11 Little Ways To Stand Up For Yourself Every Day, No Matter What How, And How Not, to Stand Up for Yourself How to Stand Up For Yourself How to be Courageous

Choose Courage Instead of Reacting in Fear

Face Your Fears Day What is a fear that is a little silly and you could face today? Some fears are good to have as long as you have a respect for them and they don't control your life. Face Your Fear; the Result Might Be Amazing 13 Tips To Face Your Fear and Enjoy the Ride Ada Lovelace Day Ada Lovelace: Founder of Scientific Computing How to Be a ‘Woman Programmer’ The Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech Ladies Last: 8 Inventions by Women That Dudes Got Credit For Yorkshire Pudding Day I don't get this food. It's not pudding so much as it is a puffed pancake/pastry of sorts.   It seems it is called pudding because of its ingredients.   You can make your own

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.   Confucius The con of our "fast-food-society" is we've been conditioned to believe that if *it* doesn't happen quick or happen immediately then we should just give up.  But the reality is the the slower or longer it takes the better chance we have of *it* sticking.  It is along the journey of *it* that we learn lessons of sustainability, patience, perseverance, courage, etc.  If *it* happens too quickly then the chances for relapse are high because the necessary lessons haven't been learned.  As the saying goes, "slow and steady wins the race" and the fable of the tortoise and the hare proved that.  Like the tortoise, it doesn't matter how slow you go it just matters that you don't stop.

The unexamined life is not worth living.  Socrates I understand.  It's hard to see the flaws in yourself.  It's hard to have someone else point them out to you.  I get it.  It's hard to realize that you aren't all that and a bag of chips and maybe, just maybe, you aren't as superior to others as you secretly think.  (After all, you would never actually say that you think that out loud!)  It's hard to hear someone point out something that you do or say and realize they are right and you kinda suck at the moment.  It's hard to recognize that maybe you don't really see yourself in true light and others can.  In the past couple of months I've run across some people who don't want to examine themselves.  They would rather live in their self-deception of who they are than to take what someone shares with them and do some introspection.  I feel badly for them, once I get over being totally pissed off at them that is.  Soc...

Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of.   Markus Zusak, I am the Messenger Do you sell yourself short?  You know what I mean.  You don't allow credit to come your way for something you've done that's pretty great, you refuse to acknowledge your successes, etc.  See?  You DO know what I mean.  As we keep ignoring the successes in our life and camp at the places of failure we eventually live "down" instead of "up".  We begin to work at lower levels of capability, we don't try as hard in the areas where all we can camp on are the failures - be that parenting, weight loss, work performance, relationships, etc.  And maybe you have tried to live "up" but someone in your life is a voice that keeps you "down".  Those kind of people require a backbone from you.  You must grow one, recognize you have worth and can live "up", and stand up to their voice of negativity with a resounding voice of courage.  Or ma...

The next time God calls you to do something completely inexplicable, be open to it. And say yes. Jim Mellado, Compassion International's next President Ever wanted to do something but thought to yourself, or had others tell you, things like: That's crazy to even consider! But that makes no sense! There's no way that can work out. etc etc etc Right?  We've all done that or perhaps are currently doing that.  Usually we stall out and never take action on what it might be.  But a few have been willing to say yes and those are the few that we hold up in high esteem for being courageous and risk takers.  The good news is we can be courageous and risk takers also.  We just have to be open to the adventures we will most certainly travel through to get to the destination.  We have to take the first step which is say "yes" to that thing and then trust the path that God opens up in front of us.  If God calls us to it, asks us to go on adventure with him,...

Your past is just a story.  And once you realize this, it has no power over you.   Unknown If you are letting your past be part of your present then your story just may be holding you hostage and keeping you from progressing. Ever read a book where the story line just kind of seems "stuck"?  Not much changes throughout.  Chances are you may not finish the book - what would be the point?  Chances are if you were asked to review the book your review might use words such as "dull", etc.  A good story needs many things to keep it moving forward, to keep the audience - even the characters - engaged, and to bring it to an ending that brings closure. If you use your past as your story line for your life today you might be stalling out.  Certainly our pasts can be important and bear weight on our present and even future but they should not be the driver of your story presently.  The past should stay where it belongs...in the past.  It se...

