"As of lately in life, I've started really diving headfirst into writing a bucket list — and as quickly as I've been writing it, I've also been crossing it off. I'm a big believer in the power of positive thinking and I very much like to believe that the Zig Ziglers, Tony Robbins, and Buddhas in the world, really know what they're talking about. So it comes as no surprise that I'm a seeker outter of all things inspirational, motivational, moving, etc whenever surfing the web…. whether it's for ideas of where in this big world to go to next, how to take the next step in my most recent endeavors, or when needing to better cope with certain situations that present themselves in life.

I found an article recently that I passed along to a very dear and sick friend of mine and whilst sharing with her, thought it'd be good to share here as well. One man's recount of his challenging life and dealing with a chronic illness, and how he's learning to cope — and although it isn't the same, it provides a good outlook that maybe we all should abide by. After getting somewhat discouraged from diving headfirst into a motivational book that isn't necessarily for the seemingly unhealthy, the typical motivational book that encourages you to "just wake up happy & turn your life around – positive thinking will move mountains — (yeah so does God, but you still have to bring your shovel)" — anyway, the young man finally realizes that he can still take something from these books.

As someone with current poor health, he decides that he can still make healthy goals — he just has to set them a little differently than before. So he begins to set small goals for himself every day — and he relies on a memory of a book he once read about housecleaning — where the author suggests you set an over timer for ten minutes and see how much you can get accomplished. The outcome hopefully being to show the world just how much can be accomplished in small increments of time. Sure, there will be days where your body allows you to do more in those ten minutes but on worse days, ten minutes can be pretty demanding. Goal-setting authors suggest that goals must be measurable so one has to be very specific about what he or she is looking to accomplish. Undoubtedly, the goals are smaller and each less goal will take a lot more time to accomplish than highly inspiring ones in which we are encouraged to do more than we could ever imagine possible kinda goals — however, what the guy learned, and what I think we all can learn, is that goals can be set — goals can be reached — and your bucket list for 2011 doesn't have to be depressing.

Do what you can with what you have while you are alive. Suppose that's what mostly has ever been expected of us anyway. Goal setting is to inspire, to encourage and to provoke an experience with some sense of accomplishment."