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15 Reminders for Facing Adversity

Two things can happen when your world turns upside down with tragedy, such as blindness or the murder of your child. Either your life becomes a mess or you reach deep within. Choose the latter and, through the power of God at work, you become the messenger of the greatness that is yours to share. And while sharing, there's a secret to live the abundance of life, to relish in the richness of each day and to delight in success and triumph. And that triumph isn't in a book or hidden in mysteries untold, or even in philosophies to ponder…

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Finding Your New Strength In Adversity

There is a story of little girl in church with too much energy. She kept standing up on the chair and her mother kept pulling her down, but she would just keep getting right back up. Frustrated, her mother pulled her down again and put her hand heavy on her little girls head, pushing her down into a sitting position. The little girl sat there for a while, then began to smile. Then she said, "Mom, you know what, I may be sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside!" This is the attitude of…

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5 Positive Ways You Can Manage Adversity

I believe strongly that what you put out in this world, you get back. I did not always think this way, and unfortunately it took a life-altering event to show me the correct path for me to follow. I suffer from a debilitating disease which tests my strengths daily. Here are five things that I live by and pass along to as many people as I can! 1. Positivity creates positive results. Karma? If you surround yourself with dark, depressing negative thoughts or people, then you will lean towards that yourself. That is not a happy, nor a healthy, way…

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5 Concepts for Overcoming Challenges

When adversity strikes and overtakes many or all areas of our lives, it can be difficult to see the multiple hidden blessings that are obtained by moving through our challenges, one day at a time. Adversity provides us with the chance to remove things from our lives that are non-essential and have been weighing us down. Just as important, adversity makes the overcomer a better person, as the spoils of war are available to those who refuse to quit and succumb to their current tragic circumstances. We learn how to become resilient, how to step out in faith, and how…

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Today’s Brilliance from Dr. Ervin Laszlo

You, the young people of today, are the most privileged people who have ever lived on Earth. For the first time in history, one generation—your generation—holds the key to the greatest challenge humans have faced since they became conscious of themselves and the world. It's the challenge of change: timely change. The world your fathers and forefathers have created is no longer sustainable. This means that if it doesn't change, it will break down. It cannot keep going as it is. Financial crisis and climate change are just the most visible of the many untenable conditions in the world. Urban…

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Today’s Brilliance from Tony Volpentest

At 15 months old, I pulled myself up and took my first steps in my family's suburban Seattle living room, walking stiff-legged across the carpeted floor. While most parents consider this a milestone of child development, for my parents this simple act was nothing short of miraculous. You see, I was born without hands and feet and I have been proving the experts wrong ever since. First walking unassisted, and eventually doing the unimaginable--becoming a world-class sprinter, winner of four gold medals and nominated to the Olympic Hall of Fame Class of 2012. My motto has always been, 'If you…

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Staying Focused When Confronted By Adversity

I was born, as they would say today, visually handicapped. That means I've had to adapt my life in countless ways. And I've learned that if you don't adapt, and often adapt quickly, you'll be miserable, filled with self-pity, and not be the person you were meant to be. The key to overcoming physical or psychological challenges is simple, but very hard to learn. If you want to do something, get something, or be something badly enough, you can't let other people or old thinking get in the way of your goals. And you can never give in or give…

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What You See is What Will Be

There was a time back, long ago, when knowing each other’s deficits was important. In fact it was critical to our survival. But today we live in a time when our environment can literally make up for any of our shortcomings. We have evolved past the need to link deficiencies with survival. Unfortunately, our instincts have not. Despite overwhelming evidence—the blind man with incredible hearing, the deaf woman highly attuned to body language, the dyslexic student with powerful memorization—society is too accustomed to seeing the world in terms of deficits and exceptions. And so are we. In trying to improve,…

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Find Your Motivation, and Find Your Way to Success

After I resigned my military commission as a naval officer because I lost motivation from the Vietnam War, I wondered what I could do for my future to make my life worthwhile. My best high school friend was in town as a civil rights lawyer and asked if I wanted to watch him argue a case for Cesar Chavez’s fledgling union against wine growers’ attorneys. His arguments demolished the private property claims of the ten slick business attorneys for the wine industry who tried to paint the farm workers as law-breaking scum. I was convinced I could never do anything so…

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How To Use The Mantra, “Just This Much”

If you watch your mind, you will see that it goes into the past or future all day long.  It especially loves to go into the future and when it really gets activated, it moves from a whole different place.  It will convince you that that you can’t do it right, or you can’t do it at all, or something bad is going to happen, and the thoughts go on and on.   These thoughts are just not true because we don’t know what is going to happen.  All we have is this present moment, but you can begin to see…

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You Can’t Do It Alone: The Power of Community

It is only in the most recent history that people subscribe to the ideal of "independence," of doing it on your own, of not needing anybody to support you. And in concept, this may be a good idea but only as a concept. We have millions of years of a genetic heritage that argues for community and we have maybe 75 to 100 years that argues for independence. Human beings have survived out of their interdependence, not their independence. When infants are born they are completely helpless and would surely perish if not for the love and care given by…

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Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms

It is far too easy to get caught up in all the noise, chatter and distractions that come our way. Maintaining focus in the chaos is often a mighty challenge. In times of our greatest crises the power of doubt, fear, stress and anxiety has enormous force. As this adversity grips us, something as simple as finding peace and maintaining confidence can be incredibly difficult. As I lived through the early experiences of my youngest son's addiction, I found myself completely distracted by his every move, thought, action, and decision. I became uncontrollably focused on saving him from his illness…

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Are Those Heavy Burdens Actually A Gift?

Nature always teaches us lessons, if we just pay attention. Today, my husband and I went for a snowshoe hike by our home in Glacier National Park, with Koda (our 6 year old Samoyed). The snow was deep and beautiful. The temperature was just above freezing and unfortunately, instead of the forecast for several inches of new snow gently falling, it was lightly raining. The heavy snowpack from the last week combined with the wet, falling rain, increased the burden being placed on the trees, weighing them down with large piles of heavy, wet snow. Some of them were bent…

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