workplaceissues.com Monday Motivating Moment Motivation: Thorns of Life

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Wonderment!

Monday Motivating Moment

May 17, 2010

Your Weekly Attitude Booster

Thorns of Life

We have a wonderful climbing rose near our front door that produces some really beautiful apricot colored roses. As I recently cut and prepared the roses for display as an arrangement, I suffered many pricks from the thorns on their stems. Needless to say, I wondered if I would not have been better off leaving the roses on the bush and enjoying their beauty from a safe distance. My thoughts turned from the prickly pain, to intrigue about the purpose of rose thorns, to the role that our personal thorns play in our personal lives.

My research about roses reveals that floral thorns serve as protection from animals that attempt to bite the plants. These animals quickly learn a painful lesson that may deter them from future attempts to eat the plants.

What about the thorns that we encountered in our personal lives?

What roles do they serve?

Do they get our attention?

Do they provide a painful lesson?

Are they something that we encounter as we go about the business of living our lives?

What about relationships that seem to be prickly and painful?

What about our jobs and careers that can cause some of the most painful moments as we attempt to experience the beauty of our opportunities to serve and make a difference through our roles and contribution?

Do we abandon these experiences, keeping a safe distance, or do we fully engage in making the most of them, while learning from the experiences?

Being fully engaged in life brings with it beauty and pain. It is because of the pain that we can fully appreciate the beauty. I will admit that I would like a little less pain and a little more enjoyment, but I have come to understand that both serve a useful purpose.

I am learning that while I can't avoid the painful experiences completely, I can be smart about it. I can thoughtfully and carefully remove the thorns of life, over which I have control. I can also wear protective gloves when harvesting, pruning or weeding the roses of my life.

But most importantly, I can remember that there is beauty to be found in all experiences and that being thoughtful in our approach to life, keeping our eyes on the wonderment that surround us and looking for the good in the prickly situations can allow us to enjoy the roses of life.

Affirmation for the Week:

"I can't wait to see what good comes from this prickly situation."

Have a week of wonderment!

Mary Rau-Foster,

A few weeks ago I told you about my husband's journey to cure his cancer. The website is www.fostercuringcancer.com if you wish to read his blog.

Copyright 2010 by Mary Rau-Foster. All rights reserved.
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