It takes courage to act!

We know with absolute certainty what it is that we DON'T want. The problem we have is that we don't really know what it is that we want in life.

Before we can analyze what we want in life, there are three things we need to do first:

1. We need to be grateful. 

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. If we do not accept and show gratitude for who we are and what we have, we will never be satisfied with anything else.

2. "Know thyself" (Socrates).

When we are so busy working or enjoying life, serving and pleasing people, we will never have time to get to know ourselves. We will be blinded to who and what we are. We need to make time for ourselves and just be ourselves every day.

3. "To find yourself, think for yourself" (Socrates).

When we spend a lot of time with other people, we allow their perspectives, opinions, and attitudes to rub off on us. We become them. Alternatively, we become very argumentative. Spending time on our own is good. It gives us time to reflect. 

If we want a better life, we have to act on what we want. We need to take full responsibility for our life. That's how life works!

The following video is very motivational. It's powerful!

You can't connect the dots looking forward.
You can only connect them looking backward.

So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You have to trust in something:

Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever …

Because believing that the dots will connect down the road

It will give you the confidence to follow your heart,

Even when it leads you off the well-worn path –

And that will make all the difference.

Your time is limited,

So don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Don’t be trapped by dogma,

Which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.

Don’t let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

You’ve got to find what you love

And that is as true for work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life

And the only way to be truly satisfied

Is to do what you believe is great work;

And the only way to do great work

Is to love what you do!

If you haven’t found it yet,

Keep looking and don’t settle.

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know

What you truly want to become. ~ Steve Jobs.

But you’re going to have some ups and you’re going to have some downs.

Most people gave up on themselves easily!

You know the human spirit is powerful.

There is nothing as powerful – it’s hard to kill the human spirit!

Anybody can feel good when they have their health, their bills are paid, they have happy relationships.

Anybody can be positive then.

Anybody can have a larger vision then.

Anybody can have a lot of faith under those kinds of circumstances.

The real challenge of growth, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually,

Comes when you get knocked down.

It takes courage to act!

Part of being hungry when you’ve been defeated.

It takes courage …

To start over again.

Fear kills dreams.

Fear kills hope.

Fear … puts people in the hospital.

Fear can age you.

Can hold you back from doing something that you know within yourself that you are capable of doing,

But it will paralyze you.

At the end of your feelings is nothing,

But at the end of every principle is a promise.

Behind your little feelings, it might not be absolutely nothing at the end of your little feelings,
But behind every principle is a promise.

And some of you in your life,

The reason why you are not at your goal right now, because you're just all about your feelings,

All on your feelings, you don’t feel like waking up, so who does?

Every day you say ‘no’ to your dreams,

You might be pushing your dreams back a whole six months, a whole year!
That one single day, that one day you didn’t get up could have pushed your stuff back I don’t know how long.

Don’t allow your emotions to control you!

We are emotional, but we want to begin to discipline our emotions.

If you don’t discipline and contain your emotion, they will use you.

You want it and you’re going to go all out to have it!

It’s not going to be easy when you want to change,

It’s not easy. If it were in fact easy, everybody would do it;

But if you’re serious, you’ll go all out!

I’m in control here!

I’m not going to let this get me down! I’m not going to let this destroy me!

I’m coming back!

And I’ll be stronger and better because of it!

You have got to make a declaration

That this is what you stand for:

You’re standing up for your dream;

You’re standing up for peace of mind;

You’re standing up for health!

Take full responsibility for your life!

Accept where you are and the responsibility that you’re going to take yourself where you want to go.

You can decide that I am going to live each day as if it were my last!

Live your life with passion …

With some drive!

Decide that you are going to push yourself!

The last chapter of your life has not been written yet,

And it doesn’t matter about what happened yesterday;

It doesn’t matter about what happened to you!

What matters is: What are you going to do about it?

This year I will make this goal become a reality

I won’t talk about it anymore!

I Can.

I Can!

I CAN!

To persevere I think it’s important for everybody:

Don’t give up! Don’t give in!

There’s always an answer to everything.

