Tag Archives: Long Time

22

Looking for You

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Do you Let Your True Self Shine?

Do You Know?
Do You Know?

I have had to pause to ask myself about my path quite often. What makes each of us unique? Let me tell you what I think. Each of us is born with unique talent or skill that is ours alone. It is given to us at birth, and we need only to follow it to find our purpose in life.

Life isn’t ever that easy, though. From the moment we come into the world, we are met with limits and expectations from others.

Sometimes the limits come from a place of love, like a parent guiding their child safely, and sometimes they come from a much darker experience.

It matters little where the limits come from, and they cause us to be ashamed of who we are and what talent we have.

These “would have’s” and “should have’s” of life make you shy away from your true self, pretending to be something more acceptable. Some who experience abuse early on in life never really get to see their authentic self, making it much harder to find.

Looking For Me

Are You Looking For Me?
Are You Looking For Me?

I have been hot on the trail of my authentic self for much of the past two years. It has been a slow and sometimes scary chase. It all began almost two years ago.

When I realized that I didn’t know anything about life, I was not happy, and like many people hadn’t been happy in a long time.

There had been moments of extreme happiness, and I enjoyed people, but the inner feeling of joy escaped me. I had resigned myself to think that this was how you felt in life, empty and bored.

I was waiting for the clock to run out. However, life had other thoughts, and events reminded me that I wasn’t always this way.

Dreams were a vital part of my youth. My imagination guided me in almost every adventure I had every day, and I dreamed of everything from playing for the Red Sox to racing horses.

I believed that everything that I thought of could happen, and it was just a matter of getting a little older for me to do all of those things. That person was my authentic self, the true me. I was gifted with the ability to dream vividly, and it seemed life was determined to make me forget that.

The Cover-Up

cover upOver the years, the feelings of trying to fit in, not rock the boat, and be “normal” made those thoughts move from the front to the back of my mind.

Finally, they were forgotten, neglected, and abandoned as I got older. I was an adult, and there was no place for dreaming in adulthood.

It was like knowing a secret that you couldn’t remember, but you knew it was a good thing, and if you could connect with it, then all would be well.

Life, however, moves in, and the job, the relationships, and the expectations all jump on top of you and push that authentic identity far back into your memory and may never let it out. Like you are asleep and can’t wake up.

Waking Up

wake upI am not unique because I think others have gone through some traumatic events and are shocked by the malaise of life.

I started to remember it piece by piece, and it is still coming back to me. Like waking from a slumber, you begin to experience life differently.

Each of us is born with an authentic self with abilities meant for us alone. Some people are right to them their whole lives, and others never see their authentic selves again.

Most people spend their early life forgetting and the second part of their life trying to remember. It doesn’t matter who you are or what age you are; there is a unique person inside you that is a mere alarm clock ringing from waking up.

Do you know your authentic self?

“Authenticity starts in the heart.” Brian D’Angelo

“Authenticity over everything.” Anonymous

“If you’re your authentic self, you have no competition.” Anonymous

“Don’t trade your authenticity for approval.” Anonymous

“Honesty and authenticity are a big deal for me.” Scarlett Thomas

“Authenticity: The courage to be yourself.” Anonymous

“Be fearlessly authentic.” Anonymous

“Authenticity is magnetic.” Anonymous

 

21

There’s A Light

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When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?

light in the darkness jonathan hilton
Are Your Ideas In the Darkness?

There are times in everyone’s life when they feel like they are all by themselves, with only their beliefs to guide them.  These times are opportunities to define your life, what your principles are, and how you will share this with the world. Will you continue to think as you always have? Or will you move in the direction of change and growth? That is a test that life likes to give us from time to time, and we must find the lesson and maintain our humanity and compassion in the process. There is no question difficult times are tough to endure but they bring with them an opportunity.  One way or another these moments will come to define your life, providing you with depth in the way you view life and your place in it.  You will have the chance to become more understanding of the plight of others in the world or you can build bitterness around your own situation.  The decision is truly yours. What light do you bring into the world?  One of illumination or destruction?

The Dark Side

walking into the darkness
Fear-based thought will lead you to the darkness.

