Rise and Shine

It's funny how people try to maintain you down when you fall, instead of lifting you off your feet they become your personal scavengers and fly around waiting to take a piece of you. When your life seems to be going wrong and you feel like nothing else could go wrong that’s when you need to assure and secure your faith so that you can rise and shine above it all.

This reminds me of the growth process of the Chinese Bamboo tree. When you plant the seed nothing happens for the first year, neither on the second nor the third year but on the fourth year the Chinese Bamboo tree sprouts 90 feet in just six weeks!! Isn’t this amazing! And in the same way as the bamboo takes longer to grow than other trees so does our personal growth, our endeavors, dreams and goals also take time to sprout and grow to unbelievable heights. Sometimes life is discouraging but we need to keep moving forward with faith knowing that blessings are on their way, knowing that soon we’ll be reaping the rewards. As the bamboo tree reaches insurmountable heights so shall we reach new heights in our lives. You just have to BELIEVE, RISE & SHINE!!


We are destined to do great things and why not follow our true calling:
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Seasons Change

There's a beautiful sad song from the 80's I can't get off my head. It's called Seasons Change  and the group's name is Expose. As I remember the lyrics they go something like:

Some dreams, are in the night time
And some seem like yesterday
But leaves turn brown and fade
Ships sail away
You long to say a thousand words but
Seasons Change.
It feels, like it's forever
No reason for emptiness
But time just runs away

Then it goes on and on, saying "seasons change, feelings change, people change". And that is so true! (Hey, didn't the 80's have the best music?  Really?) Anyway, you guys know how I'm always getting my inspiration from music so this won't come as anything strange when I refer to lyrics that just keep circling my mind. 

Time goes by, well actually, time flies or as the song says "time runs away" especially when you're not aware of what has priority, and I'm referring to the essentials in our life. Have you asked yourself lately what is a priority in your life? The dreams, goals and priorities that you had yesterday may not be the same ones that you have today or will have tomorrow but we still need to keep dreaming, we still need to pursue them and we still need to live to our full potential. We must strive to reach our highest potential so that we can live more fulfilling lives. People around us change, their feelings toward us change and our feelings towards them also change but acknowledging is the first step. Then to correct what is faulty and/or missing is the second step which is necessary in order to move on. I ask: can you make a decision today to correct this? What decisions will you make today or this week that will affect your life or the people around you? So often we refrain from making decisions because of fear. Fear of what others might say,  might think or what others might feel towards us. I say living in fear is not living at all. That is not the life God wants for us and that's not the life we should settle for. You should understand you are priceless, you have so much value and you can do so much more. Understanding we are not here by mere accident and that God has us here for a purpose is stepping in the right direction. There's no reason to just settle for something that's good enough: say, staying at your job because even though you don't like it, it's good enough and for now you can pay the bills, and trust me I could think of a thousand more excuses we give ourselves on a daily basis just because... We should change our way of thinking and directing our lives. Let's stop, take a deep breath and think for a moment: what's my main desire? or better yet: what's my purpose on this life? what's my calling? what makes me truly happy? Once we know the answer to these questions we can move forward with ease and the emptiness we tend to feel from time to time will fade away. I believe we can live a life full of blessings, full of light and love, which is far most the greatest quality of all. Because when we feel love we can see the world from another perspective. Start by giving yourself the love you need, as it has been said by centuries, in order to better love others we need to love ourselves first. So show the LOVE!!
Good Day Mates!!

Releasing

In my last entry I explained how important it is to trust, how it's an ability we must acquire in order to live more confident lives. But today I want to explain how trusting goes hand in hand with releasing or simply put, letting go. When things don't go the way we want them to or unexpected situations arise that prevent us from getting a promotion, a salary raise, reaching a new level, achieving goals and dreams we become frustrated, negative and that's when we need to trust that everything has a divine plan, God has a purpose already. But often times, more than usual we persist on our ideas and don't let go of what it is that we want and things certainly don't go our way. We can throw a fit and still nothing happens. That's when we need to learn to release and let go. I'm not saying we should give up on our dreams but we should let go of the anger, the frustrations, the negative thoughts and bad attitude. God is in control and what we want will come to pass when it's the right time, His time, and His time may not be ours. We're all living our part in this divine movie. When we learn to trust and release we live not only more confident but also more fulfilling lives. Things happen for a reason or so they say so this must mean we can trust we are equipped to handle the load we are being given because nothing is by mere chance. As Joel Osteen would say "we are not victims, we are victors". So let's begin recognizing our full potential and put it to good use. Have a great day my friends!!

