One Weed with Enough Time will Destroy Every Garden

Do not allow weeds to settle in your garden.

“Be careful what you water your dreams with, water them with worry and fear and you will create weeds that will choke the life out of your dreams.” ~Lao Tzu

Your mind and a garden have more in common than you may think; if you consider weeds as negative thoughts, it begins to make sense. A weed with enough time will take over every garden in which it is allowed to flourish.

The same can be said of negative thoughts, if all you ever think about is negativity, it grows and grows until there’s no room for any positive thoughts to shine through. This doesn’t mean your mind is full of dark thoughts because, if you look at any garden that’s full of weeds, they flower into an array of beautiful colours and can be very pleasing to the eye.

This is the very reason why negative thoughts are so dangerous, you don’t recognise the danger you’re in until your mind is swamped with unwanted thoughts from which you will find it very difficult to clear.

The following quotes are accurate and if you think about them every time worry or fear enter your thoughts, your life will be better for it.

• “Worrying works, ninety percent of the things I worry about never happen.” ~Anon
• “Worrying is using your imagination to create images you don’t want to see.” ~Anon
• “The day you turn your back on fear, it disappears.” ~Anon
• “Fear is only as powerful as the power you give it.” Anon

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Not Everybody is Looking for Signs but Most People Are

If you’re not looking for a sign from God, you’re more than likely looking at star signs, good luck charms, lucky numbers, lucky colours or any of the myriad of ways you can determine without looking at what you’ve got to determine if you’re going to have a good day.

Black cats and magpies are some people’s favourites as they have special qualities that can make the difference between a good day and a bad day. Of course, these creatures have no idea of the importance of their role; I wonder do the cat or magpie look at humans and think, “It must be my lucky day I’ve just seen a human wearing red.” I doubt it but who knows.

Not everybody is looking for signs because they are too busy living their lives to worry about what numbers are important or what colour jumper to wear; they are the people who understand the only sign they need to look out for is; they have a roof over their head, they are able to wake up in the morning without pain. The have the ability to get out of bed unaided. They have clothes to put on. They know they have enough food and money to last the day. They have people in their lives who make them feel needed. They know their day is going to be taken up with useful tasks that will enable them to do the same thing tomorrow and for that they are happy.

A lot of people take those things for granted until they don’t have them anymore and then they realise how important they were. “Some day most people will realise the little things in life are really the big things.”

Being grateful for what you have today is important because if you spend all your time thinking about what tomorrow will bring, it will bring you nothing but more thoughts. The following quote sums it up nicely.

“Gratitude is the most important sign you need to feel today.”

What You Imagine is Not Always Based on Reality

“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” is a sentence a lot of people believe is true until they jump the fence and find out it’s been fertilized by their imaginations. They thought other people were living a better life because they were looking from the outside; when they got to experience that life up close and personal, they were disappointed because their expectations and reality were so different.

Being tempted to jump the fence is not a bad thing unless you jump without reflecting why you need to move from your current location. When you identify the cause behind your discontent, you are in a position to fix the real reason why you’re unhappy.

If you jump without finding out the real reason, the circle will just begin again. The following quotes are worth noting;

• “The person who is unhappy in a small house will be equally unhappy in a big house.”
• “A person who his happy with themselves will bring happiness with them everywhere they go.”
• “The Devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for.” ~Tucker Max

The last couple are true for most people.

• “Lead me not into temptation. I can find the way myself.” ~Jane Seabrook.
• “Let ye who have not been tempted cast the first remark.”
• “Logic will take you from A to B. Your imagination will take you everywhere.” ~Albert Einstein.

 

 

Common Sense is Not Always Easy To Follow

Common sense often over simplifies incredibly complicated situations but when you look back at how you solved the problems you were experiencing, you often resorted to common sense ideas. The following are just a few common sense ideas I’ve gathered over the years.

