I am currently working on a blog entry about Max Lucato. I find his books to be very easy reads that are full of good stories and encouragement. I am also listening to Maya Angelou’s I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It amazes me how she has lived through a hard childhood but ended up writing autobiographies and poetry.
I am planning on starting a YouTube channel. I want to read some Christian classics, self-help classics, share encouraging quotes and discuss some of my own struggles with depression and life. The books in this picture are Pilgrim‘s Progress and a folk tale about three trees.
I have a small book shelf full of books that I have not read yet. I mostly have non-fiction Christian and self-help.
The highlight of this week is my Amarylis plant that is now blooming.
Amarylis blooming
I bought it at Walmart before Christmas. It looked like a bulb with a dead sprout that was hardly covered by dirt. I thought it was going to do nothing when I saw no change for weeks. Then a single reddish stem grew.
I watered it periodically. This month, I saw that it was getting ready to bloom. I began checking it everyday when Igot home from work.
While driving home from work today, I started wondering if today was going to be the day. It was! One of the flowers is now blooming while the other one on the opposite side of the stem is not open yet.
The day after I posted this, the second bloom opened up.
What was your day brightener today? Did your pet or a family member meet you at the door? Maybe your spouse cooked a delicious meal. If you seek, you just might find that enjoyable moment in your day.
In 1983, Dr Sally Ride (05/26/1951-07/23/2012) became the first American woman to fly in space. She was the third woman in space. After leaving NASA, she was a professor of physics at University of California, San Diego. After retiring from her professorship in 2007, she co-founded O’Shaughnessy. They made entertaining science programs and wrote some books on science for children.
Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love animals and want to be zoologists, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in 10 years and know they are on their way.
All adventures, especially into new territory are scary.
Science is fun. Science is curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It’s posing questions and coming up with a method. It’s delving in.
Each one of us has the potential to be a history-maker.
Young girls need to see role models in whatever career they may choose just so they can picture themselves doing those jobs someday.
Learning to handle both success and failure is a part of life. There will always be moments of disappointment, but it is how you deal with them that defines you.
The path from dreams to success doesn’t always run straight, and that’s okay. Keep believing. Keep going. Keep working.
Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life.
We should not be afraid of dreaming big, of reaching for the stars. We are capable of achieving extraordinary things.
The unknown is terrifying, but it is also exhilarating. Embrace the fear and use it as a motivation to discover the incredible possibilities that lie ahead.
Success is not about being the best. It’s about finding the joy in what you do and making a positive impact on others.
Failure is not the opposite of success. It is a part of the journey toward success.
To truly make a difference in this world, we must be willing to step outside our comfort zones and take risks.
Dare to dream big, and then work relentlessly to turn those dreams into reality.
When I read these quotes, I thought of my love of science. I remember curiously touching some slime on my stirring rod during my biology lab class. It was the first time and only time that I touched DNA. A few tears dropped from my eyes. I was happy. I don’t know if I will ever work in the sciences but I know that I will continue to read articles and books about science.
As a child, I wanted to become a doctor and go overseas as a missionary. I believed that God had called me to this dream job. I took biology with some side courses for pre-med. Then, the med students came by my lab class and talked about never studying before medical school. I think I had to study in every grade. I know that I studied in middle school and high school. Years before my step-father yelled “You’re too stupid to be a doctor.” I tried to argue back because I knew that I’d never forget him saying that. Sometimes, I thought about becoming a child psychologist in order to help other children who struggle like I did.
I never went to medical school because I discovered that I freeze up when in a crisis. A neighbor in my dorm building was in the bathroom sounding sick. I suggested that she take some medication and went down stairs in order to do laundry. When I passed back by, a man was standing outside of the restroom asking for help getting her unconscious body out of the restroom. Did I help? No. I stood frozen and had a bunch of negative thoughts. I couldn’t be a doctor or nurse. Someone tried to tell me that I could train enough to be able to function under high stress. I doubted it then and still doubt it.
While this dream died, I realized that the main part of the dream is the desire to help others. This desire is still very strong in my heart. Now, I hope I can use this blog to encourage others. I have read many encouraging books and quotes. Many of us have so much potential but we need a little encouragement in our darkest moments to keep from giving up. This is what I want to do for my readers.
Sometimes, a dream dies. But, the driving desire behind the dream lives on. So, I suggest that you ask yourself why a certain job is a dream job. You may find something else that fulfills that aching desire.
Thank you to the very kind gentlemen who helped me today. One had to rock my car back and forth in order to get it off the stop sign that I scraped and bent while another was pushing. I ended up making it to work a half hour late. Then, my employer decided to shut down due to snow a few hours later. So, I began the drive home. I drove off the side of the road into a big pile of snow. Again, a kind gentleman stopped and pulled me free with his truck and a strap.
I pray that all who need road side assistance can get it today. If not, then please be safe.
Angelou (4/4/1928-5/28/2014) was born as Marguerite Annie Johnson according to Wikipedia. She wrote memoirs and poetry. Her book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, describes her childhood experiences of racism, poverty and a rape when she was only eight. She stopped talking for five years after the rape. Then, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son at 16 years old. “Yet despite the tragedy and tumult of her own life, she came to embody unconquerable resilience. (The Book of Gutsy Women, Hillary Clinton Chelsea Clinton). ” I am looking forward to listening to Angelou read her own book through Audible. Here is a video of her speaking on YouTube.
She is on my mind because I just got my set of US American Women quarters. She was the first to be featured in the 2022 set.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” I painted this quote on two of my rocks.
“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
“Make every effort to change things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.”
I have had this blog since 2018. I started this blog because I wanted to encourage others especially Christians who struggle with mental health issues.
Since I am a Christian who lives with depression, I think I have an interesting perspective in this area.
So my mission for this blog is to offer encouragement to my fellow Christians. I plan to do this by sharing my struggles and successes at times, discussing quotes from famous people, Bible study discussions, listing local resources and educational writing.
I called it Listeninghearts because I want to support and encourage my readers.
Since I have already blogged about my goals for 2024, I will share one that I didn’t mention in my previous post.
I moved into a nicer apartment last year. So, I pay more in rent now. So, I am going back to living on a budget.
I will try to reduce how much that I spend at Walmart. I will try to avoid buying more books or clothes. It is hard to say no when I see a cute short for a cheap price.
I will also be more careful about purchasing stuff on Amazon. Success in this goal will be seeing that I am spending less than I am earning. Then, my checking account will return to growing slowly until I transfer money into savings. I want my money to earn some interest or dividends too.
With this year just beginning, we all need courage to get through this year. According to Oxford languages, courage is “the ability to do something that frightens one” or “strength in the face of pain or grief.” Here are some quotes about courage.
“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
This quote makes me think of persistence in the face of failure. Failure will encourage any of us to question ourselves. This is especially true if we already doubt ourselves. So, I agree that managing to keep trying after failing is a sign of courage.
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.’ Winston Churchill
I admire a co-worker of mine for her ability to stand up for herself. Another co-worker has been staring at her. So, she has spoken to management and is now trying to ignore him.
The second part of this quote makes me think of when a person is receiving negative feedback. I want to argue or defend myself and worry that the speaker thinks that I am a bad employee or person. So, I believe that being able to hear negative feedback and learn from it takes a lot of courage.
“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,’I will try again tomorrow.'” Mary Ann Radmacher
“Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.” Tom Krause
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ …You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) You Learn by Living, 1960
Roosevelt shared how to build up courage in this quote. I remember being so afraid of driving that I waited until I was 30 or older. I am still scared of driving but I now have enough courage to drive except on highly trafficked streets. I don’t know if I will ever get brave enough to drive on a busy street.
Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” Maya Angelou
Here is an article about courage. Chris Drew wrote about the six types of courage and gave some examples of each. He also makes sure to mention that socially anxious people may need courage to do things that people without social anxiety may take for granted.
What areas have you shown courage? Small acts of courage still count.
What areas do you want to improve your ability to act in the face of fear?
Do you have an improvement plan? If yes, what is it?
I may want to steal it if I think it will help me to get braver about standing up for myself at work or maybe even becoming a team leader some day.
Ever since 2020, I have felt like every year is weird. One challenge that I have is my huge heart. When I read about people dying, I imagine what it must be like to be them. When the Ukraine-Russia war started, I imagined the fear and anger of the people. Now, I contemplate the struggles of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. So, I have to limit my news reading and listening at times in order to keep me from feeling overwhelmed. I have no idea how a God that knows all the suffering on our planet and loves all people can deal with it all. Yet, He allows it to continue. I hope He explains things to me when I get to heaven. I have asked why so many times in my prayers but He chooses to not answer me.
Another challenge for me is my negative thinking patterns. I find that when I make mistakes repeatedly I beat myself up mentally. But I will make mistakes when I work on learning something new. I posted a collection of quotes about making errors and learning from them a few days ago. I might post a quote from this at work in order to remind me to learn from mistakes and keep practicing the new skill.
I am very good at procrastinating and being lazy too. I was planning a special meal today but I got up too late to cook it since it is a slow cooker recipe. I enjoy reading books and sleeping very much. My brain loves to roam around as I fall asleep. So, I struggle to keep up on household chores and other adult responsibilities. My goal is to do a half hour of chores most days of the week in 2024. I also want to walk 15 minutes for most days in a week. My doctor recommended that I do this to help improve my health. It seemed like such a small thing which made me add it to my list of resolutions.
I’d make a great cat.
I love to eat sweets way too much. Since diabetes runs in my family, I know that I need to watch how much I eat and eat healthier in the new year. My plan is to eat more vegetables and fruits and watch serving sizes.
What are your challenges and plans to work on them during this new year?
