Following your bliss…regardless
Posted by Second Chance to Live on April 30, 2007
Welcome back to Second Chance to Live. I am glad you decided to stop by and rest. You are always welcome around my table. In life, events, circumstances and disappointments may redirect our experience. In an instant — like a switch on a railroad — life events can set us in the opposite direction of our hopes and dreams
In the process our hopes, dreams, and aspirations may be dashed. We may have lost limbs or suffered permanent brain damage. Our damaged bodies may subsequently limit our abilities. Consequently, we may be sad, angry or even bitter with life. I want to share something with you that revolutionized my world.
Who I am on the inside matters more than who I am on the outside. My body may be broken and battered by an injury. I may not be as smart as I used to be before my disability. And I may be discouraged at times, but that does not change my passion.
I am not my disability, my limitations or my deficits.
My passion resides within my being. My passion provides the mechanism that empowers my gifts, talents and abilities. Because my passions lie at the core of my being I can learn how to channel my creative energy even thou I may have a disability, deficits or limitations.
As I follow, develop and learn to channel my passions, the fruit of my purpose becomes apparent. My passions are channeled through my gifts, talents and abilities. My gifts, talents and abilities echo my passion. My passions subsequently point me in the direction of my destiny.
In the process I experience my purpose. In the process I fulfill God’s will for my life — one day at a time.
Although I have limitations because I am a traumatic brain injury survivor I am not limited. Although you may have limitations because of your disability, you are not limited. Regardless, of how you or I came to be disabled we do not have to give up on our passions.
We can learn how to channel those passions in ways that work for us. We can learn to experience life more abundantly. We no longer need to buy in to the notion that our circumstance are meant to keep us down. Instead we can learn to use our circumstances to empower our process.
We can learn to use those circumstances to enhance both our lives and the lives of those people in our world.
Today’s Thought
Be encouraged my friend. Your are a gift to your world. Our traumatic brain injury / disability is not meant for our harm. In reality what we have been given is a gift. What we thought was meant for our harm will be used for our good.
Our disabilities will direct our lives — like the switch on the railroad of life — in the direction of our destinies.
Although I could not see how my traumatic brain injury was to be used for my good some 41 years ago, I now know that to be true. More over through my experience I now realize that I have been prepared to be a messenger of hope.
Be encouraged my friend. More will be revealed to you.
Follow your passions. Follow your bliss. Take the time to breathe because you will learn how to channel your passions in ways that work for you. Do not give up on yourself or on your journey. You are on the right path.
Be encouraged my friend. You will find your way. Only believe. And if you have a hard time believing, believe because I believe. You can trust the process, a loving God and yourself. More will be revealed to us.
Here is my Contact page. Send comments and questions and I will respond to you.
Receive more articles like this one simply by clicking onSubscribe to Second Chance to Live by email.
