On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her recent release, Consider This: Reflections for Finding Peace, bestselling author Nedra Glover Tawwab shares inspiring advice for setting boundaries, rising above drama, and expressing ourselves with clarity and integrity. Here’s a thought-provoking reflection:

It’s a lifelong learning process to become acquainted with who you are. After all, you are constantly learning and changing even if you don’t realize it.

On average, I read about forty books a year. I love to read, and books have been my companion since childhood. When I share how many I read, some people say they’d like to read more. But reading for pleasure is not the same as having to read for school. People are uncomfortable acknowledging that they only read for utility purposes. But no one has to read unless they truly enjoy it.

Perhaps you don’t like to try new things as much as you’d like to be seen as someone who wants to try new things.

Perhaps you don’t like being in a group setting despite wanting to be more social.

Perhaps you are not as much of this or that as you’d like.

You are who you are, and you may not fit the ideal of who you’d like to be. But embracing who you are will simplify your journey in life.

Change is possible if it’s what you really want to do. However, accepting yourself is freeing. Sometimes, becoming yourself is about simply allowing yourself to be as you are.

Source: Consider This, p. 258.

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent interview, bestselling author Brianna Wiest shared the following advice for anyone who may be feeling lost:

If you are feeling lost, you’re actually making way more progress than you think you are. And you’re doing a lot better than you think you are. Most people don’t even let themselves get to the point of feeling or admitting that they are lost. They are gripping so tightly to the old narrative and the old programming to even stop and say, ‘I don’t know what’s next. I feel lost.’ So, if you feel lost right now, that is your first signal that you have left the life that was wanting to go behind. So, step one is to acknowledge that Feeling lost is a victory, even though it doesn’t feel like it right now.

The second part is in that space of not knowing, anything becomes possible. You have no idea what kind of miracle is at your feet right now. You have no idea what you’ve actually opened up within your life.

Also, part of that feeling lost is the grieving and mourning of what you’ve had to let go of, and that’s okay, too. That’s a process that takes time.

It’s also about coming up with your vision. I think it’s about finding your next muse and figuring out What inspires me now. We’re meant to evolve, and I think people miss that. When we don’t move with life, ultimately, things do come to a grinding halt, and then we’re forced to let go. So, if you’re feeling lost, there’s nothing wrong with you. Actually, there’s something very right with you.

Brianna Wiest’s latest release, The Life that’s Waiting, is now available.

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In his recent release, The Art of Doing, Jesse Lipscombe shares simple and straight-forward tools that can help transform our lives. Here’s an inspiring excerpt:

I’m sure all of us, at some point, have fantasized about stumbling upon a genie in a bottle. I know I have. What would your three wishes be? Would you wish for a billion dollars? World peace? Good health?

If only life worked that way.

This is just another example of how we keep looking outward for ways to fulfill our dreams when we should be looking inward. You and only you are the magical vessel you need to find to achieve your goals. And the coolest part about this realization is that you’re not locked into the whole three-wish paradigm. You can grant yourself as many wishes as you like. You simply need to give yourself permission to do it first.

For some of us, that’s the hardest thing in the world. It has been ingrained in us from our very beginnings that we have to look externally for permission.

Parents are the first people to give us permission, and the first people we have to ask for permission when we want something. If we wanted a second helping of dinner, we had to ask. If we wanted to watch TV or stay out late, we had to ask. Learning to give ourselves permission is a process that happens as we grow. The more we practice doing it, the easier it becomes.

We live in a world that promotes hustle culture, where working every waking hour with few breaks is seen as the norm. We complain about our co-workers, our bosses, and the fact that we never have enough time off or don’t get paid what we’re worth. We lament that there is never enough time. What we fail to do is give ourselves permission to change it all.

I like to put it this way: A person wouldn’t ask a professional hockey player how to fix their car, so why would you ask anyone else to “fix” your life? Granting ourselves permission—permission to do something new, to act differently, to change our circumstances, even to disappoint others or fail at something—is the key to being the genie of our own bottle.

Source: The Act of Doing, pp. 107-109

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her recent release, Consider This: Reflections for Finding Peace, bestselling author Nedra Glover Tawwab shares inspiring advice for setting boundaries, rising above drama, and expressing ourselves with clarity and integrity. Here’s a thought-provoking reflection:

Time can’t be rushed.

