Motivation/Inspiration Archives - Page 6 of 7

It Only Seems that You Have to Walk on Water

June 19, 2008 by Liz

Look Out the Window

Ever wake up wondering why you bother? The goal you’re going for is way out there, and you’ve been here for a long time now.

Things, people, circumstances seem to be putting up barriers. That path that was once so clearly yours doesn’t quite so clear. You’re seeing clouds, not flowers. Your face-to-face with “what if” fears. Other folks win, not you.

Why not you?

See a wall, climb it. Find a problem, solve it. Need a skill, learn it. That’s how other folks get there. Those barriers will move out of the way, if you make it clear that you’re coming through.

Look out the window.

The whole world is a reminder. Scan the horizon. Your personal goal is there where you imagined it a while ago.

It only seems that you have to walk on water.

Let the horizon be your focus. Take a step closer. Keep going until you can say “I made it. I’m here.” Then look out the window again.

Every great idea, every world changing event began with one person overcoming fear.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Image: Liz Strauss photo

On a Street Called Hope

June 2, 2008 by Liz

What Would You Find On a Street Called Hope?

In a town somewhere,
does it matter where?
You can find Hope Street.

I walk down it in my mind.
A knowing look shines on the faces of the people I see.
Most can’t say how they found their way to Hope Street.

I can say that I don’t go there as often as I might.

What would you find on a street called Hope?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image source: sxc.hu

A New Day Thought

May 30, 2008 by Liz

a new day thought.

On a Friday morning, I’ve been thinking about the wonder of a new day.
Like the sun, we can open our eyes on hours filled with opportunity.
With a fire behind us, we move into the morning spreading light as we move.

We can use that light to repair what was once broken.
We can follow it to a path that’s more true and familiar than the one we’ve been following.

We can warm the lives of the people we love in a short moment.
We can put a glow where a cold heart has been a dark and lonely space.

A new day is a chance to make a new way for ourselves and the world.

On this typical new Friday morning, I’m letting the old days and old pains fall away from me.

I’m only keep the new ones.

Image: etstrauss

Will you do the same thing?

Shine Even Brighter

May 28, 2008 by Liz

Even the Humblest Star Still Shines

Just a few words, a reminder, that we’re all meant to be brilliant.

It happened recently — to a friend, to me, and to another.

A dark voice tried to steal light by making false and nasty statements. It’s a tactic straight from the playground. He’s never got past that, but we’re adults. We turned the channel.

As far as we know, the world didn’t appoint that one voice with the right to make public judgments based on no information.

Loud, dark voices can’t take your attention. So don’t give it to them.

Shine even brighter. Say thank you, and leave those dark voices to their playground. Shine until you remember the kids you knew who were even tougher.

Shine with the things you’ve accomplished and those you still will. Shine knowing that you’ll never need to make someone feel smaller to shine as bright as you are.

What Is Humility?

May 29, 2007 by Liz

PERSONAL IDENTITY

humility.

Once when I was about eight, I saw this sentence written in an open space on a church bulletin.

The funny thing about humility is the second you think you have it, you don’t.

Obviously that sentence stayed with me. I revisit it often. I still see it. The original had been typed on the master sheet by a manual typewriter. As I reflect on the image, the sentence itself looks humble compared to what we look at now.

This morning, Karin and I talked about the meaning of humility, which started me thinking again.

I reflect on one idea every time I encounter that word humility It’s been the same since the day I first saw that sentence.

We get ourselves into weird shapes and strange configurations chasing after humility.

Humility is the recluse star of the virtues. It starts with the same H as halo.

What Humility Is Not

I can tell you what I know about humility. Then maybe you’ll tell me more. That would be useful, because the elusiveness of humility means we know more about what it is not than we do about what it is.

In fact, what humility is not is a good place to start. Humility is the absence of many things that we can do without.

Humility is not about deprivation. Humility is about more, not less. A humble heart gives more, has more room, sees more good, and is more generous.

Humility doesn’t make itself less. It doesn’t think of itself at all. So less cannot happen.

Humility does not bring itself down. It raises others up higher yet. A humble heart can hold up a chin. For a heart to do less would be to devalue everyone. Humility is about giving value, not taking it away.

Humility is not false. It doesn’t pretend to something it’s not. It doesn’t deny the truth about what is good. A star needs to shine fully bright to remain a star. A humble star knows that shining is what it does well and is generous with its light. Falsehoods in any form, are not humility. They are a denial of the truth, that’s something else.

What Is Humility?

Humility is without guile. It needs no plot, no plan. It has no needs at all.

Humility is not about me. It doesn’t make me bigger or smaller. It’s about everyone else. We don’t know when we have it, because when we look at ourselves, it is gone.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Leaders and Higher Ground

March 1, 2006 by Liz

Leaders and Higher Ground

There’s no person on the planet
who has not been a jerk.
That’s a fact.

Circumstances change.
People adapt.
Those are also facts.

Arguing with facts
wastes time and energy.
It’s not good practice
or effective leadership.

Leaders deal with facts about their weaknesses.
They work on building up their strengths.
Then they relace their shoes.

They keep on walking toward higher ground.
They don’t turn back.

They do all of this because that’s what leadership is.
It’s a harder hike, but the view is better.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

[for Sabine]