“ All our relationships fail or succeed according to the energy,
              the time and  chances that we give to them.”
                                            
  Life itself is one epic story but not necessarily a happy story for everyone. It is also  however not a completely happy story for anyone. It cannot be a completely happy story  for anyone because it is an epic story and to each story many other characters, many chapters, many twists and turns from the happiness plot.

  It cannot be a completely happy story, not because that is the nature of life and not because that is how it is supposed to be but because that is how we write the story  or allow it to unfold. The plot that is your story, thickens along the way and diverts away from happiness and even from you to focus on other characters  or something else.

 Like it or not unhappiness is a part of the story. Happiness and unhappiness are both a part of all our stories and so there can be no completely happy story for anyone. Hopefully there can also be no completely unhappy story because there are so many chances for happy moments to each story.The many chances for happiness and the many chances for unhappiness, depend on you. You are the main character to your own story, you are the story teller and the level of your happiness or unhappiness depends on you. It depends on the chances that you give each to affect your story. It depends on your actions, your reactions to other characters in your story and your state of mind.
 
 A happy place in our lives  exists because we created it or we create it. The same may be said of unhappiness. An unhappy place exists because something negative happened that created it and it stays our unhappy place because we do not easily let go of that place or events associated with it. Accordingly we give unhappiness more of a chance than happiness because of  the not letting go.
  
 The positive mind finds more reasons to be happy than unhappy because it has the ability to let go of unhappy places and events. The negative mind is more likely to hold on and accordingly finds more reasons than not to be unhappy.  If you can find more reasons to be happy, the happier you can be. It also means that the positive mind has a greater chance of finding happiness than the negative mind. The positive mind gives happiness more of a chance.

 There are some common themes and some commonalities to happiness that we should all find, but we don't, just as there are common themes to all our stories but we are not all the same.. There are somethings that should make anyone or everyone happy, but not necessarily so and maybe that is because we are all unique and what makes one person happy does not necessarily make another happy..
Think of anything that could or should make anyone or everyone happy and you will probably find that it does not. There is no single answer to happiness .Not even love or money by themselves or even together can make everyone happy.

 The answer to your own happiness is you. At the end of the day maybe it does come down to perception and or a state of mind, that leads to a state of being. A state of a positive or a negative mind frame and the chances that you give to one or the other to be the more dominant in your life.

 What if all our lives are extraordinary rather than ordinary but as a matter of perspective we see them as ordinary. What if all our lives are amazing even if not wonderful but as a matter of perspective we see them as mundane. What if it is simply perspective that fails to give happiness a chance?  You have to see the joy to the ordinary in order to give happiness a chance. IF you can also focus on the good rather than the negatives to life, you give happiness a better chance and the opportunity for more good things to follow.

   Wake up and give your happiness a chance to bloom, rather than wither away and die. Create more happy moments and happy places in your mind in order to allow happiness to shine bright in your life.
 
                                                       jason@MondayMorningPositivity.com

 
​    "  The appreciation of what you have and being thankful opens the                                          doors to so much more."  J.Umusu
 
 At the moment it feels more like Christmas than it does Thanksgiving and that is how it is each  and every year now but that should not make it any less of a grand day and a grand occasion.

  As soon as Halloween is over or even before it is over the signs of Christmas start to appear. The Christmas trees start making their appearances, store signs and opening hours start changing and the housing associations start putting out the same old decorations and light from the year before. The Christmas lights start going up and you know Christmas is upon us.

  As for thanksgiving, you would have to look in the freezers at Walmart and other stores for the frozen turkeys and the signs of thanksgiving. Of course you also have Black Friday, which is associated with the thanksgiving period or rather thanksgiving day itself. I liked Black Friday as it was and the early morning excitement rush, especially with the prospect of having to get to work after that. Now it is a rush to gobble down the thanksgiving turkey and then the rush out on Thursday evening to catch what sales you can.

  That should not however detract from the gift of this day and the beauty to thanks giving time.Traditions change as do the nature of things, but the original essence of things tend to remain and the meaning of such traditions we should never forget. The nature, the meaning and the tradition of Thanksgiving, is a way of giving thanks. To most a turkey as part of the tradition and celebration but to each their own way of celebrating and giving thanks.

  This `wake up' blog was intended to be about happiness or a continuation of happiness but now that I think about it, thanksgiving is also about love and happiness. It is giving thanks, it is about the turkey on the table, about feasting and maybe even about shopping, but it is also about love & happiness.  For some it will be about trying to keep a family tradition for the sake of tradition but it is also an opportunity for families to come together, to be together, to create memories and to share the most important gift of all - LOVE. There may be many differences and even some people you might want to scream at or punch but it is an opportunity to be together, an opportunity to laugh, to travel down memory lane and even mend some bridges.
 
  It is an opportunity to give thanks for the gift of love and the happiness that has been yours and is yours. Even if you think there is no love or happiness to give thanks for, it is an opportunity to find something to be thankful for, an opportunity to be nice to others and at the very least wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It is an opportunity to ask yourself ` what is there to be thankful for?' or ` What am I thankful for?' By doing that, maybe you will find your trail of happiness and align your mind with with happiness.
 
  I am thankful for many things. I could write a book about how thankful I am, for what I am thankful and
about all the people I am thankful for. There are some things that I may be sad about and there are some things that I should not be thankful for, but to this part is the gift of learning and the gift of wisdom.
 
  I am thankful for thanksgiving and the opportunities that it offers me. I am thankful that I woke up this morning to celebrate this day.I am thankful for the opportunity to be with family, for not everyone is so fortunate. I am thankful for friendship and the support of  true friends and family. I am thankful that I am able to see, to hear and reach out to them.  I do not know about you but the list for me, is long and I will keep on adding to the list. Most of all I am thankful  for and I give thanks for love. Love is the greatest cheerleader of Happiness. I give thanks to the Universe and to God and I give thanks to those who have loved me or love me as I am, in this life time. 
 
Have a loving, a Lovely and a Happy Thanksgiving...And when it is over do not forget to keep on giving thanks from time to time. Do not stop being happy. Do not stop being thankful. Do not wait  for Valentine's day or for the next thanksgiving to be thankful for something or someone. Do not wait until then for togetherness or to appreciate the wonderful things and people in your life..

"  One of the first steps to any relationship is probably saying hello, so why not say hello to happiness and form a relationship with happiness?" NosaJ

  I use the phrase one of the first steps, because the thought of saying hello may precede the act of saying hello and almost everything begins as a thought, but some things we do not give much thought to and just do. Some things are automatic and almost divine, like a smile from someone or to someone as if it was a message from the universe to cheer them up or to cheer you up. Maybe that person smiling at you for no reason is the universe saying hello.

  With or without the preceding seed of thought, there is usually some intention or outcome behind saying hello to anyone. It may be the intention of a short term or a long term relationship. The outcome may also be a brief and disappointing relationship, a brief and wonderful affair, a long and turbulent relationship or a long and wonderful relationship that transcends all trials and tribulations.
​
  How many times have you wished that you had used a particular opportunity to say hello to someone but did not? How many times have you walked into a room, a class room, a shop, an office, an interview and said a positive hello to a particular person that has led to some new opportunity, some happiness or  a lot of happiness?

  By saying that simple but sincere `Hello' you can create some great opportunities that would not have been available to you, if you had not said hello. It is also not just about saying hello but the hello being packed with positive intention and energy. Anyone can say hello but each hello has  more meaning with more of a positive intent . It can be a positive and powerful hello or  just a courteous hello. If you have been to a retail store, you may have heard that kind of hello which has no positive energy and the intention is simply to comply with corporate procedures. Make yours positive and powerful.

  As simple as it is to say hello to anyone, so it is simple to say hello to Happiness. It lies within you and all around you and not just with anyone. Combine them all and you find more happiness. Yes it is a crazy world stacked with negativity, chaos and some sadness, but the choice of `Hello happiness' remains yours always. The more happiness that you do have, the less the chaos and the negativity can affect you. You will always be touched by sadness but the choice of `Hello happiness' will also always return you to happiness. It is like having a choice of friends to say hello to cheer you up when you need them or just because you want to say hello.

  I woke up this morning and I decided to see the sun rise. I did and it because I wanted to say hello to the Universe. I wanted to say hello to a good day ahead and that hello will make it a good day, or at the very least a good start to the day. It just made me happier. It made me happier because it is a beautiful sight and I have the opportunity to see it. It made me happier because I did something I wanted to do.

​  We wake up too often and we do not say hello to happiness. We wake up and do not follow the ` Happiness intent' We wake up and do not sometimes even say hello to those we care about or love. Without that hello, a void takes the place of the caring hello and bridges to intimacy and or happiness burnt.

