The anchors of life...

Ahhhh yes the anchors of life...and that is one simple but very important thing to understand the differences between. See, there are those anchors that are the very things that will do nothing more than drag you down, try to keep you from even treading water any longer, and they will dead stop any movement forward for you...and slowly start to drown you. Some anchors we carry for years without even realizing what is drowning us...clinging us to the same spot every single day! Some anchors we tote around for years hoping to set the issue right, to help that person and/or that thing that is keeping US from being able to move with the flow of OUR life and so those are, appropriately called: 

1) "the anchors that bind you." Now, there is really only one option open to this and that is you must cut the ropes...you must cut loose forever any anchor that is binding you down for that is detrimental to your own growth and severely unfair action from those who are being a binding anchor. You cannot waste any time with being bound down by many things you cannot change anyway...or by people you cannot change either. I am telling you now to get out your scissors, your saw, whatever you have and cut it all loose...if it is keeping you stagnant then let it go, cut it loose and let your ship sail on forward as it should. Do that for yourself...you owe it to yourself...you will later be glad you did it for yourself. It will be tough to cut some anchors due to personal investment but when you are no longer getting any return on that investment then it is time to redirect your energy to more promising avenues. Take a deep breath and cut, cut, cut those ropes...they have probably handed you the scissors themself anyway so cut it quickly and quietly sail on.

Now the other anchors are also appropriately called: 

2) "those that keep us grounded"...those that hold us steady during the worst of the storms of our lives...the waters can be heavy and turbulent and the beams from the lighthouses can be dim or not even visible at all, and in this case we have good anchors...the anchors of life and when you discover and, very luckily and very rarely, find those anchors that pitch in to help make sure that you remain anchored down tightly, until the storm passes and the lighthouse is now visible again to shine light upon your travels, then you must hold tight to those anchors and stick together as the spokes of a wheel stick together. Accept only the anchors that help keep you remain steady during the storms and then pick up and sail on with you...and stand ready at all times to drop anchor again when the next, inevitable, storm hits. Now there will be less of these anchors than those that bind you but the anchors of your life, that turn your tidal waves into rolling ripples that are manageable, now those are the anchors you must keep aboard your ship...it is an investment with such wonderful returns. So, be sure to understand the differences between those anchors out there for only those interested in hunkering down thru the storms so they may move on in the calm that follows are those you graciously keep...the others, the binding anchors...as I said: cut, cut, cut those ropes. They shall sit at the bottom of the ocean floor along with all of the other cut loose anchors while you and your new found anchors of life sail on...

The Trifecta of life…

 

Closing doors, burning bridges, severing longtime ties...they can be a trifecta of tough decisions to have to be on full terms with before you can even begin to properly execute doing any of those things. Let's break it down and please understand that these are solely my feelings and thoughts and boundaries on this trifecta...

1)closing doors sounds easy enough...close the door and don't turn around and now it's "outta sight, outta mind.' But that just isn't so...not at all is it so. You have to know with every fiber of your being that you have done even more than you could have done and more than you should have done has nonetheless been tried before you can, in good faith, let it go...close the door on it like the chapter of a book and don't look back and do not even hear the knocking from the other side...you have to know that when you close a door shut that you must lock it and never open it again. And you must know that you can do that for there will forever be doors we have to muster up and close off and you cannot close those doors properly if your conscience is going to rear up and cause you to question the slamming of that door. You make a command decision, you go with, and that's that...but you make sure that no desire to crack that door has ANY chance to creep up on you for those are revolving doors and they will never stay closed. 

2) Burning bridges along the way...this one is even more firm than closing doors for once you burn a bridge behind you then that is a very solid, forever move. See, once the bridge is burned you can never cross it again...even if you wanted to or even if you needed to. This move of freeing excess baggage of those grey patchy times of our lives takes a silent but certain and confident courage to be able to finally disconnect with anything that hinders you in any way. It's tough to buckle up and be tough sometimes but there is not one single thing lacking in us to make us keep our seat instead of striking the match and watching every board burn into a smoldering heap of ash. Closure reach's no higher level than when one can finally detach themself as numb to the issue and feeling zero regret for what they are about to do nor what they ultimately do. Burning a bridge generally means that what was on the other side of it is dead to you...you have no emotion left to spare. Good thing is, however, that once burned neither can what rest on the other side of the rubble get across it to torment you ever again. It is done, it is over, it has been buried, the bridge can never again be crossed from either side...let it go and forget about it. That's right, forget about it! That was the primary reason for burning the bridge to begin with...to push it away and consider it handled as seen fit and to simply move on and forget about it. So when your own burning season rolls around then think about that bridge long and hard and what it would say if only it could speak before you poor the gas to it and strike a match...be sure you can turn your back to the flames and walk away to a whole new mindset.

3) Ah, and here enters a tough one indeed...severing longtime ties. Wow, now this takes a gamble...you know what you have in someone but yet what you do not have in them seems to outweigh the other then it could be time to freeze frame your very heart and cut the line. It is one tough call to have to make but if it is what is best for you or if it is what is best for both parties then cut the cord. Don't even take a deep breath or do the damn "one, two, three, go!' thing just snip it loose. Life is not designed for us to hang onto everything or everyone forever...those who do stay are but of the "privileged" few. And most times when you reach the point of cutting someone loose, they have handed you the scissors!

So, therein places my two cents and that penny for my thoughts. For some, life will build you so that you will be able to defeat that trifecta while others just seem to have come with an instinct so when your gut of guts tells you to just pause and reflect then do not hesitate for a moment to live by your values, by your morals, by your standards and within your boundaries. You get one ride on this tempest, this merry-go-round that we all twirl about on so keep yourself centered and grounded at all costs. Be prepared to face at least one of the three major parts of life's trifecta traps...but do indeed be prepared

Pam Scholes

Begin Paving Your Own Yellow Brick Road

 

Your own yellow brick road? Did you shake your head or snicker "yea right?!" to yourself? It's perfectly fine if you did; very understandable since we seem to have so little control over so many things these days...much less a yellow brick road. But you absolutely can build it! The berries about it all are that you may build it in any straight and narrow form that you wish...or you may build it in any curve and twist shape that you wish...and you may build it at any pace (almost any pace) that you wish. In fact, it's not so much how much time one takes in building their road...it's far more important in how much was accomplished during their time building their road. Quality over quantity; and may quality always win. 

 You are the brick layer that gently places each brick in its chosen spot...you are the cement that binds each of those bricks together...you are the blueprint designer of every shape and size of each of those bricks...and you are the orchestrator that shall decide to which musical tune of direction those bricks shall march towards...

 The bricks that pave your own inner yellow brick road are very special bricks for each one is made up of a pinch, a snippet, a dab, a quirk of you...they are made so that each one holds some personal and unique touch that is the very essence of you! And with all of those "titles and duties" bestowed upon you I, hereby and from this moment forward, knight you full and sole guardianship over the magical path you carve from your many bricks of gold. 

 Timing and placement will mean everything since this brick road is an everyday, ongoing, work in progress kind of endeavor. Oh, fret not for those cracks and patchy areas along the way are all compliments of life and those unforeseeable variables that will rear their heads to hinder the flow of the road we have begun. Allow no pebble to take roost in the spot of where the next brick should be placed. 

Building your yellow brick road, making no claim for it to be an easy job, but oh my, the rewards you shall reap will shine for you when all is said and done. And so, as 2024 has now gotten comfortable it is now time to pave...time to reinvent yourself, and/or, your route of travel. Just because things change does not mean one must change with them...one must simply accept those changes exist and modify them into the parts of their life that truly count, that truly matter. You have a god (however you conceive that to be) given right to "free will" which opens many doors for the foundation of the production of your very own yellow brick road...it has been inside of you all along.