Burning Fires

If the sky screamed colors of orange and red,

would we take notice.

If the winds grew hot and unrelenting,

would we take notice.

Nature's voice resonates its truth,

with years beyond our own.

If the forest crumbled into black ashes,

would we take notice.

If the birds soared with no branch to land upon,

would we take notice.

Earth so magnificent and wonderful, 

takes care alone in spite of us.

If we cried out from the smoke,

would we take notice.

If it all ended with nothing left,

would nature take notice.

Stay inspired my friends!

Colors Of Our Life

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!” ― Ted Grant

The picture above shows my Grandpa Gale, my mother Rose, my Grandma Gale and my Uncle Art. I believe it was taken back in 1950 in Sioux City, Iowa which seems eons ago.

For many years, I wondered if color even existed in those early days because all of the pictures were in black and white. Even television had no color early on.

Yet I know color existed if only because my mother Rose Marie was here on earth. She brought the beauty of color into life with her presence and I do miss her smile.

Happy birthday Mom and love you.

Love, hug and smile with others while you can. Embrace the colors they bring into this world and stay inspired my friends.

Regain Your Life

"Tenacity is key because it keeps you going during tough times, but it must be tempered because sometimes you need to back down or walk away."
- John Stollenwerk

Many people including myself, become very wrapped up in our jobs. Our ability to take time away to relax has been usurped by technology. There are many types of mobile devices, cellphones, satellite and globalization of everything which make it difficult to 'not be available.'

Suddenly you realize it was "picture day" at school.

I call it this because your child had pictures taken at school today and you forgot about it. The pictures still got taken but likely they did not look very good. Or maybe you suddenly find that you missed planning an important birthday or other family event.

It could be time to look at the priorities in your life.

Family or personal events which get pushed to the bottom of the list happen when work becomes all consuming. And when it does happen, you need to realize it and then set some boundaries which will allow you to balance your life in a better manner.

A few rules to consider;

- Turn off technology whenever you can.
Even if you have to start slowly by blocking off Sunday morning as a 'no-cell-phone' or 'no-PC' time zone.

- Send less, get less.
It is said that if you send 20 percent less email, you'll receive 10 percent less. Cut out the quick thank you replies and don't hit "reply all" unless absolutely necessary.

- Make your boundaries known.
You have to be very clear in the workplace that 'no, you are not available on weekends.' When you do this in the beginning and you draw the line, expectations can be managed.

- Don't send email on weekends
Others are also trying to find their own balance. Be respectful of their weekend and others will begin to do the same of your weekend.

- Figure out your own rules, don't adopt somebody else's.
In example, if it is in the service of relaxation (taking electronics on vacation), it can actually help. You start to realize that "ok, I'm not missing anything critical."

The question becomes, what is going to make you more relaxed? Speculating about what might be piling up in your inbox or just doing some sort of check. You figure it out.

Start to regain some sort of balance in your life.

Only then will you regain your life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Get Up And Do Life

"I remember growing up with television, from the time it was just a test pattern, with maybe a little bit of programming once in a while." - Francis Ford Coppola

There was a time in early television when broadcast were not on a twenty-four hour cycle. Programs were typically seen from 6:00 AM until sometimes midnight. The use of a test pattern mostly went away in the 1960's with the advent of color television. But I remember them clearly.

After signing off, a test pattern would be displayed. Many of the adopted test patterns contained the graphic of an Indian along with other patterns on the chart.

All of this served a purpose.

Broadcasting a test pattern daily and sometimes hourly, allowed people to make adjustments to their home television sets, TV repairmen and broadcast engineers to adjust cameras and other equipment. Everyone had an opportunity to adjust perspective, framing, linearity, contrast, brightness, etc., etc.

It is said "an experienced broadcast engineer could glance at the drawing of the Indian Chief and quickly know if everything was OK or if more careful adjustment was needed."

Then what?

Life is kind of like getting everything adjusted and perfectly set. We prepare ourselves, take all of the right courses, read the program guide and make sure everything is perfectly adjusted. We then sit there doing nothing.

Do we prepare only to sit and stare at a test pattern?

What we do is get up and start living our life. We do all of those things we were adjusting for and preparing to do. We live life, we sign-on and begin broadcasting our lives in full clarity, framing, linearity, contrast, brightness, etc., etc.

It would do television stations no good if all they did was broadcast a test pattern all day long. They prepare and then they broadcast their shows. The same goes for our lives. To prepare and do nothing gets us nowhere.

Get up and do life.

Stay inspired my friends!

A Brighter View Of Life

“When you are joyful, when you say yes to life and have fun and project positivity all around you, you become a sun in the center of every constellation, and people want to be near you.” ― Shannon L. Alder

The following video will have different meanings to different people. It is not meant as a cruel thought or taking light of any serious issue you might be confronting.

It is intended to make you think about the good things in your life.

Your life matters to those around you and there will always be a shining light of goodness from your part in it. Do not be hard on yourself, do not think your life has been a collection of just bad things.

Our lives are filled with many good things.

So always look on the bright side of your life. Everyone else does!

 

Stay inspired my friends!

Your Fishing Boat

The American television broadcaster Hugh Downs once said, "to say my fate is not tied to your fate is like saying, 'your end of the boat is sinking." When it comes to relationships and connections to other people, each of us have an impact on what happens to others and to each of us.

We do have an ability to influence our own destiny.

This is about the choices we make. It is about how we react to the ripple of events that occur each day. Every one of those events will affect and potentially change us in slight ways.

Sometimes major changes occur in our life due to others.

Know that you are connected to many others in this world. The knots in a fishing net closest to you are your family and friends. Further out across the web of knots, your connections are the people you work with, meet at the grocery store, or encounter while driving down the road.

Our net is cast far and wide, but with loose or torn knots we fail to keep those connections. We become a fisherman without any fish to sustain our life. Keeping the knots of your fishing net secure will ensure a bountiful life.

Your net will even reach others as yet unknown to you.

Enjoy how your life impacts others and how those connections impact your own life. It is an amazing network of human interaction which makes this a great life. Stop to reflect upon the fishing net in your life and secure all the knots which bind us together.

Stay inspired my friends.

Ride Of Your Life

"It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized." - Wayne Dyer

The news is full of chaos and trouble. There are problems reported in Iraq, oil prices up or down, violent storms, and a hundred other things cloud our minds. Sometimes it can certainly feel like the end times described by various religions is upon us.

Heck, it makes you wonder if the Mayans were being conservative in their dates!

Yes, tongue firmly planted in cheek at this point. But all of the mayhem can overload our senses and lives. It tends to pile up on top of what we are already going through in the normal part of our life. You can wonder endlessly about these things, spending the day in worry.

In the grand scheme of things, there isn't much you can do about these things outside of your control. You can't stop the fighting in Iraq, nor keep a cyclone from bearing down upon ac ountry. You can not stop those things anymore then people before us could prevent history from happening.

While it is overwhelming, life for you can not grind to a halt. You need to keep moving forward. You need to work on those things in your life that you do have control over. And what you have control over is your attitude.

Take the energy you are pouring into worry and direct it towards moving forward. Focus it on what you can do, on where you want to be, on your journey to a great life.

History is a roller coaster of events and occurrences.

Some parts are going to be thrilling, some parts scary, but it is the ride of your life.

Change your attitude and change your life.

And stay inspired my friends.

Fishing Lessons

"I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what's on the other end. Your imagination is under there." - Robert Altman

This week is called Gma & Gpalooza here at our house. It is a chance for the grandkids to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa, while the Moms and Dads get a short break to have some time alone. The week is always a blessing for us as we get to watch these kids grow steadily in life.

We plan events for the kids and one particular adventure was going to the Georgia Aquarium. The largest aquarium in the western hemisphere at just over 10 million gallons of water. To put it mildly, this place is huge.

While watching the fish and my grandchildren pace the tanks and glass walls observing each other, it occurred to me how life can be like fishing. Seems odd I'm sure to think of fishing at an aquarium built with a conservation and environmental mission.

Then again, I find inspiration in the oddest of places sometimes.

there are four things we do when going out fishing and are very appropriate as we travel along our life's path.

1. Be prepared.

Be prepared for most anything that might come along. This doesn't mean planning for the worst in every instance, but also planning in the good that will happen. This can be accomplished by staying well read, keeping up with the latest news and simply bringing the basic needs along with you. Keep learning and always prepare yourself for what is needed during your journey.

2. There are surprises around every corner.

This means you will never be fully prepared for every eventuality. So when these surprises occur, roll with them, adapt and enjoy the experience of the adventure. These unknown events are normally opportunities disguised as a distraction. If a tree has fallen into shallow water in your path, it likely has become home to the fish underneath. Opportunity created by surprise.

3. To have patience and persistence.

Sitting for hours along the dock with a line in the water can seem useless. Yet much can be learned by watching the motion of the water, the movement of the shadows along the shore and where the bugs hang lowly over the water. Our journey in life has these same moments but continuing down the path, we crest a hill, round a bend in the lake only to find what we were looking for.

4. Be in the moment, and live it out.

Every moment of every hour or day is going to be filled with different adventure, boredom or despair. Those moments can also be filled with happiness, joy and laughter. The past has floated by and can not be altered. The future still awaits down the shoreline. What does exist is here and now, so enjoy the moment.

The sea, the lake or the stream are filled with many fish. Each is an opportunity or adventure waiting for us to capture it. Little do we know what lay beneath the water line. But what we do know is that life exists there and all around us, waiting for us to live every moment of it.

Stay inspired my friends.

Your Cone of Silence

Still Life of Open Book

"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family." - Earl Nightingale

Each of us have had a sense of being pulled in all directions. Rushing to work, making sure those multiple projects get done, getting supper made, kids picked up at school, something at church and the volunteer project you signed up for.

All sorts of things which can have a crushing effect on our lives.

You say all of these things are important but it just seems like we never get time for yourself. A simple answer would be to drop one thing we are doing, but how do figure out which thing to drop? Most of us do not even realize how much time all of our activities consume in our daily life. To help you, here are a few tips I learned which can help you do just that.

The first thing to do is track where your time goes. For a few days write down what you are doing each half hour. Learn what your patterns are and which times of the day are more open then others.

Now figure out what it is you like to do. List out any activities you participated in over the past couple of months. Put a plus sign by those which excited you and a minus next to those that seemed to tire you out. "Learn from the past, but do not be dictated by it."

When you plan your schedule, plan your leisure time first. Most of us were brought up to believe we must finish our work first before we can enjoy what we like to do. Finish your homework, clean the garage, yet we always tend to fill the remaining hours with more work. Set time aside to relax, allot a certain amount of time for work and stick to that schedule.

Develop a "cone of silence" in which to unplug from all that goes on around you. Keep the radio turned off, maybe not watch the nightly news when you get home after work. Use the time to just sit and not think about anything. It will help relieve bodily tension and help you re-energize.

Build pleasure into each day. Listen to music that relaxes or moves you. Stop for a few minutes at night to look at the stars or take a few moments to twirl your partner on your kitchen dance floor. Taking a few pleasurable moments each day rebuilds your passion. As I learned, "you do not have to wait for the big birthday cake of a vacation. Take little bites of a cupcake each day."

Finally, plan your breaks from work ahead of time. A long weekend here or there and an annual vacation. Save money for these vacations or time off as you would for retirement. Ensure your workplace understands that time off is important.

A big key to this time off and I really have to work on this myself - leave your laptop at home. At the very least, keep it in your hotel room and shut off. You can always take a quick check later for messages.

At the end of the day, we find the enjoyment in life by giving ourselves the chance to actually enjoy it. Make time for yourself, make time to enjoy what life has in store for you.

And stay inspired my friends!

Atomic Bomb Fears

“You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”
― Edwin Louis Cole

In 1946, the United States conducted the first two tests nuclear bomb tests conducted after the WW-II bombs denoted over Japan. These tests were called Operation Crossroads and occurred at the Bikini Atoll string of islands.

The first, named Able, occurred on July 1 and was detonated from an altitude of 520 ft. The second, shown here called Baker, was detonated at a depth of 90 ft underwater on July 25. Many, many more tests would occur but the awesome power of destruction man can unleash upon ourselves was now a part of our lives.

Fear of no tomorrow had begun.

As the years followed, many thought the world was near an end. Parents worried, children practiced ducking under their school desks and politicians pounded many a podium. There was a race to complete destruction of all human life as many worried.

Yet we have continued to survive and continue on with life.

Parents were able to raise their children. Children came out from under their desks, growing up to carry on full and productive lives. And the politicians continued to pound many a podium. The race to our destruction was just life passing through another period of man.

Many more events occurred previous to this and since. As humans we have found a way to get through the worry and fear of each event. We have survived and will survive today's event and many future events.

