To let go isn't to forget, not to think about, or ignore. It doesn't leave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret.
Letting go isn't about winning or losing. It's not about pride and it's not about how you appear, and it's not obsessing or dwelling on the past.
Letting go isn't blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and doesn't leave emptiness, hurt, or sadness. It's not about giving in or giving up.
Letting go isn't about loss and it's not about defeat. To let go is to cherish the memories, but to overcome and move on. It is having an open mind confidence in the future.
Letting go is learning and experiencing and growing. To let go is to be thankful for the experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and made you grow.
It's about all that you have, all that you had, and all that you will soon gain.
Letting go is having the courage to accept change, and the strength to keep moving. Letting go is growing up. It is realizing that the heart can sometimes be the most potent remedy.
To let go is to open a door, and to clear a path and set yourself free.
—Timirose
A Little Boy's Sacrifice
from Chicken Soup for the Soul
Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford Hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liza who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.
The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "Yes, I'll do it if it will save Liza."
As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away?"
Being young, the boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give her all his blood.
How to Install Love
Tech Support: Hello "¦ how can I help you?
Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?
Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?
Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?
Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support: What programs are running ?
Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?
Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?
Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.
Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?
Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
Customer: So, what should I do?
Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.
Customer: Okay, done.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?
Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
Customer: Thank you, God.
Beautifully Imperfect
Life is like photography — we develop from the negatives.
It's strange to have a friend
that you have never hugged
lightly touched their arm
or looked into their eyes.
But you have
touched their soul
felt their heart
been embraced by
the warmth of their being.
A friend unseen
is not a friend untouched.
The eyes of the soul will gaze
the heart will embrace
the image will stand tall
but only in a dream.
—Patricia Walter
I understand that DEEP DOWN most of us want to become BETTER.
We want to be able to OPEN UP and experience REAL LOVE.
MANY OF US WISH WE COULD TRUST OTHERS.
BUT WE'VE BEEN HURT
By a father who wasn't there.
By a mother who never seemed to be satisfied with our choices.
By family who criticized our every move with disapproval.
By a close friend who betrayed our trust.
EVEN WORSE WERE THOSE DAYS WHEN WE REALLY NEEDED SOMEONE TO TALK TO... And all our friends were NOWHERE to be found. (DESPITE the fact that we were always there for them)
SO WE PUT ON MASKS and create these characters that aren't us.
We do it because we're AFRAID that if people saw how we really were,
they might NOT want to be around us anymore...
So we hide our brokenness... our deep dark secrets.
Our painful past. We lie about our scars and mistakes.
We do it because
We want to feel loved and appreciated. USEFUL. Needed. Beautiful.
But we never mention
the EMPTINESS DEEP inside that haunts us EVERYWHERE we go.
An emptiness that we try to fill with acquaintances, temporary highs,
hobbies, and romantic relationships. SEX, DRUGS, & COCOA PUFFS.
Don't get me wrong,
There are days where the emptiness DOES go away.
But it ALWAYS comes back. And what sucks most is that
YOU CAN BE SURROUNDED BY ALL YOUR FRIENDS,
AND STILL FEEL BROKEN AND LONELY INSIDE.
If there is ONE thing
you need to remember from this whole blog, it is this:
THE ONLY THING BIG ENOUGH TO QUENCH THE EMPTINESS
INSIDE OF YOU, IS GOD. Everything else is just too small.
SO my friends,
as you allow God to fill the areas of your life plagued with loneliness,
be sure to remember the wonderful words of MARK TWAIN
"DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING;
LOVE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN HURT.
SING LIKE NOBODY'S LISTENING;
LIVE LIKE IT'S HEAVEN ON EARTH."
There is dignity in not giving up on someone you truly love. But there is more dignity in letting them go so they can experience better love. That shows your true love because you then become unselfish And through putting others first, unconditional love grows.
There is respect in fighting gallantly to win someone's heart another time But an even greater respect comes from fighting hard and knowing when to stop. Even though you would give anything to have the past back, That person has touched your life in a way That will make your future so much brighter.
Accept that, and hold your head high Knowing you have captured their heart as well.
There is courage in allowing your heart to hurt and grieve But there is greater courage in knowing it will be scarred But stronger as time goes on. For whoever caused those scars has made your life better in some way And it will make you a better person when you marry Because of what the scars taught you.
Losing the person who meant the most in your life is a humbling experience, Yet it is even more humbling if you allow it to run your life And forsake all you have been blessed with When you feel like you have lost your world.
Remember how many people depend on you and who you are the world to. There is fortitude in holding on for another chance Although an even greater fortitude comes from extending your hand And heart in friendship, realising you will still share things with that person No one else ever will.
You will always have the looks and jokes and memories. Don't ever discount how special those things are in your heart and theirs. True love hurts when it is lost But an even greater love grows inside you through realisation That something better is in the world for both of you.
And that there are still things to share with that person, Even though some feelings may have changed. Take their hand and help them achieve their hopes and dreams Because in that there is dignity, respect, courage, humility, fortitude, And the unconditional love that will continue to grow in both of your hearts.
—Jason J. Boys
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
—R.Niebuhr
Keys to Life: Running & Reading
I feel very, very confident that the keys to life for me are reading and running. The idea that there are millions and billions of people who have lived before us, and they had problems and they solved them and they wrote it in a book somewhere - there is no new problem that we can have that we have to figure out by ourselves. There's no relationship issue, there is no issue with your parents or your brother or your government, there is no issue we can have that somebody didn't already write a thousand years ago in a book. So, for me, that concept of reading is bittersweet because you know it's in a book somewhere but you've got to find the right one that is going to give you the proper information. I said reading and running and the running aspect is how can you connect with your weakness. When you get on the treadmill you deprive yourself of oxygen. What kind of person you are will come out very, very quickly. You're either the type of person who will say you're going to run three miles or you stop the treadmill at 2.94 and you hit it and you call 2.94 3 miles, or you get off after a mile, or you're the type of person that runs hard through the finish line and when you get to 3.0 you realize, "˜God, I could really do 5,' and you go ahead and do two more. And that little person talks to you and says, 'Man, do you feel our knee? We should stop. I feel we should stop ourselves right now. This is not healthy anymore.' When you learn to get command over that person on that treadmill, you learn to get command over that person in your life. That's the same person that tells you, 'Man, that girl's got some big breasts. Listen, we don't have to do nothing, let's just go the hotel room together.' That's the same person. Getting command of that person has been really important."
:coold:
I've definitely noticed that little person in my head when I run. He used to bitch about everything. "Oh, your calves hurt! Oh, your back hurts! Oh, it's hard to breathe."
For me, I've learned to drown him out with music. I'd set checkpoints on distances that I have to complete without slowing down, and over time I'd get to those checkpoints thinking, "Hey, I think I can go a little bit longer."
It's funny cuz since I've started running, I've noticed the word "marathon" thrown around a lot more. I mean, I'm only running 1.2 miles at a time and a marathon is a freakin' 26+ mile run. But there's a lot of people that do marathons...and they all must've started out at a modest number like that at some point, right?