Respond and Acclaim

I have been trying to respond to peoples posts and have been messaging people more often on Facebook to form more of a connection with my friends. But I have also been trying to be more positive. I feel I don't respond enough to my friends. I don't acknowledge them or their accomplishments the way I should.

I am going to say something that is probably the opposite of what most people would normally say, but here it is "Strive for praise!" "What? Are you serious?",  you ask. Yes I am and here is why I say this. Praise is what we need and just what we should do for our friends. We should praise them for their accomplishments; we should praise them for every wonderful thing they do. Everything they do in their lives can be something wonderful. Acknowledge them; that is all I ask.

When we get praise from someone it just makes us feel good. We want to say we don't need praise. We want to just enjoy doing good for others, but sometimes it just feels good to get a positive response from others. When we get that positive response it affects how we act. We will treat others better. We will have a better outlook on life. This praise will affect us in only the most positive way and how can that be a bad thing?

So here's my challenge to you! Praise your friends any chance you get and keep the conversation going.  Always, and I mean always respond to others around you; don't ignore them. When someone responds to you in a personal message, keep the conversation going. Don't be the person to end the conversation by not responding. And always respond with a positive attitude and with praise. My other challenge for you is to compliment someone around you. Make a positive response to someone around you today and see what happens. I guarantee you will never regret that decision.

The Road Taken

As I was out for my morning run a couple of weeks ago, I approached a section in the road in which I needed to make the decision to go left to the tree lined path or up the ramp towards a longer road. This decision is usually pretty easy as it is dependent on the distance I am running, but until that particular day, I had never thought about that third option; the stairs. I had recently posted a few pictures from a recent run and one of those happened to be of some stairs. I remember one of my friends saying, "Tomorrow take the stairs." So I did.

This got me to thinking about the different paths we take in our lives. I couldn't help but think of the famous poem by Robert Frost called 'The Road Not Taken' and out of curiosity I read it again, and this time I noticed something different. I always thought he was happy for choosing the road he did, but if you read it carefully it sounds as though he had doubts over his chosen road.

I know sometimes we may think back on our lives and have regrets, wishing we could have done certain things differently, but the road we take is our own and we should never feel regret over the decisions we make. No one is perfect; we are all going to have a lot of "Oops!" moments in our lives. We are all a bunch of perfectly imperfect people and that is ok. What is important is that we realize the mistakes we have made, learn from them and then move on.

Sometimes, though, there are things we have no control over, but we must learn to be patient, because eventually all struggles will come to an end. Think about a specific moment in your life that brought you joy. Now think about everything that had to happen in order to achieve that joyful time in your life. Were all of those things that brought you to that moment happy or was there some form of struggle to get you to that point?

Finally, in reference to those stairs I first mentioned, never be afraid or too stubborn to take the advice from a friend; sometimes you need guidance from someone else when you are unable to see what is  right in front of you. Sometimes that advice can make all the difference.

Our lives are made up of different stages on this road we choose. Sometimes it's smooth and flat and other times the road is rough and hilly. Never give up when you get to those rough and hilly patches, because you never know what will be over that next hill.

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as i could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

two roads diverged in a wood, and I --

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference.