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Inspirational Thoughts

Choose To Win

Keep pushing through
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Inspirational Thoughts

The Golden Rule

‘I will treat others the way I want to be treated.’ – The Golden Rule
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Inspirational Thoughts

Choose Your Words Wisely

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Inspirational Thoughts

Be inspired

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Inspirational Thoughts

Keep going…

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Inspirational Thoughts

We are all unique

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Inspirational Thoughts

Blessed

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Inspirational Thoughts

SELECTIVE HEARING

For some, this is recipe for an instant headache. For others it is where they are most at peace. Identify the noise around you and filter them out.

Every parent knows that children tend to display a condition called ‘selective hearing’: they CHOOSE what they want to ‘hear,’ or more accurately, what they respond to.

As much as that irritates us as parents, if we understand the motivation behind this behaviour we have to admit that it’s an amazing skill to have! Moreover, there is an important lesson for adults to learn from such a skill.

Life is full of ‘noise’ which, if we allow, often distracts us from our goals, or otherwise negatively impact us. This might be in the form of any distraction that takes our focus away from more important and/or urgent matters.

O. N. Rowe

It could also be comments made by others that seek to tear us down instead of lifting us up. It could be, simply, anything that prevents us from giving our full attention to a task at hand. These are all examples of ‘noise’ that we need to be able to tune out.

We don’t have to respond to every critic. We don’t have to jump at every call to do something which is neither important nor urgent. Neither do we need to be drawn into every argument that someone with apparently too much time on their hands, decides to instigate.

O. N. Rowe

An ability to be selective about what we ‘hear’ and react to is, in many situations, an amazing skill to have.

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Inspirational Thoughts motivation responses

Managing Our Responses

A good guide to live by

An Overreaction can be described as an irrational, emotional reaction to some situation, leading to a response that is more forceful than is justified or can be considered reasonable.

When faced with an undesirable situation, our immediate instinct is typically to switch to self-preservation mode. In the absence of information we try to fill the gap with what often turns out to be the ‘worst case scenario’. The problem is that sometimes we end up doing more harm than good.

The impact of overreacting not only affects us, but potentially anyone else involved in the situation we are responding to. In fact, it can make the situation worse.

Interestingly, when we respond without the benefit of information, our response typically betrays our deep rooted fears, or even stereotypes, that might have shaped our expectations.

When we expect bad to happen – especially as a result of past experiences – the slightest resemblance can lead us to conclude that this IS in fact the reality. Put another way, our perception of a situation is often shaped by our expectations.

The bottom line: An overreaction is like using a sledge hammer to drive in a thumb tack. It will get the job done, but the damage can be devastating!

O. N. Rowe

We can learn to minimize overreactions by pausing before we respond; by considering the possibility that we could be wrong; and by taking steps to gather as much information as we can, or as we need, to help with applying an objective response.

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll

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Inspirational Thoughts

No Time Like Now

For the important things, there is no time like NOW

How many times have you put off doing something important because it was just ‘not the right time?’ How many times have you ended up not doing it at all because something else came up and…Uhmm…there was just no time in the end? I suspect we all have been there.

This is not about thoughtfully prioritizing (after all we are busy people) and ending up pushing something further down the list of priorities. It is that situation where you tell yourself ‘I won’t bother to do that now because there’s time tomorrow.” Or thinking that because someone has done something to upset us, we will “forgive them eventually” but NOT NOW. For now they must suffer in their guilt, shame, and your silence – there’ll be time to make up later.

But what if there is in fact NO time? What if you miss the opportunity to make up or to restore that broken relationship – FOREVER? Would your delay still be worth it?

There is always a lot to do; things to distract us. If we always have full control over what happens to us, or what we do, and when, then we can plan accordingly. However, the bottom line is that we do not.

O. N. Rowe
One of the biggest fallacies in this life is this:
We Always Think We Have Time

Leaving the important things undone may very well condemn them to the pile of ‘never done’ because of factors outside of our control. That is why there is no time like NOW.