Month: April 2011

On the Days I don’t feel like Smiling

jcladyluv

“Too often we jump to the conclusion that something is impossible simply because we cannot see the solution. No one knows enough to be a pessimist.”
~Wayne W Dyer 

I try to be optimistic in life because deep down I know that focusing on the negative is not going to help make any situation better.  Recently I’ve been having such a hard time with a lot of different things that I won’t burden any of you with, but nevertheless, I haven’t exactly been feeling positive about things.  I had a conversation last night with a friend that I haven’t talked to in a long time and every time that she would ask me about some aspect of my life it would happen to be one of the one’s in which things weren’t going so well and I just didn’t feel like faking optimism yesterday. 

She got on me about staying positive and stating that she believed that everything was going to turn out good for me and that there are great things in store.  My only response was that I wished that I could believe that right now.  She didn’t like to hear the negativity because frankly she was used to me always being the positive one and pumping her up but I had to just simply tell her that most days I believe that it’s going to be okay but today (yesterday really) I just don’t feel like putting on the act.  

They say you are supposed to fake it until you make it and most of the times I absolutely believe that statement to be true but what do you do on those days where you just don’t feel like smiling.  There are days when you just can’t fake it, and you can’t hide your frustration or your doubt and really you shouldn’t have to.  I am going to have those days when I can’t pretend that I believe everything is going to be okay.  There are going to be days when I won’t be able to smile as if I don’t feel like the walls are crashing down on me.      

On those days, where I feel completely defeated, and I feel like there isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel, I think about my daughter.  I think about all of the things that I want for her life and what examples I want to set for her.  I think about how much I love her and about how much of a blessing she is to me and that things have to come out okay because I have to make things okay for her.  I think about the determination that I know I have within me that I want her to gain and learn from.  I think about all of the times that I tell her it’s going to be okay when there’s something she gets discouraged about and how just as I tell her to never give up and always keep trying her best, the example I set for her can’t be anything less then that.  

On those days that I don’t feel like smiling, I think about how good God has been to me and how he will never let me down as long as I have faith in him and let him do his work.  I forget sometimes that not only do I have to put the work in, and put my faith in him, and hand over all of my burdens to him, but I have to remember to step aside and get out of his way and let God do his work.  On those days that I really don’t feel like putting on a smile, I have to remember to stop getting in God’s way and just let him work.  I remembered that today, and today I am smiling and there is nothing fake about it!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

 

Those Who Can, DO….

jcladyluv

“The word “can’t” makes strong people weak, blinds people who can see, saddens happy people, turns brave people into cowards, robs a genius of their brilliance, causes rich people to think poorly, and limits the achievements of that great person living inside us all.”

~ Robert T. Kiyosaki 

It is funny what a person will say can’t happen and what they can’t accomplish without having ever tried any of the things they swear they can’t do.  We always tell ourselves we can’t do this because we don’t have this or that but our resources are only limited because we keep them that way.  We all know how powerful words can be and you tend to believe what it is that you speak.  If we know this, then why is it that at the beginning of almost every challenge and obstacle in our lives is that word can’t? 

We can’t start that business that we want because we don’t have enough money.  We can’t get that job that we want because we don’t have a degree.  We can’t move to the area that we know we will thrive in because we, once again, don’t have the money.  We can’t start an exercise regimen to lose the weight we know we need to because we just don’t have enough time.  So when exactly are we going to start taking the word can’t out of our vocabulary?  

If you spend your whole life thinking about what it is you can’t do because what it is that you don’t have then how will you ever get to the other side of your wish list.  That list of things in life we promise ourselves to accomplish by a certain age.  Some of the most successful people in this world started with nothing and turned it into a whole world of opportunities that they not only opened up for themselves but that they opened up for the people following in their footsteps as well.  What would have happened if all Oprah had ever said to herself was that she can’t do it?  What would have happened if Donald Trump had said that he can’t create an empire?  

A large part of the reason that some people never see their goals become reality is because they keep telling themselves they can’t.  Instead of focusing on the negatives, the things we can not change, we need to gravitate towards the things that we can do something about.  So you don’t have enough money at this exact moment, so start putting aside a little at a time.  Eventually a little turns into a lot and will be exactly what you need.  Instead of always focusing on what it is you can’t do, start making a list of the things that you can do.  Imagine what would happen if we just start telling ourselves that we can.  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

If Your Spirit is Willing

jcladyluv

“The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.”
~ K. Okakaura 

One of the major things that tend to hold us back in our lives is resistance. We tend to over analyze situations so much that we end up only seeing what the negative would be and totally ignoring the positive.  We, in a sense, resist living freely and choose to move more cautiously through life which only hinders us.  Now while caution is, at times, a good thing, it closes the door to countless opportunities that may come your way in life that require you to throw caution to the wind.  Sometimes we just need to step out on faith and say yes instead of no because if all we ever do is say no when opportunity knocks at our door then eventually opportunity will stop knocking. 

Our spirits are always willing participants to new adventures and to opening new doors but sometimes we have to actually listen with our hearts instead of always letting our mind control everything.  We can’t over think things and talk ourselves out of going for everything we can grab in life or else we’ll keep coming up with nothing.  We have to sometimes do the things that we never thought we would do and go the places that we always said we would never go because somewhere in those things that we never do lies a possible opportunity that can take us to another level in life.  We strive to move forward in life but moving forward involves allowing the move to happen and not resisting so much that you have to be dragged kicking and screaming.     

We grow through our experiences in our lives but if we never say yes and allow ourselves to actually experience life then we don’t grow, we remain stunted.  When I think about how many opportunities for growth that I have missed out on by being so resistant and unwilling to say yes and experience something foreign to me I start to have so many regrets about what could be and about where I could be in my life. But what’s done is done and I can’t change that but I can be more willing now. I have promised myself that for every time that I say no to something I will find three other times where I will say yes.  I don’t want to miss out on my blessings because I was too afraid to say anything else but no.  Life is too short for me to have to look back on what I’ve done in life and have to think I could’ve done so much more if I had just been more willing.  After all what’s the worst that could happen?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter