Finding joy in difficult times

This week I will celebrate 1 year of being unemployed. It is the first time in my life that I haven't been able to find a job. In the past I've been unemployed before but always found work within a short period of time. This time it's been very different, I've only had 2 interviews in the past year. One of the interviews I was way over qualified for & knew I wouldn't get the job. The owner of the company even told that but it was nice to go through the process anyway. The 2nd interview just happened recently & it was in another state which could be the hang up. I've been told that companies won't move people anymore because there are so many people out of work.

I've been asked how I stay so joyful with all of this going on. The answer, to me, is continuing to live in the now. I have times when I get down just like anyone else but because of the practices I learned in my life these times don't last very long. I get frustrated because of not being able to find a job or doing anything to help contribute to the finances of our home but again I move beyond these troubled feelings because of trusting in God/universe.

The truth is I'm just like anyone else struggling to get by. The only difference is that because of the time & energy I've put into self growth I've been able to look at this time as a bump in the road of life. Over the past year I've continued to grow & writing this blog has contributed to my growth. In many ways this time has been very good for me. My self growth & spiritual growth have truly amazed me. It's rare in this world today to have time to focus on yourself the way I have & that's why I encourage each of you to take time for yourself even in your busy life.

I've gone through all of the emotions any of us would go through when something like this happens. I was truly scared to death when I was let go. I didn't believe we would make it through last summer but slowly I began to understand that with a little help anything is possible. I'm not sure, at this point, when I'll discover my next job but I remain open to God/universe & continue to stay living in the now. I truly can't be concerned about tomorrow because I don't know what tomorrow will bring.

The message I have for each one of you, is to know that life is a joyful celebration & no matter what is happening in your life there is always joy to be found. Look for the joy & let go of the pain. The choice is yours, you can live each moment to the fullest or you can coast through life amusing that when the next big thing happens you'll finally be happy. You have the power to change your life, I know because I've done it. Believe in the process & most of all believe in yourself.

Till tomorrow,

Hugs,

Bill

Quote of the day: "The discovery of joy in each moment is a choice we all can make. Let go of tomorrow & live your life to the fullest today."

BTW, if anyone is curious my last position was Tax Controller of a large real estate company, before that I worked 9 years with a Big 4 accounting firm. I also have 8 years in Banking/finance & have volunteered & worked for non-profits.

Celebrating my 200th Blog!

Today I am blessed to write my 200th blog post. I have never been big on milestones, I enjoy living in the moment & allowing the world to unfold around me. If you asked me last June if I would still be writing this blog, I would have said I really don't know. I began writing here through the urgings of many friends on twitter who enjoyed what I had to say about life. I have worked hard to keep this blog on topic, I veered off to share my daughters wedding last August & talked in Feb. for a week about my favorite national parks but all in all I've tried each day to write about the ways each of us can discover more joy in our lives.

The amazing byproduct of writing this blog is how much it's helped me to continue to grow & learn. The responses I've received for all of you have blown me away & I appreciate each & everyone of you. I don't claim to have all the answers. I only know that my life has changed dramatically over the years & I've been able to live an incredibly joyful life for a longtime now.

Things aren't perfect in my life & that's just fine with me. I've learned to roll with the punches & find the joy even in difficult times. In a small way I've tried to help to change the world. I believe in people & I know that each of us can affect the world more then we can imagine. Believe in the power you have inside of you, you are connected to everything & in that connection to God/universe everything is possible.

Thank you for your love & support but more importantly thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts & change your life. You are a co-creator of everything in your life. Create the life you want to live & watch it unfold before you.

Till Monday, enjoy your weekend.

Hugs,

Bill

Quote of the day:"You can create the life you desire. Believe in the power you have & know that love is the catalyst to finding a more joyful life."

Exercise

Do you exercise? I believe that keeping your body fit helps to lead to a better life overall. I was always very active in sports & I had one of those metabolisms that worked overtime until I was in my early 40's. I never really had to worry about staying in shape or gaining weight. That all changed when I hit my mid 40's after many years of sitting behind a desk doing taxes & not having the time (so I thought) to exercise I put on some weight. Once I realized it I got back into an exercise routine. Currently I ride my bike between 16-20 miles a day in the morning & hike with the dogs through our state park approx. 4 miles in the evening. Sure there's times it's a bit hard but overall I feel much better because I'm getting myself back into shape.

The type of exercise I actually want to talk about today is spiritual exercise. Everything I've written over the last 11 months about spiritual growth & living a more joyful life depends on taking the time to work on the things in your life that you need to work on. I know we're all busy & I know that many of us put our needs behind everyone & everything else that comes into our life. We need to stop doing that!! We need to put ourselves first at least most of the time. The work you do on yourself will lead to a more joyful life which in turn will help everyone else in your life. Take time delve into the subjects I've discussed. Find the trouble spots in your life. Work through these issues & reconnect with your true self (soul).

In taking the time to reflect, grow & work on the things we need to work on in our life we will discover the path to a better life. I know, you think about it all the time. You mean to get to it. I understand how life can get away from you, before you know it you'll be looking back & wondering where your life has gone. Stop coasting through life & learn to live life to the fullest. I believe in each & everyone of you because I've been there & I changed my life through the very things I write about. I love my life (other then the looking for a job part), I'm very happy with who I am. It took me a longtime to get there. I know how much work is involved but just like exercise for your body the return is amazing.

Take time for yourself today. Start an exercise program to improve yourself. Move beyond the norm in your life. Find a way past the EGO, let go of the need to help others for just a short time & take care of yourself, grow, learn & become everything you can be!!

Till tomorrow,

Bill

P.S. Tomorrow is my 200th blog I'm not sure what I'll write about yet but I would love to hear from each you on what blogs were your favorites. Thanks for all the support.

Quote of the day:"Exercise not only your body but your mind & spirit. Take time to do the work on you & discover a more joyful life today!!!"

Priorities

Have you set priorities for your life? Do you make a list of the things you want to accomplish? Do you even think about what's important in your life? So many of us just try to get through the day. Somewhere in our head we may have thought about what we want to accomplish in our life but we never spend much time really thinking about it. Before we know it we're 10, 20 or maybe even 30 years down the road in our life & we wonder what happened to the priorities we had for this life of ours.

It's easy to look back & figure out the big events in our life but to live the life we desire takes thought now. I've talked a lot in this blog about living in the current moment & discovering the joy that each moment has for us but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have priorities in your life. One of my first blog's was about creating a vision board & spending time each day in front of this board. This vision board should be filled with your life priorities. You should take time each day to sit quietly & focus on the pictures or words you post on this vision board.

If a vision board isn't your thing, write down the priorities for your life. Writing can be a strong way to focus on what you want to accomplish in your life. Look at the list of your life priorities, take time to focus on what you want to accomplish. Whether you use a vision board or just a list the important thing is to take time to think about what your want to accomplish.

Don't be rigid with your priorities, be willing to change them as new things come into your life. Being flexible in your life is extremely important. Things change all around us & as we grow things that were once important are no longer that important to us. It is by being flexible that we open our lives to the greatest number of possibilities. This flexibility is especially important in achieving our life priorities.

Taking time each day to think about what is important in our life will bring more of your priorities into your life on daily basis. Remember that the path we take to achieving these priorities isn't as important as achieving them. We need to release the results & allow God/universe to work for us.

Set your life priorities today, take time each day to think about your priorities & watch the world unfold before you. You have the power to create anything you want in your life. Believe in yourself & believe in the help that God/universe will send you.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "To accomplish your life priorities, take time each day to reflect on what's important in your life. Open your heart & allow God/universe to assist in creating the life you always dreamed of."

Seasons

With this weekend being the unofficial start to summer I thought it was time to look again at the seasons. As many of you know I've always had a very close connection to nature & to me the seasons of nature mirror the seasons we all go through in our life. With the start of summer we look to the fulfillment of all our efforts. The summer is a time to enjoy the hard work we've put into our own personal growth. We've made it through the darkness of the winter where we reflect on the past seasons & wait for the spring where we can begin to grow again.

Each season has a purpose within our life & within nature. Whether the timing of the seasons in our life coincide with the actual seasons in nature isn't important. Each of us goes through the cycles of nature: Winter (fallow times, time to strength our roots & self-reflection) Spring (rebirth, growth, storms) Summer (time to enjoy, time to relax & reap the rewards of our hard work in the winter & the growth we experienced in the spring) Fall (time to harvest everything we've planted & prepare for the winter). These cycles are something to remember & observe in your life. No matter how good or bad things are in your life you will move into the next cycle sometime. If you prepare for these cycles, as nature does, you will be ready to experience everything you should in the cycle you're in & you will understand that we all have fallow times & times to enjoy.

As we all get out into nature & enjoy the outside, whether it be our own backyard or a National Park, take time to reconnect with nature. Enjoy the summer, enjoy your life & remember the joy of this season so you'll be prepared when winter comes around again. You are ready to bloom, let go & be everything you can be.

Till tomorrow,


Bill

Quote of the day: "The seasons of our life mirror the seasons in nature, enjoy the summer & discover the joy in this special time of year."

Regrets

"Regrets, I've had a few; But then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do And saw it through without exemption."

A great old song from Frank Sinatra, I know I'm showing my age, LOL but the message is something to remember. There's really two parts to this message. The first is to let go of regrets. I've talked before about moving beyond the past. I've even given some techniques that I've used. Regrets will eat you up inside, know that what has happened has happened & there's no guarantee that things would have turned out perfectly if you had done something different. We love to imagine where we'd be if only I would have done this!! Or if I hadn't given up on that!! The truth is that you are exactly where you're suppose to be. The only time that matters is this present moment because it's all we really have.

The past is what formed us but by holding on to the past we limit our future. This is especially true with past emotions. We hold onto the emotions that formed us even when we believe we've moved beyond the event. We create triggers & sometimes we don't even understand that the reason why we react, in a certain way, is because of the buried emotions we've never let go. These buried emotions can cause extreme reactions like crying, fear or anger. The only way to live in the current moment is to understand these emotions, learn what the triggers are, acknowledge the feeling & then let it go. I know this sounds easy & truthfully sometimes it can be easy but other times it takes work. To allow yourself to feel the original emotion can be difficult. The longer it's been buried the harder it can be but to move beyond but you need to feel the hurt you've buried or you'll always be stuck in the past.

Regrets can be the same way. You are immediately pulled into the past looking at what would have turned out differently if you had done this or that. We wear our regrets as badges of courage sometimes. "If I hadn't taken that job I would have been a pro golfer" or something like that. The truth is we have no idea what would have happened if we had gone on a different path. We create a glorified reality to lift ourselves beyond the life we are living right now. We love to dream what would have happened & it's so easy to imagine the great successes we would have had. Let go of the regrets in your life & enjoy where you're at now!!

The second part of this song to me is to live your life without regrets. If we live in the current moment & stay connected to our true self (soul) we will find more joy then we can imagine. Understand that there's a reason for everything that happens in your life & although we can all run into rough patches in our lives. The way to move beyond these tough times is to stay focused on the beauty in the current moment. We have an amazing strength within us & this strength is born from our connection to everything. You have the ability to create the life you want, believe in yourself & trust in God/universe. Begin today & discover the true joy in your life.

Till Monday, enjoy your weekend.

Bill


Quote of the day:"Let go of the regrets you have in your life. Live in the now & discover more joy then you can imagine."

Harmony

Do you think about living in harmony? What does harmony mean to you? Everything in the world that we know both within us & outside of us is perfectly balanced. "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" as Issac Newton told us many years ago. Newton was talking about the physical world & his description is the law of motion but I believe this statement is goes much deeper then he ever intended.

I always look to nature. I think above everything else in my life my connection to nature has been the most consistent. I don't claim to be a naturalist, I just love to observe the way nature works. The harmony in nature is very apparent if we allow it to be. Animals control their numbers depending on the resources available or they are culled to an acceptable level by predators. We use to have a great connection with the earth & the creatures that live on it. Unfortunately through the industrial age we have begun to lose that connection. The earth is in disarray but I believe it will self-correct and return to a state of harmony.

In our lives harmony is just as important as it is in nature. When we live outside of the flow of life, we don't feel quite right. We become ill or depressed because the natural cycle of our life has been interrupted. Rediscovering the harmony in your life isn't difficult, it only takes time & an open mind.

Each of us should strive to only take what we give. We should take time to listen to the natural flow of our life. We should discover the joy of living in perfect harmony. I believe we all have a life's purpose & God/universe guides us along the path of life to lead us to this life's purpose. Sometimes we take a wrong turn but I believe that God/universe gently tries to nudge us back on course. Sometimes we get so lost the and path back to our life's purpose can take us our entire lifetime.

We become lost in our life because we've stopped listening & allow the EGO to take over. The EGO isn't interested in harmony, it only wants more & more & more. It's thirst can never be quenched. Allow the harmony to return to your life. If we each learn to live in harmony within ourselves the world will be a better place. Life is to short to be disconnected from your true source. Open your heart & listen to the natural flow of everything within & without yourself. Be in harmony & discover more joy in every moment.

Till tomorrow,


Bill

Quote of the day: "Rediscover the natural rhythm in your life. Discover harmony & find the joy that's missing."