go after your goals with hard work and determination . . .for you will only regret the chances you were too scared to take.

I Believe

I Believe . . .

By: John McLeod

I believe that
nothing in life is unimportant
Every moment
can be a beginning
And a time for decision,
Taken against the constant
background of one’s faith
Each word and gesture –
whether it comes from our
Strength or our weakness
May change the subsequent course
of our life
And the lives of those around us.

          Every moment of everyday is important.  There is no moment of life that can be categorized as insignificant.  The most “insignificant” choice can open the door to new opportunities.  So, you should strive to treat each day and every moment as a chance for new beginnings full of infinite possibilities.

It Couldn’t Be Done

It Couldn’T Be Done

Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That ‘maybe it couldn’t,’ but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: ‘Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;’
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That ‘cannot be done,’ and you’ll do it.

           There will always be people around whispering in your ear that you can’t do it, that you will fail.  But, you shouldn’t listen to these negative voices.  First of all, who has the right to tell you that you won’t succeed or that you aren’t good enough?  The answer is no one.   Second of all, you won’t know whether or not you can succeed at something UNLESS you first try.  And then if you fail, so what, sometimes things just don’t work out and the most important thing is that you tried.  You’ll never regret all the chances you took, but only the opportunities you let pass you by without ever even taking a swing.  So get up, grab your bat and when a ball comes your way. . .take a swing!

Just One

Just One

~ Author Unknown

One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.

One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal

One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.

One step must start each journey.
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.

One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what’s true,

One life can make a difference,
You see, it’s up to you!

            Your life is truly a blank canvas.  What you choose to create is up to you.  You can choose to create a replica that blends in with the crowd.  Or, you can choose to create a unique masterpiece that stands on its own.  Never forget that one person, one life . . . one choice can change this world for the better.

 

Slow Down

Slow Down

~ David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down,
don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”
do you hear the reply?
When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down,
don’t dance so fast
time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not seen his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
let a good friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say “hi”.

You better slow down,
don’t dance so fast
time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there,
When you worry and hurry though your day,
it is like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race,
so take it slower,
hear the music before the song is over.

         Although it is important to have long-term goals to work toward, you have to remember to take time to slow down and enjoy the ride.   You will never get these moments back.  And, you can’t live your life simply waiting to get to the finish line, while ignoring everything you pass along the way.  Because one day, you will realize that the journey often eclipses the destination itself.

                So, don’t let life pass you by without slowing down to take in the sights around each bend.

Spread Your Wings & Soar

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

– Henry Ford

      Sometimes it seems that you can’t catch a break.  Everyone and everything is against you. . .you find yourself caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.  It is at these moments that you need to take time to remember that to experience some of the most beautiful things in life, you have to fight an uphill battle.  I mean, one of our greatest achievement – flight – occurs in spite of having all the cards stacked against it.  Never forget that even a plane has to battle against mother nature to achieve unimaginable heights.  And just like a plane, you too must first battle the winds before you can soar.

Just Enjoy the Ride

“Life should NOT
be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive
and well preserved body,
but rather to
skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand,
martini in the other,
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out
and screaming
WOO HOO what a ride!”

~ Unknown

          I absolutely love this quote (and all variations).  I am a firm believer that it is our journey through life that matters and not the destination.  I like to compare life’s journey to a really long road trip.  For those of us who have been fortunate to go on a road trip – or unfortunate depending on how you look at (can I say food poisoning on a 7 hour road trip back from the Mall of America in Minnesota or coming down with the flu at the very beginning of a 20 hour road trip to Florida) – it is the stories about getting to our destination that often overshadow the destination itself.  Life’s journey is no different.  When it’s done and over, you will remember every stumble and triumph, every smile and tear, every success and failure.  You will remember each and every pit stop, roadblock and fork in the road because these are the moments that define who we are.  The journey is what makes life worthwhile.

          So, when I reach the finish line, I want to slide into home base with holes in my pants, dirt on my face and with a megawatt smile panting “Woo Hoo. . . what a ride!”