Every morning I open my eyes,
Nothing tastes as good as absolute health and vitality feels.
Every day and in every way, I’m getting stronger and stronger (healthier and healthier).
Love is life and life is love and I am both.
With all my heart and all my soul, I feel God’s love cleansing my body.
My body is a shining example of vibrant energy.

Moment by moment I live my life
With balance and harmony.
The Power and the Gift have made the shift
And Love has set me free.

My higher power guides my life
With passion and certainty.
The gifts I see in others
Are the gifts I see in me.

Happiness and peacefulness with each and every breath;
I took the fear and kicked its ass ’til there was nothing left.
With each and every step I take,
With each and every stride,
I feel abundant, centered joy
And love from deep inside.

I had to be the best;
I am the MAN!!!
Better than the rest.
But now I know I’m good as gold and life is not a test.

So I celebrate my accomplishments
But I realize they’re not me.
‘Cause as I love myself
I’m all I ever need to be.

At last at last the past is past;
I’ve broken free and won.
And now it’s time to love myself
And really have some fun.

A bold new world is on the rise
for all of us to have.
And I’m the one, yes I’m the one
The beacon that lights the path.

“Flatter me,  and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I may not forget you.”

“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.”

“Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.”

-Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Statesman, Prime Minister

Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a
direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in
the long term; it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.

-Anthony Robbins

Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in
the past nor for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the  days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances; that we learn how to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love;
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly.
Do not dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step
of the way.

-Author Unknown

Let nothing hold you back from exploring your wildest fantasies, wishes, and aspirations.
Don’t be afraid to dream big and to follow your dreams wherever they may lead you.
Open your eyes to their beauty; open your mind to their magic; open your heart to their possibilities.

Because only by dreaming, will you ever discover who you are, what you want, and what you can do.
Don’t be afraid to take risks, to become involved, to make commitment.
Do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true.
Always believe in miracles, and always believe in you!

-Anonymous

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the unfortunate frogs they would never get out. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and simply gave up. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and suffering and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs asked him, “Why did you continue jumping. Didn’t you hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

His story holds two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.
2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them. Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path.

The power of words… it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times.

Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Poor vs. Rich

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to
the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the  father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah,” said the son.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out to others is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure
But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to do nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes, they are a slave,
they forfeited their freedom.
Only the person who risks can be free!
“Move Your Mind Forward”
Whatever you dwell upon in your mind, you give power
to. So of course it makes sense to focus on what you
want rather than what you don’t want. Yet there are
many ways in which the things you don’t want can sneak
into your thinking.
Worry and doubt focus your thinking on what you don’t
want. Rather than worrying about the bad things that
might happen, direct your actions toward making
positive things happen.
Complaining can also get your mind sidetracked into
thinking about what you don’t want. What do you
complain about? The things you don’t like. Rather than
complaining, take action. Action moves you toward what
you do want.
Anger is one more way to get your thinking negatively
directed. Rather than getting angry about what you
don’t like, use that energy to give you determination
for what you want to achieve.
Keep your mind positively focused on the good things
that life can offer. Those things will grow stronger
and more abundant in your world.

-Scott Roberts

Complaining about a situation is a poor substitute for doing something about it.  Complaining might give you the feeling that you’re taking action, but in reality it is a technique for avoiding action. We often complain as a way to resolve an issue in our own minds, yet complaints resolve nothing. Consider what you would do if complaining was not an option.   What if there was no one to whom you could complain? What would you do? You would take action. You would really, truly resolve the problem, instead of simply speculating and griping about it. If you find yourself complaining frequently, particularly if it’s about the same thing, that’s a solid indication that you need to stop complaining and start doing. It’s easy to see that your complaints have accomplished nothing. So what’s the point? Instead, pretend that complaining finds yourself compelled to take positive action.

Ralph Marston

Perhaps the greatest challenge that you will ever face in life is the conquest of fear and the development of the habit of courage. Winston Churchill once wrote, ‘Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.’ Fear is, and always has been, the greatest enemy of mankind.  When Franklin D. Roosevelt said, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’ he was saying that the emotion of fear, rather than the reality of what we fear, is what causes us anxiety, stress, and unhappiness. When you develop the habit of courage and unshakable self-confidence, a whole new world of possibilities opens up for you. Just think — what would you dare to dream, or be, or do,  if you weren’t afraid of anything in the whole world?

-Anonymous