Monthly Archives: February 2019

How do we make things?  First, we have an idea.  Maybe we put it on paper (or electronic paper), maybe we discuss it with others, maybe we blog about it. But first that “thing” is a thought before it becomes a thing – we create it in our mind and then we create it as a thing; essentially we create it twice.

The same happens in our minds.  First we have a thought and then that thought becomes an experience.  Sometimes we create a positive thought and that becomes our experience, other times, we might create a less positive thought, one that we obsess over, worry about, resent, become angry about.  Sometimes the thought consumes us and it becomes reality.

Be aware of your thoughts and what they will create.  Hold on to the thoughts that create something great in your life and let go of the thoughts that become a reality you don’t desire.  If you are going to use your precious time and energy, create something that makes your life better, not something that wears you down.

Remember: everything is created twice , first in our minds and then in our lives. If you don’t want it in your life, don’t create it in your mind.

I had a very wise friend who had done a lot of work on herself. We used to talk constantly about my struggles and, having gone through a lot, she had a lot of advice. One day she gave me an analogy that has stuck with me since that day and when my head starts going crazy, I often remind myself of what she told me:

Just because someone tosses you a ball, doesn’t mean you have to catch it.

As I sit here now, I can visualize the ball coming at me and instinctively, I put out my hands to catch it. It’s natural. It’s typical. It’s what we all do. If you see something coming at you, you catch it.

But what she was trying to tell me is that we can resist that instinct. We can say “hey, I have a choice. I don’t have to catch the ball just because it’s thrown to me. I can choose to let it drop to the ground. I can even choose to block it, smack it away or tip it to someone else. I have a choice.”

So when someone says “don’t drop the ball” or when someone tosses a ball to you and you don’t feel like playing, make a choice that works for you and catch the ball only if you want to. You have a choice.

Under my picture in my high school yearbook read Carpe Diem. I was smart, driven and wise beyond my years and wanted to say something that I thought truly represented me, something that captured my personality and how I would live my life.

Carpe diem was the beginning of three decades of thinking about how I would live instead of really living!. And now, decades later, I’m still trying to figure out when my dream will begin and how to make my life much more worth living.

Live for the day for you’ll never know what tomorrow will bring? Not in my world. How about “dwell in the past, have a miserable outlook on the future and forget today matters at all?” I’m not sure I can translate that into Latin, but it’s the caption I’d surely place under my picture now. Sad, but true.

But that can change if I think it can, I believe it can and I make it happen.

Let the journey begin for today is all we really have.  Time to drop the past and stop worrying about the future and start living instead of just thinking about living.

Carpe Diem!