  So wake up and say hello to who you are, to where you are, to friends, lovers, family and to happiness. Wake up , get to work , and say a sincere hello to work and to colleagues and spread some happiness. If you work from home, do the same or if you drive around a lot, say hello and spread some happiness. Wake up and say hello to Happiness.
 
 
                                                             Jason.U@MondayMorningPositivity.com

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         ` Be captain of your own ship or you might find yourself                    being steered  in  a direction that you do not want to go.'

  When we get to a certain point in life, there are some things that we can no longer do as well as we used to or can simply no longer do. This is the natural law of age and flowing with age. We slow down at certain points in the life stream and some things we can no longer do as we used to. We do not all however age the same way because we flow with age and towards old age in different ways. Time and age naturally favor some more than others but how we age depends on how we flow with time and how we each take care of ourselves along the way. Another way of thinking about it is how you row through life, determines your flow and longevity at anything.

  Think of life as a stream or a river and of you as being in the river of life. There is either somewhere that you want to get to in the river and place your anchor or there is somewhere the stream will take you, if you allow it to. A storm might come every now and again or rather will come and blow you somewhere else or somewhere that you do not want to be in the river of life but then you have to find your way again and keep on flowing in the direction that you want to go, or that leads to where you want to be.
If  you do not know how to find your way to where you want to be, or do not know where you want to be, you  drift rather than flow. If you do not know what you are looking for, you will not find it. If you do not know how to take care of yourself, you do not flow through life with good health and if you give up, you become stranded.

  Think of life as a place. Life is neither just a destination or a journey. It is a journey and it is a destination.
They are intricately related. I use the analogy of a place for this thought for a reason. If you are going to travel to any destination there has to be a journey and even when you get to the destination or the place of your desire, you still journey there. The journey requires preparation and action and when you get to your destination, some action is still required, to enjoy the destination or make the journey there even more worthwhile. Life is our constant destination and the journey is travelling back and forth within the destination. Flow in the right direction of your journey and towards your constant destination is usually a good place. Make the right choices along the way, and the outcome is usually good.
 
  Think of life as an energy force, flowing through you and all around you. Almost everything consists of energy or has some energy poured into it. Life poured some energy into you and you have to pour some energy into life. You pour some energy into the lives of others and others pour some energy into your life. The more positive the pour of energy, the better the flow. You can affect the flow of others and others can affect the flow of you. Your intentions, your actions and time also affects the flow.  Each choice that you make affects the flow in one way or another, one direction or another.
 
  Ultimately  you are constantly flowing in particular directions but navigating yourself around one 
  destination called life.
​
  Flow in the direction that you want to go to be where you want to be. Know that the river that is life never flows as you always want it to flow and that there will be bends to the river, that you will have to navigate. You have your guides and others to help you. You will flow better through the river working as a team and with good communication streams. There will be times when you have to go through some storms. Flow through them with faith in the unseen. Flow through them with the hope of getting where you want to be and most important of all flow through them with love for the journey and destination.
 
  There will come a time when you might flow into barriers that there is no flowing through and so you must find a way around the barrier to keep on flowing. You must know when the time comes, that it is time to change course or direction and flow in another direction, or you will find yourself stuck in a particular place or a particular destination. That place has many names, among which are `Frustration', ` Regret and' and or ` Misery'. Your mind must flow with positive thoughts, in order to be able to flow with the universe and to safely get to your right place or where the universe wants you to be.

  There are storms that come from time to time to interrupt your life flow. I call them life storms, but like natural storms they come and they go. Some life storms stay longer than others but eventually the storms must pass and one way or another and while the storm rages, you must protect yourself from the storm as best as possible. Another name for all the storms is `Adversity' but better to think of them as challenges that can be overcome and must be overcome for better life flow. Overcoming adversity is always for the better because it makes you stronger. It allows you to grow mentally and emotionally
and can give you more courage to face what still lies ahead, but the choice is yours.
 
   After any storm that causes some destruction, it is time to rebuild and keep on moving and keep on flowing through life. Life goes on always and anyway and you must continue to flow through it well as you journey to a better place.. Hopefully  you continue to flow with good wind and the universe blowing you in the right direction towards self fulfillment and a happy destination

Good  luck flowing in the right direction through life. Flowing in the right direction today and taking the right actions today should set you on the right course and take you closer to your desired destinations,
in life and remember that every day is a part of the life chart that you must flow through in order to get to your desired destination.