Bookmark and Share Second Chance to Live with your friends through a Feed Reader
All material presented on Second Chance to Live is copyright and cannot be, copied, reproduced, or distributed in any way without the express, written consent of Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA All rights reserved. Expressed written permission is required to re-publish material presented on Second Chance to Live Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND
This entry was posted on April 30, 2007 at 9:11 pm and is filed under 12 Step Recovery, ABI: Acquired Brain Injury, Acquired Brain Injury, acquired brain injury and feeling alienated, Adult Children of Alcoholics, adult children of alcoholics and traumatic brain injuries, Adult Children of Alcoholics living with traumatic / acquired brain injuries, Bob Woodruff, brain injured soldiers, Brain Injury Associations, Brain Injury Education, Caregivers, Caregivers for people with traumatic / acquired brain injuries, celebrities with brain injuries, cerebral vascular accident, Children of Trauma, Closed Head Injury, Codependency, combating brain injury isolation, Desert Storm Veterans, Destiny, Empowerment and Inspirational Speaker, Empowerment Speaker, Families impacted by brain injuries, family, finding your bliss, Friends, Fulfilling your Destiny, Gulf War Veterans, head injury, Invisible Disability, Iraq War Veterans, Learning, learning disabilities, Learning to Accept Yourself as a brain injury survivor, Learning to Love Yourself as a brain injury survior, Life, life challenging experiences, living life on life's terms, living my destiny, living with a brain injury, Living with a Disability, Living with a Invisible Disability and feeling shame, living with a traumatic / acquired brain injury, Living with a traumatic brain injury and feeling shame, Living with an Invisible Disability, living with meaning and purpose, Major Media Outlooks, messages of hope, messages of hope and inspiration, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Personell impacted by Traumatic Brain Injuries, Military Traumatic Brain Injury Support Meetings, Motivaional Speaker, Motivational / Inspirational Speaker, No Longer a Victim, Ophra Winfrey, Overcoming Societal Stigmatization, Parents of children with Acquired brain injuries, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post Traumatic Syndrome and Suicide, PTSD, relationships, Revealing your Destiny, self-esteem, Self-Respect and Significance, Soldiers and Marines who sustained traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injury, stroke, Subdural Hematoma, Suicide and Hope, tbi adults, tbi children, tbi families, tbi veterans, traumatic / acquired brain injury, Traumatic / Acquired Brain Injury and Anger, Traumatic Brain and Comfort, Traumatic Brain Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury and being Bullied, Traumatic Brain Injury and Comfort, traumatic brain injury and frustration, Traumatic Brain Injury and Hope, Traumatic Brain Injury and Significance, Traumatic Brain Injury and What is my Destiny?, Traumatic Brain Injury and You, traumatic brain injury feeling alienated isolated, traumatic brain Injury in adults, Traumatic Brain Injury in children, traumatic brain injury in schools, traumatic brain injury Iraq, Traumatic Brain Injury Research and Resources, Traumatic Brain Injury Self-Esteem and Self-Worth, Traumatic Brain Injury Support Groups / Meetings, Veterans Living with Brain Injuries, Veterans of the Iraq War, Vietnam Veterans, Virginia Tech Shootings, What is my Destiny?. Tagged: a switch on the railroad of life, channel your passions, following your passions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
pam reynolds said
It brought tears to my eyes when I read the comment you made about not being as smart as you used to be. My daughter has battled with her accquired brain injury for the last 6 years- she is 22. She says all the time about how she constantly messes up and it breaks my heart. I am yet to find someone to spend time with myself because they have a hard time accepting her for who she is. I also love the- circumstances do not define who we are in this life- THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. Caregiver of a survivor
secondchancetolive said
Hi Pam,
God bless you. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. You are a blessing to me. I am sorry you and your daughter are struggling. I don’t know where you live my friend, but I would encourage you to seek out a traumatic brain injury support group in your area and get involved. Being around people who understand and are more accepting makes my life a whole lot better than being around toxic people.
I have experienced exclusion for much of my life, until I started to accept myself. I wrote an article on the topic of inclusion / exclusion. Please read my post, The Power of Identification http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/the-power-of-identification/ I have people in my life who refuse to accept that I am affected by my traumatic brain injury survivor. I choose to limit my contact with those individuals. I choose to associate with people who accept me.
I believe that we are all champions. I wrote a post on that topic. Please read my post, The Measure of a Champion and share the information with your daughter. http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/05/16/the-measure-of-a-champion/
I would also encourage you to read through the titles in my Site Map http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/site-map/ and spend some time reading through some of those articles. Although not all of the titles listed within my site map have traumatic brain injury or living with an invisible disability in their title’s the content of those articles is designed to help the reader to live life on life’s terms.
I hope the above information is helpful Pam. Please feel free to stay in touch with me and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. You can leave a comment or send me a confidential email and I will be in touch with you Pam.
I will say so long for now. Have a pleasant evening and God bless both you and your daughter.
Craig