Don't

I saw a dozen "STOP" signs yesterday.  And not one “GO” sign.  Hmmm.

Everywhere we turn, someone is telling us “DON’T”.

When I was younger, I heard …

“Don’t buy that saw.  You’ll cut off your finger.”

“Leave that alone.  You don’t know ‘nothin about machinery.”

“Don’t show off.”

“Don’t touch that machine.  You might ruin something.”

Well, perhaps it is time for us – you and me – to buck the tide a bit more.  I don’t live on "DON’T" Place any longer.  I live on “CAN DO” Lane.

I’ve found a whole passel of stuff that pleases me, and that I CAN do, so that is where I live now.

You see, I’m a bit thirsty, and in order to quench my thirst I have to take a drink from a few wells along the way. 

~I drink daily from some great books and learn from minds that are larger than my own.

~I get up early every day because I need the morning quiet.  My mind needs this retreat time and space.

~I think a lot about where my strengths lie.  I move toward those ideals.  Even if I can’t do something now, I still work toward it.  Case in point – I’m starting a serious walk toward launching a weekly podcast.  I don’t know much now, but watch out.  I CAN learn.  Here I go.

Anymore, I look for the “YES” in life … the “Come on in.”

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Something Will Always Happen

… and when it does, we learn how to handle whatever it is we face.

We LEARN!

   We are resilient.

      We get back on the horse.

I’ve never been properly prepared for the major catastrophes that have come along in my life.  Are we ever?  And yet I’ve survived them.  Bankruptcy, divorce, job loss and job change, death of family members, an economy gone haywire and a ton more of uninvited occurrences. 

And with each one comes a lesson.  With each one comes an opportunity to see the good and strengthen one’s ability to handle adversity.

Do you see how resilient we are as growing people?  This post is not about ten steps on how to overcome adversity.  It IS about the look-back after the fact and a reflection on our ability to overcome. 

We are overcomers! 

               We are conquerors!

We didn’t ask for the setbacks, the derailments of life.  But surely as I’m here and you are reading this, we are overcomers. 

WE ARE OVERCOMERS!

Pause for a moment and let that sink in. 

You have your sources of help, your support team, your strong arms that you resort to just as I do when the awful happens.  And we get through it.

And we have our faith, our spiritual source. 

So, onward and upward. 

Whatever happens today … we rally our team and we face it head on.

Because WE CAN!

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Foolish People

Beware!  You might go crazy if you read any further.  Dangerous thoughts abound in here.

I want to be counted in the ranks of the foolish ones.  Foolish individuals are often the ones who do the impossible. 

Mother Theresa was perhaps a foolish one.  Who would go and live in poverty with the sick and dying, and find joy in pressing a cold cloth to a fevered brow, or delight in emptying bedpans for one who cannot get out of bed?  Who would give her life to those who are dying? 

Some might say ‘only a fool would do that.’  And yet she did.  And she changed the world.

John was considered a fool.  He wanted us to go into space, to travel beyond the bounds of earth.  And so, we tried for many years.  We spent millions of dollars.  The nay-sayers threw up every objection possible.  “It will cost too much.  Our bodies can’t stand that kind of force.  It’s too dangerous.  But someone might get killed?” 

And he kept at it.  And we succeeded, as a nation and as a people.  Some might say John F. Kennedy was a visionary.  He was most certainly considered a fool.  And we did it anyway.

Foolish people see the invisible.  They also are the ones who accomplish the impossible.

Do you have a wild and crazy dream?  Do you see things that don’t exist?  Then perhaps you’ll find the determination to go beyond the now-known bounds of man’s abilities and knowledge and bring us the new, the next wave of gadgets, and ideas, and technological creations that will become staples in tomorrow’s world. 

~Perhaps you'll be the one to write the next great novel, or you will discover that amazing cure we've been seeking.

~Maybe your voice has matured, your intonation is spot on, and you sing with such pathos that we will clammer for your recordings. 

~Maybe that squeaky violin has now become an instrument of peace and calm and soothes the soul of millions.  

Sometimes, a fool leads us. 

Sometimes.

 “There are no foolish questions 

and no man becomes a fool 

until he has stopped asking questions.” 

― Charles Proteus Steinmetz

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Where's the Bull's Eye?

Great marksmen and women know this.  They always focus on the bull’s eye.  That is what they intend to hit.  That is where they focus. 

Where is your bull’s eye, and my bull’s eye?

What is our ONE THING that drives our lives?  I’m pretty good at a lot of things.  Music for one.  Any more, my ONE THING is writing to encourage mankind.  My goodness.  What a large and imposing bull’s eye. 

I can sing.  I can market, and promote, I can sell, I can drum … I can do a lot of stuff.  But what is my bull’s eye?

All of the skills in the above string become background in light of my main thing.

My big bull’s eye … to write the blog heard round the world.  And I aim toward it every day of my life.  This blog will be full of hope, encouragement and inspiration for those who read it.  I haven’t yet reached this goal.  I’m on my way however. 

Our aim, our focus, is one of the most important principles we will every give thought to.  It gets us out of bed in the middle of the night, it speaks to us at odd moments during our day, and on occasion it may keep us up late at night. 

I’ve had to make adjustments in my life to help me focus more on my bull’s eye.  For me, that involves my get-up time every morning.  Marksmen call this “the stance”.  The positioning of the feet, the arms, the pressure on the trigger, the awareness of the breeze and from what direction.  All of the elements above are nothing more than metaphors for you and me in analyzing our stance, our focus on our bull’s eye. 

The position – where you sit or stand, what surrounds you, music or not.

Pressure on the trigger – how much focus, how little, how light a touch, what to read, what to expose one’s self to.

The breeze – what outside influences are we subject to, what might blow us off-course, angle of the point – higher or lower.

See the metaphors at play here?

We find what works for us.  We do what we need to do to keep our eye on the bull’s eye. 

Where’s your bull’s eye?

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

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