Being Grateful and Never Giving Up

I've found that with practice you can learn to appreciate life with all its valleys and hills. Yet, being miserable and unhappy is such an easy thing. Being human we tend to take the easy road…and for many that means being unhappy and thinking that life is just too hard.

Over the weekend my son, Jalen made the statement that life is neither hard or easy, its just weird. I told him I was just thinking about life and that we just have to make the most of it. In true 9-years old going on 90 he said, "I'm not going to make the most of life, life better make the most of me. There'll never be anyone else just like me. I'm special and crazy and unique."

That statement got me thinking. There I was worrying about income, bills and everything in between and questioning why life had to be so hard. As if to take me out of my funk even more, I read the following from Sid Savara, “It takes a lot to win at this thing we call life. But it takes even more to lose.” I hate the thought of losing – it’s not normally a part of my vocabulary, but I was certainly allowing life and its challenges to drag me under.

It was if the universe, God, whoever or whatever forces you wants to attribute it to, was talking to me. Telling me to get up, start over, look at where I went wrong and learn from it. Life is what it is, but I had better still strive towards attaining my dreams. Whoever said that I had to attain them all in my 20s and 30s or even my 40s and 50s?

Yes, sometimes life doesn’t follow the path we plan, in plain language, sometimes it seems as if everything is crashing down around us despite and in spite of all our efforts – it stinks. However, the biggest failure is to stop trying – to succeed we need to be stubborn and persistent. Right at that point when we give up, success was just one step away!

I truly believe that if we look, we will that there is beauty from the valley as there is from the hilltop…I’m ready and I intend to attain my goals. Life is indeed beautiful!

Getting Upset Is Natural – Isn’t It?

Anger “ Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean .” Maya Angelou I must confess that sometimes I blow off steam by getting upset. I will allow things to build up and then when I feel overwhelmed, I explode for the simplest thing. There was a time when I used to feel really bad when I got upset, but I’m beginning to learn that it is good to let off steam, sometimes. Anger can be positive and I know that after I calm down I tend to see things differently. I actually make an effort to see what I can change about the situation that upset me in the first place. While anger can also be disruptive and can cause hurt, it can be used for good. In fact, anger tends to motivate me to work harder and to achieve my goals. I know that I can be hard on myself – feeling that I fail if I do not live up to my own expectations. I know that unbridled anger can have negative health effects, but so can holding anger in. I remember reading abo...

Being Thankful for Life’s Challenges

I realize that we sometimes get so caught up we cuss when we face some of life’s challenges. Even the smallest thing can sometimes get our goat. Today, I’m resolving to be grateful for life’s challenges for many reasons. Challenges help me garner experience; if I made a bad decision once, when faced with the same situation in the future, it is unlikely that I will make the same mistake again. There is more than a little truth to the old adage experience teaches wisdom . While I know that many people have lost their jobs and it has caused all sorts of financial challenges, I know more than a few for whom being fired has been a blessing in disguise. Just recently, a young woman I know with four kids to take care lost her job. I was worrying about her, even though I knew she didn't like the job she had. A few weeks later, she landed another job, but even better, she was earning almost two-times what she was before. Others have taken the loss of a job as ...

Jamaica Public Service, Again

I’m so angry I could scream. I received my electricity bill from the Jamaica Public Service Company and once again the amount is staggering…a whopping five thousand plus dollars. This is just a measly $174 less than the previous month. The funniest part of it is the following: - I foolishly put in fluorescent bulbs since they claim that it lowers usage. - During the period billed we had 9 1/2 hours of power outages. Granted this is an estimate because it just covers the period when someone was home and was able to record the outage time. I knew there were outages when no one is home because I have an old fashion fax machine that spits out pieces of paper each time the power goes and returns. - We rarely leave an outside light on anymore So my question to JPS is: What am I to do to have my electricity bills at a reasonable rate? In the past two years my bill has jumped quite a lot. I really would love to know why this is happening. Sadly, consumers in Jamaica do not have much recour...

“Blooming from Brokenness: One Woman’s Rise from Despair to Divine Purpose”

Search This Blog