Motivational Monday #4

Hello Readers! It is Monday yet again!! :) I am thankful to get another Monday under my belt. How about you? So I asked on my Facebook page if there were any areas that you may need some encouraging on and I got some great responses! So I have been hard at work getting together some great material to help you all in your struggles! Now don't skip to the section that applies to you. Read it all because there is some great material that can help you all. :)

The first topic I would like to talk about is job loss. This is something so many people are dealing with right now and in this economy it is a scary thing to be without a job. Un-employment only last so long and let's face it, its not like it's enough to cover every need. Whenever I complain about having to work my husband reminds me to be thankful that I have a job. So many people are applying for job after job with no luck. I can imagine how frustrating it is and how you worry about how you will pay for the bills once the well runs dry. I know it is easier said then done, but keep faith! The good Lord will always provide for you. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Matthew 6:25; Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:24; "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5. Always fight your battles on your knees! Strengthen your faith in Him and keep it. He has never broken a promise. He will pull you out of this struggle, but in His time.
I also gathered some great quotes to keep you encouraged during this struggle.

-"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." Moliere
-"All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune." Henry David Thoreau
-"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it." Helen Keller
-"Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and my heart." Myla Kabat Zenn
-"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for the journey." Kenji Miyazawa
-"God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them." John Aughey
-"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles." Charlie Chaplan

Here is a great website I found that has great tips for dealing with job loss: http://ellen-brown.com/blog/category/career-transition/

The second topic I want to talk about is about being overwhlemed with responsibility. This can apply to a stressful job, being a parent or caregiver, etc.  As a mom, I have learned I am no good to my kids if I am stressed and overwhelemed. I snap, I cry, I want to hide in my room!! hehe If you are a parent, you know what I mean. The same can apply to any situation where you get overwhlemed by the responsibility of it. You cannot constantly go, go, go without a breather. You have to make time for yourself. Don't tell me there is NO time for "me time". “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” –Life’s Little Instruction Book. Now what?! I thought so. ;) There are simple things you can do to that don't take much time to refresh yourself. Put your duties aside at least an hour before bed and do something quiet and relaxing. Read a chapter each night in a book you have been meaning to read. Take a nice relaxing bubble bath. I also find that if I get up an hour before everyone else I can sit and enjoy my coffee in the silence and prepare myself to tackle the days activities. Doing these little things can help you be the best you can be for your job, children, family member, etc. Another thing to remember is you are appreciated. People are not always great at showing how much they appreciate you, but just look at what you bring to the table and how difficult it would be for others if you didnt do your part.

-"The price of greatness is responsibility." Sir Winston Churchhill
-"Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward curcumstances." Benjamin Franklin
-"When you pass that test of keeping a good attitude even when you don't like it, then you are sowing a seed for God to take you where He wants you to go." Joel Osteen

The last thing for today is relationships and how your attitude can affect them. From my own personal experiences I know that past relationships or circumstances set your attitude for future relationships. This may not be the case for all of you, but I am going out on a limb and saying i think you can relate.  I had to learn that my husband was a different person from the ones who have hurt me in the past. I could not hold what someone else had done to me over his head. And you may not think you are comparing them to a past experience, when deep down you really are. You are setting them up for failure and it's not fair to them. If you realize you have a great person in your life, but you have a negative attitude that keeps coming between your relationship, then its time for change. A change in your attitude. You have to let go of the past before you let it run your future. Your attitude is totally up to you! You control it.
Sometimes there is something missing. In order to let someone love you, then you have to love yourself first. I have said this to many people so many times and it goes in one ear and out the other. Today a page I follow on Facebook posted a picture with a message and I would like to share that message. The page is Lessons Learned In Life and this is what they shared:

 Stop thinking you need someone - get it out of your head. Just live your life, beautifully. Make yourself happy because you’re never promised that you’ll find someone who can do that for you. & even if you do find that person - you could loose them. Stop depending on anyone else in your life to determine your happiness and start looking in the mirror at the most important one. Just be patient, & in time you’ll come across someone that feels right - & without even knowing it you will have picked someone who compliments you, rather than trying to find someone who completes you.

Some of you may have that person you feel can complete you in your life but you are struggling to hold onto them. I was actually talking to a wise woman this past week about this very subject and she put it into words that explained it perfectly. She said you must first love yourself. If you don't know who you are, and are not happy with yourself, then how can you ever be happy with someone else?

-"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." Buddha
- “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” Charles Swindoll
-“Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” -C.S. Lewis
-“By changing nothing, nothing changes.” -Tony Robbins

I hope something I have said today sticks with some of you and encourages you in whatever situation you may be dealing with. I am sorry it took so long to get it up today, but my kids begged for me to read to them this morning and I didnt just want to throw anything into this blog. I hope it was worth the wait for you! I want to leave you with these last few quotes I came across this week that are pretty eye opening.

-"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense."Ralph Waldo Emerson

-“Someone was hurt before you, wronged before you, hungry before you, frightened before you, beaten before you, humiliated before you, raped before you… yet, someone survived… You can do anything you choose to do.” –Maya Angelou

-“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” -Mary Anne Radmacher

<3
Audrey