Inspiraelevation

Empathy/Compassion

May 1st, 2015

There are a lot of things in short supply, many which have given the world pause as the shortage threatens our physical survival within the parameters of this tiny sphere we inhabit. The looming threat of scarcity of food, water, and other natural resources in the wake of a growing population, paints a pretty bleak picture.

Our problem is much more far-reaching.

The scarcity of which, environmentalists and scientists tremble in no way compares to the diminution of the few precious jewels, which define the essence of our humanity; empathy and compassion.

No time like the present has the need for such been so necessary, but yet in such short supply.

What are these jewels?

A jewel increases in value the more scarce it becomes.

If this is to be true then compassion and empathy have tipped the scales of valuation.

If empathy and compassion are so valuable to the existence of a civilization what has happened?

The world has parched its lips with libations, libations of insolence, callousness, and hatred. It has become drunk with indulgences, leaching every ounce of humanity.

The world has lost its sobriety, choosing fevered dreams and satiation of pleasures rather than virtue. A world rich in its imaginations, without spirit, drowning in its conceits, vapid, lost, and reprobate. A world of automatons, humans which no longer resemble their former selves for they have lost that which has most defined them, their humanity.

Where does that leave us?

Until there is a desire to change, it leaves us a future of destruction and devastation, of ever-increasing poverty, famine, violence, wars, hatred, and death.

A successful nation an its people bear the markers of empathy and compassion. Greatness begins from within and radiates forth. A sick and hurting world is a manifestation of a sick and hurting people. When we as individuals begin to realize we are the solution to the change we seek, then shall transformation bloom like a flower reaching it petals to the horizon. When people begin to desire the fruits of virtue, then will real change begin.

Want to change world, become a person of character and virtue.
Struggle

April 29th, 2015

From the womb, we struggle.

Our entry and survival in the new, and foreign world is a triumph so rarely celebrated.

Regardless, struggle is a truth of life wherein we all must contend. The path of a man’s life, from his first gasp ’til his last, is marked by struggle.

And, none of life is immune from this struggle.

The very seedlings in the ground struggle to break through the earth that they may see the light, and grow towards the sun.

“Seeds strive to become plants by forcing their way through the soil. We can learn from this and push through the struggles we face in life. If they can survive, we can do much more. Keep pushing and pressing forward. Your best is yet to come!”
― Kemi Sogunle

We, just as these seedlings, will encounter some struggle, whether it be with self, nature, or another. This is of no matter, for struggle is the precursor to success.

Everyone needs help along the way.

You simply cannot make it through the struggles of life on your own. The Beatles said it best, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

Some let their struggles shape their world and their futures. They let struggles define who they are, and who they are to become.

Life is so much more than what you are going through. Life is about how you become victorious over those things which seem to always disadvantage you, understanding this is growth.

Growth is an expansion of the person, from one state of being to another, marked by changes in stature, emotional state, intellect, and in spiritual consciousness. And, one can not grow without first experiencing the pain of expansion.

Pain is necessary.

Just as there cannot be a rainbow without rain. There cannot be growth without some pain. It is how we choose to fight that will always impact the outcome.

You may have no choice over what you are experiencing but you will always have a choice over how you experience it. You can use your power of choice to your advantage.

How you choose to overcome will always impact change, even if it changes no one but you.

“Those who overcome great challenges will be changed, and often in unexpected ways. For our struggles enter our lives as unwelcome guests, but they bring valuable gifts. And once the pain subsides, the gifts remain. These gifts are life’s true treasures, bought at a great price, but cannot be acquired in any other way.”
― Steve Goodier

Refusing to face your struggles retards growth, and retarding your growth will never change what is. At some point in time you will have to face what is, in order to invoke a change, so that what is will one day be no more.

“God has not promised me sunshine
That’s not the way it’s going to be
But a little rain
Mixed with God’s sunshine
A little pain
Makes me appreciate the good times” – Walter Hawkins

Always choose to fight with valor, looking forward to what can and will be.
Influence

April 28th, 2015

How we live our lives is important. Our manner of speech, our body language, and our actions are all part of our influence. One can be sure that all the manners of ways in wish you choose to represent yourself has an impact on another.

There is always someone watching.

As sure as you live, you can be assured that, the way you live your life will impact that of someone else’s. This is inevitable. There is a saying “you may be the only book that someone will ever read”.

