Gracies Blog

We ALL want rock solid self confidence, but what is it and where does it come from? Here are some of my current thoughts on confidence. I don’t see myself as confident. Most of my life, I've attempted things I didn't feel equipped for, but I tend to put my head down and go for it anyway. Some might call me naive! Persistent? YES, that’s my middle name! In any case, realizing that I’m not particularly confident but I AM persistent and I am generally optimistic. Confidence is generally your belief in your own ability (based on past experience) while optimism is a big picture perspective. In other words, I don’t know if I can do this, but I will do my best and trust that it will all work out as it needs to.  Confidence depends on me. Optimism depends on me + forces beyond me. Optimism operates despite confidence, but true confidence needs the guiding hand of optimism to make sure ego doesn't spin out of control. And then when my sense of purpose gives me confidence that I

It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive. And still I see no changes. Can't a brother get a little peace? There's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East. Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me. And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do. But now I'm back with the facts givin' 'em back to you. Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up and pimp smack you up. You gotta learn to hold ya own. They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone. But tell the cops they can't touch this. I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this. That's the sound of my tool. You say it ain't cool, but mama didn't raise no fool. And as long as I

    Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody." ... [My dark side says,] I am no good... I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the co

It’s natural to protect yourself from the elements, but you don't need an umbrella under blue skies. The same is true in life and love. When you've been hurt, you naturally protect yourself from intimacy. You don't want to go through it again. There comes a point though, when you let your guard down enough to see that the only thing raining down on you is love. You never know if it stops raining if you don't peak out from under your umbrella to check the sky. Take a peak. When you feel strong enough, put away the umbrella, open your heart and receive the love on offer. It’s elemental to who you are to trust love. You just have to remove the protective layers to receive it. Shakespeare wrote, True love cannot be found where it truly does not exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does. You can only guard yourself from love for so long, before you end up tangled in your own web of denial. Its time to get untangled. So often animals and small children teach us

For everything in this journey of life we are on, there is a right wing and a left wing:  for the wing of love there is anger;  for the wing of destiny there is fear;  for the wing of pain there is healing;  for the wing of hurt there is forgiveness;  for the wing of pride there is humility;  for the wing of giving there is taking; for the wing of tears there is joy; for the wing of rejection there is acceptance;  for the wing of judgment there is grace;  for the wing of honor there is shame; for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping.   We can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance. Two beautiful wings is perfection. There is a generation of people who idealize perfection as the existence of only one of these wings every time. But I see that a bird with one wing is imperfect. An angel with one wing is imperfect. A butterfly with one wing is dead.  So this generation of people strive to always cut off the other w

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you've never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When  something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about  it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not  embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh  with you when you make a fool of yourself.  Never do they hurt  your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough,  but rather they build you up and show you the things about  yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is  never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet  calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not  worry about what they will think of you because they

It SO goes to show that you can't trust how things appear. A man APPEARS to have it all, yet feels like he has nothing to live for. Fame, fortune, talent, opportunity, respect from seemingly everybody. And yet it meant nothing to him because of whatever was tearing him up inside. Friends and family who APPEAR to be fine, who laugh and function outwardly, may be just hanging by a thread. Because most of us are good actors, we can fool each other. We ask “are you well?”, and answer “I'm great.” But sometimes we say it even when we're not great, and we just don't know how to ask for help. It’s true for people we LIKE who appear to have it all together, but are struggling to keep going. And it’s true for people we dislike, who APPEAR arrogant or critical, but are really just sad and don’t know how to deal with it. I hope it might be to treat EVERYONE we encounter as someone in need of our love and support. No matter how they act! Anyone we meet could be hanging on by

SOMETIMES WE SIT BACK AND REMEMBER,  THE WAY THINGS USED TO BE, MEMORIES THAT LIE IN OUR HEARTS,  STAB US LIKE A KNIFE. PART OF US WISHES THEY WOULD GO AWAY,  BUT PART OF US DOESN'T WANT TO FORGET. THE DAYS WE LOVED SO MUCH,  WENT BY SO VERY FAST, AND THE NEXT THING WE KNOW,  THEY'RE GONE FOREVER, EXCEPT FOR THE PAIN THAT LIES IN OUR HEARTS. BUT THAT'S WHEN WE REALIZE, THAT THERE ARE DAYS WHEN WE WAKE UP,  WITH THE SUN SHINNING THROUGH THE WINDOWS,  ANTICIPATING WHAT THE DAY WILL BRING. BUT THOSE DAYS ARE NOT ETERNITIES, THEY AREN'T FOREVER YOU SEE. AND WE'LL REALIZE THAT YESTERDAY HAD NOT BEEN A DREAM,  BUT A MEMORY. TODAY IS DIFFERENT THAN YESTERDAY, AND TOMORROW WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN TODAY. BUT AS LONG AS WE HAVE OUR MEMORIES, EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY.

This is from some special blogger and i wanted to share with y'all....Enjoy 1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return. But what is more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person know how you feel. 2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was never meant to be and you just have to let go. 3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had. 4. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives. 5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone-but it takes a lifetime to forget someone. 6. Don't go for looks, they can deceive. Don't go for wealth, even that fades away. Go for so