The Letter

In these challenging times, we need all the encouragement possible to be loving, encouraging, and forgiving to ourselves. This was posted on the Ripples Project and I thought I would share it here. Peace!

I promise you that I will help you whenever you are troubled.

I will do everything in my power to make things better for you.

I promise you that I will be there for you whenever you need me.

I will help care for you and keep you healthy.

I promise you that I will get up every day with a positive outlook, with my chin up and I'll never deprive you of hope.

I promise that I will love and respect you and never take you for granted.

I will remind you each day that you are a child of God, that there is a purpose for your life and will spend my life helping you discover that purpose.

I promise that I will listen to you when you need someone to talk to, I will not pass judgment or condemn you for mistakes you make.

I promise that I will always forgive you and I will not let past problems overshadow our relationship.

I promise that I will be a true friend to you and love you always, no matter what.

Love,

Yourself YYY

-written and submitted by Mary E. Bentley

Oath of Positivity

I recently spoke to a group of young women on how to be positive in these challenging times. As so many of us have been sucked into "the ain’t it awful club", I thought I would share with them and you what was once given to me when I was a teenager. I hope it inspires you!

Oath of Positivity

as read by Pearl Bailey, Live on NBC By J. Morris Anderson

My physical appearance will always reveal my positive mental attitude toward life.

My head held high will indicate the mental and spiritual strength that lives within me.

My straight, cheerful manner of walking will exemplify the positive direction my life has taken.

My eloquent manner of talking will always relate the positive mental, spiritual and physical forces that reside within me.

My illustrious smile will always express the pleasure I receive from living.

The positive look in my eyes will always indicate the self confidence and positive spirits inside me.

THEREFORE:

I CAN perform any task;

I CAN sell any product;

I CAN succeed in any job;

I CAN cause any relationship to thrive;

I CAN overcome any obstacle;

I CAN accomplish any objective.

I AM a positive mental, spiritual and physical person.

I AM spiritually capable of succeeding.

I CAN successfully compete on any mental level;

I WILL succeed on any physical level of activity in which I engage.

¿Are You Somebody?

Recently, I taught a class and afterwards a student asked me, if I had resource name to back up a statement I made. I said, “Yes, that resource is me.” He then asked me if I could quote somebody who was famous, a celebrity, or well known. I reiterated, “yes, me.”

He was so shocked that I confidently stood beside my name and my statement. I said yes, I am somebody. You can choose to heed my words or not, the choice is yours. I am my credible source because the story is mine.

He was so startled that I said that I was somebody; he did not have a comeback. I thought to myself that so often we look for validation on who we are from other people.

Boldly and confidently, declare to the world

you know who you are.

You are somebody!

"I am larger, better than I thought. I did not know I held so much goodness."-Walt Whitman

¿Why Are you Special? Me Is Not an Answer

I was chatting with a colleague and she was intrigued by my question that I had posed to her as to why she was special. She was so perturbed by it that she went on to post that very question online as to what about friends in her online community made them special.

In a later conversation, she said “Sandra most of them replied because I am me. Do you get that a lot, she asked.” I laughed because that is a standard response when we are uncomfortable with our own introspection. It is often difficult for most of us to look inward and articulate an answer.

Many of us have been taught that if we talk about ourselves in too positive a light, we are being braggadocios. We are advised to be modest and to be humble. The worst part is we are told not to say anything but to let people discover what is special about us on their own.

Honestly if you cannot proudly cry out to the world why you are special, no one else will be able to either. An ineffectual answer is because I am me. A dazzlingly response is I am special because and shout from the rooftops how special you really are.

Stay tuned as I collect answers and look for it in my upcoming book, "Why Are You Special". So, I have asked it before and I ask it again…

¿Why Are You Special?

Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters

Happy New Year! Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year began at sundown last night. I always love New Year Celebrations no matter what the culture may be. It gives us a time to stop and reflect on the past year and make affirmations on the new. Today a friend and I decided to celebrate in our own way. A new beginning.

We went to the beach and cast our bread upon the water and became one with the earth, water, sky, and all that is good in this world. Sharing our bread with the Sea Birds was amazing. When we started on the beach there was one lone gull. His cry to others that an abundance of food was being shared brought birds from a far to share in our bounty. (For a minute, it looked like a scene from the Hitchcock movie the birds)

It was a peaceful day to be one with the Universe. A day to start fresh and start anew. A New Year begins so that we may live life to its fullest and more abundantly.

Cast your bread on the waters: for you shall find it after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1)

Mirror Mirror

How many of you remember the fairytale of Snow White?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?" to which the mirror always replies "You, my queen, are fairest of all.” And then she knew for certain that no one in the world was more beautiful than she. But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds: "Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you."

What is interesting about the fairytale is that the Queen looked to the mirror to assess her beauty. But when the mirror failed to tell her what she wanted to hear, she demanded that the “new” beauty be destroyed.

I see so many of us living out that fairytale daily. We look to the media: magazines, celebrities, television, and our peers to measure our self-worth and our beauty.

The true beauty of self lies within each of us. Each day, you should be able to see yourself in the mirror and reflect on the beauty of your spirit. When you recognize your own beauty, your own specialness, others too will see you as special. So try this affirmation….

Mirror Mirror, I tell the truth
This beautiful spirit you see is
proof
That each day I live the best I can be
My own beauty and self worth,
I proudly see!