Read a Book

"Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can." -William Feather

Have you ever considered one place where you can go to visit all of the world? One place where you can visit the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, and Taj Mahal all in one day. Or maybe have the ability to see what games children in an English school yard play and than check out the tessellated pavement along the shores of Tasmania.

Opening up your world

We marvel each day at what technology has brought to us. Many would say that the internet has brought the world to them. Instantly you can visit each of those places on you home computer or even on your smart phone. In the blink of an eye, you can find out just how far the Leaning Tower of Pisa actually leans to one side.

All of this technology has the ability to let you search and find a much bigger world. Your backyard has literally become not just the rest of the world but an entire universe. But you have had this ability to transport yourself for a very long time.

Where the world gathers

As far back as 2600 BC, clay tablets written in script have been discovered. These tablets discovered in Sumer (Mesopatamia or modern day Iraq) are like markers of the end of prehistory and the start of history. Books have been around in various forms for thousands of years.

What could be called libraries (private collections actually) have been found in northern Syria. Additionally, there is evidence of libraries dating back to about 1900 BC in Nippur and also in Nineveh about 700 BC. Books, manuscripts, stories and tales of places beyond our current place and time, gathered for all to read.

You also have your own public library that has been around for many years. In the United States, we have many public libraries in which you can go into freely and visit where the entire world gathers.

You can even check out these books and bring the world to your home. The world is quite literally at your finger tips. No computers, no WiFi, no smartphones; simply numbered pages with wondrous words printed on each page. To read each word, turn each page and allow your mind to dream of actually visiting the places upon the pages.

Read and be transported

So many of us dream and wonder of what we can be, where we can go or how we can do more in life. A book can help you begin the process of turning dreams into reality. When you visit a library, you start movement in your life. It is a physical act that sends you one place to another.

You open a book and see your dreams begin to unfold upon the pages. The words bring a reality to the possibility you have been envisioning. You can certainly do this with a computer but feeling the pages of a book does something else.

The fibers of the worn pages create a sensation in the finger tips. It begins a transference from the author to the reader. The thoughts and feelings of the writer are dormant upon the typed pages. But when you touch and turn those pages, life springs forth from the words. You become a part of the story and it transports you to another place.

Dream, but than act

As you read the pages of a good book, it causes your dreams to become more vivid. You probably will daydream of what you are reading. It is likely you will have visions of your own life coming out of the pages.

Dream all you want but more importantly, act upon the dreams. Start movement to visit the places you have read about. Start movement to create the life you have read about and wanted to have.

Do not just dream of yourself being that person coming out of the words on a page. Work to become that person in reality, take hold of your life and experience it. Bring the words to life by acting upon what you want in life.

A great life is not merely the words in a book. A great life is your life and the words of a book are meant to inspire. They are meant to push you to action in your own life.

So read a book, read a lot of books, but also turn the words into your best life. Stay inspired my friends.

Overcoming Obstacles

"Joy is of the will which labours, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph." -William Butler Yeats

I have faced obstacles in my life, challenges that could have stopped me dead in my tracks. There have been the moments of complete frustration when a car broke down, no money to pay for repairs. There was a time when I was stocking shelves wondering if I could ever do more.

There has been illness, death, divorce and a list of others obstacles placed by circumstance in my life. Each one of these seemed insurmountable at the time. Each might as well have been a deep canyon separating me from where I was to where I wanted to be.

What first?

Well into my years when these obstacles appeared, I fretted and worried tremendously about my abilities. I questioned myself, I blamed others and felt like giving up. What I immediately failed to realize each time, is that I had overcome so much before.

I started to ask myself why it is I always went immediately to defeat. Doing so only made the obstacle bigger, giving it more power over my life than it deserved. So believing that "this too I shall overcome" became the first thing to tell myself.

What next?

I began to tell myself that I will make it through, over, by, around, or anyway I could. As humans we are innately creative in finding ways to overcome and survive. And that is what you do, you poke, you prod, you explore every option.

Eventually you will find a way to climb the mountain or to walk around it. You might even find a way to move the mountain out of the way. What ever method you find, keep pursuing, keeping pushing through and you will find that the obstacle is not insurmountable.

What is behind you?

As you move past the obstacle in life, go ahead and look back, but only once. Look back to see what you accomplished. Look back and tell yourself that you did that, you can do anything. But do not dwell on it too long.

Many will stop and admire the accomplishment. They will marvel at the success while all the time failing to continue their forward progress. Use the experience as a means to carry you forward. What you have learned from the experience will prepare you for the road ahead.

What lay ahead?

What lay ahead? Life of course. Your future, more circumstance, more unforeseen obstacles, more effort. But a great life and success also exists out there in front of you.

The journey we take in life is going to be full of many different experiences. Some of us reach complete success, but do we really? Most times the success is the journey itself, always moving forward, always living life.

Keep overcoming, keep moving forward, and stay inspired my friends.

Memories and Birthdays

"Love is missing someone whenever you're apart, but some how feeling warm inside because you're close in heart." -Anonymous

Today marks what would have been my brother's 58th birthday...that is if my math is correct. But the age doesn't matter now because he is ageless in time now having passed away just over a year ago.

It really doesn't mean a lot to those that didn't know my brother. It really only matters to those that did. But what matters to everyone is that we remember those we love and lost.

The stories we have of lost loved ones should be passed down through the generations. The fun stories, the loving stories and the serious ones. We need to explain and let the younger generations know who they were. A link to the past provides understanding of where we are going today.

My brother had a lot of stories in life. Some of those stories are heart breaking and hard ones to tell. But many more of those stories show a man redeemed and full of greatness.

The same stories are inside each one of us. They are stories and memories to be passed down to our children, grand children and more. Even in death the memory of 'us' can serve as guideposts for those still living their natural lives.

So today, March 15, is a day in which I can still say, "Happy Birthday John" and many more. Love you, miss you and most of all, thanks for ALL of the memories.

Expect It

"Quit now, you'll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you'll be halfway there." ~David Zucker

Give it up people, you'll never be a success. There is no way that all of your hard work and effort will pay off. Face it, you're just not talented enough. Quit now and accept your life as it is.

More than likely you have heard one of those phrases at some point in your life. The words of discouragement that people try to speak into your life. The words that work to keep you down and feeling unworthy of success.

It is very likely that you have spoken these words into your own life. I have heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say, "if you would like to accomplish something, you must first expect if from yourself." If you speak into your life disappointment and discouragement, it is a pretty good bet that this is what life will be for you.

Expect great things in your life, expect that you will accomplish your goals. Expect you and than others will expect that you will.

Disregard the naysayers, disregard the negative talk and believe in yourself.