The Ability to Trust

The ability to trust that all will be alright is a quality almost not found on people today. We put so much stress on ourselves to reach our goals and dreams that when we don't reach them we get frustrated and everything around us falls to pieces, or so we think. Instead of realizing it was probably for the greater good we start to fuss over everything. Instead we should begin thinking there is something much better out there for us it's not the end of the world, we just feel that way because we're not confident. This is where the power of trust comes in. We need to trust there is a bright future waiting for us, we need to trust when things don't go our way there is a better way, when a door closes there is another one that will open. When you think there is not a way God already has a way, and the only thing we have to do is trust there is a much better way for us. That's all we need to do. When we can sincerely trust we can feel confidence in our future and when we feel confident good things start to happen, doors begin to open, the right people come into our lives and our divine destiny starts to unfold.

It's A Beautiful Morning

It's funny how I'm always getting inspiration from songs, people and places to write my blog. The joy a song will bring, a beautiful bright sky, and the smile of that one person you love from near or afar are all inspirations that come from the outside and go to the inner corners of our soul. I ask myself when should we stop looking and searching for things to give us joy and inspiration on the outside when everything is already inside. We should search inside to find the everlasting joy, happiness and love. This is precisely the journey I've decided to embark on. I want to find what has been lost, and once found be able to treasure it and keep it not just for myself but so that I can better love, help and serve others.
This is my personal journey from within.

Meanwhile, enjoy this song it was my inspiration when I woke up this morning!
 

Winning Some & Losing Others

Everyday we face battles, both internally and externally, and we go about our days not knowing that we can choose our battles. We can decide whether we want to commit to an ongoing argument which could result futile or if we can decide to  let go and lose the argument for the sake of saving us the tantrum, the anger, the fury and sometimes even the hatred that lurks behind the curtain of our heart. To put it simply we have the power to take control of our lives and sometimes don’t even know it. As Roberto Pérez, Peace Ambassador for Argentina,  says “we tend to react to our surroundings instead of respond” to our surroundings. I believe I emphasize so much but not enough in the need to live consciously because by doing it we live thinking in our neighbors and not in ourselves. We start to live to serve and love others instead of using and taking advantage of others.

Living to serve and love our neighbors should certainly be on our  to do list.

What’s on your list today?

Human Nature

Every day people hurt us, mark us, classify us and even crucify us and we just say that it's human nature. Doesn't it sound weird to accept that hurting one another is just part of our daily lives. Isn't it strange that we expect others to treat us fairly but we're not even able to treat others the way we wish to be treated.

Shouldn't we start treating others the way we want to be treated first? When can we start? Can we even start at all? I certainly hope so. I know so.

Many people make to do lists, (I admit being a part of that group) and we write all sort of things: do the laundry, take the garbage out, clean the bathrooms, but what about adding:

    Things to do:

1. Be courteous
2. Be loving
3. Be amicable
4. Smile
5. Do the dishes
6. Do the laundry,etc..

Let's say your not like me and don't like making lists but you can definitely decide in the morning what you will and will not do during the day and I can assure you, this will make a difference in your day and in your life.

Make it your human nature to make a difference! Like the late Michael Jackson sang: 

"I'm gonna make a change,

for once in my life

It's gonna feel real good,

gonna make a difference

gonna make it right..."



Love you guys!! Have a great day!

P.S.
By the way the song is
"Man In the Mirror"
 

As good as it gets

Is this as good as it gets?

No.

