Opinion

"Every man is a fool in some man's opinion” ~Spanish Proverb

I read something this morning that got me thinking about opinions. I've spent a lot of time in my life worrying about other people's opinions. Family, friends, even strangers sometimes. How do I look? Am I doing what I'm suppose to be doing? What do they think of me? Finally, I've come to realize that the person's opinion I need to worry about is my own. Is what I'm doing in line with my beliefs? Are my actions moving me in the direction I want to go or taking me down another path? Will this lead me closer to living my soul purpose?

I've decided that the things that I want to do in my life probably won't be looked at by others as "normal" or "right'" but that's ok. I know that there are things that I have been put on this earth to do and when it's all said and done I will have to answer for my actions. I don't think the excuse "people didn't think it was a good idea" is really going to fly. When I am gone from this earth I want to be remembered as someone who made a difference.

The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. ~Leo Rosten

Copies

"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."~John Mason

I really liked this quote, it made me think back to high school. I wanted so bad to fit in. I was different, I guess now maybe I would say an original, but I so wanted to be a copy. I know now that I will never be like everyone else, because I have been given my own unique talents, gifts and abilities. Rather than fight it, hide them away and pretend that they don't exist, I've decided to embrace them, grow them and do my best to share them with others around me. Everyday I am able to benefit from the talents, gifts and abilities of those I come in contact with. I just hope that I am able to give something back in return.

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. ~Gotama Buddha

Who am I?

Most of the time I refer to myself in relation to another person or thing. "I'm Bob's wife, their mom, his sister, their daughter, I work for..., I work with..." etc. But, who am I? Just me, not in relation to someone or something else.

I use to do everything I could to avoid thinking about it. I usually didn't have anything really nice to say about myself so it was better to not say anything at all. Then we were heading to Salt Lake and I had an assignment. "Look yourself in the eyes in an actual mirrror. Ask yourself what it is that is great. Not physical appearance, but what you perceive about yourself on a deeper level." The second part was to list what wasn't so great.

I was suppose to list 20 items for each. I tore through the not so great part. I had to stop myself at 20. Then came the great part. I struggled. At first I couldn't think of anything. But slowly I found one thing; then another. It was so hard but I finally came up with about 15 things.

What I realized is that I have unique gifts and talents, given to me by my Heavenly Father. I can choose to focus on what talents I wasn't given but what kind of servant does that make me. In the parable of the talents, three servants are given talents. Two of them work with their talents and increase them while the third hides his until the master returns. The two that did something with their talents are praised and rewarded while the third is rebuked and his talent taken from him. Which servant was I?

I know now that I need to do something with my talent and increase them, not focus on what I wasn't given. Each day I strive to increase my talents by using them, learning more about them or sharing them.

"If you had a friend who talked to you like you sometimes talk to yourself, would you continue to hang around with that person?" ~Rob Bremer