January 16th, 2012
Looking Up Newsletter
Looking Up Newsletter
Hello everyone,
Today, we played hooky and ran off to play. I hope you were able to find some playtime during your day today too.
take care,
Skye Thomas
Tomorrow's Edge
...inspiring leaps of faith
www.TomorrowsEdge.net
Books, articles, newsletters,
life coaching, and horoscopes.
...inspiring leaps of faith
www.TomorrowsEdge.net
Books, articles, newsletters,
life coaching, and horoscopes.
Find out more about who you are...
Or if the two of you are compatible...
Or what's coming up around the next bend in the road!
This Month's News of Interest:
The February astrology forecasts will be sent out to the subscribers and posted to the website by the end of this week. Here are the links (hit refresh if the new forecasts do not show up)...
Personalized versions are also available. Find out what 2012 has in store for you!
The New Year is here. Find out what to expect this year. Each book contains the 2012 Overview and all twelve of the January through December 2012 monthly horoscopes for an individual zodiac sign. (Only $5.95 each!) Here are the links...
Who is Skye Thomas?
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow's Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps of faith. Her books, articles, and astrological forecasts have inspired people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of happiness. To read more of her articles, previews of her books, and her astrology forecasts, go to www.TomorrowsEdge.net. To read more about Skye and to read archives of this free weekly newsletter, go to www.SkyeThomas.com.
Skye Thomas Websites
Quote of the Week:
You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. - Mary Tyler Moore
When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. - Betty Bender
When once you have tasted flight you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward: for there you have been and there you will always be. - Henry Van Dyke
Feature Article of the Week:
Sometimes, for whatever reason, we give up and quit. Sometimes, we run out of resources or start up capital. Sometimes, our children, parents, friends, and loved ones need us during their time of crisis and we gladly put our dreams aside to rush to their aid. Sometimes, we are simply burned out and no longer feel motivated to take action despite still seeing the validity of the objective. Sometimes, we do not have the skills, education, or credentials that we need. Sometimes, we simply cannot do it alone and help is nowhere in sight. Sometimes, political powers make it very difficult for us to accomplish our goals because our aspirations conflict with their ideology. Sometimes, our competitors succeed at sabotaging our efforts. And sometimes, we feel like we do not have the strength to pick ourselves up one more time to keep moving forward, so we decide to just stay down for awhile while we catch our breath and regroup. We suspect that someday, somehow we will get back up on that horse again, despite feeling that right now in this moment, we just cannot go on anymore.
This article is not about how to solve the problems and remove the roadblocks that cause you to want to give up and quit. This is about giving yourself permission to get back up, dust yourself off, and make another go at it. All too often, once we give up and quit, we assign the “loser” or “failure” labels to ourselves and then assume that role in society. It is a noble place in society, the person who gave it a good try and failed. We get to hold our head up as one of those people who had the nerve to at least try compared to those who never do. And we can smugly tell others who follow in our footsteps where to watch out for pitfalls and why they too should expect to fail. Thus telling ourselves that we are also using our hard earned wisdom to assist others and to ease others from landing as hard as we did when we made our own face plant. Yes, there is the nagging sense that we are indeed losers and failures, but there are enough small benefits that it is not so uncomfortable that we actually have to take action and move away from having tried and failed. After all, there is no shame in trying your best and then failing. Right?
For all the comfort we get from our peers and dear old Mom telling us that we are still lovable even when we fail, losing still haunts us. Life is never stagnant. At some point, circumstances change. Sometimes, they change in our favor and sometimes they don’t. When things get worse, we shrug it off and reconfirm our choice to give up and quit. But when things get better, when competitors leave the market, when political ideologies change, when creative new ideas come to us, when new technologies make it easier for us to wear more hats and not have to hire help, when it looks like our old dreams and goals become more do-able, then what? Then we wrestle with the concept, “Do I try again? Do I take another risk? Do I put myself through all of that again? Now what?”
At this point, the question is, “Do I dare to hope? Or do I surrender to my fears that things will probably fall apart again?” At this point, it is easy to weigh the pros and cons, play around with statistics and probability analyses, and to fantasize success while also visualizing failure. This is all good and well. One should never make big decisions lightly or without all of the relevant facts on hand.
Sometimes, making the decision is easy. You dreamt of being a rock star when you were a teenager. Now, with home recording equipment and the Internet, it is possible to launch your music career and self-promote as an unsigned independent artist. However, you are older, wiser, and no longer see that dream as anything more than a youthful fancy. You no longer have the desire to work that hard or to put your spouse and children through the uncertain financial future of being a musician. Therefore, even though you may enjoy dabbling and playing around with such things, you decide to keep your “real job.”
