Do Not Seek Someone Else’s Stamp of Approval to Validate Your Worth

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Galina Nelyubova

You don’t need someone to give you a seal of approval, or validate your existence because of who you are. You don’t need someone to determine your value or worth, like an investment in some type of commodity, or counting currency in a bank. Those of us who have been stepped on, looked over, ignored, rejected, or ostracized for unfair and unjust reasons, have no reason to walk around with our heads held down or feel worthless. Do you know how many people were rejected, but came out on top, even if the top was not what they expected?

Listen, if you were overlooked or ignored for a well-deserved promotion at work and the position was given with a healthy salary to someone with less or no experience than you, do not compare your worth to their paycheck. Don’t allow an undeserving someone else (a boss, a spouse, a friend, a family member) to make you look at yourself, devalue yourself, or make you feel lowly and shortchanged just to make them feel better. Do your best, look your best, and be your best. Hold your head up high and allow your value to shine brightly without saying a word!

I Cannot Be Erased

Image Credit: Tumisu

You cannot erase me
you cannot reduce my value
you cannot cross me out of history
you cannot deny my existence.

Behind me, in a slow but sometimes rapid chase
dread tries to steal my joy
but it can’t, if I won’t allow it
does it think it’s playing with a toy?

No doubt I’ll face challenges
this I know to be true
but the outcome based on my attitude
victory lines up, depending on what I do.

So, don’t count me out
I’m right here on an upward climb
but should you try to eliminate me
you only curse yourself, running out of time.

© Kym Gordon Moore

No matter how sweet and nice you are to others, there will always be an adversary there to taunt your character and patience. Don’t give these individuals the satisfaction of changing or influencing your aura, to fit their demented intentions.

Affirm your Aspirations and Motivations

Image Credit: Alice Pasqual

There are some things we must do for ourselves before others will help us on our way. Let your dreams lead you to some breathtaking, and unforgettable adventures. But the first thing you have to do is to wake up, rise up, get ready, and get going.

Image Credit: geralt

Don’t Count Me Out

Image Credit: kai Stachowiak

        The other night I watched the movie “Burlesque” starring Cher and Christina Aguilera. The song Cher sang, “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” is one of my battle cry songs. To all of you who feel like you’ve been brought down to your knees, to the point of breaking (I am included), I employ you to stand up, straighten your back, and fight for self-preservation of your mind, body, and spirit. When they count you out, no matter who “they” may be, count yourself in. It may not happen overnight, but vow to strengthen your warrior spirit, be victorious, and do it for you. No time to give up now!

Winning the battle

Adamant

Rising to the occasion

Resolute

Introspection and examination

Overcoming obstacles

Running with determination

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No Pity Party Today for Me

Image Credit: Pixabay

The birth of a new day shall not be wasted. What can I do right now, and what can I give today? When I become so self-absorbed in myself for too long, I forget about awakening the choices of life’s gifts I’ve been given. When I tend to go off the rails and drown myself in a pity-party that suffocates my freedom to breathe, I forget the fact that someone, somewhere is worse off than me. How do I drift out of that space?

The choices we make, our attitudes, and moral fiber will either awaken or shut down our minds and hearts in the grand scheme of things. Our wayward stubbornness to step outside of “ourselves” can lead us to the challenges of suffering by shutting down our vision to see beyond “me.”

What satisfaction will I get when I burst through the shackles, shadows, and enslavement of infamy? What can I do right now, and what can I give today? Just for today, how will I discover the gift of greatness? Through generations, things get lost. How will we rediscover them? I can’t figure that one out until I turn the spotlight away from me. Well now, I feel much better! 🙂

Mission in Possible: Self-Destruct Mode?

We are used to seeing Tom Cruise in the modern version of the Mission Impossible sequels, but I remember fondly the original Mission Impossible television series starring Peter Graves as Jim Phelps. Phelps carries out an elite covert operation on a highly sensitive mission with a team of operatives that included Greg Morris as Barney Collier, Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter, Martin Landau as Rollin Hand and Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage.

You can’t forget that iconic music or the struck match igniting what we believe is a wick leading to a stick of dynamite. Phelps uncovers confidential information left for him with a taped recording giving instructions on the goal of the mission and that the recording will self-destruct in five seconds after it tells Jim, good luck.

At times, I think about and look at the things going on in our lives and around the world, and wonder if we are on a mission that seems impossible because it appears we are sometimes in a self-destructive mode of hopelessness. We have so many woes we are facing whether it is related to our overall health, our lifestyle, our education, our faith, our jobs, our finances, or our relationships.

