Even in the best of lives, life can overwhelm us and take the wind out of our sails from time to time. The good part of that is, if we approach the situation with the right attitude we can steady ourselves and come out of it stronger and better than when “it” happened.
As we all know, that can be a lot easier to talk about than to do.
Many times when we’re knocked off our feet, we look to others for help. Indeed, friends can often help us to our feet, comfort us, and give us encouragement, but the real help to get through a tough situation comes from within.
The beliefs and the patterns we’ve established in our lives to that point will determine how we come through the situation. And whether we will be better or worse because of it.
If we’ve been aware and constantly looking during our lifetime, we’ve learned a lot of the simple “secrets” to make our lives better. And as simple as these things may sound, they can greatly increase our chances for happiness and success in life.
One of Those Simple Little Secrets
As I mentioned to you when I told you of Bill’s death in October of 2015, I was planning an exhibit event celebrating Bills’ life (and his work).
That event took place this past Saturday. Friends and patrons came from Maryland, all over Virginia, and most especially the surrounding 6 counties.
A friend who helped serve my guests that evening said to me after the event, “Theresa, I’ll say this: You surround yourself with quality people.”
That very simple thing is one of the secrets to making our lives better: Surrounding ourselves with quality people.
What are Quality People?
So you might ask, “What are quality people?”
The definition of the word quality gives you some clues. It basically means the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind. It implies having excellent standards — or at least working towards that.
To make it really easy you only need ask yourself some simple questions. Does this person move and inspire me to do my best, be my best, and give my best?
The same thing applies to what you watch for entertainment, the books you read, and the newsletters and websites you subscribe to. Are they helping you to be your very best?
Final Thoughts
By having friends who move and inspire us to be the best we can be, we can more easily establish patterns that lead to happiness and success in life. And we in turn, hopefully will inspire our friends in the same manner.
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Related Posts:
Victory – Success – It’s an Inside Job and Only You Can Do It
Gardening and Life in General – Walking in the Direction You Want to Go
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Theresa,
Thank you for this post. It was very timely for me, since I’m going through a rough patch right now. You are a quality person in my life who inspires me to be better. Thanks for creating this stimulating blog.
Theresa, In the modern world of everything being turned into a commercial commodity, even very holistic, personal matters of our lives, engaging in agriculture to revert back to give its due place is something I would say a great and noble task… Theresa, you do exactly the same.. To get the global agriculture released from the clutters of global agribased multinationals, the spirit of your effort is yet another perfect example for deeds of quality people.. I salute you for your thoughts and ideas in the post which establish the fact that AGRICULTURE IS A COMPLETE WAY OF LIFE THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE EARTH OUGHT ENGAGE …
Niwas (Sri Lanka)
Yesterday was the year anniversary of my father’s passing and I’ve been dealing with increased back pain as well so your post was a huge encouragement. You are one of the quality people in my life as well and I value you as a friend although we have never met in person. Know that you’re in my thoughts and prayers often. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and life with me and all of the readers of this blog.
I love this. My children, 8 and 5, are exposed to beautiful music, beautiful art, beautiful literature, inspiring ideas, God’s creation, amazing recipes… Despite what the “experts” say, even children this young are not too young (or uninterested!) to recognize quality by adult/learned standards. Teaching the habit of quality will enable them to, very easily…and naturally…, reject anything that is not of that standard. It’s not a stand on arrogant superiority, but a complete acceptance of the gift of all that is truly good and truly beautiful.
Timing……how could you know? One year ago almost to the day, my best friend went into the hospital. I was so happy to be with him every day until his death in mid December. I was so honored to be able to hold him when he took his last breath. He was my dad. A true quality person that set a wonderful example to anyone he came in contact with. Before reading this post I was talking with a friend that had lived next door to dad and she was telling me how much he is still missed by her and others in the neighborhood. In your first paragraph you talk about the “right attitude”, that was one thing dad used to preach to us. “anything you do is 95% attitude and 5% perspiration”. Theresa, as others have stated, you are my “quality person”. You have taught us so much and I always look forward to any new post from you. You feel like family, even though we have never met. Bless You
Theresa –
What a wonderful tribute to Bill. And it sounds like a wonderful time of mending for you as well.
Thank you so much for reminding me how important a good attitude is especially for getting through the roughness with style and grace.
Thank you for being such a top quality person in my life. Love to you.
Theresa, I was really touched by your honoring Bill the way you did. I didn’t know he had passed as I’m new to your blog. I appreciated your article and especially the “secrets” for handling life’s rough spots. It’s something to ponder, really considering having quality people in your life AND BEING a quality person in other’s lives. It’s quite a challenge for me to put into practice. Thanks for the excellence and quality you and your writings are bringing into my life and my gardening!