Destroy Negativity + Free Printable

This week I had an interesting and very real conversation with one of my high school seniors.  She is quite accomplished as a vocalist and will be attending and very prestigious fine arts school in the fall.  More than anything she wants to be on the stage.  And maybe, someday, she will be.  But until then she has determined to put out of her mind all other option.  For her, there is only one option--the stage--and if anybody else says anything else she refuses to listen.

Parent types will say that idea is ridiculous or naïve, and truthfully it is.  But I would rather be ridiculous and naïve than to never reach my dreams.  

There is but one dream and because there is only one there can only be one solution.  Squash all negativity and listen to the voice within.

I hope you enjoy this printable.  And remember go for it.  Go for the dream.

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Lessons I Learned from My Grandparents~ Part 1

I love my family so much.  They have left me a rich heritage of faith and they have surrounded me with love and acceptance.  And believe me, I don't deserve it.  Family is a blessing from God, really.  And part of the blessing is all the wisdom these relationships pour into our live.

Last week, along with my friends and family, I said goodbye to two people.  I think their memory has made me nostalgic for my own grandparents that I rarely get to see.  But whatever the reason, I found myself remembering lessons my grandparents taught me.

I'm very blessed to have two sets of grandparents who have walked through life with me.  I've learned a lot from all of them.  I might not have mastered all of the lessons yet, and perhaps never will.  I strongly doubt that the lessons of "never say a bad word about someone" will keep (mostly because I inherited the art of bluntness from one of my grandfathers.) But I will work on it.  And I'll mess up.  And then I'll work on it again because right now, looking at my life, I can't imagine anything more worth while than passing their legacy on to the children God will give me.

There's no way that I could put these little lessons in any kind of order.  There's really no need to try.  So without further ado...

When I was first instructed with this life lesson my grandpa had just read one of my college essays.  "This is excellent writing.  You could speak this, you know?  But, I tell you.  If you really want to be an excellent speaker learn a new word everyday.  Get out a dictionary and just start learning words.  Write it in a sentence.  Say it through the day."

I definitely haven't practiced this as religiously as I should.  For a while I had an app on my phone that gave me a new word to learn everyday, but I decided I needed the memory for things like music and videos.  No, I haven't practiced this lesson.  But I think there's a lesson in this lesson that I have applied.

Never quite learning.

Studying, reading, memorizing...all these activities keep our minds sharp and they really do make us better people.  Taking classes that feed our imagination.  Learning a new skill.  Finding a new hobby.  These are all activities that increase our brain function.  That's what is really important.

This is not a goal that can just be attained.  It's a goal that has to be practiced.  It's actually more like a discipline.  No, disciplines are not easy.  They are, in fact, very difficult, but that's what makes them so worth while in the first place.


What is a life lesson you've learned from your grandparents?

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