Looking Backward From the Future

The Abundant Life leads, step-by-tremulous-step, day-by-striving-day, into a Land we look back from. It's the future as we see it right now, but, in its own time, it will be a time from which we'll look back on - the future now being the past as we look back then.

Can you see it? - much as a new thing in the livery of Isaiah. If you anticipate it, the perspective will surely bless your day; if you live it, the perspective will certainly bless your life.

If we look back from the future we only see the past, and the worst result is regret. But if we look back from the future, by borrowing the experience of vision, we take aboard our ship of grace, wisdom, which is the ballast of the Abundant Life.

The wise look back as a function of moving forward. They don't forget the vastness of wisdom in the matter of experience, for surely experience is a devoted and trustworthy Teacher. And how good is the Teacher who makes of extraneous lessons that which would otherwise be lost to experience?

Looking back from the future is God's perspective over a life that is still so potentially fraught with error and folly. Looking back from the future, the Teacher reproaches the mistakes that are still yet to be made, cautioning for correction before it's too late.

Reproof is better than regret, for re-assessment is better than remorse.

Meaning for the present is founded in looking backward from the future pondering a whole life lived.

May God truly bless you as you receive the Abundant Life of looking back from your future! - even from death's door, as impetus for life that is yet to be lived.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Looking-Backward-From-the-Future&id=9557036

How to Persuade Someone to Trust You

There are always people in life that we want to trust to verify our various decisions, to have a good relationship and bonding and on the overall, to be mutually benefited. But how do we form this magical trust with the people in our life? Read on for insights.

For instance, you have just entered office life and your Boss gave you a task. Complete it before the deadline and handover to him. Now that is called trust bonding. Perform like this several times and you will win his permanent trust in you.

How about your spouse? You just got married and have bought a home and are living together. How can you earn his full trust? Cook good recipes for a while, especially his favorite dishes and he will not only love them but also love you wholeheartedly.

How about your children? How can you earn their trust and make sure they are not lying or hiding something about their friends or any school events. Give them full attention and encourage them to talk. Have a lively conversation. Let them speak out their woes and concerns. Soothe and comfort them and suggest solutions for their problems. They will love you more instantly and there you have formed a well-deserving trust bond again.

Do you trust one or two of your favorite friends? Form friendship in your community or at work. You are likely to enjoy their company through sharing you life's stories- both good and bad. They can offer advice on your pressing problems and will always care to listen to you. You also help them in times of their need. That way a bonding of trust will form for which you will always be grateful.

When you have no one to hold on to, trust God and the Universe. He will help to bring good people in your life on whom you can anchor your faith and trust. They will help to ease out your problems and you will feel great and get back the mojo of life.

How do you persuade your students to excel in school if you are a teacher?Again you need a bonding of trust. Explain to them lucidly a good educational background will help them to climb up the ladder of success fast and quick. Repeat your lectures and explain in more lucid terms if they don't understand something. If majority of them do bad on a quiz, try to compensate for it in some way either by giving assignments or taking another extra quiz. That way the students will understand that you care about them and are committed to helping them out and naturally they will consider you to be their favorite teacher.

What about saleswomen? How do they convince customers to buy their products? Now everything can be ordered online. Post good reviews by people who have already purchased them online. Also when the customers come to the store, show good manners, courtesies and read-to-help attitude. That way you will gain more customers, and still more and more will prefer to buy your products.

Summing up, these are some of the great ways you can form a chain of trust with the people at home, work or marketplace and not only you but also the other party will benefit from this bonding. In fact, it is a case of mutual trust and you have much to celebrate as you keep creating them everywhere you go.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Persuade-Someone-to-Trust-You&id=9610935

Your Glass Is Half-Full

Recently it has been so easy to focus our attention on the negative actions of others and perhaps even feel cynical about people in general as opposed to seeking out the positive in the situation.

There is no doubt that there are mean spirited people in this world and those who don't seem to care about anyone other than themselves. Yet, in my experience, there are so many really good people who truly care about others and go out of their way to be kind-if you choose to look for them.

We're not talking about the extreme sort such as terrorists who kill people or someone who is clearly courageous and heroic like Rahman Perkins from the Hoboken train accident a couple of weeks ago. We're talking about the everyday people who cross our paths.

Don't Overlook the Goodness in People

So often I hear people say things like "People suck" or "I like animals much better than people".

We tend to remember:

• The people who cut us off on the road as opposed to those who allow us in the lane.

• The people who slam the door in our face as opposed to those who open the door for us.

