Category: Radiance

Spread Some Joy Today > Radiance

The Time Has Come. Thank You For The Opportunity To Share

Posted on by Terry Minion

Good day to you. I've been writing and even reposting thousands of posts of things that I've learned and wanted to share just in case it may be beneficial to another person. I've said pretty much everything and many things over and over as common themes toward the expression of love, joy, peace, and appreciation. They are all here. Review them as you wish or not. I'm done for now. If I post anything in the future it will most likely be intermittent. I've now posted every single day since September of 2009 except August 10th, 2013 which was the day my wife of 26 years passed. Today marks the 4,558th post.

Thank you for reading and allowing me to share these thoughts with you. I hope some of this has been of benefit. I appreciate the opportunity. And, for now, I bid you farewell.

Terry Minion

Imaginary Blues In The Key Of See

Posted on by Terry Minion
“How much pain they have cost us,
the evils which have never happened.”
 
— Thomas Jefferson
 
 
“Every evening I turn my worries over to God.
He's going to be up all night anyway.”
 
— Mary C Crowley
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-18-11]
 
It's funny now. The real troubles that I have are no match to the power and persistence of my imagination.
 
What's really funny is that today I am absolutely certain that I have a minimum of twice as many problems as I have ever had in my life, and my imagination can still run circles around all of them.
 
What's even funnier still, is that not thinking about my real problems, regardless of how many there are, or who thinks they are so damn important, makes them so much smaller than they have ever been in my entire life.
 
And the last funny thing is that I am in full control of my imagination, although, I think most of my life, I didn't realize that was possible.
 
I am eager and excited in anticipation of the place where there are no problems at all–where life is bliss and joy reigns supreme. As imaginary places go, that is as good a one as I can dream up; however, I am not convinced that it is a real place.
 
But, as my experience is teaching me now, having problems is not a problem unless I choose to make it, or them, one. My view is so different now. So little stress in comparison to how it used to be when I didn't really have hardly any problems.
 
 
Maybe That's What They Mean About Heaven On Earth.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–By seeking joy today. It really is that easy.

So How Bad Is It?

Posted on by Terry Minion
“When I hear somebody sigh,
'Life is hard,'
I am always tempted to ask,
'Compared to what?'”
 
— Sydney J Harris
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-20-11]
 
You know it's going to be a bad day when. . .

•You turn on the morning news and it's showing emergency routes out of town.
•The sun comes up in the west.
•Your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat.
•You jump out of bed and you miss the floor.
•The bird singing outside your bedroom window is a buzzard.
•You wake up and your dentures are locked together.
•Your car's horn gets stuck while you're following a group of Hell's Angels.
•You put both contact lenses in the same eye.
•You walk to work on a sunny morning and discover the back of your skirt is stuck in your pantyhose.
•You call to pick up your messages and are told it's none of your business.
•Your tax return check bounces.
•You put your bra on backward and it fits better.
•You step on the scale and it says “tilt.”
•You call suicide prevention, and they put you on hold.

So, How Bad Is It?

Spread Some Joy Today–If you're going to complain, make it sound so silly that it makes people laugh instead of run away.

Everything Is Relative

Posted on by Terry Minion
 Choice Week
 
 
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives,
as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which
secret garden we will tend. . . when we choose not to focus
on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the
abundance that's present–love, health, family, friends,
work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring
us pleasure–the wasteland of illusion falls away
and we experience Heaven on earth.”
 
— Sarah Ban Breathnach
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-4-11]
 
One of the other very powerful things that I have learned in just the last few years is gently working toward realizing and being grateful for the abundance that I have.
 
Everything is relative. If we in America compare ourselves to some of the poorest people in the world, there is no doubt that we have abundance. Yet, that is not what we in America normally do. We normally compare ourselves to those that are rich in comparison to ourselves, then we focus on the lack that exists between those two current realities.
 
Sometimes that motivates us to get going and get more abundance in our lives, and other times it just bums us out–not in a down-trodden depressed kind of way, but in a resigned sort of way. Not giving up, just not feeling much real hope. We begin seeing this reality–and we notice that we aren't there yet again and again. That's where those phrases come from such as, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and so on.
 
Yet the thing that I find motivating me is focusing on the abundance I have–whatever it is. I am rich in things, talent, energy, focus, friends, learning, expertise. To use an old phrase as I heard as a child, I am counting my blessings one by one. As a side note, it is also interesting how little “things” mean to me anymore and most of my life I couldn't wait to get more things.
 
In my observation of people, it is the choice between focusing on their abundance or their lack that I see affecting people's lives. Most that I see are focusing on what they don't have, what they're lacking, who's done what to whom, and so on. I think changing that focus toward abundance would change a great many things in their lives.
 
We always have the choice of how we want to view a situation; our lives; the world. Abundance and lack are not so much realities as they are attitudes. You don't have to be rich to feel an abundance. In fact, realities don't create attitudes–no, attitudes create reality.
 
 
Heck, You Can Just Make It Up In Your Head. Works For Me!
 
Spread Some Joy Today–See if you can list ten things that you're grateful for. Count those blessings and enjoy your abundance.

No More Victims!

Posted on by Terry Minion
 Choice Week
 
 
“I've made mistakes, and I know why I made them,
but I made that choice. Nobody's ever made a choice for me.”
 
— Sandra Bullock
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-3-11]
 
I used to call it PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), and positive thinking. It's what I was learning in my mid-twenties from motivational speakers and books I was reading, but I wasn't getting it really. Oh, I could repeat it, but I wasn't living it. Know what I mean? It has taken so many more years to come back to it and then to live it and even understand it more.
 
Part of what is so cool about getting to this point is accepting responsibility for my choices. I did my share of blaming the economy, the current administration, the boss, and that list could go on for days. Now that I have accepted this responsibility, I need only look in the mirror if I was seeking excuses or people to blame.
 
It was a hard idea to really grasp for a while because when I was thinking about positive thinking, I was thinking about the inside out and when things would happen that weren't really so much fun, I would think from the outside in–as if something outside was attacking me, wreaking havoc with my life. Then, I would muster all the positive thinking I could to think my way through it.
 
It is a different and so much more effective thing to accept everything that I get and be fully responsible for it with no excuses, and no circumstantial evidence to try to convince others or myself that I am an innocent victim.
 
So, in the end, it isn't about positive thinking at all. It is about realizing that I create my own world. Realizing this fully and accepting the role of creator allows me to do more than positive thinking ever could.
 
 
I Am A Victim No More! And, It's A Sweet Victory!
 
Spread Some Joy Today–There is so much joy in the realization that you have more control than you thought you did. Accept the responsibility that you are in charge!

I Choose Not, Or Not.

Posted on by Terry Minion
Choice Week
 
“If someone throws you the ball,
you don't have to catch it.”
 
— Richard Carlson
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-2-11]
 
Great advice and it puts things in an interesting perspective. If someone throws you the ball, you don't have to catch it; if the phone rings, you don't have to answer it; if the doorbell rings, you don't have to answer it; if someone wants you to argue with them, you can choose to ignore them. We make so many choices throughout our day that we don't even think of them as choices.
 
Sometimes we play against ourselves in procrastination or our selective attention, but more often than not it is the prompting of others that has us running around feeling as if we have to do something for whatever the reason may be in order to be polite, respectful, efficient, or responsive.
 
It's interesting to watch what people do when the phone rings. It's as if there is some high authority causing them to respond into fast action. Want to try something different? Put it on the buzzer and make a conscious decision to not answer it. Better yet, put it in airplane mode, and better yet, leave it at home for a time. See what it's like to not catch the ball and feel how empowering it is.
 
I wonder how many things we can do that with?
 
I Choose Not… Or Not…
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Who's in charge? YOU! Isn't that some serious joy?

My Choices Are My Destiny

Posted on by Terry Minion
Choice Week
 
 
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.
It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
 
— William Jennings Bryan
 
 
“Our lives are the sum total of the choices we have made.”
 
— Wayne Dyer
 
 
 
[Classic post from 6-1-11]
 
As I consider where I am right now today, with the awareness that my thoughts create my life, I find myself curiously accepting responsibility for everything about my life. It is an act that would at any other time in my life be rejected as folly, yet now I find that to attempt to reject it is folly.
 
So, I look at myself in the mirror when I get out of the shower and I was thinking this morning of what a magnificent creator I have become. Just look at that body in all its glory! I created that image, along with the way it looks. If I don't like the look very much, I have only one to blame. It isn't the food, or anything else exterior. It is purely my own thinking that brought me here.
 
It is so empowering and also shocking and it makes me laugh and I celebrate my success as a creator. Maybe I was intending to create something a bit more athletic and lean, and honorable intentions they may have been; however, I have created successfully nonetheless whatever vision I see before me. Indeed, I am always successful at creation, though ofttimes I may be a bit confused as to the clarity of it.
 
 
The Good News Is That I Can Just Create A Better Image Anytime I Choose.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–In any situation, I have a choice on how I will view it, react or respond to it, feel about it. I find more joy in always–always choosing the better feeling thought regardless of what others choose or what they think about my choices.

Choosing Happiness Regardless Of Circumstance

Posted on by Terry Minion
 Choice Week
 
“The self is not something ready-made, but something
in continuous formation through choice of action.”
 
— John Dewey
 
 
 
[Classic post from 5-29-11]
 
To the above quote, I would add, choice of thought or action. Thought is not always related to action, and besides, the thought comes prior to the action.
 
I thought I would have a theme for the week and a choice is perfect. Everything starts with our choices: choices of thought, choices of reaction, choices of decision. In fact, each and every one of us are magnificent creators in that we are constantly creating our own lives, circumstances, and events by choice we are either making now or have made in the past.
 
Today was a wonderful day. It was about 65 degrees with mostly sun, so there were some clouds. It was warm in the sun, so wearing a t-shirt was just fine if you were out and about. It was just warm enough to be comfortable and cool enough to not get hot. It was a glorious day. Later in the day, dark clouds came in and gave us a small amount of rain for a few hours. Not the kind of rain that would stop you from doing what you were already going to do. In fact, to me, it felt great and I just let it drip on me and I had fun with it.
 
I went to the store and a guy was getting petitions signed, and I said, “isn’t it a great day?” He said, “yeah, except for the rain.” I kept going. I don’t swim upstream. Let him have it his way. It’s all good.
 
But, it gave me thought. You know, I used to say the same kind of thing; in fact, for most of my life, I would have responded very similarly. And the thought I had is that it is purely 100% a choice that has made the difference in me. I simply decided to enjoy the weather no matter what the weather is–it is the weather. I stopped looking at or listening to forecasts, kept an umbrella in the car for downpours, and that was it.
 
Guess what happened then. . . the weather didn’t change; it was still the weather, but I changed. The weather became enjoyable regardless of what it was. I began to see beauty and elegance in each and every day. Even if the weather caused traffic delays, I just enjoyed the moments, the clouds, the color of the sky, the breeze, everything about it. Of course, the result of this was that I became a happier person and had fewer reasons to be unhappy.
 
So, as I am out and about and hear people and their responses to the weather, I thought today that if someone wanted to be happier, making a decision about the weather would be a really good place to start. Then after mastering the weather, who knows what they could do?
 
 
Happiness Is Such A Simple Thing, And So Very Easy To Achieve. Anyone Can Do It.
 
Spread Some Joy Today–Being joyous is the easiest way to do that.
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Mesa, AZ

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