Tag: begin

Compelled!

Jennifred Jones

Everyone talks about everything! News casters discuss whatever they want and send it out…ready or not!

Therefore, I am going to talk about things which need to be at least thought about…by all of us. I feel more and more compelled – as times and world events continue – to help us hold the line.

Good will ultimately win. Let’s make sure we are on the winning team. Evil voices are demanding attention. Evil seeks to destroy people and what they have and are doing for the good of others. Evil tries to convince people they are worthless, there is no hope – so go ahead and hate your life and hate others. Evil says things have gone too far, there can be no change. Evil tries to cover the good with darkness so we cannot see the light…see what really is going on. All it portrays is gloom and doom.

Through all the dark clouds of evil there is a light shining brightly saying, ‘This is the way. Walk over here. Don’t listen to that. I will help you. Things will work out for good. Help the other person. Smile at the cashier. Keep your place picked up. Plant some flowers. Make something and take to them. Encourage that person. Do your best.

There is a lot within our own power to improve our life. Don’t hold yourself back, waiting for another’s approval. You be the compelling factor in your life!  Turn the light on. Step outside and find something good you see or can do.

The important thing – begin!

The Trail

Jennifred Jones

Each of our lives comes from a trail and leaves a trail.

Great Grandpa from northern Illinois was a wagon master on the Oregon Trail back in the 1800’s. My relatives along with others made the trip to Oregon City, Oregon. Some stayed, some came back, and some went back again.

We all have/need/want a known past; a place of belonging; to know where we ‘fit’ into the history of things. Did me or my family make a difference? What happened? What were the struggles and triumphs? What did they learn? What can I learn from my past? What do I have to pass on to my future families?

We want to belong to a tribe/clan/group. We want our ‘identifiers’ – this is my heritage -where I belong!

Some of us don’t know our past or had a bad past we don’t want to pass on. There is still a good future ahead for you. We can, beginning today, start a new trail to leave behind. In essence, we can create a new and better ‘past’ for ourselves and our families yet to come. Our past is not limited to what we don’t know or didn’t like. We have the opportunity to begin again, make better decisions, think up new ideas of what we’d like to see – and start now! We don’t have to wait to begin making a new trail to leave behind. We can clear the way so others can follow learning from what we went through.

So pick you a good past… something you might like to have lived, by picking and living a good present and future. You are the wagon master of your life.

Giddy up!

I Can’t…

Jennifred Jones

Saturday morning at the ice-rink a boy about 7 years old kept falling down.

The instructor would help him up and he’d fall again. When she got him up he only wanted to hold on to her. He didn’t want to try to stand or skate alone.

I could see the look on his face. Total frustration, almost red-faced anger at his young age. The instructor would help him time and time again – even getting down on the ice and showing him how to position his feet and legs so he could get up by himself like all the other young skaters were. Everyone was falling down and eventually getting back up all by themselves. This little boy was not really trying. He’d look like he tried to get up and then fall again and squirm until someone came to ‘help’ him. The instructors were looking back and forth at each other wondering how many times to ‘help’ him – when he would not help himself. He was not incapable – just not-capable because of his thinking. Somewhere along the way, he had given in to the ‘I can’t’ mentality. I imagine it was more than just on the ice.

The reason I could see it so clearly is that had been me at different times in my life…Algebra and math. I just ‘couldn’t‘ (I thought). Or meeting new people. I was too shy (unwilling to step out of my security box). I put off learning computers for years – thinking it was a passing fad. ‘I can’t‘ trying to rule me again.

Many times, teachers have learned…allow the student to struggle until they are hungry enough to learn. Then they will.

Back to the boy on the ice. He wasn’t ready to learn. Not yet. Give him a little more time, or maybe find something else he is interested in. Don’t nurture the ‘I can’t’.

In our mind, if we will remove the ‘t‘, it will spell, ‘I can‘. The first step is begin to recognize all our ‘I can’ts’

Where can I begin today?