I was led to pen the thoughts below due to a writing submitted by a 22-year-old lady who just resigned her corporate position. As she wrote on a professional site to which we both belong, I was moved by her accomplishments but as she relayed, they were at some personal cost given the number of hours and numerous on-call expectations she was expected to work. One of her statements particularly caught my attention, "take a break when you deserve it, only do stuff you're passionate about and learn." Her insight and ownership of what she was becoming reminded me of some life lessons I learned as one proceeds down the path of living, accomplishing, promotions and recognitions amid life's setbacks. I was sincerely fortunate to have the below life lessons taught as I approached my high school years, and then interestingly enforced during four years at a high-ranking military academy. I pray you find some wisdom and help in my life lessons below:
JUST FOR TODAY:
Just for Today, I will live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once.
Just for Today, I will choose to be happy, not phony. This assumes what Abraham Lincoln said, "most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Just for Today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires.
Just for Today, I will do something positive, something good, for another and try not to be found out.
Just for Today, I will find a quiet half-hour all by myself, relax and regroup.
Just for Today, I will find the beauty in my surroundings no matter where I may be, find the uniqueness .
Just for Today, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful around me regardless of what another does and may even share my enjoyment.
Just for Today, I will, by my words and actions, make wherever I am a better place for my having been there.
I responded to the young lady on the site to which we both belong in this manner. A favorite mentor of mine, Snoopy, yes, the famous Snoopy of Peanuts, didn't ask to be born. One day he just woke up at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm in a squirming squeal litter of newborn pups. I have no doubt he spent a lot of time like the rest of us, wondering why? Why was I born, where am I going? Some of us never get beyond those questions. We spend considerable time on top of our own doghouses or in a favorite watering spot and wonder why we were born, and where are we going, where do we "fit in?" Then we often throw up our hands, confess the question is too difficult, and quit wondering for another day or two.
But here and there some of us climb down off our doghouse and away from our indecision and begin the search to learn for ourselves. Why was I born, why was I put on this earth, what am I doing here? Snoopy learned to take some time just for himself, relax and ask the question, "Is the Doctor in?" Is there a loving Creator behind creation who still walks among us, and who lives and moves and acts in our lives and through our lives? Or are we chance accidents of a mechanical, evolutionary process? Once that question is answered, once you join Snoopy and those of us who have settled in the fact that the Doctor is in, once you have settled that there is a powerful God who never stops loving us and working for our good, it's easy to answer the other questions of life; like, "why was I born and why do I now live on planet Earth?"
So...take a calculated chance and climb down off your doghouse and away from your indecisions, pressures and worries of life. Climb down and take some time out just for yourself and ask the question, Is the Doctor in? I'm cheering you onward!
