New WordPress Blog
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:35pm Under Inspirational
0
Related posts
By admin Add comment
Hey You Superstar! Don’t Give Up On Your Dream!
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
In 2004, I was a devoted member of a popular online writing community. After spending much time on the site sharpening my skills, finally, in my possession was the second draft of a manuscript.
So far, my novel; my baby, had already received many compliments as well as constructive criticism from other writers on the site. I gladly accepted the reviews of my chapters and made further changes.
I was pleased. Now that I was closing in on an audience for my novel, all I wanted to know is if it had any chance of being published. Curious, I joined a group within the same writing community which claimed to help authors prepare their drafts for publication.
After introducing myself to the group, I nervously posted all 23 chapters of my novel to the forum. I looked forward to the responses from the participants, especially one of the group leaders who was an editor by trade. If anyone could tell me if I should pursue my life-long dream of becoming a well paid writer, it would be an editor, right?
Thats where it all went wrong.
I understood there was still more revising to be done to my manuscript; hey, that’s why I was an active member of the online writing community in the first place. But as I read the editors much anticipated e-mail message, it felt as if I had been blindsided.
She tyrannically ripped to mini shreds my plot, my characters and my whole novel; my baby. She humbly apologized afterward, informing me she couldnt even continue reading, it was just that bad.
Naive, I assumed because she was an editor, she had to be right, maybe my story was awful. Maybe all the other group members who alleged they read it to the very end, didn’t actually read it at all. I figured, maybe they didn’t want to hurt my feelings, so they told me what I wanted to hear.
Wounded, I left the group and removed my novel from the forum, even after another member e-mailed me and commented that she had just recommended my novel to other members of the online community.
Still, I couldn’t feel good about this news. I packed away my novel and today it still sits idle collecting dust in the crawl space of my home. So, what was wrong with me? Why was I willing to give up so hastily just because someone, who was very entitled to her view, told me my novel was worthless? It was much deeper than a bruised ego.
I didn’t have faith in my words. I gave the editor, by no fault of her own, too much power. Why I believed I needed her to tell me I was a worthy writer in the first place is beyond comprehension.
Im not a good writer and People will laugh at me.
These insecurities presented themselves whenever I considered working on my novel again. I was always terrified that someone else would tell me my writing was awful, instead of adopting the viewpoint of it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, I really love what I write.
When the editor trashed my manuscript, I thought I was a failure.
What I didnt understand then, but I am very aware of now is, if I dont try at all thats when I can truly consider myself a failure. The truth is, Im a successful writer simply because Im doing something plenty of people never thought I was bright enough to do. If I quit, Im only holding myself back from reaching my full potential; the only person my quitting will adversely affect is me.
I’ve learned it takes guts to put yourself out in front of the world and risk being ridiculed for all to see. The only alternative is to continue to think about our aspirations, and then we chance becoming someone who only dreams, instead of becoming that inspiring individual who made their ideas materialize.
There will invariably be someone who is more knowledgeable, more accomplished or someone who will be a better writer or a master poet. But what makes those of us who keep kicking at each closed door so outstanding is, while we recognize our shortcomings, we know that one day we will be both knowledgeable and accomplished if we don’t give up. And we won’t give up.
Never let the sting of anyone’s criticism cripple you so badly that it causes you to not move forward into your God given purpose. Don’t ever wait for that miraculous day when the group editors of life will come and bless you with their approval.
You have to recognize youre talented. You have to believe that you have a right to carve your space in the world with your talent. You have to speak it into existence with confidence. And so it shall be.
Tips to help you along your path to greatness!
*Set small goals for yourself that will eventually lead to the fulfillment of your dream.
*Practice. The more you practice your craft, the better youll get.
*Surround yourself with positive, encouraging people.
*Wake up every morning ready to open the door for your opportunity as soon as it knocks.
http://www.sheilawebster-heard.com
Author: Sheila Webster-Heard
Keywords: inspiration, self-improvement, motivation
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment
Express Your Quality
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
Robert Pirsig in the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance said, Quality tends to spread outwards in waves. Begin with your head and heart. I really believe this is an important message. When you have quality thoughts and feelings, it turns up in everything else you do. The way you think and feel is reflected in how you speak, act, behave.
Quality also impacts on those around you. Notice when you walk into an establishment and every little detail has been looked after - the shelves are dusted, the plants are healthy, the receptionist’s desk is immaculate. This kind of attention to detail reflects the standards of the people who work there, the quality of the people working there. And it makes you feel good to be there! It can also inspire you to raise your own standards, take more care in what you do and what you say. Notice the difference in attitude and behaviour you express in a top restaurant versus the local pub. Your surroundings have an impact on you.
Thomas Leonard said, The physical universe never lies. If you have less than excellent quality around you - shabby clothes, dirty office, junk food diet - it reflects the state of your mind and soul.