 

The answer is plain and simple: this is definitely not as good as it gets or should get. It would be depressing to know we can't achieve anything more than what we have right now. It would be sad to know there are so many things out there and that we cannot even dream of getting or touching or  feeling. What kind of a disturbing world would it be? Thank God it's not like that at all. We can dream of something bigger, brighter, better in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Isn't it wonderful that we can evolve each day into better human beings? 

We can be whomever we wish to be.

We can be whatever we want to be.

And we can be wherever we want to be.

We just have to be, simply BE, and our lives will unfold in front of us. Those yearnings, desires, dreams that we hold close to our hearts can be made into reality. It's not about just wishing it's about believing, it's about knowing and trusting it will simply come to pass. Forrest Gump's mother said "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get" but I differ. When we live consciously you can tell what your gonna get, it's like streaming a movie, when you choose to download Forrest Gump you are going to get that movie, exactly that one. So when you decide to stream thoughts of victory, of a brighter future and a prosperous day that is exactly what you will be streaming. It's what you are attracting into your life that opens the correct door, that unfolds the creases that have been made over time and that brings light where there were once shadows. So, if this isn't as good as it gets think about what you really think is good and set out to get it. It's just within your reach.

Trust me, it really is.

 

Whose to blame? Anyone?

It's been some time since I don't write, but it hasn't been because nothing has happened, au contraire mes amies, life has happened. Everyday I wake up thinking I have a new chance at life, that it's a new beginning on this journey, although at a day's end it sometimes feels like a neverending struggle, but I'd rather think of it as an adventure and that way I know everyday I can learn something completely new. Being aware is one of the most important parts of this learning process because we'll be able to see the signs and clues that are all around us that point towards the path we have chosen and desire to follow. But it's weird that even when we have this knowledge we still turn our attention from the really important things that matter to the not so important things. Why do we get distracted? Whose fault is it? The TV? The radio? Our friends? Or can we just blame it on ourselves? I can imagine having us rig our heads like horses to keep our attention fixed on the road to success and achieving our dreams. But..., we are human and we need those distractions from time to time to keep living healthfully and stress free. Sometimes we just need space and time to keep our heads from bursting or falling off. We need a breather every now and then to get that feeling of a fresh start in the morning. And once we have that fresh new morning we can decide where we want to go from there. Where do we want to go from here? Really? Is it a new job? A new home? A new spouse? What is it that we really want in life?
I already know, do you?

Paying Off Debts & Closing Chapters

These last couple of days I have been thinking of the things that I have left behind, unfinished. Of the chapters that I haven't finished, of the books that I haven't closed and of the debts that I haven't paid. We all have unpaid debts. And they may range from not saying I'm sorry when we hurt someone, not appreciating someone for having been there when we needed them the most, or not being there for a friend when we should have. There are many instances when we can do something and yet we think so much about it that don't do a thing at the end. How do we go about our lives with so much baggage? It would be easier to just let go but we tend to leave things unattended thinking they will go away but things don't just go away, instead they just lurk around the corners of our lives like a sad ghost on Christmas eve. Paying off our debts and being at peace with ourselves both go hand in hand and each is a consequence of the other. Because we cannot be at peace if we still have unpaid debts and when we pay off our debts we are at peace. So paying them off is a sure way to be at peace with ourselves, but closing chapters also lets us move on.

Just the other day I remembered that I had parted ways with a friend and never explained why, so I wrote an unsent letter explaining myself and it permitted me to let go of all the bottled up feelings and emotions that I had. So if in the future we meet again I know I will be  better equipped at handling the situation because I'm already at peace. By doing that I felt liberated and closed that chapter. Now, on to the next!

Certainly, it would be easier to live without any excess baggage and without any unpaid debts but this is life and in the school of life we each have to decide when it's time. Just remember the faster you close those chapters and the faster you pay off debts, the faster you can evolve in this world, and the faster you can help those around you to evolve as well.