It can also play out the other way, and saying yes to resurrecting your dream is easy. You wanted to start your own business. You created an excellent well thought out business plan, ironed out all of the details, analyzed the market’s likely response to your goods and services, and you have the expertise, confidence, and tenacity to make great things happen. However, you could not raise the start up capital. No matter how brilliant your business proposal and no matter how enthusiastic your sales pitch, you could not find an investor who believed in both you and your dream. Then along comes an old friend from high school you haven’t seen in years and not only do they have the ability to finance your idea, they are excited at the opportunity to co-create it with you. Therefore, it is easy to say yes and give it another try.
But what about when favorable circumstances are not overwhelmingly favorable, but just “more favorable”? Or when your competition leaves the company, but that does not guarantee you the next job promotion? Or when creative new ideas might work, but are not guaranteed to work? Or when you have acquired enough new knowledge to know what you did wrong last time, but not much more than that? Or when some wave of “change is in the air” washes over you and you just feel motivated again? Or when nothing at all has changed other than you feel deeply called to try again because the dream haunts you and will not let you quit with peace of mind? Then what? How do you give yourself permission to hope again when the hard concrete evidence validating the logic behind rekindled hope does not exist?
To this I give you three questions to ponder. One or more may apply in your personal situation.
Number 1) Let’s say that accomplishing your goal brings good into the world. For example, you are going to become a teacher, write music, run for office, cure Cancer, or some other dream that is not completely self-oriented, like “I am going to lose 20 pounds before my next birthday.” Your goal is in a service-to-others industry. In your own way, you are trying to make the world a better place.
Ask yourself, “If I work really hard struggling for years to bring my little gifts to the world, and it only helps two people, was it worth it?”
This question was posed to me by a well-meaning acquaintance years ago. I was going through a tough time. I wanted to write my little books and articles and to give my little speeches around the country to help others learn how to be happy. However, it seemed that no matter how hard I tried to help my own friends and family, they kept reverting back to negative self-destructive behaviors that kept them from living the life of ease and joy that they could so easily have had if they would just heed my well-intentioned advice. My question to this wise person I knew was, “Are you sure the world even wants to be happy? Maybe I’m just wasting my time trying to force something on people that is not really in their nature?” Without a “market” to sell “happiness” to, how could I possibly succeed? He then asked me, “If you spend the rest of your life writing your books and traveling all over the world giving speeches. And your words reach millions of people, but in the end, only two people are truly moved, only two people are able to really “get it” and apply what you are teaching, you only have a profoundly positive life changing effect on two people. If that happens, then was your lifetime of hard work and effort all for naught?” And so, throughout the hard times, whenever I was tempted to give up and quit, I would remember those “two people” and for them I would carry on.
Find how this line of questioning would apply to your own dream and ask yourself that same question.
Number 2) Ask yourself this question, “Who else would you be?”
Is this a dream that holds a piece of your soul? Are you at the very core of your being a musician, artist, writer, singer, leader, civil rights advocate, politician, chef, doctor, etc. For some people, a dream is just a dream. For others, it is about becoming who they already were. Look at someone like Oprah, she majored in journalism and wanted to become “Mary Tyler Moore”. She did not necessarily have the goal of succeeding at the level that she did, but at the core of who she is – is the personality that needed to educate, inspire, uplift, and entertain people. She simply became who she already was. The same is true for me; I was never not a wordsmith who meant well when offering unsolicited advice to anyone who would listen. At times when life required that I put my dream on the backburner for a while, I missed “being” the kind of person who goes after this kind of a dream despite the odds, more than I did the actual writing, speech giving, or any other part of the actual “doing.” And so, it may be with you. Are you able to spend the rest of your life NOT being who and what you really are? Can you say no to a music career because deep down it is fun, but not really something that haunts you and owns you? Does the music call to you, never leaving you alone, always screaming to be birthed through you? Then, who else would you be?
Number 3) If I could promise you that you would only fail two more times and that on the third attempt, you would achieve everything your heart desires and more. If I had a crystal ball and could promise you this without question, would you do it? Would you put yourself through two more failures in order to get to that “third times a charm” place in the universe?