Tomorrow had come and will come again.

Yet we must not be paralyzed by fear of what is or what may come. William White wrote, "I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today." We can not allow fear to stifle this beautiful thing we call life.

We must live.

And we must stay inspired my friends!

Enjoy The Game

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game." - Michael Jordan

Life can be viewed as a game in some respects. There are gifts and talents each of us possess which enable various types of success.

There is a time limit to the length of the game although the time limit is unknown. The game has an ebb and flow to which we must adjust our speed, attitude and courage.

The game is also a story you write during each and every moment. It is the type of story you will never be able to write an ending for. But there will be others to finish the story and give voice to it after we are long gone.

So while here, pick up the ball and play.

Enjoy writing your story and by all means, enjoy the game.

Stay inspired my friends!

Roll the Dice

"You roll the dice, and you deal with it." - Hunter S. Thompson

The above quote can be seen in many different places, forms and contexts of meaning. The writer Hunter Thompson had written something similar in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He wrote the words "buy the ticket, take the ride.” I am unsure if Mr. Thompson would say I have taken his words out of context, but I take them to simply mean that life is our journey.

You make a decision and you live with it.

Some will sit quietly with the shades drawn and allow life around them to roll the dice for them. Others may choose to live life on the edge like the famed Dos Equis (Most Interesting Man In The World) commercial. Many of us live somewhere between the two extremes.

The key thing to remember is that we are the ones to live our own life.

We roll our dice, we buy our ticket and those choices we make constitute the journey we take. We can choose to roll those dice at any point. We can change the direction we are going. We can change the pattern in our way of living. We can change our attitude.

We can change.

So buy the ticket, take the ride, roll the dice and see what comes up. But more importantly, live life.

Stay inspired my friends.

Live Life - Live Well

"We are always getting ready to live but never living." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I came upon this quite some time ago and felt it was something that might inspire you as well.

~~~~~~

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will.

You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time.

You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.

You'll fight with your best friend.

You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.

You'll cry because time is passing too fast and you'll eventually lose someone you love.

So take too many pictures.

Laugh too much.

And love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end.

Be afraid that it will never begin.

~~~~~~

Stay inspired my friends.

Barrenness of a Busy Life

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life." - Socrates

Like a crazy graph showing the ups and downs of the stock market, my daily work routine can be slow or busy with excruciating deadlines. Like most people, not only do I sometimes have too much on my plate, but I have way too many plates. And I can spin multiple plates with the best of them.

I was so good at it that I managed to lose touch with so much.

So much that I divorced several years back. So much that I lost touch with my sons. So much that I lost touch with my friends. So much that I lost touch with my faith.

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

I speak about this in my book Changed Lives. I write about how life can change so much when you lose balance and life begins to spin out of control. What I thought was filling up my life was actually destroying it; slowly and very methodically.

My obsessive compulsive disorder nature was driving me to perfect everything in my work life, that I neglected many other parts.

I have since repaired those parts of my life and reconnected.

I married a wonderful woman and gained four wonderful daughters. I work to improve and maintain the relationship I cherish with my sons. I have reconnected with friends from the past. I have also been reconnected to my faith for several years now.

I work to maintain balance within my life; as much balance as one can aspire to.

Spiritual & Moral, Marriage & Family, Mental & Emotional, 

Physical & Health, Social & Cultural, Financial & Career

Six Spokes Of Life

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."

Certainly I have not perfected it and probably never will. But I am cognizant of it and will continue to work at it. And like that stock chart, I have to watch it and gauge when my busy schedule is creating barrenness in my life.

This is something I recommend to each of you as well.

Find a way to balance life so that you don't wake up one morning to an empty world. You can spin those plates, tote that bale, pull that barge, but remember there will always be plates, bales and barges. Your life is the one and only one you get.

So beware the barrenness of a busy life.

And stay inspired my friends!

Riding Life

“With peaks of joy and valleys of heartache, life is a roller coaster ride, the rise and fall of which defines our journey. It is both scary and exciting at the same time.”
― Sebastian Cole

All of us know there will be both high and low points in life experienced by each of us. The high points will come and the low points will follow and then high ones again. It is very much like a roller coaster of emotion and a test of your resolve.

