Day 25. How to handle disappointment.  People will disappoint you the most!  I guess everyone knows that.  The thing about being disappointed is the heart ache you feel. Is it our own fault for believing in someone to do something we know may be impossible for them?  Or do we set our high standards on someone else and when they fail we feel hurt?  No one is perfect and we shouldn't hold failure against someone.  We ourselves fail at many things.  We should be supportive and provide this person with encouragement.  Even when they disappoint us continuously.

What's on my mind.  True happiness.  True happiness doesn't come from things or people.  True happiness comes from within.  We have the power to bring ourselves down and to uplift.  It's amazing how many people think the more money or things they have the happier they will be.  Money and things could make life easier, however, happiness comes from within.  Think about it this way, we can throw out something and that same thing can be someone else's treasure.  This occurs because it's how we view the treasure.  So, in the same token that treasure that used to bring you happiness doesn't anymore.  True happiness is aspired by being heathy in all areas of your life.  That means living out your dreams and having the job or career you want, surrounding yourself with positive people to have a strong support group, working hard to maintain emotional, mental, and spiritual stability.  No one can make me smile as wonderful as God can.  The challenge today is to pick out an area of your life that needs work.  If it's your career, work on your resume, think about what you really want to do that can fuel inner happiness.  If it's your emotional/mental state go see a counselor.  I think counseling is good for everyone.  If you want to work on your relationship with God, visit a church or seek out a spiritual advisor that can help.  Life is to short to spend it unhappy.  God gives us the freedoms to decide how we want to live.  In the pursuit of changing this upside down world we have to work on changing the people in it....starting with ourselves.  Can the world be upside down if we are right side up? Right now are you living like you feel in your soul you should?  Today I will leave you with inspirational quotes.

“Before you can improve your life and find a measure of happiness, you must learn to do one thing every day out of pure love.”
 Harold Klemp

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”
 Aristotle

True happiness comes from within, loving who you are, what you do, and aspiring to be even better.
Keisha

Day 24. Do we have compassion?  Compassion is the emotion that one feels in response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help.  I would like to think that we have compassion for one another, but sometime it doesn't seem so when working as a whole.  I notice that during a tragedy we seem to pull together as one.  It's a shame that sometimes it takes something horrible for us to come together as one.  I think that being judgmental inhibits our ability to be compassionate.  Jesus said he who is without sin let him cast the first stone, John 8:7.  Judging another person is wrong, especially when anyone can make a mistake.

What's on my mind.  Persistence!  I had someone tell me that if she didn't get a certain thing to happen she would just give up.  Self-defeating.  In life we are bound to fail.  Imagine all the brilliant people that if they had given up our world would have suffered.  Nelson Mandela said "a winner is a dreamer who never gives up."  Mahatma Gandhi quoted, “Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”  The key to continuing to pursue a dream is persistence.  Life will make you want to quit, but we must continue on this journey to change this upside down world.  Their are still many things undiscovered in this world that we can tap into.  Still so much to do to build compassion and end being judgmental.  The way we do this is through being persistent.  The challenge today is for everyone to continue pursuing something you once started and left behind.  That could be an art project, a book, a movie, working on improving a relationship.  Whatever it is in your life that at one time you dreamed of doing....do it.  Don't just do it, be persistent about pursuing your dream.  Today I will leave you with a cute video on persistence.

cute for many reasons

Keisha

Day 23.  I'm sorry, I climbed into bed at 2AM thinking, "dang I feel like I am forgetting something."  Sure enough I forgot to blog yesterday.  Not that anyone missed it?  This weekend I spent time with family.  It is so important to have family.  Even though they can be dramatic and problematic at times, I wouldn't trade them for the world.  No one is guaranteed tomorrow and we were given the family we have by God, so they were made for us.  We should spend time with them putting petty things aside and enjoying them while we still can!

What's on my mind....the power of God.  I really do not have the words to accurately describe his love.  I guess if you imagine having a child and finding out that your child's blood can save the world, but only through death, and sacrificing your child so everyone else can be saved....that's how much his love is for us.  I went to visit a new church today.  It was so wonderful seeing how people can love one another from country to continent through God.  Maybe one day I will write about my own personal relationship with God.  I am trying hard and working everyday to be more Christ like.  It's so hard in this evil world we live in, because I am a sinner.  Today, on my way back home after church a car cut me off.  I could feel the devil trying to convince me to make a bad decision.  It took everything in me to pray that he isn't a jerk to anyone else today.  When you start making the right choices the devil will put up barricades trying to stop you, especially when you've been doing evil for a while.  He wants you to himself.  He will lie, cheat, and try to convince you that doing good is never worth it.....doing good is so worth it.  Giving in and up to God is one decision in my life that I am happy I made.  It's still so so hard everyday, but this battle is worth the fight.  I challenge everyone to fight evil and do good.  In changing this upside down world we have to focus on changing ourselves so we can then help others in their battle. Today I will leave you with a verse.

