Flow don't bob

There's a difference between bobbing and following the flow. Sometimes it's great to bobble for awhile. But eventually, part of being an adult is about making decisions. Making decisions knowing you don't get to do everything. That you have to release some of the things you want to do. Hopefully, you listen to the flow of the universe, then being a grown up, you make a choice saying "I may never get to do that other thing". But the alternative is you end up doing none of it. 

Don't take it personally

Why are they walking in my way so slowly? Why would he take the last one? Why is the ambulance making our car pull over when we're already late? So often we take things personally that have nothing to do with us. We create a story that's based on no information and we let it get us angry. Or worse, let it hurt us.

Maybe it's time to breathe. Then, if we are going to create a story let it be one that uplifts us. Maybe they're walking slowly because they've just found new love and are savoring it. Maybe he took the last one because he's getting it for a friend he hasn't seen in a decade. Maybe the fact that we pulled over for the ambulance means a life gets saved. Instead of victims, we're heroes. Instead of being hurt we can smile and pass it on.

What you say matters

There are many reasons to listen more than speak but one of the most important is realizing how impactful our words can be. People do hear what we're saying and it can haunt them or enlighten them for a long time after we may have even forgotten saying them.

Words can be weapons. Like all weapons when used carelessly they can leave disaster and suffering in their wake. On the other hand, words when used purposefully, with thought and care, can lift up not only one person but generations for centuries.

I'm not saying every time you speak you need to be channelling Seneca. Just be mindful how much power you're wielding.

Spring

The great thing about spring is that one day you wake up, look around and everything is green again. It feels like only yesterday the trees were brown and bare.

Of course, that's not the case. The change just happened a little every day. A little growth, a little unfolding, a painful stretch as the green leaf finally breaks through the bark that we thought was so permanent.

That's really how the most important things in life happen. A little every day and then one day you're ready to notice just how much you've bloomed.

The halfway point

I'm halfway through the challenge given to me by a friend to post a thought a day and it seems like a good time to tell you why I'm doing this. For a while, a friend (the person in the photo below. No, that's not me) of mine had been telling me I should tweet or facebook and share some ideas. That, in turn people would share ideas back and a sort of online discussion would. I can't exactly say why I'm unwilling to commit to any of those things. But I will say, that I came up with this instead. I said, I'd post a thought a day for 30 days and maybe people would find it. I like the idea that nothing is random and if you happen to stumble across something on here, then you were meant to. If you feel like opening up a discussion from there, I'd be excited to respond. If nobody found it that would be okay too.

It's beautiful that we live in an age where we all have a voice. But, not everyone needs to shout from the rooftop. At last for now maybe some us like whispering in the breeze.

Wasting time

I'm not going to suggest there's no such thing as wasting time. As individuals time is our most precious resource and there's lots of ways it can be spent doing things that we could consider a waste of it.

What I am going to suggest is that no one activity is by itself a waste. When done mindfully even sitting doing nothing at all can be immensely beneficial. More and more research comes out all the time regarding the benefits of meditation. I think some would even consider it the single most beneficial thing you can do for yourself. Conversely, even things that are widely thought of as productive can become a waste of time when done without thought.

Meetings are a good example of both. A mindful meeting where two or more people are getting together to solve a problem is probably why we have fire. Ir's certainly why we can build giant structures that fly. On the other hand, mindless meetings where people talk AT one another are rarely of much or any use.

That all being said, I'm working on not considering anything a waste of time. Especially not creative endeavors. The temptation is there and it becomes an easy excuse to let ourselves off the hook. But I'm working to remember that many of the things that turned out to be of the greatest value to me as a growing individual, didn't have that apparent value while I was doing them. I'm working at instead doing everything mindfully.

Poor us

When we see someone on the fringes of society we look at them, as if from a distance thinking, "poor them". Really, what we should be thinking is closer to, "poor us". Because we're all closer to that then we're comfortable to imagine. Hence the dismissal. Maybe it's time to stop dismissing. To accept that that could have been and might still be all of us.

