Loved your post. Sometimes it seems so unfortunate that we live in a day and age when people expect great things to happen in their lives virtually over night.

For those of us who are married, do we remember what the process was like when we first came to grips with and realized we now had someone in our lives we were accountable to; someone who would not let go of their expectations of us as easily as we sometimes do of ourselves?

Were immediate and 180 degree changes made in our lives; or did we learn to accommodate, respect and enjoy an ever deepening love of our better halves over time?

The same process of gradual change is usually at work when we find ourselves having to reinvent our lives. I’m reminded of a story of a woman. . .

She was in awe of beautiful gardens (think Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC Canada, The Royal Botanic Garden of Melbourne, Australia, the Botanic Garden of Washington, DC, Central Park in New York City or scores of others around the world!). She desperately wanted a vast garden of her own, but had never even grown a plant.

Fear of failure was overcome by her desire to have that garden. She started with one hard to kill plant, then another. During the first year she learned a great deal about preparing the soil, how to provide just enough water to the plant so it thrived — without being over watered, proper fertilization techniques and where to plant various species so they had just the right amount of sunshine.

By the end of the first year, much to her surprise, the flowers and shrubs she planted during the first year’s growing season had spread beyond their original borders. She felt emboldened.

As the new growing season approached, she decided to go beyond her comfort zone, and attempt to work with flowers and plants that were more difficult to grow. She had her challenges, but by the end of year two, she had a number of beautiful varieties that were doing quite well.

So she continued, from one year to the next; enjoying the natural expansion of what she had put in the ground years before (and the pruning and trimming that goes with it), as well as planting ever more exotic fauna each ensuing year.

Twenty years later, her garden spanned many, many beautiful acres, included hundreds of different varieties of flowers, plants and trees. In all, she had over 25,000 individual plants!

We can have the garden of our dreams too!

All we have to do is as you, Val, Mary Lou, Donna, Kara and Michaele suggest, and work on it consistently — day in and year out.

Thanks for your inspirational thoughts. Looking forward to the next installment.

Hose B

You’ve covered some awesome points here.
I see so many people taking bursts of action and then putting their goals aside again until the next burst. Consistently taking one step every day can’t not move you forward. All the affirmations in the world won’t get you closer to your dream if they are not coupled with intention and action.
One of my hurdles has been taking the action, then deciding it’s not perfect and needs to be redone! I’ve had to learn that the action itself was more important than getting it right.

Michaelé

~Kara

Getting ready to get ready plagues so many good people, keeping them from moving forward. I don’t think this topic can be written about enough. You never know whose life you will change because you took the time to challenge people with provocative questions!

Great post, Jose!

Mary Lou

Thanks for the visit Val!

Thanks for standing on this platform of integrity.
Val