I often hear from aspiring writers who are feeling quite discouraged because they have been turned down by a handful of perspective publishers. They need to ask themselves, “What is the average number of rejection letters the average unknown writer receives before a publisher finally says yes to them?” I remember at one time hearing that it was something like 27, and telling myself, “Okay, well I need to hurry up and blow through the first 26 rejections so I can get to that 27th one who will say yes.” Of course, we all want to be one of the lucky ones who gets a ‘yes’ sooner than what normally happens for the average writer. However, if you go into the whole process prepared and steeled for 26 rejection letters, it makes it a lot easier than if you go into it saying, “I applied to three and got rejected all three times, so I must not be any good at writing.”
Mulling over these questions does not guarantee you success as you contemplate once again giving hope a chance, but if you are on the edge and thinking that you just might take one more leap of faith, they can help you to remember why you wanted to fly in the first place. And of course, there is my old favorite from the Talmud, “If not now, when?”
Or if the two of you are compatible...
Or what's coming up around the next bend in the road!
This Month's News of Interest:
The February astrology forecasts will be sent out to the subscribers and posted to the website by the end of this week. Here are the links (hit refresh if the new forecasts do not show up)...
Aries February 2012 Horoscope
Taurus February 2012 Horoscope
Gemini February 2012 Horoscope
Cancer February 2012 Horoscope
Leo February 2012 Horoscope
Virgo February 2012 Horoscope
Libra February 2012 Horoscope
Scorpio February 2012 Horoscope
Sagittarius February 2012 Horoscope
Capricorn February 2012 Horoscope
Aquarius February 2012 Horoscope
Pisces February 2012 Horoscope
Taurus February 2012 Horoscope
Gemini February 2012 Horoscope
Cancer February 2012 Horoscope
Leo February 2012 Horoscope
Virgo February 2012 Horoscope
Libra February 2012 Horoscope
Scorpio February 2012 Horoscope
Sagittarius February 2012 Horoscope
Capricorn February 2012 Horoscope
Aquarius February 2012 Horoscope
Pisces February 2012 Horoscope
2012 Yearly Forecasts
Free 2012 Overviews are posted on the website. Here are the links...
Aries 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Taurus 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Gemini 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Cancer 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Leo 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Virgo 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Libra 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Scorpio 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Sagittarius 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Capricorn 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Aquarius 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Pisces 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Taurus 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Gemini 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Cancer 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Leo 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Virgo 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Libra 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Scorpio 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Sagittarius 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Capricorn 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Aquarius 2012 Yearly Horoscope
Pisces 2012 Yearly Horoscope
What Will 2012 Bring?
The New Year is here. Find out what to expect this year. Each book contains the 2012 Overview and all twelve of the January through December 2012 monthly horoscopes for an individual zodiac sign. (Only $5.95 each!) Here are the links...
Aries 2012
Taurus 2012
Gemini 2012
Cancer 2012
Leo 2012
Virgo 2012
Libra 2012
Scorpio 2012
Sagittarius 2012
Capricorn 2012
Aquarius 2012
Pisces 2012
Taurus 2012
Gemini 2012
Cancer 2012
Leo 2012
Virgo 2012
Libra 2012
Scorpio 2012
Sagittarius 2012
Capricorn 2012
Aquarius 2012
Pisces 2012
Kindles, Nooks, and other e-reader versions are available…
Barnes and Nobles…
Paperback versions are also available too…
Paperback versions are also available too…
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Who is Skye Thomas?
Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow's Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps of faith. Her books, articles, and astrological forecasts have inspired people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of happiness. To read more of her articles, previews of her books, and her astrology forecasts, go to www.TomorrowsEdge.net. To read more about Skye and to read archives of this free weekly newsletter, go to www.SkyeThomas.com.
Skye Thomas Websites
Quote of the Week:
You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. - Mary Tyler Moore
When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. - Betty Bender
When once you have tasted flight you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward: for there you have been and there you will always be. - Henry Van Dyke
Feature Article of the Week:
Getting Back Up On That Horse Again
Sometimes, for whatever reason, we give up and quit. Sometimes, we run out of resources or start up capital. Sometimes, our children, parents, friends, and loved ones need us during their time of crisis and we gladly put our dreams aside to rush to their aid. Sometimes, we are simply burned out and no longer feel motivated to take action despite still seeing the validity of the objective. Sometimes, we do not have the skills, education, or credentials that we need. Sometimes, we simply cannot do it alone and help is nowhere in sight. Sometimes, political powers make it very difficult for us to accomplish our goals because our aspirations conflict with their ideology. Sometimes, our competitors succeed at sabotaging our efforts. And sometimes, we feel like we do not have the strength to pick ourselves up one more time to keep moving forward, so we decide to just stay down for awhile while we catch our breath and regroup. We suspect that someday, somehow we will get back up on that horse again, despite feeling that right now in this moment, we just cannot go on anymore.