Dream Killers

Just recently I was cyber bullied by a dream killer and eventhough it sounds harmless, at least I thought it was, it really isn't, so beware of those who try to push you down and pull you apart from your dreams and innermost desires. Trust me, it's not a pretty sight. How do you block yourself from them? How can you escape from the ever miserable individual who wants everybody else to feel miserable too?
Just when you think you've found a sweet haven where you can express yourself, in comes a dream killer with an Uzi pistol shooting everything down. It's very empowering to learn there are ways to block these people from cyber space but what  can we do when were dealing with real life bullies or dream killers. I know a couple of them, and you must too. They lurk around the corners waiting to hear any sense of hope or joy come out of your mouth and that's when the shooting begins. Your like a knight without armor. But it's time to change this. It's time to stand up and fight for what is righteously ours, our right to express ourselves and make visible the path to the realization of our dreams. If the Beastie Boys fought for their right to party then we can certainly fight for our dreams, don't you think?

Peeking through the leaves

It's always nice to lie on the grass just with our thoughts and our feelings to sort things out. And
there's nothing like feeling the warmth of a ray of sunshine peeking through the leaves of that old tree from our childhood years to welcome us home.

l'évolution - la deuxième partie

The Evolution - Part Two

When we think of evolution we inevitably think of  Darwin, of the evolution of mankind, of the Australopithecus, Neanderthals, and the likes. But what does all of that have to do with us now? What does evolution really mean? Do we still evolve even to this day? Darwin established survival of the fittest is what evolution is about. Although this isn't a science blog (but just for those of you who don't know) he stated that in the fight for survival, "the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment".  But these days survival of the fittest goes along Machiavelli's line: "the end justifies the means". Both of these quotes make everyone seem like their out to get someone's head just to get to the top. It seems trust, respect, compassion, and faith are all virtues of yesteryear. Is it that to survive we have to step all over others to achieve our goals? Or can we just help our companions to achieve their goals while we achieve our goals as well? Can we even work together? Can I decide into what I want to evolve? Will my evolution help people around me? Will they begin to evolve as well?

I have so many questions and so many answers in my mind that knowing is not sufficient. What is knowledge without action. So where can I begin. The answer again is so simple, evolution or change, however you want to call it, always has to start from within, but it's easier said than done. Probably the first step could be to stop excusing ourselves. We tend to excuse ourselves for and from everything, from not going to the gym because we feel tired to eating too much because were anxious to getting late to our date  because it's just fashionably late. We have excuses for everything and that is what prevents us from evolving into something more. Evolution is not just about biology, it's also a mental, spiritual and social process that we need to address. We can focus on the traits that we want to change and will help us grow, adapt, evolve and ultimately, let us be a part of the fittest group, or we can decide to not change at all and settle. Which is it? 

Now I ask: can we face ourselves and look hard enough to admit what we want to change or into what we want to evolve? Nobody said it would be easy but it never hurts to try.

Evolution Pt. 1

In this life I have had to endure several lives each with its own set of rules and just like a credit card with its own terms and conditions as well. Sometimes we don't realize we have this lifetime to evolve spiritually, mentally, socially and even physically. Unfortunately, so often we take life for granted and don't worry that our thoughts and our actions affect every future second of our lives. Are we sabotaging ourselves with the wrong thoughts or actions? Or are we fully taking advantage of every second? I've always heard, every second counts, so let's not waste any more seconds. There is a need in our world right now to change our mindset. I believe this will improve our life and the life of others, by making small changes we can create a positive tidal wave that will affect a larger group of people each second. What can we do? How is it that my thoughts will affect my surroundings, you might ask? Simple. Change starts from within, if we want to change something we need to start with ourselves first. Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where people say: "yes, you can" instead of "no you can't" all the time. Well, I'm telling you: yes, we can. We can make a difference, we can make a change, we can change. I can change.Let's just set our mind, shift our perspective and I assure you great things will start to happen all around.

