Whomever checks out my blog, which I'm sure is a very short list, may have noticed that I added a new slide show recently of quotes.
Well over a year ago at work we started having stand-up meetings every day and part of the process is that the person leading the meeting provides a quote. Usually the quotes are work related and/or inspiring, sometimes humorous and work related.
I've really come to enjoy the quotes, and will write down ones that just really resonate with me and save them. In the last month I started taking some of those quotes and making these images. I now find myself writing things down from pretty much everything I read, ALL THE TIME, even my horoscope this past Sunday had a line that really stuck with me!
The self discipline line made me think about resolutions, and how some changes that we try to make in our lives can be a challenge to keep the commitment to, but that it is worth it in the end. I'm trying to continue to eat better foods and be more active. I am also working on my outlook and trying very hard to let go of a lot of emotional baggage that has weighed me down for too much of my life.
I have been reading more in the last year, and one of the books I got this past fall was 'The Power of Positive Thinking' from Norman Vincent Peale. So the thing is, I'm not really religious and I wasn't paying very close attention to the fact that this book was in the religion category. I had mainly decided to get it because it's a title I had heard of for a long time, and that it was supposed to be good. I'm almost to the end, and I don't regret it for a second.
In the course of reading it, I have realized many things, but for starters, I can now say that I am spiritual, but not religious, and understand the difference. The author quotes the Bible
a lot, (he's a reverend, of course he would) but I just have to kind of change a few words (in my head) as I'm reading and I still find value in the concepts his is trying to put forth.
As I mentioned before, December was a really difficult month for me, and I'm glad that I started reading it then, because on a few really dark days it prompted me to think about some things I could do to help bring myself some peace of mind and rise out of the proverbial pit of despair. It prompted me to start thinking seriously about meditation and clearing my head of negative thoughts; not just about myself, but about everything really. I am trying to make a point of noticing every day the little things that I am grateful for and that bring me moments of simple happiness. I have also come to realize that no matter how bad things get, that there is meaning to my life.
In December I had to walk away from a friendship that was very dear to me, because I was in love, and he wasn't. For years I had hidden away my heart because I got tired of being hurt. And even though things ended badly and I was ultimately rejected, I had the confidence in myself to tell him that I loved him, and I don't regret that. He wanted to continue to be friends, but I couldn't stick around and endure him dating other women, I'm not strong enough for that.
I've begun to realize how some things I said and did came out of me assuming the worst of him based on how I had been treated in the past. I suspect that some things he said to me would fall in that category too. I wish there had been a different outcome, but I want to face the future with hope that I can have a healthy loving relationship and faith that I deserve it.
