Who Are You Becomming?

 Who Are You Becoming?

See this picture quote?

I know for sure what we 

dwell on is who we become

I happen to believe this. I’m living proof – past and present.

I talked of being a writer for over thirty years. And that is pretty much all it was – talk. Oh, I published my first article at age 28 and got paid $22 for it. But I didn’t buy into me being a writer.

Later, in other jobs, I wrote a lot of stuff – video scripts, marketing brochures, you know the drill, and yet never adopted the label ‘writer’.

Ah, but in 2009 I started taking my writing urge seriously and began my first blog. Even then, the fear of not having enough content to sustain a weekly blog plagued me. Mystery of mysteries, I kept finding subjects that needed my touch, my perspective. And now, fourteen years later I own six blog sites.

And ... I have published five books. After publishing my first book, I finally found the courage to call myself a ‘writer’.

In my earlier adult life, I attracted images of myself that were less than esteeming. As time wore on, I’m afraid I dwelt on those negative, harsh words and phrases that others had attached to me, and I began believing some of them.

The worst of all was this ... “You’re an accident looking for a place to happen.”

I’m glad many of you didn’t know me in those days. Even though those words were spoken to me almost fifty years ago, I believed a bit of that idea, and thus it affected my self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, and my ability to perform on a consistent basis in life.

You see, the principle of “Whatever a man thinks in his heart (mind, soul and inner being), so is he” was at play, only I was tuned into the negative images and words. Wise sages, ancient philosophers, and men and women of learning have taught us for years about the importance of good and wholesome thoughts and how we should direct our attention to those ideals and lay off the negative, put-down language that tends to run free-will though our minds in constant stream mode.

This is a hard lesson to grasp. And those negative thoughts and ideas that we allow to live rent-free in our minds are hard to corral sometimes.

But corral them we must! We must take charge of our minds when in neutral, or when discouraged, or disappointed, or after a major loss of some kind.

It is a conditioning of the mind of which I speak. WE are the masters of our own minds. Others may say those awful words of hurt, however, we are the door keeper of our own minds. WE decide if we will allow them to run free or do we arrest them sooner than soon?

There are many excellent words and phrases that disciplined people find useful. Here are some of them.

I can.
I will.
I like myself.
I approve of myself.
I am capable.
I am better than that.
I may be down but I’m not out.
If I fall seven times, I’ll stand up eight.

What are you listening to in your mind?
Can you see the importance of changing those loop-to-loop soundtracks to different, more positive words and phrases?

I so strongly believe in the power of words that my company name is Up-Words. I say – I will speak Up-Words to every person I meet. I will look for the good in others and compliment those good traits on every occasion in which I am able.

I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.

Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."

Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.

The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.

The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."

He continued.

"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."

My favorite quote on the power of words.

“Never underestimate the power

of the right words spoken at the right time.”

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time!

How Far Have You Come?

 How Far Have You Come?

We’re all on the road again, aren’t we? Some of us occasionally have flat tires, we lose our transmissions, our motors give out, we run out of gas, we get dented, bruised, and need a paint job. It’s all a part of the journey we are all on.

And if you think I’m writing about an actual road trip, then keep reading.

Here’s the basis for today’s thoughts.

You Didn't Come This 

Far to Only Come

This Far!

I latched onto the parable of the servants in the Bible story who were given differing amounts of talent.

You know this, perhaps.

One was given 5 talents. He turned those into 10 talents.
One was given 2 talents. He turned those into 4 talent.
One was given 1 talent. He buried his in the ground and it was lost. No growth, no production, no future possibilities.

The moral of the story is to take what you have been dealt and make the best use of it and multiply its value.

Expand your enterprise. Grow.
Become more.
Do more with what you have.

Of course, setbacks will happen. We will get knocked off the horse a time or two. Surgeries will pop up. Illnesses will happen. And twenty or thirty other hurdles will pop up on our path.

And we keep going anyway.

We keep moving. We keep taking our pills. We keep going to the gym. We keep eating better. We keep listening to great information. We keep reading superb books.

WE GET BETTER.

The quote above challenges me.

"I didn’t come this far to come this far!"

Heck no!

There are times when issues arise, medical circumstances happen, job losses slap us down, and perhaps we think “Well, I’ve come a long way. Maybe this is where I get off.”