Love

Many live and die for and out of love. It has been said love conquers all, yet so many wars have been fought for love. These days love is the principal cause of many tragedies but it is also the main cause of a multitude of miracles. What we don't realize is in order for love to be a virtue, in order for it to be the ultimate expression it needs to encompass all the other virtues. One must be patient, tolerant, kind, compassionate and gentle with our self and others. Our fast paced world prohibit us from developing our virtues and yet we pretend to simply love and be loved without understanding we need to love ourselves first in order to be loved, we need to grow and mature to better understand that special someone. We need to have a clear idea of what we want and that is why pursuing our dreams and our goals is so important. Often times we push aside what we really want in life, sacrifice ourselves "voluntarily", let life pass us by and afterwards start blaming everyone else for doing exactly that: sacrificing and not achieving. Not reaching our full potential makes us miserable when we know we can do much more. We need to let our gifts and talents shine, we need to let our inner fire ignite, for if we love and are happy with our self by ourselves, if we feel complete we will be able to love freely without attachments and make the other feel loved, truly loved.

Passion

This weekend has started out being very intense, so many mixed emotions towards people that I wasn't sure I wanted to see, towards situations that I didn't want to get into and places that I wasn't sure that I wanted to go, maybe out of fear and worry, who knows? Really, who knows why we get so afraid of life sometimes, but life is about taking risks and those risks are what help us learn in this journey. Recently I've been expressing myself about the importance of a dream in our lives and today I discovered that even a dream is not sufficient to give us that drive we need to cross the finish line or even cross the road. There are a few missing ingredients in the recipe I've been trying to concoct, and one of them is passion. Passion must go hand in hand with our innermost desires, dreams and goals in order for them to become a reality. Passion is what drove Romeo and Juliet, and it's also what ignites our soul, heart and mind to move on. Passion lights the fire inside when our body and mind are tiresome and our dream is not seen clearly anymore. Only when we realize and know our dream, our ultimate goal, is a fact only then can we achieve victory over ourselves.  

Dreams

Henry David Thoreau said "dreams are the touchstones of our character", Martin Luther King in  his last public speech spoke about his dream of freedom and justice, Gandhi dreamt of a truly democratic India where the weakest could have the same opportunities as the strongest. And Ariel, the little mermaid, dreamt about having legs and being able to live on land. Everybody has a dream, whether they keep it hidden or not, everybody has one. What is your dream? What are you doing to make that dream a reality?

We can get so absorbed in our own busy lives that we can sweep our dreams under the rug and forget about them, and until we do that spring cleaning we won't look under the rug, on the contrary, we will go right over it. Isn't it strange that we sabotage ourselves from the attainment of our innermost desires, dreams and goals? While some sacrifice their lives for the acquisition of their ultimate dream others just sit back and hang the gloves? In what group are we, really? Do we even want to admit we swept our dreams under the rug? No matter how hard it is to admit it, that spring cleaning is way overdue. So let's get to it!  

Maktub

Maktub, it is written.

Most of the time if not always we go through life aimless like a ship without sail and we get so engrossed in our daily schedules that we miss the signs that hold the key to our personal book of life. You might ask about our free will, and the answer is yes, we have our free will that's why we probably don't see what we should really see and just see what we want to see. There are signs all around us pointing to the answers yet it seems we need so much assurance that we ignore what lies in front of us. We might ask ourselves: is this person the right one? is this the right job for me? is this what I should do? is this the right way to go? We have so many questions and so much in our minds that until we stop our mind from chattering away it will be hard to see what lies in front of us and it will certainly be harder for us to let it flow.

Let it snow or is it let it flow?

Dean Martin has a famous Christmas song that we all remember, "Let it Snow", and as the day starts I just want to tell myself and a friend to change those words and sing: "let it flow, let it flow, let it flow". We not only ask too much of ourselves, we make huge demands that on occasion can barely meet. So why not relax a little today, make a list of our dreams and goals and start by prioritizing, start checking off and start flowing with the day. The one that makes the decisions on what we can handle and at what time we can handle it, is us. The one who decides how much our peace of mind is worth, is also us so why stress ourselves with the little unimportant things when there is so much to live for. Often times the things that really matter to us are exactly the things we push aside because we feel there not necessary or because we have decided to put that special list of personal dreams and goals aside. Let's think about what we really want today and start making choices that will move us closer to checking off what's on that list.

