Ooh, a double whammy today!

First, the earlier posting from mr. bradley wolgamott:

too late to apologize

there is a very popular song out right now by Timbaland that sais it is “too late to apologize”. i am sure most of you know that this simply is not true! it is never too late to apologize! it is never right to do the wrong thing and it is NEVER wrong to do the right thing. i think where people get confused on offering an apology is in their expectations of the response. the purpose of an apology is not to be forgiven. the pupose of an apology is to let them know that you are truly sorry for making them feel a certain way. you may in fact think you havent done anything to hurt them and that an apology is not necessary, but if they feel a certain way as a result of something you did or didnt do then you should apologize for doing whatever that made THEM FEEL a certain way. dont say “sorry IF i made you feel that way” clearly they feel a certain way. validate their pain and take ownership of your piece even if you didnt mean to do it or even do it. if they feel a certain way just validate their pain by apologizing. be the bigger person and transcend above the situation. the second issue we deal with in asking for gorgiveness is in expecting grace or restoration. an apology stands as an act alone without contingencies. if their are contingencies then its not an apology its a negotiation. Just say you are sorry and ask for their foegiveness. there reaction is up to them and has nothing to do with your apology. understand they may or may not forgive you but that shouldnt be the decideing factor on asking for grace. say you are sorry in order to help restore them and to free you of continued guilt. and remember grace can be immediated but restoration can take time. be patient for both!

And second, an insightful story from mr william wildes:

A dog’s purpose

A Dog’s Purpose (from a 6-year-old).

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa, And their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they Were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the Family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform The euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would Be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt As though Shane might learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s Family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for The last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any Difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are Shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, Piped up, “I know why.” Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next Stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. He said, “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The Six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so  They don’t have to stay as long.”

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like: When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy. Take naps. Stretch before rising. Run, romp, and play daily. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. Be loyal. Never pretend to be something you’re not. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently. ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

’nuff said

-cb

another post from bradley wolgamott:

a friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. life can be confusing someitimes and we need to be a friend or find a friend when the world gets overwhelming. a friend will celebrate you and with you. they are someone who will be a whitness to your life. someone who will slow down for you, to walk by your side or pause with you to observe the simple thigs in life. that special person who smiles in the morning and is never in a rush to leave the beauty of a perfect moment.

you are the answer to someones prayer, without you someone may not be living. someone is watching everything you do or dont do. everything counts. someone that you dont even know exhists, loves you, and is grateful that you are in this world. add so much value to peoples worlds that things come to life inside their souls. wake up their dreams. show them the beauty within. show them that passion doesnt hurt! move all towards grace, restoration and true love. be a friend and you will find a friend.

another post from Bradley Wolgamott:

the best way to predict the futute is to invent it!!

life is a matter of perspective. if we were simply a logical being the future might look bleak, but we are more than logical, we are human beings and we have faith, and we have hope and we can work. passion, life , adventure and oportunity are everywhere. what matters is where and when we decide to put our focus. we are given one life and the decision is ours. we can either make things happen or wait around and let things happen. its our choice! think about it; create and react have the same letters but have radically different outcomes. the purpose of life is to discover your gifts, the meaning of your life will be determined by how well you give it away. you are a life force designed for greatness. this massive life force that lives inside of you, it translates and flows from and through every one of us. we are all unique expressions of our gifts. if you block this gift not only will you never truly live but you will lose the potential impact of your gift multiplied by the thousands of people that will be touched by your gift. remember that to the world you may be just one person but to one person you might mean the world. the real trajedy in life is not that life ends too soon but its that we wait too long to truly let it begin.

Another blog entry from bradley wolgamott:

there is no such thing as an ordinary moment and there is never a time where nothing is going on. always remember to focus on the moment. what time is it? now! where are you? here! we can so easily be consumed by the glory or pain of our past. it can run and ruin our lives. we can also be paralyazed by the uncertainty of the future. have a dream of the future but remind yourselves to stay in the moment. there are no ordinary days or moments. there is always something beautiful happening. stop and pause and look for it. there is beauty everywhere! goodness is like the sun, always present, adding value, makeing things grow, warming our lives, creating oxygen yet all the time just waiting for us to pause and watch it melt into the ocean. to stop and pause and say thanks, to appreciate all the good it did that day. goodness is like this. it is always there but we rarely stop to appreciate it like a beautifull sunset. yet it will show up the next day on time and on cue to add value to everyones life. be graefull and appreciate the beauty of each day, the goodness in mankind. there are no ordinary days, stop and pay attention every day to the beauty of our world. the next time you feel pressure or grief or get caught up in a situation, stop and take it all i and be greatfull for the joy that life brings every day.

grief is our over stimulated imagination of what may happen or has happened. there is no value in this. look around and take it all it in at the highest level. in doing so you will soon forget the emotions you are dealing with and you will be free to truly live.

another blog entry from Brad Wolgamott:

was thinking hard about what to share with you all today and i had this message press on my heart. we have all heard analogies of oposite words and the reactions of those words and i asked myself what would be the oposite of anger. my first thought was happy and then love but the word that kept pressing on my heart was humility. i thought this was odd but the more i thought about it the more it made sense. most anger is selfish. its a reaction to something that has happened to us. and often in this rage we miss the message behind the lesson. so humility hit me like a ton of bricks. if we can train ourselves to counter anger with humility then we can always come out of every painful situation wiser. if we can train ourselves to ask what did i posibly do to provoke or extend this anger. the other option is to remind ourselves to replace revenge or spite with a hunger to learn from the situation. we can remind ourselves to never treat someone that way and we can train ourselves to learn a valuable lesson to help others avoid problems like this in the future. so if we make our reflex action from anger into humility and ask ourselves to truly introspect ourselves and harness the value of the experience we will become a richer more valuable person in the world of adding value to all mankind.

