Vow is a word that is normally associated with a wedding where two persons make a lifelong commitment to one another. This post is not about weddings or commitments made to others. This post is about remembering the vow or commitment you made to you.

 On one end of the spectrum life is characterized as carrying humankind along as if adrift in an ocean. There are waves that bring along events that decide direction without input from the one being carried. On the other end of the spectrum direction seems to be determined solely by an individual’s specific thoughts and actions. In truth life is a complex combination of both.

 During this time of living have you remembered your vow to yourself? These are the things dreamed about earlier in life that are forgotten or being recalled for the first time in a long time. These are the things you made a promise to yourself about.

Vows are remembered due to imprints of the things observed, experienced, or imagined.  The source of vows may be positive or negative.  Vows can be stated in a period of stress from punishment or pleasure; possibly based on fact or fiction, but what vows have in common is passion.

When passion is lost it is time to remember what you stated to yourself about what you would do, not do, what you would say, not say, where to go and not go.  As you recieve multiple inputs through your senses, there are thousands of conscious and unconscious thoughts, too many to give recognition to all of them. The way to single out these thoughts is by focused passion reinforcing thoughts with feelings. This focus is reflective of what was important at the time a vow was made.

It is okay to take advantage of opportunities that may not be in line with your vow. The question is, did you instinctively move into a life that truly is a fulfillment of your vow or have you compromised your word?

The vow is most beneficial when you keep your word to yourself. It strengthens you. In turn it can be a weakness that preys upon the conscience as well. It becomes a crack in the self image widening into a breech causing anxiety, discontent, and possibly depression. Though others may be unaware, you feel the breech. You also feel the wholeness that comes from keep your word to yourself. 

By remembering your vow youthful desire and passion is given a new breath and vigor is renewed. It becomes the means of being made whole and fulfilling your purpose.

This is a reminder to all who feel life is empty, lost and without passion. Fire up your passion by remembering and fulfilling your vow.

Remember, speak, write your vow, and take steps to live it!

Share your vows you remember in comment. 

Photo tribute to Anita Ritenour

A life line is needed to hold onto when life feels like it is slowly slipping away. Moments when losing your mind is surreal. No one seems to have an answer. Those who were close are now far away.

This is a time when many check out and allow life to just sway them in whatever direction it takes. These do not set plans, cease pursuing goals, and just opt out of making decisions about life because the pain is intense and brings torment and suffering. This brings about fear.

Fear becomes paralyzing by hindering clear and coherent thinking. Even fear though, will shrink when facing a person of determination.

Some gain favor and attention by attractiveness of their physical looks. Others use their intellect to prove how much they know and are celebrated because of it. Money is another leverage of choice to impress others and buy credibility. Talent places people in a status to be admired by others leading to a level of success. While all four of these things can be powerful in their own right they each have a weakness. Physical looks and strength can diminish. Intellect can ring empty when devoid of common sense. Money’s influence continues as long it does not run out. It can be stolen, lost, or devalued. Talent can take you many places that only good character can keep you.

Nothing is as timeless, effective, gutsy, and pure genius as having a tenacious consistency of never giving up. The determination to not give up can be the joker card in the deck. No one can stop the momentum that is built by never giving up once a commitment is made.

When there is nothing else, never giving up speaks of faith. Faith is the belief to continue forward when the odds are against success. The bull dog attitude of not giving up becomes the equalizer when nothing else seems to go right. Faith will allow you to see things that others cannot, becoming the process of transformation by which new heroes arise.

Success is what you become through the process of not giving up that solidifies you mentally and emotionally. Variables in life bend to one who does not give up because that person is leading as opposed to going along with the crowd. Never giving up causes a person to learn who they are, accept it, and focus continuing with what they do have versus what is missing.

This message is for those who have a dream that will not let you rest, to those who find themselves daydreaming of a specific desire, or those who will not be satisfied with less than what is known can be. These are the heroes of tomorrow to which I herald, never, never, never, give up!

