In 1914, the great inventor Thomas Edison experienced a devastating hardship. His entire laboratory burned down to the ground, and several years worth of his work was ruined.
Newspapers described the situation as “the worst thing to happen to Edison.”
But that was a lie!
Edison didn’t see it that way at all. The inventor instead chose to see his circumstances as an invigorating opportunity to rebuild and re-examine much of his current work. In fact, Edison reportedly said shortly after the fire, “Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up. Now we can start again fresh.” And that’s exactly what he and his team did.
Think about how this relates to your life.
How many times have you heard it was the end, when it was really the beginning?
How many hopeless labels have been slapped over the top of your inner hope?
How many lies were you fed by people when you were younger, that have driven you to call it quits on those hard days when Edison would have called their bluff?
Today, I challenge you to challenge the lies you’ve been fed over the years, starting with five of the most common lies we’ve helped our course students unlearn over the past decade…
1. Starting over isn’t a good choice, and should only be a last resort.
The idea of starting over being a bad thing is baked right into the fabric of our society’s education system. We send our children to a university when they’re 17 or 18, and basically tell them to choose a career path they’ll be happy with for the next 40 years. “But, what if I choose wrong?” I remember thinking to myself. And that’s exactly what I did, in more ways than one.
Over the years, however, through bouts of failure and hardship, I’ve learned the truth through experience: you can change paths anytime you want to. Yes, starting over is almost always feasible, and it’s oftentimes a pretty darn good choice too. Of course, it won’t be easy, but neither is being stuck with a lifelong career you naively chose when you were a teenager. And neither is holding on to something that’s not meant to be, or something that’s already gone.
The truth is, no one wins a game of chess by only moving forward; sometimes you have to move backward to put yourself in a position to win. And this is a perfect metaphor for life. Sometimes when it feels like you’re running into one dead end after another, it’s actually a sign that you’re not on the right path. Maybe you were meant to hang a left back when you took a right, and that’s perfectly fine. Life gradually teaches us that U-turns are allowed. So turn around when you must! There’s a big difference between giving up and starting over in the right direction. And there are three little words that can release you from your past mistakes and regrets, and get you back on track. These words are: “From now on…”
So… from now on, what should you do?
Anything. Something small. As long as you don’t just sit in your seat, strapped down to a destiny that isn’t yours. If you mess it up, start over. Try something else.
Let go and grow!
No doubt, one of the absolute hardest lessons in life is letting go – whether it’s guilt, anger, love or loss. Change is never easy – you fight to hold on and you fight to let go. But letting go is generally the healthiest path forward. It clears out toxic thoughts and choices from the past and paves the way to make the most positive use of the present. You’ve got to emotionally free yourself from some of the things that once meant a lot to you, so you can move beyond the past and the pain it brings you. Again, it takes hard work to let go and refocus yourself, but it’s worth every bit of effort you can muster!
And oftentimes letting go is strictly about changing the labels you place on a situation – it’s looking at the same situation with fresh eyes and an open mind, and then making the best of it.
The underlying key is to treat life like the journey that it is.
The destination you have in mind today is likely not the same place you’ll someday be grateful you’ve landed. So while it’s healthy to plan for the future, it’s not healthy to do so at the full expense of today. The truth is, no matter how smart you are or how hard you try, you can’t accurately figure out the future. Even people who have a systematic plan (steps to be a doctor, steps to be a successful entrepreneur, etc.) don’t actually know what will happen down the road. And if they have any certainty at all, they’re a bit naive.
Life rarely goes as planned. For every person that succeeds in doing exactly what they set out to do in the exact time frame they set out to do it in, there are dozens of others who start strong and get derailed. And if this happens to you, it isn’t a bad thing. New obstacles and opportunities may come along to shift your perspective, to strengthen your resolve, or to change your direction for the better. Again, the destination you fall in love with someday may not even exist today. For example, just a few short years ago the esteemed career paths of working at Facebook, SnapChat, and Twitter didn’t exist. Neither did the job of professional coach and blogger at Marc and Angel Hack Life.
