a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
“New week, new beginnings! 🌟
Embrace the fresh start, let go of last week’s worries, and step into the unknown with courage and curiosity.
You are stronger than you think, braver than you feel, and smarter than you know. Make this week count and make it yours! 💪🏼✨
Right about now, there could be things in your life that you’re sorely disappointed and unhappy about. Things that are delayed. Things that don’t seem fair. Things that fell apart. Things that hurt. Numerous things…
You have done everything as right as you think you can do them, yet the results are not adding up. You simply don’t understand why things cannot be different for you especially when you look at your contemporaries who appear to have it better.
Listen up, don’t give up hope on your life and yourself. The alternative to giving up hope is too despairing to think about.
Just like time moves forward, keep pushing forward albeit ensure that your race is run with God.
One day for sure, you will look back with understanding and say “now it makes sense.”
Some of these things had to happen. They had to say no; the person had to leave, Judas had to betray Christ, Joseph’s brothers had to throw him nnto the pit; that door needed to be shut; the storm had to pass through etc.
As life is not a linear journey, things often go wrong, before they go right. Even when it doesn’t make sense, God’s hands are ordering your steps, and all things will turn out for your good.
Give it time.
How can you go through life postponing being happy and waiting for all the right situations to happen before you can feel happy? Here’s the sad news. The government will always consist of unconscientious and shitty people. Life will never truly balance. Things may never align perfectly at every point in time which therefore means that your wait is wasted effort.
However, the good news is that every new day we open our eyes presents fresh choices and chances and reasons to be happy. Life can be likened to a busy airport terminal, where happiness arrives and departs around the clock. The likelihood is that the opportunity to be happy has already arrived and probably departed whilst you were so busy fussing over your excess luggage. Most times, joyful, happy moments are right in front of you, but your mindset is unable to shift for you to notice and appreciate it because you are stuck on all the negative things going on around you.
Irrespective of all that may be going on around you, you can truly feel happier, be more productive, attract success, manifest your dreams and enjoy yourself whilst at it. Yes, it is not easy. It requires a lot of intentionality, and purposefulness, but when you shift your focus and the way you think, your perspective changes. When shift happens, your life changes. So, let’s keep getting our shift together.
It is so easy to fall into a rut especially when life becomes monotonous that you can literally function on autopilot without paying much mind to what you are doing.
Consequently, weeks of functioning like that can lead to dissatisfaction which creeps in and we start feeling that life is a tedium and getting stuck in a rut can be frustrating and demotivating.
Life will seem like a tiresome cycle of chore, responsibilities, bills and expectations. Getting out of this sense of drudgery is seriously essential for our total well-being especially as adults who have a lot of burden to bear.
Every single day, I make conscientious effort to engage in wholesome activities that enhance my sense of purpose, peace and harmony.
I listen to music, I dance, I read, I go for walks, I exercise, I watch movies and comedies, I pray, I think good thoughts. I write, I create. I live in a dream world. I try to do things a bit differently.
Often, I wear vibrant clothes and colors as much as possible. I affirm myself every single day and so on and so forth. Practicing some form of self-care peps up one’s spirit and pulls you out of the doldrums.
What works for me, might not be your cup of tea, nevertheless, here are some strategies to help you avoid getting stuck:
Shake Up Your Routine regularly
Try something new: Engage in a new hobby, activity, or class to challenge yourself and discover new interests.
Change your environment: Rearrange your workspace, take a different route, or travel to a new place to stimulate your mind.
Mix up your social circle: Meet new people, attend events, or join a club to expand your social network.
Set Goals and Challenges
Set SMART goals: Create Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals to focus on.
Break tasks into smaller steps: Divide large tasks into manageable chunks to maintain momentum.
Create a challenge for yourself: Set a personal challenge, like running a marathon or learning a new language.
Practice Self-Care
Get enough sleep: Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep to help your brain function at its best.
Exercise regularly: Engage in physical activity to boost your mood and energy levels.
Meditate and practice mindfulness: Take time to relax, focus on the present, and reduce stress.
Seek Inspiration and Support
Read inspiring stories: Explore books, articles, or podcasts that share stories of overcoming obstacles.
Find a mentor or accountability partner: Connect with someone who can offer guidance, support, and motivation.
Join a community or group: Participate in online forums, social media groups, or local meetups to connect with like-minded individuals.
Embrace Failure and Learning
View failure as a learning opportunity: Recognize that mistakes are an essential part of growth and development.
Reflect on your experiences: Take time to analyze what went wrong and how you can improve in the future.
Celebrate small wins: Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, no matter how small they may seem.
You must remember that life is what we make of it and each day, we owe it to ourselves to make our living worthwhile.
Till next time.
You
can’t
put
the
big dreams
of
your
life
into
a
little mind.
One poor writing habit that I am working hard at unlearning is the habit of waiting until I have something profound to talk/write about and waiting until the feeling to write grips me before I do so.
Waiting for such fine moments emanates from that underlying need for control and perfection, which is basically impossible. There is no right time and no other time can be righter than now. This scenario applies to millions of us who sit around waiting for the right partner, waiting for the right job to pop out of the woodworks and offer itself, waiting for the right time to exercise, to adjust our lifestyle, to start that course we are interested in, to start travelling, waiting, waiting, endlessly waiting…
We don’t have 100 years left on this earth to get around to doing those things we want to do and sometimes, I wonder why we are quick to get upset over minor delays that will save us not more than 2 minutes, yet keep waiting for the right time and are reluctant to make those changes that impact our lives more?
Time passes so fast, this much we know, and we can never, ever get back those days spent waiting unnecessarily. Waiting for writing inspiration is a fool’s game because inspiration can be slippery and may never come in expected ways. The longer you spend waiting for the writing genie to turn up, the further it slips away. I know that staying consistent is the key and that when we start writing regularly, with or without inspiration, inspiration eventually finds us between those words and sentences that we manage to squeeze out.
There are many gateways that lead us to our individual pleasures but there’s only one true pathway to happiness and the track runs through you.
The key that unlocks our happiness lies within us and can’t be found elsewhere. Outer factors may contribute to our state of bliss now and again, such as: recognitions and prestigious awards, salary raise, exciting new relationships, fancy gadgets, weight loss, new home, travelling etc. These things can contribute in making us feel great at the initial stage, however, that buzz and thrill does not last very long as we are quick to adapt to changes and those positive things that made us happier at first fast become our new normal and we return to our previous happiness baseline.
Positive psychology shows that a person can truly increase their happiness and overall satisfaction with life which does not necessarily entail winning lottery ticket or material stuff or some sort of drastic change of circumstances. What it takes, is an inner change of perspective and attitude and this is something that anyone can do.
When we fail to settle down and dig deeper to unlock the essence of who we are, we tend to fill our days with activities, going through the daily motions of surviving and are left feeling listless and dissatisfied with life.
If you feel like this, now’s the time to start searching for the missing link and hopefully, the answer will click. The journey to a happier you can often be lonely but you can improve your experience by surrounding yourself with positive and happy people, value yourself and your relationships, keep the beautiful memories and positive experiences closer in mind, achieve goals and appreciate them no matter how small.
We all want to live happier lives and this is possible. I hope that you found this article useful.
Feel free to check me on Tiktok below and you can always join my Livestream to make new friends. Hope to see you one of these days.
There are many gateways that lead us to our individual pleasures but there’s only one true pathway to happiness and the track runs through you.
The key that unlocks our happiness lies within us and can’t be found elsewhere.
When we fail to settle down and dig deeper to unlock the essence of who we are, we tend to fill our days with activities, going through the daily motions of surviving and are left feeling listless and dissatisfied with life.
Now, that’s the time to start searching for the missing link and hopefully, the answer will click. You can improve the experience by surrounding yourself with positive and happy people, value yourself and your relationships, keep the beautiful memories and positive experiences closer in mind, achieve little goals and appreciate them.
I found this oldie sitting in my draft. Still rings true.
So far, it’s been a tremendously hard year all around the world for many. Our general sense of normalcy and everyday routines, that feeling of taking charge and being in control of our actions and surroundings – which are things we all took for granted, is at very low levels. The anxious have become more anxious, the depressed are more depressed, the lonely feel more isolated and the angry ones’ simply grew worse with their anger mingled with hatred.
Laughter seems far and few in between with frustration and financial crisis dogging many of us night and day. Emotions are all over the place these days and all it takes is spending a few minutes online to witness meltdowns, emotional combustions here and there, all decorated with colourful expletives.
Yet, there’s hope and there are many lessons to be learnt from this difficult experience and our focus shouldn’t stay hung up on all the stress that we have and possibly still experiencing at present. I have searched within me to see what I have felt, what I have seen and what I have learned. My thoughts are not coming out in any particular order, just a free flow of some of what is going on in my head at present without editing.
This situation has shown us that a virus can be a unifier because it doesn’t choose boundaries. It can affect anyone irrespective of background, race, religion, culture, financial status etc. Standing alone as individuals we are fragile, but as a community, we stand stronger, hence, since death is always over one’s left shoulder as is commonly said, we must remember our humanity and the importance of treating each person right especially in the face of our temporal existence.
Everything that you know can end today, ‘cos tomorrow is promised to no one, therefore, it is absolutely essential to focus on the right things and be fully present in every given moment. Value the preciousness of your existence as well as that of others.
Learn to enjoy your life and appreciate what you have. Just think about the fact that there are people out there with far less and possibly in more dire straits. Things may not be going as smoothly for you as they did many months back – know that this time too shall pass and these days which have been spent slowing down is not a waste of time. Our focus has shifted a lot more from material things to things that matter – the bare basic needs of life.
Don’t be reluctant to embrace those little things that will work miracles in you; don’t be afraid to live each day as you deserve and to help others when you can. If you are unable to be of help, the least you can do is not to spoil someone else’s day
If you didn’t do so well yesterday, PLEASE, don’t be afraid to press the reset button and start again today. Saying YES to a refresh is far better than going on a long trip down guilt lane.
Sometimes when life presses that pause button, it is simply asking us to slow down and to take a good look at ourselves. My hope is that these days has taught us to love, to care, to listen, to help and to respect others.
How are you doing? I hope that things haven’t been too rough?
We take our given days for granted, 24 hours fly past so fast that most times weeks and months all meld together into a blur.
They go by whilst we stay planning for all the things that we will do tomorrow which we could have done today.
We plan for the big moments when all lines will fall into the right place, that we tend to forget that one day when we grow old together, we will remind each other about these days that seemed ordinary and uneventful, yet when we take a good look, we will find chockful heart-tugging memories wedged in-between these days.
Your best life is now, not tomorrow.
a cooking pot and twisted tales 