A Sky So Blue

A sky so blue
Arc of the earths horizon
Sun sets west
Ahead of the fading blue
New day will dawn
Once again a sky so blue

- Joseph Primm -

It comes along when you least expect it. A life changing event, an unexpected circumstance, or a path not intended enters into your world.

Each of us will face these moments in time.

It will feel as though your entire world has come unglued. The path you were walking on was well marked and you had a clear vision of where you were headed. Then all of a sudden you find your self in unknown territory. The path looks completely different and frantically you try to find where on the map you are standing.

You look around and question your changing life. All you can see is the setting sun and a fading sky. You feel unprepared for the change and the pressing weight can seem unfair, a burden you didn't ask for.

Yet life is simply going on around and to you.

There is an old adage which says "the sun will rise again" and it does not mean life goes on without you. It is meant to say your life will go on and you will get to see another blue sky. All of the possibility which existed before still exists now. New opportunities have also been placed in front of you to discover.

So take this change and energize yourself with a new attitude today and each coming day. Walk your new path with the excitement you have always had. Shake off the fear and discover it remains a sky so blue.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Sky Is Falling

“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Are you scared yet?

Have we panicked enough now to send everyone into seclusion?

There are many things that could befall us as humans with varying degrees of probability. Such as the odds of winning a single state lottery are roughly 18 million to 1. While the likelihood of being killed by lightning is roughly 2,650,000 to 1. I would be more alarmed by going to the store to purchase a chance of a winning the lottery.

There is an abundance of things one could worry about. We currently have the Ebola scare going around that in and of itself is dangerous. But there are many others that we could contract and fall ill, even die from with greater odds than this virus.

More importantly to me, if you are scared and figuratively running around saying the sky is falling, are you not part of the problem? Sensibility and reason will solve issues more readily than finger pointing.

Are you scared simply of your own inability to handle the unknown?

Is the panic you feel driving you into seclusion or to help solve it?

Fear can be a motivational part of life but it quickly becomes debilitating. It spreads like a virus through your words, your actions and can paralyze your very life. You can overcome fear, you can live life again without the anxiety of a virus, a lightening strike or even death to some degree.

Find out what is behind the fear; meaning what are you really afraid of. There is always something behind it, a real reason for the fear. Just be clear on what your are "really" afraid of. Knowing and expressing the fear makes it easier to confront.

Next is to understand what you are saying to yourself about the fear. If you are saying, "this final exam is hard and I am going to fail the test and not earn my degree", you are already setting yourself up for the failure. Say something positive about it. You will pass. You will earn the degree.

Now exaggerate the worst thing or things that could happen should the fear be realized. You fail the test, you do not earn the degree and you end up living in a van down by the river. After catastrophizing for a few minutes, you'll probably begin to realize that the world couldn't possibly be as bad as your imagination can make it.

Relax now for a few minutes and think of the good things that can result from letting go of the fear. You'll get on that plane. You will ride in that elevator. You will help people that are truly sick. You will make a difference because you are freed from the shackles of fear.

Lastly, you will need to actually approach the thing, person, or situation head on. This doesn't mean changing your entire behavior in one big step. You can break it down into a number of steps. But you now need to actually get on that plane, ride in that elevator, or help people that are truly sick.

You can live without fear when others are shouting in panic.

You can trust that living without fear is living a greater life.

Are you no longer scared?

Stay inspired my friends.

Wide Sky

“Sometimes I go about pitying myself, And all the while I am being carried across the sky, By beautiful clouds.” - Unknown

When the day seems to be going wrong in every aspect, remind yourself about the beauty of nature. Think of all that is right in this world and let yourself be carried away from a troubled mind.

The picture above was taken near the Ashfall Fossil Beds close to the city of Royal, Nebraska. The area was formed some 12 million years ago when a volcano in southwest Idaho spread a blanket of ash over a very large area. One or two feet of this powdered glass covered the flat savannah-like grasslands of northeastern Nebraska.