So… if you can’t plan out your future in its entirety, what should you do?
Focus a little less on the future and focus a little more on what you can do now that will benefit you no matter what the future brings. Read. Write. Learn and practice useful skills. Test your skills and ideas. Build things. Be adventurous and seek real-world experiences. Cultivate healthy relationships. These efforts will help in any future opportunities that come your way, and they may even create them for you.
Bottom line: When life does not go as planned, breathe and remember that life’s richness often comes from its unpredictability. Remind yourself that you are on a journey that’s ongoing, and that nothing is ever guaranteed. Sometimes this is hard to accept. Sometimes you have to force yourself to step forward. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that things will never go back to how they used to be, and that this ending is really a new beginning.
2. Discomfort is undesirable.
Discomfort is a form of pain, but it isn’t a deep pain – it’s a shallow one. It’s the feeling you get when you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone. The idea of exercising in many people’s minds, for example, brings discomfort – so they don’t do it. Eating a spinach and kale salad brings discomfort too. So does meditating, or focusing on a difficult task, or saying no to others. Of course, these are just examples, because different people find discomfort in different things, but you get the general idea.
The key thing to understand is that most forms of discomfort actually help us grow into our strongest and smartest selves. However, many of us were raised by loving parents who did so much to make our childhoods comfortable, that we inadvertently grew up to subconsciously believe that we don’t need discomfort in our lives. And now we run from it constantly. The problem with this is that, by running from discomfort, we are constrained to partake in only the activities and opportunities within our comfort zones. And since our comfort zones are relativity small, we miss out on most of life’s greatest and healthiest experiences, and we get stuck in a debilitating cycle.
Let’s use diet and exercise as an example…
- First, we become unhealthy because eating healthy food and exercising feels uncomfortable, so we opt for comfort food and mindless TV watching instead.
- But then, being unhealthy is also uncomfortable, so we seek to distract ourselves from the reality of our unhealthy bodies by eating more unhealthy food and watching more unhealthy entertainment and going to the mall to shop for things we don’t really want or need. And our discomfort just gets worse.
Amazingly, the simple act of accepting a little discomfort every day, and taking it one small step at a time, can solve most of our common problems, and make our minds happier, healthier and stronger in the long run.
Truth be told, there is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. That’s not how we’re made. We’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall sometimes. Because that’s part of living – to face discomfort, learn from it, and adapt over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
When you find yourself cocooned in isolation and cannot find your way out of the darkness, remember that this is similar to the place where caterpillars go to grow their wings. Just because today is uncomfortable and stressful, doesn’t mean tomorrow won’t be wonderful. You just got to get there.
3. Grief is a burden that gradually devastates us over time.
You may have heard that it isn’t healthy to grieve for too long. I say this because it’s something I was taught when I was a teenager. A close friend died in a car accident. At first everyone accepted my tears, but as the weeks rolled into months, I was frequently told that it was time to let go. “The tears aren’t helping at this point,” I remember someone telling me. But that was hogwash. My tears were necessary. They were slowly watering the seeds of my recovery. And I recovered as a much stronger, kinder, and wiser soul than I ever was before.
Then, a decade later, this lesson was reinforced in my life two more times, back-to-back, when Angel and I lost her older brother, Todd, to suicide and our mutual best friend, Josh, to an Asthma attack, a month apart.
Through the grief of losing people I love, I have been given the gift of awareness… awareness that every one of us will lose someone or something we love, and that this reality is a necessary one.
It’s incredibly tough to comprehend at times, but there’s a reason for everything. We must know the pain of loss, because if we never knew it, we would have little compassion for others and we would gradually become hollow monsters of egoism – creatures of sheer self-interest, never being happy with what we have. The awful pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to warm-up a cold heart, and make an even better person out of a good one.
So yes, grief can be a burden that devastates us in the near-term, but it can also be a healthy anchor for healing and living well in the long run.
As human beings, we often get used to the weight of grief and how it holds us in place. For instance, Angel once told me, “My brother will die over and over again for the rest of my life, and I’m OK with that – it keeps me closer to him.” This was Angel’s way of reminding me that grief doesn’t disappear. Step-by-step, breath-by-breath, it becomes a part of us. And it can become a healthy part of us too.
Although we may never completely stop grieving, simply because we never stop loving the ones we’ve lost, we can effectively leverage our love for them in the present. We can love them and emulate them by living with their magnificence as our daily inspiration. By doing this, they live on in the warmth of our broken hearts that don’t fully heal back up, and we will continue to grow and experience life, even with our wounds. It’s like badly breaking an ankle that never heals perfectly, and that still hurts when you dance, but you dance anyway with a slight limp, and this limp just adds to the depth of your performance and the authenticity of your character. (Angel and I discuss this in more detail in the “Adversity” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)
4. Everything we experience firsthand in life is reality.
At a young age we are often taught to question the stories and rumors we hear from other people, but to fully accept what we see, hear, feel and experience firsthand. In other words, if we see it with our own eyes, hear it with our own ears, or feel it with our own two hands, then what we’ve just seen, heard, or felt is most certainly the whole truth. And while that may seem like a logical assumption, it’s not always an accurate one.
As human beings, our inner dialog, or mindset, has a drastic effect on how we interpret real-world life experiences. The stories we subconsciously tell ourselves don’t just change how we feel inside – they actually change what we see, what we hear, what we experience, and what we know to be true in the world around us. This is one of the primary reasons multiple people can go through the same exact experience, but interpret it differently. Each of us may enter a shared experience with a different story echoing through our mind, and our unique story – our inner dialog – alters the way we feel every step of the way, and so each of us exits this shared experience with a slightly different feeling about what just happened. And sometimes that slight difference makes all the difference in the world.
Perspective is everything!
In a way, the stories we tell ourselves narrow our perspective. When we enter an experience with a story about how life is, that tends to be all we see. This phenomenon reminds me of an old parable in which a group of blind men touch an elephant for the very first time to learn what it’s like. Each one of them feels a different part of the elephant, but only that one part, such as the leg, trunk, side, or tusk. Then the men eagerly compare notes and quickly learn that they are in complete disagreement about what an elephant looks like.
Something similar happens through our wide-ranging, different past experiences. Some of us have been deeply heartbroken. Some of us have lost our parents, siblings or children to accidents and illnesses. Some of us have dealt with infidelity. Some of us have been fired from jobs we relied on. Some of us have been discriminated against because of our gender or race. And when we enter a new experience that arouses prominent memories of our own painful story from the past, it shifts our perspective in the present – it narrows it.
When a negative past experience narrows our present perspective, it’s mostly just a defense mechanism. Every day of our lives we are presented with some level of uncertainty, and our innate human defense mechanisms don’t like this one bit. So our minds try to compensate by filling in the gaps of information by clinging to the stories we already feel comfortable with. We end up subconsciously trying to make better sense of everything in the present by using old stories and past experiences as filler. And while this approach works sometimes, other times our old stories and past experiences are completely irrelevant to the present moment, so they end up hurting us far more than they help.
Let this be your wake-up call!
Next time you catch yourself emotionally struggling with the ‘reality’ of a particular life experience, ask yourself:
- What is the story I’m telling myself about this experience?
- Can I be absolutely certain this story is true?
- How do I feel and behave when I tell myself this story?
- What’s one other possibility that might also make the ending to this story true?
Give yourself the space to think it all through, carefully. Mull it over, mindfully. And keep in mind that it’s not about proving yourself right or wrong.
It’s about taking a deep breath, and giving yourself the space to gain perspective.
5. Bad habits are really hard to break.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people repeat the age-old cliché, “Bad habits are really hard to break.”
But this just isn’t true, because “hard” is a matter of perspective.
