The Spirit of an Underdog

Yes, the unbelievable is on the verge of happening. Our hometown team & the University my wife Heidi graduated from, the Butler Bulldogs, will play tonight for the national championship. We've watched them excel for years but they've never made it this far in the schools history. In case you don't know Butler it's a small (4,000 students) liberal arts college on the north side of Indianapolis. It's been known for years, in the state of Indiana for its academic excellence. So what does this have to do with my blog "Journey to Joy"? I think we've all experienced feeling like the underdog in life, so let's explore that.

There are times in life that no matter how hard we work we don't feel like we are the best at something. The feeling of not being good enough is common thread that many of us have in our life. I wrote a blog on it a while ago "Being not good enough" check it out if you'd like.

Let's move beyond the feeling of not being good enough & look at the spirit of being the underdog. What's the difference? The difference is how you feel about yourself not what others think of you. When you feel not good enough that's an attitude that you've accepted from the programing of your past. When you're the underdog you believe in yourself but no one else may. In business I think this happens all the time. You aren't thought of highly by a boss but you consistently perform better then the others in the department. There's no way to explain why it happens beyond the fact that we all try to quantify & judge everyone in our life.

I believe that being an underdog can actually be a good thing in life because you consistently come through even though your not expected to!! So why does an underdog succeed? In life, as in sports, the underdog succeeds because of the belief in themselves or their team. They tune out what the world has to say about them & they work together to overcome the obstacles in front of them. This is a great way to live our life. There's way to much noise in the world & unfortunately this noise is often negative (There's no way you can do this or that). Letting go of the noise & believing in yourself is a great way to separate yourself from the others in the world.

Sometimes believing in yourself is difficult because you're not sure you can perform the task at hand. I believe we all excel at much more then we believe we can excel at. Too many of us believe what everyone else has to say about us. Whatever it is that you have to deal with in your life that you believe is beyond you. Take time to let go of the uncertainty, move beyond your EGO and reconnect with your soul (True self). In your soul you will know the truth, allow that feeling to grow. Even if you're uncertain about your true abilities move forward & God/universe will help you along the way. Things don't always go the way we plan but every step forward is a step of learning & growing. Take on whatever challenges you face in your daily life. Learn from everything you do & you can achieve more then you ever believe you can!!

Will Butler win tonight? Who knows, but everyone loves an underdog & anything in life is possible. Accept being the underdog in your life from time to time. Let go of fear & show the world what you can do!!!

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Being the underdog in life has it's advantages. Believe in yourself, let go of the noise from the world & anything is possible!"

Revolution

I woke this morning with The Beatles song "Revolution" in my head. I haven't written often on my process of writing but many times that's how I get my ideas, I wake up with something I can't get out of my head. I know I'm showing my age by mentioning this song but actually as I've gotten older I've come to appreciate The Beatles work more & more. Here's the beginning of the song:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

I think we all need a revolution in our life from time to time. It takes dramatic steps sometimes to change our life out of our normal pattern. I'm not talking about taking up arms or trying to change the government. I talking about changing our own life & the world as you'd like to see it.

I have written often about change needing to begin with each one us. If we all start by looking at ourselves & take small steps to change our lives the results would be incredible!! I know change isn't easy & some of us resist it simply because it's change, that's why we need a revolution.

When you listen to the lyrics of the song (Youtube video below)Lennon is talking about the same thing that Ghandi has talked about a peaceful revolution. Peace can be obtained in our lifetime if each of us is willing to find the love we have inside & let go of anger & violence. We have all become wound so tightly in the world today. Each of us ready to explode at a moments notice when things don't go the way we expect them to go. Let go of the expectations of others in your life. Allow people to make mistakes, we all do!! Discover the love you have inside & create the world you want to live in.

Thoughts are amazing things and a true shift in world consciousness can happen if we all work on changing our thoughts about ourselves & others. I know it's not easy we all have bad days & we all get angry every now & then. When you feel the anger coming on take a breathe and let it go, become an instrument of peace!!

Let's start the revolution today in each one of us!!

