{"id":142,"date":"2007-01-10T12:17:41","date_gmt":"2007-01-10T12:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=142"},"modified":"2007-01-10T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2007-01-10T12:19:08","slug":"carpe-diem-seize-the-day-boys-make-your-lives-extraordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=142","title":{"rendered":"Carpe Diem. Seize the Day, Boys. Make your Lives Extraordinary!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robin Williams is one fine actor. He played a teacher in “Dead Poets Society<\/strong>” as he taught boys academically while he encouraged them to embrace life fully and in some unique – but healthy – ways. His comments – “Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” – has stuck with me since I saw that film for the first time in 1989.<\/p>\n

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If you have or are raising a boy you know what I mean when I say – boys will be boys. In the movie, they found themselves in some situations that took them to challenging places. Come to think of it, girls can easily be and do the same kind of things…although – come to think of it – I’ve never really heard the term girls will be girls. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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I believe finding oneself in challenging situations is what growing up is all about. After all, if you seize the day and it takes you to trouble, it’s not really where any of us WANT to be…just where we find ourselves winding up sometimes. It’s how you handle it that makes the difference.<\/p>\n

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As a young person, I remember doing a few things that “got me in trouble.” Most of the time I was a good girl, but there were times when I slipped. I think those times when I slipped helped me build character.<\/p>\n

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Let’s just put it this way, I have LOTS of character and I know many others who fit the same description.<\/p>\n

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It think one of the saddest things I see today are those people who are so comfortable with their existence that they don’t even think they need to seize the day…that it’s just fine to be exactly like they are. Now they may lead a comfortable and secure life with no apparent problems, but there is no enthusiasm for life and it shows.<\/p>\n

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Am I saying here that everyday is full of life changing events?<\/p>\n

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Darn right I am.<\/p>\n

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Each day we have on this earth can and does have something in it that can make us grateful we’re here. We just have to look beyond ourselves to see it.<\/p>\n

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If it’s one thing I’ve found since I started writing these daily reflections is that there ARE extraordinary things happening around me everyday. All of them are life changing and making me better at who I am because I choose to embrace them for what they are and make the best of them.<\/p>\n

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Are they all pleasant? No! In fact, some are darn right painful and VERY unpleasant.<\/p>\n

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And that is supposed to make us want to seize the day?<\/p>\n

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Absolutely!<\/p>\n

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Daily events help us all build character.<\/p>\n

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On my computer I have a quotation attached to it so I see it every morning when I open the computer. I can’t for the life of me remember where it came from, but it makes a difference in my day when I stop to read it.<\/p>\n

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It says “Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.”<\/p>\n

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My wish for you today<\/strong> is that you seize the day, embrace the challenges, and decide that you can make a positive difference in the world – one step at a time. We all ought to be able to say that our lives are extraordinary. Realizing just how lucky you are and taking the time to spread that good news among others can be quite a gift to lift the spirit to new heights. I encourage you to show others, by your actions, that they can be the same. Never mind if you’re not perfect. None of us are. Just strive to spread as much goodness as possible today and see if it makes a difference in your life.<\/p>\n

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~ Joellen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robin Williams is one fine actor. He played a teacher in “Dead Poets Society” as he taught boys academically while he encouraged them to embrace life fully and in some unique – but healthy – ways. His comments – “Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” – has stuck with me since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,19,24,16,27,4,3,31,30,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conflicts","category-religion","category-humor","category-life-events","category-living-life-to-the-fullest","category-relationships-marriage","category-relationships-singles","category-releationships-general","category-teenagers","category-serving-others"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}