SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: are you in the weeds?

Posted on July 8, 2012 by admin

“But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people’s idea, not nature’s.” ~ Anonymous

WEEDS… Some folks have quipped they are but unloved flowers, sins of the earth, plants with undiscovered virtues. Whatever eloquence you elect, they are the bastardly, unforgiving THINGS that get in the way of blooms of our most precious prayers and wishes… flowers and fruits of our labors that bring priceless joy. Joy from a gorgeous front yard of fragrance, a harvest-filled garden or orchard, a kitchen table of decorations and delicacies.

In brass tacks, weeds are ultimately what get in the way of our JOY. Weeds are the vicious little evils that crowd, choke out, and suffocate all that our hearts desire… that which we expect from all the seeds we tossed into the ground. Weeds…be they proverbial, metaphorical or literal… are the relentless, twisted side-effects of both crappy planting and crappy prepping. Period.

See, so many of us claim to want everlasting blossoms of the ethereal joys of life, like unconditional love, excitement for life, feelings of success, peace, equality, unshakable optimism, newfound perspective, contentment, dynamic purpose… you know your list. Yet none of those vines truly burst through the ground with such offerings. The main reason? We plant, water and sun our seeds in the topsoil of our old foundations… the wrecked, rocky, perhaps even rancid earth that is full of childhood fears, unmovable judgments, unanswered hopes, decaying values, and old paradigms. Both man-made and MIND-made, our weeds strive to see the light yet again. So it only makes sense that when we try to nurture the seeds of our dreams… we are also encouraging the deep-rooted, hidden creepers to sprout and grow yet again.

Folks, if we truly want joy, if we want to LIVE, we’ve got to get on our knees and weed out the weeds. We’ve got to be willing to do the work, till the soil, prepare for a healthy planting of our dreams and goals. We’ve got to be willing to get dirty cultivating the crap hidden in our histories to have our gardens of the future be overgrown with love, peace, perspective, optimism and purpose. I pray for you that you all find the strength, humility and faith to grow your lives with joy, joy, joy. And there is no time like the present to start weeding, my friends.

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SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: what do you desire?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

“Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can’t even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver, novelist and poet

Such a simple question: What do you want?

Hmmmm. What do I want? What do I want? What do I want? What do I want? Any way you slice it, this little puzzler looks deceivingly quaint and harmless, as if it may indeed require little pondering… but it’s all a facade. And as the years fly off our mind-logged calendars, the four-word imp creeps its way into our daily lives…keeping us up at night, zoning us out at meetings, tying our tongues… furrowing our brows and ultimately graying our hair.

All that said, I stand side-by-side with you…without an answer for you, let alone myself. I, too, often want someone to tell me what I should want. But more often, I just seem to tune out the prompt for pondering my true intention and careen past the real source of joy. I let the malevolent minutia of a worldly existence distract me from facing the question straight-on. From diving into the deep end of my soul, welcoming the light, and waiting for the answers to reach out to me. Perhaps being driven isn’t such an enviable quality when the drive is into an abyss full of unanswered questions.

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: check yourself, dude

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

http://youtu.be/CNqSZOINoms

(Featured quote is often credited to Kingman Brewster also.)

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: Earth DAY…WEEK…YEAR…LIFETIME

Posted on April 23, 2012 by admin

Well, Earth Day and Earth Week have come and gone… and now what? Do you go back to your old habits of driving to the corner store instead of walking; tossing everything in the garbage because your apartment complex or office still doesn’t have a recycling program; running the water while you brush your teeth?! Folks, celebrating Earth Day isn’t supposed to be a party that you go all out for and then toss it’s memory into your rusty pile of annual “do-good” days. You should be celebrating what EARTH PROVIDES FOR US and, in turn, making lifelong changes to ensure that this planet CAN keep taking care of us. I hope that sometime very soon, all of us, as a connected human race, will have the ultimate paradigm shift and SEE with truly open eyes what evil we are doing to our planet and what good is IN US to change our mentality to one of appreciation, concern, and action…. every day! ~ KD

Here is a SOAPBOX® mini-motivation from 2008 that still echoes truth today:

“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” ~ Wendell Berry, philosopher, novelist and social activist

It’s about time we stopped snickering at Al Gore, the forewarning NPR folks and tree-hugging, hybrid hippies…because they might be onto something! It’s about time we stopped being so selfish and purposefully merged as Humankind for the simple Darwinian hopes of perpetuating our existence by strengthening our collective homebase – we call Earth! For, not seeing is believing. When a species of animal disappears, we must rescue braver. When a strain of plant disappears, we must think greener. When snowcaps are melting, swallowing up islands and life, we must conserve stricter. Amidst the chatter of economics, religion and war, don’t miss the underconversation of environment, culture and interdependent community. My fellow EARTH-lings, we must research cleaner, protect fiercer, commit firmer, explore broader, spend wiser, educate brighter. May we all look back after long, fulfilling lives to proclaim that we are survivors and all did our part. It’s our time to think globally…and act globally.

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: quel âge avez-vous?

Posted on April 11, 2012 by admin

“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.” ~Douglas MacArthur, US General

Funny how birthdays devilishly sneak up on us. For some they are embraced with delightful dreams of frosted sweets, gifts galore and parties, parties, parties. For others (and I am in that boat for sure), the adding of another digit towards another decade doesn’t make for a happy camper. This last year seemed to not only careen past me but brought shackles of doubt, fear and despair… like I wanted to negotiate for a lower bid, after all, I’ve still got so much left to do!!! Alas, ’tis but a number, our age, right? So, those of us trying to swap our deli tickets for hope of turning back the clock… stop the madness! Embrace the potential in each day you’re given. Work on your faith, your self-confidence, your hope and understanding and the result might be longer days, longer years, and a longer life. ~KD

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: human being blessing

Posted on March 29, 2012 by admin

“The most interesting thing in the world is another human being- who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers.” ~ Will Durant, writer, historian and philosopher

Enough with the cars, computers, collectibles… and crap, folks. You can’t take any of it with you when you go. And when you’re grey and gabbing about unforgettable memories… I’ll bet the farm and Buffet’s bank account that the human beings you knew will bring the most awe-inspiring images to your stories, not the stuff.

Get to know a few more human beings… really know them. Talk like there’s no such things as things more worthy than another breath. ~KD

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Motivation for the Modern Man

Category Archives: 9-to-5er