Now The Beatles:

Have a great holiday weekend, enjoy your friends & family at this special time of the year.

Till Monday,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Sometimes it takes a revolution to change our thoughts. Make the change towards love today & see the world shift with you."

The Flow of Life

I am always amazed at how God/universe works. I've written often about how any of us can create our own joy and how our thoughts control what happens in our life. Yesterday was the perfect example of that again for me. I won't go into all the detail of my day but whenever I come back from the Smoky's I have a fresh new energy. When I use that energy to set intentions wonderful things always happen to me.

I think all of us get worn down from time to time with the daily grind that we all go through. This daily grind wears down our spirit & sometimes it can leave us so drained that the intentions we have for our life don't have the energy to come into being.

We all need to take time to refresh ourselves. This can be a simple process of just taking a few minutes a day to reconnect with your soul (True self) or it can be a little getaway that will refresh your spirit. I take time everyday to be quiet & reconnect with my soul but sometimes in the busyness of life I don't connect as deeply as I do when I'm able to get away.

The next important aspect of setting your intentions is to let it go & detach yourself from the results. This can be the most challenging part of setting intentions. We all know what we want but for God/universe to work with us as a co-creators we need to set the intention & let go of the results. When you want something really badly it's hard to let go of the results.

Here's the process I use. I create an intention as I sit quietly. I Focus on my intention. I clearly state what I want to accomplished, then I release the thought & I am immediately grateful to God/universe for the help to make it happen. Once I release the thought I try not to think about it again until things start appearing in my life. When things start to appear in my life I am again grateful for everything that appears. This state of gratitude is the final step in having intentions become your reality.

There is a flow in life when things are working the way they should be. It's a great feeling to be in that state of "flow". Recharge your life, set your intentions, detach from the results & be grateful for everything that appears in your life. Do this everyday & you will have the life you could only dream of.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Discover the limitless energy we all have inside. Use this energy to set your daily intentions & your life will know no limits!"

True Love

Do you believe in true love? Do you think we each have a soul mate? Is there only one "right" person for each of us? I've contemplated these questions often in my life. I believe strongly in love but I've always believed that many people confuse love with infatuation. There is a natural high that comes from meeting someone new & going through the process of getting to know them. Far to often we believe this is love when in fact it's just infatuation.

I'm not here to say that love at first site can't ever happen but in actuality love at first site is more of a physical attraction then a deeper truer love. We all have many people who come & go in our life. Of these people there will be several that we feel a connection to. Usually these people will become our friends. The connection that we feel with others can be very complex. I believe that anyone we feel connected to reaches beyond our EGO & into our soul. This "soul" connection can lead to some very deep & meaningful relationships.

The people that we truly connect to in a deep meaningful way can make a huge difference in our life. If we're lucky we may find a handful of these people that can really make a difference in our life.

The feeling you get from these connections is far beyond the casual comfortable feeling we get with acquaintances & in some religions there is belief that the people we have these deep meaningful relationships with, have been apart of our life before & they are here to show us the way to a better life. What you believe isn't important, what's important is finding these connections.

Out of these few connections we may find true love. Love at this deep level takes time to cultivate & grow. When we actually take the time love will grow deeper then we can ever imagine. We can in fact find true love or a soul mate but it takes work to move beyond our EGO & make the true "soul" connection that can bring us beyond ourselves.

Relationships no matter how deep they are take work to continue them. This is because of the EGO. We forget about the deep meaningful connection we have with people because the EGO wants xy&z & if it's not getting it from the people in our life it looks elsewhere. In every part of our life we battle the EGO but it's no more prevalent then in relationships. Take time with the people you love, open your heart & listen. Let go of your superficial needs & find the connection of a lifetime. Discover true love & your life will never be the same.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"True love is a deep connection between the souls of two people. Remove your EGO & discover the connection of a lifetime."

Serenity

I begin with the beauty all around me. I take a breathe & suddenly I am not just seeing the beauty but now I become apart of the beauty. Even though I continue to walk on this mountain hike I am no longer just walking. I am going deep inside myself & I feel my soul being refilled.



