Searching for Inspiration

That's literally what I'm doing right now, searching for inspiration.  What to write?   What to think?  It's strange, really.  Reading through dozens and dozens of quotes, none of them quite sticking.  All of them feeling a little hollow.

There's a lot of wisdom out there.  A lot of motivation.  And we all clamber towards them.  It's why TED talks get so many views and why motivational books are best sellers.  We're all hungry and searching.  The funny thing is that a lot of it is simply regurgitated with a nice new bow begging for more clicks and a new price tag. 

Okay, I'll stop!!  This is getting depressing!  What is this??!!  Cynicism rearing its head.

It's really just this thing I'm feeling that doesn't have words, and if I keep writing long enough maybe the words will come.

But, really, inspiration is good.  A happy quote.  A good piece of advice.  A kick in the pants.  Seeking those who know more than I to help bring new understanding and awareness.  It's all good.  We need it.

But we also need to pause, trust ourselves, and realize we may already have the answers we seek.  

So pause, breath, and trust.  Learn from experience.  Learn from memories and examples.  Realize the depths that are within and don't be afraid.  You know more than you realize.

And if none of that made sense here's a happy little quote I just found:

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." ~  Zig Ziglar 

Have a splendid day,

Sarah

Don't Wait So Long to Follow Promptings of the Spirit

It's an early Sunday afternoon as I write this.  Usually I like to write blog posts and schedule them to upload in the morning, but today I'm not going to do this.  Today I'm going to write this out, do a quick proof read, and then upload immediately.  Because it just seems like a good thing to do.

Yesterday my Dad was desperately searching the house.  It was for a gift card that was left on the garage table a month ago.  Since then things have been moved, shifted, and cleaned up.  For the last few weeks I hadn't seen it.  After some time it was no where to be found.

As I pondered and said little prayers a vague memory started circulating through my mind like a fuzzy dream.  A feeling of seeing the card, a prompting to give it to my Dad, saying that it looked important, and that I might have done just that.  The recollection felt mismatched and potentially false, yet the feeling started to insist I go to my Dad's office and search his desk.  This I didn't do, feeling guilty about the memory.  Wondering if I was prompted in the past to give it to my Dad as he walked past, but didn't, and I was kicking myself for not following through.

All morning I couldn't shake the feeling.  "Go check his desk."  My Mom was going through stacks of paper in another room, and she was getting quite frustrated, so I finally headed the feeling and went to my Dad's office.  Now, hmmmm, his desk is a bit of a mess.  Papers and whatnot's everywhere.  I contemplated starting at one end and working towards the other, but the feeling returned, "start in the middle."  And so I did, shifting through a small stack surrounded by others, and under a DVD, low and behold, was the gift card!!

I laughed as I ran up the stairs, quickly showing my Mom who was relieved from feeling frantic.  I was a mixture of feeling overjoyed vs. berating myself for not following through sooner.  Thankfully I listened to the first prompting a month ago and gave the card to my Dad.  It was a true memory.  But I'm a little upset for waiting nearly 24 hours to check where the spirit whispered for me to check.

Now, I can hear some people maybe say it wasn't the spirit.  It was my subconscious recalling a scattered memory and solving the problem through logic.  But no, though this is most likely a contributing factor, I know the spirit was whispering to help me find the card.  It's really amazing, with everything happening in the World, all the craziness, God is still aware of us on a deeply personal level and cares for us individually.  I'm thankful for the little miracles in our lives.

Much love,

Happy Sabbath,

Sarah 

What You Seek You Will See

 (Verona, Italy, February 2019)

"We have a choice.  We can seek for the bad in others.  Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves.  It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find." ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

Know What You Need, And Seek After That

"You can never get enough of what you don't need, because what you don't need won't satisfy you." ~ Dallin H. Oaks

One of the hardest aspects of life is determining what we need verses what we want.  Wants and needs.  Seeking after wants will lead us in circles, leaving us empty.  Hollowed.  Wants aren't bad, but it's good to know the difference, and understand that what we need may not be the obvious or easiest path.  What do you need?  What wants are keeping you from this need?  Or are you good?  This is something I still battle.  Something I think about, often.

