Monday morning hummms

I found two inspirational quotes that caught my eye this week and since one builds on the other, I decided to include both in my Motivational Monday post. Hope you enjoy (and are willing to comment on it too!)

“I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.” - Dudley Field Malone

I think this is such as interesting quote because what's the first thing we do whenever we have an idea to express or a dream to defend? We go in search of someone who will agree with us, right? It's human nature. Whether we are making a slight change in our life or preparing to do something radical, we seek out the approval of someone who will tell us we are doing the right thing--making the right move--heading in the right direction. Most people do this in every area of their life, often without realizing it. How many of you belong to the same religious organization you were raised in? Many of you vote the party line (in other words, always vote Republican or Democrat) because you basically agree with the philosophy of that particular party and don't bother to investigate the standings of each individual candidate.

You can find someone to agree with anything you say or do, no matter how crazy it may seem...all you have to do is look hard enough. There are plenty of extreme examples...Hitler, Jim Jones, Timothy McVey, Charles Manson. Equally as cultish although not as deadly are some of today's TV televangelists. All these people are driven by something bigger than most of us, whether it be mental illness or the voice of God (supposedly). But even in our day-to-day life, we seek like-minded people....birds of a feather. Whether it's because we crave the recognition or simply don't have enough faith in ourselves to strike out on our own without the encouragement of the masses, we search for the approval of others. Yet the approving masses aren't going to point out the flaws in our plans. They won't burst our bubbles or shed light on the hurdles in our journeys. Maybe that's why we do it. Maybe seeing the obstacles before encountering them is too much for us. Maybe we'd give up before we even tried. I know when I was adopting my oldest son, if the adoption agency would have told me that my journey would stretch into a 2 1/2 year nightmare and cost thousands more dollars than originally planned, I wouldn't have even started. In fact, I wouldn't have adopted either of my sons out of fear. So maybe in some instances, ignorance really is bliss. But most of the time, wouldn't we be better prepared for the hurdles if we knew they were lurking out there in the darkness?

The other quote I liked so much is....

"It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark"  Howard Ruff

Now there's a guy who encountered plenty of opposition. Everyone around him must have told him he was crazy. Surely they pointed out the wastefulness of spending all his time and effort building a huge boat on dry land. I'm sure every single obstacle was pointed out to him, over and over, yet he continued his mission. Now since it's a biblical story, it's obviously about the power of faith in God, but it doesn't have to be. It's really just a story about the power of following a dream, of having a vision and going after it, no matter what hurdles lie before you or how crazy it seems to the outside world.

I'm not suggesting you quit your job to spend your days building an ark but we all have goals, dreams and desires we could be working toward. You never hear of someone wishing they had less determination. We all have things we want to change in our lives, big and small. Why not start working toward change instead of dreaming about it?