Each week we select our favorite submission for Today’s Brilliance from anyone who cares to contribute to our blog. (Details are available here.) This week’s Brilliance comes to us from @Stephen at www.stephenpsmith.com. I think you’ll enjoy this one! Thank you Stephen for sharing your wisdom with us!
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I am older today than I have ever been in my entire life. What a ridiculous statement! Of course I am. Yet I feel younger today than I did at this time last year. I know this because I have been keeping a journal for years and I write in it almost every day.
From time to time I go back and look at what I was doing a year ago, two years ago, or more, and I ask myself, “Am I a better person than I was then?” or “What have I accomplished since then?” These are powerful questions that can have dangerous, revealing answers. I used to be afraid of them.
Over the past few years I have taken on (or been handed) some amazing challenges. Some of the outcomes were better than others but overall I have accomplished many things, remarkable and mundane, and I am a better person for them. I have a better life than I did. Because I know where I am headed and I have had some help from family, friends, and strangers. I have goals for tomorrow, I know where I stand today, and yesterday just doesn’t matter.
Yesterday doesn’t matter? No. It does not matter if you were sick yesterday, if you just weren’t motivated to do anything, or if you worked like a crazy person to finish a task on time.
It doesn’t matter if you quit school or your job or broke up with your significant other. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday because you can’t do anything about it today or tomorrow.
Today matters. Today is of vital importance. What are you going to do Today to be prepared for Tomorrow?
– Do you need to be a student tomorrow? Find a school.
– Do you need to have a job tomorrow? Start working on your resume and find some options.
– Do you want to be in a relationship tomorrow? Let’s start working on you.
No matter who or where you are you can be a better person and have a better life tomorrow if you work on getting there today. It will not always be easy, nor can you be assured of making the correct decision every time. You may not know where to start or what you should do next – that’s okay. Ask for some help from your family and friends, your church or your school, your boss, and yes, even from strangers.
Stop doing the things that do not work. I know that this sounds simplistic and cliched, but it can be one of the hardest things that you ever do. It is hard because you know how to do these things. You may even like doing them. They are easy. They are comfortable. They are not making you a better person or building a better life. They are part of yesterday and they do not matter.
You can have a Tomorrow that is better than Today. You can do it. We can do it together.
Stephen,……The most profound part of this post for me is this:
” Stop doing the things that do not work ” It is simplistic, but we get caught up on our own fantasy about WHY we do things. Some examples:
Why do I yell at my daughter every morning when I know that doesn’t get her out of bed?
Why do I continue to eat foods that my body doesn’t like?
It is so hard to make changes until we accept that our old ways don’t work and we are ready to live in a new way. Until we accept that the old way doesn’t work, we’ll just keep on doing them… Crazy isn’t it?
I’m a better person every day than I was yesterday. And I hope I’ll be a much more enlightened, kind hearted, generous spirited person in 10 years than I am today.
Inspirational post!
See you and Gail in just a week!
Stephen, I love what you’ve shared here, thank you again!
Michelle, I really enjoyed the same part of the post that you did! I’m also grateful for your comments.
I can’t wait to meet both of you next week at SobCon09!
Thanks again to both of you!
Big hugs,
Gail
Thank you Gail, for the opportunity to share this. It’s funny, but the post I started writing changed so drastically into what we see here. It is remarkable what can happen when we stop writing with our minds and start writing with our hearts.
>>Michelle, thank you for your insights, I am looking forward to getting to speak to you in person next week!
Stephen,
For many people, starting the process of improving themselves seems like such a huge undertaking. But I like how you try to simplify the process — “Today matters.” That makes it seem doable.
It’s hard to leave behind baggage from the past, but following your example and process makes it okay to do just that. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Scott Quitter