Tag Archives: God

22

The Power of Your Choice

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What do we all have in common that makes us human?

diffent the same

No matter where you live or what you do to survive, life always boils down to our choices. From who you choose as friends to how responsible you are, it is all decided consciously. We all can choose what we experience.

 Many people have a hard time accepting responsibility for these choices in their lives, but if you look at yourself honestly and in an unbiased fashion, you will see the power your preferences have had on your life’s success or failure.

 Yet often, we fail to look closer and see the common threads that run through us all. Our choices in what we see, who we love, where we go, and what we do are all made by us alone. Think along with me and recognize the power of your choices as you do.

One Connection Through us All

I think that we are all connected.  You are reading this, and my miles away from you, a person you have never met, are connected.  I believe in the energy we produce each all connectedday through the tenor and intention of the thoughts we create.

 Some see God as a being that exists somewhere, guiding us from afar or judging us either good or bad in our actions. Based on some outward notions of right and wrong.

Yet, it seems that God is much closer and more involved than that. He is inside each of us, and when you can quiet your mind, you can hear that power in all things. God doesn’t judge. God guides. How well we listen will provide joy or disappointment in our experience.

I am not looking for a fight to convince you of anything or change what you believe because that is your Connection and, of course, your choice. I know that I have never felt more connected and sure than I do now.  We all have this Connection inside of us and need to look for it and listen to it to know what we should do.  We are all connected, and that makes us human. It is your choice to determine how that Connection affects your life. I feel that anything that provides separation of people is not from God, and anything that connects people is.

The Choice of Kindness

tumblr_lejihkylQ41qcre5zo1_500When I look at all people, I think we all have the choice of kindness every day in all situations we encounter.

Someone yells at you unfairly, and you have a choice, hug them or punch them in the face.  Someone gives you a gift, and you have the same choice. The choice of your action is always with you, not someone else.

 I have never encountered a situation where kindness was not the right thing to do or didn’t make a bad situation better.

 It eases the pain, boosts morale, and makes people feel generally good and hopeful about the future.  All of these happy ships of thought are sent through acts of kindness.  We all choose to be kind or cruel; you decide what the people in your life will be experiencing. The ability to choose to share hearts makes us all human.

Greatness Lies In Us

All people are born with a great talent of some kind. Unfortunately, life seems to present us with a relentless avalanche of experiences tgreatnesshat cause us to forget what this talent is. To the point that we forget we possessed it in the first place.

 There is a passion inside of you and me that is our own. Each of us has this; once you investigate it, you will find your path. The one that makes you truly happy and allows you to connect to life in the best way possible.

Dreams are the vehicles that these passions follow.  You dream of what you would love to do with your life, and your passion and talent make this happen.  Sometimes we create our roadblocks by overthinking things and believing the negativity that others provide.

What if this happens? Or if only that should happen? Or any other million possible limiting questions that can impede you from simply reaching for your dream.  It may seem daunting and too much of a chance, but the only way you will ever know is to create the journey toward your goals. The journey is a powerful thing because that is where life lessons exist.

How much will I cherish the lessons I learn on the way?  Mistakes are great teachers and often bring tasks you need to know to reach the dream eventually.   We are all searching for our true selves and the ability in us that will make us great. Your choice is to seek this talent or let it lie dormant forever. You can’t blame anybody else.

The Dark Side

One of the scary parts of having the freedom to choose is that from time to time, we are going to

We all have a darkness, without it we couldn't recognize the light.
We all have darkness; without it, we couldn’t recognize the light.

Choose wrong.  There is a dark side in everyone, and all people are capable of great goodness and great evil, and it is one of the mysteries that make life delicious to taste. It is a choice.

 Everyone has been on the dark side at some point, and it may have seemed like it was for a good cause, but when you choose anger, fear, intolerance, or hate, you choose the dark side of humankind.

 I am not wise enough to know why, and I only observe and know that from what I have seen, both darkness and light do exist inside every person I have ever met, including myself.

 Accepting this fact is not difficult because nobody is perfect. I recall all the times I chose for selfish, fear-driven reasons, and I know I could have done better.  It is not a criticism of people, only an observation of fact.