◄ 1 Peter 3:17 ►
For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Keisha

Day 22. Time to celebrate...it's the weekend oh yea!!! I look forward to the weekend so much.  I think the hustle of the week wears me down.  Weekends are for taking care of your needs or self care.  Especially when we work so hard to change this upside down world we need to stop every now and then and make sure we have ourself together to continue on our journey.  If we are unable to complete our task, because we aren't healthy how can we be successful in our goals.

What's on my mind.  I know I write about this all the time, but the truth is that if we want the world to change we have to look inside ourselves first.  We have to fix the things within us that we know will not benefit us or anyone.  I believe the brain is very powerful and what you feed it will determine how you behave.  If you focus on positive things then you will be more positive.  If you are always negative then that will shower on everyone around you.

Be yourself! It's important tho to appreciate the person you are.  No one will appreciate you as much as you appreciate yourself.  Good and bad, work on what you know you need to, but celebrate who you are.  The challenge is simple, spend time with people who appreciate who you are and support you while praying for those who don't.  Enjoy your weekend with positivity and love.  I will leave you with a verse.

James 5:13
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

Keisha

Day 21.  Are you unhappy with your life?  I forgot, but was reminded today that someone always has it better than me and worse then me.  Today I am very peaceful knowing that things could be worse and in this moment they aren't.  If you are unhappy with your current situation pick one thing at a time and attack it with a vengeance.....make good choices, because every choice has a consequence!

What's on my mind.  How impressionable young minds are.  I am speaking about teens mostly.  They believe everything they read on the internet.  They are easily convinced by minimum evidence and lack of common sense.  They like to follow the crowd, because that's easier then standing out and being teased.  They can get brainwashed through the media.  Especially, music that has a negative message can hugely effect their emotional and behavioral state.  We really should work on controlling what's in the media.  Most important, we need to pay attention to what our teens are doing, what they are watching, reading, and who they are associating with.  I really think this is important.  The children will be the ones we pass the torch to who will make the decisions for our world in the future.  We need to teach them well, so they can model our values, of integrity, spirituality, humanism, courage, and perseverance. My challenge is to guide a young mind in a positive direction.  Uplift and support them even when they seem like aliens or try to look like aliens. Don't judge them so they have someone who they can openly turn to in a time of need.  Never take advantage of them, because it can change them forever.  Being a positive source can also change them forever for the best.  Today, do you know where your teen is or what emotional state they are in?  I will leave you with that very important thought.

Keisha

Day 20.  A smart man makes a mistake and learns from it and a wise man sees the mistake the smart man made and doesn't make that mistake at all.  This came from a young man today who at one time lots of people probably counted out as a loss.  My favorite stories in life are of those when people were counted out.  Counted out as failures, counted out as a threat to society, counted out as a loser.  Those same people who Defy the odds, who were at one time a statistic proved to everyone the old saying, "never judge a book by its cover."  Yes, people can and do change!

What's on my mind.  Sweating the small stuff.  Spending to much time on things that seem insignificant and petty.  Their are so many things in this life that people can focus on.  I for one get distracted by things that really are not important.  I then get caught up in issues that will not get me where I need to be.  It's easy for someone to rain negativity.  It's also easy for someone to pour happiness.  I challenge people to be the source of happiness.  An easy way to be the source of happiness is to smile at someone and ask them how they are doing, and not just to be nice, but because you genuinely care.  The most challenging part would be to offer happiness to someone you dislike or usually don't get along with.  Be the source of happiness.  Don't get caught up in insignificant things.  Today I will leave you with an inspirational quote.

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Keisha    

Day 19.  I allowed someone today to change my mood.  It was really amazing when I noticed that this had happened.  I'm really trying to be more mindful of these things.  I was cheerful and upbeat.  Actually, I had been in the spirit and feeling wonderful.  That kind of wonderful that makes you sing out loud.  And in one moment someone said something negative to me over the phone and an unhappy switch flipped.  The crazy thing is that I probably took it more negative then what he was actually meaning it to be.  That's how life is....one minute you are smiling and things are going well, you are feeling good and in an instant things can change.  So, today I was wondering why we really care what other people think about us?  Our society has us so paranoid.  We are plagued by so much negativity that it filtrates throughout our daily living.  We really have to hold tight to our beliefs or life can eat you alive.  It's so important to not allow negative people to disturb your happy, because they will every chance they get.

What's on my mind.  How hard it is to let go of negativity.  How hard it is to let go of something you know is not good for you. How that one thing or few things tempt you.  It could be a person who you know is bad for you.  It could be drugs or a lifestyle.  Letting it go could be one of the most difficult things you ever tackle in your entire life.  The first step is realizing what is bad for you.  I challenge you today to examine your life and figure out what that is?  If you know what it is the challenge is to come up with three ways you can avoid whatever it is.  Today I will leave you with the Serenity Prayer.

Serenity Prayer
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.


Keisha