As I have said before we are only here for a brief moment, never knowing when our time is going to be up, we waste time, why not live doing what we really want to do, why not make our innermost dreams a reality? Sometimes we are indecisive about what we really want so I'll leave your mind flowing with a question that a friend of mine once asked me: "if time and money were not a problem, what would you be doing?"  

Pollutants vs. Purifiers

As I surf through the web, through TV channels, newspapers and even people I notice we are constantly being bombarded by pessimistic impressions of a world's end. It seems the world is ending at every corner, the economy is "doomed" and all people keep saying is "things are bad", I mean throw in a few more zombies in the picture and were really headed for doomsday.

Where did all the hope and dreams go? What do people actually mean by "things are bad"? Are they contributing to make "things better" or are they just pollutants that contribute to the doomsday picture? Having an inquisitive mind I asked one of  those "pollutants": what do you mean by "things are bad"? his answer was "well, you know, things",

I asked: "are you unemployed?" he said "no",

I asked again "is your wife unemployed?" he answered "no",

I decided to ask just a little bit more: "are your children OK? are they healthy? are you and your family in good health?"  he answered "yes". So I asked again, what do you mean by things are bad? And he just looked puzzled. It seems to me people answer without giving  much thought to what they are saying, so do they even know what they are referring to?

Don't be an emotional pollutant instead be an emotional purifier. See the goodness within yourself, see the blessings you have, be thankful for this new and wondrous day and amazing things will come to happen into your life. As soon as you see the good within you, your whole life will change and you will see beauty and goodness everywhere you look. The biggest treasure was given to you the first day you opened your eyes on this earth so take full advantage.

Promise of a new day

Often times we wake up in the morning feeling tired and continue where we left off the day before as if we had only a brief interruption of our day, meaning if we had a day full of worries and disarrays we tend to continue that on the next day. Instead of seeing each day as a gift or simply put, as Sting would sing, a brand new day we leave our beds numb and in disbelief that this could be the day where the solutions and answers to our questions and problems could be found at will. I dare myself to change that for once and see what the new day brings, in just a few hours I'll  have to wake up and face the world once again and a change of spirit might do the trick. As I walk into the light I also dare those around me to accompany me in this journey of hope, faith and enlightenment.

Carpe Diem

To enjoy the simple pleasures of life one has to go out there, expose one's self and seize the moment. People tend to wait for the right time and say I cannot do this because now is not the time, can't go talk to that special someone I can't get off my mind because I'm not ready, not applying for the right job because I'm not prepared yet, and we give ourselves excuses like this on a daily basis that hinder our creative force and energy. Why? Why stop ourselves from growing, from getting to the finish line, again the answer would be fear. Fear destroys our dreams, our goals and everything that we want to get out of life. It destroys everything we are meant to be. Ultimately, it destroys life. Love heals all or so we hear, but why is it so difficult to surrender ourselves to that feeling. Some people spend there whole lives waiting for the right time, the perfect moment, they just sit and wait and life just passes them by. So dare yourself to do, to seize, to feel and I can assure you life will not pass you by because you will be living life to the fullest. We are only here for a brief moment so make it count. The good, the bad, the "ugly" all happened for a reason, to make you the person you are today. But it's you who makes the call, it's you who stands up for what it is you believe, it's you who decides.

What are you going to do today, tomorrow, and the day after that?

What will become of you if you don't stand up and move?

