The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Final Day

 

This is the final day of our "Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln" series.  I hope you all enjoyed it and learned a lesson or two.  This final quote is about having humility in your life.  We spoke about "Humility-Stepping Aside" in a previous post on this blog.  Basically what Lincoln is saying is that you should live your life and do actions that would be worthy of praise and recognition because they are for the good.  But you should not do them just for the reason of being recognized or praise.  You should be humble enough to just do what is right without seeking the attention.

By doing this you will life your life in an honest and positive matter.  You will learn to do good for yourself and others, no matter who or if anyone is watching.  Let's say you find a $20 bill on the floor in a store, do you look around to see if people are watching you?  If someone was watching you would you be more apt to pick it up and return it?  Or if no one was looking would you pocket it?  Think about what you would do.  Would you return it to get the recognition or simply because it is the right thing to do

Live your life with a positive outlook remembering you choose how it all pans out.  Lincoln was a wise man and there are numerous quotes proving this.  I hope you enjoyed this series and learned a little bit more about one of the most influential people in history.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 7

I love this quote because of how it explains the importance of positive thinking.  Negative thoughts creep into our minds all too easily.  And because of that we let it happen and let our emotions go along with them.  This great bit of wisdom from Lincoln shows us that we need to take that prickly negative thought, or thistle, and plant a beautiful positive thought, or flower, where that was.

There is always a positive spin or lesson to everything that happens.  And you will feel much better sooner and for a more prolonged length of time if you choose to focus on more positive thoughts.  You are the only person in control of your thoughts and feelings, so become the gardener of your mind and weed out the thistles.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 6

Everyone has a purpose and passion in life.  It is that one thing that you do with complete joy and without want or need for compensation.  It is that one thing that just comes naturally to you.  I have spoken a few times about my experience watching Bishop T.D. Jakes speak live and his view on purpose.  There are several clips on YouTube from the Lifeclass that I attended with him and I urge you to seek them out.

When you have found your purpose in life you need to put your whole heart into it and be the best 'whatever' you can be.  This may mean losing so called "friends" or those who were content with what you were doing with your life.  This could mean you go through some hard times trying to become the 'whatever' you were meant to be.  But my favorite thing he spoke about regarding each of our purposes and deserved life on this earth is that "The Great The Digression, The Greater The Progression".

Lincoln gives us a great reminder here that no matter what tries to get in your way, once you figured out 'whatever' it is you were meant to do...DO IT and be a good one.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 5

I do not consider myself a religious person in the sense that I do not go to church, never have, and do not identify with any real religious group.  However through reading and studying it is interesting to see that as everyone likes to point out all the differences from their religion to another that they all essentially have the same core belief.  It is the belief that some universal force or being is what guides us all and that when you do good in your life you feel good and when you do bad in your life you feel bad.  I mean really break down your specific religion and you will see that basic interpretation.

I am not saying religion is bad and I totally respect the right for each of us to believe what we want.  That is what makes life so great.  However at its core I live my life in the way of this quote.  When I do or think happy/positive thoughts, that is what I get back, and vice-versa.  It really is that simple and the easiest lesson you can impart on your life.  For more insight on this topic check out one of our previous blog entries, "The Way You Think Is How You Feel".  Your feelings are a great indicator as to whether what you are doing and thinking are good or bad.  No matter your religion, try to live by this basic belief that Lincoln has taught us.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 4

This is one of my favorite quotes.  It is very to the point and is an attitude we all should adopt.  We can never take for granted or know how long our time on earth will be.  So instead of worrying or fearing the end of our lives we should be enjoying and appreciating every moment in it.

Living in the now and enjoying the moment is something that many of us do not do.  Instead we worry about what happened yesterday or what tomorrow might bring.  We obsess over every little thing that goes wrong, or the way someone did or said something to us.  Instead we need to live our life each and every moment as if it was our last.  This goes along with our previous entry, "The Three Levels of Life".  You need to look at your life and see if you are just surviving or if you are truly living and enjoying it.

Do what makes you happy, what brings you joy, and what brings joy to others.  Do what your purpose in life is.  Spread love, joy, and compassion to those around you.  Put life into your years!

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 3

This Lincoln quote pretty much echoes what this entire blog is about.  How you think is how you feel.  You can only be ask happy as YOU decide to be.  Life throws a lot at you and you attract a lot to you because of the way you act and think.  So the current state of your life is a result of how you think about it.

Our past post, "Neutral", is a good explanation of this lesson.  Everything is neither good nor bad until you put that label on it.  Every situation can be looked at with a positive spin or lesson to learn from it.  Once you start to give into negativity it continues to filter in to more areas of your life and will make it seem as if nothing is going right and that you will never be happy.  Instead, put your mind on the path of positivity and you will instantly see a change in how you feel, physically and mentally.  It feels good so "Why Not Choose Happy?" Make your mind up to be happy and that is how happy you will be.

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Visit our "Live YOUR Life" Blog Shop for tons of great products containing our "Why Not Choose Happy?" logo.  It is a great way to remind yourself to think positive thoughts.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 2

This quote is a great message about how we see the world and ourselves.  It seems to come much easier to people to judge others or situations based on what they see and their opinion of them.  When in reality it may be completely a different story all together.  We discussed this topic in the past post "Is Your Perception Your Reality?".  Many times they way we view things is not what they truly are.

There are two ways to look at this quote.  One way is that he was stating that we are often tricked by shadows into thinking they are something they are not or we let our mind imagine what it is.  When instead the shadow of the tree is just a representation and symbol of the tree but is not the actual tree.  This means that you may see the surface of someone's problems or actions and make assumptions about that.  When in reality you should get to know the real person and root of things before you judge them on their character.

The second is the more literal interpretation in that your character, the person you truly are and who you show to the world, is the real you.  Not the reputation, or shadow, that others make up for you.  Gossip, rumors, and opinions of others form their reputation based on what people here and state. But how you act and show who you truly are is your character.

The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: Day 1

Everyone has heard of the old adage to think before you speak.  Many of us say things that we don't mean or give opinions on topics that we may not even know the full truth about yet.  This can be an emotional response that sometimes is not necessarily how you really feel.  It is better to take a moment to collect your thoughts and then share them then it is to blurt them out prematurely.

I can almost guarantee that if you are mad at someone or something, that if you wait a bit to cool down you will make much better decisions on what you say and do.  If you just jump to conclusions or act out of anger then you are sure to make a fool of yourself, which will ultimately just make the situation worse.  And there are those times when it is better just to keep your mouth shut and not share your opinion.  Those moments when you want to say "I told you so" so bad but in reality that will only add fuel to the fire and is not a compassionate response.  Let people learn from their own mistakes, don't make it your job to always point it out.  Sometimes even if you know you are right, let someone know that you value the relationship with them more than sharing your opinion and hurting them.  Don't be a fool.

"The Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln" - Introduction

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States of America.  He is one of the most famous and influential Presidents in our nation's history.  He brought the nation through the Civil War and drove the fight to give freedom and equality to African Americans.  He understood what the Constitution meant and wanted to hold the American Government accountable for keeping it alive.  He was a complicated man who did extraordinary things.  On this date in 1865 he was assassinated while enjoying a play with his wife, Mary.  He was only 56, but made one of the biggest historical impacts in American History. 

I recently had the pleasure of watching the Academy Award winning movie, "Lincoln".  I was so impressed and emotionally invested in the story.  Even knowing what I had learned from history lessons and what was going to happen, it still had an emotional heart tug to it.  And his fight for equality bears a very similar resemblance to today's fight for equal rights for all under this nation's laws.  A human is a human, and no one deserves rights any more or less than another.

For the next 8 days "Live YOUR Life" blog will be featuring some of my favorite quotes by Lincoln and how they can help you to live a better life.  Please make sure you have "liked" our Facebook page (link to the right of this post) so that you will receive all the updates as to when each entry is posted.  I hope you can take away some wisdom from this man and impart it into your daily life.

Two Hands

I love this quote by Audrey Hepburn because being in service to others is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and the world around you.  Being able to give, no matter what you have to give, shows that you are grateful for what you have an unselfish is sharing your love and kindness.  It can be as little as helping someone move, making dinner for a friend, cleaning the dirty dishes in the sink, to volunteering at a homeless or animal shelter or building a house with Habitat for Humanity.  It does not matter what you do, what matters is that you are realizing the value of helping another person and doing it without expectation of compensation.  You are doing it simply because it feels right and is human nature to help those in need.

There are plenty of people happy out there with less than what you have, and sometimes helping those in need can in turn help you appreciate what you have in your life a little more.  When you do good for others you are giving selfless love out to the universe and will in turn receive it back. The joy and personal happiness you get from helping others is something you will only understand when you do it.  I am sure there are times in your life you have done something for someone out of the kindness of your heart and it makes you beam with happiness.  Why wouldn't you want to feel that more often?  Find reasons to help others. Find reasons to make someone's day a little brighter.  It will make your day brighter as well.

Worrying is like a rocking chair...

Worrying is something everyone of us do whether we are aware if it or not.  But many of us worry about things that are not worth it and in all reality there is nothing you should be worrying about.  When you worry you become concerned with what could or might happen.  That is thinking about the future which is something you cannot figure out fully no matter how hard you try.  Tomorrow is a mystery because we have no idea what it will bring.  So worrying about what may or may not happen does you no good.  It just brings feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and fear to your life.

You control how you feel and react to situations in your life.  So why does it make sense to make yourself feel negatively about something that you really don't even know how it is going to turn out?  And if it is something that is truly going to make you feel bad, why are you going to do it?  Is the outcome going to be greater than the current situation?  This topic goes side by side with how irrational fear is.  You can read about fear in the "Live YOUR Life" blog entry from October 7, 2012.  It is something that does nothing for you but bring about uncomfortable feelings which you don't need to have.  When instead of worrying about something, you can just do it and odds are the thing you are worrying about will be done and over with none of the crazy outcomes you thought of.  

It can actually be empowering to go ahead and just do something you were worrying or scared about.  The more you force yourself to just do things, live in the now, and not put worry and doubt about what could happen out of your mind, the more happiness and peace you will bring into your life.

Mirrors

I recently heard one of Justin Timberlake's new songs, "Mirrors", and was drawn to it.  I did some research and found out the meaning of it and came across the quote above.  It is a great statement on how real love should be like a mirror.

When you are in a relationship with someone you should be able to grow as a person and still be who you are as an individual as well as allowing the other person to do the same.  Being you is what makes you special and what attracted your partner to you in the first place.  So instead of trying to become someone you are not to please them, you should grow and evolve to become a better couple together based on the needs of each other, all while keeping the person who you are inside visible.  And by doing so you will then mirror each other as a reflection of similar goals, interests, growth and love.  The mirror reflects two parts that equal a whole.

You should also be able to look at your own reflection in the mirror of life and see the person you want to and deserve to be.  You should see someone who realizes their happiness and gifts in life. Someone who realizes just how special it is to have someone by their side allowing them to grow yet still be themselves.  Remember what you give out you receive   So if the reflection of your life, the things and people in your life, are not what you want to see then you should examine what is causing that and change it.  If you and your partner are having issues take a second to look at what you are giving out that may in turn be what is reflected back to you.  Be individuals but also reflections of your own values and beliefs about love and you will naturally grow and strengthen your bond.

"I think a relationship, when it's working, is constantly evolving because we as individuals evolve.  You want to know that the person you are with is evolving with you." 

- Justin Timberlake