Helping Yourself

Have you ever thought to yourself that you could just get ahead if someone would just help you. You hope and you pray that you will win the lottery. You hope and pray that a better job will come up and yet it doesn't seem to happen.

Did you know there's a simple reason for that? You have to help yourself.

There are ways to be more financially sound than the lottery. Budget your money and cut costs where you can. Bring your lunch to work and skip eating out. Do all your errands by area of town to save gas and make it a budget you can stick with.

Another important thing to budget is your time with your family. Stress can lead to depression. Spending quality time with your family will enrich everyone. If you find your weeknights are little more than coming home from work, dinner, television and asking your kids if their homework is done, it is time to budget your time with your family. One way is to turn off the television for even just one night. Play a game or simply talk to your kids. You'll see a vast improvement in everyone's mood and most people find when they start the no television one day a week to create a family night, it leads to more nights like that and less television.

If you want a better job, get yourself out there and start knocking on doors. If you are in a business that has corporate gatherings, by all means - attend them and network. The great jobs are out there, you just need to make yourself available.

You have the power within yourself to create any changes you truly want in your life, just believe in yourself and the way to your goals will become very clear.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Are You the Enemy?

Everyone goes through bad times. No one gets through life without a bad experience in their past. Hard times define us all in one way or another. If you have repeated bad situations and you always seem to be in the middle of chaos, it's time to step back and see if it is your own doing. Are you your own worst enemy?

Self-sabotage is a learned habit and an easy one to get into especially if you were discouraged a lot as a child. Many parents use the backwards logic of "You can't do that" to make a lot of children say, "Well I'll show you!" and it works for a few children but for the vast majority it sets them up with a lifetime of failure to try. You can't lose if you don't run the race and many of these children grow up to be adults who cannot handle competition and they normally don't try to succeed in anything. People who create crisis after crisis in their life are also self-saboteurs, how can they be expected to succeed in anything when they have all this drama going on in their lives?

Negative self-talk is another way you keep yourself down. If you don't believe in yourself, who will? The way we refer to ourselves is learned in childhood and is a tough habit to break as an adult. But you can do it. Avoid creating self fulfilling prophecies for yourself and if you are taking on more than you can handle, ask for help. If it is at work, ask for assistance. If life is overpowering you - look to the Divine. Help is always available whether literal or spiritual. Start keeping a journal for your eyes only and write positive things about yourself. Name your good traits. You are organized, you have great eyes, you're intelligent, you learn quickly, you are always looking to improve yourself...just to name a few. When you feel twinges of negativity and doubt starting to cloud your mind, read what you have written, it's a great self-esteem booster. Also notice your writing itself. Do you put yourself down? Do you write negative phrases such as "I'm so dumb" or "I'm such a loser"? If you do, learn to stop that negative talk. You need to let go of that line of thinking and only speak of yourself positively; you will be amazed at other's reactions to you.

Next, drop that pessimistic attitude. Pessimism is a lot more than seeing the darker side of every situation. It will cause you to pass up opportunities to better your situation in life because along with pessimism comes her sister Apathy. When you practice pessimism, eventually you cease to care.

See the good within yourself and allow your fine points to shine through. Practice being positive and let the negative person you once were go.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Fear is Just a Feeling

Does fear keep you from accomplishing things? Are you afraid of making a change in your life because you fear what the opinions of other people might be?

Fear is a very negative emotion that will control your life if you allow it. But you have to remember that fear is nothing but a feeling, just like hot or cold. If you feel too hot or too cold what do you do? You make yourself comfortable. If you feel fear in the future, realize what is causing this fear and take steps to make yourself comfortable.

If you fear public speaking and it is holding you back from a promotion in your job; it is time to make yourself comfortable with speaking in public. There are courses you can take, join a Toastmaster society near you or simply practice speaking in front of small groups of your co-workers. When you realize that you can win over this type of fear it will cease to show itself.

Fear of change is another reason that many people get held back in life. Many people stay in bad relationships because they fear being alone or they fear financial hardship, no amount of hardship is worth one ounce of unhappiness. Do not fear being alone as you never truly are. The Divine is always beside you and rest assured you will never be given more than you can truly handle.

Lastly, when you feel it is time to overcome a fear in your life, ask for help. Whether you turn towards spiritual guidance for help or another person, do not be afraid to ask for direction and assistance. Let go of the fears that are holding you back from truly living and live your life as a person free from the bonds of fear.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

All Prayers Are Answered

Have you ever thought that your prayers weren't heard? You prayed really hard for that new car, promotion at work or money to take your family to Disneyworld, but your prayers fell on deaf ears.... Or so you thought.

What you forgot is that every question asked or prayer made has two possible basic answers and sometimes the answer is, "yes" and sometimes the answer is "no". The Divine won't just miracle a new car into your yard, a promotion into your lap or free tickets in your mailbox to Disneyworld. Can you imagine if we got everything we wanted by praying? We would become a lazy group of individuals indeed! And that is why sometimes the answer to our requests is simply "no".

If you truly want something, you must work for it. No one thing that is truly valuable is attained easily. If you want a new car, budget for it. You have the power to give it to yourself. If you want a promotion, be a shining star at work. Show upper management that you are truly worthy of a better position at your work. The Divine already knows you are worthy.