 All people have a dark side. Putting it aside and maintaining the light is a show of strength, which is the most difficult choice.

 We are all the same

All people have so much in common that I often find it inconceivable that hate exists merely for arbitrary reasons, race, religion, culture, region, or even sexual orientation.

If people focused on what we have in common rather than their differences, the world would be friendlier and more productive.  I know that people attacking differences in others is a defense mechanism to make them feel safe, but I can always hope that it will change and our commonalities will be more important than how we are different.

What were the most powerful choices in your life?

 

21

Confident

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Being Confident In Life Is a Choice

Although I have trouble sometimes with certain concepts, one thing has confidence-is-a-choice-to-act-or-to-do-or-to-decide-quote-1become abundantly clear. Being Confident in life is a choice.

Confidence stems from the conscious decision to accept yourself for what you are and to not let your weaknesses rule over your strengths. Can it be that simple? The answer is a loud and emphatic YES!

 

Let’s face it, we are all human beings, and all of us are constructed with a list of strengths and weaknesses to take advantage of or overcome. Everybody is in the same boat; there is nobody exempt.

But not everybody looks at the boat the same way. There is a definite attitude that those who become successful carry and those who fail to wear a badge. It all comes down to the choice each individual makes about how to look at things. One person sees an insurmountable obstacle, and another sees a great opportunity. The perspective is different, but the sightseeing is the same.

How to Make Sure You Fail

If I want to ensure that I fail and lack confidence, I will focus on my mistakes, weaknesses, and shortcomings. Rather than looking at them for what they are, these issues become my focus, learning experiences that allow you to gain valuable information about yourself, your life, and the world around you.

If you waste your time berating yourself for past mistakes, you will miss the future that is right in front of you. There are more than enough people out there that will gladly point out your shortcomings if you listen to them.

If you focus on the fact that yes, that was a mistake, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience, what exciting opportunities does this present for me? Then you are on your way to success because it is all just a choice anyway.

Look at it. Yes. So. It happened. That’s life. Get over it.

confidence is a choice
Confidence Is A Choice

Things happen to us all. These experiences are woven into the fabric that is who we are.

Some of these experiences have been great; some have been o.k. And some have been downright awful. That is the deal with life, it isn’t always going to be perfect, and you are never really in control of any of it.

You are one hundred percent in control of how you react to everything, how you let it affect your life, and how you feel about yourself. Your level of confidence springs from this thought pattern and affects your self-esteem.

When an experience occurs, you will do well to look at the event and understand it. You lost a job, or a relationship ended. Why did it end? What growth opportunities did this present to you?

What could you do about it? Accept it because it happened. You can long for the past or feel sick over the loss, but in the end, you are going to end up in the same place, either you are going to choose to accept it and move on with confidence is a choiceyour life, or not accept it and decide never to be happy or prosperous again.

If you were at an amusement park and got on a ride, you are stuck on that ride until it is over. You have the choice to enjoy it or not. To choose not to enjoy the journey seems like a waste of time, but many people take this option every day.

The ride will eventually end; you can’t go back to the beginning and experience the same thing exactly. You can try, but every time the trip will seem a little bit different.

Every experience in life is like that. The ride is life, and you are on it, whether you enjoy it or not. There will be twists and turns, ups and downs, good and bad, that we will all experience. And at some point, that experience is going to end.

Dealing with these things in a generally positive way is the first step toward feeling good about yourself and becoming more confident. Don’t let bad experiences define who you are, get over them and see what they have taught you about yourself, others, and the world around you.

You Control What You Think

confidence is a choiceYou can control all of your thoughts about everything that you experience. If you don’t control what you think, then somebody else will.

Be confident in yourself and know that you have abilities and talents that make you unique and one of a kind. The world would not be quite what it is if you weren’t in it.

Let’s say that you are in a crowded restaurant; you stand up to go to the restroom, and right in front of everyone, you knock your plate on the floor. It smashed into a million pieces and made a mess.

