Category Archives: Change and Personal Empowerment

The Tree Most Pruned Bears the Best Fruit

Posted on by
1

When I was growing up in upstate New York in the late 50’s and 60’s, we did a lot of migrant work on farms.  During the summer and fall we’d pick various fruits and vegetables and in the winter we’d trim trees.  We sat a ladder on the tree, climbed up with a saw, and cut off all the limbs that were growing in the wrong direction.  It was always freezing cold and the days were long.  It also wasn’t the most pleasant way to spend your weekends, yet that’s what we all did.  The entire family worked and we did whatever work we could find and we worked together.  Most saw it as menial labor and often we were kidded and looked down on, but as my dad always said, “It’s an honest living.”

Today as I was thinking about why we are forced to face so many challenges in life,  I reflected back on my childhood experience of trimming trees.  I thought about the life of a tree.  Through this personification I got a totally new perspective about why I should view life’s natural changes not as challenges, but instead as new growth opportunities.  For surely if the fruit tree never sacrificed her harvest and was unwilling to be stripped of her leaves and pruned, she would never see a new harvest that was more abundant than the one before.

A Harvest or Letting Go Is Necessary

In the summer the branches of the trees were abundantly filled with fruits.  The tree was as a mother giving birth. We’d come and take the harvest that she’d created.  Although the trees looked picture perfect with their fruit,  if we didn’t pick the fruit in time, they’d rot on the trees.  Others would drop off by themselves giving back to the earth that gave it life without asking.  In the life of a fruit tree a harvest and a letting go is necessary.  In the life of a human letting go is also necessary.

It appears that planting seeds of faith, fertilizing and protecting them, harvesting our fruits (dreams, goals, vision, ideas, service, calling, talents, and relationships), and then being willing to let go when it’s time is the natural order of life.  I reflected on how many of my new dreams would have gone unrealized if I had not had been willing to let go of the past or detach myself from the way things were. Ecclesiastes 3 sums it up.  (Continue to part 2)

3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

3 Steps to Move from Mediocrity to Meaning (part 2)

Posted on by
Reply

  1. Dig Inside (from part 1)
  2. Discover Your Greatness. Discovery is a process, not an event and it requires faith.  “Mining to discover your true reality is hard work.  It’s even harder if, 1)you don’t have the faith that you’ll really find anything of value, 2) you don’t know what you’re mining for, or 3) you are mining in the wrong place. Only those who dig in the right place and who also have that child-like unwavering faith to persist against all odds will ever find the object of their quest.” [From Miner Miracles]     It also  takes time, effort, and focus. Everyone has something great inside of them waiting to be discovered. We are made from greatness for greatness.  We were created noble.  We are like mines “rich in gems of inestimable value.1″  Ultimately you will find what you are looking for, but only if you are looking for it.  If you are looking for mediocrity, you will find it.  If you are looking for greatness, that will become the essence of your dreams and your reality.
  3. Dazzle the World with Your Brilliance– Oprah once said to a person she was interviewing, “Your future is so bright that it’s burning my eyes.”  Your future too has the potential to be just that bright!  Now this is the part where you figure out how to shine, excel, and radiate with joy and happiness.  That’s the goal of life, to do something so exciting that the deed is its own reward.  We were not created to be bored, dreamless, desperate or depressed.  This life is a gift to each of us and digging within and finding our own jewels is the most exciting journey from mediocrity to meaning that you can imagine.

*1 Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings CXXII

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

3 Steps to Move from Mediocrity to Meaning (Part 1)

Posted on by
Reply

Is your life an exciting adventure?

