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From The Ashes
The man plopped down on his chair, defeated. His father's maxims bit his ears and nagged him like tired Christmas jingles. "No pain, no gain. No guts, no glory. No risk no reward. Gotta' pay to play. You never know until you try." On and on. He sat, dazed, in a semi-trance, half-comatose, half numb, with tinges of remorse and disappointment punctuated by an occasional anxiety spike. He couldn't believe Dad had been gone almost five years. It seemed like yesterday that they would gather on the back porch to celebrate the victories, cry over the defeats and laugh about both. Dad always delivered the perfect line, the stern encouragement, the voice of wisdom that transcended the man's annoyance over the unflappable demeanor that smiled regardless, win or lose, rain or shine, day or night. "I'll have to face this one alone," he thought, smitten with a mix of terror and sadness. As if he knew how. A familiar paralysis crept over him like a slow-moving shadow, unobserved, adding darkness in tiny, imperceptible stages until it blocked all light, held him bound to his history, prisoner of his doubt. His eyes drooped, his hands fell limp, his neck crooned forward, listless and heavy. "YOU'RE JUST AFRAID," the voice bellowed in his head. "IT'S NOT REAL," it continued, "never is, never was. You know better." Startled awake, the man let his suppressed smile come through. "Yeah, Dad," he reflected, "I remember. Nothing to fear but the fear itself. Easy to say, not so easy to do-especially after having your butt handed to you on a platter-again." Still, the grin lingered, chased out some of the cobwebs. "Funny how fear works," the man mused, drawing on memories. "Freezes us into inaction, negates powerful lessons, shuts down our creative juice." All these and more, he had bantered at length on the porch over ?unsweetened ice tea and fat, salted Heinz pretzels in a big brown box. He wished he had one now. "Failures come and go-part of life," Dad preached. "Same as triumphs. Not the failure that sets you back, son, only the fear of failure." The man struggled to apply the notion to today, beaten once more, beaten and tired, a space where the desire to quit and pack it in held court in full regalia, so many jesters and wannabes heckling their own loserisms, taunts and jeers. "Told you so-should have listened-bail while you still can-get a real job-nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah?" "Only the FEAR of failure?" Dad's mandate. "That's all it is." The man wrestled in his mind. "I have failed many times and so what. I might succeed on the next one. Failure's not so bad, unless it traps me into never starting over." The man looked around the room, as if to conjure the image of his father, an involuntary shudder rippling down his spine. "I know, I know," he spoke out loud. "Sometimes it just takes me a minute." He pushed himself erect, picked up his chin and settled his gaze on the picture on the mantelpiece. "I know," he repeated. "I know." That's A View From The Ridge... About The Author Author Ridgely Goldsborough invites you to subscribe to The Daily Column, a heart-felt collection of stories that inspire hope and courage. Please do so at www.aviewfromtheridge.com" target="_new">www.aviewfromtheridge.com.
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Listening to Your Inner Voice May Save Your Life "I was washing my breakfast dishes one morning when it occurred to me to go visit a friend who lived several miles away. I did my work and started to dress for my journey, when there came over me such a feeling of depression, or despondency, or gloom, that I could not understand. A Pickup Line Direct Answers - Column for the week of November 11, 2002I just started a wonderful new job. The atmosphere is laid-back, and the people alone make the place fantastic. The Minds Fancy Dress Party -Or- A Brainstorming Session In Berlin a restaurant opens for anorexics and in Buffalo a lawyer with a stutter wins a court case. When everything you're working on has gone STALE and your own initially promising concepts are starting to annoy you, you need a brainstorming session to get to the missing bits or generate some new ideas. Head First I stepped up to the edge and looked down. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. A Brick Wall Direct Answers - Column for the week of August 18, 2003Two years ago I divorced, and there is still a lot of hostility.My former husband has been served with contempt papers for not paying child support. Adversity, What Is It Good For? As I sat down to write this article, I was reflecting back over the last week - a week filled with adversity. We all go through it and it is during those times that we may often wonder what is it all for anyway? What is the point? What is it good for?I decided to look up the word, adversity, from my old American Heritage Dictionary. Dreams Do Come True Experience has made a lot of folks to consider dreams to be fantasies, unattainable, galaxies away from reality.Some folks believe dreams do come true. Lessons Learned Hard Many of us seek consolation in the words of Frank Sinatra, "I did it my way." I say many of us because I feel this trap has snared more than just me. Adversity to Victory The following is a true story about a young friend who lives in St. Louis. Living Profoundly When you realize that you really want to have an impact in this world, to make a difference, remember that it is in each moment that you are alive and in the present. When you are too busy worrying about what you don't have, what you have to do, where you've been, and what you don't have, you're not in the present; you're consumed by the past you can't change and the future that has yet to happen. 20 Ways To Improve Your Life People often ask me how they can improve their lives.I always give them very specific advice on simple things they can do to create a radical shift in their experience of life. My name is Smarty Jones -- Embracing Gods Glory Our deepest fear us not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. Love the Opportunity Somebody said you have to love what you do, but that's not necessarily true. What is true is that you have to love the opportunity. Healing from Within "We are responsible for everything in our lives, including how the chemistry in our bodies works or doesn't work." Wayne Dyer's words hit me like a bolt of lightening as I listened to his taped book, You'll See It When You Believe It. The Power Of Love In Your Life! CELEBRATE YOUR LIFE!"If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. A Life of Purposes Extraction Purpose. What is purpose? Drinking coffee when you wake up and making a habit of drinking coffee only when you wake up? No. Lifes Purpose To every life, there is a purpose; a purpose of will and a purpose of choice. A choice to make the right or wrong decisions and the will to act on the choices made. Being An Adult I have always thought that grandparents were the icons of wisdom, the "go to" person with he answers, the epitome of patience.When I was young, I often thought, "When I grow up, I want to be like Grandpa". Wow a Butterfly! Okay, I am sure that you clicked on this title out of curiosity. Wow a butterfly; what would a butterfly have to do with self help content? And you are right. TIES that BIND I have no idea how it started or who launched it. Nevertheless years after all of the women in my family died (they were the initiators of all of our major family events and thingamajigs).
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