Grace | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Grace”

14 Aug 2012

Finding a Purpose and the Lack of Self-Esteem

There seems to be a great lack of self-esteem these days. Sitting around with some good wine and great friends, we all agreed that these days seem like more people are challenged with a lack of purpose. Maybe spurred on by a lack of self-esteem. I read a statistic (for what it is worth on the Internet) that an estimated that 50% of the working population in the US are in the wrong jobs. But because of the lack of confidence and self-esteem that stay where they are.

In a previous post I had talked about becoming a victim and the levels of accountability. It is easy to find ways to blame others for our plight, instead of lack of confidence in ourselves. It can lead to spending a lot of time and energy building the reasons for blaming others. It can mean time wasted that could be used instead to finding time to build the confidence in the fact that we are THE unique person in the plan. After all it begins with self-esteem and celebrating our unique-ness (is that a word?).

Perhaps some of our esteem is missing because we are missing the spiritual center of our lives? Could it be that somewhere along the way we have under valued our special place in the universe, the individuality that makes us fit in the day-to-day interaction with our friends, co-workers, family, lovers?

Is being unique a bad thing? Today it seems like many want to believe it is – and when someone calls out their individuality they are persecuted for being prejudiced or “politically incorrect”. In the end we are all part of the human race, but we need to be ourselves (as they say, “everyone else is taken”).

We need a purpose, and God can be that purpose. With no purpose… on purpose, we end up looking for it in all the wrong places, and then end up alone wondering why it the things seem so unreachable. So distant. Lost for the vision of the future in our lives and after that.

So in my efforts. I also have to remember that I need to be constantly teaching my children those same things, and live it as I speak it. Or they will just go on with the risk of choosing the same cycle. Being part of the pattern of lack of esteem.

From pjgracecommunity: I need to discover my purpose!

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Definitions, Grace, Opinion, Philosophy, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Self-esteem, tracks in the dust

24 Jul 2012

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Faith In Trust and Hope

Trust. There’s something so mystical about TRUST. Who you should trust, why should you trust them, and how do you continue to trust someone. There is a very fine line between love and hate, there is another one between trust and the lack of it.

I have noticed that for some people it is very easy for them to take that step over the line and start trusting. They have the ultimate faith in the world and humankind that most people have a purpose that is ultimately good for all. Everyone starts out trustworthy and then it is up to them to break that trust, it is a fragile thing indeed but it starts with the “glass half full” I suppose. Maybe even more than half perhaps. That kind of openness comes with a lot of risk for hurt and wounds that don’t heal very well in the emotional sense. It requires a lot of resilience and may mean some added hard work to maintain the proper frame of mind. But happiness is just in the next step just as much as the hurt, and we have to have faith.

There are others that seem to trust no one. It can be so drastic that is sad. Sort of like functional paranoia that everyone is out to get you and that anyone who wants to have a relationship of trust better damn well start earning it. It goes…those who want trust need to explain themselves, then show that they are what they say they are. It is a safer place for these people with lack of trust. After all, trust no one- then there is no chance of getting the injury from trusting someone and then having them let you down or even belay that trust with denial or worse. But that safe place comes with a price. The price can be loneliness, isolation, lack of connection with anyone on anything other than a surface level.

Sadly the world today seems to perpetuate the lack of trust. There are so many examples that get laid out in the news, politics, social networks, and even religion. People who cross that fine line of trust to become human monsters, trusted people who have taken a path of destruction and evil that make us want to run the other way. Stay locked away.

Make sure you have an understanding that even with all the evil and hate in the world, in all the immediate places that surround our lives each day there is hope. Hope is a partner with trust that allows us to make it through each day. We want to be at peace with ourselves, we need to be at peace with the trust in what we know to be right. Trust in the Lord. Don’t run away. Be mindful that there is a purpose to all things under heaven. You are part of it.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Emotion, emotional sense, Faith, God, Grace, Happiness, Hope, Love, Postive Thinking, Sprituality, Trust

11 Jul 2012

The Everyday Miracles

Do miracles exist?

They are there in your life. There every day when you step from the curb, say hello to the check out clerk, take the hand of your child, smile at your coworker, so many things that we do each day involve the simple greatness of life. Each action and reaction can cause a chain reaction that you may more than likely never know. Like waves in the ocean, or the wind across the field of grass. We are so unconscious in our simple actions, that we are not paying attention to the motions around us. Do you see such miracles as they happen as we live our lives?

Take a deep breath in, take another one out. Enjoy the fact that you are living on the Earth and are fortunate to be here online in the world-wide web…communicating with each other in such a way that we can share ideas, share the amazement of life, reach across oceans and continents to communicate about all the world has to offer. And when we do, there is an opportunity for confirmation of what being a human-being on this Earth means.

It amazes me everyday how similar so many people are across the globe. Feeling the emotions of sadness, elation, anger and relief, love and kindness, compassion and understanding. It truly is the miracle that we have to experience every day.