If you promised your family a summer vacation to Disneyworld but don't know how you're going to financially pull it off; budget tightly and get a second job if you need to. Ask the whole family to work as a team. If you want something, work for it. The Divine will lay the path to show you the way and all you have to do is simply walk it. Don't expect immediate results but results you will get in time. Patience is the key.

Next time you want something so badly you're willing to pray for it, don't simply ask for a car or a job or a vacation, instead ask for a way to attain them through honest means be shown to you and those doors will open.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Strength and Will

Many people get these two words perpetually confused, yet they are vastly different. One will bring you success and the other will allow you to merely exist.

How many times have you read about a person who overcome incredible obstacles, disappointments and set backs only to come out on top? That is sheer will. A strong person would have probably survived bad situations, obstacles in their life path and setbacks thrown their way but they wouldn't have overcome any of them - they would have muddled through. And that is the difference between strength and will.

Will is the very force within us that allows to overcome and rise above bad situations, bad people and move forward and away. Strength will allow us to merely get through hard times and survive them, but without will there is no surpassing it.

Everyone has will inside of himself or herself; but you must unlock it. Sometimes the most physically frail and fragile people can have more will inside of themselves than an Olympic weightlifter.

Start shunning negative beliefs and words from others that are directed your way and begin listening to your own voice deep within yourself. You will find you have a sounding will within you to accomplish literally any task you set at hand.

Unlock your will within and live your life to its fullest.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Stay Curious!

A great quote everyone should have taped to their bathroom mirror so they see it every morning is "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." Albert Einstein said that and it is very true.

It is very important that you never allow yourself to become complacent or apathetic. Stay inspired and stay curious. Make it a point to find at least one interesting thing every day. When you stop noticing your surroundings is when negative people and situations can creep up on you. Darkness is always drawn to light, remember that. When you have an inner light, people of all walks will be drawn to you and if you allow negative people to feed off your positivity, you can wind up feeling indifferent or uninterested in life.

If you feel someone is making you feel that way or is creating a situation that is making you feel overwhelmed and dispassionate about your job, your relationship or your life, that is the time to get curious and ask yourself some hard-hitting questions: Why is this person doing that? What can they gain from creating negativity and misery for you? And the last question is the most important - Why are you allowing someone else to control your emotions or personal well being?

The other part of having a light of positivity within you is that light can defeat darkness. It is drawn to the light but cannot exist within it. No matter what someone else sets up to throw a roadblock in your way - don't allow yourself to be ruffled or sucked into any kind of drama - just change roads!

You will always find people who enjoy creating drama and negativity will cease to be around you and you will be a stronger person for having gotten above and past it.
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Tired? Run Down?

In these hectic days that somehow feel you now get less than 24 hours in a day, it can be easy to feel tired and run down.

Our lives are busier than ever and with work obligations, family obligations, and all those "little" life situations that pop up from day to day; it can leave you feeling like you have zero time for yourself. This is where the doubt and negativity can creep into your life. When your personal defenses are lowered, negativity can creep into your life. It can make you second-guess everything.

"Am I in the right job?"
"Am I with the right person?"
"Am I on the right life path?"

All of these things can drag you down. If your job gives you pleasure then you're in the right one. If the person you are with treats you with love and respect, then you're with the right person. If your life isn't filled with crisis du jour after crisis du jour and you are happy with the way things are going on the personal level, then don't let self-doubt, make the grass look greener.

A different job, a different partner or a complete lifestyle change might seem attractive when you're simply trying to escape the stresses in your life, however sometimes things are not as pretty as they seem. A better solution to feeling tired and rundown with your schedule is to prioritize your time. Write down the things you need to do every day then rearrange them in order of importance, you'll find you can combine many things or skip certain things on certain days, freeing up more time for yourself.

Figure out what is really important to yourself in your day to day living and you will find a lot more time for the things you really want to be doing!
 posted by Friends of Leah   

Finding Inspiration

You can find inspiration to do great things no matter where you personal talents lie.

Inspiration can come in many forms. For example the sight of a homeless person on the streets may inspire one individual to collect blankets and coats for the coming winter. Another person may be inspired to donated some of their time to a Meals-on-Wheels program when they read nearly 13% of the elderly in their town go to bed hungry simply because they are unable to go out and get food and have no family in the area. Someone else may have a physically or mentally challenged child in their life and begin supporting Special Olympics.

Giving of yourself is inspiring. If your schedule is such that you really can't donate any time to a worthy cause, there are still other things you can do. Instead of collapsing in front of the television tonight, turn off the TV and talk to your kids. Have a good one-on-one conversation. Take your family to a movie or otherwise spend time together. Teaching your children the value of a closely-knit family unit is so valuable and the impact of this time spent with your family will last a long longer than the memory of whatever sitcom was on the television.

There are many ways to inspire everyone around you. Give your time if you can, find a favorite cause to donate items or a little money and set a good example by helping the less fortunate out. If you believe "charity begins at home", practice what you preach and make time for your family - the rewards for simply giving of yourself are immense.
 posted by Friends of Leah