Happiness is a consequence

Happiness is not something we should search for. It isn’t something we should desire and never have. Happiness is a consequence.

Every day we make a multitude of choices: Should I get up now or stay in bed for a few more minutes? Should I brush my teeth first? Should I wear this … or that …? Should I eat cereal or fry an egg? Should I throw in petrol now or after work? The amount of choices every day is always on our mind; some we are aware of and others are hidden. We often fall into a pattern with our daily routine and make the same choices every day only to find that there is that one specific moment where we actually want to do something else. We yearn for something different. 

Our daily choices have consequences and these consequences determine whether or not we are happy. Through our actions, happiness happens. It is then apt to see happiness as a by-product of what we choose to do or choose not to do. For example, Acts 20:35 says: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving”. When we do good things for others, we will feel good.

When we feel good about ourselves, we tend to make better choices. We develop a sense that we matter. When we do things wholeheartedly and enthusiastically, we tend to enjoy what we are doing. When we do things in faith rather than fear, we will always want to do more. In other words, where there is self-love, there is happiness; where there is commitment, there is happiness; where there is enthusiasm, there is happiness; and where there is faith, there is happiness.

Optimistic people will experience more happiness than pessimists. People who have good morals will experience more happiness than those who always seek to do wrong. Happiness also belongs to those who are satisfied, accepting, flexible, tolerant, and easy to forgive. Gratitude leads to happiness.

Many believe that happiness is found in material things. Shopaholics will be quick to tell us where they “purchase” their happiness. Needless to say, material things do not necessarily bring us happiness. Happiness is not determined by money. Winning the lottery so that we can resign from that job we hate will not bring happiness. Being rich so that we can buy idleness, comfort and everything else that we desire will not bring happiness.

Happiness is not a wild goose chase. It comes incidentally. Happiness is made up of small fractions of seconds that happen now. We live now and should do good now to the people who are with us now. Living in the past or the future will not bring happiness. These acts are time wasted. Now is the time to enjoy what life has to offer. If there are no good opportunities, create good opportunities. Be kind to others. Smile more often. Focus on the positive things and change a negative attitude to a more optimistic one. It takes time and a lot of effort to change our perspective and behaviour, but, if we accept the challenge, we will grow and become better people than we were yesterday. In the end, we will reap the rewards.

If we can live our life to the best of our ability and make the best of every bad situation, we can go forward feeling happy. If we can maintain and preserve our health, we are blessed and have no reason to be sad. 

Life goes on. We only need to go on with it, grateful that we can.

Gallstones

I’m not one to go to the doctor much because for the past ten years I have always been diagnosed with stress, depression, anxiety, and, more recently, menopause and changes in hormone levels. 

I have been suffering for two years. In these two years, I went to the doctor twice. On both occasions, I was told that my hormone levels were changing. I had heartburn, hiccoughed after eating and couldn’t eat a lot of food at a time. It always felt as if I had something hard in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t lose weight; instead, I gained a lot of weight. The worst part was that I wasn’t really eating because I wasn’t feeling well. 

At the end of November 2015, I decided to go to the doctor again. At last, for the first time in years, I was diagnosed with something new: gallstones. I needed to go for a sonar and make sure, though. I made an appointment that same day. I was feeling awful, but got in the car and drove the 54 km to the nearest radiologist. And it was confirmed. My gallbladder was full of gallstones. 

I wasn’t eager to have my gallbladder removed, so I decided to flush my gallbladder. I did this twice in a fortnight. After the second flush, I was so ill. 

Eventually, I went back to the doctor. I was in pain and couldn’t eat. Surgery seemed the only solution. 

On the 11^th of January, I was wheeled into theatre and had laparoscopic surgery to remove the gallbladder. When I saw the gallstones, all 8 of them, and the size of them, I realized that no amount of flushing would ever get them out. Whether there were more but smaller, I do not know. I never asked. At least, I am consoled into believing that I have done the right thing. 

Now I have to adapt to living without my gallbladder. It’s day four of recovery and I still have a lot of pain. I don’t feel well and all I really want is to have my health back.