We are not alone, we have each other. So much more can be done, and every movement can be a miracle. We are so fortunate that we can decide, when so many others in the world cannot. We can influence simple miracles that will make a difference for someone we have never met, or may never meet. Just like we can influence our neighbours, our family, or friends or the person passing us on the street. We can reach out beyond that and follow our mission while we are here on Earth. Putting our tracks in the dust will eventually blow away with time, but the next persons tracks will take over. And the line can go for eternity with just a simple choice.

There are miracles happening everyday. We all can participate in making them happen. Have faith, be aware of what you can do to affect human change, it seems like it is infinitely more than you are aware of.

Posted in Before and After Things Change, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, being remembered, Eternity, Faith, God, Grace, life is precious, living on the earth, Miracle, moments, Religion and Spirituality, tracks in the dust

10 Jul 2012

1 Comment

What Will Other People Think?

Growing up, I remember my adolescent days of wanting to be part of the “in group” – the group that was leading the trends, the people who were at the front of the room in school and popular. I thought if I pleased everyone, I too could be accepted into the popular groups. At that time it seemed like I was always preoccupied with the idea of what other people were thinking.

One of the things I have noticed lately is that even as we all grow up, what others think appears to be many adults preoccupation. So many of the professional people around me seem to want acceptance of others beyond all else. Even in my family there have been struggles over the years on being “people pleasing”. It causes them to twist and turn their lives into places that aren’t really who they genuinely are.

When you constantly worry about what other people think, you can easily get caught in an emotional trap. In reality, you don’t have to please everybody any more than your ability to please everybody allows. It’s that false sense of panic to think that in order to be happy, you must be loved and validated by everyone you meet. Inside you know it’s just not how it works, but you do it anyway.

If you feel controlled or manipulated, its likely that you’re allowing yourself to be controlled or manipulated. It’s good to stand up for what’s right, but no one can pressure you unless you allow them to. Perhaps you don’t see it, or you ignore it, but it can happen easily. Inside your head you want acceptance, and you may be willing to color things to feel like you are not being controlled, but it can happen anyway.

It’s OK to be strong and center yourself on who you really are. How often do we fool ourselves to think it is more spiritual centered to just be quiet and put up with it all. But God doesn’t expect you to be run over by everyone you meet, you are made to be strong and be yourself.

How often are there missed opportunities in our lives that we let pass by? Do we find ourselves burying our talents, our sensibility and throwing them aside in order to please others, to be accepted. Then ironically, we get angry at our circumstances and allow even more control to be sacrificed to others for the sake of being accepted. We wonder how we got where we are.

In the end, it’s good to be ourselves, let the “people pleasing” efforts come out as a result of being ourselves. Don’t let it rule your life. We can allow our spiritual life to guide us to the relationships that are around us, and we will be accepted. Centering yourself on being who you are and not what others want you to be. You will find your goals will change and what you want out of life will be refreshing and personal. You know what other people will think?… won’t you?

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, Advice, Faith, Fear, Grace, life is precious, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Who Are You

09 Jul 2012

The Passion of Polarity and Meeting in the Middle

Words like “any or all” seem to be used with a lot of freedom these days. They are used with passionate polarity to help place people in their respective ends of an argument or position on a topic. It is frightening to hear people say that “all” of one religion or race are considered to be good or evil. I cringe when a see a person who believes something in particular is wrong because the only right way of thinking is what they believe- statements that hover around the idea that “any one who has an opposite opinion is clearly wrong”

In the fast paced information age of the Internet we reward passion about subjects, then others who feel the same way help send it out in emails or websites to be soaked up and waved around like a flag. It could be passion about conservative views or liberal views, about organized religion or someone elses misdirected religious beliefs. There are so many topics that contain polarity that seem to tear a great number of people apart.

Polarity often is dangerous and can be the very thing that separates brother from brother, creates wars and crime, it can destroy beauty and delay progress. It becomes the fuel for fear, and the fuel for hate. It can tear apart marriages.

Polarity has its places in making our world a better world. Good vs Evil seems to make sense. One God. Sometimes there is only one choice, other times there are no choices- it is a fact of nature itself (which so often has its own polarity). We are all made up of many particles that need to have a positive and negative. But in the center is the core.

So there is something to consider. Polarity can be used to discover the middle or center, for without 2 ends or opposites there is no middle. When two people are so far away from each other… the path to the middle is the hardest path, but is the action that can bring the compromise is a needed which can be part of life itself.

Perhaps polarity is the starting point to a path to compromise, it allows us to be passionate and it can allow us to come together somewhere in the middle and better embrace the outcome. Sure, we can pull hard in the opposite direction, like a tug-of-war. Then watch all the cheers and jeers by supporters and detractors around us, because people are interested in that diversity. Sort of like watching a train wreck or traffic accident. People don’t want to see it but can’t take their eyes off it. So many wallow in the struggle of polarity, like two teams fighting against each other. Not sure when the game should end. But the reality of it all it may appear, is that compromise, the middle – is not very exciting, not very “defining” and desirable. So we just aren’t interested.

Maybe we all desire this polar opposition, we look for the places to stand on it and don’t see the middle as a place to be. We may selfishly want the attention, or are blind to the opportunity, but we work toward being somewhere in the middle. Be keeping your eye out for middle. It’s not that bad. It can be that good. But then I am guessing you may disagree? Hmmmmmm.