Psychology

Give A Little Love

Give a little love, do something nice and spread some cheer every chance you get. 

Like ripples on the water everything thing we do creates an effect on our environment and the people around us.  Yesterday I was feeling rather blue and had several friends that were kind by calling to say they were thinking about me, or texting me to cheer me up.  One of them helped me to see things in a different light as he often does.

It’s important to surround yourself with people who are interested in learning about you and who you are.  People that share some of the same interests, have opposing opinions and aren’t afraid to share them, and people who are just fun to be around.  We all really need a variety of friends to spend time with and keep us on our toes, to offer our support and encouragement, and to share with and learn from.

I have a couple of Eeyore type personality friends that have a sarcastic sense of humor and a realist outlook that borders on gloom, but they are good-natured and I love hearing from them. 

I am thankful for the people in my life.  We are all here to work together and help each other along the way.  Each of us have our unique gifts and talents that make us who we are.  It’s such a thrill to meet someone new and have the time to get to know them.

Cherry Coley (c)

Related articles

• How to create a ripple effect in your and others’ lives (psychologytoday.com)
• More Ripple Please (bikecolleenbrown.wordpress.com)
• Cheer up! It’s Contagious (faithrises.com)

Do What You Can Do!

This year, don’t just do what you’ve always done, unless you are successful in every area of your life, have everything you ever wanted and are perfectly content with who you are.

It’s up to you to stretch your limits, discover your possibilities and reach for the best in yourself.  It’s up to you to dream, create a vision for the future, to plan, to gather your resources and go forward…..or not.

 How many times do you catch yourself thinking, “I wish I could….” or “I wish I had…..”  Wouldn’t it be grand to have unlimited funds to work with?  What if you had no limits? Perfect health? What would you do? Would you chase that dream? Write that book? Or just go on an all-out spending spree for a while? Climb a mountain? Travel?  So, what’s really stopping you?

 If you find your passion, that “thing” that is you, that makes you rise in the morning with a smile on your face, and go to bed with a “can’t wait until tomorrow” feeling, and determine that you WILL see it through, then there is no obstacle that can stand in your way. 

You have the ability to do what you want to do.  Chances are the resources you need are within your reach already or will be when you get up and head in the direction you need to go.  We have a variety of people in our lives, each with different talents, different abilities, different connections, and most would love a chance to make a difference or help. 

So what will you do next?  What can you do?  Will you work towards your dreams and goals, or will you just go to work and get that paycheck?  There’s nothing wrong with working a steady job, after all we all need an income in order to live, to pay bills, to eat. 

Question is, is that enough for you?  If you are living your dream already then you are one of the truly blessed.  If it’s not enough, if there is something more, then go after your dream.  Be true to yourself, and do all you can, life is short, get up and get busy.

Cherry Coley (c)

Related articles

• Life is a journey not a destination (humantobe.wordpress.com)
• Reaching for the Stars (thesacredcentre.wordpress.com)
• Infinite potential (shynesswarrior.com)

That’s History In The Making!

What you do today matters.

The things you think,

The things you say,

The things you do all matter.

 We have all heard the saying, “it’s history in the making!” Usually those are words describing some important event that is deemed to be memorable for years or decades to come.  The truth is we are all history in the making. 

 From the moment you were born you began on the journey of your life.  Each day you have grown and learned new things along the way.  Each day you make decisions and choices that will take you further towards your goals and dreams, or keep you where you are.

 As humans we have the ability to keep learning, keep stretching and testing our limits, and to change directions at will.  Stop and think what you do today will affect where you are tomorrow.  You truly are history in the making!

 Cherry Coley ©

You Decide!

You get to decide your fate, your purpose, your destiny.

 It’s up to you to stretch your limits, discover your possibilities and reach for the best in yourself.  It’s up to you to dream, to plan, to gather your resources and go forward…..or not.

 How many times do you catch yourself thinking, “I wish I could win the lotto,” or some sweepstakes.  Wouldn’t it be grand to have unlimited funds to work with?  What would you do? Would you chase that dream? Write that book? Or just go on an all-out spending spree for a while?

 Sadly most of the people who have won large sums of money are left with little to show for it just a few years later.  It’s not the money that’s important in the first place, it’s the dream.

 If you find your passion, that “thing” that is you, that makes you want to leap out of bed in the morning, and hesitate to finish working on it at night, that something special that you love to do and set your mind to it, your heart on it, and decide that you WILL see it through, then there is no obstacle that can truly stand in your way unless you put it there.

You decide each day whether you will work towards your dreams and goals, or whether you will just go to work and get that paycheck. 

Whatever you decide, be true to yourself and you will be happy.

Cherry Coley ©

Related articles

• From Dreaming to Doing (lifeharmonyuk.com)

Stars

How I miss lying under the stars at night, dreaming of what the next day will bring.  Our thoughts, our dreams begin, then grow with work and time.  I miss the innocent days when dreams came so easily and life was full of possibilities.  Nothing has really changed, except that I got older, the magic is still there, sometimes it’s closer than others. 

Cherry Coley (c)

Keep it Moving!!

When you are stuck and can’t figure out what to write, then journal, or grab a notebook and write anything that pops into your head for at least three pages.  Brain dump on the paper until your mind clears and the creativity can flow again.

 In mathematics we are taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  However, it doesn’t matter if we KNOW the rules if we don’t take action and actually move.  You can be in the middle between point A and point B, but you will never reach either point without movement.

 So, keep moving towards your goals, keep moving towards your dreams, keep writing, keep painting, keep the creativity flowing.  You can’t really steer a parked car or a boat on the beach, you have to put the car in gear and the boat in the water in order to make any progress. 

Now is a great time to take a chance on you!

 Cherry Coley ©

Stick Like Glue

“Be like a postage stamp, stick to something until you get it there.” – Josh Billings

 I ran across this quote the other day and thought, wow that’s a powerful statement in just a few words, and it’s full of so much truth.

 The value of a postage stamp doesn’t mean a thing if it loses its grip and comes off before it’s really needed.  The package that it was attached to would never reach the intended destination or any other destination.  The package could potentially just be stuck in limbo indefinitely.

  Our goals and dreams, no matter how ambitious, become useless if we don’t stick to them like glue and see them through to completion.  Where it’s a cure for cancer or the building of a bridge, neither will actually come into existence if we don’t first dream, then plans, then pull in the resources needed to pull it all together, then take the actions necessary to see the plans through.

 Like the $100 postage placed on a package it doesn’t mean a thing if your glue isn’t any good and the stamp comes off. 

Dream big, plan well, and DON’T GIVE UP!! 

Just because something doesn’t work doesn’t mean it’s a failure.  The only true failure is in not taking the action in the first place.

Cherry Coley ©

Feeling Fear and Going Forward

Funny thing, fear, it can freeze you where you are at times, but there will always be fear and challenges in life.  Fear can be felt in so many different ways and sometimes it is so disguised that we don’t really realize that is what it is until we take the time to really look at it.

Lately I have found myself feeling somewhat disconnected, and at yet another crossroads in my life.  It seems to happen to me a lot recently.  Yet another little known fact about me is that I have always loved dream interpretation.  It’s something I have spent a lifetime studying and learning. 

So when I began to have dreams of walking through forests I started paying attention as that usually indicates a search for meaning and a transition for me.  Then when I started dreaming of looking out over a canyon at sunset I stopped and contemplated where I am.  A canyon indicates deeper relationships while sunset means an ending of a cycle in life.

It all fits with many of the other things that I have been struggling with along the way.  I have decided my next course of action and am now finally able to stand up at the cross roads and get ready to walk the path I have chosen.   It’s interesting how taking just a little time out to meditate and pray can calm the spirit and guide.

Fear and uncertainty stopped me, but it has no place in my life other than to briefly make me pause to check my intentions, and direction.  Other than that, I will push through and realize that with every experience and trial in this life there is given, at the appropriate time, grace, courage and strength to see us through. 

Knowing that there is nothing to fear in what tomorrow brings, because tomorrow, the sun will shine again.  The breeze will blow and greet the leaves, the birds will lift their voices to the heavens, and life will go on.  

