Author: We can Paint the Sunrise

Dear Me,

Dear Me,

“The journey is not how you place down what’s weighing on you, but how you learn to stop picking it up. Not when you decide to stop, but the strength of your resolve not to begin again—with the habits, the people, the thoughts, the behaviors that you know can only lead to your own self-destruction.”

– Ryan Holday, The Daily Stoic

Dear Me,

So often things are taken for granted. So often things go unappreciated. And its almost always the simple and mundane things. Or so we see them as. For often they are also the important foundational things we forget to appreciate and we take for granted. We may even to so far as to complain about them. Our health, our safety and security and sense of well being. Access to fresh clean water, food and shelter. A childhood of innocence, an education, transportation, medicine, a voice, free speech… It goes on.

Gratitude is an important act to perform on a regular basis. Gratitude is an intervention. It brings with it a different perspective. It gifts us a sense of appreciation in what we have in the current moment. It gives profound enlightenment and clarity on what is truely important; on what needs our attention; on what is being neglected or unappreciated to the point of falling away or falling apart.

The philosopher Bertrand Russell has said, “In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you take for granted.” 

so, what do you take for granted?

–Dear Me Original Thought

Dear Me,

Dwell not, O soul, on yesterday,
on sorrows past and gone –
the sketch you drew so long ago,
today may be redrawn.
Dwell not upon tomorrow’s wars,
nor borrow from their pain –
that energy you need today
let not your worries drain.

Dwell not, O heart, on failures past
though each one left its scar –
rich lessons you have learned have forged
the person you now are.
Dwell not upon your victories,
for those shall also pass –
let not your pride construct a shrine
to trophies made of glass.

Dwell not, O soul, on others’ gain
nor envy those with much –
contentment, paired with gratitude,
brings peace no wealth can touch.
Dwell not on anyone’s downfall
as though it lifted up
your own estate; we’re siblings all
and drink from the same cup.

So what is left, O soul –
where does the prudent soul pay heed?
Become less of a taker,
always give to those in need.
Where is the plot of ground to plant
your seed – which soil to plow?
Sow seeds of love, be brave, and dwell
in the eternal now.

• Author Unknown

Dear Me,

Dear Me,

In his book, The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dream, Tommy Baker points out that “there’s a difference between a busy day and a productive, fulfilling day. We’ve all experienced a day where we were extremely busy, yet nothing got done. The symptoms of these days include feeling scattered, exhausted, and overwhelmed.” With our busy days, he suggests we ask ourselves some questions, such as:

“Did I really move the needle forward in my life and business?”

“Which activities truly mattered and which could be deleted?”

“Was I moving myself forward or just other people’s agendas?”

So I ask, Was your day productive? Or just busy?

Dear Me,

Dear Me,

Dear Me,

“I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

–Etienne de Grellet

Dear Me,

” Even if a Middle Goal grows into a Guaranteed Goal and takes years to complete, know those years were made of minutes, and there are a lot of those hidden in every day. Not only do minutes matter, but minute actions matter too. Sometimes we have two-minute action we could plug into that moment. Stealing back minutes from activities that don’t deserve them and applying them to intentional actions feels amazing. It will also change much more than just how you think about distractions…When you start to value your time, you’ll realize that stress and worry don’t deserve it either. When you’re in the pursuit of your potential, stress won’t seem like the kind of action that’s worthy of your time. You don’t stop worrying. You just start working on your goal and one day realize you have less time for things like stress, fear, and doubt. You care too much about your limited resource of time to give it away casually to something that isn’t serving you. That’s one of the core principles of living in your potential. You don’t become more disciplined in avoiding things that are wasting your time; you become more devoted to the things that matter and end up enjoying more discipline than you’ve ever known.”

– Jon Acuff, his book All it Takes is a Goal