When difficult times arrive, you may forget the soft glow of the idea you strongly believe in, you can lose your positive attitude. This experience can cause disillusion, anger, hatred, and, most of all, self-pity. Why is everyone against me? If they were real friends, they would support me no matter what. Poor me! These are natural emotions and thoughts, but that is all that they are.  We are not our thoughts or emotions. In this case, they are all caused by the actions and opinions of others.  The danger is that once you start down the path of self-pity and anger, you are in danger of staying there for a long time, if not forever.

All of these are fear-based emotions and thoughts, which can have no other destination than to make you unhappy, angry, and scared.  There is no way that you can embrace the good in something and grow if you spend all of your time, though, and effort in self-pity and anger. These emotions can become pervasive in all aspects of your life, and relationships end; you will find that you look at everything with a veil of suspicion, and it will become nearly impossible to be truly happy.  This change can be caused by any tragedy in your life, losing a job, character assassinations, the death of a loved one, or any of the significant obstacles of life.  Fortunately, this is not permanent or fatal unless you want it to be.

The Light

When you carry the light of an idea into the darkness, you will always have a choice, for

walking in the light
Thoughts and actions based on love will bring you to light no matter where you are

every adverse reaction above, there is a positive choice available to you.  This choice is the path of growth because these decisions come from love.  Compassion, understanding, kindness, and forgiveness are all examples of this type of reaction.  It is pretty easy to display these characteristics when times are good and everything is going your way, but quite a different story when facing challenges.  You get laid off from your job unexpectedly, how do you react? It would be understandable if you were angry and felt it was unfair and wished terrible things on all of those responsible, but what will that accomplish when you look at it?

You will allow the things that happened to you to define you and all of your actions.  Or you can accept that it happened and look for the positive. This optimism may be the push you needed to finally follow your dream and become a doctor or an engineer or whatever you have always wanted to do.  Difficult times and opportunities often walk hand in hand if you keep your eyes open.  Forgive those that you feel wronged you, accept what has happened, and move forward with courage. I can’t tell you for sure, but open your eyes and embrace the changes, and you may find yourself significantly happier than when you began this journey.

So if you feel like you are marching into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believe in, make that idea one that honors you and leads to a more significant light in the world. If it creates love, it will do that. If it starts with fear, it will most likely lead to misery and pain. Look for the light in the situations you face, and even the worst things can ultimately positively impact you and the world.  There is no way to change the past and what has happened. You have one hundred percent control over how you react to them.

Into the light

 

Questions

Nothing Left To Lose

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If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?

accomplish motivations
You Can Do It Now!

by Jonathan Hilton

Day 35

There are two ways to go with this answer, you can say if something hasn’t happened yet then it is not ever going to happen and you could lose the few strands of hope you have left for accomplishing the task.

Or the other answer can be that the time must be ripe for whatever it is that you have brewing, and dream of achieving, and the only thing you have to lose is more time passing before you achieve whatever it is you want to accomplish.

THE TIME IS NOW!

I believe that there is no time like right now to do whatever it is you have been thinking of achieving.  This doesn’t mean that you have to do it all today, but start moving in that direction and you will be surprised where you may end up as you approach your goals.

There may be seemingly insurmountable obstacles in your path, but even the tallest mountain can only be crossed by taking the first initial steps. That is the way of the world and if you long to achieve something you can do it.

When you look at the part of the question, yet, it would seem to indicate that you have

It won't work out
We all have that voice in our head, trust yourself.

been thinking of doing something for a long time, maybe it seems financially unrealistic, or seems to take away from your family time, or some other reason.

There will always be a reason if you want to avoid accomplishment. There are lots of people who have accomplished great things after a lot of struggle.

Historically speaking you can find many who persevered and contributed much to the world at a much more significant age. Leanardo da Vinci was drawing significant sketches as he enjoyed his sixties, Michelangelo created sculptures of great talent in his eighties, Winston Churchill traveled the world and contributed to society right up until his death at the age of ninety and Leo Tolstoy wrote novels as his seventies rolled by.  So it has been proven that it is never too late to achieve anything.

Picture Your Success

success will come to you
Well, what would you do?

The most important factor to hold on to when you are seeking achievement is that you have a clear picture of what it is you want to accomplish, then the path will open up to you as you investigate how to make this thing happen.

Often it is not the destination but the journey that provides the most fertile ground for growth and contentment and if you never get started you will never experience any of it.

