Puzzling Life

“It's like somebody gives you a jigsaw puzzle, but it's thousands of years old and you're not given all of the pieces.” ~ James Dunbar

The movie began just as the original book did. A young child is born and begins a life filled with joy and optimism. As we watch the movie unfold, we could easily skip ahead in the book to find key parts. We could even go to the final pages and figure out how it all ends.

The wonder of it all is that in real life we can not read ahead. There is no way to read Chapter 20 and figure out how the teen years worked out. No jumping to Chapter 55 to see if our career choice was a success. It even keeps us from sneaking a peek at the final chapter.

The story of our life has to simply unfold before us.

The final picture could be considered a puzzle that starts as a blank slate. With thousands of pieces that are not neatly stored in a box for us. We have to find the puzzle pieces and fit them together. Searching all over for even the smallest one, figuring out if it will fit.

The difficult part is that our puzzle pieces interlock with the pieces of other peoples lives. We mix and match, building our life. Sometimes existing pieces get changed out which causes other pieces not to fit. Its a constant "work in progress" to figure out what it will finally look like.

When we near the final chapter, only a very few number of pieces remain. The picture will seem clear to us and one can view it with pride. Yet there will always be at least one piece we will never see filled.

That is the finality of our life.

We know and understand what the piece represents. What we don't know is what will happen beyond, once the piece is put in place. But that empty piece represents hope beyond our natural lives. Depending upon your faith or beliefs, it could mean many different things.

Knowing that the final piece is the great unknown, while we are here on earth we have the ability to create the rest of the picture. We can find and change out other sections. We have the ability to shape our own lives.

Piece together the picture you want for your life. Create a life that everyone will want to read about. It is that kind of life others will want to skip ahead and peak at.

Stay inspired my friends!

Using an Escalator

"Assume that whatever situation you are facing at the moment is exactly the right situation you need to ultimately be successful. This situation has been sent to help you become better, to help you expand and grow." - Brian Tracy

There was a great commercial on television that was so good at amusing me, it failed to actually help me remember what was being sold or promoted. The advertisement showed a few people riding an escalator which stopped in mid-movement.

One person sullenly asks "what shall we do?"

Another yells for help.

While another cries out that her cell phone is dead.

The immediate problem they face has them frozen in fear of not knowing what to do. They are locked in indecision, unable to clearly think or make a choice.

As they stand there, a fourth person bravely ascends the stairs on his own power. Walking up each step, happily making his way to the top. The stranded people watch in amazement as this person moves past them, boldly and without hesitation.

This scene is sort of like watching someone rise and achieve success. We stand still wondering what we should do. Yet if you watch those achieving success, they keep moving despite any obstacles.

If an obstacle emerges, it may cause us to deviate from our chosen path.

We keep moving though, adjusting to the changing conditions.

We keep moving, we keep pushing forward not allowing obstacles to stop our movement.

Never let a failed escalator stop your climb to achievement. Keep moving. And stay inspired my friends.

Crossing Calm Waters

"The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators." - Edward Gibbon

As I was thinking about what to write today, it occurred to me that change happens in my life sometimes without even realizing it. Your thought is probably "well yeah, no duh." Certainly my thought was not one of those moments of enlightenment. It is something I have always understood just beneath the surface.

What occurred to me is that we forget about this fact of change.

Even as I accept and manage changes that I am making, other unseen forces are causing change in my life. If you think about the "ripples in the water", something set in motion elsewhere can have a ripple effect on our own life.

The ripple could be disruptive to our own movement.

The ripple could be just the right push we need.

So what happens when these ripples or waves cross paths with our own? They can upset and knock you off the course you had set. It is one of those things which could destroy a person, but only if they let it. You could be crossing calm waters only to be swept away. Knowing and understanding that the wind will shift, or that waves could come crashing over the side will help you better navigate your life.

Life and circumstance can bring change in the blink of an eye.

The outcome of your experience in life is the result of how you respond to events that occur in your life. Once you realize a calm sea will not always exist, you can prepare for and adjust when the calm is disrupted.

Be at peace in the crashing waves and you will come through into the calm stronger, happier and even more focused on your life goals.

Stay inspired my friends.

Enthusiasm for Your Life

"Enthusiasm is the energy and force that builds literal momentum of the human soul and mind." ~ Bryant H. McGill

When building a great life, we have to approach it with enthusiasm.

We need to have a pure joy for the process of living life.

We have to love living.

If we hate our job, if we hate our circumstance in life, if we just hate being; then our life will remain stuck with no chance of improvement. There has to be a change in those circumstances. You have to alter your view of life and how you feel about it. Always complaining and bickering about your lot in life will only yield an unlikeable life.

Try changing all of that around.

Try being a better person your self.

Try having a little more enthusiasm.

Try to enjoy the life you have a little more.

If we start by being slightly amused, maybe we can begin to get past the negativity in life. It is up to each of us to change our thoughts and behaviors. If we remain negative about all that is around us, a negative life is what we will get. If we choose to enjoy life and rid ourselves of the negativity, a greater life can be ours.

It sounds easy but the reality requires a lot of work on our part and many people are not willing to put in the work required. But the point is, it takes work to be negative and the result of that work will be a negative life.

Why not direct that enthusiasm; that energy; towards doing something greater for your life? Start laughing a bit more, start being less critical and start by just having more enthusiasm for your life.

Stay inspired my friends.