Passion of the Catalyst

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence.

On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence. The boy gradually began to control his temper over the next few weeks, and number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased. He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

“you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

Moral of the story: Control your anger, and don’t say things to people in the heat of the moment, that you may later regret. Some things in life, you are unable to take back.

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe a fireman? A baker? A ballerina? Whether or not you still hold those childhood dreams of twirling about in a pink tutu or rushing off to extinguish a house fire, you probably have some sort of idea what you ultimately want to do with your life. BUT are you actually doing it? Are you working towards it? Or have you given up all hope on your dreams with the burdens of daily life pulling you down?

Pursuing your dreams comes along with many benefits! Here are some reasons why you should not give up on your dreams:

Failure, This word seems counter-intuitive in reasons not to give up your dreams, but failure is more beneficial than you might think. Most people don’t pursue their dreams for fear of failure. Little do they know, this is one of the biggest ways we learn and grow!

Many famous and successful Americans had to fail over and over again to achieve what they hoped to in life. Abraham Lincoln failed at war, as a businessman, as a lawyer and even at politics at first. He pushed on through and became president of the United States. Thomas Edison’s teachers called him “stupid” and he was fired multiple times before “failing” 1000 times attempting to invent the lightbulb. Michael Jordan was once cut from his high school basketball team. He later said,

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.

I’ve lost almost 300 games

26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot … and missed.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.”If we can learn anything from these successful men, it would be to never give up on our dreams simply because of fear of failure.

Your expectations shape your reality. They can change your life, emotionally and physically. You need to be extra careful about (and aware of) the expectations you harbor as the wrong ones make life unnecessarily difficult. Be especially wary of the expectations that follow—they give people all kinds of trouble.Life should be fair. We’ve all been told a million times (and likely told other people) that life isn’t fair, but in spite of what we know about the intricacies of injustice, it’s a concept that doesn’t quite sink in in practice. A surprising number of us subconsciously expect life to be fair, and we believe that any unfairness that we experience will somehow be balanced out, even if we don’t do anything about it. If you’re stuck in that mindset, it’s time to get over it. When something “unfair” happens, don’t rely on outside forces to get you back on your feet. Sometimes there isn’t any consolation prize, and the sooner you stop expecting there to be, the sooner you can take actions that will actually make a difference. Opportunities will fall into my lap. One of the most important things a person can do is stick his or her neck out and seek opportunity. Just because you deserve a raise, a promotion, or a company car, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. You have to make it happen. You have to put in the hard work, then go and get what’s yours. If we limit ourselves to what’s given to us, we are at the mercy of other people. When you take action, think “what steps do I need to take?” “what obstacles are in my way and what do I need to do to remove them?” and “what mistakes am I making that take me away from my goals rather than toward them?”

Focus on the Whats and Not the What ifs. Many of us let fear and anxiety impair our ability to move forward and achieve the things that will bring happiness into our lives. Negativity feeds on fear and anxiety. As a result, focus on the things you want to do and imagine yourself doing them. Push out the fear and the anxiety and instead, imagine the positive feelings and happiness you’ll get from doing the things you want to do.

Meditate. Meditation can come in many forms. You can meditate through more traditional formats such as yoga or deep breathing, or just by carving in some “alone” time by yourself. The goal here is to spend some time on a daily basis, clearing your mind, ridding it of negative thoughts and refocusing it on those that are positive.

Do What You Love. Enjoying the things you love allows you to feel positive, happy and joyful. When we do things that feel good and that bring us happiness, we disengage negativity.

Think Positively. Although I’m not that well versed in the “law of attraction,” there is a lot of truth to being the master of your own destiny. You may have heard the saying, “positive thoughts beget positive results.” The more negatively we think, the more negative things will happen. However, the more positive we are and the more we believe in ourselves, the more positive things will come our way.

Is my thinking limited? This is the threshold question to ask yourself whenever you can.Much of the time, you will know if your thinking is limited because you will feel internal conflict or a sense of “dis-ease.” Regardless of whether you are sure or not, however, doing the following will expand your thinking.Discard the “should dos, “what ifs,” and “what might happens.”These open-thought obstacles remove you from the present and thus prevent you from seeing the opportunities and possibilities that are before you at any given moment. Many times they can be reduced, if not removed, by simply asking yourself:“What is my fear, and how real is it?” or “How important is it?”Most of the time, it isn’t real or important. Our imaginations just like to script foreboding stories.Be more spontaneous.When we are spontaneous, we are in the moment and more aware of the beauty that is all around us. And because we are thinking and acting intuitively, there is very little space for limited thinking.

To be more spontaneous, don’t overthink or overanalyze—that only leads to “paralysis of analysis.” Just trust and have faith that everything will work out as it was meant to be.

Pause occasionally.

Many of us put unnecessary pressure and time constraints on ourselves to act quickly or do too much. This unsettles us and prevents us from recognizing the choices we have. Pausing, whether to reflect, meditate, or simply breathe, grounds you and opens your thought waves.

Negativity can lead to stagnation – leaving you feeling stuck in your life and lessening your joy.It’s an internal pattern of behavior that – over time – can lead to the external appearance of negative circumstances.Though negativity can be difficult to change, it’s not impossible.Do you have the desire within you to improve yourself?The most efficient way to improve the circumstances of your own daily life is to upgrade the thoughts that play habitually inside of your mind. By identifying negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones, you can infuse your daily life with more moments of contentment and improved health.

Theoretically, it’s best to identify what you want, but not everyone automatically knows what it is they want in life.If you’re not sure what you want, notice instead what you don’t want.Once you know what you don’t want, think about it only briefly.Next, think of its opposite. “If I know I don’t want this, then what is the opposite of this?”There are few things more haunting than feeling your potential bubbling within you – all of your talent, creativity, skill and uniqueness – but not knowing exactly how to apply it in the world.Ironically, sometimes the more creative, intelligent and passionate a person is, the harder it is to determine new life goals – because almost everything looks interesting.What if you sense that there’s something else you should be doing – but aren’t yet clear on what that is?“What do I want?” seems like such a simple question to ask yourself, yet answering that question can be one of life’s great challenges.I don’t normally advocate focusing on negativity, for the simple reason that what you focus upon, you get more of.The law of attraction teaches us that it’s better to focus our time, energy and feelings on positive things – so that we magnetize more of that good stuff.

Ask yourself what’s important to you. “You’ve got to look at your previous resolutions and ask yourself, ‘Is this really a high value to me?’” Take a peek at your week, and see where you spend your time and energy. That’s what you care about. It might be your children, for example. Consider how weight loss might affect your children. Would you be able to play with them more? Would the kids worry about your health less? Use that as motivation to achieve your goal.

Lose the shame. One of the first things to do, deal with depression and unresolved anger, and check in with yourself emotionally. Often, people fail at goals because of self-sabotage. Ask yourself, “What needs to be released in order for me to accomplish this goal?” or, “Do I deserve to achieve this ? we can be too hard on ourselves when we don’t achieve goals, so begin with positivity. “Set goals that stretch you, but not so far you might snap,” he said. Find and release that emotional baggage.

Set realistic and specific goals. You’re not going to be on time to everything the very first week you try. If you set an unrealistic expectation, the minute that you fail, you may give up. Immediately changing every item in your diet might be unrealistic. Shifting diet and exercise involves everything from groceries to finding a gym. I would suggest putting a number with the goal. Make your resolutions specific and measurable: “I will take a walk that lasts at least 20 minutes two days each week” or “I will put at least $25 into my savings account after every paycheck,” instead of “I will exercise more” or “I will save more.” Write them down, and put them in your purse or wallet.

The Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Until it suddenly stopped making any progress, and looked like it was stuck.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man didn’t think anything of it, and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body.

Despite the kind heart of the man, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings to prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.

Moral of the story: Our struggles in life develop our strengths. Without struggles we never grow and never get stronger, so it’s important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and not be relying on help from others.

I was driving and noticed a person ahead of me, about 1/4 of a mile

I could tell he was drving a little slower than me and decided to try to catch him. I had about a mile to go on the road before turning off.

So I started drving faster and faster and every block, I was gaining on him just a little bit. After a few minutes I was only about 100 yards behind him, so I really picked up the pace and pushed myself. You would have thought I was cycling the last lap of Daytona

Finally, I caught up with him and passed him by. On the inside I felt so good. “I beat him” of course, but he didn’t even know we were racing.

After I passed him, I realized that I had been so focused on competing against him that I had missed my turn, had gone nearly six blocks past it and had to turn around and go all back.

Isn’t that what happens in life when we focus on competing with co-workers, neighbours, friends, family, trying to outdo them or trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and energy running after them and we miss out on our own paths to our destinies.

Moral :

The problem with unhealthy competition is that it’s a never ending ‘cycle’. There will always be somebody ahead of you, someone with better job, nicer car, more money in the bank, more education, a more handsome husband / a beautiful wife, better behaved children, etc.

Take what Life has given you, the height, the weight & the personality. Dress well & wear it proudly ! You’ll be blessed by it. Stay focused and live a healthy life. There’s no competition in DESTINY.

Run your own RACE and wish others WELL !

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own Sunshine.

Think over it………….

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A household name today, but a woman with a troubled past. From being sexually abused at age 9, to living on the streets at 13, and losing her first baby at 14, she has overcome all of her troubled past to be a role model for an entire generation. Determined to succeed despite her past she became the first black woman on national television and a millionaire at the age of 32. She’s consistently voted one of the most influential people by Time, and is considered one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. The lesson is that no matter where your origins are, it’s up to you to decide what you will make of your life. Sitting down and wallowing in your own self pity means you will achieve nothing in your life. The battle isn’t over until you say it is.