Another great week

At the end of the day, the end of the week, what have you accomplished is the question I ask myself. Has it been a good week and have I done the best I could. I instantly realized that I am judging myself and my success as I have for so many years. However, I now use a totally different approach at this judgement. For years I felt as a failure in almost all areas. I always analyzed and responded to all the unsuccessful events and brooded, stewed, replayed, focused, and relived over and over what I DIDN'T do. Well, I have a tip for anyone that happens to read this note that life is totally worth living. As Sherry Dew says, Life was Meant to be Hard. It is meant to be a challenge, a test of endurance, and mostly a chance to learn from our mistakes. We get to choose daily whether we face life with a positive attitude or look at life as a burden and hard. We can pick a "theme" to live by. Lori Anderson taught me my now favority scripture: And it Came to Pass. No where in the scriptures does it ever say that problems or pain or trials came to stay. Using that theme, I am now looking at my week (well most of the time anyway) as what positive things have happened and how many beautiful people or things have I seen in my life.
Now learning and incorperating this in my life should mean that I never do negitive or bad things again right, but old habbits are hard to break, easy ways are easy to follow, and procrastion is the route of all evil. Oh I am still guilty of using all of the above ways to get through life, just not as often.
Isn't it interesting how fast we are tempted to take the short cut in life? But what I have learned is by taking the short cut, we miss the ride on the route we should have taken and we often can never get to go back that way again. I read the other day a sentence that made me really think: When was the last time you did something for the first time!? OK, when was the last time for me? How about you? I am still thinking and realizing that life is often a repeat of the same old thing unless we reach out for something that is a change. Now in that same book it said: The only person who likes changes is a baby! Credit for that statement goes to Mark Twain. Now he was way before my time, but the statement is still true. I think of the times I have tried to make changes in my life and how difficult they were and what emotions were created by that one movement. I have always struggled with self esteem. I have never seen myself as special or good at doing anything really well. I am being taught by my children and others I love, that my life has been good, and although I didn't know it, I was "changing" others lives. I guess what I am thinking right now is that although change in ourselves is hard, helping others to make changes in theirs is not a job or a deed, but a bonus for being here on earth and part of others lives and if we do whatever we can to be honest, true and living the way we should, we are teaching, and helping others to make changes.
Had I not been ready or willing to make a change at some times in my life and take suggestions to "try" this, my life would have been so different and so lonely. It was because if others "setting the example" and helping me on the way to change that I was successful. My hope is that I will continue to be there to help others make changes in their lives and to try something new for the first time more often.