GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY TRAILS . BLESSINGS
What you can do about feeling as if you've
lost control?
Have faith that something greater than you
will reach down and place you on the path
to recovery.
Joy bows its head when we are grieving,
but its nature is to rise up again.
Remember the unanswered prayer is never
the unheard prayer. Creator's answer may be
"not yet".

Happiness is Within You 

The “Happiness is Within You” story is a fable about a man who travels to a far-off land in search of happiness. He meets a wise old man who tells him that happiness is not found in distant places, but rather within oneself.

The wise man tells the traveler to seek out a certain tree in a nearby forest, which is said to hold the secret to true happiness.

The traveler searches for the tree, but when he finds it, he is disappointed to see that it looks like any other tree.

The wise man appears again and tells the traveler to cut the tree down and open it up. Inside, the traveler finds nothing but plain, unremarkable wood. Confused and frustrated, he asks the wise man what this means.

The wise man tells him that the true secret to happiness is not in external objects or circumstances, but rather in our own perception and attitude.

Happiness is not found in material things or in achieving external goals, but rather in cultivating an inner sense of peace, contentment, and gratitude.

The story is often used as a metaphor for the idea that true happiness comes from within, and that external factors can only provide temporary pleasure or satisfaction.

The lesson of the story is to focus on cultivating inner peace and contentment, rather than seeking happiness in external objects or circumstances. Love and Blessings

You can’t calm the storm. What you can do is calm yourself, and the storm will gradually pass. So do your best to breathe when negativity surrounds you today. Let calmness be your superpower. The ability to not overreact or take things too personally keeps your mind clear and your heart at peace, which ultimately gives you the upper hand

Sir Winston Churchill took three years getting through eighth grade because he had trouble learning English. It seems ironic that years later Oxford University asked him to address its commencement exercises.

He arrived with his usual props. A cigar, a cane and a top hat accompanied Churchill wherever he went. As Churchill approached the podium, the crowd rose in appreciative applause. With unmatched dignity, he settled the crowd and stood confident before his admirers. Removing the cigar and carefully placing the top hat on the podium, Churchill gazed at his waiting audience. Authority rang in Churchill’s voice as he shouted, “Never give up!”

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.