Be Inspired ~ Look Again

Be Inspired from Annette Bridges

You can find inspiration in everything. And if you can’t, look again. -Paul Smith Click To Tweet

Do you believe this?

Look again may be the most instructive and helpful suggestion anyone could make to you.

There may be many times in your life when inspiration, peace of mind, joy, calm … can feel in short supply or no where to be found.

The truth is LOOKING AGAIN with a hungry heart longing to be fed coupled with an expectancy that the inspiration or peace of mind or joy or calm can indeed be found and felt is precisely what will help you discover what you’re longing for.

Your inner compass will help you find it. Trust it. Be willing to look again. Be open. Ready to be surprised. 

 

Take a deep breath.

What you need is present. In everything and everywhere. Even in the unexpected. Or even in the unlikely.

 

Look again, my friends. Look again.

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Be Inspired ~ Try to Love the Questions

Be Inspired from Annette Bridges

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. -Rainer Maria Rilke Click To Tweet

I’ve always loved asking myself questions and have never been one to avoid them. So when I read a phrase like “try to love the questions themselves” my first reaction might be “no problem!”

The first part of this quote is another matter. “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.” Patience has never been my greatest asset in my humble opinion and yet when does our life not demand patience of us?

Where my impatience happens is when my heart knows what I need and outside circumstances keep me from moving forward and taking action.

Yet if I have no control over a situation, there really is no other alternative than to embrace patience along with acceptance.

I guess my lesson and suggestion to myself and anyone else these days is this. Be patient with yourself always. Things in your life are not always in your control. Time may be required for solutions to be realized. There may be things that go unsolved for a season.

I am accepting that grace is needed. Give yourself patience and loving care. Be gentle and tender with your heart when it is weary and uncertain. Welcome the questions. Love them. There will be a question that leads to receiving the answer you long for.

I’m also learning to accept the idea that some answers to questions may not be what I want or wish for. These are usually the questions that involve loved ones. Sometimes I tend to make questions that really belong to others my own. Their answers may not be what I want them to be. But their journey in life is theirs – not mine. Another lesson I’m learning to accept.

I guess when talking with your heart and considering what is unsolved in your heart, we need to be sure the questions are ones that are about us and for us – not others. I think I tend to give more attention to the needs of others and confuse their needs with my own. They are not the same my friends.  Perhaps the word that needs the most pondering in this quote is YOUR.

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Be Inspired ~ Question Everything

Be Inspired from Annette Bridges

I think that old saying about curiosity killing the cat is way wrong and in fact, there’s even lots of statistics to prove it. But I don’t want to bore you with that type of info. But if you’re curious….google up on it yourself!  🙂 

I’m a BIG question everything kind of gal on pretty much every type of topic!!

I don’t think of myself as a skeptic with all my questioning. But I’m definitely not quick to believe as fact, for example, something I hear or read reported by some news agency or something a politician says.

I question everything!!

Albert Einstein once said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” -Albert Einstein Click To Tweet

Questioning everything is part of what it means to be passionately curious. Being inquisitive and a good listener are also part of that definition. Willing to leave the familiar or routine also becomes part of the equation when you are passionately curious. You don’t live your life as anything is set in stone. You don’t find making changes difficult.

I like to think of myself as on an enjoyable quest to discover, learn and grow.

And asking questions helps keep me fueled by the desire to know more, to want to do more and try new ideas and experiences.

Now I can’t say this also describes my partner in life so I don’t get to fully live by my passionate curiosity. But nothing stops me from questioning everything.

And apparently statistics say…this is keeping my brain healthy and makes me happier, too.

How about you? Do you question everything? If not, you might try it. It’s good for you!

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Be Inspired ~ How Do You Speak The Truth Into Your Own Heart?

Be Inspired from Annette Bridges

How do you speak the truth into your own heart?

For me, this question has a couple of different meanings. 

One way of speaking the truth is affirming and declaring what God knows, what God sees as his beloved child.

There are times when I need to speak the truth that God knows and says to my heart. Those times when I feel sad, alone, sick, overwhelmed…

It’s a powerful journaling practice to free-write everything you think God knows and would say to you in a situation. Write in first person like God is speaking directly into your heart. Try it! I suspect you’ll find God’s truth very revealing, reviving and healing.

 

Another way of speaking the truth has to do with listening to our feelings and being honest with ourselves.

This truth I find the hardest to know and speak.

However, we need to live in our truth. And we can’t do that when we are not honest with our self.

We need to live in our truth. And we can’t do that when we are not honest with our self. -Annette Bridges Click To Tweet

I believe when we are unhappy, depressed, confused, frazzled…we are probably not living in our truth and not speaking our truth into our heart. So our heart feels off balance.

I’ve learned a lot in the past couple of years about being honest with myself. When I was desperately feeling the need for help, I’ve learned to admit it and ask for it. When I longed to spend time doing something that I loved, I’ve given myself those opportunities even if only for a little while each day. I’ve spent more time journaling, asking myself questions and writing down the answers my heart spoke to me.

Speaking the truth into our heart first requires listening to better understand our truth. I seem to be hungry all the time these days to know my truth and live my truth and most definitely speak my truth into my heart.

 

The more I succeed at this, the greater is my peace and satisfaction.

How would you answer the question my friend? How do you speak the truth into your own heart? What does this mean to you?

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Be Inspired ~ Love What You Do – Don’t Settle

Be Inspired from Annette Bridges

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it, keep looking. Don’t settle.” -Steve Jobs Click To Tweet

Steve Jobs shared many motivating and encouraging statements in his talks. Among them is “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

I hope I will hear from some of my blog readers about this!

The March 1st journaling prompt in my Color Your World Journal Club was “If you could write a letter to your 15-year old self, what would you say?” These words by Steve Jobs is what came to mind to include in such a letter.

But what about folks, like me, in their mid-life years who may still be in search of what they love to do? What would you say to them?

I am reaching the conclusion about my own life and loving what I’m doing has become a definite requisite! Life is feeling way too short to spend precious days not feeling satisfied or happy.

There are things that I do that make my cup run over with joy and contentment. And I’m concluding that it’s those activities that need to be the center of my work and how I spend my days.

Have you found what you LOVE to do? Whether that’s what earns you money or not, do you spend a little time every day doing what you love?

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