How you think at that moment defines how you feel about yourself. A person who is comfortable with themselves might react with thoughts like this, “Wow, that was clumsy! I just made a mess. I am sure everyone here has made a mess before. I have probably given them a great story to tell. I will help clean this mess up. I don’t know any of these people anyway. ”

Another way to react would be, “God, that was such a stupid, idiotic thing to do, and I am worthless and stupid and ignorant and no good and why am I like this and God I hate being me and when will I ever learn……..etc.” You can see the difference. If you choose the self-loathing path, is it any wonder that you are not happy?

The only person in the world who can control what you really think about in any situation is you. If you choose to delve into unhealthy, self-defeating attitudes, that is the surest way to be miserable I can think of at this moment.

The good news is that choosing healthy self-promoting thoughts is just as easy, anyone can do it, and it is the pathway to feeling great every day. The most significant thing is that you have total control of your thoughts, you can’t blame anybody else, you can’t say that you “got a raw deal,” you are the maker of your dreams, and you will have to live with them no matter which type of thought you choose.

“Noble and great. Courageous and determined. Faithful and fearless. That is who you are and who you have always been. And understanding it can change your life because this knowledge carries a confidence that cannot be duplicated any other way.”- Sheri L. Dew

“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.”- Theodore Roosevelt

Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.― Lao Tzu

Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it. ― Dorothy M. Neddermeyer

Spiritual

The Loss

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Loss of a loved one One of the things we all must deal with as we walk through the world is losing a loved one.  This loss can be sudden and swift or slow and painful, but no matter how this loss occurs, the pain of missing someone who is a light in your life is not lessened.  There really can be no words to describe the empty void that is left behind.  Inevitably life will continue as it must, and you will move on with your daily experiences because that is what we must eventually do.  But those activities will always be brushed by the thoughts of our loved ones that have passed away.

As you do, create, strive, succeed, fail, change jobs, have a family, or love in your life, the accomplishments will never cease to be a source of pride for those loved ones we have lost because they always will be proud.

Never worry about losing them because they are with you as long as they are in your thoughts.  When you need the inspiration to create that perfect thing or courage to take that chance, think of them, and you will find it.

loss of a loved one grief
Remember and smile, for there were happy times that I will never forget.

One of the greatest mysteries of life is death and loss.  Don’t waste time asking why because you’re focusing on the wrong thing when you think of why you are focusing on how this loss affects only you and comforts your existence.  We will fully answer it because how are we to know?  Will wondering why change anything?  It will not.   Think about all of the good things a person brought to the table, a smile, a laugh, support, love, strength, courage.  Define these many qualities through your loved one, and you will see the value in that person, and yes, you will miss them, as you should. You will go on to great things and carry their memory with you every step of the way.

Death is Nothing At All

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.loss of a loved one Call me by my old familiar name.
Please speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes, we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner. All is well.

Crossing the Bar

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!

crossing the bar
Crossing the Bar

And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that, the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

Note *********  The bar referred to is a sandspit or similar promontory at the mouth of a river or harbor where tides have deposited sand over time. Hearing the wind and waves moaning off the bar usually means insufficient water to sail over the bar without grounding. Hence the second verse and its reference to a “full tide” or “high water.”

Quotes On Losing a Loved One

And with the morn, those angel faces smile, which I have loved long since and lost awhile. – John Henry Newman
Death is nothing else but going home to God; the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity. – Mother Teresa

Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes; a farewell is necessary before you can meet again, and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends. – Richard Bach

For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity. – William Penn

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They mean I’ll miss you.
Until we meet again!
(- Author Unknown)

If tears could build a stairway,
And memories a lane,
I’d walk right up to Heaven
And bring you home again.
(~Author Unknown)

Life is eternal, and love is immortal; And death is only a horizon, And a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. – Rossiter W. Raymond

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, and love leaves a memory no one can steal. – From a headstone in Ireland

God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. – Author Unknown

Death ends a life, not a relationship. – Jack Lemmon

Love is stronger than death even though it can’t stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries, it can’t separate people from love. It can’t take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death. – Author Unknown