The landscape lays out in front of you in a wide vista of possibility. The wonderful sky above this expanse of land is quite beautiful and also covers the wide open space in other parts of Nebraska.

Take delight in the wondrous things that nature can offer to us.

They are like gifts to us which can brighten our day.

Stay inspired my friends.

Natures Force

"When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal." -Napolean Hill

Wow! Did you see the video of the tornado activity in the Dallas, Texas area? The scenes of nature's destructive force tossing and tearing apart the landscape were amazing. I was awestruck by the video of the tractor trailers being tossed like children's toys.



This force of nature is not something you can control once it gets moving. We simply have to allow it to run it's course and clean up afterwards. It is very much like life when it starts to spin out of control for us. We get caught up in the spinning effect of destructive events.

Choices, Not Mistakes

There are certainly things one can do in life but many times we fail to see what is happening. All of a sudden we have been swirled and lifted to a dangerous height. That moment comes when we drop hard, down through the funnel of our bad choices. And those are bad choices and not mistakes.

There is a difference and an example of that is Tiger Woods and his self created ordeal. Author Andy Andrews related a story he had heard in a radio interview in which Woods talked about mistakes he had made. Andy says that good advice would tell Woods he had made choices, not mistakes. “There’s a big difference,” Andrews said, adding: “It’s about living in the truth. Only then can there be a reset.”

Once we hit the ground, what we find is the destruction we left behind. The pieces of our life are scattered about the ground. At that singular moment we are alone. But like a natural disaster, people will come into the picture, willing to help you rebuild. All you have to do is accept their help and guidance. We can start to "reset" our lives at this point.

Eternal Optimism

I am an eternal optimist and it is very cliche to say this, but the sun will cast its wondrous gaze upon you once again. The blue sky will open up and reveal that there are no limits to what you can accomplish in life. Even after the destruction we can cause in our lives, we can rebuild once again. We can "reset" our lives and move forward.

When you get caught up in the destructive forces of nature, of bad choices, know that after the fall there will be others to help you pick up the pieces. Together the rebuilding will happen so believe in yourself, believe in Mr. Blue Sky.

Stay inspired my friends.

Life and Camping

Camping Under The Stars 3 - Wayne England

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities." -Jean Houston

There is the story of the famed and fictional character Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. Watson. If you have not read or seen any movies about them, I encourage you to read some of the stories.

One such story has our famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson going on a camping trip. After a good meal and chat around the campfire, they laid down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars."

"What does that tell you?" Holmes asked,Watson pondered for a minute.

"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"

Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. "Watson, you have missed the point. Somebody has stolen our tent!"

Sometimes we get caught up in the vastness of all that is going on in life. The twenty-four hour news giving us the latest happenings. From a bridge across the St. Croix River in Minnesota to couples rushing to marry in China on this the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 2011.

With all of this going on, the simple answers, the simple news might just be what is going on right in front of us. Don't get caught up in the magnitude of that is going on. The world is not "going to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks" as some might say. Life is just happening, just as the millions of stars have been in the sky for millions of years.

Take a moment and laugh. Take a moment and relax. Take a moment and just enjoy it.

Look Up

"Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling." -Unknown

During a business trip to Teterboro, New Jersey one recent day, the location of my hotel was near the local airport. This airport is not a large commercial airport but does serve a lot of private jets and planes. It seemed as though every time I walked to the parking lot to get in the car or returned from somewhere, a plane was overhead.

I thought to myself that there seemed to be an awful lot of people heading one place or another. It also had me looking up quite a bit. And when you are looking up, you are seeing the brilliant sun and and an endless blue sky. If I held my head down and looked to the ground, all that I could see was the dirty asphalt.

What occurred to me is that by looking to the ground, nothing can inspire us. But if we look upward, possibility exists, soaring above us, to be reached only if we look up and see that it is there. Reaching for it becomes the next hurdle, but until we look up we will never know of that possibility.

So look up, see what exists and then reach for it. An old saying that the 'sky is full of possibility' really is true.