Articles / Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Be a No Drama Llama!

Protect yourself. Keep your distance from negative people and their drama. They have a problem for every solution. - Karen Salmansohn I am not a fan of the drama.  In fact in my classroom,  I have a sign declaring it a Drama Free Zone.  To my way of thinking, life is challenging enough without dealing with drama from other people.  It comes at us from all sides.  It comes from our friends and our family, our co-workers and our neighbors.  These people are veritable energy suckers.  They can and do suck the life right out of us.  On a daily basis, I have students walking in to my classroom saying so-and-so said or did this, or he posted that on snap chat, or she said this about me in a text message.  It's overwhelming and the drama llamas do their very best to suck us in. Their drama can sometimes turn you into a drama llama yourself.  And seriously, do you have time for that?  I'm going to guess the answer to that is no you don't.  Well guess what, you don't have to deal with the drama llamas any more! It's time to drop the drama!  Stop allowing crazy-makers, game-players,…

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April 1, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

It’s a Precious Privilege – Challenge Day 30

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy to love. - Marcus Aurelius It's the end of the Thirty Day Positivity Challenge, and while there were not a lot of participants, I can honestly say it's a success.  Why?  Because I set a goal, and I met it.  I didn't let it consume me.  I hit some challenges, and speed bumps along the way, and I just rolled with it.  And I can honestly say that by focusing on the positives, my outlook has improved.  And now, onto today's Daily Positive Thought This quote made me laugh, and it would make anybody that really knows me laugh because when I arise in the morning, the last thing I am thinking about is what a precious privilege it is.  My thoughts tend to go in the direction of "Oh God, just five more minutes!"  It's then followed by lots of grumping and whining because I usually stay up too late reading the night before.  I may go to bed early, but I never go to sleep.  But usually around the first cup of tea in…

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January 30, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Welcome New Beginnings – Challenge Day 29

So, I close my eyes to old ends and open my heart to new beginnings. - Nick Frederickson First allow me to apologize for the lateness of this post. Monday got away from me. It's funny that I picked this quote for a Monday, because Monday is essentially the beginning of a new week.  On Mondays we say goodbye to the end of the previous week and hello to the new week ahead.  I'll be honest, closing my eyes to old ends is a huge struggle for me.  I never want to let go of things - even if they're not any good for me.  I'm a huge reader, I love to read, and I read new books all the time, but I also re-read old books.  I wrote about it on my personal blog - you can read it here if you're interested. I think for me, my reluctance to say goodbye to old things is because old is safe - even if it wasn't good, old is known and things that are known, are safe. But new beginnings are great adventures.  You need to be open to them and experience them fully.  I believe it's all in your…

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January 29, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Your Life, Your Choice – Challenge Day 28

Don't live your life to please other people. - Oprah Winfrey I have a love hate relationship when it comes to choices.  I love having choices, but I hate making decisions.  Most of the time, I'm fairly content to go along with what others want. This is usually where to go to eat, or what time to get together.  You know, the low key stuff.  There were a couple of times when I started to go along with other people for some big decisions, and they turned into unmitigated disasters.  I'll not waste your time with the whys and wherefores of what happened. What I will do is tell you don't.  Don't go along with what other people want and think just to make them happy.  Your primary concern is your happiness, and you are the person you have to please.  I know our initial response is to want other people to like us and be happy with us, and the easiest way to do that is to do what they want.  Well, I'm telling you that you have to choose your own happiness above and beyond the happiness of others.  Because when it comes right down to it, if…

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January 28, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

It’s a Choice – Challenge Day 27

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. - Benjamin Franklin Life happens.  Good things happen, bad things happen, in short, life happens.  You have choices however.  You can spend time stressing out about what may happen, or you can get on living your life.  It's a choice.  Which one will you choose? I'll be honest, on weekends, I reuse quotes I've used before.  I've probably reused quotes without knowing it too, lol.  But this quote I happened to use back in 2011, and this is what I wrote when I originally used it. So many times I catch myself worrying about what COULD happen, and what MIGHT go wrong and then I think to myself “What the heck are you doing?”  Why waste time dwelling on things that could go wrong?  Instead, think about all the great things that could go RIGHT and may happen.  Don’t travel down that shadowy path, take the path that is showered in sunlight. Guess what, my thoughts haven't changed too much, but sadly neither have my actions.  I still spend too much time worrying about what could happen or what may go wrong and not enough…