Thinking and talking about death need not be morbid; they may be quite the opposite. Ignorance and fear of death overshadow life while knowing and accepting death erases this shadow. – Lily Pincus

To live in the hearts, we leave behind is not to die. -Thomas Campbell

We don’t want to happen but have to accept things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without have to let go. – Author Unknown

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. – Author Unknown

When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. – Kahlil Gibran

Love here on earth
Love beyond the grave
There are no roads
My love for you can’t pave.
(- T. Sachs)

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rainfall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
(- Irish Blessing)

Oh heart, if one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body, answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains. – Kahlil Gibra Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. – Author Unknown

The caterpillar dies so the butterfly could be born. And, yet, the caterpillar lives in the butterfly and they are but one. So, when I die, it will be that I have been transformed from the caterpillar of earth to the butterfly of the universe. – John Harricharan

Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. – Emily Dickinson

When the heart weeps for what it has lost, the soul laughs for what it has found. – Sufi aphorism

While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil. – John Taylor

You and I will meet again,
When we’re least expecting it,
One day in some far off place,
I will recognize your face,
I won’t say goodbye my friend,
For you and I will meet again.
(- Tom Petty)

 

Interests

Jefferson Writing Project Success

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by Jon Hilton

This is what I looked like at Jefferson Village School, circa 1980.
This is what I looked like at Jefferson Village School, circa 1980.

It was a few short weeks ago that MY COHORT  and I embarked on the Jefferson Writing Project.  We didn’t know where the winds would blow our thoughts but we knew that each day they would be published on our blogs.

My friend’s name is Hope and we talked at the beginning of February and she wanted to do more writing but had some writing blocks and motivational issues. I suggested a mutual writing project.  She agreed and we made up some simple rules.  I am not a big rules guy because who needs limits on our creativity.

I would make up writing prompts and we each would do a post that day involving the prompt. It was supposed to last for thirty days, but went a bit longer.

I went back and looked over our Facebook messages and it started on the 9th of February and ended today. Hope doesn’t like to write on Sunday! (I can blame her, but I like Sunday off too. 🙂

The only known photo of me playing ball at JVS. Thank God. We were styling!
The only known photo of me playing ball at JVS. Thank God. We were styling!

Coming up with the prompts was not as easy as I thought in the beginning. I know Hope so I wanted to get some good easy to write about things.  Then as I got going I would just make them up in three seconds.

Or if I was cheating, I would start a post on something and use that for the prompt, or make the prompt something I wanted to write about anyway.  In fact what I found, no matter what the prompt was I just wrote whatever I wanted to anyway.

I found that I learned a lot just from reading Hope’s posts, when she was fired up she would get them done way before me. I found I could read and enjoy her thoughts and not let them affect what I was writing.

After about twenty writing assignments or so, we switched it up and Hope was responsible for the prompt. That was more fun because then I could bug her to tell me what it is, rather than the other way around.   I still just wrote whatever I wanted to and included the prompt in some way. Other times the prompt was the story.

jonupclose7th
7th Grade Lookin” Good!

It was fun to have someone else “checking up” on your work and at first the only other person who knew why you were writing about the things you were.

It is just enough motivation to get you to give a little extra effort to make sure you got your post out that day. But most importantly it was fun.  Hope is a bit different, (in a good way), I know her personally and used to coach her in basketball. That was awhile ago but I enjoy seeing the young lady she has grown to become.

So I encourage anyone who is hitting a snag in their creativity or motivation to partner up or even group up and start a writing project.  It was a fun way to keep things interesting and to work on being creative.

It is called the Jefferson Writing Project because, Hope and I both lived in the town of Jefferson, Maine when we were growing up, and we both graduated from Jefferson Village School, and know that Jefferson is small, has a beach, and a cattle pound.  I do not know what the cattle pound is for,  but it exists. She likes to take pictures there. Thanks Hope for all the fun.  I will always be reading and commenting on your blog because that is how I roll.

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Personal Projects

Are You Truly Living

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What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

truly living
Are you truly living?

by Jonathan Hilton

All people are going to answer this question differently depending on where they are in their life.  To me being alive is a fact of nature, and enjoying life and living for a purpose is truly living.  But how do you enjoy life?

