We all need a little help in coping with life from time to time. Days when we're down, days when nothing seems to go right. When the world gets us down we need some inspiration. I like to shut myself away and listen to some great songs or read some inspirational poems.

This is one of my favorite songs by the Carpenters. It's not as well known as many of their other songs but I love it - we should never forget our dreams even in the darkest moments. We should hold onto our dreams and one day we'll achieve them. Every time I hear the words 'We can still make the stars We can still break the bars We have built here on earth' I get a lump in my throat. Karen had such a lovely voice and tragically lost her life at an early age but her music lives on and can inspire us all.

Look To Your Dreams by The Carpenters

To say I'm old-fashioned would be quite semantically true
But make-believe passion has fallen from fashion's milieu
It's understandable why we're a little confused
It's asking for trouble just watching the six o'clock news
But for a moment, all things aside look to yourself somewhere inside.
Refrain:
Look to your dreams
Don't they still seem worthwhile?
Don't they still seem in style?
Aren't you glad they're still there?
Look to your dreams
There's a need for them now
When the world has us down
Aren't you glad they're around?
Once conceived, once believed fantasy's reality's childhood
And like a seed, visions need constant care like a child would, we
should.
Look to your dreams
We can still make the stars
We can still break the bars
We have built here on earth
Look to your dreams
And tomorrow may be better for you and me
The future may say
Blame blind yesterday for taking dreams away
The could mean more than they seem

On the same theme of holding onto our dreams this poem was sent to me in a get well card a long time ago. I can't even remember who was the friend who sent it to me but the lyrics are so beautiful that I committed them to memory and think about them when I need a little help getting through the day. I hope you like it too.

 Reaching for Rainbows by By Collin McCarty.

If We Don't Take Chances, then We'll Never Find the Rainbows

If we don't ever take chances,
we won't reach the rainbows.
If we don't ever search,
we'll never be able to find.
If we don't attempt to get over
our doubts and fears,
we'll never discover how wonderful
it is to live without them.
If we don't go beyond difficulty,
we won't grow any stronger.
If we don't keep our dreams alive,
we won't have our dreams any longer.

But...
if we can take a chance now and then,
seek and search, discover and dream,
grow and go through each day
with the knowledge that
we can only take as much as we can give,
and we can only get as much out of life
as we allow ourselves to live....

Then...
we can be truly happy.
We can realize a dream or two along the way,
and we can make a habit of
reaching out for rainbows
and coloring our lives
with wonderful days.

By Collin McCarty.

My next poem is by Richard Hosea and I particularly like the last two lines 'We must use our time bringing help to others, Bringing light and joy to all our brothers'. How very true and something to strive for every day.

Time Marches On

The Bible says, 'To every thing there is a time'
To every season there is a rhyme.
Time goes on with a relentless pace
Our lives are spent before we erase
Those dark secrets of the mind
Those secrets we want to leave behind.

Time is a Product from days of old,
But time is a commodity that can't be sold.
Yet, each of us has so many days,
We cannot add to this life's maze.
To buy one hour may be our goal,
It's still the truth no time is sold.

To the human race, much time is given,
For each to choose by what he's driven.
Our misused time is gone forever,
But well used time is wasted never.
We must use our time bringing help to others,
Bringing light and joy to all our brothers.

The last poem is a famous inspirational poem that I like to read when I have an important decision to make and can't see the way forward. Many times in life we come to a fork in our paths, a decision to take that may affect the rest of our lives. How to decide which path to take?  We may stand at the fork and be unable to decide one way or the other. Do we take the road that appears easy and bright or the one that may be harder but could yield untold rewards?

No one can make our decisions for us but once we've made the decision never look back in regret, accept what the future brings and know we made the best decision we could at the time. If it proves to be the wrong decision well, we can learn from our mistakes and move on!

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

For more inspiration visit Quote of the Day - Start your day on a positive note. You will find inspirational sayings, quotes, and proverbs filled with words of wisdom.

To read more about Karen carpenter see Battling Anorexia: The Story of Karen Carpenter