What is true is that you ultimately become what you repeatedly do. If your habits aren’t moving you forward, they’re holding you back. And if they’re holding you back, it’s time for a change.
For most of us (who are not coping with clinical depression, for example), changing our habits is a straightforward process. People who say otherwise are often just making excuses. They always want tasks to be 100% easier, regardless of how easy they already are. And it’s always easier to do nothing, rather than something. It’s always easier to complain, rather than commit. It hurts to admit this sometimes, but it’s worth doing. It’s worth reminding yourself that changing a habit is just a matter of recognizing why you’re doing what you’re doing, and then replacing one small action with another.
But, why are you doing what you’re doing?
- What motivates you to start a bad habit in the first place?
- How is it that your best intentions for having good, healthy habits have somehow been beaten?
The collective answer to these questions is simple:
Like many human beings, you don’t yet know how to cope with stress and boredom in a healthy, effective way.
Yes, most of your bad habits formed subconsciously as a coping method for dealing with stress and boredom – you resist reality instead of working through it. And these habits didn’t build up in an instant, so they won’t go away instantly either. You built them up through repetition, and the only way to change them is also through repetition – by making small, simple, gradual shifts.
To start, let’s look at five extremely common bad habits:
- Mindless time-wasting and procrastination
- Eating unhealthy snack food
- Watching TV or playing video games for several hours a day
- Constantly shopping for things you don’t need
- General inactivity and lack of exercise
And some new habits that you can use to gradually replace them:
- Take control of the situation: get started with the first (or next) smallest step, so things don’t get unnecessarily stressful
- Go out of your way to find and savor healthy food that you actually enjoy
- Enjoy more play time with family and friends
- Dance, play a musical instrument, read, write, or work on a passion project when you’re bored
- Walk, jog, hike, bike, swim, or take a yoga class
Then, once you have your mind wrapped around the specific habits you want to change in your life, just follow these simple steps:
- Pick one new habit at a time, and start very small – just five minutes a day, if you want it to stick.
- Initiate social accountability and motivation through Facebook, Instagram, etc. Declare the small, daily habit change you’re making, and then ask someone to check in with you on a regular basis (preferably daily) to make sure you’re on track.
- Set up and be very aware of your triggers – for example, a trigger might be walking into your home after work – and then perform the new habit consciously every time the trigger happens.
- Appreciate your new habit, and track the tiny bits of progress you’re making each day – for example, simply put a check mark on your calendar every single time you complete your habit, visually appreciate the chain of daily check marks you’re creating, and make it a goal to not break the chain.
- Once you feel comfortable with five minutes a day (perhaps after 30 days of doing the habit), increase to seven minutes a day, then ten minutes, and so forth.
That’s really all there is to it – at least that’s the baseline of habit change. So try not to waste your time and energy resisting and fighting against where you are in life. Instead, invest your time and energy into getting to where you want to go, one day at a time, one small step at a time. (Angel and I build small, daily, life-changing habits with our students in the “Goals and Growth” module of Getting Back to Happy.)
Let’s bring this article full circle…
…by asking these questions again:
- How many times have you heard it was the end, when it was really the beginning?
- How many hopeless labels have been slapped over the top of your inner hope?
- How many lies were you fed by people when you were younger, that have driven you to call it quits on those hard days when Edison would have called their bluff?
Think for a moment.
Then remind yourself that the truth does not cease to exist when it is ignored.
When the truth is ignored, whether consciously or subconsciously, it just complicates your life! And there’s absolutely no reason to do that to yourself. There’s no good reason to weigh yourself down with old lies and half-truths.
Seeking the truth, speaking the truth, and living by the truth is incredibly important, always!
Your turn…
If you’re feeling up to it, we would love to hear from YOU.
Which point mentioned above resonates with you the most today, and why?
Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign-up for our free newsletter to receive new articles like this in your inbox each week.
