Hi there to my Journal & Friends!
I LOVE this song... and I DETEST this song:
I LOVE it because it makes me thinks of my Momma. When I was a kid, she would go around the house singing it. Momma had a rich alto voice, and I loved to hear her sing.
I DETEST it because of the message: que sera sera... what will be, will be.
NO! I emphatically disagree with the message that we are like dead fish, just floating downstream in the river of life. Victims with no choices. No, no, NO!
Yes, I believe in the sovereignty of God. Yes, I believe He has a plan for our lives. "Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
But no one sent ME a blueprint of that plan, not specifically. I don't know the details. So I am still responsible for my CHOICES. I must still make the effort. I must still work and plan and believe and DO. To try to live that life and be that person I believe I was created to be.
Yesterday, after my Warrior toon post, I had a doctors appointment to do a nerve conduction test on my hands. Whole long story... but bottomline I need minor surgery on both hands. Frustrating is an understatement. It was kinda funny, in a black humor sort of way, that I had just posted, proclaiming my Warrior status!
I cried on the way home... I didn't want to stuff my feelings like in the past. And I had to face the fact that my past choices contributed to this present condition. Yes, being overweight played its role. And that lands smack dab in MY lap of responsibility. Choices have consequences.
But life goes on. And we can live it UP, or feel sorry for ourselves and live it DOWN. I choose UP. I can do this.
Want to know what really drives me nutso?? Hearing people say "I can't", when what they really are saying--only don't realize it--is "I won't".
I did that for too many years. And consequently, I lost a lot of years staying "morbidly obese", thinking "I can't".
Because if you THINK you can't... then you CAN'T. You don't even try. Or you try, and when it gets "hard", give up.
I know... I did THAT, too.
We have so much more ability than we realize! We have been blessed with this amazing thing: the power to choose.
All day long, in all areas of our lives, we make choices.
Little choices... bigger choices. But they all add up to one thing: they are creating OUR LIFE.
Next time you catch yourself saying "I can't"... trying asking yourself if that is really true. Or is it really that you "won't". It might change your world, like it did mine!
"Oh, The Possibilities"
Art by Retta
Today's Peek at the Past
From Day 16, August 25, 2009:
I don't have all figured out yet, but I know it is a truth: learning this is a spiritual journey.
...Personal, different for each one...like walking down a country lane and there is a slight curve in the road just ahead, and I can only catch a glimpse of what is there...it looks inviting, somewhere I know I want to go...but I haven't arrived yet...
Adventure, a getting to know the One and myself...a Becoming...choosing to be brave, not shrinking back into a safe place...growing up...changing from worm to butterfly...
(For complete post "The Invisible Journey" click HERE)
From Dr Phil's book: "Be willing to challenge every behavior pattern."
My verse for today: "Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit."
My quote for today: "Between stimulus and response, one has the freedom to choose." --Stephen Covey
Enjoy the Journey,
Loretta
=^..^=
15 comments:
What a great post, Loretta. I agree that we are responsible for our choices. What a blessed gift that we have the freedom to make our own choices. With that freedom comes the necessity to accept the consequences or revel in the glory of our choices! As far as "what will be will be", sometimes life throws things at as that we can't control. But we have a choice of how we'll respond.
I love where you said you cried about having to have the minor surgeries, because you didn't want to stuff your feelings. That's a brilliant choice, because stuffing them doesn't make them go away. Thanks for making me think today!
So true. Very well said Loretta! You are a wise woman. Good luck with your hand surgery... I hope it goes well and heals fast! :)
~Margene
Hey loretta, I am so sorry about your hands.
will this mess up drawing for long? I hope not.
Big hugs.
love the dead fish pic. It's so true....the difference between can't and won't. Hang in there.
LESLIE: "...sometimes life throws things at as that we can't control. But we have a choice of how we'll respond." Yes, that is another aspect of it... and I couldn't agree with you more. I love how Maya Angelou put it: "If you don't like it, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it!"
