Dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

I am putting these links to the Professor who is dying of pancreatic cancer and gave his last lecture in the fall, because this guy is so inspirational. When I first saw this I thought of a friend of mine who is fighting cancer. He has done a lot of living since he was diagnosed and has lived longer than expected. He has been an inspiration to me to follow my dreams. My biggest obstacle right now is discovering my dreams. I do not dream much. I never really dreamed big as a child so I cannot say that there are a lot of things I have dreamed of doing. I think I have spent so much of my life in survival mode, that I haven't really taken the time to dream. I need to consider this more to really discover my dreams.

I mean there are things I want to do, but are they really dreams? Many times the dreams were so unrealistic that I would just push them out of the way. I love archaeology. I love dinosaurs, museums, Egyptian things. I have wanted to see King Tut. I am planning a trip to see that exhibit in the fall. Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs tour is coming to Dallas in October.

One other thing I have always wanted to do is go to the Grand Canyon. I want to take the tour down into the canyon and camp there, or go rafting down the river. I haven't done it because of my weight. Maybe this is a dream I can work on accomplishing.

As I get fit and lose weight, maybe my dreams will become realities. And just maybe I will dream more.
Kathy

Awesome Daffodil Principle

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of thegreatest principles of celebration.



That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.



Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

Master or Slave?

Thought for the day.



Are you a master of your body and physical appetites? or are you a slave to them?



I would definitely say that I have been enslaved for years by my physical body and appetites. No more, I am taking control, going to change what I can.

Many people are trapped in their bodies, by things that they have no control over. They have to change their lives so they can live to fullest with what they have. They change their minds to accept and find ways to cope. I have an eye condition that I have no control over, but over the years I have accepted it. I know that I can control how I deal with the flares and my attitude about not being able to see. I have taken as much control with my eyes as I can. I take care of them, I am proactive, I get treatment, I communicate with my eye doctors. I have searched for specialists to help me with my condition. We have moved to make it easier for me to get around during a flare. I have been blessed with a great family and bunch of friends who support me.

I have a friend who recently has been diagnosed with Epilepsy. This has created a great hardship for her and her family. She is one of the most active people I know. She is involved in her church and community, does lots of volunteer work. She is very well respected by all who know her. She is an inspiration to me. Right now she cannot drive. And the seizures are not under control yet. I know she feels like a prisoner in her own body. Her attitude is fabulous. She laughs and talks about sounding like a drunken sailor. She is taking this time to reevaluate her life. To see what she can actually accomplish during this time of change. She is not sitting around feeling sorry for herself (although I am sure she has her moments, she is human) but she is doing as much as she can to help herself. Very important here, she is accepting help for what she cannot do by herself. She is allowing others to serve her. She has served so many people in her life, it is hard to be the one on the receiving end of service sometimes. But she has humbled herself and is taking it one day at a time. I just love her. What an inspiration she has been to me in the past and now.

You know there is wisdom in the Serenity Prayer,

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.



I know that right now there are things in my life that I have no control over, that I cannot change. But there is much I can change. My health is a major thing. It does really affect my entire life, every aspect. I can improve my life by changing my health. I can work out, I can make good food choices, I can stop drinking pop, I can drink more water. I can do so much more that I ever thought possible. I feel so alive and hopeful for a better life. I am so excited.

Go and have a better tomorrow.

Kathy