This article is not about how to solve the problems and remove the roadblocks that cause you to want to give up and quit. This is about giving yourself permission to get back up, dust yourself off, and make another go at it. All too often, once we give up and quit, we assign the “loser” or “failure” labels to ourselves and then assume that role in society. It is a noble place in society, the person who gave it a good try and failed. We get to hold our head up as one of those people who had the nerve to at least try compared to those who never do. And we can smugly tell others who follow in our footsteps where to watch out for pitfalls and why they too should expect to fail. Thus telling ourselves that we are also using our hard earned wisdom to assist others and to ease others from landing as hard as we did when we made our own face plant. Yes, there is the nagging sense that we are indeed losers and failures, but there are enough small benefits that it is not so uncomfortable that we actually have to take action and move away from having tried and failed. After all, there is no shame in trying your best and then failing. Right?
For all the comfort we get from our peers and dear old Mom telling us that we are still lovable even when we fail, losing still haunts us. Life is never stagnant. At some point, circumstances change. Sometimes, they change in our favor and sometimes they don’t. When things get worse, we shrug it off and reconfirm our choice to give up and quit. But when things get better, when competitors leave the market, when political ideologies change, when creative new ideas come to us, when new technologies make it easier for us to wear more hats and not have to hire help, when it looks like our old dreams and goals become more do-able, then what? Then we wrestle with the concept, “Do I try again? Do I take another risk? Do I put myself through all of that again? Now what?”
At this point, the question is, “Do I dare to hope? Or do I surrender to my fears that things will probably fall apart again?” At this point, it is easy to weigh the pros and cons, play around with statistics and probability analyses, and to fantasize success while also visualizing failure. This is all good and well. One should never make big decisions lightly or without all of the relevant facts on hand.
Sometimes, making the decision is easy. You dreamt of being a rock star when you were a teenager. Now, with home recording equipment and the Internet, it is possible to launch your music career and self-promote as an unsigned independent artist. However, you are older, wiser, and no longer see that dream as anything more than a youthful fancy. You no longer have the desire to work that hard or to put your spouse and children through the uncertain financial future of being a musician. Therefore, even though you may enjoy dabbling and playing around with such things, you decide to keep your “real job.”
It can also play out the other way, and saying yes to resurrecting your dream is easy. You wanted to start your own business. You created an excellent well thought out business plan, ironed out all of the details, analyzed the market’s likely response to your goods and services, and you have the expertise, confidence, and tenacity to make great things happen. However, you could not raise the start up capital. No matter how brilliant your business proposal and no matter how enthusiastic your sales pitch, you could not find an investor who believed in both you and your dream. Then along comes an old friend from high school you haven’t seen in years and not only do they have the ability to finance your idea, they are excited at the opportunity to co-create it with you. Therefore, it is easy to say yes and give it another try.
But what about when favorable circumstances are not overwhelmingly favorable, but just “more favorable”? Or when your competition leaves the company, but that does not guarantee you the next job promotion? Or when creative new ideas might work, but are not guaranteed to work? Or when you have acquired enough new knowledge to know what you did wrong last time, but not much more than that? Or when some wave of “change is in the air” washes over you and you just feel motivated again? Or when nothing at all has changed other than you feel deeply called to try again because the dream haunts you and will not let you quit with peace of mind? Then what? How do you give yourself permission to hope again when the hard concrete evidence validating the logic behind rekindled hope does not exist?
To this I give you three questions to ponder. One or more may apply in your personal situation.
Number 1) Let’s say that accomplishing your goal brings good into the world. For example, you are going to become a teacher, write music, run for office, cure Cancer, or some other dream that is not completely self-oriented, like “I am going to lose 20 pounds before my next birthday.” Your goal is in a service-to-others industry. In your own way, you are trying to make the world a better place.
Ask yourself, “If I work really hard struggling for years to bring my little gifts to the world, and it only helps two people, was it worth it?”