Tara says
M&A,
I love your blog, I love your emails, I love your 1,000 Little Things book, and this latest post is just a perfect example as to why. You two have a way of distilling life’s complex lessons into easily understandable and digestible points. I’m not going to pick a favorite this time, but I am going to say “thank you for ALL of this post!”
Love and blessings from London.
Gaylen says
Can I just “ditto” your comments please? Marc and Angel have simply changed my life for the better! Thank you for a fabulous post!!
Megan says
I look forward to these articles being sent my way…this has become a welcomed habit…and a continued one..Thank you guys ..for being here for me..!
-Megan
Marc Chernoff says
Thank you for the kindness, and thank you for supporting our work. 🙂
JJ says
Marc and Angel, this post was especially meaningful to me. I deeply resonated with #3 on grief and #5 on habit change.
In my personal experience, your points on grief absolutely hit the nail on the head in every imaginable way. I lost my younger brother, who I love more than life, in a car accident when we were both in our 20’s. That was 20 years ago now, and I still grieve. And yet, grieving for him has been a healthy practice in my life. It hasn’t stopped me from being a good man, it has made me a better one. So thank you for speaking the truth.
As for your points on habit change, I find so much truth in your points about how easily we get in the habit of doing the wrong thing, when doing the right thing is so easily achievable, and so much more rewarding. I actually attended one of your live events last year and you guided a group of us through the process of building tiny, positive, daily habits, and I’ve really made this stick in my life. A lot of progress has been made!
Anyway, thanks for another insightful read.
Marc Chernoff says
Thank you for the insightful additions, JJ. I do remember meeting you and chatting at the conference. And I’m so inspired to hear that you’ve built some tiny, positive habits in your life that have stuck. Well done! 🙂
Marsha Kline says
Thank you for dropping this article in my gmail inbox today. Every point is worth reading again and reference.
If I had to pick a favorite, I’d say number 1 is what I needed to hear the most today. I’m in the process of reinventing parts of my life after a tough divorce last year, so this line really struck the right chord: “Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that things will never go back to how they used to be, and that this ending is really a new beginning.”
nicky says
I have recently subscribed to your blog after a serious broken ankle and am really finding it helpful….today you have helped me change perspective on my recovery…such a good example for me about dancing with a slight limp….thank you. yesterday, I was utterly miserable about it. today I feel better and more positive.
Nicky
Debbie says
I worked at the same career for 20 years; I was with the last organization for nearly 12 years. Due to organizational change, I was outsourced and am faced with the challenge of re-inventing myself again. This time with my career. I divorced 6 years ago; my oldest child, 22, is 32 months sober.
I’ve had my aptitudes tested and am exploring who I am and how my greatest gifts meet the worlds greatest needs.
Your posts today gave me some needed reminders of the challenges overcome and this is an opportunity to start fresh once again.
Thank you
Amy says
Lovely post once again guys. The point that hits me the most right at this point of my life is about the career path. Not for me but for a friend. He is currently swapping careers which involves a permanent move away. It’s a shame for us and our families friendship which has blossomed over the past year and a half. They’re at the other end of the country so we plan to meet up on camping trips this year. I suppose I sound selfish with regards to his decision?
1CS says
“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.”
Olin Miller
NJH says
I just recommended your blog to a friend yesterday and hope that she is now following it. Thank you both!
Manuel says
Thats a great article!
I struggled hard with #2 and #5 but I am digging out of it by slowly building better habits and being more accepting. Also making a major change now by taking on a challenge that thrills me (quit job, sell stuff, leave flat and go live abroad for a while).
Thanks for your support and inspiration!
Larry Brumfield says
This post was absolutely amazing. If one could read, absorb, and live by the thoughts contained in it, one wouldn’t need any more philosophical and psychological input to be the best — and continually improving — version of one’s Self. I’m going to print out your post and read it and think about it at least once a day, and probably more. Thank you so much, Marc and Angel, for all your well-written and deeply-meaningful words. Much appreciated! Sincerely, Larry Brumfield.