​                                                                       Jason @ MondayMorningPositivity.com

​" There are some people in life that we need. There are some people in life that life needs and they are called good mothers" J.U
 
  Every child has a mother but not all children have someone to call mum in their life time or have a mother to be the guiding light in their life. There are a variety of reasons why any given child may not have such a guiding light in their lives or the opportunity to say Happy Mother's day but hopefully there are other guiding lights to their life. If you are not in this category and you do have a good mother in your life, wake up and say thank you to the universe. Wake up and say `Thanks mom for everything'. Wake up and say Happy mother's day to one of the most important people in your life and to life.
 
  As children of the universe, we tend to take a lot for granted. We tend to take each day for granted and each other for granted. We presume that everyone will be here tomorrow. It is not until you have lost a parent or both parents, that you realize that our time here on earth or our time together on earth is not infinite. We become so engrossed in our own lives as young people or as adults, that we miss out on the most important parts of life such as sharing quality time and moments together.
 
` There are some things that money cannot buy and some moments that time can never give back to us.'

  The celebration of mother's day is not new to us. It is actually an ancient tradition that belonged to the Greeks and Romans, even though the celebrations were directed more towards the Goddesses of the time rather than `mothers' as we know them personally. It was nevertheless a celebration of motherhood at the time and not a commercialization of it.

  We have Anna Jarvis to thank for the American version and birth of mother's day celebration. It is unfortunate that she had to spend the later part of her life trying to denounce it as a holiday due the commercialization rather than celebration of motherhood. That is however the society that we live in today, as the Greeks and Romans lived in theirs.
  
   In spite of commercialization and social media, it is how we teach our children to appreciate people, time and life that matters. It is how we decide to celebrate our own lives and our own mother's that matter and not how the corporations would like you to celebrate them. The corporations and social media can entice you as much as they like but at the end of the day, they cannot force you to go out there or on line to monetarily celebrate mother's day. That is your choice.
   
​  There are two people in my life among other special people that provide me with some sense of normality. They are my mother and the mother of my children . My mother gave birth to me and gave me the gift of life. The mother of my children gave me the gift of children and parenthood. It is a great gift but I can also assure you that it is a gift best unfolded with the person that gives it to you.
 
  Motherhood is not a gift that you can ever truly repay but it is a gift that you can always appreciate. It is a gift that you can never give back enough in return. I constantly feel that there is more that I need to do for the mothers in my life. There is always more that I want to do but If I could turn back the clock, most of all I would spend more quality time with them on any given day and not Just mother's day.
 
  And so I say wake up and say `Happy Mother's day' to your dearly beloved mother. If things are not too great between you and your mother, then mother's day  is a good day to forgive and forget. If things are great between you, keep it that way and do not wait until next mother's day to spend some quality time with her or to let her know that she is truly appreciated for who she is and all that she has done or is doing for you. 


                                                                    Jason.U@MondayMorningPositivity.com

 " If we wait until we are ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives"
                                      Lemony Snicket
 
  We wake up and we look for our keys, unless of course you are very well organized and meticulous. We wake up reluctantly and look for what to wear and if we have time look for something to eat before heading out to work or grab it and go. We prepare ourselves for and look forward to the perfect day. If we did wait until we were ready to go to work, that might actually take all day for some of us. In other words we are prompted to act and the day does not wait for us. The day does not tell us either that `I am going to be perfect for you today.' It is as good or as bad as you think it is or as you allow it to be or make it.

  If you are reading this and have come this far, I say that to say this. You have seen the sun rise again. You have been given the gift of another day. You have been given another day full of opportunities and of choices to make. You have been given the gift of now AKA today but not the gift of a perfect day. The gift of today combined with the gift of free will is yours to unwrap or unfold as you wish and how you unwrap it, will determine how great the gift of today is.

  The simple truth is that you do not look to any gift for perfection. You look for the intention of the gift and the purpose that it serves. There may be such a thing as a bad gift but definitely not the gift of today, of Monday or any other day. There will always be some bad days to life also, but if you look carefully at the gift you will see the opportunity and goodness to most days. If you are looking for the perfect day, you may not find it even on a good day, because there is only so much time to each day and not everything you want to accomplish can be accomplished in a day. As they say `Rome was not built in a day and it was not perfect either but it was great. It also served a purpose and so ask yourself the intent of the day and what purpose can be served?