This question was posed to me by a well-meaning acquaintance years ago. I was going through a tough time. I wanted to write my little books and articles and to give my little speeches around the country to help others learn how to be happy. However, it seemed that no matter how hard I tried to help my own friends and family, they kept reverting back to negative self-destructive behaviors that kept them from living the life of ease and joy that they could so easily have had if they would just heed my well-intentioned advice. My question to this wise person I knew was, “Are you sure the world even wants to be happy? Maybe I’m just wasting my time trying to force something on people that is not really in their nature?” Without a “market” to sell “happiness” to, how could I possibly succeed? He then asked me, “If you spend the rest of your life writing your books and traveling all over the world giving speeches. And your words reach millions of people, but in the end, only two people are truly moved, only two people are able to really “get it” and apply what you are teaching, you only have a profoundly positive life changing effect on two people. If that happens, then was your lifetime of hard work and effort all for naught?” And so, throughout the hard times, whenever I was tempted to give up and quit, I would remember those “two people” and for them I would carry on.
Find how this line of questioning would apply to your own dream and ask yourself that same question.
Number 2) Ask yourself this question, “Who else would you be?”
Is this a dream that holds a piece of your soul? Are you at the very core of your being a musician, artist, writer, singer, leader, civil rights advocate, politician, chef, doctor, etc. For some people, a dream is just a dream. For others, it is about becoming who they already were. Look at someone like Oprah, she majored in journalism and wanted to become “Mary Tyler Moore”. She did not necessarily have the goal of succeeding at the level that she did, but at the core of who she is – is the personality that needed to educate, inspire, uplift, and entertain people. She simply became who she already was. The same is true for me; I was never not a wordsmith who meant well when offering unsolicited advice to anyone who would listen. At times when life required that I put my dream on the backburner for a while, I missed “being” the kind of person who goes after this kind of a dream despite the odds, more than I did the actual writing, speech giving, or any other part of the actual “doing.” And so, it may be with you. Are you able to spend the rest of your life NOT being who and what you really are? Can you say no to a music career because deep down it is fun, but not really something that haunts you and owns you? Does the music call to you, never leaving you alone, always screaming to be birthed through you? Then, who else would you be?
Number 3) If I could promise you that you would only fail two more times and that on the third attempt, you would achieve everything your heart desires and more. If I had a crystal ball and could promise you this without question, would you do it? Would you put yourself through two more failures in order to get to that “third times a charm” place in the universe?
I often hear from aspiring writers who are feeling quite discouraged because they have been turned down by a handful of perspective publishers. They need to ask themselves, “What is the average number of rejection letters the average unknown writer receives before a publisher finally says yes to them?” I remember at one time hearing that it was something like 27, and telling myself, “Okay, well I need to hurry up and blow through the first 26 rejections so I can get to that 27th one who will say yes.” Of course, we all want to be one of the lucky ones who gets a ‘yes’ sooner than what normally happens for the average writer. However, if you go into the whole process prepared and steeled for 26 rejection letters, it makes it a lot easier than if you go into it saying, “I applied to three and got rejected all three times, so I must not be any good at writing.”
Mulling over these questions does not guarantee you success as you contemplate once again giving hope a chance, but if you are on the edge and thinking that you just might take one more leap of faith, they can help you to remember why you wanted to fly in the first place. And of course, there is my old favorite from the Talmud, “If not now, when?”
Copyright 2008, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow’s Edge
Books by Skye Thomas
Love's Dance
Why Do I Keep Falling in Love With the Wrong People?
An Astrological Guide to Finding Love and Long-Term Companionship
Beyond the Inner Critic
When All Else Fails, Find Your Heart's Song and Sing Louder!
Inspirational Articles For Getting Past Those Days When Nothing Seems To Be Going Right
Voices: Divinity or Insanity?
Why Do I Keep Falling in Love With the Wrong People?
An Astrological Guide to Finding Love and Long-Term Companionship
Beyond the Inner Critic
When All Else Fails, Find Your Heart's Song and Sing Louder!
Inspirational Articles For Getting Past Those Days When Nothing Seems To Be Going Right
Voices: Divinity or Insanity?
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To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send a blank email to RemoveTextVersion@TomorrowsEdge.net. We will make sure you are promptly removed without any hassles. This may sound obvious, but send it from the same email address that we send this to or the automated system will think you are opting a new address into the system instead of removing an old one.
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Tomorrow's Edge
...inspiring leaps of faith
www.TomorrowsEdge.net
Books, articles, newsletters,
life coaching, and horoscopes.
...inspiring leaps of faith
www.TomorrowsEdge.net
Books, articles, newsletters,
life coaching, and horoscopes.
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