Cherry Coley ©

To Write or Not To Write?

I have spent part of tonight writing letters.  Yes, letters – those things we used to write a lot of long ago, put a stamp on and send off in the mail.  Why?  Well call me a bit old-fashioned, worn out or whatever, but I enjoy receiving something other than bills and junk mail.  I LIKE writing letters; they are just a bit more personal, they take a little more effort than an instant message, a text message, an email or posting on Facebook.  Yes, it takes longer to get there, but it’s still nice! 

I even miss the letters written in handwriting.  I still have cards my grandma sent me when I was a child and we wrote to each other.  I confess I don’t usually write in handwriting, for a few reasons, but mostly because hand writing any length of time makes my wrist hurt.  So I will normally type the letter and then sign it – unless it is a card, then I will write on the card. 

Think about how much have we lost in letting that personal, physical touch fall by the wayside.   Even the kids now days resort to text messages – I bet some of them have NEVER written a note in class!!  Sacrilege!  (I apologize to all the teachers out there.) 

What about all the handwriting analysis people and theories?  If you don’t handwrite much and the person is somewhat out of practice, or has trouble writing by hand – does the analysis still hold true?

So, I am going to start writing more letters this year, just because I want too.   I miss getting cards in the mail, but confess that I haven’t sent any in a while, so what better way to start than to get re-acquainted with the notion of sending a smile by post office?  Strange notion, huh?  How funny to pause and think that some people will actually say, “that’s silly,” or “it will never catch on.”  Maybe not, but I will try anyway.  

 Cherry Coley ©

Don’t Judge Me, I’m Just Shy

Shyness – often misunderstood, can be crippling to some and mocked by those who are not afflicted.

 Sometimes being shy is simply the discomfort or difficulty of not knowing what to say in different social environments or situations.  In some cases, this can be devastating for the sufferer leading them to feel out-of-place, seem boring, appear snobbish, or odd, which only alienates them further from the group.

 I struggled for years with being shy and timid, so much that I was nicknamed “Bambi” at a young age by the ladies in the quilting bee thought I was as timid as a deer, and would  startle and run at every unknown sound.  They weren’t far from the truth.  The moment anyone looked in my direction to ask me my opinion or pull me up in front of other people, I would dart out a side door before they got the words out of their mouth.

I am still shy in many ways.  I am the person that will seemingly appear out of nowhere at a gathering because I avoided the grand entrance, then will walk around a room until I find a conversation that I can contribute too.  Oddly, it’s not a matter of meeting new people, it’s a comfort zone thing with me.  As long as I have people with common interests, even if it’s just a few, then I’m good even in a room full of complete strangers. 

My mom sought to “cure” me of shyness as I was growing up.  I was forced to sing on stage many Sundays.  If I hesitated the song director had applying guilt down to an art form and when he realized it worked so well on me, would then call on me on short notice to crawl up on stage and torture another song to death.  I HATED singing up on stage.  Finally, I gave it up and refused.  Okay, no, I left and went to another church where I could sit in the back row and people didn’t know me, ha, showed them! 

Often shy people are shy for a reason.  The introverted person may have been through a traumatic event, or experienced physical or mental abuse, witnessed something unpleasant, or maybe they just have a somewhat withdrawn personality.  No need to pull them to the forefront and try to make them give a speech.  They don’t want to be singled out and pointed at either.  Many times it’s the quiet one’s that are the artists and writers in the group.  They are intently listening to what’s being said; while their mind is running at a rapid pace thinking of all the creative twists and turns of something they are working on. 

 So have a heart for the shy or quiet people out there.  Don’t just assume that they are aloof, snobs, arrogant, or deliberately ignoring you.  Though there are some people who act that way, it becomes obvious after a short while who is who if you give them a chance.  Some of my best friends are the shyest people in the room at gatherings.  Give them a chance, let them gain their footing and get in their comfort zone and you may be surprised how the personality will bloom.  Everyone has their own part to play, we all matter.

 Cherry Coley ©