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Learning from the Fruit of Our Mistakes

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Quote About Learning from Mistakes
 

It’s not something I’m particularly fond of doing, but I do (every now and then) reflect on mistakes I’ve made – whether they were in the past year, the past day….or if I’m in really rare form, in the past hour.  No, I’m not a pessimist.  And I’m definitely not a sadist – I’m a realist.  A realist who has come to realize that our greatest lessons lie in the text books of our mistakes.

If you were to think back over some of your own beauts, you’d find lessons that were learned, whether you even realized it at the time or not.  Maybe you nearly made yourself sick-and-or-nuts by trying to do too much.  You realized what you were doing, scaled back and learned a very valuable lesson.

Maybe you misspelled a word in a blog post and were called out by a human spell checker. Perhaps the bite of their words caused you to double check your’s forevermore.

Maybe one of your biggest mistakes was a big fat jump into the wrong conclusion and the lesson, “Look before you leap” has stayed with you since. (Make no mistake about it….excuse the pun….this lesson is a great one!)

So, the next time you make a mistake, don’t kick yourself around 4 counties.  Don’t stew in your own juices, and most certainly don’t call yourself hateful names.

Rather, take yourself out for a Latte (or Frappuccino if the weather’s warm) and toast yourself for a brand new lesson.  You won’t be celebrating the mistake – you’ll be celebrating the lesson it taught and the wisdom you’ve gained.   Said another way, you’ll be toasting to self growth – so, go ahead and have a cookie, too.

Hold each mistake accountable for itself – demand your lesson!

~ Joi

*** By the by, a warm and wonderfully friendly woman recently e-mailed me asking if she could use one of my Quote graphics on the site (I believe it was on one of the Quotes pages). She said she had trouble finding images for her posts and would love to use one I’d made about Eagerness.  I told her exactly what I’m telling you now – I’d be honored for you to use any of the ones I’ve done, as long as you give an active link back to Self Help Daily on your blog or web site.  I’m making more that’ll be popping up all over the site – all I ask if for a link back.

Does that make me a link desperado?  I guess you could bet your sweet a href it does.

 

Dream Your Life Positively

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The following is an article I recently added to the SHD article section. It inspired me and I think it’ll do the same for you! 

by Ton Pascal

Just after publishing my first ebook, Dream Your Life Positively which dealt basically with the universal laws of attraction, a good friend asked me: Does it means that all disasters, diseases, or personal loss are a reflection of my thoughts?

The world we live in is our responsibility I said.

We act and interact with the other inhabitants of this planet. By direct or indirect connection, these negative energy waves cross your path. It is not the ACT itself of this negative energy the important factor.

You are not to be blamed for all the horrors happening in your life or around the world but your ACTION and reaction towards them is very much a direct cause of how these energies will decrease or increase.   [ Continue Reading ]

Five Wishes to A Better Life

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Five Wishes by Gay HendricksAs you know, one of my favorite things to be able to do on Self Help Daily is to recommend a great book.  Since my last book review, I’ve actually read three books. The first two were as bland as unseasoned cafeteria food.  In fact, I forgot about them before I even finished them.

But the third boook – wow! If, by some whacked out laws of literature, I had to re-read the two bores just to get to the third book again – I’d do it.

The third book is titled Five Wishes: How Answering One Simple Question Can Make Your Dreams Come True and was authored by Gay Hendricks.  Mr. Hendricks has written a perfectly delicious little book and I’m highly pleased to recommend it to anyone who:

  • Appreciates a great author doing what he or she was born to do.
  • Loves great Non-Fiction that reads like Fiction.
  • Is always looking for ways to grow.

If any of the above describe you, this book will fit you like a glove.

Five Wishes is composed of an Introduction and six chapters.  For the first time in my reading life (from Grimms to Grisham), I was profoundly inspired and motivated before I ever hit Chapter 1. How’s that for a powerful introduction?

There are so many life-changing lessons to be carried away from this book!  With the most provocative and challenging Introduction imaginable, you hit the ground not just running, but running for your life…more to the point, running for the life you want.  Momentum builds with each inspiring chapter as the reader lives through the author’s Five Wishes.