In other news, that picture above was taken last year in an herbal garden in Cambria California.  I wish I was there right there!  Want, definitely.  I just want Spring.  That's not a bad desire.  I want sunlight!  I want it to stop snowing.  I'm to the point now where I roll my eyes whenever I see white fluff, aka frozen cloud, fall from the sky.

Heh, see how I'm still battling this whole want thing. :P

A Little Boost from Dr. Seuss

I just got back from Costco.  Food shopping, but I found this little jewel from Dr. Seuss: "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"  For some reason I've never read it.  My brother got a copy as a gift when he graduated from college.

 

Apparently this book is a popular graduation gift.  I thought I heard somewhere that he gave this as a graduation speech once, but I can't find any indication of this.  Instead I found that this is the last book he wrote and was published while he was alive, when he was battling cancer.

Everyone should read it at least once, regardless of where you are in life.  You can start fresh at any point.  But also, this book deals with the dark, lonely times of life as well, which we all pass.  I read this book while in the book section of Costco, and I fought tears as the message touched my soul, finding hope in the message.

So if you're starting a new path, or a little lost on the path you're on, or even if you feel fine in your direction, finding this book to read is always a good idea.  It's a nice reminder.

Also, a little random, did you know the term Nerd is credited to Dr. Seuss?  He wrote the word in the book If I Ran the Zoo.  Though I just finished reading a little debate on where the term Nerd comes from, if it is Dr. Seuss, or simply sprung up around the same time by coincidence.  Geek, originally, was a circus performer who bites off the heads of chickens.  Seriously.  I used to think of myself as more of a geek, but I have a visual thinking memory, and now I just see headless chickens, and it's not a pleasant image.  Though I do like to call my decorating style as "girly geeky chic," because "girly nerdy chic" doesn't sound as good.

Heh, okay, off tangent.

I truly recommend "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" if you haven't read it.  Read it at a book store or library if that's you're option.  This book is really a gem.  And Dr. Seuss is truly a genius.   A creative giant.

Don't Put On Rose-Colored Glasses, Look Above

 "I am not suggesting you simply put on rose-colored glasses to make the world around you look rosy.  I ask, rather, that you look above and beyond the negative, the critical, the cynical, the doubtful, to the positive and the affirmative."

~ Gordon B. Hinckley

A good reminder.

And I hope you're enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather.  The trees in the mountains turned colors a month or so ago, but trees in the valley are starting to turn, and the colors are lovely.  This photo was taken in Ireland early September at Powerscourt, just when the leaves started turning.  This has been a wonderfully long Fall, which is nice because this is my favorite season.

"Learn to Roar Even When You Feel Small"

"You'll have moments when you feel like a lion, and moments when you feel like a mouse.  Just know that no matter how you feel, you still have a heartbeat and a soul worthy of love, so learn to roar even when you feel small, because you are more than the feelings you may have." ~ T.B. LaBerge

I found this quote recently while scrolling through Facebook.  It speaks for itself.  I think we all feel this way at times.  Times when we feel our worth vs times we don't.  Times when we feel our strength vs times we don't.  And so on.  Don't forget how incredible you are. :0)

Wisdom in Our Subconscious: Slamming unopened Doors

This last week I've been organizing my ideas.  Years of jotted down one liners, lyrics, and inspiration have been stuffed into my file cabinet, only to end up forgotten.  It's been quite a task, much larger then I first anticipated.

In the midst of these written down ramblings I stumbled upon a piece of wisdom.  It was a story idea I once had, and in this scene one character is giving relationship advice to another.  I wish I could remember the full context.

"Don't fill yourself with self doubt.  Don't tell yourself you're not good enough or worthy enough.  And don't tell yourself that he will never like you or care for you.  You don't know, and such things are unpredictable.  You may fill your head with an ideal of him, and who he can be with you.  And in the end it may turn out to be an empty ideal.  But you need to take that step forward.  Don't slam the door before you've had a chance to open it."

That's what struck me: Don't slam the door before you've had a chance to open it.

How true is that?

How often do we slam doors before we've even opened or walked up to it?  How often do we look at a door and then walk away? Symbolically of course.

I don't know where my subconscious found this wisdom,
but it's my deep self speaking to me.

I need to stop slamming doors.