It is human to remember the experiences that bother us and trigger a negative emotional response yet we would be better emotionally served to pay more attention to the simple acts of kindness of everyday people.

I personally see the goodness in others and I tend to come across such people in my day to day travels through life. It's not that I am deluding myself regarding some of the darkness that does exist in our world yet I truly believe in my heart in the goodness of others.

Is it no wonder then that I am so often a recipient of kindness? My friends and people that I know often ask me this question: "How come people are so nice to you?"

It is not because I am so special, it just may mean that I love people and know that most are intrinsically good and kind. Thus, I see this wherever I go. I feel blessed each day to be the receiver of kindness.

It's the Law of Attraction

What we put out into the world, we receive back. Also though, it's important to recognize where we choose to focus our attention. Perhaps kindness has always been right in front of us and we've yet to notice.

Are we certain that the cup is half empty? Or have we realized the cup is half full? If we're putting our attention on people who are ignoring us or people who are frowning-we tend to see this negatively.

If I smile or say hello to someone, they're bound to say hello back. If I'm frowning or looking at the ground, people are reticent and not comfortable in initiating a kind gesture.

My wish for you today is that you discover the little wonders in your day, and the people surrounding you, to enable you to view the kindness in the world.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Your-Glass-Is-Half-Full&id=9558302

Pursuing What You want in Life

"Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -- Ray Kroc.

Bubbles of Hope in a Season of Despair

From within even the deepest grief there's the foretaste of something paradoxical, illogical, nonsensical, new. The enemy will want us dissuaded in despair, but, as we hold onto the hope that God infuses into our hearts in that hope-filled moment, a moment we're gifted with that runs cross-grain against the flow of loss that underscores the season, we have a first fruit of what's coming.

The hope-filled moment is a bubble.

It's the instant of experiencing a moment's hope within even the rawest despair.

In an entire season of despair, there are thousands of these bubbles of hope, and as each bubble bursts we must remember the purpose of a bubble. Bubbles of hope come and bubbles of hope go, but one thing bubbles of hope do is they help sustain our hope.

Experiencing bubbles of hope in the season of despair seems cruel on the one hand, because that's simply not our reality, but it's kind on the other hand, because we sorely need such hope - and sometimes anything will do.

We need to believe that a new season of hope will shine through soon, even if it seems ever elusive, and even impossible some moments. It's such a hope that keeps us hoping in the despairing season. This hope is not simply stringing us along - a hope deferred, making us sick (Proverbs 13:12) - because if we keep acting faithfully, obeying God by trusting Him for the promise of growth in the extraneous season, we'll experience joy like a tree of life at the appropriate time (see Galatians 6:9).

But the point is this:

We must embrace the encouraging oasis vision in the reality of the parched land.

If we don't embrace what we can so easily be cynical or angry about, we cannot continue to act in the faith that transports us to that hope realised.

We find a way to steer past every grating annoyance and transcend every burgeoning fatigue.

Bubbles of hope contain sufficient oxygen to inspire life when despair threatens to kill our courage.

Where there are bubbles, 

there's oxygen, 

meaning signs of life, 

and where there's life, 

there's hope.

As you sojourn in a season of despair, whether it ends up being a week or a year or three, may you be blessed in the knowledge of God's faith in you as you trust Him.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Bubbles-of-Hope-in-a-Season-of-Despair&id=9559247

The High Cost of Physical Self-Abandonment (By Margaret Paul, Ph.D.)

I was sitting in the airport at my gate in Chicago, on my way home from the East Coast, having just completed a wonderful Inner Bonding weekend workshop at Kripalu in Lenox, MA. A very obese woman, who was obviously not at all well, sat down across from me, and was then attended to by another woman and by her husband, who was also not well.

I felt sad for these people. They obviously knew nothing about physical self-care - or they didn't want to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.

We were in the air for about an hour when a flight attendant asked if there were any medical personnel aboard. I immediately knew it was about the same woman. After a doctor or nurse attended to her, the pilot announced that we would be doing an emergency landing in Des Moines to get the woman to a hospital.

As a result of having to make the unscheduled landing, we were about an hour late. For me, it was just an inconvenience. I was not thrilled with getting home an hour late and not get enough sleep, but I knew that I would be okay. However, many others had connecting flights they were going to miss, and of course I don't know what consequences that had for them.

