Category Archives: Motivation and Inspiration

Health Is One of the Greatest Gifts

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High Blood Pressure, Kidney Disease, Heart Disease, Diabetes…

I sat down to eat lunch with a relative last week.  She counted out what looked to be like ten pills, one was for this, two for that, and so on.  It made me sad.  It made me think about the preciousness and precariousness of life.  So many friends of my step-mom came around to visit her while she was sick.  Every single one seemed to have a health condition, kidney problems, strokes, high blood pressure, gout, heart conditions, prostate cancer, or diabetes or a combination thereof.

Dignity Is The Greatest Service You Can Offer

I have spent a lot of time in the hospital over the past nine months with several close family members, old and young.  And one thing that has taught me is that good health is a priceless gift and being treated with dignity is the greatest service you can offer a person.

Unfortunately everyone isn’t treated with dignity.  My sister and I have spent most weekends in late February and March in the hospital with my stepmom.  When we were there we would feed her and get her up.  But we weren’t there all the time.  It was humiliating for her to have to call the nurse several times to go to the bathroom and have her come after she’d had an accident, to have to be wiped too roughly in her private areas by a young male nurse, or to have her hands shaking so bad that she couldn’t feed herself.  Several times we’d arrive to a full uneaten tray of cold food.  She’d tell us she couldn’t reach her teeth or her hands were shaking too bad.  We had to insist that they send someone to feed her even though it was obvious to everyone she needed help.  If you have a loved one in the hospital visit them often.  Give them hope and cheer them up.  And do what you must to take care of yourself and those you love to keep them out of the hospital!  Please!

Not enough spring in your step?  Continue reading about ‘6 Things You Can Do About Your Health.’ http://wp.me/ppImQ-jX

My March Health Chronicles: 6th Floor Please!

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Stranger: “6th Floor Please!”

Me: “No problem, that’s our floor too.”

Stranger: “That’s a tough floor to have someone on.”

Me: “Who do you have here?”

Stranger: “My husband.”

Me: “What’s he here for?”

Stranger: “He’s having both his legs amputated tomorrow.”

Me: “I’m sorry.  I hope he recovers soon.”

Stranger: “He won’t recover.”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Stranger: “The doctors have already said that he will not recover.”

Me: “Then, why are you putting him through the surgery?”

Stranger: “That’s what I said to the doctors.”

“Yall Take Care of Me”

We got off the elevator and went our separate ways without exchanging names, only heartfelt sympathy and empathy.  Later that weekend as my sister and I stood vigil in my stepmom’s hospital room, I could hear a man moaning and groaning loudly.  It was an eerily depressing sound like none I’d ever heard before.  I couldn’t help but wonder if this were the husband of the woman I’d met on the elevator.   I turned my thoughts back to my stepmom who looked so small, weak, and fragile.  At times we were not sure if she would make it.  She would come in and out of consciousness, but would seem to perk up a little when she saw my sister and I.

She could barely talk, except to whisper, “Yall take care of me,” in her soft southern voice.   I assured her that we would make sure she was taken care of and to just rest.  She’d been admitted initially for dehydration.  Little did we know that her waning energy and spirit was due to her kidney’s failing.  Before she was admitted to the hospital, she was slowly slipping away.  All she wanted to do was sleep.  Thankfully we got help in time.  In the last four months, she has pulled through high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, diverticulitis, kidney failure, and now dialysis.  She’ll be 84 in a couple of months and has to have dialysis three times a week.  Still, she gets up every day now full of hope and faith and tells all of her family and friends that she loves them.

To continue to Part 2:  Health Is One of the Greatest Gifts, click here http://wp.me/ppImQ-jQ

Barbara Talley is a workshop leader, keynote speaker, author, and publisher who speaks and writes on value-based living themes. www.thepoetspeaks.com

Part 4: Seven Steps To Keep You from Getting Stuck in the Wrong Pot

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There is No Magical Age To Stop Growing

Continued Part 3: http://wp.me/ppImQ-h7

There is no magical age in which we should stop growing.  You never outgrow your usefulness, some just choose to stop being useful and of service to others.  After all, our true reality is our mind.  Our ultimate goal is to be of service to our Creator, so we should never cease being of service.  The mind must continually be nurtured in the same way that the body requires nutrients throughout its entire life. So what’s the first step to getting back on track? In my book I talk about three things, vision, values, and virtues.  You master these three and you can master your life.  The key is to just get started.  Newton’s law of motion states that “a body in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an outside force.”  Death should be the only outside force that stops us from growing, seeking meaning and purpose, and being excited about being alive.

Seven Steps To Keep You from Getting Stuck in the Wrong Pot

I’ll conclude with seven steps for you to keep in mind so that you will continue to grow and never get stuck in a pot that you’ve outgrown.