  The more positive you are the less negativity can affect you. It is a simple rule of positive law. The less you allow negativity to affect you the clearer your purpose and there lies a great day for you. It is not the environment or other people that matter so much as you, how you perceive things, how you feel and what you do about it. I have been in enough negative environments and among negative people to know that much. You have to flip the coin and see the beauty to things, to even negative people or situations. See the bigger picture, see the reflection of  Grace and the divine and you can shine through the day, no matter what.

  One of the reasons that some relationships fail is that one person or both, one party or both are looking for perfection, which does not either exist or cannot be attained. Relationships like each day are a gift which does not require perfection but we look for it anyway. We look for what we already have, like a cell phone you upgrade that does not necessarily require an upgrade. We look for something or someone else that is not necessarily going to be more majestic or better than what already is. Okay maybe the upgraded cell phone might look more majestic but it might not work as well for you as the one you had. It may have some new features and of course new apps, but it will not be perfect either.
 
  When you wake up and look at your partner, if you have a partner, do not look for the perfection in them.
Simply see the beauty to them, for none of us are perfect but there is some beauty to all of us. We are also a combination of the positive and the negative. There is more positivity to some people than others and more negativity to some than others for different reasons or for one reason or another. The point is to see the positive more than you see the negative and not to look for the absolute positive or focus on the negatives. The same applies to your day. Look for the positive and not the negative.
 
  Perfection is greatly associated with perception that is linked to a particular reality. It is also a condition that is expected of someone, something or somewhere. If you link it to love or to any of your relationships then such love or the relationship is not unconditional for it expects the condition of perfection. If perfection is a condition that does not exist or cannot be attained to any particular relationship then along comes dissatisfaction and or great disappointment . This subsequently leads to the collapse of the particular relationship to which perfection is attached.
 
  Think of your Children, if you have children and what they expect of you or have expected from you in the past. Think of what you expect of them, the discussions and sometimes arguments that you have had with them and what it was about. You might find that it was about the expectation of perfection. You belong to different generations and the expectations are different but the focus is related to perfection. They want you to be the perfect parent for them and also to present yourself in a particular way to their world, their generation. You want them to be perfect, a certain way, Get all A's and do better than you did.

  My parents were like that and maybe I am too. Now that I think about it, they were not perfect but they were great. They were the greatest. They were the best parents that I could have asked for myself. I already know my children do not think I am perfect and that is okay with me. We coincide and we collide but at the end of any given day we are family. I am not aiming for perfection but I like to think that I am doing a good job as parent and that they see or perceive me as a good parent. 
 
 The simple truth is that we are not perfect, not when we were children, not as children, not as parents or as adults. If we were, we would not make a single mistake along the way. No one is perfect and life is not perfect either.  Neither life, love, work, family, projects, things like your car, the game plan nor every day always goes according to plan and neither do people. You can try and be perfect at who you are and how you do things and no doubt you become better at what you do and who you are but to transfer the expectation or perception of perfection to everyone else in your life and everything else to the day or life, can transform the perception and expectation of perfection into disappointment.
 
 No doubt you have heard of the question or phrase `Is your cup half empty or is it half full?" My question is does it really matter? What matters is the that there is something of substance in your cup. What matters is the essence of what is in your cup and what matters even more is how you are, how you use what you have and how you appreciate what you have given, so far. Each day must come to pass and tomorrow is another day to improve on what was or was not today.
  
  Appreciate today and appreciate each day as it comes to you. Take what you are given and make it as good a day as possible. Appreciate the people you love or who love you also and are usually there for you, in spite of all their wonderful imperfections.
 
 
 
 
 
 

  But for a few stragglers, all the Christmas decorations should be down and out of sight by now, to officially make room for the new year. What remains of Christmas are the 75% sales that may still be taking place next to the huge array of Valentine products on sale for February 14th 2018. Some Christmas may also still be making an appearance in the thrift stores and not a bad idea to grab one at a huge discount for next Christmas. I expect some of those will be on sale for now and then they will also disappear.
 
  Whatever the case may be, the Christmas season is officially over and the new year is here. The big question is what does it signify for you? What are you going to do with the new year? What are you going to do in the new year to make it a wonderful year? What are you going to do that makes it different and what are you going to accomplish with the gift of time, for each New year is a gift of time. They say that tomorrow is not promised but if you are here now to see the year 2018, then you have been given the gift of a new year and some more opportunities. Not everyone was fortunate enough to receive this gift.
 