You can however also have an impact on your surroundings - the equation works both ways. If you take excellent care of your surroundings, you will then also be taking excellent care of yourself. It is amazing how much different you can think and feel if you simply change your environment to be more positive, clean, tidy, polished. A clean car can lift your spirits! (Don’t believe me? I challenge you to have your car detailed, or your house cleaned, or put on your best suit - see if you don’t feel just a little bit better!)
Bringing these two concepts together, you have the following rationale - if you produce quality results in everything you do, you show a special quality that emanates from the way you think and feel about the world. What you do expresses what you think, what you think is expressed in what you do. Change the way you think, and you change the way you behave. If this is too hard, change the way you behave, or improve your environment, and you will change the way you think and feel.
It makes looking after the little things that much more significant - cleaning up the coffee you spilled, making your bed in the morning, saying thank you with genuine care to a service person, leaving something a little bit cleaner or nicer than when you found it - these are messages you give yourself and others about quality - the quality of your spirit.
Have an excellent week and seek to express quality - the quality of YOU, wherever you are.
Cancer survivor Zoe Routh is the Head Coach at Inner Compass, a personal development organisation that helps busy professionals work less and achieve more. Inner Compass offers practical strategies and solutions to improve personal effectiveness and live an inspired life. http://www.innercompass.com.au
Author: Zoe Routh
Keywords: quality, inspiration, attraction, success
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment
My First Marathon
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
I have written this letter over and over in my head - many times while I was running - for the last two years. I have wanted to share what running has meant to me during this time, and the wonderful support role your magazine has been as part of my running journey and development.
I have never been an Athlete. I am built more as a belly dancer than a runner - I’m all hips, belly, and boobs. I have never really liked competitive sport - I always felt I could never succeed. This surprised my parents, as I was very competitive academically. Why don’t you enjoy competing in sports the way you do at school? I could never really give them a straight answer. I masked my response in a veil of snobbery and pretended academic analysis - sport is for dodo-heads; it’s bad for the spirit of collaboration and mutual respect; competitive sport encourages violence in youth. My vehemence and determined irrationality confused them and eventually they just left me alone. I caused them further consternation by running I ran a lot in high school - always in the morning, and always alone. My parents left well enough alone and were happy that I was at least healthy, though not competitive like my sister, who was a successful basketball and volleyball athlete.
In November 2000, my sister’s partner of four years committed suicide. This shattered her world and sent a rift through mine. She was devastated. I was desperate at being unable to help - she lived in Montreal, I was in Tharwa, Australia. You couldn’t get much further apart. We spent many hours on the phone. Much of it I just spent listening to her crying, grieving. Unable to hug her, or comfort her physically, I was desperate to try and get her to focus on something other than her pain. Running was it. I’d always promised myself that I’d run a marathon before I was thirty. That milestone passed and here I was at thirty and a half, and so decided that I would least run a marathon while I was 30! At first I spoke of this plan to distract my sister, and then it seemed to sober her and stem the tears. I suggested she might train and run it too - with me, in Australia. It was the perfect excuse to come and visit - none of my family had managed the trip since I migrated five years previously. She took the bait and agreed - we’d run our first Marathon together, April 8th, 2001, in Canberra Australia. She downloaded the application form, I sent her a copy of The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer (a truly great book for first time marathoners). We called and emailed regularly to check in and compare training notes. As it was winter in Canada, Vicky did all of her training on a treadmill - yes, even the 30km runs! Now that is commitment and determination!
Vicky arrived in Canberra, after forty hours of travel, the day before the marathon. She planned well, stayed hydrated, and kept to a good sleeping regime. She was still tired, but she was there and ready for the marathon! We ran the whole marathon together, loving every minute, even when our legs felt like lead after we passed the 30km mark. We crossed the line together, and neither of us knew whether or not we should cry or laugh or both. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Just six months since her partner died, Vicky was still upset, and still moved to tears when she spoke of him. But slowly, surely, like training for a marathon, she was getting better.
Running had everything to do with Vicky’s recovery and managing her grief. It brought us closer as sisters and best friends. Since that marathon we have both trained and run for our second marathon - Vicky did hers last month in Ottawa, while I went up for a second go at the Canberra Marathon. I finished 26 minutes faster this year than last year at 4hours 26 minutes! I am really proud of myself. I am also really proud of my sister who ran the Ottawa race without any supporters, truly on her own, and loved every minute of that race too.
Runner’s World has been a big part of my success as a runner. Living in Tharwa, a very small community out in whoop whoop, it is hard to find running partners. When I read Runner’s World, I am comforted in knowing there are thousands of others out there who also enjoy crawling out of bed at 5:30am, braving the elements, and doing their best, even on their worst running days. The running program which helped me improve my time so much was in the August 2001 issue, Moving up to 42. Though I did not manage all the runs on the program (work is chaotic and non-regular), I managed most of the scheduled runs. In fact, I am following the program again as I start training for the Sydney Marathon in September 2002.
