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Happiness
The expectation that only certain things can make you happy will continue to keep happiness out of your reach. Putting conditions on happiness serves only to prevent it from happening.
The assumption that conditions must improve before you can be happy is precisely backwards. For when you can truly be happy with who you are and with what you're doing, conditions cannot help but improve.
If you feel that you could never be happy with things the way they are, you're absolutely right. So choose to be happy, and things will no longer be the way they are -- they'll immediately start to get better.
Once you truly choose to be happy, then your thoughts and actions will reflect that choice. You'll be moving in the direction of your most treasured values and desires, rather than holding yourself back from them.
But isn't it naive or unrealistic or simplistic or disrespectful to choose happiness when the world is so filled with difficult and dangerous challenges? Not at all, because by choosing to be genuinely happy with yourself you're also choosing to be the best, the strongest, the most effective person you can be.
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Even Though!
Even if the previous five thousand days have pushed you backwards, you can still move forward today. Even when your resources have been depleted and your options have been exhausted, there is still a way to move ahead.
Never, ever give up, for even in the darkest night there is always, somewhere, a source of light. Even in the most difficult situation there is always, somehow, a way to triumph.
Though troubles come rolling in unexpectedly on a regular basis, life is, unquestionably, very much worth living. Amid the pain, the frustration, the disappointment, there is yet something of unfathomable value and beauty in the experience.
Take hold of the abundant goodness that can never be extinguished. Live every day in awe of the fact that you're alive. Never forget what a priceless, miraculous gift you've been given. The ups and downs of life pale in comparison to the magnitude of the blessing that is life itself.
Remember who you are, what you are, and why you are. Even though the going sometimes gets rough, it is a blessed experience which has no equal.
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Reach Higher
Reaching higher When the challenges become more difficult and the obstacles become more daunting, respond by reaching higher. When the difficulties holding you back become strong, let your desire to get through them grow even stronger.
There is no limit to the goals you can set for yourself or to the dreams you can hold in your heart. So make your dreams bigger than your problems.
More than any skill, or resource or other advantage in this world, your desire will determine how far you go. So when the going gets rough, let your desire get even stronger.
If the goal does not seem worth the effort, then make the goal worth more. Keep reaching higher, until where you're going far outweighs what you must go through to get there.
When you have a reason to make it happen, you'll find a way to make it happen. When the goal is meaningful enough, you'll find a way to reach it no matter what.
Set your sights higher and you'll find you're able not only to look beyond the obstacles, but to get beyond them too.
Marilyn L. Ali
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