It feels like our gears are sometimes stuck in reverse, and we can’t shift our lives to move forward in some type of concrete, positive and productive order. External woes can cause internal combustion if we aren’t aware of the impact of their obvious warning signs. 

When we light the end of our wick, may it ignite our inner spirit to explode with love, hope, joy, peace, imagination, creativity, and service. Our life’s mission is not going to always be easy, but it is far from becoming impossible. 😀 The possibilities are unlimited!

Don’t Miss Your Calling

When man puts a limit on what he can be, he has put a limit on what he will be. – Dr. Myles Munroe

I am currently re-reading a book that made such a positive impact on my life, and its message continues to resonate to this day. The book is “Understanding Your Potential” by Dr. Myles Munroe.

All too often we are influenced by the life, lifestyle, and looks from what others say living your best life should look like and be like. Some desire to imitate others, trying so hard to be like them, while forgetting who we are by getting lost in the process. Years ago, out of unfortunate ignorance, someone falsely accused me of trying to be like them when I began moving in an independent direction and refrained from devoting much of my free time to them when I started turning more attention on my needs. My time, not theirs mind you. This accusation, however, was soooooooo far from the truth.

That infuriated me because I once considered this person to be a friend. But from the scathing email this person sent to me years ago, I saw that my worth to them as a friend or person was merely orchestrated through a series of manipulation to exalt them. Our relationship was built and based on false pretenses. This was such a sad ending to my faithful side of friendship she never knew but thought she could control.

But this example is only one of many toxic relationships I had to bulldoze out of the way in order to see a clear path past such distractions. The content in this book by Dr. Munroe stepped on my toes but awakened my awareness about my untapped potential screaming to be released from within.

There is something in you more precious in than what others have said about you. – Dr. Myles Munroe

Confessions of a Conformist

To live one’s life in pretense
being someone or something dictated by man’s standards
to be this or that, live here or there
earn more money, whether high or low
the key to your success is more, more, more
a bar raised so high and ethically questionable

I am anxiety driven, wrestling in disappointment
I see those who have excelled, yet the playing field is uneven
my mind is fixated on visions of materialism
but those objects of success are simply an illusion
so the weight of my grind is too heavy a burden to carry
I conform to be like them, those instilled with superiority complexes
people who have crowned themselves as hoarders of privilege
leaving me bewildered by their methods of madness

by trying to conform to their likeness, not one I was born to be
I lost sight of myself haphazardly compromising my vision
losing my sense of peace, integrity, and soul
I conform just to be socially accepted
not knowing I was being publically rejected and disconnected
I am aimless and humiliated
wandering around like a billiard ball
trying to find my true self
yes, my true self, now that sounds refreshing
no longer fragmented by the chains of conformity

molded by the hands of others with meaningless intent
hidden by a veil of flamboyant deception
they echo this is the way life is, accept it
a reality smeared by trickery
a place where idolatry enslaves your spirit
slowly and methodically sucking the life out of you
only to inflate their selfish egos with arrogance
like helium filling a gigantic mylar balloon

In my valley, a valley of weakness
I pray to God for deliverance and muster some energy to be renewed
with a strength to be me, just as I am
vowing to learn and never again concede to compromising me
conforming to be something or someone else
I was never meant to be in the first place.

Be the Best You that You are Created to Be

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and while in some cases that may be true, imitation can also take on a dark and deceitful side. Society has a remarkable way of shape-shifting us into what it wants us to be. These images are oftentimes blurred and become distorted beyond recognition.

When you look in the mirror, who are you? Do you see you or yourself as someone else? Do you find yourself sliding in the driver’s seat after adopting ownership of something characteristically foreign, and possibly degrading or dehumanizing?

Things that sometimes pop up as subliminal coercions to seduce us into a fantastical imagery of suggesting what we think we really want, often materializes into an illusion of entrapment and a nightmare we can’t wake up from.

Our successes will not be the same as others. Our failures will be different. Our tragedies will not be equivalent to those of others. Our dreams, hopes and futures are separate, but not equal.

We cannot define our lives based on the public display of hype that amounts to something less meaningful than we think. This does not mean we can’t look, be and do our best at all times. You simply need to avoid comparing yourself with others, and be the best YOU, because no one else can do it like you do.

Be, Do, and Look Your Absolute Best

Be Your Best You

To be the best that I can be
to do the best that I can do
to look the best that I can look
to make the best decision that I can make
based on the information I currently have
and the tools I have been given to work with
my best, on this day, at this moment is what I seek
with continued faith, hope and charity in my heart.
©Kym Gordon Moore

#BeYourBestYou