Thanks Runner’s World - you have been a life-line, a wealth of knowledge, and a tremendous read - cover to cover every time.
Sincerely,
Zo Herbert (now Routh)
Cancer survivor Zoe Routh is the Head Coach at Inner Compass, a personal development organisation that helps busy professionals work less and achieve more. Inner Compass offers practical strategies and solutions to improve personal effectiveness and live an inspired life. http://www.innercompass.com.au
Author: Zoe Routh
Keywords: marathon, suicide, inspiration, motivation
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment
My Keeper’s Brother
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place…. (Proverbs 3:19).
We think we have created a new hypothesis or the better mousetrap, when in effect we have only discovered what God has already thought. The materials have always been there; what improves are methods of discovery. Man thought he went one better on God when he espoused evolution, but the study of the cell refutes this onerous theory. I have a drawing of the cell that I sometimes put on my desktop, to remind me that only God could have devised something so beautifully complex.
It defies sanity to believe that we came about by haphazard grumblings and ruminations! If so, then Jesus died in vain; there would have been no reason for His saving us from our sins, for what then is sin? We are made in God’s image, not an ape’s, although from some of our actions, God must wonder at times. Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… (Genesis 1:26). May we act like this is so, by acting godlike.
Look up the word ape; it means a parody, a mockery, a contempt; perhaps this is God’s joke on those who think they know more than HE does! This reminds me of a funny cartoon. The ape is hanging on to the bars and looking at the guy on the outside who feeds and takes care of him. With a look of disgust, the ape is asking himself, Am I really my keepers brother?
Author: Patricia Nordman
Keywords: ape, evolution, cell, joke
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment
Cutting Off Limbs
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
[Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in... (Proverbs 3:12).
Marcus Dods said, The world is unintelligible except on the hypothesis that it is for our schooling, and that he that sows in tears is the likeliest to have sheaves worth gathering. We water these sheaves with our tears. We can hope and pray that when sorrows and disillusions come into our life, we may have such trust in God that we will become better instead of bitter. If we put our roots into the Water of Life, they will flourish and grow strong. It will help if we can remember that disappointment is His appointment. John 15:2 is a comforting verse: He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful.
It may seem unfair that those who are already bearing fruit will be pruned, but only God knows what needs to be removed at what season of our lives so that we may bear more fruit for Him. Even the most saintly have sinned and come short of God’s glory. He can see the beautiful and yet unnecessary blossoms developing that will hinder the growth of the fruit of the Spirit. The Vine-dresser uses the roducts at Amazon.com’>pruning-knife of trial and affliction that the branch may bear even more excellent fruit. The roducts at Amazon.com’>pruning knife is not applied to the puny plant; and languid minds are the least touched by affliction…God [also is never in haste. His processes are slow (Anonymous).
Your rod AND your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4b). The rod was used to correct the sheep and bring them back when they wandered. We are guided with the rod and sustained with the staff. What a consoling thought! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
When we had orange groves, periodically our orange trees needed to be pruned back so they would bear better fruit; it’s also known that fruit here in Florida does not sweeten and ripen until we have a mild cold snap. Ive always thought this such a perfect illustration for our lives, that God allows roducts at Amazon.com’>pruningsome cutting awayof an unnecessary roducts at Amazon.com’>limbs of life that may be tripping us up on our way to the Holy City. May we bless Him for His Gift of the SawHe saw and then He sawed!
Author: Patricia Nordman
Keywords: Tears, roducts at Amazon.com’>pruning, roducts at Amazon.com’>limbs, rod, staff
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
Related posts
By admin Add comment
Resolution to Solution
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:34pm Under Inspirational
0
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:6).
The word all means just that: ALL. When we do this, then We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Life is not a random process. It helps when we believe without any doubt that God sees the end from the beginning, even when we are stumbling and do not understand. Job said, I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted (Job 42:2).
The story is told of the old lady who took the lazy way out to claim her promises. One day, desperate for a quick solution, she prayed, O, Lord, give me the right verse to comfort me, and she let her Bible fall open to what she hoped would be the answer to her problem. Her eye caught, And Judas went out and hanged himself. No, that wouldn’t do, so she tried again, only to light on Go thou and do likewise. She prayed again and opened the good Book to yet another random page, What thou doest, do quickly.
Obviously this is not the way to claim the promises! It is a daily and loving and arduous search through His Word to discover His will in our lives. At first it seems difficult; then it becomes as easy as breathing, for we learn to go to the Father for all of life’s problems, knowing He has the solution, if we have the solution/new?tag=day2soft-20′title= ‘resolution: Newly tagged products at Amazon.com’>resolution.
God may not choose the shortest way for us but we can be certain it is the safest way. And your way may not be my way! Someone wisely said that God is not one of the electives in the school of life, nor is the recognition of God one of the frills of existence.
Author: Patricia Nordman
Keywords: Resolution, solution, promises, paths
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips