Encourage people

as it seems appropriate.

is ownership…

if we own it we take responsibility for it…

responsibility is pain…

pain that has rewards…

if we lose site of the rewards because we have low pain tolerance…

then we resist committing to things…

when i say the words… I OWN THIS…. I AM COMMITTED TO THIS…

my pain fades because it knows it will do no good…

I am committed… pain is not a factor…

ownership… comittment…

it makes life better…

how simple it is to help someone feel that “sparkle…”

why don’t we do it more?

I keep my eyes open to your eyes, my ears open to your voice and tone, my body open to your gestures, and when you start to get excited about something…

I ask you about it…

and then I listen… fully… no words going in my head…

just ears and eyes and heart…

then ask you for clarification… and ask you to describe to me places along the path you describe that I am not clear on…

as if I am walking beside you, you holding my hand, and I am blindfolded… totally committed to walking with you, but unable to see where you love to go without your explanation…

why don’t I do it more?

I guess it’s the clutter and clanging of my own mind getting in the way? My own goals and fatigue…wanting to share my own sparkling path to those around me…

truth is, I do it everyday at least once… probably 3 to 5 times… for a minute of five each…

the days I don’t do it, I know it… your stories fill me… and when I am not able to hear them, the bucket drains…

peace.

I sat on my little piece of land just above the valley and watched the mouse… joyous early on, but more frustrated every day…

Running around each corner “am I there yet?”

Day after day the mouse moved forward, with each corner saying “I’ll never get out of this maze…”

With each step the mouse lost will, energy and determination…

Until one day, as the clouds moved across the beautiful plain just outside the maze, the mouse stopped moving…

Sat with head in paws… and gave up…

Tears fell with the rain…

In the rain the mouse felt cooler, and it let the feeling wash over itself…

As the rain passed, the sun began to shine again…

The urgency of trying to get out of the maze gone, the mouse looked at the maze walls made of hedge…

Pulled them back… saw a bit of something… light!

The sad little mouse not so sad anymore, but began to push…

The thorns stung, but it fought on…

The smell of distant farms and lands began to fill the mouse’s nose, and visions of the places beyond began filling the mouse’s mind…

no more thoughts of the maze…

I could barely see that last half of the mouse…

The mouse fighting, exerting all his effort, imaginination filling his mind with a happy visions beyond the wall… sure the mouse felt the painful thorn sticks but his imagination only focused on the future joys… the pain eased…

In an instant the mouse was gone…

Broken through the painful hedge and he was gone…

I’ve never seen the mouse again… but I know the maze waits for anyone willing to give up hope…

I don’t have the heart to watch like a passive observer anymore…

I’ve cut a few holes in that maze when I saw a mouse crawl in…

Some mice choose not to leave… some perish…

But others, see beyond the wall… even while in the maze…

those are the one’s that survive…

“stay alive” a mantra they embrace…

Daniel Day Mouse…

... I woke this morning to the smell of hedge…

broke out my clippers ready for the day…

Day by day…

Copyright 2006 Dan Keenan All Rights Reserved

...

I have been accused of encouraging people too much to the neglect of myself and my family.

I will consider this goal done with the understanding that I will always continue to encourage people.

I got to encourage a friend today in group counselling, that has been through simular trauma’s that I have been through. It is nice to see what I have been through benifit someone else. It is worth the pain to be able to understand someone elses pain.

This is not just something that I want to do once and never do it again. I want encouraging people to be a consistant characteristic of my life. When people are getting to know me, I want it to be that it does not take long to see that to be with me is to be encouraged. I tend to be the most negative with my family. This is the area that I need to work on the most concerning getting negativity out of my words and attitude.

It’s so easy to knock other people down with our words and actions—especially with humor. I want to give people a breath of fresh air by telling them that they can accomplish their goals, rather than throwing up roadblocks by stating the improbability of their dream or difficulties they’ll encounter. If possible, I’d like to see their goal too and help them find tools they can use to accomplish them.