Friends and Family

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
― Helen Keller

The painting above is called "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Renoir. I love the painting for its simple view of people gathering. There are formal and non-formal interactions going on. There is a sense of care and ease among those gathered.

It reminds me very much of a gathering you or I may have. A gathering of friends for a game of cards maybe. These gatherings throughout our lives are those in which we need family and friends to be part of.

We need them for the comfort and support they bring.

We need them for the advice and encouragement we can not get by ourselves.

It is the community of relationships we have that makes our lives better. On the spokes of your wheel, this is the social and family strength to move through life.

Take the time to meet with others and envelope yourself in the warmth of friendship. Your days will be better, your spirit will be lifted, and your life will be renewed.

Stay inspired my friends!

Our Wheel Of Life

The following is a repost of a very popular article I wrote back in June of 2006. It bears repeating and I hope that you enjoy reading it once again.

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."
- Thomas Merton

I listened to a friend of mine, Dean Sweetman, speak about the areas of one's life which need to be tended to in order to have a full and balanced life. These areas are different aspects of our existence. Some of you may know of these, some may not. It is quite possible that you are quite good in one and quite bad in another. But understanding and then acting upon all of them is the important thing, achieving balance is the goal.

There are six areas one must focus on in order to first get your life in order, second to get your life moving in a positive direction and lastly to achieve even greater potential in life. He describes these as the six spokes of life. Think of them as the spokes on the wheel of your life. Without all of them, the wheel can not turn freely.

Your heart and mind is at the hub of this wheel with an ability to change each spoke. As the hub of this wheel, you must tend to each spoke with care and understanding of its importance. The six spokes we speak of here are;

• Financial and Career
• Social and Cultural
• Spiritual and Moral
• Family and Home
• Mental and Emotional
• Physical and Health

Over the next couple of days I'll speak to each of these. It is my belief that a 'full wheel' can take you places. If one or two spokes are gone, in disrepair, the wheel is not complete. It can not take you places in a broken state.

Yet a wheel with all of the spokes can move you. As each spoke improves, the wheel can gain momentum. Accelerating you to a great life is what can happen by understanding these six keys areas of life.

"Everyone is meant to have a great life. Your circumstance should not deter you from experiencing it." - Dean Sweetman

Stay inspired my friends!

Facing Obstacles

"Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them." - Orison Swett Marden

There are times in life when we are moving forward towards our goals and we encounter a wall. The wall might contain a locked door or potentially no door at all. Many times it may be similar to swirling sand and dust blocking your path.

Our vision becomes clouded and we become frightened that we may become lost. We fear losing the path we are upon and it is very likely that you may drift. Our obstacles come in many different forms and how we face them determines what happens to our goals.

Some will choose to hide inside where four walls might protect. The landscape outside changes from the blowing winds, but once these people leave those four walls, venturing outside, nothing looks familiar. Still others will close their eyes and march head long into the storm, not looking where they are going and losing their way completely.

How should we confront obstacles?

I have no one answer that will suffice but I can offer some tips. What follows comes from a short-lived blog by Shane Magee, an inspirational writer.

- If we can stay cheerful when confronted with a problem, that automatically reduces the size of the problem. It can be very difficult to resist the slide into despondency; we have to cultivate the attitude of a warrior, and stand firm and not let our negative thoughts rule us. We can gain strength by remembering the times when we were cheerful, and the energy and vibrancy that that cheerfulness gave us.

- Like any other positive quality, our determination can be cultivated and increased. When fear of an impending obstacle strikes the pit of your stomach, you can visualise breathing out this fear and breathing in determination and resolve. If it is the sheer magnitude of a task that is worrying you, break it down into smaller tasks and tell yourself to just focus on getting the first small task done.

- Inspiration is such an important factor in maintaining one's resolve. By reading stories, we know we are not alone and that within the human spirit lies the capacity to solve these problems. Try to surround yourself with as much inspiration in the form of books, music and people as possible. By the same token you can remove yourself from influences that are discouraging you from reaching your goal.

- We often increase obstacles with our own self-doubt. We should instead try and increase our faith in ourselves and our ability to surpass the object in front of us. When a doubting thought comes, we can ask ourselves whether this thought really has any basis in reality; most of the time it does not have any basis at all. Sometimes by even accomplishing some small preparatory tasks we can instill faith in ourselves for the bigger tasks to come.

There are many different ways to face obstacles in life that you will inevitably face. But a sign of encouragement that I recently saw had these words, "Problems are inevitable, misery is optional."

Choose a different way of confronting your problems...choose to live to overcome and not live in misery. The cloud will pass and leave you with a clear view of your goal.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life Happens

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” - John Lennon

We can spend tons of time to plan and plan even more on how we want life to be. Some of those plans become reality and others do not. But as we go about charting our future, life rolls along at its own pace adding excitement to our planning; adding adventure to the process. How you react and adapt to what life does will help determine the success or failure of your plans. All of this occurs in big ways and in smaller portions of your daily living.

It could be a major breakthrough or a large disaster that changes the course of everything around you.

It could be an important day at work and spilling your morning coffee on your clothes.

Big or little, it is just life rolling along.

You can choose to lay down in misery and wallow in self despair. Or you can choose to rise above it all, to learn and move on. Maybe you won a major lottery jackpot, how are you going to react. Many of us would naturally be jumping for joy. Yet what type of person are you going to be once the cheers of congratulation fade away?

Everything can change in an instant, everything can change in small ways, it is what life does to us.

Prepare yourself to adapt to those changes and to sense when changes begin to occur. Keep your attitude strong through both the good and the bad. The excitement of change awaits around every corner and behind every door. When change happens, movement occurs and so will you. Boldly accept the challenge of life and thrill at the moments which await you.

Stay inspired my friends!