Self-Awareness | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Self-Awareness”

25 Mar 2014

Perfection

Easily it can be said that we will never achieve perfection. As humans it is not in our DNA. Nor should it be.

We will strive for it.

We will find ourselves constantly falling short.

We will measure ourselves by what someone else may expect us to be. Or perhaps we may measure ourselves on our own perspectives of what we think we should be.

But in the end- we will fall short.

It is what you do with that will become part of your self-realization, It will be the context in which you are able to live your life. You can choose to measure yourself to perfection, and in some ways that is a good thing. It is the motivator by which we can create our standards to live by. But if we are delusional in using that to apply to the adage that “winning is everything” we may find ourselves in a place that is hard to maintain.

We are rewarded often in our lives for working hard to strive for things. We want to avoid failure, We do not want to be seen as weak or unable to perform to the standards in which we are expected. In our families, in school, at work in our relationships we are always trying to measure up. Accepting that perfection will not happen does not make you mediocre. It makes you human.

We know that we were made imperfect. As humans God has made us that way to allow us to be – well – human. Perfection would be reserved for only one, and He left this earth centuries ago.

So a first step in making your life happier is to accept imperfection. Be sure that you strive for things, but be honest that things will get in your way and no matter how you work it…. you will fall short.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Change, Doubt, Failure, mental-health, moments, Perfection, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness

18 Mar 2014

Respecting Life’s Lessons, Life Flows On

There is something about understanding your own choices, though not everyone wants to try to. It means admitting that you are the person in control of the course you are taking in your life. After all is said and done, life’s lessons seem to be the most indelible. Looking back. they have the most meaning and impact our futures. Though it is more popular these days to look for others to blame I think.

I mean all the warnings, all the advice, all those things I have told my kids from my life’s lessons as a parent are things they can decide fit in their lives or not. I could have shamed them into believing them, I could have punished them and made them believe. I could have reasoned with them ( but in those rebellious teen years there wasn’t a lot of reasoning). Still they decided it was valuable to find their way by “being independent” and did things that didn’t always make sense to me. Often it led to those regrettable moments,that they had to end up dealing with personally .

So life’s lessons are the best way to learn, as it seems as though those lessons are the hardest. Mistakes we are making that can break us, can take us to a path we would never have chosen.

As I look back I have to admit that there were plenty of those decisions I made in the past. Knowing that things could be different now doesn’t change it. Knowing I didn’t always take other’s advice had its reward and its regrets.

What I have learned: One of the most important personal life’s lesson: Respect the lesson’s from the past, weigh the advice that others give you. And as I had recently posted … in the end be true to yourself (as I recently posted). Life flows on.

Within You Without You”

We were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it’s far too late, when they pass away
We were talking about the love we all could share
When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love
With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realize it’s all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without youWe were talking about the love that’s gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don’t know, they can’t see, are you one of them?

When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we’re all one
And life flows on within you and without you

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Beatles, Change, choices, Faith, Life, life is precious, Life Lessons, Love, making mistakes, Music, Postive Thinking, Religion and Spirituality, Rock music, Self-Awareness, Self-esteem, Songs About Life, tracks in the dust, Who Are You

06 Mar 2014

2 Comments

Be True to Yourself

There is a very long story, from a very long time ago that I have rarely shared.

Over ten years ago my first-born son left home to go out on his own. He had met someone on the Internet and became friends with her during his early teen years. When he turned 18 he decided he wanted to move away to be with her.

Perhaps a classic story of the prodigal son. Perhaps something that would have ended up on one of those hyper-active sensational TV talk shows [did I say it was a long story?]. It was painful as my wife and I and the rest of our family watched our son take what seemed a drastic 180 degree turn in his life and leave home with someone who we had never realized existed to that point.

There were a thousand things we wanted to say to him. There still are, though I doubt he’d listen. Yet over time and a highly emotional roller coaster of feelings, he has been out of contact with our family for over 10 years.

In reality there is only one thing to say to him. It was something that struck me the other day [another long story]. It is something I have to believe that my other three children have learned. Perhaps even because of their oldest brother, perhaps just because we had to live it with them again and again.