  You have to consider yourself fortunate to receive the gift of a new day and a new year. There is the phrase ` `Happy New Year' that you will hear a lot of in the beginning of the year and there is also the word
`Resolution' that you will be hearing even more of and probably longer than the phrase ` Happy New Year'. The phrase should stay with us but it does not. It should be used much longer than it is but it is not. It becomes redundant too quickly in speech and in our minds. You should at the very least try and keep the thought in your mind, Plant the seeds of happiness that could belong to the new year and let them grow.
 
  As for new year resolutions, please do not make them, if you already know that you are going to break them. The new year is a good foundation or a land mark to begin anything new but it is also a continuation of what was. Which side of the coin is it going to be for you?
 
  The simple truth is that nothing changes, unless you make it happen and it is not the new year that makes it happen but you. Personally, I find new year resolutions to be somewhat selfish and self centered and an opportunity for commercial society to take advantage of what is normal, of what I think of as beautiful imperfections or flaws that make us who we are. Why struggle too much each and every year to meet the expectations of someone else or an image imposed by social media.
 
   If it is more about your good health and well being, that is a good kind of selfish and I sincerely wish you all the best. Extend your resolutions to others and you move closer to becoming part of the grander scheme of things. Tell me about a resolution or about resolutions to help others, to touch lives in a magnificent way or to provide a better service to improve the lives others and I am all ears. That would definitely impress me.
 
  Even better than a resolution, make one or more promises that you will keep. Resolutions are more personal and can easily be broken but promises are made to be kept. If you are a person of honor, you keep your word and you do not break your promises. Make a promise to yourself to do something different this year, to make life better for you and for others. Make a promise to yourself to do something special for someone less fortunate than yourself or even more fortunate than you. Make a promise to yourself to do something special for someone close to you.
 
  It does not necessarily have to be a magnificent promise and certainly not a promise that you know you cannot keep. Keep it simple and make it happen.
 
  It could simply be a promise to be appreciative of what you do have and appreciative of the loved ones in your life. It could be a promise to forgive someone or to make a simple phone call. It could be a promise to teach a child more virtues and less virtual reality or to become a mentor, coach or guide. It could be a promise to forgive yourself and get better at who you are and what you do. It could be a promise not to hide who you are and to shine as the universe intended you to shine. If you work in a service environment, it could be a promise to really help someone resolve their problems or issues rather than just be a corporate tool.
 
  There are an abundance of things that you can do to make it a Happy Year for yourself and for others but also remember that you cannot please everyone. You do not have to. There are an abundant number of choices that you will have to make and not necessarily all of them will be the right ones. No one makes all the right choices all the time and not everything always goes according to plan but good intentions are always a great foundation. If your intentions are good and positive, they lead to the right choices, they will create a good year for you and ultimately take you to a good destination.
 
  Wake up to  a new day and make it a happy one. Wake up to the young new year and grow with it. Grow healthy, grow happiness, grow prosperity, touch lives in a positive manner and be the best that you can be. No one can ask more of you but to try and to be your best. Happy New Year.
 
 
                                                          Jason.U @ MondayMorningPositivity
 

 
" Your instincts are God's gift to you to guide you on the journey that is your life." NosaJ
 
   We are gifted in many ways although we are not always aware of all the gifts that have been granted to us because some of them are unseen and or because we are simply not aware of them  It is like a gift being sent to you but not received or received but not unwrapped. Always remember to unwrap your gifts as received or when received,if they are received for what you think may be nothing could be something very important to your survival or thriving in life.
 
   We are all gifted with instincts. They are the voice of God within us or the universe guiding or warning us about certain things, people and or places. There are things that you might have done, but did not do because your instincts dictated otherwise and there are some things that you might not have wanted to do but did do because your instincts guided you to do so, for the better of self and or for others.

   There are people that you might meet in life but your instincts tell you to cross the road to avoid and there are some people that you meet and your instincts tell you to get to know them better. That is how good friendships and good relationships are made and remain. Your instincts also tell you when your relationships are good or working well and or something is wrong with your relationships. We always want things to be okay and so sometimes we pretend that some things are okay, even when our instincts tell us otherwise. If you listen carefully to your instincts you get to know the difference between what is true and what is not, who is true to you and who is not.

  Instincts, mind and body are all blessings and they are of course connected. Instinct to mind, mind to body. Those wonderful goose pimples you might get from time to time or the hair on your hands and other parts of you standing on ends are the signals the body receives, unless of course caused by something else such as immense moments of pleasure or excitement.
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  These are the things, the gifts that distinguish us from other creations, that are a part of our constitution and being human. Animals have instincts also but not like we do. The animal instinct is what you might call basic instincts. The human instinct is more evolved, exists at a higher level , is an internal guide and can be utilized in a multiple number of ways and on a variety of levels.
 
  Unlike the basic instinct, the human instinct if or when in operational relates or touches upon most human relationships to things, to others and to places. The more that you listen to your instincts, the more you are well guided in life, when it comes to your relationship with people, places and things.
 
  Wake up and listen to your instincts and you will find yourself on the right or a better path. You will find yourself making the right decisions in life and you will find yourself having less regrets in life.
 
Wake up and follow your instincts. Wake up and let your instincts guide you on to and down the right path.


                                                                          Jason.U @MondayMorningPositivity

​​" Too much worry leaves less room for hope. Too much stress keeps away Joy."
 
  I have been asking myself recently whether worry and stress are one and the same thing or synonymous . Sometimes we already have the answers to the question and my answer to the question is that they are not one and the same. They may be related but they are not one and the same. My curiosity of definition and or explanation of stress led me to the dictionary.

 The first definition according to Merriam Webster dictionary is that stress is a constraining force exerted one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against or compresses another body or body part. Self explanatory and not exactly what I was looking for but keep that type of stress in mind anyway and be careful with your body parts.

  The second definition was more what I was looking for, which is stated as a physical or emotional factor that causes mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.; a state resulting from a stress especially one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existing equilibrium, such as job related stress. " You can also add relationship stress as a factor or the umbrella factor, which just about covers all factors, for if no relationship, then no stress.
 
  Merriam Webster definition does not specifically attribute stress to worry or identify worry as a factor. Dictionary .com in its definition or description of stress as a verb without objects uses the phrase to experience stress or worry. There you have a link to worry and stress being Synonymous. They have nearly the same meaning but they are not the same. One can be the cause of the other and or one leads to the other. What they do share in common is that they can generate negativity, which leads back to the Merriam Webster definition as a possible factor in disease causation. I have no doubt about that and I have no doubt about the altered equilibrium.
 
   I am not possessed by negativity because my mind is full of positive thoughts but that does not prevent worry. I worry about a lot of things, but I do not stress about a lot of things and that is why the question originally came to mind. I worry about others more than I worry about myself sometimes. I worry about the world around me and some of the things that are happening but I also realize that there are some things over which I have no control and I certainly do not control the minds of others or their ways.. Worry as much as I may, there are people I cannot change, there are things that I cannot change and certainly events that I cannot change and so I focus on what I can do with the time that is mine.
 
  The worries that do get through the positive shield from time to time or time and time again do have the tendency and some power to alter the existing equilibrium. The worries do not however transform themselves into stress because there is another factor other than positivity at play. It is called logic and also keeping the mind busy or keeping momentum and getting things done.
 
  One simple equation to life or a simple perception of life is  ` the past, the present and the future." The past is gone and what is done is done and what is lost is lost, unless of course it can be recovered.. The present is the gift of now and if the worry of the past persists, you may still have the opportunity to resolve it. If not, let it belong to the past. To the future lies the gift of hope and no point stressing about what has not yet happened or is about to happen that is personal to you, because it is yours to mould.
 
  Once upon a time, I may have granted stress access to my mind and my being and opened the door wide open to negativity but not anymore. Access denied. I will still worry about some things and definitely some people, family and my children for sure, but no stress. I intend to keep my equilibrium, I intend to remain positive, to use now to resolve, to nourish my well being and believe in the future.
 
  Try not to worry too much and definitely do not stress too much. Neither do any good and what you might be stressing over probably has a tendency to become redundant anyway. On that note may your troubles be few and your blessings be many or may your blessings be more than your troubles. 

