A blog about anything and everything
In that first hardly noticed moment in which you wake,
coming back to this life from the other
more secret, moveable and frighteningly honest world
where everything began,
there is a small opening into the new day
which closes the moment you begin your plans.
I read a lot of articles on the Optimize +1 webpage by Brian Johnson and found this article very interesting. I would like to share it with you. Incorporating these virtues into our lives may be of value to us all.
Spartan: a person of great courage and self-discipline.
Spartan Core Virtues. Combine these qualities into one person and you have the ideal boss, the valuable employee, the perfect business partner, or comrade in any endeavor. Here’s a short description of each of the Spartan Core Virtues.
I read about W. Mitchell in the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul. He is a former member of the United States Marine Corps, burn victim, paraplegic, and a former small-town mayor. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_Mitchell). We can learn a lot from him.
He had so many setbacks in life but still, he carried on and made major achievements. He never gave up. He just said to himself “I am in charge of my own spaceship. It is my up and my down. I can choose to see this situation as a setback or as a starting point”. Today, he empowers people to accept challenges, embrace change and take action.
His setbacks:
His achievements:
“Before I was paralyzed there were 10,000 things I could do. Now there are 9,000. I can either dwell on the 1,000 I’ve lost or focus on the 9,000 I have left.” – W Mitchell
Read his story here: https://www.wmitchell.com/about/
He is an inspiration to us all.
She lost herself in the trees
among the ever-changing leaves.
She wept beneath the wild sky
as stars told stories of ancient times.
The flowers grew towards her light,
the river called her name at night.
She could not live an ordinary life
with the mysteries of the universe
hidden in her eyes.
When they ask you why you love the rain,
the ocean,
the river,
tell them it is because unlike the people who should have loved you better,
the water was never afraid to touch you;
even when you were at your most damaged and broken.
To-do lists tend to be long; success lists are short.
One pulls you in all directions; the other aims you in a specific direction.
One is a disorganized directory and the other is an organized directive.
If a list isn’t built around success, then that’s not where it takes you.
If your to-do list contains everything, then it’s probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go.
Taken from his book: The ONE Thing
When we go on holiday, we take care to carry enough money to see us through the whole holiday,
But how much more important it is to ensure that we travel to future lives
with enough virtue, or merit, to provide us with all the resources we will need.
I don’t know how you are so familiar to me
Or why it feels less like I am getting to know you
and more as though I am remembering who you are.
How every smile, every whisper,
brings me closer to the impossible conclusion
that I have known you before,
I have loved you before,
In another time,
A different place,
some other existence.
Meaning: an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
Continue reading “Soliloquy”
We are still in lockdown due to the Coronavirus. For now, we can only hug our immediate family members. Hugging others is out of the question. Let’s continue with elbow bumps until it is safe to freely give out hugs. Remember your masks during this time.
We need 4 hugs a day for survival.
We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance.
We need 12 hugs a day for growth.