We do not have to become heroes overnight.  Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up...discovering we have the strength to stare it down.   Eleanor Roosevelt What's a hero?  Anyone who has the courage and fortitude to stare at what is seeking to intimidate and looking it up and down and then tackling it.  It doesn't matter what the thing is because a hero is one who conquers.  Do not feel the pressure to conquer overnight, it will take time.  The best heroes are ones who allow the process to happen and allow complete victory.  Rush it and you'll miss important steps.  Rush it and you'll think you don't have what it takes to take it down.  But you do, you have what it takes.  And I do, I have what it takes.  Let us become heroes because we are conquering those things and people in our lives that seek to intimidate.

May the bridges I burn light the way.   Unknown There's probably a couple of different ways to look at today's quote.  I'm choosing to look at it in a positive, letting-go-of- toxic-people-and-things-in-my-life kind of way. Sometimes we gotta burn bridges.  You've probably heard it said as a warning before. As in don't burn bridges behind you that you may need to cross back over again someday.  Okay, that's true but let's talk today about the bridges you should burn so you aren't tempted to turn around and cross them again.  Because let's face it, some bridges are getting worn out by all the crossing back and forth we've been doing.  And if all we are doing is traveling the same bridge then that means we aren't going anywhere.  Don't you want to go somewhere?  As in forward?  In order to do that you need to burn some bridges and let the light from their burn show you the way forward.  The bridges you need to burn are are diff...

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.   Lena Horne We all have some baggage to carry.  Sometimes it's short-term and other times it's long-term.  But baggage is baggage.  Awkward, weighty, cumbersome, kind of a hassle.  There's technique in how to handle baggage with ease, grace, and without making it seem as if it has us totally flustered!  It isn't the baggage that flusters us so much as it is our technique in carrying it.  In the literal sense of baggage, before the days of rolling luggage carrying around luggage was a P.A.I.N.  Amiright?  But nowadays almost all luggage is rolling luggage and life has sure gotten a lot easier for travel!  What if we approached our personal baggage the same way?  What if we quit trying to lug it around but instead attached rollers to it? We would be able to handle it, manage it, carry it a lot easier.  Right?  What do rollers on our own personal baggage lo...

It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them.   R.A. Salvatore At the end of your life what do you want to be thinking about?  Regret that you didn't at least try to grab the stars or satisfaction that you pushed aside your doubts and hesitations and reached for those stars?  What do you have to lose by reaching for them?  Nothing!  What do you have to lose by sitting on the sidelines in self-defeat?  Well a lot of things actually.  You lose respect for yourself, you lose out on satisfaction, you lose out on the possibilities that lie among the stars, you lose the opportunity to grow in character , you lose your shine and sparkle.   Choosing not the reach for the stars because of fear will only lead to regret.  Reach for those stars, whatever they are, and find yourself shinin g and sparkling. 

Perhaps it takes courage to raise children. John Steinbeck Perhaps?!  Not perhaps!  IT DOES!  It takes courage.  It takes a stoutness that most days I'm not sure I have.  And then some days prove that I don't!   Recently my Mom and I have had to have a few conversations about parenting in today's world.  Every generation has its challenges to be sure (those Beatles!  They were rebels, haha!) but these days seem tougher than what has come before.  Perhaps if you've read this post of mine then you know what I'm going to say next.  Technology has done parents no favors.  Oh sure, there are some pros but overall it has hindered parenting in ways nobody ever saw coming.  My parents didn't have to monitor my online activity or my cell phone use - talking or text, they didn't have to teach me to look at people in the eye instead of remaining fixated on a screen.  And those are just a few examples of how tough it is today! ...

The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be...because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap!   Mary Anne Radmacher I love the visual this quote from Radmacher (a favorite quote master of mine in case you hadn't noticed) brings up in my mind. In my mind I see myself standing at the edge of a cliff called "You are here" and a mere five or so feet away is the cliff called "Where you want to be" and all I have to do is one giant leap.  Except I've been standing on the edge of cliff "You are here" for a long time, too long really.  I toe it, I've walked along it, I've peered down over the edge of it, I've tested if I have to leap to make it to other side or if I could just stretch myself and make it across, I've even looked around for materials to build a bridge over to the other side.  But there is no way to get over to "Where you want to be" unless I leap. I'm going to have to jump....

