Connecting the Dots: Finding Your
Voice
Words enchant and mesmerize us.
While some words hiccup and meander along, other words are driven with a punch
and a zing. When people use their voice, these
spoken words awaken dormant emotions and evoke reflection, thought and pause.
All people are authors and create their story with the every choice they make. Authors use creative and powerful words to catch the reader’s attention and captivate their curiosity. Truly great authors use words to draw links between modern life, historical movements and human experience. To use your voice effectively you must take a candid look at your strengths and weaknesses and make choices that will allow you to grow. Although this process is not as simple as connecting the dots in a children's coloring book, I am sure that with some effort you can lead a happier more fulfilling life.
People, like words, are redefined by life experience. While some people believe life fosters or
stunts growth, I believe an individuals’ reaction to life is far more
important. The happiest people are those that take their life experience, learn
from it and use this to find their voice.
A few years ago an Appalachian Lady revealed a captivating story about embracing life. While sitting in her recliner she glanced around the country farmhouse and mused, 'Did I ever tell you the story about going to the viewing of one of my neighbors?' With eyes still glued to her I shook my head 'no' and she commenced telling her tale. 'Well, the family was going to have the viewing for him so I got in the car and carried over the food I made for the family.'
In my mind I imagine her traveling in her caramel colored boat of a car along winding roads and emerging from the car in her well put together but no nonsense colored dress. 'Once there,' she explained, ' I carried the food into the kitchen and sat it with the rest of the food on the table. I talked to the family for a while and then decided that I needed to make myself useful.' In my mind's eye she travels through the neat kitchen with it's lacy curtain windows into the emptied front room with rows of chairs.
'I walked right over to the funeral attendant and asked if there was anything that I could do to help,' she revealed as she rocks back and forth in her recliner. 'And after a little while he said, ' Could you help us bring in the coffin?' As a smile creeps across her face she explains, 'There was nothing left to do but go and do it. I walked out the front door and helped haul in the coffin.'
When she finished the tale I thought to myself how remarkable - she made the best out an awkward situation. In another visit to her house this lady remarked about the length of a funeral service. 'Lord have mercy there were a lot of people at the church and the service continued on and on. I just don't understand it - you can't preach somebody into heaven.'
Although you cannot always control what happens to you, you have the power to control your reaction to the world and these choices shape your future. "Most people are as happy," Abraham Lincoln once wrote, "as they make up their minds to be." This cautionary statement beseeches us to remember what is important in our lives and follow our hearts.
A few years ago an Appalachian Lady revealed a captivating story about embracing life. While sitting in her recliner she glanced around the country farmhouse and mused, 'Did I ever tell you the story about going to the viewing of one of my neighbors?' With eyes still glued to her I shook my head 'no' and she commenced telling her tale. 'Well, the family was going to have the viewing for him so I got in the car and carried over the food I made for the family.'
In my mind I imagine her traveling in her caramel colored boat of a car along winding roads and emerging from the car in her well put together but no nonsense colored dress. 'Once there,' she explained, ' I carried the food into the kitchen and sat it with the rest of the food on the table. I talked to the family for a while and then decided that I needed to make myself useful.' In my mind's eye she travels through the neat kitchen with it's lacy curtain windows into the emptied front room with rows of chairs.
'I walked right over to the funeral attendant and asked if there was anything that I could do to help,' she revealed as she rocks back and forth in her recliner. 'And after a little while he said, ' Could you help us bring in the coffin?' As a smile creeps across her face she explains, 'There was nothing left to do but go and do it. I walked out the front door and helped haul in the coffin.'
When she finished the tale I thought to myself how remarkable - she made the best out an awkward situation. In another visit to her house this lady remarked about the length of a funeral service. 'Lord have mercy there were a lot of people at the church and the service continued on and on. I just don't understand it - you can't preach somebody into heaven.'
Although you cannot always control what happens to you, you have the power to control your reaction to the world and these choices shape your future. "Most people are as happy," Abraham Lincoln once wrote, "as they make up their minds to be." This cautionary statement beseeches us to remember what is important in our lives and follow our hearts.
