Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise reflection today! Each passing year offers us the opportunity to reflect upon moments past and settle into the blessings experienced throughout the previous 365 days. As always, I become consumed with gratitude.  And yes, the echoes of the past also surface darker thoughts of disappointment, remorse, regret, guilt, shame, and grief. With a deep breath and an embrace of life’s realities, I coach myself back on track, remembering George Eliot’s words (pen name of Mary Ann Evans): It is never too late to be what you might have been. So, today, as I approach another year, I desire to start anew. Fresh with faith, recalibrated with possibility, and renewed with hope. Looking forward . . .                                                                 Life is calling . . .  Today’s the day! Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.www.marilynnsemonick.comTo read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.comMarilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional SpeakerMarilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

Read Full Post »

Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise love today!

What would life be like if we became intentional and made yesterday’s Valentine’s Day focus on love a daily, lifetime commitment? Living in Michigan, with a daughter who loves her alma mater, Michigan State, the tragedy this week hit home, yet again.

I read and reread the relevant words of Martin Luther King with frustration, angst, and extreme anger at myself for finding it increasingly more difficult to react with genuine love:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Or, perhaps we can ponder Elie Wiesel’s words. A Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor, Wiesel authored 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps:

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.

I’ll avoid elaborating my views on guns of plenty in this nation. I will express my outrage at our acceptance of corporate greed and political control that arms people with weapons of destruction that manifest fear and hate, obliterating love for those who experience their results. And, my intense concern for today’s obvious acceptance of discrimination, leading me to an ugly understanding of how fear, hate, and acceptance of white supremacy translated into concentration camps and murder of millions.

Love as an action. What does it look like to refuse to be indifferent? What do we need to address our fears? What does driving out darkness feel like? What does rejection of hate mean for all of us? These continuous tragedies reminds us of our collective consciousness. Can we challenge ourselves to become more skilled at understanding, compassionate, and loving? If not, the obvious alternative is currently playing itself out, violently and all too often.

Life is calling . . .  Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.

www.marilynnsemonick.com

To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com

Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)

Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker

Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com                                                          

Read Full Post »

Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise responsibility today!

Have you ever found it difficult to make a decision? Avoided it, postponed it, or deferred to someone else to make the decision so you wouldn’t have to? There’s some convenient luxuries in that decision. For, to choose not to make a decision is a decision made.

The indulgence you may have bestowed upon yourself is the opportunity to criticize, judge, or become annoyed by the decision made by another. Perhaps it’s best to decide you’re responsible for “it all” In your life. Of course, you’re not; however, you will live with the consequences, either way. So, decades ago, Joan Didion may have given us good advice:

The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s one life is the source from which self-respect springs.     

So, today . . . own it all!

Life is calling . . .  Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.

www.marilynnsemonick.com

To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com

Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)

Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker

Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

Read Full Post »

Wednesday Wisdom

Seed tomorrow with wise self-awareness today!

I was so inspired the Tracee Ellis Ross interview I wrote about last week that I needed to read more about her life, her work, and what motivates her passions. Some of the first words I scanned were:

What’s most important is how we feel on the inside.

Yikes, there’s that inner world again!  How much time have you spent there recently? Or ever? After all, inner excavation is essentially the most imperative human assignment of our life isn’t it? It’s what fuels what we think, speak, and do.

We are the chooser of our own life. Don’t let being afraid stop you from doing anything.

Accumulated fears surface for many (probably most) who take the life-time expedition, and it forces the question: What parts of ourselves have we cut off because of fear?  And, the journey continues . . .

Life is calling . . .  Today’s the day!

Visit http://www.The Success Studio.com . . . Learn Lavishly. Live Significantly. Leave a Legacy.

www.marilynnsemonick.com

To read archived Wednesday Wisdoms visit http://www.thesuccessstudio.wordpress.com

Marilynn Semonick, CEO (Chief Exploration Officer)

Educator, Consultant, Coach, Facilitator, Professional Speaker

Marilynn@marilynnsemonick.com

Read Full Post »