Patience is the only choice, even when you don’t like it. People lament, “I need to be patient.” But you actually have no choice. You will either wait calmly, or you will wait in a mood. Either way, you will wait. Perhaps, what you need is to feel calmer or less moody.

Sometimes, this means allowing for extra time when you plan.

Traffic will take time.

Waiting on others will take time.

Progress on a goal will take time.

Who you become while waiting matters. Do you complain? Do you pace? Do you check the time repeatedly? Do you try to speed things up secretly, knowing you can’t? How do you handle something you can’t control?

You will have to wait on some things. Your job is determining who you will be while practicing patience.

Source: Consider This, p. 171.

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In his recent release, The Art of Doing, Jesse Lipscombe shares simple and straight-forward tools that can help transform our lives. Here’s an inspiring excerpt:

Which lion in your life do you need to slay? So often our hesitation to say yes to a new challenge or opportunity is rooted in fear. We attach so much fear to the unknown and worry about the potential negative outcomes of trying something new. We give so much weight to events in our past, but we don’t give the same amount of weight of those possibilities in the future. We all have lions standing in our way. Now, if those lions were real, then our fear would serve a purpose, but in most cases they are imaginary. They are feelings that we didn’t like and we don’t want to feel again. We are so scared of our lion that we let it steal the joy from everything that comes after it.

Find your lion. Take the time to ask yourself what really frightens you. Locate it and slay it. Find the courage to roar in its face, “Not this time, big kitty. Not this time.” If not only for yourself, slay it for those who are watching you. Show them it’s possible to be brave in the face of fear. Let them know that even though the fearful feelings are very real, they do not have permission to rob you of the future you know you deserve.

Source: The Art of Doing, pp. 53-54

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her recent release, Consider This: Reflections for Finding Peace, bestselling author Nedra Glover Tawwab shares inspiring advice for setting boundaries, rising above drama, and expressing ourselves with clarity and integrity. Here’s a thought-provoking reflection:

If I always do everything my way, it leaves little space for me to learn how to do things in a new way.

If everyone around me thinks like me, I only see one viewpoint.

Thinking like me is just one way, not the only way.

Of course, in practice, it can be hard to accept our differences with others.

But expecting people to be just like us is a recipe for disappointment. Assuming people have the same abilities, desires, or preferences leaves little room for individuality.

“If it were me, I would…” is a phrase often used to imply that others should do as you do.

A “my way is best” or “my way is the only way” type of thinking does not build connection with others. It breeds conflict and resentment.

We are similar and not the same.

Different paths can lead to good outcomes.

Diversity is about being open to differences even when they are not familiar to you.

Source: Consider This, p. 73.

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her book, When Your Past is Hurting Your Present, author Sue Augustine encourages her readers to view failure as a teacher. Here’s an inspiring excerpt:

It might surprise you to know how many people fail before they reach their goals or experience success. Here is a list of people who were considered failures at some point in their lives:

Fred Astaire was described at an early screen test with the words, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little.”

Elvis Presley was fired after just one show at the Grand Ole Opry and told, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son!”

Albert Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read. He performed badly in almost all of his high-school courses. He flunked his college exams and was advised by a teacher to drop out of school. She said, “You’ll never amount to anything, Einstein.”

Louisa May Alcott, who authored Little Women and numerous other novels, was told by an editor she’d never write anything that had popular appeal.

The legendary tenor Enrico Caruso was told by a voice teacher that he couldn’t sing at all.

Leo Tolstoy (author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, among others) flunked out of college.

At age ten, famous artist Pablo Picasso stopped going to school because he was barely able to read or write. His father yanked him out of school and hired a tutor, but the tutor soon gave up and quit in disgust.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney, saying he lacked creativity and good ideas.

Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the navy as “unfit for service” until he flew over the North and South Poles.

What does all this mean to us? It means we are in good company when we have a flop or produce a dud now and then. It also means that mistakes, failure, and setbacks are not the end of the world. They certainly don’t signify that we aren’t capable of going on to accomplish great things.

Source: When Your Past is Hurting Your Present, pp. 170-171.