MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true.
-----Napoleon Hill

The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams.
-----Eleanor Roosevelt

There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, 'Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.' Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, 'How good or how bad am I?' That's where courage comes in.
-----Erma Bombeck

I'm proud to be a dreamer. How about you? :o)

And just for fun, here's the cutest video I've seen in a long time. Perhaps these little pups had pleasant dreams after being sung to sleep with this sweet lullaby. My mom and I bred and showed Boxers for over 10 years before she passed away, so this video really brings happy memories to mind for me. Hope you enjoy it! Dream BIG dreams! :o)

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

Today's Quote:

Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass!
---Paul J. Meyer

I like this quote, and I do believe it to be true. It is the vivid imagining of a goal, dream, wish, combined with ardent desire, and sincere belief, enthusiastically acted upon that does seem to bring success in most cases.

Yet there have been times when something I dearly wished for came to me through no deliberate action on my part. I think sometimes it's easier to have a wish come true when we're just going with the flow, believing, but not trying to MAKE things happen.

When I was a child my mother told me a story about how, as a teen living in Manhattan, NY, she had taken care of a pair of lion cubs. I thought that was the coolest thing ever! But I had more of a thing for tigers, so I wished that some day I could play with tiger cubs. It was just something I thought about from time to time over the years, something I knew I would really enjoy, but it wasn't anything I actively pursued. When the thought would pop into my mind, I would think maybe someday, and then go on about living my life, without giving it any further thought. Whenever I did think about holding and playing with little tiger cubs, I would feel excitement and joy at the idea, but I never once thought about HOW I could MAKE this happen.

Years later, I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico and working as the office manager for a small veterinary clinic. One day I stayed home because I was sick, and when I went to work the next day, my fellow employees very excitedly told me that two tiger cubs had been brought in the day before! I was so upset! Tiger cubs??? At our little clinic? We were just a small low-cost clinic that only treated dogs, cats, and ferrets, and primarily did low cost spays and neuters, shots, etc. We did not handle anything exotic, nor did we treat emergencies. What had happened was that this lady had called asking if we could treat a torn ear on one of the cubs. She had two 3 month old cubs, and one had been mauled by a 6 month old cub she also owned, and it's poor little ear had a gouge that needed stitches. Apparently she was licensed to own these animals and use them in commercials and print ads. We didn't treat tigers but of course my fellow employees weren't going to tell her that! So she had brought them in, the little ear had gotten stitched up and I had missed the whole thing! Well I devastated. But then one of my coworkers told me, don't worry, she's bringing them back Saturday and you can see them then! So my wish to hold and play with tiger cubs came true through absolutely no action on my part! Not only did my son Josh and I get to see them and play with them that Sat., but I got to see them several times over the next month while the lady lived and worked in Albq. Their names were Samson and Goliath and at 3 mos. old they already weighed around 45-50 lbs.! They made the cutest sounds that I can only describe as huffing. They were very strong and very playful! Just the most beautiful, incredible creatures and I will never forget the thrill of getting to hold them and play with them numerous times over that month.


(click to enlarge)



(click to enlarge)

I apologize for the crummy quality of the pics. All I owned at the time was a little instamatic camera. I'm just glad to have pics at all. How do you like that '80's hair? LOL I was also wearing a sweater that had a tiger and stripes on it. LOL I was really into tigers back then. ;o)

Anyway, my point is that this wish coming true, and another one that I will write about next week, are what led me to believe in the Law of Attraction, or the power of thought, or whatever you want to call it. It also showed me that God/the Universe (they're one and the same for me), always gives us even better than we originally wished for.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

Today's quote:

"Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
-----Langston Hughes

Sometimes it's really hard to hold onto our dreams. Particularly those that seem the most impossible to achieve, or when we have no idea what steps to take to even begin to achieve them.

Were you one of those kids who was reprimanded for being a "dreamer" or told to "get your head out of the clouds and come back to earth"? I was. Obviously, I didn't listen! I can't imagine life without having dreams and goals and yet, there are times I find it very difficult to hold onto them. There are so many things that seem determined to rip them from our hands. The mundane everyday chores that have to be done, the bills that have to be paid, the family's needs that must be met. It is so easy to get so bogged down in "what is" that we lose sight of our dreams. Sometimes they seem so very out of reach.

But life is empty without them. I know people who are content to just go through life with their only focus on getting through the work week and getting that paycheck, whose only goals in life seem to be in buying the latest toys and keeping up with the Joneses, or sitting in the lazy boy in front of the TV once the work week is through. They have no ambition beyond that. Maybe they're happy that way, and that's enough for them. But I'm glad I'm not, no matter how frustrating holding on to my dreams sometimes is.

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

Today's quote:

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.

---William Arthur Ward

I know this to be true. I had a desire to learn to sculpt. I had no idea where to even begin. I was definitely no prodigy, LOL. I remember when I was a kid and my mom would take my brothers and me to the local mall, they always wanted to check out the toy store. I wanted to spend hours in the collectibles shop. I was fascinated by the variety of figurines there. I knew, somehow, that was what I wanted to do. In a way I felt it was what I was meant to do.

It wasn't until some years later I actually began to try, and though I met with some early success, I can't say it came all that naturally. I took one very basic clay class, and the teacher did say I had natural talent, but I sure couldn't see it then! I went through tons of frustration, put the clay down and walked away many, many times, but I always had to go back. The desire to create, to sculpt, was much stronger than the frustration at not being able to do so the way I wanted to yet.

But all along I imagined myself to be an artist. I dreamt of being an artist. I held a vision of myself being an artist who sculpts with clay. In time, my reality matched my dreams.