Another blog from Brad Wolgamott:

just a few closeing thoughts as to the good dog, bad dog subject in our lives. we also must remember that since the mean dog lives in us, then it is in fact part of us. and since it is part of us, it cant be all bad.
this dog may be the dog that defends us when we are in harms way. we take this dog to war to defend freedom around the world. this dog is what balances out what is good and kind in our lives.
in the jewish faith there is a legend about a “spirit” that lived in all of us that resembles this bad dog. it represented greed, lust, competitive overdrive etc. one day the villagers got together and captured this spirit and locked it up. the townspeople celebrated and felt this was their greatest victory. but to all of their suprise when they all woke the next few mornings they found that no business’ were opening up, all jobs had come to a halt, no babies were concieved and the overall economy basically came to a standstill. what they soon realized was that without the drive of competition, the motive of profit or greed and the emotion of lust that almost all activity came to a stop. so the villagers decided to release its prisoner and all things went back into motion.
amazing story isnt it??

we need both dogs to live in our hearts but under control and moderation. love both, let the good dog lead but dont neglect the mean dog because he in fact may be your greatest ally.

Another blog from Brad Wolgamott:

i hope you are all enjoying these blogs. it is my mission to add value to everyone i love. and since i love everyone, i pray that all of you find some value in these. they are replenishing and revealing to me as well. please feel free to comment anytime in anyway you would like to.

in our modern world most people define others by what they do or what they have. i feel this is unfair and often times innaccurate. we are not what we were! we are all on a path in life. it is not our past or our present that defines us it is the path we are on. this path can only be completed by determining where we are going.

we can get a clearer insight to this by referring back to the story of the two dogs that battle in our life. Sometimes the good dog wins and sometimes the bad dog wins but these battles dont define us they only define a moment. one action does not define a life. it is the path the defines us. we will all lose to the bad dog once in a while. unfortunatly the world wants to define us by these moments but i adamantly disagree. often times the bad dog makes more noise than the other and we have to listen and look closely to see all the victories of the good dog. there are many uncelebrated victories of the goodness in each of us. we must pause to appreciate these things other wise we will begin to believe as the world does, that we are not good or worthy of greatness..

take time to evaluate the path you are on and where you are going. i think if you look and listen closely you will feel the love of God and how much he loves us all. i love you and i am proud of each and everyone of you. know your path, see a great future of change and empowerment. know that you are good and that you DO make a difference and that one by one, one moment at a time we make the world a better place to live in.

Another blog entry from Brad Wolgamott:

there is an old indian story that has been passed down for hundreds of years. a great chief was teaching his people one day when he said that everyone of us has 2 dogs in us. there is a good dog that is kind gentle and happy. all it does is love on people and no matter what happens it loves you and finds the good in everything. There is another dog that is bad and mean and looks to fight and cause chaos whenever possible. these two dogs are constantly at war with each other. the kind dog runs the show but the mean dog is always trying to take over. the kind dog lives with out effort and just “is”. the mean dog is always battleing and puts out great effort. a young brave asked “which dog wins” the chief said the one that we feed the most!

be carefull of what you put in your heart. we are all naturally good and kind but if we arent carefull the bad dog can occassionally win and we can be influenced to make the wrong choices. feed the kind dog!!

Another blog entry from Brad Wolgamott:

A lot of people think that to forgive someone is to let them off the hook for something they did to hurt you or someone you know. This really is not the case. There is a huge difference between forgiveness and restoration. Forgivenes can be immediate but restoration may take time if ever! Forgiveness frees your spirit of resentment, which is something that binds many of us. In latin resentment is broken down into “re” which means again and sento which is to “cut”. So resentment means to feel the cut again and again. This unfortunatly becomes self inflicted pain because it is only cutting our spirit and binding us from true joy. While, at the same time the offender doesnt even know you are dealing with the emotional bondage and pain. The offender will have to pay their own price in their own way. We may never see them suffer but more than likely they do at a very intense emotional way, either immediatly or some day down the road. if they don’t then that is their own battle and nothing we can do will ever change that. so be free of resentment and live a life full grace and joy.

Another post from Brad Wolgamott:

there is an old saying that hurting people hurt people. this is the truth in 99% of the cases. when you find this 1% hang on to them and cherish them forever. the other 99 is what we must navigate through if we are going to live life with joy. understanding this fact helps to avoid the pain that catches you off guard. when you get hurt from a place you would never expect the first thing you have to realize is that this person has pain in their life. we must take the time and extend mercy in order realize that the source of this pain is their own aching soul. they have probably done this to mask their own pain and issues. do not strike back. if you do then you are as guilty as they are. now you are hurting and you cause pain. this is the viciouse circle that runs our world and frankly is the course taken that leads to most wars. love conquers all!! well this is very true. be strong, transcend above the issue and be part of the healing power of love and grace.