Life Not Of Confusion

"I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death... I think... peace and tranquillity will return again." ~Anne Frank

If you have never read The Diary of Anne Frank, then you must foresake reading my book (Live the Journey) and get that one. It is a book that although bittersweet in how it ends, the book is more full of hope and inspiration then anything I could write.

Under the cruelest of conditions that existed and happened to the Jewish peoples in Germany during the reign of Adolph Hitler, hope survives in a young girl. Regardless of the situation, Anne Frank kept the light of life inside.

After they were found and eventually sent to Auschwitz, a woman who was with Anne at that time said, "On arrival at the camp, everyone's head was shaved; yet a woman who was with Anne at that time said of Anne; "You could see that her beauty was wholly in her eyes. . . . Her gaiety had vanished, but she was still lively and sweet, and with her charm she sometimes secured things that the rest of us had long since given up hoping for."

All of us go through varying levels of despair, confusion, and just bad times. The situation can seem unbearable to us such that we don't feel like continuing.

But know that even within the situation you find yourself, you can keep the light of hope and happiness alive. Whether you be old, middle-aged or a 14-year old Anne Frank, the beauty of life comes from within.

Don't live a life of confusion and negativity. Live a life of hope and happiness. Keep the fire burning inside. And when you do, the light will be seen in your eyes. Your life will shine the path to something greater.

An Imperfect Path

"March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path." ~Khalil Gibran

It's a pretty straight forward path that we all wish we could walk down. Life without any issues. A smooth, well laid course of bricks to walk upon is the one we wish for. Yet we all know that the path we take will not be quite so easy. The journey itself can be rough.

The path will be built of many different rocks and pebbles. It will be built with the stones of experience and circumstance that come our way. Not all of the pieces will fit perfectly together. The many shapes and sizes will frustrate our ability to continue the walk.

Our path will never look perfect when we turn to look back. Yet looking back is only to see where we have come from. To see the hard work we have done building our path of rocks. And it will look beautiful in our eyes.

As we turn then to look towards our future, we know the work will be hard. We know that the path will not be perfect. But we do know that the path will be unique. It will be wonderful. The path will be ours.

Help

"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream." ~John Lennon

I came across the above quote from John Lennon, part of the famed rock group The Beatles and found it an interesting view on life. Screaming through the pain tends to overwhelm our ability to ask for help.

I remember my own experience years ago. The pain of need is your sole focus. It can become so powerful that you forget to eat, sleep. In general it is the sole thing in your life that even blocks out your ability to ask for help.

My life was heading in a downward spiral and couldn't even see it happening. But other people did. Other people entered into my life and gave me focus to see that I did need help. I'm not ashamed to say that I read as much as I could and also sought professional advice.

The advice I sought was online as well as a few books. The advice I sought came from family, friends and professionals. The important thing that I wish to impart on you is to ask for the help. It isn't a sign of weakness, it is a sign of strength. Knowing your weaknesses will only give you new life to overcome anything.

The Beatles sang, "But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured,
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors." You can open up more doors in your life by asking for the help you need when you need it.

Help is out there waiting for all of us. Ask for it when you can, others will step in when you can't.

Whom Is Pointing At Whom

"I was an accomplice in my own frustration." ~Peter Shaffer

Recently I was lucky enough to experience the woe that some call airplane travel that was compounded by bad weather. I travel out of Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which happens to be the worlds busiest airport. This means to get most anywhere in the United States, you probably will have to connect through this airport.

It also means that bad weather in other parts of the country can have a cascading effect upon travel out of Atlanta. This was the case just recently when bad winter storms and very cold weather in the Atlanta area slowed the whole kit and kaboodle to an agonizing delay.

In particular, my 7:05PM flight finally boarded at 10:00pm, left the gate at 11:00PM, got through the de-icing process by 11:30PM and made it to Seattle five hours and forty-five minutes later due to strong head winds. The bright side is that I would expect the return trip to only take four hours.

So during this delay, the airport concourse was filled with quite a few people. I normally wander off to the Delta SkyClub, but it was over-flowing and I didn't feel like standing in line to enter; being number fifty in line didn't bode well for me. So I sat at the 'new' gate we were to fly out of and watched people.

Its an amazing thing to see how people react in the varied ways. Some can be seen to sit back and let it all flow. Some are busy as a bee, trying to work the next deal, the next flight, to be in control of the uncontrollable. Others are mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.

These last people are the intriguing ones to me. I find in most cases that the anger comes from two basic things; frustration and anxiety. Frustrated by the situation which is out of their control. Anxiety over the delays, being tired and simply not knowing what to do.

One particular lady was very, very angry with the gate agent. As best I could tell she was off in a restaurant/store/bar on the concourse, believed this was the gate to come to, which it was originally, but failed to recognize it had changed.

Now I will state that the gate agent, the monitors and general posting of information seemed a bit confusing as it did change a fair amount. My gate alone changed three times. Alerts that should have gone out to cell phones and such didn't seem to be occurring. Many people complained of that, but I knew well enough to just stay informed as best I could. My angry lady didn't see it that way. Her frustration boiled over into a yelling tirade at the airline employees.

There is a lesson to be learned in customer service. Suffice to say that a calm, no worry demeanor in front of a frustrated customer can have a bad effect upon them. You can come off seeming not to care when all you are doing is trying to remain calm. Empathy can go a long way in these situations.

And this particular lady was having none of it. She was mad, she was tired, she was irritated and most of all, frustrated. She pointed all of her anger at one airline employee, the airline, the airport and I think anyone within ear-shot of her.

But while she was pointing that finger in the face of anyone standing in her view, could she not see the three fingers pointing back at her?

We have control over how we react in times such as these. Could we pay a little more attention to what is going on around us? Maybe our own actions have contributed to a situation that we now find ourselves in.

Sure, there are many things out of our control. But we can control how we respond. We can influence the situation with our own actions.

Remember that you are many times not the innocent bystander in a given situation. You have played a role in creating the predicament. But you can also play a role in resolving it.

Calm down, examine truthfully why you now believe you are in this situation and work to find some type of solution. Yelling and screaming typically yields little and is like a quick but very short lived sugar rush.

Take a look at what you can do to redirect your energy from being angry and frustrated. Direct that energy towards resolution and you'll see so much more get accomplished in your life.