Sunday, January 10, 2010

A New Year, A New Day?






Ten days into the new year and it doesn't feel any different. For me, I try to take each day as new years day because in reality, each day is a new day...

I do however seem to reflect on the past year as the new year rolls in. In this I try to honestly analyze both the good and the bad in order to progress into the woman I want to be.

This past year was quite eventful for me. I learned a lot about myself and at the same time my once very clear path became blurred and left me feeling lost & unsure. I felt as though I failed, and it was hard for me to look past that. If there's one thing I know about myself, that is, I always think about the future. Even if my plans falls through, I always make long term plans. This year, some of my plans fell through... which lead me to a new path. It's funny how when you're younger, at least for me, I thought I would be somewhere completely different at my age. Here I am, going to be turning 25 this year, and not even close to where I envisioned I would be. At the same time, I am not that very same person who had those envisions years ago. I in-fact am quite different. My likes, dislikes, personality, wants, desires, & maturity has all very much changed which would probably have something to do with where I am at today.

"You are on the road to success when you realize failure is merely a detour." W.G.P.


I could analyze all day long what I should have done, why I didn't, etc. but instead I will focus each new day on what I WILL do to get to where I want to be each day. Instead of thinking long term goals, which I always tend to do, I am going to try something different and plan short term goals. Instead of 5-10 year plans, I will focus more on 1-3 year plans. I'd like to think of myself as an honest person, therefore there are some things I honestly can say I lack that I will work on this year. I will be applying changes to my daily life in hopes of progressing to be the best I can be.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein


xoxo,




T

Don't Focus on the Lost Hours of Yesterday...


I wanted to share an inspirational story that I recently read that provides you with a new perspective! Enjoy ;)



The Daffodil Principle


Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. "I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I follow wed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.



It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.



That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world .

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow", she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....

>> Until your car or home is paid off...
>> Until you get a new car or home...
>> Until your kids leave the house...
>> Until you go back to school...
>> Until you finish school...
>> Until you clean the house...
>> Until you organize the garage...
>> Until you clean off your desk...
>> Until you lose 10 lbs...
>> Until you gain 10 lbs...
>> Until you get married...
>> Until you have kids...
>> Until the kids go to school...
>> Until you retire...
>> Until summer...
>> Until spring...
>> Until winter...
>> Until fall...
>> Until you die...




There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.


Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!




Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.



xoxo,


T