Month: June 2015

I love finding quotes that inspire me and sharing them with my friends. Maybe they will inspire you too.

– “Wake up every morning as if something wonderful is about to happen.”

– “Be strong when everything seems to be going wrong. Believe that tomorrow is another day. Believe in miracles.”

– “Do more of what makes YOU happy.”

– ” Success is not accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing.”

– ” The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”

I’ve been talking to my neighbor about life in general…
My neighbor is a retired woman who had lost her son last summer, and she takes care of her handicapped daughter. I wonder how her world might look. Is it gray, blue or pink? She doesn’t seem to have the same questions as I have. She just lives the same day over and over with unchanged exuberance. So, her mother told me about how she went shopping at Wall-Mart in the morning, paid for her groceries and left the card in front of the store to go and bring her car. She didn’t take it with her because it was raining and, by the time she returned, someone had stolen the cart. She looked at peace when she said that maybe the person who took it needed more than her.
The episode made me wonder how many people have to steal because they are hungry, or the little money they have doesn’t permit them to buy everything they want. Probably in that cart it was something they desired so badly that they didn’t even care they’ve used someone’s life savings. Not too long ago I’ve come across someone who lives in a country where they are asked to lie, cheat or steal to meet the ends, where the light is cut off every other day. The lack of opportunities transformed them into professional liars. Not a very honorable profession, but for them it is work.
Today, I look at everything I have, and I’m grateful for my health, for my job, for the people who are part of my life. Everything is precious, but we don’t realize it until we meet someone less fortunate than us, someone who knows tomorrow it’ll be just another dark day when they’ll have to survive with the same bowl of rice as the day before, when they‘ll have to perform the same job, the less honorable work.
Let’s be grateful for everything we have. Let’s practice kindness, share the surplus because we never know when we will become angels in someone’s life.

How many times we haven’t been tempted to give up! I know I had. Then, I remembered life wasn’t meant to be only butterflies. It supposed to give us difficulties so that we can find solutions. Every day we face challenges, we comb through the knots of our tangled lives, and we discover that the biggest thing happening to us becomes insignificant for the others. Each day gives us the opportunity to wear different hats, as parents, employees or employers, friends or children. We manage to create a schedule that works for us, to intertwine other people’s plans hoping to make everyone happy. Well, we will never reach the perfect state where everyone will be happy with our decisions. But the important thing is that we’ve tried. We gave the others the chance to be heard.
Sometimes we need to consider the things that bring us happiness. They might hurt the others because they don’t see the world through our eyes. God created us unique, so the people around us, family, friends or colleagues would have a hard time understanding that everyone has the right to pursue own dreams. You don’t mean to offend your friends by refusing an invitation because you had that important thing to finish. You set a deadline, and you just can’t stop. It doesn’t mean you don’t love them, or you don’t want to spend your time with them. But a day has not enough hours. So, they stop answering your phone calls or your messages because they are upset by your selection. It hurts when they do that. But you have a big dream, and you can’t let it slip through your fingers. So, you forgive them because you love your friends. One day they will understand.
Then, it is your family. Children want to go places, play with you, and watch movies. And you have to stop what you’re doing because they are precious, and because time flies. Your babies become teenagers, teenagers become adults, and, before you know it, they have their families, and you wonder when it all happened. Absorbed by your dreams you neglected the dreams of the loved ones. Next, your parents miss you, and they want to spend time with you. And knowing everything is temporary, you would do your best to accommodate their wishes because you love them. They don’t understand that even if you didn’t call every day, you’ve never ceased loving them or thinking about them. They gave you life and guided you the best way they could, so you owe it to your parents to hit the break on your busy schedule and visit them. They would be happy you’ve done it.
These stops are the small clouds we encounter every day. Not all of them are gray; some are blue, and some are white. All you have to do is to think back at the times you had been in an airplane. Didn’t it rise above the clouds? Maybe it was a dangerous storm when you’ve left, and you’ve traveled through a thunderous weather for a while. It seemed as if you would have a bumpy ride throughout the trip. But something had happened. The plane rose above the skies, and all you could see it was the bluest expanse ever. The clouds were way beneath you, and you were riding with the sun.
This is how life works. There are clouds, and rain and thunders for a while, and when you discover the power to leave everything behind you would travel in the sun and with the sun for a good part of the trip. Then, another storm will come, and you’ll have to find the strength to make it through because you know there is good weather on the other side.
All you have to do is to rise above the clouds.