Other people will answer this very differently.    It only takes a few visits to any number of blogs to experience the wide variety of philosophies and beliefs that exist.

Young people are struggling to master life, yet so hopeful about living it is encouraging   While older people are resigned to the fact that you may never figure it out everything there is to know about life, but they share their thoughts and experiences.

One of the things I like about reading so many different people’s opinions is to be exposed to ideas that are different from mine. Valid yet different and I think that is a powerful force of growth.  These are my thoughts on truly living.

The problem with Life

For me there is a question that came to me as I got older and thought that I was on the

questions about living
We all have questions, I know I did.

path I should be on. After carefully contemplating the experiences I have been fortunate enough to have in life I came to the conclusion that being alive was not enough and that I needed to start truly living and for me that meant I had to make a lot of changes in my perceptions of people, life, God and everything that at one time I was sure of.

I wasn’t sure what was “right”, but I knew there was more to life than a conditioned accumulation of material goods to supply comfort to life.

What comfort did I ever give to others? What did I contribute? Even as an educator, I was contributing stories about living which happened long ago, espousing the morals and actions that young people should aspire to follow, with the awareness of the world around me the size of the head of a pin.

I don’t think I  consistently enjoyed what life gave me. There are easy things to enjoy and appreciate, like those we love, and those that love us, a sunny, beautiful day, a large sum of money, all of these can be easily enjoyed, but how many people pass through a day without having gratitude for anything in their life, because they are too busy looking at what they don’t have.

I was one of these, searching for the right amount of stuff that would bring happiness with it. I never found that.

 The Past

Future past and present sign in the sky
Which direction do you follow?

One of the biggest problems people face,when trying to truly live is that they always seem to distract themselves from the moment they are currently experiencing.

Perhaps spending time with someone you love, reading a book, exercising, or doing whatever it is you do, because you allow yourself to be distracted by things that make you feel the moment you are in is not a good enough thing.

One distraction is the past, which often allows you to reminisce about the past and feel that things were so much better back then, when you were happy.

Often the past is not quite what we remember it to be and it really doesn’t matter in the scope of today.  It is over and gone, good or bad and to short change today for yesterday is selling something tangible and of extreme value for  nothing but a fantasy.

Often I had looked to the past to the good old days, which were nice memories, but other than lending experience to today, couldn’t help make me very happy or allow me to truly live.

 The Future

Others choose to focus on the future, planning and scheming the best way to route their lives to get to the point where finally they will be happy.  They think that if they  do this particular thing, at this particular time then I will be happy, satisfied, successful, or whatever.

The problem with this is that when you put all of your focus onto tomorrow you miss the great things that are happening today.  You can prepare for the future with the actions of today and enjoy today at the same time, the difference is that you don’t put anything off, like being happy and satisfied with life or anything else. Tomorrow may never come and rarely does it happen as you plan, so putting happiness off is a bad gamble that will most likely never pay off.

I’ll Be Happy When I am Rich

Materialism is another distraction that keeps people from enjoying the moment, often it goes hand in hand with waiting for the future, but tying your happiness into the acquisition of some material thing is going to stop you from appreciating today, because you are going to be thinking that happiness is going to come when you get that house, or car, or Ipad or whatever.

The satisfaction of that acquisition will be short-lived and soon you will be looking for the next thing that should bring happiness and satisfaction to your life, as you ignore the opportunity for happiness that you have in your experience today. Being grateful for what you have will allow you to enjoy the day. If you don’t believe me, then try it.  Be truly grateful for what you have.

Your Choice

choice for life
You can choose if you are alive or truly living

So truly living to me is the appreciation of what life is giving you right now in this moment.

That doesn’t mean that it will always be perfect. Sometimes there are painful things in life, and we have to deal with feelings that are not so nice, people get sick, accidents happen, people die, life is not perfect and there is no guarantee that everything is going to go your way.

However, there is a choice that comes pinned to each of those experiences to make it a positive or a negative factor in your life.  Only you can decide for yourself the difference between being alive and truly living.

What does truly living mean to you?

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