Don’t give doubt a welcoming chair
‘cos he’s a sweet talker.
He will overstay his welcome,
and tell you all the things
that you cannot do;
just to convince you
to dig up the seeds
that you planted in faith.
©
Jacqueline
Category: Inspiration – Motivation
Sail On…A Thought For Tuesday
Our hardship forms the backbone of our success. Without these travails – as unpleasant as they may be – where would our stories of triumph be?
Your past is not your anchor
Be the master of your sea
Your boat has many ports to visit.
Thought For Monday…
Each day we are given the opportunity to write our reality. What are you writing today?
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come. Habakkuk 2:3
The Patched Ones…
Here are the beautiful ones.
Hidden in the shadows of the glittery ones,
many times they’ve been broken,
and unevenly patched by the potter’s hands,
yet their value is priceless.
This is about us. Many are broken. Many are hurting. Many have forgotten their true worth. Many are clinging to past mistakes and allowing them to dictate their present circumstance. Many hold on to their pain and weave unforgiveness into their soul. They forget to put down their burden at the Masters’ feet not knowing that in the potters’ hands, their broken pieces are gathered, refined and made far better than the original piece. Just like the Japanese practice of golden joinery ‘Kintsugi,’ – when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful. No one is ever too broken to be fixed.
Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will grant you rest. Matthew: 11: 28 – 29
Just A Thought For Monday
Don’t keep beating yourself up with the ‘should haves’ Simply learn from your experience and keep reaffirming to yourself the phrase ‘all is well’ even when it’s a struggle to do so. It will calm you down. A consistent focus on all the should have’s of the past is like running in reverse.
Our Times, Our Spirituality… Thoughts For Tuesday
Our times are fraught with stress and quick-fixes. A fast-forward micro-waved lifestyle that’s corrosive. We may need to relearn how to enjoy life on the slow ‘cos life is not a drive-thru and you are not in competition with anyone but yourself.
Our lives should be a daily spiritual experience even in the mundaneness of it all. We must make concerted efforts to be in tune with our inner selves and this is not on an experience that can be placed on speed dial. It is a cultivated practice that doesn’t involve spending hundreds of hours in euphoric states of levitation.
Of course, there are times when we might experience a big spiritual AHA moment and there are incidents that may leave us in deep reflection and awe but at all times but as we go through the process of living life, our lives should be a reflection of certain things:
A Beacon of peace and humanity
A Testimony of faith and hope
A Source of Love, strength and goodwill
Of Mercy, laughter and joy (irrespective of the dark clouds that seek to hover).
Of acceptance and love of yourself so that you can be able to love someone else (if you have none, you can’t give any)
Of the goodness that you wish to see in the world.
There will always be two sides of everything; Light and Dark and this equally exists with spirituality. There is the Light side of spirituality and the Dark side of spirituality.
It is up to us to choose the path on which we wish to walk.
Shalom
Just A Thought For You…Monday Inspiration
Defer your judgement and keep possibilities open. When we judge everything: people, products, behaviour etc before we’ve had the opportunity to decide if they are good or bad we pigeonhole it and lock it down; we simply kill the opportunity for such possibilities to be.
Tuesdays Thoughts – Taming The Enemy
There is no enemy more powerful than the enemy within. If you can tame and defeat the enemy within, 99.95% of the battle is won.
Most times we look for all the external factors that stand in our way of progress and success whilst failing to deal with the causes that are internal.
Except you put right those intrinsic issues that have acquired deep roots within you, every other external effort is simply putting a band-aid on sore wounds ‘cos you will always find that the enemy within will stand in your own way of success.
Train That Inner Voice…
When we train our inner critic, we become our inner coach. Jacqueline
Most times we are our own worst critics, that it takes extra effort to find the good parts of ourselves. We worry that they are not good enough. We think that they need to achieve more to be enough. We think we are way behind our contemporaries. We think that we have failed. We think that we could have done better, we think that we shouldn’t have done certain things – forgetting that the decision that we took at that time was probably the best decision we could have taken at that point in time. The list of what your inner critic has to offer is bottomless and focusing on these negative criticisms simply builds into your psyche.
Taking charge of your inner critic automatically creates better grounds to rise above certain self-limiting thoughts and you enable your mind to suggest pragmatic steps to do better than you’ve done in the past. Always remember that talking yourself down only succeeds in keeping you down. I am not in anyway suggesting that your shoulders should get so high on hubris, but putting yourself down constantly is not humility in any way. For every thought of criticism, find thoughts of affirmation and empowerment that deflates it.
Focus on finding the good in yourself and others each day, because as you focus less on finding all the faults in the world around you, you’ll become more appreciative, more optimistic and your possibilities grow.
We Planted The Seeds of Our Dreams…
Yes, we literally planted our dreams. Grabbing handfuls of the remaining Spring’s moments, I took the children to the park armed with our post-its and coloured pens. Each of us wrote out 5 dreams/aspiration of ours, folded the papers nicely, dug little holes around the tree and planted them amongst the grass. We had a few curious squirrels as observers and I guess they aren’t surprised ‘cos they’ve seen enough queer humans.
I told the children that though the paper might decay and become one with earth, the dreams have been sown into their hearts and that each day they must till the soil of their dreams, water and nurture them till they yield bountiful returns ‘cos every seedling has its season.
I also told them that sometimes our dreams and aspirations change and our harvest becomes different but that it’s okay ‘cos that’s the way life works at times. However, for each aspiration, they must plant it into the soil of their reality and not hold on to the seeds ‘cos the seeds alone will not yield abundance. ‘All great deeds begin as seeds.’ Months and years may pass before these seeds grow into full form and we see the glimpse of our harvest, but the birthing moment is as important as the harvest.
The land is green and the Earth is ripe for planting. Amidst the pressures of our modern lives, we tend to think that the conditions have to be right in order for us to start but time and time again my experience has shown that most times the simple act of starting is what makes the conditions right.
Love and Light Always,
Jacqueline
a cooking pot and twisted tales 