Daily Motivations 3-10-11

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Today's Gift

It is healthier to see the good points of others than to analyze our own bad ones. —Francoise Sagan

Looking for the good in others is good for one's soul. Self-respect, self-love grows each time we openly acknowledge another's admirable qualities. Comparisons we make of ourselves with others, focusing on how we fail to measure up (another woman is prettier, thinner, more intelligent, has a better sense of humor, attracts people, and on and on) is a common experience. And we come away from the comparison feeling generally inadequate and unloving toward the other woman.

It is a spiritual truth that our love for and praise of others will improve our own self-image. It will rub off on us, so-to-speak. An improved self-image diminishes whatever bad qualities one has imagined.

Praise softens. Criticism hardens. We can become all that we want to become. We can draw the love of others to us as we more willingly offer love and praise. We have an opportunity to help one another as we help ourselves grow in the self-love that is so necessary to the successful living of each day.

I will see the good points in others today. And I will give praise.

From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey ©

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

 

Walk in Dry Places
 
Ousting the Green Demon___Victory over Jealousy.
We hear of successful people who drop their old friends after moving up the ladder.  Maybe, however, it wasn't their choice. Maybe they were driven to do so because their friend's jealousy made the friendship unworkable.  We have little trouble accepting a stranger's good fortune; it's a different feeling, however, when friends and co-workers move ahead of us.

If the green demon of jealousy strikes during the day, we can come to terms with it in several ways.  First, accept no guilt that it happens, because jealousy is part of the human condition. Next, depersonalize it by remembering that good fortune comes to all people in various ways. Then check your own gratitude level to make sure that it hasn't been sinking. This serves as a reminder that there's no shortage of the things that really make for happiness and personal well-being in life.

 

We can easily tell when we've been able to oust the green demon. We'll be able to be relaxed and gracious while extending congratulations for another person's good fortune. And months down the road, we'll be genuinely sympathetic…. Not vindictive… if the other person's luck turns sour.

Action for the Day: While I don't expect to feel jealousy today, I accept the fact that it can happen. Should it appear, I'll work calmly to deal with it.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Connected
A friend of mine told me about going to see the Statue of Liberty
on a field trip with his grammar school class.
He said that as they walked up the long spiral staircase,
they all held hands in a line.
He couldn't see the person at the beginning or the end of the line, but he felt safe.
He knew he was connected to the rest of his schoolmates.
That's the way it is in AA. We can't see the people at the beginning of the line
or the end of the line.
But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.
- Thanks For Sharing, p. 194

Thought to Ponder . . .
Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Adventurers Anonymous.
 

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Daily Motivation

 

Out of the problem

 

Very often, the best solution to the problem has nothing to do with the problem itself. And if your thinking is trapped in the perspective of the problem, you won't be able to see the best way forward.

Maybe the best way to fix the problem is not to fix the problem. The best way forward could very well be to render the problem irrelevant.

 

Don't focus so intently on the problem at hand that you ignore the overall picture. Your life is filled with abundant resources, and you can utilize them in an endless number of creative ways.

 

Get out of the problem and into the realm of your most positive possibilities. Visualize yourself not as fixing what's wrong but as creating something new and valuable.

 

You always have the opportunity to move your life forward. Connect with your purpose, and remind yourself of what's most meaningful to you.

 

Instead of being a victim of this or that, instead of getting mired in the problem, get inspired by the possibilities. Take a healthy does of determination from the problem, then leave it far behind.

 

-- Ralph Marston