Hello friends.
I just got back from a glorious Thanksgiving visit with my son Tom, his wife
Erin, and their 3 adorable, precious little girls.
Thanksgiving - A time when we are reminded of our blessings
- and we have so many. But I believe our greatest blessing is one that we all
have.
We all have the ability and freedom to make our own choices.
We can decide how we live our lives every day, how we communicate and feel about
other people, and how we react to the things that happen to us.
There is much in our lives we have no control over - natural
disasters, health issues, family trouble, job and financial pressures. At the
same time, we have incredible good fortune, if we are willing to see it. Most
of these things are not our choice or under our control. But, we alone determine
how we will react to them.
This month, I would like to focus on a friend of mine who overcame
adversity, faced his fears, and made some tough choices to find the life he
desired.
I send my best wishes to all of you and hope that you enjoy
this holiday season.
I send special warm hugs to all of you who are going through
tough times. If you are hurting, or know someone else who is, please download
my free holiday survival tips by clicking on this link: http://www.soarwithme.com/Holiday-Survival-Tips.pdf.
Watch for my special Christmas audio message coming just before
Christmas. Love,
Cheryl
Jack Varley was a pilot for 20 years, flying small planes and
then commercially. Eye issues grounded him, but his passion simmered deep inside
of him, stifled only by the fear of having eye surgery. He was able to fly only
on a computer flight simulator in his home. His ticket to free himself laid
in taking risk, and facing a complicated surgery.
At age 72, Jack had the surgery and he was free to follow his
dream. He was released by his ophthalmologist, passed the flight physical, went
to ground school to learn all the latest needed information, passed the FAA
test, and then went through retraining with a flight instructor. No small task,
for a man his age.
Jack said, “After all of this, I was still concerned,
but found that getting back in the cockpit came naturally. I found freedom,
beauty and an amazing sense of peace. I found out again, what it was like to
soar. And now I am having more fun than ever.”
He approaches his new found freedom with great passion and energy,
but with intelligence and healthy respect for the new responsibility he has
been granted.
**
Jack’s experience reminds me of the greatest freedom we
have: the freedom of choice.
The media attempts to stifle us with scare tactics aimed to
inform but focused on the negative: creating an atmosphere of fear, and pessimism.
We can choose to let this negativism spill over into our lives and affect how
we act and react, or we can choose to be positive. We can choose to fear mad
cow disease, and biological weapons on our door steps, or we can choose to be
informed and live fully anyway.
We fear the avian flu, not realizing that nobody in the United
States has ever died of it. We eat French fries drowning in oil, and then obsess
over a bag of spinach that just could be passed over during the e-coli scare.
Often we fear things that probably will never happen, or think that something
is true when it really isn’t. Here again, we have choices.
But sometimes our fears are realized, and we are hit by tough
times that paralyze us, and cause us to lose our direction. We may be thrown
out of our comfort zone and into the wild blue yonder, but we can decide whether
we plummet towards earth, or find our own wings to fly. We can decide how to
feel, how to react and how to act. We can choose happiness in the middle of
tough times, we can choose optimism or pessimism, and we can choose to surround
ourselves with people who help us climb to new life.
How do you make these tough choices, despite what the world
tells us and we tell ourselves?
*JUST DECIDE
Make the decision to take some risk or settle for being stuck where you are.
Identify what you can and can not control and weigh the options. Just make the
decision, once and for all, and move ahead, or give it up.
* IT WILL BE UNCOMFORTABLE
Taking a little risk and stepping out of the comfort zone is always scary at
first. You will become accustomed to discomfort in time.
*YOU WILL MAKE SACRAFICES
You may have to give up things: sacrifice time, resources, and compromise relationships.
Weigh these things with the positive upside.
* IT WILL BE HARD WORK
Anything you want, you have to work for. Learn everything you can, to assure
success. Be physically, emotionally and intellectually prepared.
*TAKE ONE STEP AT A TIME
Exercise patience and take it one step at a time.
*HAVE A SUPPORT GROUP
Make sure you surround yourself with positive people who support you.
* THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES
You may succeed and you may not. However, there is no such thing as failure,
only lessons to learn. Failure is something imposed on us by others. We can
choose to look at things that don’t work as failures or we can look at
them differently – as opportunities to choose another direction.
**
So this holiday season, I invite you to exercise your greatest gift –
your freedom of choice. Follow your dream. Plan it now so you can start your
new year with great energy, passion and resolve.
IN THE NEWS: last night CNN reported the death of several Russians
and a widespread concern of radioactive contaminants on many British aircraft.
This news is scary, and has frightening implications for all of us. However,
in the light of being in charge of our our lives, lets remember to keep it in
perspective and not let scare tactics imposed on us by terrorist groups and
our own media affect the way we live.
Cheryl Perlitz is the author of the inspirational
book "Soaring Through Setbacks - Rise above adversity - Reclaim
your life" and “Soaring through Setbacks….Survival
Tips Handbook’
As a dynamic
speaker and facilitator, her inspiring, fun and motivational
stories help listeners and readers to "TRANSFORM THEIR MOUNTAINS
INTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVENTURE AND POSITIVE CHANGE."
QUOTE of the MONTH
"Why not go out on the limb? That’s where the fruit is."
‘SOARING
THROUGH SETBACKS - Rise Above Adversity Reclaim Your Life’
is Cheryl's inspiring book that has helped thousands of people to see
their way through tough times. In this book you will learn how to survive,
revive and thrive through transitions and find new life.
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If
you are hurting or know someone who is, please accept this free
downloadable list of holiday survival tips. I hope they will make
this most difficult time of the year a little brighter for you,
your friends and family. Click on this link: Holiday
Survival Tips
Looking for additional information?
Visit my main site at www.soarwithme.com:
