Here are some thoughts to think about. People mouth clichés all the time. They use it even without thinking.
Today I will challenge you to think through what you say. So listen to this carefully.
- When something is “new and improved,” which is it? If it’s new, then there has never been anything before it. If it’s an improvement, then there must have been something before it.
- When people say, “Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too.” What good is a cake you can’t eat? Should I eat someone else’s cake instead?
- When people say, “It’s always in the last place you look.” Of course it is. Why would you keep looking after you’ve found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they?
- When people say, while watching a movie, “Did you see that?” No, I paid P120.00 to come to the theatre and stare at my popcorn. What did you come here for?
- People who ask, “Can I ask you a question?” Didn’t really give me a choice, did they?
- Experience is the best teacher. Not really. As a country we’ve had a lot of experiences before but why do we never learn? Only evaluated experience is the best teacher.
- Practice makes perfect. I don’t think so. Just ask a golfer with a faulty swing. Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent.
Consider the following oxymoron and think through it.
Act naturally – How could you do that? Act and then be natural? Now think through the following words:
- Found missing
- Resident alien
- Advanced BASIC
- Genuine imitation
- Modern Antique
- Safe sex
- Airline food
- Good grief
- Same difference
- Almost exactly
- Government organization – were they ever organized in the first place?
- Sanitary landfill
- Alone together
- Legally drunk
- Silent scream
- Living dead
- Small crowd
Some times we speak words that were never well thought through. And many times we do things without thinking through it either. This story will illustrate what I mean.
A guy goes to the supermarket and notices an attractive woman waving at him. She says hello. He’s rather taken aback because he can’t place where he knows her from. So he says, “Do you know me?” To which she replies, “I think you’re the father of one of my kids.”
Now his mind travels back to the only time he has ever been unfaithful to his wife and says, “My God, are you the stripper from my bachelor party I slept with while my buddies and I were stoned crazy and getting drunk?”
She looks into his eyes and says calmly, “No, I’m your son’s teacher ..”
Oh-oh. Somehow your past will come to haunt you.
Maybe because you never thought through what you did.
Here’s the key.
We’ve done some pretty stupid things in our life and this is the honest truth. We’ve said some stupid things we were not supposed to say. Things we said and things we did that we are not proud of today. These things may come to haunt us today.
Deal with it. Ask forgiveness, make restitution and then move on. No one can live victorious lives if they are anchored on the past.
Everyday offers a brand new start. God is the God of second chances and this is why I love the part of Scriptures that says “His mercies are new every morning because great is His faithfulness.”
Don’t live in the past… you have already been there. Don’t just move forward. Move upward!
Good grief!
Good observation sir. Simply great!(?) hmmm….
wow, what words we may say without thinking through them before opening our mouth…good article, this is!
nice one before going to sleep…
The first time I saw you about five years ago as one of our keynote speaker during our annual convention for the PCP at Shangri La Edsa… I can’t help but admire your talent as a motivator. Since then… i have been following your work. Thank you very much for all the funny and yet inspirational blog that you shared to all of us. God bless you and your family !
Hi Sir,
i have your book One Day at a Time…. and i can say it has been a source of inspiration to me…. i am so moved by this article…. my past came to haunt me… at the most unexpected time…. thank you for this…. leaves us no choice but to really just move upward…. 🙂
Thanks for your words of wisdom. I agree, we fall into the trap of doing and not thinking through things, until it catch up on us. But God is good indeed because He can turn things around, and give us another chance to make things right. Move up, move up! 🙂
We all have shadows of the past that haunts us in the present. What’s important is that we make fault-realignment measures in order for us not to make the same mistakes again. I agree with what Mr. Francis has posted. We don’t just simply move forward but rather move upward. Thanks for posting a great article.
God bless and More Power!
Nice one sir, very inspiring. Let’s make the past our stepping stone for our success, yeah! God bless..
This is very inspiring. Thank you for keeping your readers inspired. 🙂
Thank you, Sir. You are a blessing to me.
HELLO Sir. Its really a great help reading your articles. I would like to thank my boss who recommends this site after I made mistake on handling my team.
thanks Fernando and please send your boss my regards as well.
thanks for this article… it somehow helps me to forgive my husband’s past infidelity. though, it is still hard for me, i’ll try coz as what you’ve said “God is the God of second chances and this is why I love the part of Scriptures that says “His mercies are new every morning because great is His faithfulness.”
hi sir…its nice and I’m amaze reading your articles…now I know what to do with my past…past is past but still it is part of our life…and I should move on and move upward….thanks sir….
Thanks Jam. We all struggle with the issue
Sir, thanks a lot for this article it really gave me an sight of not only moving forward but moving upward and not to deal with my past. I’ve been reading your column in the newspaper every Sunday and listening to your program on the radio every day and it really helped me a lot when it comes to my career. Please continue to inspire us. Thanks a lot.