CHRIS: I'll have them done one at a time, and they say it's minor. I'm going to see if I can stall til cooler weather! Besides, "just in case", there is a picture I have just started for a writer friend, and I want to make sure it gets finished!
Loretta
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I'm sorry about your hands. I've heard folks having great success afterwards who have had it. I'll keep you in my thoughts.
As a fellow hand sufferer, I empathize.
We live our lives. A big step in this process is learning to forgive ourselves and accept ourselves in all of our shapes and forms. To learn to love and value ourselves no matter what the scale says. That is the transformation that took me from struggling to a new lifestyle I embrace everyday. I love what I do for myself and choose to treat myself well.
You're on the same road. I see it in all your posts. It is hard to see where we are sometimes when in the middle. These looks back are good for you. It demonstrates to you your own progress.
Keep your eye on the positive, Loretta. The surgery can help you go after your dreams. Certainly it is scary, but the prognosis for this type of procedure is high on the benefits side.
"Change the way you think about it."
I think I have working on that all year. I'm not the same as when I started. The road this far has been about the mind. Our enemy throws fiery darts that stick if we let them and don't check them against the truth.
Sorry about the need for an upcoming surgery. Praying
Sorry to hear you have to have surgery. I'll keep you in my prayers.
Thanks for this post, it's good to be reminded that we are in charge of where our lives go. We can either hunker down and lose this weight, or not. The choice is ours.
Sorry to hear that you need surgery :-(
But you are right, every choice matters and its not up to anyone but us how our lives turn out. I was looking through some memorabilia today to see exactly where I have gone wrong in mylife, how did I get here? I found out. Early on I made some bad decisions and now I am still untangling the results. Sometimes it seems it will take my whole life to do so.
NO one likes to hear surgery is needed. But, I know you won't let that slow down your resolve, Loretta. You've lost 58 lbs in just a year!! (How many people can say that?!) Your post on choices is true. Like the Jon Michaels song goes, "... It's good, it's bad, it's fair, it's not, but it's all the life we've got." (Or something like that.) :D If we want a better life, we need to make better choices. Sounds so simple, doesn't it?
GREAT POST LORETTA!!!
I agree with you on the can't thing. It's a word that I am carving out of my vocabulary!!
Keep up the great work!!
Hugs!
Absolutely agree with this entire post...
Everything we say, think, hint towards, whisper in the ears of... create consequences, both good and bad.
We are responsible... they are NOT!
Dayne
Hands. My goodness - is it carpel tunnel? If I may ask?
You are in better shape now then you were, say, a year ago...
So it might be a good time to get this out of the way!
Love the song and the reference to your dear Mother!
Great post, Loretta. Choices...hands the power back to us, instead of making us victims. I also dislike, "I've been good or I've been bad." I substitute that with I chose to do this or that. After all, if it's going to be, it's up to me.
Sorry to hear about your hands too. My buddy at work had to have the same thing. It turned out really well and she is very happy now. My mother also had the same surgery with great results.
ANN: Yep, it's bilateral carpal tunnel. Severe in left, but only moderately severe in right. Can't ignore it any more. It would have been sooo much harder a year ago! So I suppose I have that to be thankful for. :-)
JUST ME: I appreciate hearing that others have had good results with the hand surgery! Thanks for that.
DAYNE: One of the most freeing things I learned a while back was that *I* am responsible for my life. Some people think that's bad news... but to me it's GOOD news. Because if I got myself into this mess by my choices, then I can make better choices that will get me OUT of this mess. So it's an empowering way to look at it, at least for me.
Loretta
=^..^=
Wow, I can't get over how much you look like your mom! I'm sorry to hear about your need for surgery. "It was kinda funny, in a black humor sort of way, that I had just posted, proclaiming my Warrior status!" Reading that made me smile. I love that you can find humor in the little things!!
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