Just a little over 2 weeks removed from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and holiday I find myself with a very heavy heart in addition to a lot of conflicting thoughts. Dr. King had a dream and I often wonder am I moving forward in the manner that he would have wanted me to. There are many people that came before me that paved the way for me to even be able to do some of things that I am doing now.
January is an important month for several different reasons in my opinion: the start of a new year, my birthday month, the MLK holiday and National Mentoring Month. I have to reference National Mentoring Month and the MLK holiday in the same sentence as I can sit back and see that they will forever be intertwined. Dr. King was a very influential man and his dreams/teachings still live on today through the many people that he was a mentor to while he was here.
As I think about starting a new year and setting goals I have to wonder how many of us are having conversations with our mentors as we move forward with in the year. Often times, I feel that we have mentoring relationships on many different levels that we fail to recognize. So as I think about this I wonder where I would be without a lot of the people that have influenced me throughout my life. I do feel as though sometimes I have taken for granted a lot of the interactions and life lessons, but I am often reminded of them in some form or fashion.
Most times I think we take for granted things we are able to see through the people we have in our lives. Mentoring is always happening around us in the form of not only what we hear, but what we see as well.
We have to do a better job of recognizing the situations and people that have been placed in our lives to as yet another opportunity to teach us. No matter how far you go in life there is always something for you to learn.
As I sit here on this dreary cold Monday afternoon thinking about Dr. King's dream and the people that have mentored me: I wonder if I am ready to answer my calling in life?
I think at some point we all reach that point where we ask ourselves some of these questions. Am I ready to answer my calling in life? If not, what is it that is stopping me? Have I already answered my calling? What is it that I am being called to do?
I pose those questions to myself as well as I don't want to take my experiences and relationships for granted as I know they are part of the foundation to prepare me for what I am being called to do. As you prepare to start your week and make it amazing for yourself and those around you I can only ask that you put a smile on your face while you are doing it!
“When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.”
-G. K. Chesterton
“Most human beings have an absolute and infinite capacity for taking things for granted”
-Aldous Huxley
“One very important aspect of motivation is the willingness to stop and to look at things that no one else has bothered to look at. This simple process of focusing on things that are normally taken for granted is a powerful source of creativity...”
-Edward de Bono
“Life is a gift. Never take it for granted.”
-Sasha Azevedo
“I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because of all things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship”
“To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kindness that sands behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off thee word or action for the expression of gratitude.”
-Albert Schweitzer
“The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves.”
-Helen Keller
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Maya Angelou
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