From The Great Awakening: I Believe

"I believe that we are stronger than we think.  I believe that we can accomplish anything we set our intentions towards.  I believe we are made weaker when we do not use our strengths to help others in need.  I believe that you are loved, valued and accepted, regardless of your response to me, because true love is unconditional.
I believe we have the power to heal; both ourselves, and others.  I believe that most of us do not recognize our own power because we have never been shown, taught, or believed in.  I believe in recognizing and affirming the strength and power in others, because most people are not recognized, affirmed or valued enough in their lifetime.
I believe that as we recognize the divinity within us, we begin to recognize our purpose and place in the world.  
I believe in grace, forgiveness and the power of redemption.  I believe in love." 
Read the full post at The Great Awakening.

Life is Good! Go Ahead, take the leap!

Since my previous post in 2005 I've taken a leap into the great unknown.  I've got to tell you, it feels good.  I never thought I'd be where I am today.  Living with less stuff, both physical belongings and emotional baggage, and feeling much more free than ever before.  Life really is good and the universe does have your best interest at heart.  Go ahead, take the leap!

Standing at the Edge of the Great Unknown

Could you imagine how it would be, after beginning a hero's journey, to climb a mountain of insurmountable odds, finding yourself a the edge of tomorrow, then, without closing your eyes, taking a deep breath, you push off from the giant precipice into the ever expanding great unknown, and suddenly find yourself in mid-flight, feeling completely natural at living above the clouds?

Can you catch your breath? Did you close your eyes in fright at the risk of falling?

Life is a work of fiction, and every day we create a new chapter,a few paragraphs or sometimes, just a single line. There is no rhyme or reason, and life flows ploddingly, trepidation with each step. There is no fear in fiction, just the ethereal world of the maybe and what ifs. So what if I take that single step, that great leap into the unseen and the unknown?

What then?

Listening to: "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - Damien Rice

It's 11:32 p.m. on Wednesday night, and I'm drinking a cup of coffee; strong French roast with a dash of cinnamon flavored creamer. It's almost like a drinking cinnamon schnapps but with caffeine!
I'm tired too. I was wide awake at 4:15 this morning, so after laying in bed for 10 or fifteen minutes, I decided I might as well get up. I got to work way early and got a lot done before the 7:00 crew showed up. Productive day, and after working for 8 1/2 hours, I took a 20 minute nap, and then went and played out at the marina. It getting damn cold already, and I forget that we could have snow any day now. It is so hard getting used to not living in Florida, though with the hurricanes this season, I guess I'm thankful we don't live there. :)
I've got nothing to write tonight. I'm fighting allergies so my eyes are red and itchy. It hurts them to look at the computer monitor so I should go put some eye drops in...
Still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Wealth is More Than Money, and Abundance Overtakes Me

So, where does my life go from here? Of that I am not sure. I am happy but unfulfilled at work, and even a career bump will not allow me the resources I need to make my dreams become reality.

How is it that some can achieve a certain level of success in life, while others fail to achieve anything of lasting significance? Oh, I have life-long friends whom would tell you that I've achieved some significance, but to tell you the truth, it is not enough. I want more out of life and more out of what I expect my life to be. Although I am not talking about the abundance of "things," and the accumulation of wealth, I do expect to acquire some things that have some greater meaning than just "stuff" to fill a home.

Speaking of home, I've started to form the concept of the house that I want. Most likely, it will need to be built rather than acquired. I see it in my mind, and am working to see it realized on paper. The style is reminiscent of the manor houses of British Imperialism in India, or the Plantation houses of the French Indochine. Tall windows, grand foyer, sweeping vistas, french doors leading to the terrace, and of course, the hard wood floors. I've got the interior design settled as well. Of course, I've got to find the way to change fantasy into a reality.

If my perception is that I have the house I want, I will surely find a way to make it happen. I've got to figure out a way to make things happen faster and life more abundantly so. So, the question is, how does one acquire wealth? How do I make wealth seek me out, abundance following me, rather than me chasing money? There has to be a key, something almost too simple that it is mostly overlooked. Yes, I understand and appreciate that hard work has its merits, and I'm not afraid of it, but somewhere in this universe, there has to be a 'secret' to creating wealth, and having abudance overtake me. And I'm going to find it.

Dinner at Eight

I'm sitting quietly in my room at my computer, typing with my eyes closed. So much easier to focus on each word that I type, and no time to let those miscellaneous random thoughts interrupt.

In a moment, this moment, my life is good. I cooked a big pot of fettuccine alfredo for dinner, made a salad, steamed some vegetables, and made garlic bread. I've eaten, finished dinner with my favorite ice cream (spumoni) and am drinking a cup of coffee while C sits in the living room listening to some Italian music he bought while in Europe.

I've got a few emails to reply to, some laundry to finish, and then I've got a few hours for writing. It's been an industrious day, and tomorrow I go back to work.

The Way It Is

I've decided to live my life on purpose. Not as if I haven't, but too often, I've let life lead where it will rather than deciding my own fate. I choose to live my life with integrity and purpose, determined to make choices that will create the life I desire, not the life I thought I was handed.

Here's where I'm going:

I want a life with meaningful relationships. I believe that every person I have any meaningful contact with is in my life for a reason. This includes the persons I work with, persons I choose to be friends with, and individual family members. If I truly believe this, I will make the choices that allow these relationships to flourish.

I believe that I have something to contribute to every individual I come in contact with. I can choose to contribute something positive, or I can choose to contribute something the will detract from their experience on this earth.

I want to become a "life coach." Knowing the steps this involves gives me a greater purpose than I currently had. There is a science to reprogramming and repatterning the brain, and I am going to learn and practice this science in order to become whole, as well as help others become whole.

"Whole" as in a complete human being, well rounded and growing in the areas of relationships, spirituality, intelligence, emotional maturity, and creativity.

I believe that the circumstances of my life are the results of choices I have made. Rather than staying in those circumstances, I can "course correct" and change my reality. Perception is reality, and so I make my own reality. If I can create my own reality, than I can create the life that I want by altering my perception of reality.

Sound a little simplistic? What is it that allows people to walk across a bed of hot ashes unharmed? The reality is that those red-hot ashes burn. However, if I alter my perception of that reality, I could walk across that same bed of ashes and not get burned. What's is more real then? That hot ashes burn, or that I am unharmed?

This then is the quandry, how much of reality is "real" and how much of reality is your perception of reality? How much of the "real" reality can you know if the only perception of reality you have is based on the filters of perception and experience, as well as any other internal filters?

So, reality is what we make it. I choose my reality. My choices create the reality of my life. Your choices create the reality of your life. Change your reality, change your life.