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January 27, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

This is YOUR Life – Challenge day 26

You can't base your life on other people's expectations. - Stevie Wonder Remember those report cards back in school when you got the comment that said "Isn't working up to expectations?" Well maybe you never got then, but  I did.  I was forever not working up the level they expected of me.  We don't meet our teacher's expectations, don't meet our parents expectations, or our bosses, our the expectations of our spouse or significant other. Everybody has expectations of how we should act, talk, dress, think and be.  It's utterly exhausting! The only expectations we should worry about meeting are those that belong to us! Dress the way you want to, talk the way you want to, think they way you want to and act the way you want to. This is your life, and you should get to live it the way you want.  So what's stopping you?  Don't worry so much about what other people think of you, and most of all, don't worry about meeting their expectations.  Set your own goals, make your own plans and most of all, have your own expectations for your own life, and do whatever you have to do to make sure…

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January 26, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Imagine, Achieve, Dream, Become – Challenge Day 25

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it. - William Arthur Ward. Imagination is where it starts.  It's probably the most important thing you can do.  Allow yourself to let your mind roam free.  Imagining and dreaming are skills, and they take practice.  And hey, if you're going to have to practice something, why not practice dreaming!  So practice dreaming, because that's where it begins.  And from the dreaming comes the achieving.  You can't and won't ever achieve anything unless you think (dream) about it first!  So allow yourself the gift of imagination and make your dreams as big as they can be.  Open yourself up to the possibilities and then watch those possibilities become realities. I've always had a very active imagination, sometimes a little too active, according to my teachers.  I can slip into a daydream at the drop of a hat, and my grades in school sometimes reflected that. So while I will encourage everybody to dream and develop their imagination, I'll also toss in the caveat of don't get lost in your dreams.  We still need to function and live in the real world.  So yes,…

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January 25, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

A Different Kind of Perspective – Challenge Day 24

A Different Kind of Perspective Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant? - Henry David Thoreau I'm a big fan of perspective.  When you change your perspective, you can change so many things.  But usually when we think about perspective, we're only thinking about us and how we're seeing something. Today I'm talking about a different kind of perspective, and honestly, it's a biggie in my mind. I think a lot of people read To Kill A Mockingbird while they were in school, and they're all familiar with the idea of walking in another person's shoes. But how many of us actually do it.  I know it's something I struggle with on many occasions.  Especially when I'm fighting for something I believe in. I actually tried this just the other day when engaging in a political discussion with someone who had diametrically opposing views from me regarding a certain leader of a certain free world.  We were just chit chatting at first, and it drifted toward the political, and I tried very hard to see things from her view.  It was hard, and while it didn't change my political…

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January 24, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

It’s the Journey, Not the Destination – Challenge Day 23

It's the Journey, Not the Destination Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington I can't tell you how many self-help tomes I've read where they say "It's the journey, not the destination."  Every time I read it I cringe, and yet here I am using it.  Well color me a hypocrite right?  Yes and no.  Your life goal is very important, and I'm all about success.  But success can't come on the back of everyone else. Booker T. Washington was born a slave, and at the time of his death, he was a well respected educator who had the ear of presidents.  His destination mattered, but so did his journey.  I'm not going to give you his life story, just know it was amazing.  He accomplished great things, but he didn't walk over other people or use them to get to his destination. His journey was arduous at best, but his success didn't come at the expense of others. It's the same for all of us.  It doesn't matter where you started out.  You can achieve your goals…

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January 23, 2018
Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Sometimes You Just Have to Let Go – Challenge day 22

Sometimes You Just Have to Let Go So, I close my eyes to old ends and open my heart to new beginnings. - Nick Frederickson This is something I struggle with.  And by struggle, I mean seriously struggle.  I am not good with letting things end, moving on, letting go.  In fact, I would go so far as to say I suck at it.  And it's too bad, because sometimes you just have to let go. Letting go, moving on, releasing, whatever you want to call it.  It doesn't always mean giving up, and I think that's where I struggle.  Sometimes things just don't go according to plan, and you need to re-evaluate and figure out a new strategy, and sometimes you just need to let it go and move on.  This is true in all things, life plans, jobs, education plans relationships, the list is endless.  But again, what I and a lot of people need to realize is that it is okay. Just come up with a new plan. I think as long as you come up with a new plan and set a new course, it's not a failure, it's more like the detour or speed bump…

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January 22, 2018