Think Positive 30

Keep Your Eye on the Prize – Challenge Day 21

Keep Your Eye on the Prize Only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.~ Dag Hammarskjold The other day I talked about not looking too far into the future, and today I'm talking about keeping your eye on the prize. I realize I sound slightly schizophrenic, but I promise you, it all works out. You need to have a plan, and a destination in mind. But you have to remember, that life throws up roadblocks and speed bumps and detours. Sometimes you just have to roll with what life throws you. But while you're rolling with it, you need to keep your eye on the prize. So how do you find that balance? It's not easy, but it is necessary. Set goals, and make plans, but keep them fluid, because some of the best experiences in life come when you least expect it. In my other blog post, I talked about kids who knew in first grade what they wanted to be when they grew up. When they achieve that goal, it's fantastic, but what are they missing out on? I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in…

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January 21, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

You Just Have to Get it Done – Challenge Day 20

You Just Have to Get it Done True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. - John Wayne This is something I struggle with. The first big struggle is the decision making process. Then when you make the decision, you just have to get it done. I don't know when making decisions became such a struggle for me. I spend so much time weight my options, that I never seem to make a decision. Listen to your intuition. When it comes to making a decision, I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons and then listen to my instincts. Or as Gibbs from NCIS would say, my gut. I think it's the way to go. We can spend far too much time trying to figure out what to do that we never get it done. Just Get it Done! Now comes the hard part. The getting it done part. I think it's because we second guess ourselves so much, and doubt our intuition to much that we struggle with the getting it done, part. Have faith in yourself and in your choices. After all, you've made it this far, right? You did it,…

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January 20, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Perspective – It’s All In How You See It – Challenge Day 19

Perspective - It's All In How You See It If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. - Wayne Dyer I love the concept of perspective - it's all in how you see it. It's how you look at something, or how you see something. There are many things that color our perspective. Previous relationships, jobs, education, political beliefs, or how you're feeling on any given day. It really is all about how you see it. The great thing about perspective is you can change it. I don't know if any of you are fans of NCIS, but I love that show. In one of the earlier episodes, Abby is working on a problem when all of a sudden, she bends over and starts looking between her legs. Magee of course asks what she's doing and she tells him she's changing her perspective. If only it were that easy. It's not, but it's not too hard either. Be willing to open your mind. Take a step back if you have to, and try and reframe your thoughts. Try and find the good in it whenever possible. Even when things are going great,…

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January 19, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Look Ahead, But Not Too Far – Challenge Day 18

Look Ahead, But Not Too Far The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. - Abraham Lincoln I'm a huge proponent for planning for the future. In fact, I think that's what Sunday's blog post is also about as well. As I said, I'm all about looking ahead to the future, but don't look too far ahead. It's always good to have a plan, a road map if you will, of where you want your life to go. But the best plans, are fluid. They can handle deviations, kind of like detours on a road trip. The GPS will say recalculating and you'll make a couple of turns and be back on your way. That's what a life plan has should look like. When I was thinking about this quote I was thinking about people who decided in elementary school what they were going to be when they grew up, and never ever deviated from that plan. Sure they may have achieved their goal of being a lawyer, or a teacher, but at what expense? What did they miss out on by not exploring other options that may be available to them?…

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January 18, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

It Starts With Peace of Mind – Challenge Day 17

It Starts With Peace of Mind If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts. - Peter McWilliams As much as I'd like to get all philosophical and figure out how we could stop fighting and have peace, that will have to wait for another day. Today I want to talk about the inner dialogues we have with ourselves. Yes I do mean dialogues, because at least with myself, my inner monologues turn into full on fights with myself. Most of those conversations/fights usually start out with my contemplating doing something that I'm uncertain about, and I'm either trying to talk myself into it, or out of it. I'm usually doing this because I'm not trusting my intuition. Intuition is pretty cool, and I think we're all pretty insightful. But we don't listen to ourselves the way we should. That's where the inner dialogue comes in and we fight with ourselves and destroy our peace of mind. The very best thing we can do for ourselves is listen to that inner voice, intuition, or gut; whatever you want to call it. Listen to it, and trust it. Stop fighting with your thoughts,…