  1. Always have a clear vision, meaningful goals and values, and life enhancing virtues.
  2. Stay in the light! Have a regular diet of healthy encouragement, inspiration, and love.
  3. Make sure your environment is nurturing, inspiring, clean, and orderly.
  4. Change your pot or the location of your pot when it is clear you are not growing anymore.
  5. Stay in motion. While physical motion is of course equally important, I’m talking now about mental motion.  Prayer and meditation can help to shift your mind into high gear and in the right direction. But, remember, you are always in motion.  If you are alive, you are going forward or going backward; you are either progressing or regressing.
  6. Be alert to the outside forces that might be holding you back and pull weeds when necessary.
  7. Enjoy the journey.   Happiness is your thermometer. Test yourself regularly to make sure you are on the right course and in the right pot or the right spot.   And, if no spots or pots are working for you, perhaps you are one of those that don’t work as well when confined.  Have the faith to spread your wings and get out of the pot altogether and follow your dreams.

Barbara Talley is a workshop leader, keynote speaker, author, and publisher who speaks and writes on value-based living themes. www.thepoetspeaks.com


Part 3: Seven Steps to Keep from Getting Stuck in the Wrong Pot

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Are You in the Right Pot or Is Your Pot in the Right Spot?

Continued from Part 2: http://wp.me/ppImQ-gS

Are you growing and surrounding yourself with light? Do you have an inspiring vision that makes life meaningful and joyful?  Are you getting a healthy diet of inspiration, encouragement, and stimulation regularly?  Are you surrounding yourself with creative and positive people, a clean harmonious environment, and love?  Remember, love is the most powerful light.  Give more love and you will receive more of it.  Also, are you willing to pull those stifling weeds or toxic people from your life once you’ve identified them?

Are You Challenged?

In order to get the right answers in life, we must ask the right questions.  So, are you challenged?  Are you doing something meaningful that gets your creative juices going?  How do you feel, just blah or energized? Are you excited about your life?  Are you growing or are you stuck?  Do you have opportunity?  Are you waiting for it to knock on your door or are you creating it?   Energy comes from exciting and meaningful pursuits.

Can You Grow in Your Current Pot?

And finally are you making sure that you are in a pot that allows you to continue to grow?  Do you need a new pot or different pot?  Do you need  a bigger pot or perhaps a smaller pot?  Maybe your pot is too big and its hard to feel secure and plant your roots and you need a smaller space.  Or, perhaps the opposite is true, your pot is  too small and you can’t move or grow so you need a bigger pot?

Some People Won’t Feel Comfortable in Any Pot!

We are all different. Our talents are different; our capacities are different.  Some people won’t feel comfortable in any pot,  no matter what the size, location, or  how fancy, expensive, or beautiful it may be.  These type of people thrive on being able to move and grow freely without limitations.  Perhaps that’s you.  Maybe, you’ve been switching pots trying to find the right one, when in reality, you don’t need a pot at all.  Maybe you need to plant your dreams in the open fields where the Creator provides the natural sustenance and the possibilities are endless.

I Needed a Major Overhaul, New Pot, Different Pot, and New Spot

Are you in an environment that allows you to spread your wings and fly?   Happiness is your thermometer.  Years ago, it was apparent to me that the pot I was in was too small.  I wrote the book, ‘On Track On Fire On Purpose’ to chronicle my journey of moving from a small pot to a bigger pot.  You can get a copy of book if you like from my website or Amazon.  I share the lessons I learned to get from the Projects to become the poet and publisher today, from the teenage mom to the happily married wife for over 30 years.  I personally needed a major overhaul.  I not only needed a new pot, but a different pot, and a new spot to pull off my remarkable transformation.  And, I found out that I was one of those pot-less people.

To continue reading Part4 of Seven Steps to Keep From Outgrowing Your Pot, Seven Steps To Keep You from Getting Stuck in the Wrong Pot , click here http://wp.me/ppImQ-hl

Barbara Talley is a workshop leader, keynote speaker, author, and publisher who speaks and writes on value-based living themes.

Part 2: Seven Steps to Keep from Getting Stuck in the Wrong Pot

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Continued from Part 1: http://wp.me/ppImQ-gL

The natural order of things is that things are either growing (progressing) or dying (regressing).  I’ve learned a lot about growth by watching my plants grow, which lately, have been thriving.  As long as I water them and give them the appropriate amount of sunlight, protect them from stifling weeds, and put them in a pot that will allow them to grow, they flourish.  But, if I forget to water them, leave them without light, don’t pull the weeds, or don’t replace their pots when necessary, they slowly die.

We Are All Works In Progress

As I watch my young grandchildren grow, I am reminded that we are all works in progress.  Given the right tools, each divine creation will progress naturally.  Watch the grass, a plant, a tree, or the physical human body, they don’t strain to grow, they just grow.  But the human mind must be consciously, consistently, and carefully nurtured.  My youngest grandchild, just six months old and unable to speak but a few words, listens intently to every sound, carefully studies every face, knows who is familiar and unfamiliar, who to trust and who not to, and how to get his needs met.  The point is he started out a few months ago helpless and knowing very little but has been steadily growing stronger and smarter every day because he has the right environment.  He is in the right pot; he knows he is loved and his environment is stimulating (brightly colored educational toys, loving parents and family, healthy mother’s milk,  beautiful home, etc.)

To continue reading Part3 of Seven Steps to Keep From Outgrowing Your Pot, Are You in the Right Pot or Is Your Pot in the Right Spot? , click here  http://wp.me/ppImQ-h7

Barbara Talley is a workshop leader, keynote speaker, author, and publisher who speaks and writes on value-based living themes.