Steven says
Wow… And wow… And wow again!! I have a confession… I have placed every email I’ve gotten from you two in a folder and never read them. Until now. I just made one of the most painful decisions I’ve ever made…I questioned whether the decision was right… And this article was my confirmation. I am so humbled by your words and your combined experiences. EVERY one of these points hit me exactly where I needed it to. I made a decision at the end of last year that I would no longer just survive. My life is about living. I’ve been taking steps to do just that. I’m 56 years old. And I’m starting over. Thank you both so much!
PS… I promise to read every article from here on!
Jane says
Hi Steven, this is Jane. Looks like we’re both at that same crossroad. I’m 58 and our stories today sound the same. Congratulations and good luck!
Paul Magnan says
I have bipolar disorder and change is really hard for me It’s not that I can’t see that I need to change, It’s more like I don’t want to change. I would appreciate any advice. Thank you, Paul
Cherie says
It’s a matter of taking a deep breath and trusting your intuition that you need to make that change. If staying the current track is aggravating your bipolar, then you do need to change. One step at a time.
S. Q says
Lovely and amazing post!
Nancy Sutton says
There is grief at losing someone to death, but the grief of losing someone because they misunderstand you or are projecting their anger at someone else at you is far different. Estrangement which gives you no path to resolution, and which divides an already small family and leaves one out in the cold, is an ongoing grief that is hard to come to terms with. It may work itself out sometime in the future, but meanwhile family relations are broken and you are kept from people you love. All one can do is be patient and hope for the other person to want to someday repair the relationship. But a pervasive sadness hovers over every day and is hard to shake.
Mandi says
Wow this was a really great read. I have a huge problem with handling death and I never have been able to understand why we have to go through the loss of loved ones. The way it is described above is incredible and so true. I never thought about death that way, I just have always been very cynical concerning it. Thank you for opening my eyes. So far, this blog has been the most captivating, but I enjoy reading all of your blogs.
Alice says
I love this post and all of the ones I receive really help me I copy parts down on to notes to remind me keep up the great work I am just asking myself about the story I tell myself and have told myself for years but not sure about question number 4
Richard says
Great post again guys. You always get my mind racing on a Monday, which I love! Someone said to me the other day “Maybe people should stop questioning why healthy food is expensive and should start asking themselves why unhealthy junk food is so cheap?” I thought that was a great way of putting it across.
Jane says
Thank you for these INSPIRATIONAL thoughts for the day! ~ I started this Monday like I’ve started many of my 2017 Mondays…with a new workout program, positive thoughts, and energetic hope! Tuesday usually brings me dragging myself out of bed determined to force myself to continue with my renewed plan. By Wednesday I decide it’s my skip day…after a week, two weeks, or more of ‘SKIP’ days I come upon another Monday with renewed vigor. So the cycle continues…
“Inconsistency” is my middle name. Tragic losses, one after another, my drug-addicted brother, a drug-addicted child, my subsequent troubled marriage brought me to the struggle to pull myself together. I get there – ‘there’ being acceptance of reality/truth, and on to self-love and begin to move forward to strengthening myself and falter… EVERY SINGLE TIME!
I’m a private person. But this Monday, today, I’m advertising my plan and my efforts. I’m giving it a name and putting it all out there and asking my family and friends to hold me accountable. At the risk of sounding corny – I choose work. I choose determination. I choose self-preservation. I choose LIFE!
Thanks for listening. I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
Jeanie Bailey says
I want to thank you for helping me know that it’s okay to still grieve.. in 2012 I became a orphan and a widow in the first six months, I am still trying to put my life back together, I am a great grandmother and disabled so I have been fearing how will I start over.. my faith tells me there will be a way and this read tells me that my concerns are valid, change is scary and inevitable, I won’t fear it anymore.. thank you! Sincerely Jeanie
A.S. says
Wonderful article and advice. Thank you both. “From now on…”, Calendar check marks and accountability.