Use your influence well.

Use care in how you represent yourself. While there is an unfathomable power in the spoken word, actions speak louder. Align your deeds with your speech.

Always walk in the knowledge that your actions never impact you alone.

Your actions never solely impact those of your immediate contacts. All who you come in contact with on your job, at home, in the community, or simply passerby’s are touched by the impression you make whether positively or negatively.

Your influence can impact generations and the world.

The influence that you have on another will impact the interactions between them and their circle of friends, family, and acquaintances.

Be careful in how you represent yourself in word and deed.
Words

April 24th, 2015

I was once told that words meant nothing, that they were nothing more than the vain echo’s of another simply bouncing off the surface of the walls and floors.

After all sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you.

A word would cause no harm, no hurt. A word would never cause such destruction in a man insomuch that he  would crumble, crumple, or fall.

Surely, words (simply exchanges of air given melody or rhythm) had no destructive force.

They were wrong.

Words have the power to both maim and cripple the  part of a man incapable of being touched by any man-made weapon.

Words have the power to penetrate the mind of a man, seep into a man’s spirit,  dissect resolve, splinter the spirit, and rend the heart.

Yes, words may not break bones, but the implosion of words upon the spirit of a man can break all that a man believes himself to be, and thus how he or she moves in their waking hours.

The power of the tongue

The tongue is the most powerful weapon that an individual possesses.

Yet it is the most abused and misused.

With the tongue civilizations have been built and torn asunder.

With a word wars have been waged, and lives have been saved.

With a word everything that we now see was made.

Our very existence is  predicated on just a few words. ” Let there be,” and there was.

Words shape and form our image, hopes, and destinies.

Words turn our course and for some determine eternity.

Simple words such as yes, no, stay, go, I do, or I don’t, you can’t make me, or I won’t, I can, or I cannot

Words uttered with little thought, but rendering so great an impact.

Words have the power to build or break a man.

We are manifestations of what we think. What we think results from experience, that which we see and what we hear.

Words bestowed upon one by another give and take life, add pain, or color

You are ignorant or brilliant

You are beautiful or ugly

You are talented or useless

words never forgotten, often remembered.

They say, despite what others say, you are what you believe.

How can one believe in that which he or she has never heard. Can you know the meaning of something without first being taught the word. To think otherwise would be absurd.

As these words enter the mind of man, thus the process begins of delineating truth from fact, of struggling within to piece together the puzzle of self.

As truth is established through constant witness, ceaseless echo’s and verbal blessings or beatings shapes the image, how can a complete puzzle be created from broken pieces.

Such cannot be retracted. Words once released, find their resting place upon a person’s mind and heart leaving the person to sort through all the verbal traffic. For those with no help sorting, the results are often tragic.

Words once spoke echo throughout the space of time for eternities. Memories are rarely scrubbed bear, once an imprint is made it is always there.

Be careful what you say.

With the tongue you have the power to create a life of love, joy, abundance, and splendor. You have the power to destroy all of life that exists in another to their tearing asunder.
Conviction

April 24th, 2015

The one who lives a life of conviction is the possessor of a life of satisfaction.

The individual who lives a life full of conviction lives out life with a passion, the energizing force, which turns dreams to reality and gives substance to one’s hope.

To have conviction is to be firm and steadfast. The ability to be unshaken, immovable, with an formidable spirit. It is the fruit of a deep and abiding faith and belief.

“Faith, is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1 .

One’s dreams, visions, and hopes for achievement of such, are revelatory of one’s level of faith and belief.

The manner and extent to which one holds on to that belief reveals an individuals conviction.

It is that individual’s conviction, which will determine the amount of work and effort he or she will put in to achieving that which he or she has hoped for.

One must be convicted about the right things.

Being convicted about the wrong thing is a certain path to destruction. All things that seem right are not necessarily right for you.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)

Consistently take inventory of your desires, where your seeds of faith rest, and what drives you. If the path you travel is causing you significant pain, although success is not without struggle, re-evaluate your convictions.

Remember, moving against the current, will always lend to a tumultuous journey.

Finding yourself consistently knocking on a door that will not open, uses up opportunity and unravels time. Consider whether that door is for you.

Be convicted, but be convicted about the right things.