All it seems that you have to lose is the regret of never knowing if you could have achieved your goal or desire or not. How many people go to their grave with regrets about what they never tried? How many allowed a failure or twenty nine failures or a hundred failures stop them from learning and accomplishing what they might accomplish if they only tried just one more time.  I think that in the end there is nothing to lose, except doubt and regret.

If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?

No Regrets!!!

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Interests

I Am Addicted to Facebook

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The Addiction of Facebook

Addicted to Facebook
Pretty addicted, How much? Friend me and find out.

About five years ago, I had never heard of Facebook, and I was intimidated by the new technology that was coming out on a seemingly daily basis, but learning to adapt and overcome the hurdles that life has put in front of me, I slowly integrated myself into the world of social media.  I started my Facebook account in 2007 according to my timeline and it has been slowly infiltrating my daily life since.  Now I have to check Facebook to see everything from the latest news, to what music to like and who I should be listening to for fashion tips.  Alright I have never really cared about fashion but you get my point. Facebook has gone from something I have never heard of to the single most dominant form of media in my life today, in about five years and I am not sure if that is good or not.  I do know that is has changed the way I look at the world.

At first I didn’t check it very much, but I found out that you could connect with other people you haven’t seen in a very long time, which was kind of great.  Each connection you made was like a walk through your past, remembering friendships, enemies, good times, bad times, everything out there you can imagine.  For me it was the older connections that really meant and still mean a lot to me, people that I knew when I was young.  There  was a shared experience of youth that provides a common bond between people.  Reconnecting in this way is the strength of this medium for people my age, I think.

So you wanna be friends?

Check to be friends
It used to be this easy to see what someone’s intentions were. Facebook makes it even easier, but I think the note works better.

This is the one of the oldest questions that I remember being in kindergarten and asking this question and there is something very basic and reassuring you get from the answer.  If the answer is no then you know that whomever it was is really a jerk and not someone you can rely on.  Or if the answer is yes, there is a warm feeling inside that someone out there likes me.  Or they really just want to creep around my page and see what I am up to.  I am an optimist so I will stick to the thought that they really like me. It says, “you are ok, you are alright! You have a friend.”  Even if you have a thousand friends, there is always room for one more friend or two, I mean can we really ever have too many friends?   I still love reconnecting with someone after many years and seeing what they look like now, and all of that type of stuff that everybody does but doesn’t admit to.  I think there is a desire in everyone to connect, to revisit those shared experiences.

Technology has Grown My Addiction

Since the cell phone companies have been so creative with their little smart phones, now there is no time of night or day that I can’t just flip on my phone to see what is happening

future facebook addict
Come to think of it, I did write on the wall when I was young.

on Facebook.  Honestly I will check it three or four times an evening, just to make sure that I don’t miss anything.  It has also become my number one news source. There was an earthquake in Maine in October.  I didn’t feel any vibrations, I didn’t see any damage, I only knew it happened because Facebook told me so.  If there is an emergency, Facebook tells me.  Traffic trouble?  Facebook tells me.  Nuclear explosion, Facebook tells me.  Surprisingly, Facebook seems to be significantly faster than and just as accurate as the main stream media and more so if you count FoxNews as a major media source.

So here I am in my mid forties, unable to go longer than an hour without looking at Facebook on my phone because something might happen.  Thank you Mark Zuckerberg for complicating my life.

Facebook Messages Are Like Letters Used To Be, I think.

Messages on Facebook are awesome, I love to get them.  Somebody liked my link? Hell yes

This is what a letter looks like. For those who don’t know this was Facebook before the internet.

they do!  Someone commented on my post? That’s what I am talking about!  When I get a message on Facebook it must be what it was like back when you got letters in the mail.  Someone took the time to think of you, write it down and send it to you.  That is awesome.  Except when someone you work with realizes that the only communication you will consistently check is Facebook and starts sending you messages there that are totally about work stuff.  What a rip-off! I think, “Wow, look at those messages! This is a great day.”  Then I click on it and see what it is……….it is like someone just cancelled the Super Bowl.  Even if it is really vital information that will make someone money and it should be good news, I can’t help but be significantly disappointed in getting work messages on Facebook.

Let’s Ask Facebook

So here it is 2012, I  can’t imagine what kind of technology is coming next, but no matter what it is, you can bet your ass that it will involve an easier way to interact with Facebook.  I am not sure if I am happy or sad about this, I will have to check Facebook and see what it tells me to feel.

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