The physical effort that I need to exert is difficult. The air begins to get thinner as we move from 3,100 feet above sea level at the beginning of the hike to 4,800 feet above sea level at the end of the hike. But even as I try to catch my breath & my legs begin to ache, it's not the physical feelings that I feel. It is the peace & serenity all around me. I am amazed at the quiet. Occasionally we come across other hikers but for most of this 3 hour hike we have only each other & the quiet of the mountain. It's the quiet that amazes me & in the quiet I discover the quiet inside of me. I am no longer hiking in the mountains I am on a journey to reclaim the connection I have with my soul & in part with everything that is.



The sound of the water is constant along the trail & in fact there are times we walk through the water as it makes its way to the mountain stream. We can still see snow & as we make our way to the top there is more & more snow along the sides of the trail. The wind begins to get stronger & we feel it blowing at times along the path when there are no trees to block.

The path ahead becomes very difficult as it's now all rocks & because of all the rain & the melting of the snow the path is very slick. We pause when we need to, to allow our legs to rest & to again catch our breathe. Every time we pause I go deeper inside myself. I feel that I have known this mountain my whole life even though I've never been on this hike before. The connection to each tree, stream & rock brings me back to time long before I was born. I imagine what it was like to encounter this beautiful area for the first time. I hear the birds & their song moves me to places I haven't been in a long time. As we continue on I wonder why this connection is so deep within me. I also question whether I've missed an important part of my life by not working in nature. I set my intention to find a way as I get older to be able to at least volunteer at some of these beautiful treasures we call the National Parks.

At last we make it to the top. The wind is now blowing over 40mph & it is actually very cool. The temperature has continued to fall as we made our way up the mountain. The view from the top is wonderful although it's bit odd because of the lack of green. The Smoky's always have vast amounts of green but since spring has been a bit slow to come here most of the trees haven't even started to bud. So the rolling hills now below us are more brown then green but the view is spectacular!!

We stand at the edge for a while & just take in the beauty. The words are difficult for me to explain the feeling I get when I stand on top of a mountain. I have done many times & vistas ahead of me cause my heart to swell & eyes to tear up. Its been too long since I've been able to feel this feeling. Its been too long since I've seen a vista like this & its been too long since I've been so deeply connected with myself.

The serenity of this hike is amazing & journey back to my soul is always deeper in these natural settings then anything I can feel at home. I capture these moments to always remember them so even when the world keeps me from coming back to the mountains, I am able to close my eyes & come back in my mind. This process serves me well even when I'm under great stress. Like a favorite song the picture in my mind of this moment brings back to me all the joy I have at that particular moment. I will never forget the memories of this walk & I will return often even if it's just in my mind.

We begin the hike back down & the body is starting to remind me of my age & lack of exercise over the winter. I'll be sore for days but I don't mind, the hike was well worth the pain. I wish for each you to find your place of serenity & to visit it often. It is only through the discovery of our inner self that we can be a beacon of light in the world today. We each need to be willing to take the journey to our soul & to discover our connection with everything. May your day be filled with peace & love.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"The serenity of nature calls me back to the true connection I have with my soul. Whatever opens your heart to this connection, take time for it today!"

Lost

Have you ever felt lost or disconnected in your life? Have there been times where nothing seems to go right? Dealing with the feeling of being lost or disconnected can be challenge. The truth is the more we fight to try to reconnect with our life, the more we push ourselves away.

When I was younger I thought I had the answer to everything. I was always fairly bright & I could figure out a way to make anything happen in my life. Life seemed to be easy. Unfortunately the truth was that in the end I was always disappointed. I never thought about the kind of life I wanted to live. I just went through life grabbing what I thought would make me feel better & more connected.

The truth is I was lost within my own life. I would will something to happen & do whatever was needed to make sure it did happen. Then I would wake up & realize that this "thing" that I willed into my life wasn't what I wanted at all. I was disconnected from God/universe & at the time I had no idea how to get reconnected. I didn't even really know or understand that there was a connection I needed to find in my life.....remember I thought I knew everything!

My life became a cycle of things going really well & then a crash would occur where nothing went right at all. During these times I felt helpless & truly disconnected/lost in my life.

Finally as I began to grow in my knowledge of myself & of the true connection I have with God/universe. I began to understand that I was never alone at all. I was only disconnected from my Source. This disconnection is very empty feeling and I hope you'll never have to feel it.

So how do we move beyond this feeling of being disconnected/lost? First we need to realize that many us walk through our life in a fog. Never truly even knowing what we really want. This fog, to a large extent, is caused by the EGO. The EGO wants comfort & always believes that if we get the "next" thing life will be better. Sometimes the EGO even believes that if we get the next thing (job, car, house, etc) we will actually be happy. This is the lie of the EGO, as long as we are searching for happiness outside of ourselves we'll never find it! Happiness isn't that great job or house, etc. Happiness is a state of being not the world around us.

The connection we all want in our life is the connection with our true self which I call the soul. Once you've made that connection in your life, your life will be amazing! The hard work is to love yourself & take the time to feel this connection. There are several ways to do this but for me it always begins with being quiet. There's way to much noise in our lives today & we are very easily distracted. We need to take time to look inside & listen. When you take this time everyday your life will be much more fulfilling & you will always be able to reconnect with your soul no matter what you're facing in your life.

Find your path to a better life today. Reconnect with your true self & discover the joy in being connected to everything.

I'm off to the Smoky's for a few days, thanks to a nice tax refund. If any of you are in the area...let me know maybe we can connect. I'll be traveling tomorrow so I won't be able to write a blog. I hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Hugs,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Whenever you feel lost in your life, take the time to reconnect with your true self (soul) & discover that you are truly connected to everything."

Being able to Forgive

Are you able to forgive others? or do you always hold a grudge? Forgiveness can be one of the hardest lessons we all need to learn. Sure at times it's easy to tell someone that you forgive them, but do you really? Or do you bury the hurt feelings you have?

Forgiveness is difficult for us because we know we've been wronged & our sense of fairness says that the person that wronged us should have to face some kind of punishment. The truth is that forgiveness can set us free. It is only through the act of forgiveness that we can move beyond the tragedies of our own life. By forgiving & moving beyond the pain of the circumstances, we discover a deeper love then we would ever know without learning to forgive.

Too often we say the words "I forgive you" & don't really mean what we're saying. Even if we're able to move forward with the person, we either hold a deep seated resentment about what they did to us or we choose to never trust them again. Both of these reactions are normal but extremely counterproductive. By forgiving another we aren't caving in on what we believe we are moving above the hurt & opening our heart to love.

One of the best ways to move beyond the past is through forgiveness. Whatever has happened to us in the past, we need to remember it's in the past. Once anything happens to us it can't be changed, so to move beyond the past we need learn to forgive. I try to remember two basic things: 1) We are all human beings & as such we all make mistakes. I am no better than you so I have no right to judge you. 2) Most people try to do the best they can. Their best may not be what we want to see but most people try to do their best.

These two truths helped me move beyond many of the things that have happened to me in my life. I learned to forgive, understanding that the people that hurt me were only trying to do what they thought was right & that they did the best they could. Even in circumstances of tragic proportion, Forgiveness will free us to live a better life.

So how do we forgive? I believe that forgiveness is a very personal process. I have found couple things that worked well for me. I sit quietly & focus on the pain that the other person has caused in my life. I allow myself to feel these feelings & then I let them go. I release these feelings to God/universe and my soul is lifted up. I feel love & a great calm. The other way I've handled this process is to write down everything that this person did to me & how what they did to me made me feel. Then I either rip up the paper or light it on fire. As the paper is being destroyed I again release those feelings & I am feel lifted up & freed from the situation.

Forgiveness is the only way to move forward in your life. It helps us learn to love regardless of the mistakes of the other person. Believe in forgiveness, discover true love & find more joy in your life.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Forgiveness moves us beyond the past. It teaches us to love unconditionally & opens our life to discover more joy."