12 Dec What the World Needs from You | Inspirational Podcast

Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen, makers of wearable inspiration for a better world. Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from the book entitled The Art of Being Alive by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published in 1914″¦

LIFE means action, from the cradle to the grave. There are limitless possibilities in this life to bring into realization whatever hopes or aspirations we desire. If we only but begin”¦

There is no such thing as inaction during this life. We are continually going forward or backward. You are either stronger or weaker this year than you were last year.

You are braver or more cowardly. You are more hopeful or more pessimistic. You are more capable mentally or less so. You have better or poorer command of your forces. You have more efficiency or not as much. You are nearer your goal or farther from it. You are a better human being or not as good.

Next year at this time, you will be farther onward or farther backward. Every thought, every word, and every act of each day is chiseling out the statue you are making of yourself. If you desire to be an expression of the universe’s finest handiwork, you must work with care.

Delicate tools are these thoughts of ours, and they must be used with caution. Every morning say to yourself: “Today I will think of whatever is beautiful, strong, noble, wholesome, and worthy. I will entertain hope, courage, reverence, gratitude, and love as the guests of my heart. I will make thoughts of health at ease in the guest-chamber of my mind, so disease may not enter. I will achieve something worthwhile in my chosen field of endeavor. I will work faithfully, but I will find time to sit alone with thoughts of the universe for a little while, and no worldly ambition or anxiety shall intrude upon that time.”

Just as surely as you carry out your days along these lines, just as surely shall the true meaning of life come to you, and you shall know the spiritual heart of creation, and you shall know that the meaning of life is found there, as well as all the things for which you long: Health, Happiness, Prosperity, Usefulness, Beauty, and Joy.

You shall know that the earth is not a vale of tears, but a great and beautiful preparatory school where your soul is sent to study and learn its divinity and to develop its wonderful powers.

Do not fret over those days when your happiness wanes. AN occasional gray mood comes to the sunniest of natures, just as a gray day comes, even in the tropics; and if we use this gray day wisely we will be all the better for it.

When the bright sun of summertime is veiled by clouds one can see further; and the landscape is more clearly discerned, because there is not the blinding dazzle of the sunlight.

So when our hearts are clouded with a passing mist of trouble or worry we sometimes see life more clearly, and look forward and about and beyond with a larger vision. I think it is a good thing now and then to grow utterly sick of ourselves, and to sit down and pull our minds and hearts and motives and actions and ambitions into pieces and dust them out as a watch-maker cleans a watch; then to put them together again with care and resolve to begin all over and do better—and then actually do it.

It is never well to rest too long in regrets of the past, for that is over and gone and cannot be remedied. But it is well to remember the past enough to make it act as a guide and warning for the future. Moods of retrospection and regret and melancholy should be kept as luxuries, and must never become a habit. Indulged in rarely, they may serve as a tonic; but regularly followed, they become a poison.

When you are walking and carrying heavy burdens, you grow utterly weary and fatigued, it is not well to keep staggering on. It is better to sit down and rest a bit, even if you feel as you pause that you can never go on again. After a little while you will feel more courage and you will go on. But do not sit too long…..

Read The Entire Essay in Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons

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