• “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
• “It can take years to realise the only place short cuts work is on a keyboard.”
• “The most important lesson to learn from any mistake is to not make that mistake again.”
• “People with common sense are hard to find.”
• “If you don’t look where you’re going, you’ll end up going where you’re looking.” ~Crash
• “Give somebody enough rope and they will surely hang themselves.”
• “You can force a lot of things but you can’t force life.”
• “Experience can lead to common sense but not everybody learns from experience.”
• “Forgive your past; pay attention to the present because it’s a gift denied to many.”
• “A door mat will clean everybody’s shoes but even that wears out eventually; that’s the equivalent of trying to please everybody all the time, you become a door mat.”
• “Don’t start anything unless you intend to finish it.”
• “Actions speak louder than words.”
• “Overcome your insecurities; If you don’t know how, ask somebody else.”
• “A Positive attitude attracts positive results.”
• “Stop trying to impress people who don’t know you exist.”
• “When you cross a bridge, decide whether is needs to be burned or not, and be prepared to die with that decision.” ~ No regrets.
• “You will face enough real problems in your life, don’t invent problems by over thinking.”
• “Understanding what’s within your power to control is vital for your sanity.” ~“Let it go.”
• “Respect yourself.”
• “Successful people do not get to be successful by wishing for success, they get there by working for it.” ~ “I became an overnight success after 25 years.”
• “I don’t know but I will find out.” Is a good answer.
• “The only thing you can change in an instant is your attitude, everything else takes time.”
• “I know what you’re thinking,” is guesswork at best, and foolishness at worst.
• “People will spread lies far quicker than they will share the truth.” ~C’est la vie.
• “If plan A doesn’t work, don’t worry there is another 25 letters in the English alphabet.”
• “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” ~Mark Twain
• “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”
• “Take a deep breath and release it slowly.”
• “There is 8760 hours in a year, don’t allow what happens is 24 hours spoil the other 8736.”
• “Failure is not the end, it’s merely the beginning of a new journey.”
• Have a life motto. “I have complete control over my thoughts, emotions, actions and words.”
• “What you believe is often more real than the truth.”
• “You cannot live a positive life with a negative attitude.”
• “The most important person you need to know is yourself.”
• “Everything will work out for you in the end, otherwise it’s not the end it’s merely the end of another chapter in your autobiography.”

Please leave your own favorites in the comments section below.

Gratitude Begins with the free stuff

I bet it’s FREE

Gratitude begins with appreciating all the stuff you get for nothing because, if you don’t appreciate those things, you will not appreciate all the stuff you have to pay for.

Let’s look at some of the things we get for nothing but often take for granted.

Oxygen: It’s all around us, and we get as much as we need for nothing. Some people take it for granted, but others treasure it as a way to relax; when they feel under pressure for any reason, they go outside and breathe deeply, after a couple of minutes everything is under control again. It truly is a wonderful substance.

Light: The Sun brightens everybody’s mood, it’s a lot easier to smile on those days; it also provides us with the light we need, it helps us by providing the means to create vitamin D, and yes, it’s free. Without the sun our planet would not exist at all. Mind you, too much Sun is not good for you, but that’s a story for another day.

Life: There is no turnstile on the way in to this world, no passports or tickets need to be bought. There might be times in your life when you wish it was otherwise but in reality those events are few; we normally spend a lot more time thinking about sad times than experiencing them.

Health: The majority of people are healthy but they rarely appreciate that good health until it is taken away, then all you hear is, why didn’t I look after myself when the choice was mine.

Water: The most plentiful substance on the planet, approx 75% of the Earth’s surface is covered in the stuff, and if you live in a place called Ireland, you will find it falling out of the clouds most days.

The ability to learn: Everybody, regardless of their station in life has the ability to learn; we learn to communicate with our mothers first, then we learn how to get around, first it’s a swim backwards across the floor before we master the art of moving forward, this it’s followed by gaining control of our hands and knees to get where we’re going a little bit faster, we then find something solid to stand beside and take our first tentative steps, more than likely this will be along the couch, then it’s that first step to independence which is followed by a pirouette and a rough landing on the floor; the first of many; after a while we learn to waddle, walk and run.

You get the idea; we are remarkable creatures, capable of learning anything and everything.

Nature: We are surrounded by plants and animals; yes, even the weeds flower in wonderful colours for us to enjoy if we choose to see them as flowers instead of something that needs to be killed.

In life, there is a great deal to be grateful for, but like anything you get for nothing; nothing can be what is thought of it.

• “If you think for a while about all the stuff you get for nothing, it will brighten up your day; if you think about it every day; it will brighten up your life.” ~Positive Mental Attitude.

Share Images Your Friends will Love to Share

Social media platforms will only work for you, and your business if you provide content that your friends and customers want to see and share with their friends. The following sentence is the most important message for business owners.

• Your customers will only share information that reflects and enhances their public persona.

Time is also an issue that business owners need to take into consideration, people are pressing the like button on more Facebook business pages every day, so that means it will be increasingly difficult to get their attention because of the increased number of posts flowing through their Facebook timelines.

• So how are business owners overcoming this dilemma, one answer is to pay Facebook to promote their posts or they can pay Facebook. Once upon a time you could share images that would create positive engagement but the algorithm used these days have eliminated that option.

The following is a collection of the pictures I have posted on my own Facebook page that created the most engagement without paying Facebook.

There is no I in team.

Laughter is universal

Spreading happiness is always good for business

Worrying works.

Every image you share on any social media platform enhances your business’s brand, when you associate happiness, positiveness, motivation, humour and open mindedness with your brand, you are well on your way to creating a successful online community.

• Keep it simple to make it memorable.

More images can be found on my Facebook page.

Everything Starts Within You First

If you want to create a better future, you have to imagine a better future.

If you cannot see a better future, you need to work on your imagination.

Happiness Attracts Everything You Want

Happiness attracts everything you want into your life, and the best things is, everybody can find happiness within them, they don’t have to go looking for it.

