2 things that I got out of this article.
1. It's quite amazing on how the dead continues to shift the thinking of the living, that's what I think they meant by legacy.
2. A positive attitude to life is important, determining the outcome given a scenario. Having said that, it can be difficult to maintain that positive outlook hence discipline of keeping in that state is also an important factor.
Never the less it is never about the parts but it is more of synergy from the sum of parts - to my present understanding, they are "Attitude. Beliefs. Action" Each is an important component and together they form the basis of success.
--
The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.
Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, produces the intensity of our activity and predicts the quality of the result we receive, is our attitude.
Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.
No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.
If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.
If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.
Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.
One of my favourite prayer of all times
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next
Amen
I recall this mass where the Father told us this anecdote
There once was a flood where all people reached safely except for one man.
This man climbed onto his roof top with the water gushing through his home below.
A helicopter saw him, flew over his head and tried hanging down a leader for him to climb, but the man shouted "I'm okay, go and save someone else more in need than me. The lord will save me." So the helicopter flew away.
The water continued to rise and is lapping his feets. This time a rescue boat came to him and again he shouted "Save someone else more in need than me. The lord WILL save me." The boat sped off.
The water is now dangerously deep by his knees as another helicopter came by to rescue him. Unsurprising on cue, the man shouted "Go! The lord will save me" The helicopter left reluctantly.
The rain continued to pour and eventually drowned the man.
The man's soul reached the heaven and saw God. In a confused state, he asked God "God, I have lived the life of a faithful so I'm puzzled why did you not save me?" God replied irritably "For goodness sake, I have sent you two helicopters and a boat but you have ignored them!"
A lot of times, we pray for help from the lord, praying for wisdom, praying for opportunities and some praying for financial needs. Yet, most of us fail to realized the opportunities that God has already presented to us - it can be an opportunity which we may reject thinking that we are not ready for, perhaps a wonderful person whom we find not worthy of and maybe a bulk money from nowhere. Alright, the last example might not be suitable since it touches the boundary of morals.
The main idea is, we fail to realized or grab hold the opportunities that are already made present to us in one way or another from the higher being!
Think hard on the opportunities that you had missed out so far. Pray for the wisdom to recognize the furture opportunities and be present to what we are doing in live.
God's help is always around you but are you ready for god's help?
As I am stepping into my 4th decade in life, I just realized that how much things have changed - most of it due to what technologies have shaped us - instant this, instant that. It just made me wonder, how much thinking am I actually doing?
I think it is time for me to take a step back, to stop following that river of information, less I drown in them. Timeout, reflect and to consider what is important to us, 5 years down the road, 10 years down the road or even longer. And focus my energy on that. It is never too late to dream and take actions, on another hand, time wake for no one.
Focus and move on. *Tick Tock*