It would be wonderful if we had a map of the ride pointing out where the twists, turns and drops will be. But we do not get that advantage to see ahead in our future. We have bought the ticket and now get to take the ride.

What does matter is how we learn to push through the times when the ride doesn't feel like very much fun. If we fail to learn anything from each of the twists and turns, the ride will remain difficult. Failing to push through, the ride will be long and miserable.

The ride is meant to be enjoyed in all that happens. Even the heartache and pain can bring new perspective as the experience girds you for the next one. Life is a learned event. With each rise, you will gain confidence and strength to pass through the next valley more easily.

Enjoy the ride folks and stay inspired my friends.

Live Life Out Loud

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you; "I am here to live out loud.” - Emile Zola

According to various reports, the average lifespan in the United States for women is 80.1 for women and 74.8 for men. These are ages which, when you are young, seem to be a far off point in time.

The closer you draw to those ages thought, the shortening days become more special. You reach a point to which you wonder what you have done in life. Have I lived my life quietly and in the shadows? Or have I lived my life out in the world making a difference in big and small ways?

In other words, are you living your life 'out loud' impacting the lives of others?

Living life out loud means engaging in the life of others around you.

- It does not mean being the loudest person shouting above the din of everyone else.
- It does not mean being the most flamboyant person, brighter than all of the stars.

To be a part of the everyday world, you can leave a mark on those around you for their betterment. The legacy you will eventually leave behind is how you will be remembered. Others will say they were a better person for having known you.

- It does not mean being the biggest philanthropist spreading money to save the world.
- It does not mean you have to change the world in history book making ways.

Living life out loud means doing small things for others.

Living life out loud means what you do will have a lasting and rippling effect on others. You may not even realize it when you do it, but living out loud will cause impact on others. And whether you impact others in one large way or in a thousand small ways, you can not do so by living in the shadows.

Live out loud and live all your years in the bright light of life and do it loudly.

Stay inspired my friends!

And Its Alright, In Fact, Its A Gas

"I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead. I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled. I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread. Yeah, yeah, yeah I was crowned with a spike right thru my head. But its all right now, in fact, its a gas! But its all right, Im jumpin jack flash, Its a gas! gas! gas!" - Rolling Stones "Jumpin Jack Flash"

From the good to the very bad, the lore of how this song came about only adds to the greatness of it. But how does one take a song like "Jumpin Jack Flash" and spin it into something about attitude?

Well hang on folks, first listen to the song and then we'll talk.



As I have always understood it, when the song was released in 1968, Mick Jagger's comment was "...it was the most basic thing we ever did." But much later in another interview he said "...it’s a metaphor for getting out of all the acid things."

Being older and having listened to this song hundreds of times, I never interpreted it with the demonic or drug use labels others have given it.

This song for me has always been about overcoming circumstances.

We each get dealt a life that many times we didn't ask for. Sure, our behaviors can place us in situations that create lousy circumstances. Those circumstances build up inside like a bad chili on a warm day. You feel rotten, it brings you down and destroys anything positive you may have.

How we choose to react to those circumstances dictates whether we remain firmly defeated or pull out of them. You need to begin the process of creating an ARC (ACCEPT, REMOVE and CHANGE) to something better in life.

An arc is shaped like a curve or arch, which in certain terms means getting over something. Think arc of a bridge you build to a better life.

ACCEPT - Accept and acknowledge circumstance; understand the circumstance and accept it.
REMOVE - Remove any idea from your mind that circumstance is permanent or unchangeable.
CHANGE - Change negative things in life; movement creates change which changes circumstance.

Keep remembering, "I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead", but I was determined to do more with my life.

And "...its all right now, in fact, its a gas!"

Stay inspired my friends!

Life of a Virus Part Two

Rhinovirus (common cold) particle

“I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet.” ― Proverb

Where did we leave off yesterday?

Ah yes, Life of a Virus Part One; negative thoughts and ideas can permeate into and through you to others.

As a short review, a viral life cycle varies in its precise details depending upon the species of virus. But all virus share a general pattern:

- Attachment to a host cell.
- Release of viral genes and possibly enzymes into the host cell.
- Replication of viral components using host-cell machinery.
- Assembly of viral components into complete viral particles.
- Release of viral particles to infect new host cells.

In other words, "invade, destroy and duplicate."

There are vaccines which can be given to prevent infections, but once a virus has made its way in, antivirals have to be used to treat those who have already been infected by the virus.