Happiness is a form of courage.   George Holbrook Jackson Things not going your way?  In a dark season?  Been betrayed?  Feeling lonely? (Do you see what kind of things I'm asking and the place I'm headed?)  I've got a radical idea.  Show yourself, and others, your courageous spirit (you have it in you, you just may not know it) by choosing happiness.  It really is a act of courage to choose happiness in the midst of dark times.  We admire people who can smile and find happiness in the midst of dark circumstances.  We even consider them courageous.  Guess what?  We have the ability to do that too.  Oh sure, maybe our circumstances aren't as dark as say my friends living in Kenyan slums but our reality is our reality and we go through dark times as well.  If my friends can smile and find happiness in the midst of their lives then surely we can too.  When we make the choice, and it is a choice, to insert happiness int...

Do not be afraid to suffer.... it is from being shaken apart and not being destroyed that one becomes strong and courageous.   Laura Lewis Lanier We shrink from suffering and with good reason, it's painful!  But suffering is the way our character gets built the best.  Suffering comes in all sorts of forms and what is suffering for me may not be for you.  The point is to allow it to weed out what isn't strength and courage in our characters and let true strength and courage be birthed in us. A few years ago I went through a suffering.  Not physical but emotional.  Someone I trusted deeply betrayed me beyond the scope of my imagination.  (It wasn't Lanny!  Quit speculating - haha!)  This betrayal sent me into a tailspin.  Lanny and I were floored, we didn't know what to do or how to go about recovering me from this betrayal.  You could say it shook me apart.  I was laid wide open and all of my fears and insecurities were expos...

Making forward progress on the outside begins with making a leap on the inside.   Lincoln Patz Surface changes don't lead to lasting changes.  When we make changes, or say we are going to, on the surface all we are doing is "spot treatment" rather than address the real problem.  In order for things to change on the surface we must do the work of addressing the root issue(s).  And having the courage to address the root issue(s) is the leap needed if we are ever going to make forward progress. A sure sign of someone attempting surface changes without addressing the root issue(s) are statements that sound like this: "I will work harder" "I will try to change" "I" "I" "I" We are a relational people and we are also rather blind to our own root issue(s) most of the time.  So we need other people to help us address these things.  If we try to do it in "I" then all we will accomplish is surface - spot treatment -...

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.   Desmond Tutu No fence riding allowed.  To say you are in the middle and don't want to get involved involves you on the side of the oppressor.  Choosing indifference means you have chosen oppression.  When it comes to situations of injustice there are so many levels you can jump in on that there is no excuse for neutrality.  Don't let the injustice scare you, don't let it make you so uncomfortable that you join sides with the oppressors unknowingly.  Be brave enough to educate yourself, be brave enough to jump in on some level of assistance.  Be brave enough to get off the fence.  

I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse.   Philip Yancey We don't like the unknown.  And faith is a lot of unknown because we are asked to trust what we don't understand fully.  Have you ever tried it?  Have you ever decided to take the risk and try trusting for the faith to come?  It's not for the faint of heart.  It takes courage, determination, and grit.  But as with most things that take courage, determination, and grit the reward, the payoff is so worth it.  I can't tell you what the payoff will be, it varies from person to person.  But I can tell you it will be worth it; it will stun you and surprise you and delight you.  When we choose to trust for the faith we will see play out in reverse we are choosing to embrace the unknown.

And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.   Homer I think most of us have a thought of something we consider to be grand, great, necessary even.  But we stop short at the thought because we can't find the courage within to attempt it.  We let all sorts of excuses and reasons keep us from daring to attempt to put this thought into action. One such excuse is that it isn't "grand" enough in the big scheme of things.  Oh yeah, who says so?  What if it changed 2 people in your world but then those two people also practiced it and their attempts changed 2 more and so on?  The domino effect would happen.  Forget 2 people - what about just one?  Our worlds change, usually, one person at a time. Have you been entertaining great thoughts lately?  What is stopping you from nobly daring to put action into them?  You have the courage within you, reach deep and touch it and see what will happen then.  You really have no...