I don’t think so.

If you have a measure of talent, if you care, if you dream, if you have a goal and a mission in life, then you go a bit further. You reach back for a bit more strength, a bit more creativity, and a bit more will to do something more.

~Oh, we may move slower than before the attack happened.
~We may not be able to do the broad jump anymore.
~We may not sing a high C again.
~We may get our sticks tangled up and drop one or both occasionally, but we play and sing and move at whatever pace we can NOW move and play and sing.

If you can no longer speak, write.
If you can no longer sing, hum, or teach, or enjoy the music.

We find ways to continue using our talents and gifts.

I still want to write the blog heard around the world.
I still want to write more books, and especially finish my novel, for I feel it has redemptive power. (This probably makes no sense to you unless we’ve engaged in conversation about my book. It is still my little secret, and yet someday I will present it to the world.)

I don’t bother counting my talents these days. I just find ways to use them. That is the great joy in life at this age and time.

So, I’ll repeat our premise.

We didn’t come this far to only come this far!

Can you go a little farther?

P MiCHAEL BIGGS

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Our Dark Days Make Us Prove We Are Strong

Our Dark Days Make Us 

Prove We Are Strong 

I once thought I was not a strong person. My self-esteem was almost non- existent, my self-confidence was in hiding, and I suppose my mindset was one of ‘I’ll coast through life and see what happens. After all, I’ll take what comes and I probably deserve what comes.’

Oh my. What a lousy way to approach life. Trouble comes, so do nothing, say nothing, assume you deserve it and that’s that.

No way. I say NO WAY.

I’ve had a few dark days in my years of living. And with the living I’ve done thus far, I can look behind me and see those dark days.

And look what I learned and look how I came out.

You don’t know the inner strength you possess until you really must dig down and use it. Oh, my friend. You have strength inside of you. I hope you believe that. What you must do now is let that strength, that intestinal fortitude rise to the surface and show us that you may be down, but you’re not out.

That bears repeating.

“You may be down, but you’re not out.”

Many of us have experienced divorce, or bankruptcy, job loss, loss of a loved one, horrible surgeries, and the list goes on.

The great news is this ... some of us have found the strength to rise from the ash-heap and make a new start. We’ve found the strength from somewhere within us and pulled ourselves up by the bootstrap. We’ve determined that this too shall pass, and this situation is not going to be the end of us.

It is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.

It, however, could be the beginning of a new beginning. That’s not double- speak. That is what it is – a new beginning. Every beginning has a starting point. Where is yours?

A personal story:
When I went through toe amputation surgery on my left foot three years ago, I had dark days. I wondered, questioned, and worried over my ability or inability to ever walk at a normal pace. And I thought pain in walking was going to become the norm for me for the rest of my life.

Look at me today. I can walk. I do the treadmill at the gym. I work a 40- hour week. This past summer I discovered I can ride a bicycle again, and the weekly improvements keep on coming.

My first steps after surgery were not a pretty sight. I was in pain with every step. When I came home from the hospital, I was fearful of having to climb eight steps up and then eight steps down into our condo.

I’m way past all that.

Along the way, with Carolyn's help, I found my inner strength, my intestinal fortitude to persevere, to be persistent and to keep doing what I knew needed doing, for I was not going to let a little thing like missing five toes stop me from living a good and full life.

They were dark days. And guess what. They made me prove just how strong I already was.

I found the strength within. How about that.

Now, I’ve used a lot of “I” words to tell my story, and I trust you will forgive me for that. The point is this ... we all have that measure of inner strength. Sometimes, we never see it until the hard places come, the seemingly unsurmountable experiences in life. And when those times do come, we have a choice.

Will we wallow in our self-pity and doomsday mindset? Or will we rise, take up our bed and walk.

Just to be clear, I am a man of faith. I have no doubt that the God of my understanding was by my side through all that I have experienced in life.

And I do know that He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.

What can you do for yourself? Sometimes we can only do small acts, and those small, somewhat insignificant acts lead to more small acts, and muscles that start firing, and neurons and nerve endings that fire, and mindsets that start changing from a can’t do to a CAN DO!

Dark days are no fun, granted. And look what they teach us.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration