A little inverse motivation

Sometimes all you need is for someone to tell you no. I call it inverse motivation because the word "no" backwards spells "on." Basically, under the correct circumstances, the word no can stimulate one's mind to turn on the power of freewill and become devoted to excellence and success in the task at hand.

Granted, no means no unless the person telling you "no" has no power or authority over the project. The lesson to be learned is this: consider the weight of one's opinion before adding it into your suitcase. You do not want to lug around a suitcase filled with someone else's stuff. Only carry what you need and leave the rest behind. Find the motivation, from the good or the bad to accomplish whatever you have set your mind to. Most importantly, take it all to God in prayer. Allow him to have the final word.

Isn't it strange that the first person to speak always seems correct until another person speaks up and puts him or her to shame. Maybe you recognize this one: the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Of course, that was in reference to the end times. Perhaps it is time put the foolishness to end. Flip the script on em'!

Take this word of wisdom and find a little inverse motivation in the destructive comments of your naysayers.

Turn on the power of freewill and live free in God's will.

Additional Words of Wisdom

Remember that one door closes so another may open. Rejection from one person opens you an opportunity to be accepted by another person. Sometimes you may be the person saying no. It can be spiritually healthy to practice discernment on a regular basis. "No" does not equal bad. You just don't want to be accepted by someone who doesn't strongly believe in you or what you do.

Interesting Read About Free Will - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Power of No -  Self Growth

Dealing with Rejection -  Professional Counseling

Ready for a miracle.

Have you ever been in a position where you were praying for a miracle? Maybe you were actively communicating your wishes to God in prayer, or maybe you were passively suggesting the idea in your thoughts. Either way, it may have been one of the many moments in your life when you believed that it would be impossible for you to accomplish a certain task. Maybe you are in the process of praying for a miracle right now.

I hope not to disappoint the reader, but I do not have any tips or secrets to help you stumble upon a miracle. The reason I am writing this post is because I have personally experienced a couple of miracles recently and it inspired me to write out about it. Not specifically the miracle itself, but the lessons that I learned from the experience.

It is important that we define what a miracle is so that we can understand the need for one. Dictionary.com defines a miracle as "such an effect or event manifesting or considered as a work of God." Quite simply, I define a miracle as something that was exactly what one needed, but totally unexpected and without reason. For example, I had a 1700 page paper to write for one of my classes, but I was sick in bed for two days. With less than 24 hours to write the paper I was in need of a miracle. I was prepared to stay up all night writing this paper; however, my professor unexpectedly had to go out of town and decided to delay the due date by four days. I considered this a miracle because it was exactly what I needed.

Second, we must understand that God is greater than any problem we may face, and God will not put more on us than we can bear. This means that we must always understand the conditions under which we work. If God is for us than who or what can be against us? If you ever feel like you are facing an impossible task, than it is most likely that you are dealing with an undisclosed miracle, but you must have faith to see it come to manifestation. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. (Do you know where to find those sentences in the Bible?)

Third, you cannot complain. What good is it to ask for a miracle if you are going to mumble despicable things under your breath. God is only interested in messengers who will deliver his words as they are. He does not want us to change his word or alter their meanings. For example, I experienced a miracle one week where God gave me more time to do what I had to do. The next week I experienced a second miracle where God gave me unexpected strength to work through the night on another essay and wake up early for work without any feelings of exhaustion. Miracles can come any way that God pleases so we must be ready and willing to take it as it comes.

The final thing that we must ask ourselves before committing to a prayer for a miracle is, "Am I ready for a miracle?" Am I prepared to face an impossible task? If the answer is yes, than you should keep on keeping on my friend. Remember, if the task is impossible but necessary you are most likely being set-up by God for a miracle. Open your heart and mind, and be ready to receive it.

The Burden of Greatness

People say that they want to be the best. I guess there's nothing wrong with that but I wonder if it's emotionally healthy to desire to always be in a position where you are the benchmark for success. Furthermore, I truly believe that people who actually are the best did not gain that position from mere desire to be labeled as the best at what they do. I'm pretty sure that some people were born into tough situations that required them to be the best at what they do or else they face the consequence of not being the best.

Isn't this the definition of the term best: better than everything else in comparison? This means that to be the best you have to be better than everyone you are comparable to. It's a title of great accomplishment. I can only imagine what thoughts the man who is the best sniper in the world has in his mind. He might say something like, "I am the best because otherwise I would be dead and so would many other friends of mine. This is not something that I desire to be the best at but it is a requirment in order to sustain life in my community."

I'm sure that most people are a little more realistic and want to be the best singer or the best cook or even the best driver. I wonder what motivates a person to be the best at anything and on what scope would you consider a person to be the best. Are they the best in their town or the best in the world? No matter the details I'm sure it requires a high level of dedication, passion and focus. To be the best at anything must require something extra besides just the wont of a title.

Once again, I would argue that the best are born and raised into the title as a mode of survival. Maybe the best singer in the world is the best singer because as a child she sang songs to hide all of the pain and hurt of a broken household of lies, drugs and sex. And so now she continues to sing on a global level because people need something as beautiful as her voice to console them in the midst of crisis and poverty. Maybe she would prefer to be just an everyday joe with a normal voice who sings songs to pass the time of day; but she was not born into mediocrity.

The best are by no means mediocre. They are not allowed to be mediocre. The best are bound to terms of greatness and any less would cause them to be suffocated in pity. To them, greatness is a responsibility, a burden that not all may carry. I am sure that God has called all of us to be great in some aspect of our lives. My greatness shines through my smile and demeanor. Where does your greatness exist?

Tears of Lamentation

I am definately a guy that is always ready for a good laugh and a happy moment but I recognize the importance of lamentation and prayer when necessary. It is healthy to smile and be happy. But it is not okay to overlook the sorrow of pain and hurt. There is a balance that must exist between these two emotions and they are based in behavior and attitude.

Personally, I have a deep relationship with God. I trust in God no matter what the circumstances are and I have lived a life that speaks in concert with that statement. And it is not very often that I am found with my face buried deep in a pillow crying away my hurt but when I do cry I shed tears of lamentation to heal a broken soul.

I write this post without mention of any of the personal attacks that I have survived in this current month or even the past months or those to come. I share these thoughts only to serve its purpose in my blog of Wisdom. But to just make note that less than 30 minutes prior to the writing of this post I was deep in my sadness over a matter of small significance. I call it small now only because tomorrow it will matter very little because God is the alpha and omega. And if I could make only one final statement in my last breath that is exactly what I would say, "God is alpha and omega."

"I just cried and when the water ran down my cheeks the tears were so warm because they came straight from my heart. I felt my soul vomit a little as well. My spirit was vexed. My hope is in the Lord every step of the way. #prayerofhope" - My status update from Facebook 7:38pm

 

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Counting The Value of a Moment in Seconds

For every great event in history there is an innumerable amount of ideas, thoughts, actions and failures that create a moment worth remembering. People remember when History was made but they don't consider the stories that made it all possible. Maybe it is a matter of being too busy to count the seconds when you're looking at the hours pass. For those of us who feel as if we are growing weary and the clock has only begun to tick we should focus on every passing second rather than allowing ourselves to become restless with slowly progressing breath taking moments.

Life is an event that develops over many years but ends quicker than a moment can be remembered. Seconds are the smallest unit of time measurement that we can easily count without losing focus of what it means to exist. If you count enough seconds you will eventually count the minutes. And after you count a couple of minutes you will realize how quickly time passes when you're not paying attention to the passing of the day. And once you learn to place priority on the passing of a day you will learn the value of one second because one second is all it takes to beging the next day. And once you learn the value of a second you will learn the value of a great moment that can be remembered forever in the historical timeline of life because one day that great moment shall come to pass. And all of life's events can be summed up by just one breathtaking moment called death in less time than a second can be counted.

Count each second. Enjoy every minute. Improve every hour. Make the most of each day. You will be remembered for the life that you lived. Not the one that you didn't. Because after you die, life is but a moment remembered.


P.S. For those who seek to learn more, there is always more written than what can be read in a paragraph. Reading between the lines is truly the path of knowledge hidden to fools and revealed to the wise because not all are willing to do so. Wisdom is found in doing what others are not willing to do.

In Times of Happiness Be Happy

I will make this one short and simple but full of wisdom for the years to come. Happiness is a state of mind that we create from within ourselves. People have the ability to decide what will create happiness and what will create sadness. This is a very key concept behind the wisdom that you must focus on for the remainder of this year in order to truly find success in your life.

I will not quote the bible but you can find this statement in the book of Ecclesiastes: There is a time for everything and for everything there is a time. Although we have the ability to create happiness in our mind we do not have the ability to create happiness. Happiness is simply a state of mind.

There is a girl that I used to date who told me after our harsh break up that at the end of the day she must do whatever makes her happy because that is what is important. And she suggested that I do the same and even gave me examples of others who lived by the same rule. I responded to her, "Life is not about creating happiness for one's self. If anything, life is about doing what is right. Be happy in times of happiness but be sad in times of sadness." I believe that this girl made a decision to be a nasty human being with poor life choices because she was concerned for her happiness and although she did what made her happy she did not create happiness. She simply turned a time of sadness into a happy moment for herself. At the end of the day she was happy but at the end of the week she was unhappy again.

Because happiness is a state of mind, do we have the ability to turn sadness into happiness? But if we turn sadness into happiness will we also turn happiness into sadness? And if there is no sadness in life is there such a thing as happiness? Is it possible that life without sadness is death? I personally believe that a life without balance is no life at all as the Lord abhors dishonest scales.

Once again, if I may refer to the book of Ecclesiastes (only for the sake of wisdom) time is cyclical. All things occur in seasons. It will be hot in summer and cold in winter. The other two seasons are a time of transition where one day's outcome does not always measure out close to the next. This shall hold true for every living thing from the time of birth until the time of death.

No man can create happiness unless he also has the ability to create the four seasons. I would say that it is a wise decision to be happy in times of happiness and be sad in times of sadness but always be content with the season because without it there is no year of wisdom.

Please do check out this blog that I found online, Happiness in times of crises. I did not obtain the topic from the blog but it closely matches the thoughts that I have shared.

How should we view happiness? Is there a secret to life that creates an eternal smile? Is happiness truly the meaning of life or is Righteousness the bottom line? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section. As always people will do what they want to do and the consequences will be their own earnings. I only aim to find truth in wisdom and share it unconditionally with those who will partake.

From Meditation and Prayer to the pages of my heart

I consider myself to be a fairly wise young man and these are just a few thoughts that I meditated on today as life has been presenting me with difficult situations.

Be grateful for the things that you have. Don't be in a rush to meet your future. Many people say life is short but in retrospect life is long. Don't allow the bad to outweigh the good. Always maintain a balance. If too much good happens at once than you should expect an overdose of bad. Even batteries operate on positive and negative.

Do a better job of listening to people who repeat themselves often. Many times we tune them out because we've heard them speak before but repetition creates a pattern and patterns are predictable which helps you prepare for things to come. Remember that life is cyclical. The sun rose today and it will rise again tomorrow. If you miss the first wave be ready for the second wave and know that there is a third wave right behind you.

Do your best to remember people for the good and the bad. Everyone makes mistakes so it is not okay for you to continue looking down on others. When a person does something wrong you should discuss it and disclose your emotions only to people who will properly help you justify your feelings. Give yourself time to understand the entire situation from all perspectives and when opportunity presents itself allow yourself to overcome with a new appreciation for life. Also, never place anyone higher than the heavens. Man should not become an idol to other men nor should any creation become an idol. Otherwise you create a false image that cannot be replicated. Every man and creature has a place and you should not move ancient boundary stones lest the Lord take up the case.

People don't remember what you do as much as they remember how you make them feel. In every thing that you do always try to make people feel better than they did before they interacted with you. This is a very difficult task to do expecially when the people you interact with have made you feel bad in the past. But if the world is going to go from good to great than it is necessary for us to wash the plate clean and serve a fresh dish. If you do good only for yourself than you may learn that you are doing bad for everyone else.

I don't have all of the answers nor do I know enough questions to ask. I am a young man who prays and meditates and places myself in a position to receive the best the Universe has to offer. My hope is that others will follow as I follow. Consider this a true statement that shall be written in history, "If it wasn't for you I would have given up a long time ago."

Aaron Harris