Tag: Life

Take the leap

Let me preface this by saying, my wife and I don’t typically plan in too much detail the things that we might do on any given day or weekend.  We are usually a spur of the moment couple.  We may take off and drive with no known destination and end up two or three states away.  This holds true to just about anything we do.

With that said, there are many things in our lives that could or should require more planning, more discussion, more details lined out, etc.  Depending on the event or task, we may tend to procrastinate.  That may be due to uncertainty, fear of the unknown or many other reasons.

Sometimes when we make plans, whether it is a day out or a major vacation, Those plans can be changed at a moments notice.  Or when we plan, we are expecting something specific for our experience.  This can lead to disappointment when those expectations are not met for some reason or another.

Our lives are meant to be lived.  We are meant to be a joyful people, experiencing life at its fullest.

My wife and I have just recently made a major move to another state with very little planning.  This is pretty typical of us, as mentioned at the start of this blog.  But, we felt that the time to do this was now.  So, we took the leap of faith and moved to our new location.

My point is, not everything in life is best planned out.  There are things we would like to do, but do not because of some reason.  One of the worst things we can do in our lives is not go after our dreams.  If we sit back and wonder, we will never know how it would have worked out.  It doesn’t matter if you succeed or fail, it only matters that you took the leap and tried.  If it doesn’t work out, you learn from it and keep moving forward.

There are so many amazing things in this life to see and to explore.  Don’t let anything stop you from chasing a dream.

Is there something you have been putting off that you are passionate about doing, something you want to see, something you want to try?  Take the leap and go for it.  Maybe it will take a small amount of planning, but don’t plan yourself right out of doing whatever it is that you want to do.

Always keep your head up, your eyes facing forward and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Remember, don’t keep looking back, unless you are looking to see how far you have come!

Until next time…

Life’s Lessons

We all go through life leaning things on a daily basis.  Some of those things are new skills, school lessons and just everyday items.  But, there are those things throughout our lives that make a big impact on us for one reason or another.  Things that maybe we have heard others talk about or maybe have seen played out in someone else’s life but, we ourselves have not fully believed, learned or experienced those things to allow them to impact us in such a way that they become a lesson for us.

Some of the lessons I have learned, some long ago, some more recent, I will list below.

True love is possible.  The kind of love between two people that surpasses all understanding.  The kind of love that creates a bond stronger than chain.  The kind of love that creates more than just a relationship, marriage or union between two people.  It creates a friendship and complete support system for each another.  True love is not just in the fairy tales.  It is REAL!

Common Sense.  This is one that I have realized long ago but, more so on a daily basis.  Common sense in general has been killed off by our society.  All you have to do is read or watch any source of media outlet and you will see what I am talking about.  It seems more and more prevalent that people have lost that thought process or totally choose not to use it and are just out to create drama, get something for themselves or make news headlines for some selfish reason.

Worrying.  We all worry about something everyday.  That is natural.  The thing about worrying is, that if you allow it to consume you,  it can cause other issues.  It can even bring us into a state of depression.  Think about it for a second, what does worrying actually do for the situation?  It does not bring a resolution.  It does not cause the very thing you are worrying about to go away.  It does not make it easier to deal with.  It is simply an emotional state that can cause us to constantly ask why, how or what if in our minds.  I say all this lightly because I struggle with this one as well.  There are ways to deal with this.  We can take a step back, re-evaluate the concern and then focus on the parts that we can physically have an impact on and the other, we have faith that it will work out as it should.  We can seek out help from family or friends.

There will always be something that we can worry about.  Just don’t allow it to consume you.

Patience. We have all heard Patience is a virtue.  I actually wrote a blog on this subject last year (https://wordpress.com/post/risingabove.blog/70). This is another that I have to really focus on daily.  Being patient is difficult, but not impossible.  In reality though, there is little that we can do about the things that we have little patience for.  It really is about US.  A couple of things that test my patience is the going to the grocery store and sitting in traffic.  I cannot control either of those situations.  If I want to get groceries, I either decide to wait patiently in line or I go to another store where I might face the same scenario.  As for traffic, all I can do is wait.  I can’t push others aside so I can get through.  So, it really is about how we deal with the situation.  We can choose to be patient in those times or we choose not too.

