Mirror, Mirror

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Are you the same person? Or are you a person who talks a good game but never lives what they say? I think we've all known people in our lives that always say the right thing & act just the right way but never really live the life they portray. Their life to a large extent is hollow & they never take the time to realize it. Do you know someone like that? Or could this person be you?

I know when I was younger that I not only knew people like this, I was one of them to large extent. I never truly wanted to look inside because I was afraid of what I might find. I really didn't like who I was because I never felt good enough. I walked through life pretending that everything was fine & that I was a great person. But when I looked in the mirror I knew the truth. I knew I was a hollow shell of a person. I knew that the way I dealt with things that happened in my life was to just bury it. The pain & hurt was hidden from view but would always come back to the surface. I stumbled through life, being very successful, but never feeling fulfilled and when something went wrong I would crash & burn. The spiral would drag me down quicker & the pain would be great. Not because of the event that just happened but because of everything that happened before.

I then decided that this way of life wasn't working for me anymore. I decided that the only way to live a fulfilling life was to look inside & deal with the pain of the past. I've written in the past about the process I went through. It wasn't easy but I learned that the past only has power over us, if we give it that power. If we're willing to let go of the pain, we can truly change our lives.

So who do you see when you look in the mirror? Know that you can be anyone you want to be. Know that nothing can hold you back, if you're willing to take the time for self discovery. We are all beautiful amazing people, stop pretending to be who you think you should be & become who you truly are!

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Fog

Are you living your life in a fog? Do you stumble from one day to another? Do you live only for the next big thing, the vacation or the weekend or whatever gets you excited?

Many of us are just content with coasting through our lives. Never really doing anything to upset the apple cart. We live each day only as a means to the end & we're content with the fact that there's no real problems. We're happy to think that life is about living only special moments & we live for them no matter how infrequently they come around. We are for all practical purposes just comfortable with our life.

Does this sound familiar? I use to be like this. I use to think that as long as things were ok everything was good. But I've learned that that's not the way to live your life. Life is about enjoying each moment of everyday. Not about coasting until then next big thing. Life is about learning & growing, discovering our true purpose & understanding that the only way to live a more joyful life is by letting go of the past, instead of being trapped in it.

Sometimes the work is hard & it's painful to grow & move beyond the old ways. But ignoring the issues only holds you back from the true joy you can experience with an open heart, living each moment to the fullest.

I've learned that if you ignore the issues in your life they will continue to come up over & over again. I believe the reason for this is because until we learn what we have to learn, in our life, we can't rediscover our true connection with our soul & thus God/universe.

It is only with an open heart that we can discover the love we have inside. Stop coasting through life & begin living it in each moment.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Move through the fog of your life, live in each moment & discover the joy life has to offer."

Power

The truth is power can be good or bad but today I'm not talking about power to control or even the power to lead. Today I want to discuss the power each of us have inside. Do you realize how powerful you truly are? You have the ability to change everything in your life with just your thoughts & the pure connection to your soul.

To me the soul is our connection to everything. It is the truest & most natural connection that we have. The unfortunate thing is we lose this connection as we grow because we discover our EGO. I've written many times about the EGO so let's just say that no matter what we do, the EGO will never been satisfied. It may be satisfied for the moment but never very long at all. It always wants more & always wants the next best thing. It takes us over so much that many of us spend our entire life just trying to make it back to our true connection with God/universe, our soul.

The journey of life is to rediscover that true connection with our soul. Some of us can, at times, reach that connection & when we do miraculous things happen. Everything in our life works in perfect harmony & just flows when we are truly connected to our divine source, the soul.

We have the power to not only change ourselves but to change the world around us when we have this true connection. Everyone today is searching for the quick & easy answer to make their life better. The answer is not something we seek outside ourselves. Don't look for what you think will make your life better. Instead look inside. Believe in you. Find the quiet within, discover the true connection with God/universe that is your soul. Sit quietly reflect on your life. let go of the pain of the past. Find the peace & love you have inside. Allow that love to fill you up & overflow to the rest of the world. Discover the joy of life in perfect harmony. Take the time to discover your true power within.

Till Monday, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Bill

Quote of the day:"Discover the power you have within yourself. Connect to your soul & rediscover the harmony we all can live in."

The Beauty of each day

I've always been a person who starts each day anew. I've been able to leave yesterday behind & look at each day as a new beginning. Sometimes the quiet of the morning is just amazing to me. It fills me up for the rest of the day. We, as many people in the U.S., have gotten a bunch of snow over the last few weeks. I would guess that we have at least 15-18 inches on the ground. It's been rather inconvenient getting around but as I sit in the morning looking out the front windows it's just so beautiful. The quiet of the neighborhood, the snow blanketing everything & the sun gently rising.

Yes these are moments I've learned to cherish. When I was younger I could never slow down, even when I saw beautiful things in my life I only stopped for a moment. As I've gotten older & gone through a true life changing transformation, I've learned to really enjoy each moment of the day & the mornings have always been my favorite.

Over the past many months (nearly 9) since I've been out of work I've truly enjoyed the time I take in the morning. I still wake every morning by 6 & for many months this summer & fall I would ride my bike between 25-30 miles in the state park near our house. My appreciation for the beauty of the morning has grown incredibly through this practice.

Start each day with a few moments to appreciate the beauty around you. Let go of all the noise from the day before. Be reborn in the glory that is your life. Open your heart to the beauty around you & fill yourself with love. By beginning each day with this simple practice you too can lead a more joyful life.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of day:"Find the beauty of each day by starting with a few moments to truly appreciate the world around you."

Truth

Ok, so I woke up this morning with Jack Nicholson's quote "You can't handle the truth" in my head & as I do every morning when there's a clear word or message in my mind; I give it some thought & try to decide whether there's something there to write about. I wondered how many of us can handle the truth about who were are?

Do you know who you truly are? Can you be honest with yourself? So many of us live in a fog when it comes to who we really are. We put on a face, or several faces, for the world but never truly explore who we really are.

In order to move forward to a more joyful life & be able to live in a true state of bliss we need to understand who we are & where we're coming from. This exploration into ourselves is something that most of us try to avoid at all costs. First off we avoid taking this journey simply because it takes time. Many of us use this excuse to justify not taking this journey. The second reason we avoid this journey into ourselves is because we're afraid of what we'll find.

Most of what we create in our mind isn't the truth. We allow our mind to run away with various thoughts. These thoughts sprinkled with our fears create a world that isn't real. We are so filled with the fear of what we might find inside that we never take the time to actually explore.

It doesn't matter what your deepest thoughts or desire are. The point is to discover who you are at your deepest level. Every thought & every pattern we create in our life can be changed but in order to live a life of more joy we need to know the starting point.

Once we understand who we are at our core we can begin to overcome the pain & fear that has held us back. Be honest with yourself, no one else needs to know the truth. Accept who you are, let go of the fear & become the person you've always wanted to be.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day:"Be honest with who you truly are, move beyond the fear & into a more joyful life."

Perfection

With the Olympics on my mind I thought about striving for perfection. Do you try to be perfect? Do you expect others to be perfect? These are both very difficult questions. I use to be a person who always strove for perfection & expected everyone else in my life to be perfect. For me this came from my feeling of never being good enough in my father's eyes. To make up for that feeling I tried to be perfect in everything that I did & I would get very anger with the others in my life when they made mistakes. But I would, of course, get even more angry with myself when I made a mistake.

This desire to be perfect was a driving force for many of the early years of my life. It totally consumed me & although I was still a positive person the life I lead was not very fulfilling. In fact my life was very inconsistent even when I always made the "right" decisions. The problem is that we are all humans & as human beings we make mistakes. It is through this realization that no matter how hard I try, I will make mistakes that I began my transformation.

Accepting that we all make mistakes & forgiving ourselves & others for the mistakes we make can move us to a new understanding of who we are. Striving for perfection leads us to trying to take control of everything in our life instead of allowing our life to unfold in front of us. Control rarely works the way we think it should & we end up blaming ourselves for the failures we experience in our lives. The truth is that if we live our life in the moment & let go of the need for control amazing things can happen.

In the Olympics all the athletes strive to be perfect even though they know that perfection is nearly impossible. Striving to be better & striving to do the best you can in any circumstance can certainly help you grow as long as you understand that you will always make mistakes. As with the athletes who lose a 1/10th of a point for this or that understand that you don't have to be perfect to live a more joyful life.

Let go of the need for control. Trust in yourself & believe in the others in your life. Live in the moment & enjoy the beauty of your life as it unfolds before you.

Till tomorrow,

Bill

Quote of the day: "Understanding that none of us, as human beings, are perfect can help us learn to forgive ourselves as well as others for the mistakes that are made. Through forgiveness we can lead a more joyful life."

Respect

What's happened to respect in our society today? It seems that everyone is so caught up in their own objectives that they don't have time to be respectful of the people that come into their life. I've mentioned before that I believe everyone comes into our life for a reason. If we don't pay attention to them & respect what they have to say to us, we'll never learn the message that they have for us. For our lives to move forward in the harmony we are meant to live in, we need to let go of our own expectations in all of the relationships that enter our lives.

The rudeness & noise that so many people deal with others is all EGO based. We all have EGO's & we need to realize that to live our life in harmony we need to overcome the me, me, me of the EGO. Every person deserves respect regardless of who they are, what they look like or where they come from.

In our forgone days we had great respect for others in our life, especially the elderly. We would always take time to listen to the wisdom that our elders had for us. We may not have always agreed but we would listen & respect what they had to say. This knowledge passed down through the generations has served us well in moving the world to a better place.

In our current time most of us are so caught up in our own agenda that we don't have time to listen or respect the others in our life. The messages we need to hear to move our life forward & to be in a more joyful place will never be heard if we don't respect the people that come into our lives.

Love & respect go hand & hand for me. If we can all begin from a place of love we can learn to respect all the people of the world & grow in love even more. People that feel their thoughts aren't respected or loved rarely share the wisdom they have. This wisdom can be the key that we need to progress beyond where we are. We will never know the messages that God/universe is sending to us, unless we take the time to open our hearts & respect everyone who comes into our life.

When we respect others, others will respect us. Take the first step to a more joyful life. Find the harmony we are all meant to live in. Be the person I know you can be.

Till Monday, I hope you have a great weekend,

Hugs,

Bill

Quote of the day: "By respecting others we can find the messages God/universe is sending to us. These messages will change our life. Open your heart, love & respect everyone who enters your life & you will have a more joyful life."