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The Power of Words

Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...

Freedom

by Curt Stowers | A Daily Word, Uncategorized

FREEDOM!!!

I’m not sure what the above triggers in your mind; but for me, it’s William Wallace at the end of the movie Braveheart.  Our hero’s fought the good fight, but alas things appear to have turned out poorly.  William’s strapped to a table and being tortured mercilessly.  He’s given one final chance to capitulate.  Instead, he screams out “FREEDOM!”.
This marks the second time that I’ve chosen “Freedom” as my topic du jour.  While it may seem strange, I don’t always remember my previous blurbs and only find out that I’ve got a “repeat” on my hand after creating the document and doing an initial save.  Most the time upon seeing that I’m creating a duplicate I scrap the idea and move on to the next thought in my head.  Not today.
In Braveheart Wallace is obsessed with freedom. The ability to follow his hopes and dreams without any constraints from others.  He endures endless trials of faith and sees many of his friends and family lose their lives as they struggle along side of him.  All because he wants to be free to determine his own path in life.
Too many of us sleep walk through each day taking for granted the freedom that we possess.  We’re content to get up, go to work, eat dinner, and go to bed.  That’s enough for many.  And yet there is so much more available for each of us.  Yes, stepping up to claim that freedom will likely cause us to endure some hardships.  However, that brings me back to my old friend:  discipline or regret.
I’m not suggesting that you follow Wallace’s path and set out to overthrow the existing power structure.  I am suggesting that it might be worth considering if there’s another path available to you.

With that in mind:

Isn’t it time you claim your freedom?  (And yes that’s the same question I asked last time on this topic!)

As always, thanks for the time.

 

A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two.  My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully.  Thanks!

Manners

by Curt Stowers | A Daily Word, Uncategorized

Some things never go out of style.  Good manners are at the top of this list.

 

If you have any doubts, here’s a few tests for you:

 

  • Open the door for someone the next time you’re out in public.
  • Open the CAR DOOR for your spouse the next time you go someplace together.
  • Send a hand written thank you card.
  • Drop a plate of food off unexpectedly to a friend.
  • Offer a sincere thank you to the next five service providers you encounter out in public

 

If after doing the above five things you have any doubt about the importance of manners, I’ll be amazed!

 

With that in mind:

How are your manners?

As always, thanks for the time.

 

A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two.  My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully.  Thanks!

Aversion

by Curt Stowers | A Daily Word, Uncategorized

There’s some things that I have a real aversion to.  These are those must do things that come up on my schedule that I really don’t like!  I confront these “to do’s” with one of two approaches/mind sets:

  • I know I’m not going to do the task based on my previous behaviors.  I know who can do the task.  I pass it to them.  It gets done.  And the task doesn’t ever really get any “share of mind” from me.
  • I linger over the item for an extended period of time.  It takes a significant “share of mind”.  Ultimately I end up doing the task — after wasting WAY too much mental energy.

Fortunately over time, I’ve come to realize the absurdity of the second situation.  Folks, you’ve got two choices when it comes to a “must do” task:  out source it or do it yourself.  If you choose the former, you’re normally out a little bit in your pocket book; however, the peace of mind you obtain is normally significant.  If you choose the latter, you have a second choice to make:  (i) accept that you decided to do the task and get on with it, or (ii) boo hoo and belly ache for hours and then get on with it.  Once you recognize this, it should be pretty apparent that if you’re not going to out source the task, you’re much better off learning to enjoy it versus continuing to let the task claim an undeserved share of mind..

With that in mind:

Are you going to let your aversion to the task at hand effect your entire day?

As always, thanks for the time.

 

A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two.  My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully.  Thanks!

Fighting

by Curt Stowers | A Daily Word, Uncategorized

It would be wonderful if things just happened and there was never any struggle.  But think about it, even in fairy tale land the handsome prince or brave heroine has to fight to overcome adversity.  That’s what makes a good story!

 

And we all love a good story.  The problem is when it comes to stepping up to a fight, we often choose the “flight” response.  Why?  In my mind, it’s because of two things.  First, while we’d love to make a change or move to a new place in our lives, the current pain just isn’t large enough to motivate any action — much less a knock down, drag out fight.  Second, we’re afraid of losing.  We’d rather sit tight and avoid the situation than have to explain to everyone how we tried and failed.  Think about those two things for a second:  we’re not uncomfortable enough and we’re afraid.  How many of you would like to explain to your kids that you went through life “not uncomfortable enough” and “afraid”?  Dismissing fight out of fear undervalues your capabilities WAY too much!

 

We each have dreams and aspirations.  Like the handsome prince and the brave heroine, we’re not going to realize these dreams and aspirations unless we step up to the fight.  And while there’s no guarantee that we’ll win the fight when we step in to it, there’s almost certainly a guarantee that we’ll emerge with one heck of a story to tell our kids.  Isn’t that a lot better than “I was afraid and not uncomfortable enough”?

 

With that in mind:

What’s worth fighting for in your life?

As always, thanks for the time.

 

A FAVOR TO REQUEST – If you enjoy reading these posts, please share with a friend or two.  My goal is to help as many folks find ways to learn, grow and live more fully.  Thanks!

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