• “Happy people are attractive people because everybody loves people with a real smile.” ~Anon
• “If the reason for your happiness can be taken away from you, you haven’t found happiness yet.” ~Anon
• “Happiness is letting go of what you think life should be and being grateful for the one you have.” ~Anon
• “You are where you are meant to be today, that’s one fact nobody can alter.” ~Anon
• “Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ~Anon

Beware of People Who Help You to focus on Negativity

Do not allow negative people project their negativity onto you.

“You sound sad.” “What’s wrong with you?” “What will we do with you?” “That’s simple, can’t you do it?

Beware: These are the type of questions you will hear from people who don’t want to deal with their own issues, however, they are happy to make you think about the negative things in your life.

Why are they dangerous? “You sound sad.” It’s a simple statement that seems to be well-meant, however, it can lead you down a path you don’t need to go.

Example: I didn’t know I was sad, maybe I’m sad and I don’t realise it. I wonder what’s making me sad? Spends ages wondering about what could be making you sad resulting in two conclusions, I’m sad, what’s wrong with me or I’m not listening to that fool again. You can use the same example for every negative statement or question you hear.

Any question or statement that makes you think negatively about your life and the people you interact with emanates from a negative person.

If you’re prepared to have these negative people in your life, you have to become very self-aware, you have to realise they are the negative ones, not you.

“The less you respond to negative people the more peaceful your life will become.” ~Anon

The World You See is Highly Dependent upon the Thoughts You Think

The thoughts you concentrate on will create your life.

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Rose tinted glasses will not change the world you live on, however, they will certainly change the world you see.

Change is Always Possible, However, Effort is required

You are the source of every change you can imagine.

You will never achieve the future you desire if you keep dragging the past you don’t want with you.

 

If You Do Not Like What You are Doing. Do Something Else.

“If you don’t like what you’re doing, do something else.” Always easier said than done.

If you cannot change what you are doing, accept that too.

You are more than what you do for a living. That’s a title not a description.

If you spend your whole life living up to everybody else’s expectations, you will not be living your life, you will be living theirs.

One of the main reasons people change is they believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence because they’ve been reading about people’s fictional lives on Facebook.

One of the main reasons people don’t change is:

Not everybody is prepared to give up what they have in order to get what they want.

The last quote is the most important one:

Not everything you experience in life is meant to make sense.

Nobody Can Affect You Without Your Consent

Sad people will make you sad. Happy people will make you happy. Angry people will make you wary. Stupid people will make you annoyed. Miserable people will make you miserable.

Of course, none of that is true when you understand you, and only you should have control over your emotions.

The day you learn to control your emotions is the day you control your life.

Some people will disagree with that premise and tell you somebody else made them feel the way they do, however, I believe a picture is worth to a thousand words. If anybody has control over you, you gave them the reins.

“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.” ~Wayne Dyer.

“The goal isn’t to get rid of negative emotions, the goal is to change how you react to them.” ~Anon

Every Decision You Make Determines Which Path You Follow

 

 

Learning to Love Everything You Do is Achieving Success

Success and happiness are always interchangeable, you have not achieved success if you have not found happiness.

If you have found success and not found happiness, you have found somebody else’s idea of success.

If you are happy with everything you think, say and do, you may be more successful than you realise.

Adopting a Positive Attitude Requires Passion and Desire

“You cannot live a positive life with a negative attitude.” ~Anon That quote makes sense, however, it doesn’t explain how you adopt a positive attitude? The answer to that question is, you have to learn to act and think like a positive person. The first question you need to answer is:

How do you know if you’ve a positive or negative attitude? If you can answer that question you’ve a positive attitude, if you need somebody else to answer that question for you, you haven’t a positive attitude yet because people with a positive attitude are very self-aware, they acknowledge the thoughts that flow through their mind and choose which ones they are going to focus on and which ones they are going to let go.

How do people with a positive attitude act and think? We’ve already covered self-awareness. People who possess a positive attitude to life are also optimistic realists, they understand they’re is negativity in the world, they just choose not to concentrate on things they cannot control.

People with a positive attitude are always physically active, they enjoy exercise because they realise there is an increasing relationship between a healthy mind and a healthy body. One leapfrogging over the other, the healthier the body the healthier the mind and visa versa.

People with a positive attitude will have an opinion on things, however, they understand it’s only their opinion and everybody else is entitled to their opinion too, even one they disagree with.

People with a positive attitude examine the world from the inside out and not the outside in. They bring they’re attitude with them, they do not adopt the attitude they find along the way.

I’ll leave you with two of my favourite quotes:

• “Your positive actions combined with your positive thoughts will create a positive attitude.” ~Anon
• “You create your attitude to life, it’s not created for you.” ~Anon

Have I got a positive attitude to life? Not yet, however, I’m getting closer every day because I have the passion and desire to become a person with a positive attitude.