We Learn What We Live

We are always told, you're a lot like your father, or you act like your mother and most times it's plausible and true. We always say it's genetics, and yeah sure they play a role in it, but how we live our everyday life is really what makes the biggest impact. I read this poem the other day, and it hit me, hard. The entire poem is true, exact, and powerful. It's called 'Children Learn What They Live'. 

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

 When I read this, I think of my life, where I've seen it, and how much it's true. Children learn from human behavior, and so often we see kids learn the wrong things, the bad things. It's hard going anywhere now-a-days   where there isn't a child swearing, to the point where they just learned to talk. We tend to look at kids and blame them for their actions, for what they do, what they say, almost everything, but where are these kids getting that from? They didn't just teach themselves. They learned, from the people they learn the most from, their parents, teachers, older siblings, etc. I think we need to stop blaming them for their actions, and getting them into big trouble, when we should really be doing it to ourselves, because we must be terrible people teaching young children to be like that. We need to encourage them and teach them to be amazing people, we need to show them what that looks like because, soon they will be teaching others as well. If we keep teaching our children to act this way, what will the world be like in ten years....I don't know if I want to know, the answer to that one. I think it's time for a change, in our generation. We can be the best teachers.

Renewing My Mind

So it's been a little crazy lately, and failure seemed to be hitting in every aspect of life. Things have been a mess, and I'm not happy with the way things have been going. It finally hit me, that things weren't going as I thought they were, not only for myself but for others as well. I had been trying to push life away, trying to skip out on things that I never would have been able to skip out on. Just trying to skip through life, because I had a better vision for not now, but soon...later. 

I guess what I needed was a kick in the bum, a slap to the face, something to wake me up, from my same old, skip through life thought of mind. And that's what I got, it may not have been the best way, but it woke me up.

We are always told to, think positive, but why is it so hard sometimes. It always seems that in the times where we need that positive thought the most, we can't do it. Is there a way we can train our minds to just flip? Maybe, but it'll take a lot of try's before we get it right. Sometimes we just need that renewing, renewing of that thing inside our head that drives us crazy, with both thought and emotion. 

They say true change begins in our mind. That what makes you, you, is what you think, so think positive, but how do we do that all the time? Our thought patterns become routine, almost like brushing our teeth. How do we get ourselves out of that routine, by setting our mind. We can choose what we pay attention to, feed your mind with excellence, you  mind will eat what you feed it. What you pay attention to is in your mind, you can't change your whole mind, but you can change what you pay attention to. We get so used to negative thoughts that it becomes natural to us. Negative thoughts, are unwanted visitors, staying for way to long, we don't want them around. The thoughts you think have an enormous power over your life.We are free to feed our minds what WE want. 

This quote sums it all up:

 "What YOU put in the recipe makes it taste like what you put in it." 

The Game Of Life

LIFE. Not every path is fair, it's all in the luck of the draw, how we roll the dice, or what cards we choose. We can try to make plans, or work our way through it, but there will always be that stop, or the move that changes everything. Although, for some sick reason we like to make ourselves believe we are the only ones dealing with these inadequate's we really aren't. Everyone has a stop, or takes a different path, or has an inadequate we need to go through. Is life really like this? When we are concieved, God immediately has a plan for us. He knew everything about us, what we looked like, what we were going to do, the sports we would play. He knew everything, every little detail. As our lives go on, he gives us choices, he gives us different cards and situations, sometimes good and sometimes bad. He gives us the dice to roll, how many steps we take and in what direction we choose. His plan for us may change millions of times, depending on what card we get, or how we roll that dice, but in the end he is always watching us. Those inadequates we believe to be so big, and distructive are only enough that we can handle. GOD ONLY GIVES US ENOUGH THAT WE CAN HANDLE. What we need to realize is that life is fair, and it's what we make it. Sometimes it may feel like a game filled with only chance, but it's a fair chance, and everything we do, determines it.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." Isaiah 43:2