Let's even assume for a second that your current life path makes it pretty unlikely for you to end up homeless or drug addicted. Probably not as secure as you think. But let's work from that.

What horrible circumstances lead to that person being addicted to drugs? To need so badly to escape or numb from life? We all have things we numb ourselves from. How hard is it to imagine an event so horrible you can't move forward? How hard is it to imagine the wrong person entering your life at the wrong moment and hurting you so badly you need to escape yourself? How that can compound itself. Or, maybe it was the lack of person or people in your life telling you, "you're okay" at the right time, that they love you regardless. That they believe in your beauty.

Or, consider the set of circumstances and lack of support that are completely out of our control that could lead you to being without a job and eventually a home.

The point is, it could have happened to you and through pure chance you avoided it. So that should lead you to two things. First, gratitude. Gratitude that the universe has smiled on you to this point. But more importantly, it should lead you to feeling obligated. Not obligated to give money or things. Simply obligated to feel empathy and understanding. Obligated to acknowledge that that is a human being JUST like you, who hasn't had the luck you've had. The least you can do is look them in the eyes, smile and share a moment of the warmth you've been blessed with.

Never stop imagining

Our past should be celebrated insofar as it's the building block for your present. But, every once in a while you come across someone who's caught in an era or idea of their life. The high school football star who still displays his medals or the guy who still talks about his college adventures when he's 60 being two obvious examples. The artist who thinks it was his eccentricities that created his masterpiece maybe being the most dangerous and famous example.

But we all do this. We become the things we imagine and we're so amazed it worked, at how powerful we are that we stop imagining.  Never stop imagining.

The Call

The thing you think is ever urgent,
It's probably procrastination
From the real thing you should pursue,
your universal station.
We hear the call in all of us.
But were often slow to heed.
Too busy numbing what's inside.
With politics, binge tv and greed.
That thing you should be doing.
The one you feel in your heart.
You could put it off another day.
Or be brave enough to start.

This moment

This moment. That one that just passed. You're never getting it back. Let that really hit you as you consider you don't even know how many more moments you get. But, that moment of your life is over.

Now, I'm not going to tell you that every moment needs to be filled doing that thing you keep putting off. That thing that you know you should do, that's scary or hard or just too big. You should do those things, but that's not what I'm going to tell you to do. What I am going to tell you to do, is be aware. To cherish. To breathe.

See, ultimately no matter what you're doing. Eating a cookie, binge watching Game of Cards, creating a masterpiece and you can do all of those things, but you should cherish every moment of it. Otherwise, you should do something else.

To be clear, I'm not saying enjoy every moment you cherish necessarily. Just be sure to feel every moment fully. Try it now, take a deep breath and feel the enormity of this moment of your life. It's beautiful. They all are. Lucky you.

Angels do exist. Angles too.

Angels do exist.

There's magic everywhere.

The exhale of the universe in every gust of wind.

The timing of the right words from an unexpected friend.

The whisper of a flower bloom teaching you the way.

To open to the sunshine and live just for today.

The grass is such a comfort, with that bump that lands just right.

Don't worry if you fall asleep the crows will signal night.

There's magic in every moment. If you'd only stop to hear

All the angels of the universe are offering you a cheer.

Spirituality doesn't have teams

The problem with both the fanatic and the dismissive is that they've chosen to stop thinking and that's where danger always lies.

It's overly simple and childlike to assume there's actually an all-knowing bearded man, or whatever somewhere in the sky deciding what's right and wrong for every individual. But the point of view that laughs at any thought those stories have real deep value. That dismisses the notion of connectedness and spiritual instinct is just as simple. Not only are both those extremes simple. It's also the root of too much hatred, evil and, dare I say, sin.

Matters of the heart or soul shouldn't force you to pick a team. You should be brave enough to be fluid.

You might not be a beautiful flower

You may have been lied to. Not everyone is a beautiful flower. Most are simply a blade of grass. But here's the good news. A flower is alone in its beauty, as quickly as it blooms it withers. A blade of grass has it's own unique magnificence if you look closely, but it flows in unison with all the other blades to create a beautiful whole. Working in a harmony that has no end.