Be true to yourself. Don’t lie to yourself, but be honest to what you know in your core are the right things to do and be.

Sure, you will make mistakes, you will find yourself doing and saying things that aren’t really part of the inner center you have come to know. But in the end, be true to who you know you are. Use compassion and forgiveness and the awareness that you are part of the human race and God’s plan for it. Make peace with what you are. But don’t sell yourself short. You have the potential to be the person you know you could be. I am not talking about riches, or fame. But be the “person” that defines your spiritual inner self. God will be your guide.

So to my three wonderful kids, I give them this advice. Don’t deny it. Be true to yourself, to who you are.

To my long-lost first son. If there was one thing to say…

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, Be True to Yourself, Compassion, Family, Lying to Yourself, Postive Thinking, Reality Check, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Truth

05 Mar 2014

Life Priorities

Your life’s priorities. If you had to list them you may find it easy or it may be harder than you expected.

I’m guessing that day-to-day however, you probably don’t allow much time to reference that list. Time starts to consume the day and like most of us, it can divert attention elsewhere. Maybe it’s the work deadline we have to meet, getting the kids to school, housework, watching your favorite TV shows, making dinner, networking on Facebook or walking the dog. Whatever it is there seems to be things that get in the way of the “real” priorities in our lives.

There are things we let become priorities over the fundamental things that should count. Things like money, being noticed in the big world we live in, even our friends and family distract us from the most important things.

We have to remember the joy we get from the grace of God. I am certain that right there someone reading this interprets that as something “religious” and stops reading. I know over my life I have fast-forwarded by the simple messages because I think that someone has an agenda about God. But is it NOT a bible-thumping Jesus message that was going to get lost in all the rules and regulations that we humans wallow in to justify our beliefs.

It isnt that way. It is more of the message and less of the rules.

Everyone I meet is searching for something, although some of them will deny it. Striving for adjusting their priorities in their lives so that they can be better, have a better life, be better parents or be better people. Finding that elusive center in their lives can be consuming. Money, friends, possessions, power, travel – whatever seems to validate the life we live. We can simply miss the priority. The center.

Many people have found it. They are settled in their lives. I can tell you personally that priorities get away from me. I know that those “other things” in my life have taken over the simple core value of being settled in my life. It should be the priority of Him.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Embracing who you are, Happiness, Joy, life is precious, Lying to Yourself, mental-health, moments, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Truth, Who Are You

28 Feb 2014

Controlling Happiness

It would seem we are always in the pursuit of it.

The sign at the front door of my home

Yet,It often seems so elusive, and still I have come to realize that each of us are in control of it. Happiness wisps away like a soap-bubble in the wind. Flying from here to there and hitting people. For some of my friends I think they believe it lands on them – like luck or good fortune. Being happy is definitely a blessing. It is desirable. Not always attainable.

In the pursuit… people seem to do unnatural things don’t they? I mean they will do everything to avoid the inevitable fact that there will be sadness in their lives. Ignoring it, dismissing it as not allowed wont change that. Other people seem to think they can buy happiness, Add more things in their lives and it will be a happier one. Add more things, which will attract more people (who may seem to be your friends). they want to insulate themselves from ever being unhappy by filling their lives with time-filling stuff and people. We know how that turns out. Yet we would struggle to not accept the idea that we could try to see if that would work.

So if it is not money, and it is not avoiding sadness. If indeed it is not elusive at all, then what brings you happiness?

For me? Being confident that the people I love are there for me, and I am there for them. Being sure that I know where my spiritual center is. Understanding that I have the control over my happiness and other emotions. Not that I am going to be happy all the time. We are all human, subject to feelings of melancholy and remorse, anger and sadness, frustration and loneliness. You cannot always choose happiness, bad/sad things happen. Personally as someone fighting cancer I think it is how you deal with it that counts.

But we have the ability to grasp the positive things in our lives. Those things that will make the yin to the yang. Trusting in God. Living a life that is not centered on negative things. Making the best of the situations as they come. Understanding that not everything is going to be “just fine” all the time. It will take the effort.

You have heard the term “control your anger”. Perhaps we can also “control our happiness”?