It's always darkest....

It's always darkest before the dawn. Sometimes in life it's very difficult to believe that. We've all been through trials in our life & I'm sure there have been times for each of you when you felt that the darkness in your life was so dark that you'd never see the sun again. I've experienced this darkness before in my life & to me it always feels like being held under the water & needing to breathe. You feel like you'll never get that breath no matter how hard you try. But the God/universe will always help you even when it feels like they won't.

The truth is no matter how much you follow the exercises I've outlined before in this blog, there are times for all of us when we feel overwhelmed. For me I've learned that there can be great growth in these times of darkness & the most important thing is to trust in yourself & in the practices you've set-up. I know it's difficult to continue believing that "this to shall pass" but as with any storm in nature the darkness can't last forever.

So how do we make it through these times. As I mentioned above, you must continue to trust in yourself. This belief should be tempered with some self reflection. We need to take time when things are darkest to make sure we are acting from our soul & not our EGO. This self reflection should codify that we are on the correct path. That this vision for our life is what we truly want & it is in balance with the universe & our soul purpose.

The dark times will pass just as the sun rises each day. Try to remember the good times even when things are the darkest & remember to learn everything you can from the darkness. The knowledge you learn at these darkest times will help you grow & make it possible to avoid the darkness in the future.

Remember to always stay open & come from a place of love especially when things look their darkest. Through your commitment to loving others even when you need love the most you will find the sun again.

Until tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Even when life seems to be it's darkest, love will help you find the way to the light."

My latest video blog is now posted here, take a look at it & let me know your thoughts.


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The 4 letter word....

I've written a lot over the past 6 months about love. I truly believe that love will change the world & that each of us can find more love in our life by first loving ourselves. The word I haven't brought up before, mostly because it's the worst 4 letter word I know is: hate!

So often we discuss the power of our thoughts. These thoughts can manifest anything that we truly set them onto. But, we forget in our daily life that a byproduct of thought is words and I believe words are also very powerful. To many of us use the word hate for so many things in our life. I hate that TV commercial, I hate the cold weather, etc., etc.

The word hate & the meaning of hate is spewed out all over TV. We should hate this person for doing "that". We should hate that group because they are radicals. All of this hate adds up to less love in our lives. I rarely use the word at all. As I described above I think it's the worst 4 letter word I know because it's the opposite of everything I believe. For most of us though we use it as a throw away. It's one of the first words out of our mouths. We hold the word love back because we're afraid of being hurt by letting someone know that we love them but we use the word hate all the time.

Love is the answer to everything in our life. This doesn't mean that there won't be times that you're hurt because of love. But the amount of love you'll receive in your life by opening up and loving more, far out weighs any hurt you'll discover on the path to more love.

Let's agree today to stop using the word hate. Leave that word for the worst in people; use it only when it's absolutely necessary. By taking this small step you will reduce the hate in the world & through this vacuum, you will increase the amount of love in the world.

Till Monday, have a great weekend.

Bill

Quote of the day: "Let go of the casual use of the word hate and by doing this we can increase the love in the world."

PS Several people have asked about the photo under the title of this blog "Journey to Joy". It is a picture I took in the Smokey Mountains this past spring. If you want a copy of it let me know.

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Who Am I?

One of the most difficult questions any of us have to answer is; "Who am I?" that question is usually followed up with "Why am I here?". Many of us spend a lifetime trying to figure out the answers to these questions and some other's of us avoid these questions at all costs. Where do you fall in this spectrum?

For me the journey to get to know myself was a very difficult one. As I mentioned earlier in this blog I didn't like myself to much when I was younger. This was mostly because my Dad made me feel like nothing I could do was good enough. I wrote a wonderful blog about "not feeling good enough". I would recommend you give it a read if you are having this issue (I've moved all my old blogs over here). Once I got past the this feeling of not being good enough, I started to explore who I really was & what was important to me.

This process took me many years & a lot of thought & reflection. The truth is that although I've been writing this blog for almost 6 months now giving you tips to improve your life and all of these tips are things that I've used or had to work my way through in my life. The only way you can truly change your life is to take the time to get to know yourself. There may be things you discover that you don't like about yourself, that's ok. You need to discover these things to move past them. Forgive yourself for the mistakes you've made in your life. Remember the past is the past & you can't change any of it. So, forgive yourself & move beyond the things that you don't like about yourself. By moving past these issues you can begin to discover who you truly are.

In the world today we are always looking for the quick fix. We want the easy way out of everything. Discovering who are isn't something to shortcut. You need to take whatever time it takes to love yourself. Without having the ability to love yourself you can never fully love someone else. We need to have love to give love.

Once you truly know who you are & love yourself even with all your blemishes. You can begin to explore the question of "Why am I here?". This again can be a life long quest & the true answer may never be revealed to you but by taking time to explore this question, you are already on the correct path.

I personally struggle with this question. I know what I feel in my heart but whether I can actually make a living doing it is another large question. Sometimes we have to fill our souls with our true purpose without it being our job. That's ok as long as you find your fulfillment somewhere. For me currently this blog has been a great fulfillment for my soul.

Don't get discouraged, remember that the time you take on yourself is always the most important time you can spend.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Do you know who you are? Take the time to discover yourself & you will lead a more joyful life."

PS I've posted my latest video blog here. I hope you like it.



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Journey to Joy: Love - Let go of excuses

Winter

As we come upon the winter solstice I think it's a great time to reflect on what the winter means. I've never been a great lover of the winter even though I've lived most of my life in the midwest where the winter can be very hard.

I sit here today in Indiana where we're expecting a snow strom later today. Who knows if it will actually come but right now there's high winds & rain ahead of the expected snow this afternoon. As with everything in my life I try to look beyond what's ahead of me, so today I thought it would be great to talk about the wintertimes in your life.

We all have times in our life where things seem the darkest or the coldest. These times can be very tough for us to get through because we tend to forget about the "spring & summer" times of our lives while we're going through these "dark times.

The thing to remember is that our lives are tied to nature & in nature the winter is a time for renewal. Yes, I said renewal! Everything in nature during the winter is taking a pause to begin again. Every plant & most animals are expending as little energy as possible to be ready to begin their rebirth during the spring. They reflect on what worked best in the past so they can come back even stronger in the spring.

We all have winter times in our lives. Sometimes they come with the actual season & sometimes the come at other times in our lives. Take time during this "dark" time and renew yourself. Remember that winter; as all things in nature will end & the spring will come again. Don't be discourage that the wintertime has come, celebrate the time you have for self reflection & growth. Take the time to grow & be ready for the next spring of your life.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "The wintertimes of your life are times for renewal. Celebrate these dark times & preapre for your next spring!"

My next video blog is now available on Youtube.  I hope you'll take a look I've called it "Love-letting go of excuses"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBKHjTc6FQ&feature=autoshare_twitter


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Animals

Do you have animals in your life?  A dog,cat,bird,hampster or any other animal?  Animals add so much to our lives & our connection with them goes much further back then any of us can imagine. Man has been connected to animals from the very beginning of time & this connection fills an important part of our heart.  For many of us having an animal in our life is our only connection to nature.  This natural connection is something that you can find great comfort in.

Heidi & I have two Australian Cattle dogs; Sydney who's almost 9 & Adelaide who is between 8 1/2 & 9.  We adopted both of them from local shelters, which I highly recommend.  There are so many animals looking for a good home.

They add so much to our lives; in animals we find compassion & unconditional love.  We are also able to laugh at their odd behaviors. They bring so much joy to our lives.  I believe that there's nothing better then the love from an animal & all they truly want is love in return.

To me this connection with nature is an important part of our true nature.  I believe many of us have lost our connection to nature.  we can find great peace in the quiet of nature & the beauty we find in the outdoors can fill our souls & help us to grow in our lives.

The American Indians believed that if we lost this connection with nature there was truly no reason to live.  They also believed that every animal that enters your life has a message or a reason to be there.  A wonderful book that explains the meaning behind the animals that enter your life is "Animal-Speak" by Ted Andrews.

Reconnect with the animals in your life.  Find the quiet of nature & the pure love of the animals around you.  Through these connections you can find a more joyful life.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "There is nothing in the world like the unconditional love of the animals in your life."

My next video blog is now available on Youtube.  I hope you'll take a look I've called it "Love-letting go of excuses".  http://bit.ly/52wJTw


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Being Flexible

How flexible are you in your life?  Do you adapt well to changes in your plans?  In the past we've talked about change & how many of us fight change tooth & nail.  We do this because the comfort of our "normal" life to a large extend is intoxicating & although it may not be exactly what we want, we know it.  There is a great fear in dealing with change in many peoples lives.  This fear can limit our growth & lock us into a life that really doesn't have much joy.

So how does flexibility help us?  I believe strongly in goals, I personal set goals for many things in my life to help me clarify my intentions & to have something to head towards.  The difference for me is that I remain flexible with my goals because to me, life is about living & enjoying the moment your in.  Enjoying this moment can mean that your goals & intentions change or better yet you feel like they should change.  I think many of us become so rigid that even when something doesn't feel right anymore we continue to pursue it anyway.  We do this often because of our EGO, remember the EGO always wants to be the best.  It always wants the quickest solution & is only satisfied for a moment until it wants more.  So many of us hang onto our goals even if it doesn't feel right anymore simply for the satisfaction of saying "See I did this".

For me what's always worked best is to set these goals firmly after much reflection in all aspects of my life & then to adapt & change them as I go through my life.  There is a caution here, it's easy to become so flexible that you lose sight of what you truly want.  You may have a goal in your life that is fulfilling & something that is your life's mission & the flexibility can actually take you away from that life's purpose.  This happens because things occur in your life & as these things occur we are offered choices for the next step. These steps can leads us further & further away from our life's purpose & sometimes before we know it 20 years have gone by. We look at our life & realize we've never been able to do what we know is our life's mission.

So being flexible is important because it's through adapting that we can find great growth but be careful to always take time to reassess where you are & where you want to be.  If you take this time to connect with your soul & to continue to understand your true life's purpose being flexible will actually lead you closer to where you want to be.  Being rigid will only limit your grow & will take you further away from anything that's important in your life.  Remember that throughout our journey of this life God/universe always gives us signs that we are on the right path & helps us to move towards our life's purpose.  It's up to us to stay connected to our soul & to God/universe, as long as we take the time to stay connected & remain flexible with what God/universe sends us we will find joy in every moment of our lives!

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Remain flexible in your life & God/universe will conspire with you to create joy in every moment."

My next video blog is now available on Youtube.  I hope you'll take a look I've called it "Love-letting go of excuses". http://bit.ly/52wJTw


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