Be careful what you wish for

We need to be very clear with ourselves about what we want in life, because we manifest the things we need. Not always the things we want , but certainly the things we need.

We can usually tell the difference by urgency. Ironically, if you REALLY feel you need something you probably just want it. The things we really need burn in our gut in a way that we can't divorce from who we are.

I'm not suggesting that whatever it is you need you'll manifest tomorrow. Not at all. In fact, it will probably happen so slowly that you won't even recognize it's happened. Then, by the time it does happen you'll probably already be ready for the next challenge. But make no mistake, you'll have created the life you imagined.

If you don't like it, one of two things happened. Either your perspective has changed or you weren't clear and honest with yourself about what you wanted. If it's that your perspective has changed, you just move on to the next phase, after taking some time to acknowledge and feel the glow of your own power. If, on the other hand, you weren't clear or honest with yourself. Maybe your living the life someone else wants for you or your too scared to admit what you really want. In that case, you need to put the brakes on, sit back and be sure you correct it. Otherwise you could spend your whole life living a lie.

P.S. Being honest with ourselves about what we want is quite often the opposite of what you'd think. It takes no imagination to want the big, bold and obvious. But, that's rarely truly what we need. Be brave enough to admit that maybe what you need is modest by most peoples standards.

Just be nice

In a society where we're told to look out for number one and greed is good it's no wonder that happiness is so elusive.

The truth is happiness only comes from being of service. That being of service to others is the best way to be of service to ourselves. Now, I know that intellectually, but still I have to fight to remind myself. Fight through the messages of music videos, movies and friends teaching me while i was growing up that money and belongings are the key to happiness. So I have to fight through that conditioning and remind myself every day.

Now imagine that there's probably lots of people who have never understood otherwise. If you're one of those people start the fight today. Just do something simple like hold a door open and see how that makes you feel. Now imagine if you were lucky enough to spend your whole life being of service.

I did say daily thoughts

Some days you just don't feel like doing a thing you said you were going to do. You have a zillion reasons and they are all valid. Like, let's say for arguments sake, you recently said you'd share a thought a day for at least 30 days. But, the day got away from you, you're tired, you've had a glass of wine (or two) and really nobody is paying attention anyway. So who care cares if you miss one little day? But life is really all about one day. That is, after all the only thing we know we have. Besides, if there's one person you should neve break a promise to it's yourself.

Release greatness

I'm going to release any desire of being great and instead simply create.

Creating something that's widely thought of as great or even good would certainly be a nice ego stroke but really it is so incredibly rare and so often leads to inactivity that we all should stop considering it altogether.

First of all, even when you have all the resources available making something that is widely thought of as good, let alone great is far from assured. Also, even if a huge percentage of people think something is great it doesn't at all guarantee that it's going to feel satisfying to you. Lastly, something being great is obviously subjective. There are countless books, songs or movies that are widely accepted as great that I don't care for at all.

So, that's it. We're all free. Free from the burden of trying to be great or good. Let's just create.

P.S. I would hope that it would go without saying that this by no means suggests you put anything less than all of yourself into everything you do.

Champions are overrated

Champions are overrated. It's easy to be the champion. To get the ultimate reward for hard work. What really should be celebrated is getting up after a loss. To know you worked just as hard, but today wasn't your day and not just lay there like a puddle is beautiful. Here's to the moment. The exact moment when it would be easy to stay down and nobody would blame us. But instead, we decide to pick our broken bodies up, accept defeat and start again.

Happiness

I'm starting to think happiness is earned. Here we've thought our whole lives that it's a natural state that we simply deserve for being alive. I don't actually think it is. We have to work for it. But the way to work for it is to put yourself out there. You have to start by being open to it, which is scary. Then, you gotta be brave enough to put that fear aside, you have to trust and be open. Finally, you have to make the effort. Stop being simply distracted, get out there and put yourself in the way of happiness. Otherwise it will just pass you by your whole life.