Similar to a virus, negative thoughts and ideas can invade your mind, body and thought process. These thoughts begin to have a bad effect upon your life, drawing you into thinking you can never achieve or accomplish anything. The thoughts or negative thinking will pull you into areas of self-doubt, isolation and failure. All of a sudden you find yourself alone and in a deep dark hole of bewilderment.

An antiviral to negative seeds of thought are positive seeds of thought.

Small bits of encouragement, small bits of uplifting ideas, small bits of just believing in one self. Over time, good things begin to push out the bad ones. The virus of negative thoughts become replaced with the positive ones. Positive thoughts invading, destroying negativity and duplicating themselves.

Just where does all of this come from? It can from within at the point you decide to make change in your life. When you finally decide to get out from underneath the heavy darkness of negative thoughts. It also comes from other people providing encouragement. It comes from those that lift instead of pushing you down. The type of people who will provide you with a more positive atmosphere. This means you might need to evaluate what kind of people you surround yourself with.

Hang with negative people, your life will be surrounded by a negative atmosphere.

Hang with positive, successful, uplifting people, the atmosphere will bring light into your life.

Fight the negative virus which seeks to invade your life. Use the antiviral resources you have to make life better for yourself. Once the cold is gone, you know how much better you will feel. The same goes with removing the negativity in your life; you will feel much better.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life of a Virus Part One

"It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts." - Robert H. Schuller

The common cold virus attaches to cells and helps create the miserable symptoms associated with a cold. It is efficient at spreading itself both inside your body and in using your body to spread it to other people.

It has three purposes; invade, destroy and duplicate.

This virus seeks out the human body in which it can invade, looking for our weakest entry points. Once inside it works to attach and begin its destructive process on our body. Once establishing itself, the process of duplicating and finding ways to spread within your body and to others begins. Our body becomes a 'loaded gun' which fires the virus at other humans.

The same can be said of negative thoughts and ideas. An incorrect idea becomes lodged inside of us and can have a large impact on our thinking.

Take a very simple example. I grew up being a very inquisitive boy. My sister said that I asked, to put it nicely, a lot of questions. When I was quite a bit younger, I had been asking why Art Garfunkel was no longer singing with Paul Simon (singing duo Simon & Garfunkel). Likely annoyed by my questions, she said Art Garfunkel had died.

Simple enough I thought and went about the years thinking he had died. Then in 1981, I was watching a concert from New York's Central Park. There he was, Art Garfunkel playing beside Paul Simon. Laugh all you want, I do. Here was a belief I had held for many years, completely false, but stuck in my mind like a virus. I am sure that I spread this wrong information to others during those early years.

Now the idea of Art Garfunkel being dead did not have any ill effects on me. But other types of ideas can have a devastating effect upon our life. Racism, abuse, cults, and most anything that would freeze you into believing in something wrong, hurtful or negative. Long held beliefs can be difficult to clear from our mind. If these beliefs are bad enough and destructive enough, there are professionals to help.

Negative thoughts and ideas can permeate into and through you to others.

This virus will find your weakest point and make its way inside. From there it will seek to destroy anything good within you. It will use you as a carrier to infect other people. An efficient and destructive cycle begins to take place from generation to generation if you do not stop it.

But how to stop it?

Read tomorrow's article...and stay inspired my friends.

Desire For a Greater Life

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus (Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)

Is life meant for us to only be happy with what we have? I believe that is a much too simplistic interpretation of what Epicurus wrote. There is always the danger of thinking life should be lived only for oneself. But life should be lived happy in the pursuit of there being more than what we currently have. To gain a happy and tranquil life means to be happy with what we have and to pursue even greater happiness.

This pursuit of pleasure or happiness in life requires balance in that pursuit. To grab self-indulgent pleasure at the cost of others is not what was meant. To wallow in acceptance of despair is not the other end of what we should accept for our lives either. It is acceptance of what we have and also movement towards more for our lives.

You can make your life here and now better.

Your dreams and desires matter to you.

They should be a daily part of thought and consideration.

What you have today was once a dream or desire. Do not look down upon what you already have when dreaming of greater things. Those new dreams will one day become a reality, just like your old dreams had become.

Dream of greater things in the knowledge that all you have now is but a reminder that dreams are achievable.

Stay inspired my friends!