From the back cover of the book:

In my thirties I received the gift of a question that changed the course of my life.  My decision to answer that question gave me a life in which all my dreams came true.  Now I want to offer you this gift, so you can use its gentle power to create your own fulfilled life. – Gay Hendricks

From a “Self Improvement” standpoint, the thing I loved most about this great book was the bridge the author built from his past to his future.  In order to attain his own personal five wishes, Gay Hendricks didn’t stare starry-eyed into the future hoping that the wishes would come true. He first looked at his present – to find out exactly where he came up short.  If things were perfect, the wishes wouldn’t be wishes, they’d be bragging rights.  He had to take a good, honest look inward to learn why the outward wasn’t what he’d hoped or wished for.

After determining that renovations needed to be done, he wisely took a good, long look at the foundation – also known as the past. By looking back, he found the information he needed to bring change and improvement into the here and now. He beautifully tells how each change came about and how, as a result, each of his five wishes came true.

Talk about motivation and inspiration wrapped up into one.

I really hope you’ll grab a copy of this book.  If you use the links in this post, you can order from Amazon without ever leaving the house.  If you don’t want to wait a few days, grab a copy at your favorite store.  Whichever way, you go about it – be sure to get your hands on, eyes in, and mind around this book.  If you’re one of the technological whiz bangs that has an Amazon Kindle (A Wireless Reading Device – the ultimate in cool.), you can be reading it within 5 minutes.

It would also make a perfect Christmas gift – it’s a beautiful little book in addition to being a motivational masterpiece. Stuck inside a stocking or gift bag, it’d be the ultimate Christmas gift.  Who wouldn’t want to receive Five Wishes?  Even genies just give three.

Five Wishes: How Answering One Simple Question Can Make Your Dreams Come True by Gay Hendricks.

Human Googling: The Lost Art of Communicating

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Google
The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate. – Joseph Priestley

Let me just say, right up front, that I’m not a linguistics snob.  I don’t get caught up with tiny little grammar rules – I mean, some of them can be as uptight as Clara of Mayberry fame.  And almost as much fun at parties.  Almost.

I’ll absolutely begin a sentence with “And” – never thinking twice about it.  I’m usually a stickler for spelling but I do half agree with Andrew Jackson, who said, “It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t
think of at least two ways to spell any word.”

My text messages don’t even resemble the mother tongue half the time. My daughters, my husband and I kind of have our own language and we’re pretty confident no one would ever be able to decipher any of our messages to one another.  When it comes to blog posts, casual e-mails, and text messaging, the casual way is the only way.

However, when it comes to actually communicating, as in face to face, I’m frankly alarmed at what I see and not hear. It’s becoming a lost art.  It really, really is. People, as a rule, are forgetting everything they were ever taught about manners, and half of what they ever knew about communication skills.

My daughter, Brittany, works at a retail store in the mall.  I picked her up from work the other day – and, being the sweetheart that I am, I had a Caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks waiting on her.  I asked her how her day went, and after the straw released her mouth, she said, “Okay, but I can’t believe how many people Google me.”

Most of the time, the things out of my girls’ mouths make perfect sense to me, but I needed a little clarification for this one.

She explained that people will just walk up and say what they’re looking for, like “ladies pants” or “mixers” – like they’re entering what they want in a search field.  Then they wait for their “results,” and when she tells them exactly how to get to their item, they head off on their way. It’s kind of like they’re Shopping Pods or Robots….you know, something not totally human.

Whatever happened to, “Excuse me, could you please tell me where I can find the dvd players?” and “Thank you!”  Of course, some might say whatever happened to getting a little extra exercise and walking until you found what you’re looking for – but doing things for yourself is a sore spot with some people and another lost art, so we won’t go there.

Communicating is a skill that has to be practiced to stay sharp.  Left on the shelf, it’ll get rusty and we all know rusty tools are good for only one thing.

Nothing.