" You never know for certain where the loyalties of all others lie but you always know where your loyalties should lie. Where the loyalties of others lie is not as important as yours, for their loyalty does not define you but yours does."  NosaJ
 
We are loyal to some causes or purposes, involuntarily or voluntarily but not necessarily dedicated to them.We are dedicated to some ideas, purposes or causes but we are not necessarily loyal  to them. To make sense of that is the example of being loyal to your employer and going to work every day but not necessarily being dedicated to what you do. Fulfillment requires both. To make sense of the other part is the example of being dedicated to the idea of helping others or being with others but not being loyal to the reality of doing so or what it entails.
 
Success:   ` A thought to begin with, an idea, a belief that can only become a reality with your loyalty and dedication to the realization of your goals.'

   It is great and admirable to be loyal to any cause, to a person or to a place, but even more important is loyalty to self, to your own cause, your beliefs, to who you, to what you are, how you are, where you want to be and to what you want to accomplish in life. It is noble and admirable to be loyal to others even to a fault but not to stupidity. Loyalty to others requires some sacrifices but not to sacrifice loyalty to self and to the success of your own goals.

  It is not wise or admirable to be loyal to your circumstances, unless of course your circumstances are of good nature and how you want them to be. If they are not, that is a contradiction to the loyalty that you should have for your potential, your creativity and success in life.. If your spirit does not feel right about your circumstances as they are, it requires more persistent and consistent loyalty & dedication to your cause and goals. The most successful people in life and those who tend to achieve their goals are the ones loyal to themselves first and then to others. They are certainly persistent and dedicated.
 
Health:' This is basically about a very personal relationship with ourselves and our bodies'.

  There is no escaping time and the aging process but there is such a thing as taking care of yourself and aging gracefully. The aging gracefully requires personal loyalty and dedication to taking care of the temple that is your body. Life imposes on us or we voluntarily accept the responsibility of taking care of others and servicing others, as we were once taken care of and  may need be taken care of again in the future, but you owe it to yourself to be loyal and dedicated to taking care of yourself, your body and your health, while you can. If you cannot take care of yourself or your health fails you due to a lack of loyalty and dedication to your own well being, how can you take care of others anyway?
 
Financial Well being:  `A state of being where you do not have to worry too much about bills, money or an unexpected emergency.'
 
  Money is not everything but it certainly affords you a lot more options and the opportunity to help yourself and to help others accomplish more that requires money to be accomplished or free you from the distractions of how to get the next mortgage or rent payment taken care of.
           
  A simple truth is that you need money to take care of yourself and to provide for others. Another simple truth is that although the purpose of education is to enlighten us and to enrich our minds with knowledge, it is also ultimately to facilitate a job or a profession that makes as much money as possible. It does not always work out that way of course and that is why you need loyalty and dedication to yourself to make it work out. .To interrupt or sacrifice your career, so that another may excel or to provide for family is grand and noble but it is also advisable to remember your loyalty to your own financial well being. There is always more than one way
to get to most destinations, especially financial well being. It does however require your loyalty and dedication.
 
 
Emotional Balance:  `Oh what battles the heart and mind must have when it comes to personal relationships.'

   If you are fortunate  enough, your heart will take you to the right destination and person but life as we know it might eventually have your mind asking questions. Our emotions sway us in one direction and our desires sometimes sway us in another. Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they collide. Your loyalty and dedication to your relationship and to love helps you win that battle. In this respect a positive mind and a positive heart is always required. A healthy wallet or financial well being may also help avoid the battle of heart and mind but most of all loyalty and dedication to your heart and the reality rather than the fantasy of love
    
   Intentional and unintentional series of event are the story of all our lives. Of these intentional and unintentional events, you have to ask yourself whether or not the situation that arises from them are as they should be or as you need them to be. Do you remain loyal to yourself or to the situation? If they coincide, then you are in a happy place. If they do not, then loyalty to yourself requires that you make some changes and take a leap of faith towards where you want to be , who you want to be, how you want to be and how you want all your relationships to be. Your happiness depends on it and your loyalty to a better you and a better life. Without loyalty and dedication relationships and things deteriorate or disappear. Think about those passwords you never used for a while or friends who belong to your past but not present.

   Loyalty and dedication are characteristic that define who you are or who you become and you do not want anyone, anywhere or any circumstances to defile or distort your own loyalty and you certainly do not want to abandon your loyalty to self. There is no room for pretending  for that room creates a vacancy for unhappiness.

    Do not forget your loyalty and dedication to the divine and to God either. God does not just exist on Sunday's and the loyalty here is not so much about religion but about your own spiritual growth and relationship with God.