Raging Bulls, Sluggish Bears

Everyday were hearing about the ups and downs in the financial market, raging bulls and sluggish bears, I'm thinking those terms can probably describe our ups and downs in real life as well. Our general attitude towards our endeavors and life, tend to spiral out of control every once in a while. Sometimes we can feel we can take on the world like a raging bull full of spirit and determination yet other times we can be as sluggish and shy as a bear. Our ultimate goal is just around the corner we can see the finish line and suddenly that inner force tends to whine down and a second breath is needed in order to get there, but it's gone. Where does it come from? And we start to think, how can I get rid of that feeling that I can't go on? Is it that maybe I don't want to go on? Is it fear of moving forward? or fear of being free? Where can I reach out to get that second breath? Nowhere, and as terrible as it sounds that's the answer. We can go look in the mountains, in the forests, in the streets and we could even go look in the temples and we will not be able to find it anywhere. Seems we would be looking for a treasure and it really is. It cannot be found in  a place because it's deep inside us. Sounds easy once again to theorize but really, how deep do we have to dig in order to find that treasure. How many lessons do we have to learn? and, how many "obstacles" do we have to surpass? Maybe, it's even in plain sight and were not able to see because the truth is always hard to see.  

Ghost of Christmas Past

On this journey walking towards the future one tends to carry baggage, an excess baggage I might add, which makes it hard for us to move forward more rapidly than we would wish. It's hard to let go of people, relationships, events, and even decisions that have affected us in any way. That's when our ghosts from our past start to reappear reminding us of what once was and making us doubt on our present and future endeavors. How can we let go? How can we move forward without that baggage that can keep us detained as if we were in a prison camp? And how can we understand that our only prison is in our minds. We can become our jail keeper or our liberator. It is all in the way we think, in the way we focus, in the way we think, in the way we approach our life. How do you approach life? Do you keep an open mind? Do you look at the past with regret or with ease? In answering these questions one can begin to understand why moving forward is so hard and why we often feel stuck. Letting go is probably one of the hardest lessons we have to learn. We have a tendency to attach ourselves to everything from objects to ideas, from the material to the immaterial. Knowing is easy, theorizing even easier, but what about its application. Maybe we cannot jump to the top of the mountain but we can certainly leave our baggage at the foot of the mountain and climb one step at a time and eventually get to the top. Now once on top all that's left to do is: breathe. We're free.

What goes around, comes around

It seems life is like a merry go round it just goes round and round and when your getting the hang of it or even getting to like it, the ride is over. Everyday we confront situations that make us react a certain way and at the moment we can dismiss it with a little bit of attitude, say, the incorrect attitude for that matter, but some time later we will have to learn how to react, deal and cope with it because until we have learned our lesson it just keeps coming back and always with a vengeance, right in front of our face when we least expect it. Once we see the picture clearly and see life as a learning process, as a journey, we can keep moving forward and maybe take a few rest stops along the way to reflect, to breathe and meditate on how to see life as what it really is a treasure.

My Sunset

Do I even need to say how pleasurable it is to watch the sunset. Even after a rainy day comes a rainbow and after all the worries of the day one must put aside everything and fall asleep. You only have to decide when to turn the worry switch off.

It's A Beautiful Day

In these turning times a positive outlook on life is sometimes hard. We can easily become weary with all the situations that arise day to day and soon life seems more of a burden than a gift. But when we shift our attention to those wonderful moments, to the goals that we have and its attainment, to making our dreams a reality, and even to the simplest of things: smelling a rose, watching the sunset, taking a swim and the list could go on and on filled with endless possibilities, just there and then we can relax and think clearly. And that's exactly when everything around us begins to change. There are so many beautiful things around us that we can just begin to count our blessings instead of counting our problems. A shift in our perspective will help us see solutions where we once saw a problem. So go ahead and enjoy life. Just live. It's a beautiful day!

Am I wide awake yet?

Life is full of surprises, life is full of decisions and just when you think your grabbing life by the horns as they say everything comes crumbling down and that's when a new lesson is about to be learned or supposed to be learned, whether you like it or not. So this is a neverending learning process that is never fully mastered, and when a living cycle ends another one begins. It just goes on and on. In all this one must ask oneself: have I learned any lesson's today, have I surpassed any situations or any obstacles today, have I felt another one's pain or happiness, have I walked in another's shoe, have I seen through the eyes of another to better understand what they are going through. Better yet have I understood that there is no division between me and the other and that there is just one.