I started to think about how many people are affected by someone who doesn't take responsibility for his or her health and wellbeing. Whether due to alcoholism, drug addiction, food addiction, eating junk food, never exercising, not learning to manage their stress or not getting enough sleep, these people are physically abandoning themselves. They are not only letting themselves down, they are letting down many others, such as close family members and good friends. In this case, the woman had negatively affected many people she didn't even know.

I don't know whether or not the woman on the plane even cared that her choices to physically abandon herself affected so many others. I do know that she seemed to be very demanding of the woman attending to her and of her husband. Both of them seemed scared of her reaction if they didn't immediately attend to her every need. At one point, the attending woman had to take the ill woman's shoe off because her foot hurt, and the ill woman was way too heavy to take her own shoe off. And then the ill woman got annoyed at the attending woman for how she put the shoe back on.

It seems to me that there is a kind of narcissism going on with people who don't seem to care about the effect their physical self-abandonment has on others. In my brief exposure to the ill woman, this seemed to be the case.

While I understand that people turn to many addictions to avoid their pain, in today's world with the Internet, anyone who wants to learn how to manage their painful feelings can find the help they need. But of course, they have to want the help. They certainly have the right to keep abandoning themselves, but what about the high cost of this self-abandonment? What about the high cost on people who care about them? What about the high cost to our health care system? And what about the high cost on their own inner child who is deeply suffering from the physical pain of living in an ill body?

If you are physically abandoning yourself, I hope today you consider the high cost to you and to others who care about you. I hope you consider learning how to love yourself by learning how to create a healthy body for your wonderful inner child to live in.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-High-Cost-of-Physical-Self-Abandonment&id=9559517

Five Steps To Move Toward Your Dreams

A few years ago, I watched the movie CASTAWAY starring Tom Hanks. The movie was about a man named Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose ruled-by-the-clock existence abruptly ended when a harrowing plane crash left him isolated on a remote Island, struggling to survive. It took Chuck four years to realize no one was coming to rescue him. One day he decided to build a boat and take a risk to get off the Island. It was do or die time for him. He realized if he remained on that Island he would eventually die. He also knew if he tried to leave, he could risk dying at sea. He took a chance. He decided to risk his life before he remained stranded.

Many of us have been castaway to an Island that we do not want to remain on. Yet, we are too afraid to leave because we do not know if we will succeed. Maybe that Island is a dead end job, a toxic relationship, friendship or habit.

For me, it was becoming an author. For years I wrote books, poems, and short stories, then I would let them collect dust. It was only after I recovered from an illness that I decided, like Chuck Noland, it was time to get off my Island.

Maybe you have a dream you want to fulfil but everyone is telling you that you're not qualified. Maybe you want to submit a manuscript to a publisher, go back to school, or start a business, but fear of failure, rejection, and criticism are impeding you. Whatever it may be, you can do it!

Here are five steps to get started.

1. First, realize that no one is coming to rescue you. If you want to achieve anything, YOU, will have to put in the hard work. The daydream that something or someone will save you from the hard work, or rescue you from your current situation is just that-a dream. No one can get you off of your island, but you.

2. Sketch out your boat. Write down your dreams. Outline what you need to do to achieve your goals.The purpose of this is to have a vision of what it is you want to do and achieve.

3. Gather your supplies and start building your boat. Place your goals in short and long term categories. Doing so will help you not to become overwhelmed, and not take on things that may be unrealistic for now. Remember, rarely does things happen overnight. Sometimes, it's the thousands of tiny baby steps that will get you to the bigger goal. It is good to start small and conquer the short term goals. Short term goals are the things you can do now to begin pursuing your dream. If you feel clueless, do some research and get the facts. Do whatever you have to do in order to learn. Maybe you can read a book on something you are interested in. Maybe there is a class you can take. Maybe you can walk a half mile. Maybe you can write a chapter of a manuscript. Whatever, you decide- start small.

4. Continue to work on and perfect your boat. If you do not reach goals, don't give up and don't quit. Continue to revise your goals and move toward them.MOST IMPORTANTLY, lose the naysayers and find mentors and people who support you.

5. Use others success as motivation and inspiration, but never copy someone else. Copying someone else's brand is like taking a medicine that wasn't prescribe for you and expecting it to cure you. You have to follow your own authentic path and be who you are. You need to find your own voice. Being who you are is what brands you and makes you different.

Remember, the only failure is not trying at all. So what are you waiting on? Start building your boat today. A boat is your plans, goals, and steps you will take to get there. You have everything within you to get off of your Island and succeed!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Five-Steps-To-Move-Toward-Your-Dreams&id=9530478