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January 17, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Ignore the Storm, and Enjoy the Sunshine – Challenge Day 16

Ignore the Storm, and Enjoy the Sunshine If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine. - Morris West At one point, my life mantra was plan for the worst, but hope for the best. I hoped things would go my way, but I didn't expect them to, and I always planned for the worst case scenario. Guess what? 9 times out of 10, the worst case scenario happened. Why? Because I was so busy planning for it, that I basically made it happen. Why wait for a storm that may never happen? I'm not saying don't have a plan for when things go wrong. That only makes sense. But if you spend so much time planning for things to go wrong, and expecting the worst case scenario, you miss all the good things that are happening right now. It's wise to bank some extra cash in case there is an unforeseeable emergency, or perhaps have a credit card that is only used for emergency car repairs. That's a plan. Spending every second of every day worrying about those car repairs is bad. The thing is, life is basically pretty great, and yes sometimes…

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January 16, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable – Challenge day 15

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That's how you break the plateau and reach the next level. - Chalene Johnson Everybody who is comfortable in their own little rut, raise their hands! I'm betting that a lot of hands were just raised, at least metaphorically. Even if you want things in your life to be different there is still a sense of security being in your own little world. But if you're truly serious about making changes in your life. you have to be good and ready to step out of your comfort zone. When you think about changing things up in your life, how does it make you feel? Do you get that squirmy feeling inside? Are you comfortable with the thought of change our are you uncomfortable. Chances are you're leaning toward the latter, but if you're truly serious, you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Push through it, work past those squirmy feelings inside of you. You can accomplish anything that you want, achieve anything that you want and be anything that you want. That power is within you. You can get to the next level of your life and accomplish great things. All you…

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January 15, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Don’t Worry About What Others Think – Challenge Day 14

Don't Worry About What Others Think Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what. - Erma Bombeck This is so basic that it isn't even funny, except for one thing. Just about everybody I know, myself included is more concerned about what other people think of them then they are of anything else. Don't worry about what others think of you, or anything else. It truly doesn't matter. The only opinion regarding you that matters is your opinion. I don't know why we care so much about what others think and why their opinions matter so much. I hate to think we are so insecure when it comes to ourselves that the opinions of others matter more to us than our own. If we spent even a quarter of the time we spend trying to conform to the opinions of others focusing on ourselves and liking who we are, we'd be so much happier. The fact of the matter is, you are special, and I am special. We're all special in our own unique and individual ways. Seriously, who cares what anybody else thinks. As long as you're happy with who you are and…

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January 14, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Don’t Take it Personally – Challenge Day 13

Don't Take it Personally Try not to take things other people say about you too personally. What they think and say is a reflection of them, not you. People gossip, and people talk trash. It sucks and it hurts. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. We all do it. We shouldn't, but we do. When I say don't take it personally, I sincerely mean it. I also know that when it happens, it's hard not to take it personally, because it's personal. It's about you! I also know this. When someone is talking about you, it's a reflection of them, not you. I've noticed that if I'm talking poorly about somebody, the things I am talking about are things I find lacking in myself. Maybe it's easier to talk about somebody else rather than look honestly at myself and fix it. It gives me the chance to do that whole righteous indignation thing, I guess. So with this blog post, I have two things going on. I'm going to really try hard to talk about other people. Instead, when I feel the need, I'm going to take a moment and reflect inward and figure out if I'm really talking about…

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January 13, 2018

Challenge / Daily Positive Thought

Make it Work or Make it Better – Challenge Day 12

Make it Work or Make it Better The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better. - Barbara Pletcher Wouldn't it be nice if every situation life handed was as perfect, and that all our little ducks were always in their neat little rows? It would be lovely, wouldn't it? However, this is real life, and real life is messy and challenging and far from perfect. And those little ducks, they're running around all over the place, and chances are we're running around chasing those ducks. The challenge lies in looking at the situations life hands you and finding a way to make it work or make it better. It's not easy, not at all, but when you do it, life is just that much better, and honestly, you're that much stronger. I told you earlier this week about the water pipe that burst, flooding my classroom and two of the classrooms below me. In fact, the entire wing below me has been shut down. All those classrooms have been temporarily relocated into another wing of the school, and I'm sharing space with…

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January 12, 2018