I have been feeling ‘discomfort’ in changing my bad habits to good habits. With plenty of excuses. You really make it seem so doable! From now on.. I will start at 5 minutes a day.
Gratefully!
Therese says
Marc this is all so deeply true. What a gift you have for expressing such wisdom! Thank you for the Edison story. So meaningful to me.
Janet says
The first lie really resonated with me. I’ve been struggling for the past two years as my children have left home to start their lives and my husband has increased his traveling. I am excited to start looking at this phase as an opportunity to create something new. Thanks for inspiring me!!
Jona says
Thank you for every post and motivation ??
Larry says
I love you two and your blog posts, thank you!
I also love all the people and their comments here, unconditional love sent to all.
agyo azetu azashi says
This whole post create within me a palace of refocusing.
Jenny says
If you only knew how helpful this blog (and so many, many of your others) have helped me change my attitude, my perspective and my life. You both have a rare gift – helping people overcome their demons (e.g., guilt, doubt, etc.) and providing peace to hurting and damaged souls. I can now look back at the cataclysmic life-changing events in my life, put them in the proper perspective, and find peace for the first time. Thank you for helping me more than words can express. 🙂
Cherie says
Especially needed to read #1 today. Thank you!
Jacqueline says
Thank you for helping me to embrace my life once again, my big guilt button that gets pressed from time to time is finally broken and i am making moves to move on from an abusive marriage i no longer need to tolerate or bullies either, i decided to be true to me and be sincere, bye bye perfectionalism that once crippled me, and grieving is personal and different for every death and person, thank you for sharing your hurts may they reassure others there are people out there who care and struggle too but have overcome by being true to themselves,
thank you
love Jacqueline xxx
Carol says
Wow. I want to cry my head off as I read this, it is amazing in every point and a blessing to my entire system, I so needed this and I thank. You for writing this.
God Bless you so much for sharing this, I have other I will email this to.
I will read this over and over again. It is all the stuff I need to read, I have experienced and feel. So deep in the whole with so many of these issues, and yes I know the comfort of your tag line “remember your not alone”
Thank you again and again. Marc and Angel
Love Blessings and Peace as you minster your healing to many of us.
Carol
Nicole S says
I recently lost my brother in law. While the loss is difficult for me, it’s my husband and mother in law I really want to support. This post gave me valuable perspective about how to use his loss as our gain. How will Danny inspire us? How can we show this inspiration to his baby daughter? I feel better equipped to tackle these questions after reading your post. Thank you, thank you.
Mie ann says
Very inspiring article!
I’ll forever keep this as a reminder to look to when my life circumstances turn in different directions.
Thank you. I’m inspired and it gives me strength to go on in life.
Nick says
Your posts are so motivational! Thank you so much!
Especially point 1 is so right for me at this time!
christine says
Wonderful post – all of your posts are uplifting and encouraging. They help in many ways and keep me thinking!
Thank you
Deano says
I left my last job as a teacher for health reasons. I could see no way out for me, I thought my career was over. Then I landed a job with OFSTED and I love it! I thought it was the end but it really was the beginning.
ZSUZSANNA says
I loved all 5 posts and help me understand what is important for someone searching for answers and have them in front her.
Vicky says
You guys are just so good.
i mean, you have this unique writing skills that most authors don’t have.
really, am not exaggerating but you guys are just so good.
Your work really helps me in dealing with stressful situations life throws at me.
Keep doing the good work guys.
much love
Maggie Muthoni says
Im literally in love with you guys…I don’t know what to say for the perfect changeS you are bringing each and everyday I read your articles and emails you send to me……If I would have to list down the catalyst of change in my life, you two would definately be number 1…..All I can say is that may the Good God bless you abundantly. I would wish to get the books you have especially “The 1000 little things that happy successfull people do differently” and will do when I get the finances I need otherwise,feel loved and appreciated….I wish I can meet you two one day….
Lots of Love
Maggie Muthoni
KENYA.