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To broaden that definition, success is reaching a desired state of being. You may have set out to do so or stumbled into it. Though stumbling many times turns out to be a pattern of good decisions. No matter how you get there success requires faith. Faith, in other words, is the ability to vividly see and accept within, what you have not yet obtained; even when there is no other tangible basis for doing so.

Inspiration is the flint that lights the spark of faith that fires the imagination. Inspiration means [God breathed] creative essence in your present state of being, awareness of what is not, but what could be. You can see when someone is inspired. Yet that does not mean faith. Most think faith is a moment of strong conviction. It is so much more. The very intent of faith is continuing in conviction until the desired state is reached regardless of events, persons, places, or any other outside influences. I can use all these words but the inspiration must really be experienced to know what it is. All have these moments of inspiration but don’t recognize the moments over the clutter bombarding our senses. I will talk about this “clutter” in a later writing.

So why do so many people lack faith? I believe to obtain success different levels of character must be reached for faith to yield the desired results. I do not believe it is faith but many times lust or desire to obtain something that is the initial motivation. This is not wrong, yet it is not a substitute for faith. Desire matures into faith through the building of character. Character is the vessel that holds faith until success. Character remains after faith has completed its work. Faith falls apart when character is not built. Character means not taking short cuts that may weaken its ability to hold faith. A lack of character is a vessel full of holes which allows the fuel of faith to leak out and the spark of inspiration is then silenced. This is where we see a person’s faith fall apart. You will first see the actions that build character fall apart, and that is the sign that faith is lacking.

I believe the lack of faith or continuing until you reach your inspired and desired state of being is because of the fear, reluctance, or acceptance of the work that builds character. We blame it on others yet we must watch using this as a convenient excuse. Faith requires planning, thinking, action, patience, consistency, learning, failures and yes, what sometimes may seem like suffering. These are to obtain a dream or vision that holds the expectation of what was breathed in us by God. Sometimes we use bravado, or fake it until you make it mentality. This can appear as faith but lacks planning, work, and execution that it takes to build character. It is the action of building character that removes the fear, disciplines the reluctance (or laziness), and prepares the mind for acceptance of what can be. The process of building character creates stability in the emotions even while we experience ups and downs in our life.

Remember champions are not made in the ring, but the gym! Why? The gym is where you exhaust, work, drill, sweat, grind, cry, experience pain, and endure odors. A place where there are no screaming fans, where you are made aware of your weaknesses. Yet this process of character building makes you the champion in the ring.

You come to realize that you become the light to start the spark in others. An example of what is now, that at one time was not. Do not ignore your inspirations and make the character building process your friend for it will ensure reaching the end of your faith.

If something stated here encourages you leave a comment and encouraging word for someone else. Share this posting with someone you care about that may need some encouragement.

It is when we do not perceive a purpose in those we deal with that we began to behave in a way that will lead to abuse because there is nothing to check our behavior and no fear of loss. This many times causes abuse to those we care about.

It never starts out intentionally. We do little things to test the strength of the relationship. As we are allowed to get away with small insults the abuse grows from there. This behavior grows like a weed which feeds on taking life from what is around it. This will eventually ruin the relationship that started as something we admired.

So how do we prevent or stop this? The answer is having a purpose and direction for our own life. This causes us to cherish the purpose of another because we understand our commonality of being on a journey of growth and accomplishment.

Without purpose you waste the best thing you have at your disposal. That thing is time. Happiness is many times not the accomplishment of a goal but the thrill of making the effort to reach for something of meaning. You may say, “I’m not sure what I want or I don’t have time to find out what it is I want”. Consider this? Even placing effort searching for the answer to one of these questions will begin to give a purpose for your life, bring meaning to your day, and certainly increase appreciation and decrease abuse to others and most of all yourself.

Think about it! Let me know whether you agree or not and why!