Are you ecstatic about your unique gifts and the exciting and unique role you are destined to play out in this unfolding adventure we are collectively creating called life?  Be careful, you won’t find your unique path by focusing primarily on other people’s journeys.  Your journey will require energy so don’t waste yours backbiting, emulating, or being envious of others.  Yes, we can be motivated, inspired, and even learn from others, but ultimately we must do our own search and learn our own truths.  The map for your success is within you and the map for my success is within me. We will find answers for our journey if we are open, expectant, and actively searching.  But we must search in the right place.  If I search forever, but in the wrong place I’ll never uncover my own treasure.  My book ‘Miner Miracles‘ shares my personal journey through poetry and prose on how I, “mined within to discover my God-given greatness.”

The first of three of  the lessons that I’ve used to move from mediocrity to a life of meaning and purpose: are:

  1. Dig Inside.  You’ve got to search in the right spot to find your own treasures.  You’ve seen the treasure maps that mark the spot of the treasure.   You could put a big old X on your forehead and you’d be marking the spot of the greatest treasure on earth.  Your dreams, your vision, and your gifts and talents are inside you.  You’ll never find them searching outside your own self.  Our journey on this side of the sod begins the day we become conscious and lasts until our very last breath.  We are on this journey together so it is important that we play our part and offer our unique contribution.   Please enjoy my signature poem in this short video, Finding the Jewels Within You. I hope it will inspire you as it has inspired me to continue to dig inside and find my own jewels.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit my website.

The First Secret to Moving Beyond Mediocrity

Posted on by
Reply

Do you know what moves a person beyond mediocrity?

It is the size of their dreams.  Puny dreams have no power to propel us beyond mediocrity.  I dare you to dream and to dream big and not find yourself getting more excited and more attractive in the process.  One of the books that inspired me in my youth was, ‘The Magic of Thinking Big.’  While the faithless may try to convince you that you are dreaming too big,  dreaming too big is not usually the problem.  Instead it is not having a dream at all or not dreaming big enough that causes more failures.  My own life attests to these principles.  I was a single mom living in the Projects of Upstate New York, surrounded by naysayers.  Mediocrity was everywhere and was the norm.

I had to consciously dream bigger.

I share this journey out of mediocrity in my book, On Track On Fire On Purpose.  I learned to listen to motivational people and read motivational books.  I still get inspired by others.   Mary Morrissey talks about making a ‘Quantum Leap in 2011′, Les Brown talks about ‘It’s Possible.’ Clif McKnight talks about, ‘If You Can’t Calm the Waters- Learn to Ride the Waves. Inspiration is everywhere. Once we’ve got the right dream, we need the right map, the right mentors, and the right muses.  Stay tuned.

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Wanted One Mediocre Person

Posted on by
Reply

Now is not the time to abandon your dreams or your drive.

When you abandon your dreams, your drive, energy, and excitement wane too.  And that is precisely when you need more drive, energy, and excitement, for they attract opportunities to you.  Okay, so you’ve suffered a setback and things haven’t turned out the way you’ve planned.  Perhaps you’re tired, anxious, and feel like you’ve been backed into a corner.  You feel like you should just give in and accept anything.  But just anything won’t fill your spirit, move you closer to your dreams, or inspire you to move beyond mediocrity.

We were born to find meaning.

We were born to make a difference and to matter. And, people who are dreamers themselves like to be around other people who have faith in themselves and who are pursuing or living their dreams.

People without dreams are people without faith.

Faith inspires us to dream and to believe that anything is possible.  That feeling of faith energizes us and people are looking for that energy.  You’ll never see an ad that is searching for “One Mediocre Person.”  No one gets excited about someone  who has no dreams, no passion, or no purpose.  You’ll also never find a person intentionally looking for a friend, colleague, or life  partner who has no passion or purpose for life unless they have given up themselves and don’t want reminders of their faithlessness around them.   Misery does love company and it just takes too much energy to keep a dreamless person and yourself motivated.   It is our passion for life that makes us attractive to others, whether it is an employer, mate,  or as a friend.  People with inspired dreams and visions are magnets and they attract opportunity to them.  You’ve got a choice; do you want to be mediocre or magnetic?

Thanks for your comments

I’m Barbara Talley, The Poet who speaks and inspires.   To find more about me, check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.