Remaining calm.  This one does not need a whole lot said about it.  Remaining calm in the face of confrontation is far better than the opposite.  Reacting harshly will usually have an even more negative impact on the situation, while reacting in a calm, well mannered way will douse the fire.  Whether we find ourselves in these situations at home, work or out in public, the way that we react or respond to situations impacts all those around us.  Think about this the next time you experience a situation where how you react, will determine the way the outcome will go.

 

These are just a few of the things I wanted to mention.  There are many more and I could go on and on with more lessons I have learned.  I hope that this may bring insight to others and maybe even have you jotting down those lessons in your life that have had an impact on you. Whether it be at a young age or older.  It is never too late to learn something new or gain a new perspective.

Until next time…

Different on Purpose

What a crazy world we live in today. We live in a world that is ever changing. We also live in a world that is full of hate. This hate stems from people seeing things differently. Having different opinions, different tastes, different likes, etc. The reasons for all of the hate and discontent could go on forever I believe.

We as nation will find a reason to not like something even if there is no reason for us to. Makes sense, right? (That was rhetorical) But, it is true. If there is something we are not interested in, we will find a reason to not like it. But, in reality, there is no reason for us to try and find an excuse to not like this or that when it is something we just aren’t in too. We could just simply say, not interested, not my cup of tea, not something I’m in to, etc.

Instead we search for a reason to dislike or in some instances even hate whatever it is. I believe this is because this is how our society has evolved. It seems now it is common practice and sometimes expected that if we are not interested in something or someone, we must have a reason for it other than it just isn’t something we are in to.

When society asks us if we like something, the simple answer of No, is not accepted without further explanation. Why can’t we just accept someone’s answer of NO, and leave it at that?

All of this is so true when it comes to us. People. How much hate have you seen because we are different? Because we have different color skin. Because we come from a different country?

The fact of the matter is, every single one of us on this planet was created DIFFERENT on PURPOSE! We were all created for a higher purpose. We see how so many people are treated differently because they are DIFFERENT. Whether it is because their skin is a different color or that they have lots of money or none at all. Maybe, it is because they are missing a limb or have some other handicap.

What makes someone superior to anyone else because of a difference that someone has? We were all created in the same way. Everyone is different in some way. There is one unique thing that every single person on this earth was given when conceived. Something that is not like any other person. Our fingerprint.

This shows us that we were created to be DIFFERENT ON PURPOSE! It is our unique identity. It tells us who we are.

There is always going to be things that people do not agree on. There will always be those differences in the world. But, when it comes to physical or material differences, why don’t we embrace those?

Instead of saying, I have more money than you, why not use some of that to make something better for another? Instead of saying I can’t do this because I have this handicap, how about take those challenges you have faced and share with others that may need help or inspiration?

Everyone of us has something we can offer to someone else. It doesn’t matter how big or how small that something may be. We all have a purpose. Some of us find that purpose early in life. Others a little later, and some may never find their true purpose.

Just because you are different in some way, shape or form, doesn’t mean you are not as smart as someone else. It doesn’t mean that you are not capable things others can do. It doesn’t mean that others are superior to you. It simply means you are different. That is what makes this world such and amazing place. If everyone were the same, think of how boring this place could be.

We were all created to be different. We all have a unique identification. We all have a purpose. We all have something that we can give. Look past the differences. Whether those differences are in yourself or in someone else.

If you haven’t found your purpose yet, go find it! If you have, then use it to help someone or something.

“Your only limitations are those that you have placed on yourself”

“The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5)

Until next time…

What is Life

What is Life…

You know, I ask myself this question and I begin to add to the question like:

What is life about

What is life meant to be

What is my purpose in life

You could add many more thoughts to the start of that question.  The thing is, if you answer just the three words I initially put down, “Life can be whatever you make it to be” for you.

