Happy Firsts

“The soul is healed by being with children.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Today is a first in many first things to come along in the life of my youngest granddaughter. Madilyn Rose Primm is having a birthday and a year full of first everythings. As with all of our family, we will celebrate all that happens in the lives of our children and grandchildren.

In a single years time, it is very evident what a newborn child accomplishes. Eyes opening, grasping of your finger, smiling or cooing to crawling and holding the bottle all by them self. We focus on each and every little advancement with awed amazement.

While thousands of generations have accomplished the same firsts, our child's first is the most precious and inspired. Each first step, each first word and with each new activity we are encouraged that life truly is a good thing.

Each of us experience the first of everything.

In our own year whether six, thirty-six or ninety-six, so many firsts can happen. Each should be held in awed amazement just as we do the firsts of a one-year old. Life grants us these experiences or as I like to call it, a lifetime of firsts.

Live a life of first things not just in our first year of life but in all years. Take each birthday and embrace your past year of first things, of first wonders, of first experiences. And then prepare yourself for many more in the coming years.

Happy Birthday Maddy Rose.

And stay inspired my friends.

Christmas Learned Experience

“And if my heart be scarred and burned, The safer, I, for all I learned.” ― Dorothy Parker

Many things happen in life that we would just as soon not have to go through or deal with. It could be small minor things such as a flat tire, an expensive electric bill, or possibly a small stomach ache. There are also major ones in life such as job loss, divorce or death of a loved one.

There are many flavors in between all of the daily living we do.

We tend to focus on these bad things which happen to and while that may seem like enough, the television and newspaper stir up our lives with everything else. The good in life never seems to have a chance to surface and breath. The negative will always try to consume us until it feels like complete darkness.

The message remains that it is going to be okay.

When you fail at something, it is going to be okay. When you have issues going on in life, things will change. From failure or pain will be a new thing learned about yourself. There will be something you will learn from the situation, large or small.

That something can propel you to something greater.

If a person gets terribly ill and you have to face their death, remember the cycle of life will never end. Take from the experience what you learn or experience from having known the person. Turn that experience into a memorable and loving one.

Life occurs in cycles of good, bad and sometimes the ugly.

What we can do is not let the negative dictate our life. You are in control of your own attitude towards all the good, bad or ugly. The greatness comes from not allowing negative things in life to keep you down. Greatness comes from living life and knowing everything is going to be okay.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Road Ahead

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

In a song called "Home" by Phillip Phillips, the opening lyric is "Hold on, to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road." And as we begin a new year, 2014 will have its share of hills, pot holes and stormy weather. Through each and every twist or triumph, we will be successful together.

I will do my best to motivate you.

I will do my best to inspire you.

I will do my best.

No matter the road we take, if we take it with others the journey will never be lonely. The journey will be exciting and fruitful because of our joined experience. The destination will wait for you so enjoy the road side distractions, the rambling conversations and the unexpected encounters.

Stay inspired throughout the year my friends.

Is It Christmas Yet?

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." -Eddie Cantor

If you are interested, there is a website to answer the question, "Is it Christmas" yet?

Though you probably wouldn't know that several other holidays occur prior to it, including;

• Calan Gaeaf is the first day of winter in Wales on November 1.
• All Saints Day is also celebrated on November 1.
• Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated in the UK commemorating the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.
• Armistice Day is a remembrance holiday in the UK.
• Nativity Fast or the forty days before Christmas, St Philip's fast, Christmas fast, or winter lent or fast.
• Thanksgiving in the U.S. or better known as "Only 30 more days of Christmas shopping" occurs on the fourth Thursday in November.

Christmas is the big one for sure but there is plenty of life that occurs between now and then. It is not strictly a time for shopping, but a time for preparing, a time for connecting with others and a time for experiencing life.

Do not let the time slip by with a blur. Enjoy the moments of "being" with other people. Christmas will come soon enough.

Stay inspired my friends.

Realize the Awe

"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed." -Albert Einstein

Life can be pretty awe inspiring if you just stop for a few minutes and experience it. Take those moments and energize your life starting today.

Place your own thoughts, music, or words to the following video and stay inspired my friends.

Where Love Resides

"When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God." -Kahlil Gibran

There is one week to go before we celebrate the Christmas holiday. A time of celebration and good cheer. It is a time of new birth and new beginning, a gift for all of time to mankind.

Through out the year we experience pain, heartache and disappointment. But as the year draws near to a close, Christmas provides us with the promise of love. And love is many things but mostly love is being in the heart of God.

There are many things that have occurred lately and have happened all year long. The one thing that remains, that can heal, is love. I wrote of the power of love in my book Love Is. It is a very simple concept that can be very hard to understand. Maybe that is because we over think and over analyze it.

Yet in the end when all else is stripped away. When all the money, power, ego, possessions, humility and life itself are gone; love can endure and heal us.

May your Christmas holiday, you New Year celebrations, and everything around you be filled with love. And not only during these next two weeks, but throughout the coming years.

Stay inspired my friends.

Time To Experience

On the road again, this time back to India. Traveling over the last two days, there has not been much time available to write but quite a bit of time to read and reflect. I have learned over the years that there is a time and place within our lives that we must allow ourselves to experience. It is an experience or event that some times just happens. Other times it is an event that we must arrange ourselves.

The event I speak of is simply enjoying the earth and all that comes with it. To feel the dirt under the soles of our bare feet. To experience the wind blowing through our hair. To relish the warmth of sunlight upon our face.

Kahlil Gibran wrote in his book, "The Prophet", "...and forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

Inspire yourself on a daily basis. Strive to be a very wonderous person. But also allow yourself to taste the greatness of life this world has to offer you. A finite number of years exist and we must experience that which has been blessed upon us.