I have been reading a lot on my social media accounts, facebook  and Instagram mainly and there are so many quotes on life that are going around every day.  The quotes have to do with personal growth, chasing dreams, building businesses, etc.  It is amazing all the positive influence that is out there.

Back to what is life.  Life is what we make of it.  From the moment you wake up in the morning, you begin making decisions, choices of how you are going to start your day.  Whether you think about it or not, if you get up in the morning and start complaining about how tired you are or how you don’t want to go to work, or you get up and begin being grateful, you are making a choice on how you are going to start and go through your day.

Life is all about choices.  Choices only you can make when it comes to YOUR life.  You can choose to wake up and be negative or you can choose to wake up and give thanks for the new day.  How you choose to go through your day is solely your decision.

The choices you make today can determine the path you take tomorrow.  Life is not easy.  The choices you make will not always be the right one at that moment.  Some people call that failure.  I call it a life lesson.  I call it a chance to learn, to improve on an area of your life.

This life that you have, you only get one go around.  So, use it wisely.  Make positive choices.  Choose to be grateful for what you have.  Choose to say a kind word to someone rather than looking the other way.  You really do get out of this life what you put into it.

So, what is life?

Let’s add to it….”What is life about for ME”  What do you want out of this life?  You want a new job? Go after it.  You have had a dream of starting your own business, well then, go start it.  You have a goal of loosing weight and being healthy?  Start your plan today.

It is all about choices.  Start making some of those decisions you have been putting off.

Until next time…

Chase your dreams

Happy New Year…

Here we are with a new year upon us.  A fresh start.  A time of kick starting our ambitions.  A time to be refreshed and ready to go after anything, right?

For many people this is the case.  At the start of a new year, we begin to make our new years resolutions.  We begin to look ahead and plan for things that we know are coming during the course of this year.

When it comes to making new years resolutions, some of us stick with the more common like getting fit, eating right, loosing weight, etc.  And for the majority, these resolutions are all but gone within the first couple weeks of the new year.  Not because we really don’t want these things, but simply just may not have the desire, the discipline or the passion to carry them out for the entire year or make them our new way of life.

Then there are those of us that reach for the stars.  We resolve to start a new business.  We resolve to get into the ministry.  We resolve to go back to school in order to further our careers.  Now the previous, more common resolutions I mentioned, I would consider them as superficial.  They are more about appearance and the health of our bodies and are easily thrown to the side after a short time with no major consequences.  The next ones go a little deeper.  They are more ambitious and require more desire and discipline to accomplish.

All of these are good resolutions.  They deal with health and wellbeing as well as personal achievements.  The thing is, so many of us just go through each day running through the motions with no real perceived purpose.  The fact is that it doesn’t need to take a new year to bring a fresh start in life.  Every single day that we wake up offers us a new opportunity, a fresh start.

I would say that if asked, the majority of people would say they have some sort of goal in life.  Some sort of dream.  This could vary from person to person as much as night differs from day.  The fact is though, that most of us have a goal or dream in life.  The problem is, we either don’t see that the dream or goal is possible if we take steps towards it or we just don’t see it as all that important.

This life is meant to be lived!  And that is exactly what I plan to do with mine.  I have learned  that my procrastination gets me nowhere.  I have dreams and goals of my own and they will not come to fruition unless I pursue them with passion and discipline.  Everyone out there has the possibility to accomplish anything they set their mind too.  You may need to learn something or develop a skill set, but the possibility of accomplishing your goals and dreams is only limited by your belief that you can.

I have fallen into this same belief many times.  I have often allowed the opinions of others to persuade me to not go after a goal or dream.  I have often not thought to highly of myself or believed in myself again detouring me from chasing something I really wanted.  We have but one life.  Every new day is a new start.  To brush off the things of yesterday.  To look back and learn from a mistake and start again.   Everything you see every single day was at first a thought or vision in someone’s mind before it came to be.

You have the right to go after  your goals and your dreams regardless of what anyone else says or the opinions they may have.  They are YOUR dreams.  This year, go after those dreams.  Go after that goal you have.  I would first tell you to do this:  write down your dreams and goals, not only for this year, but for the years to come.  When you see them on paper, it makes a big impact and that is the first step.  The next thing to do would be to develop a plan.  The plan does not have to be an elaborate plan, but a plan that will take you one step closer every day to your goal.

Make sure to record your successes and your failures along the way.  This will give you something to look back at, to give you encouragement and something to learn from.

I have heard it said that if your dreams don’t scare  you, then they aren’t big enough.  I am starting to understand this concept.  Dream big, reach for the stars.

We started out talking about resolutions.  Again, there is nothing wrong with resolutions so long as we stick to them.  I would encourage you to think about life long resolutions.  Resolutions that go deeper into who you are, who you want to be, how you can be a better person.  I am currently reading, Resolved 13 Resolutions for life , by Orrin Woodward.  It talks about life long resolutions like character, leadership, purpose, adversity, etc.  These will definitely be my resolutions for this year, with hopes of making them part of my everyday life.  I believe these life long resolutions will help me with my goals and dreams for this year and beyond.

So, I will ask the question, what will you do with this new year?  Do you have goals and dreams?  Do you aspire to do something greater or something you are very passionate about?  Do you desire to make a living at something other than your normal day to day job?  Do you know what your purpose in life is?  (We all have a purpose in this life)

Then I would say to you, go do it.  Go chase those dreams and let nothing stop you.  You have the ability, you have what you need to begin going after whatever it is you want to achieve in this life.  Setbacks will happen.  Things will be tough at times.  You will encounter opposition.  These things are merely lessons to be learned or maybe they are a redirection, a better way of getting to your end goal.

The sky is not the limit, your imagination is.

 

I hope that everyone has a very blessed and happy 2018!

Chasing Dreams

Until next time…

 

The past

From the moment we are born our history, our past begins. Of course, at that young age and for many years after that we have no idea no knowledge of this. It isn’t until later in life or as we get old enough to begin seeing or thinking about things we did in our past. These could be things that were fun that we did with our friends our families. They could be things we said or things we saw.

And of course, the older we get the more of a past we accumulate. We all have a past. It doesn’t matter whether it is good bad or anywhere in between. It’s there. Our pasts can tell stories. We have heard stories from our grandparents and things they did or saw long ago. These stories can tell us a lot about our family members that came before us. They can show us how we learned to do different things. They can teach us.

The problem with our past is that it can hold us back from our future. I am sure there is at least one thing in each of our past that was not the greatest moment, idea, choice, etc. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s one thing or many, these not so good moments if you will, can keep us from moving forward. There is a common misconception that we (I) tend to believe at times. It is, that our past is what tells us who we are, who we can be or what our remaining life will be like. It is, that our past determines our future.

Yes, our past can tell us many things. It can tell us the mistakes we’ve made. It can show us the bad choices or bad roads we’ve taken. It can bring back many memories, some good, some not so good. The other bad part about our pasts, others around us use our past choices, failures, slips and falls against us. Even long after those things were done. People like to judge others according to their past. This happens in all parts of our lives. They like to bring them up time and time again. This happens with spouses, family members, co-workers, etc.

With all of that said (so much more could be said), there can be a bright side. Just as I stated earlier, our past can teach us many things provided we listen and learn from it. You see, we all make mistakes. We do it every day. At home, at work, at the store. We are human, it is going to happen. Learn from it. Your past doesn’t have to determine your future, unless you are using it to better yourself. Unless you are using it as a change point in your life. It is possible to get past the strongholds of your past. It will take determination. It will take work. But, it is possible.

I am going to go outside of my comfort zone for a minute (Very difficult I might add)

This was a huge struggle for me for many years. Now as I said earlier, we all make mistakes. So, my life was no different. I have had ups and downs just like anyone else. So, with certain choices I made or mistakes I made, failures, etc. I not only had to deal with them myself, I had to deal with things people said. I had to deal with those things being brought back up to me numerous times long after that fact. People had said some pretty hurtful things to me.

With all this, I really struggled to believe in myself. I struggled with my self-worth, my purpose in life. You see, I allowed all the negative things to consume me and basically take over. I didn’t think that I would amount to much. I didn’t feel like I could contribute anything of value in any area of my life.

Here’s the thing, it is possible to overcome those things in your past and even the things people like to say about them. I am so very thankful for all that I have experienced in my life. The good, the bad and everywhere in between. It has taken a long time but, I have used my past as a reflection of where I have been, not of where I am headed. I don’t dwell on it nor on the comments of others regarding it.

So, here is my point, our past is what it is. It will not change. It will always be what it was. The strongholds of our past can be broken. We can learn from it. We can use it as fuel to help us progress into the future. This can be in your personal life, it can be regarding your career, it can be in any area of our lives. The thing to not do is, to hold onto your past. This is true whether it is some success or a failure. Because even holding on to a success you had in the past, will only last for so long before it begins to hinder you from moving forward. Holding onto a failure, allowing it to bring you down emotionally can take a toll on you over time. This again will hinder us from moving forward with our life.
Learn from your past. Take key points from your past and use them as fuel to help you progress. Don’t dwell on the negative too long. Focus on the positive and keep moving forward.

The more time you spend looking back and dwelling on the past, the more you are going to miss the most beautiful thing right in front of you, LIFE.

 ludwigmiesvanderrohe1

 

Life is what YOU make of it. Don’t let others determine that for you.

Until next time…

Life’s a dance

“Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. It doesn’t matter what you don’t know, life’s a dance you learn as you go” John Micheal Montgomery

You know, there is a lot of truth in this song. If you have experienced life at all, you know good and well that life is full of all kinds of twist and turns. It is full of uncertainties and expectations. Life is full of highs and lows, happiness and broken hearts. The list of what life is and what it can have in store is almost limitless.
Everyone has a different story. Everyone experiences these ups and downs, successes and disappointments and the like at one point or another in their life. That’s just life. Each of us has a different idea of what life is. To one it may be climbing that corporate ladder. To another it may be a life of missions in a third world country. The good thing is, that neither of these two mentioned or anywhere in between are the right or wrong thing for everybody.
We all have different goals and ambitions in life. That is what makes this life go around.
There is not a step by step guide to take us through this life. We begin this journey the minute we are born. Life is about learning as you go. That is how we get to where we want to be. We learn to crawl, to walk, to talk, etc. If we didn’t learn as we went, we wouldn’t be going anywhere.

Just as the song says, sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow. Those times when we follow is a time to learn. We can learn a lot by following, provided we follow the right things. Things that build us up. There are those times where we follow the not so great paths. (Been there many times myself) Even in these times we can still learn from what we experience.
Then there are the times that we lead. Many times this can come with successes in our life. It is a time to reflect on what we have learned and possibly teach or encourage others. There have been many times in my life that I have experienced both. I have learned a lot about overcoming trials and obstacles.
Life is not about going all out until you get knocked down and then just staying there. It is about getting back up, dusting yourself off and continuing on. It is about chasing your dreams. It is about the journey. If you hit a wall, either find a way around it or climb over it.

Life is not perfect. Our world is pretty messed up at times. It is not always pretty, but it is also not always doom and gloom. Life is what you make of it. Life is a journey, not a destination.

So, regardless of whether you are leading or following or anywhere in between, you will step on some toes or get yours stepped on. There is nothing wrong with either, so long as we learn from it. Life is full of lessons to be learned. Life is meant to be enjoyed! Life is meant to be lived!
It doesn’t really matter what you don’t know, we learn as we go through this thing called life.  Learn from your experiences. Build upon your successes.

Life’s a dance, enjoy it!

Until next time…