Far too many of us live lives of worry, rather than lives of joy. It doesn't have to be that way. Every life is full of challenges - some lives are given seemingly insurmountable challenges. But each of us, at every moment, has the ability to make conscious choices about the life we have been dealt. To some extent, we can make positive changes in our circumstances. To a far greater extent, we can choose to accept and adapt to our circumstances with grace and joy. Living joyfully is always a choice.
Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
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The meaning of just about anything in life comes from the time, effort and energy you give it. Anything you get for free, with no work or commitment or attention, is worth about what you pay for it, which is nothing.
To wish for a life that is always easy and free of effort is to wish for a life with very little fulfillment. Before you complain about life being difficult, remember that much of life’s richness comes from working to transcend the difficulties. A good life is a life filled with meaningful effort. Every challenge brings multiple opportunities to respond with good, useful, rewarding effort. When all you expect is to get something for nothing, the most you can get is nothing. Yet when you make the most of each opportunity to give of yourself, there is no limit to the value and goodness you can enjoy. Do you ever feel sorry for yourself because you have so much work to do? The next time you sense that feeling coming on, make the choice to turn it around. Joyfully and enthusiastically embrace the effort, and the opportunity to make a difference. Life is good when you give yourself to it, so make it your business to give all you can. Put your mind to it. And while you’re at it, put your fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, mouth and heart into it. If there’s something you wish to make happen, put your whole self into making it happen. And it is very likely to occur. Yes, it will take a good bit or work and yes, there will be ups and downs, setbacks and disappointments. That’s precisely why you must commit the whole of yourself to the endeavor. No, you can’t achieve the impossible, yet there are a whole lot of wonderful, possible things you absolutely can achieve. And all sorts of things that were once considered impossible have a way of becoming possible with enough effort and dedication. Put your mind to it, and everything else. Put your passion, imagination, creativity, love and sweat into it. Commitment matters, and you can feel its power course through every part of your being. Commitment matters, and with it you can change anything you wish to change. If you’ve wasted the whole day, or many days, or years, that’s unfortunate. But it is behind you and it doesn’t stop you from making the most of right now.
If you’re disappointed for any reason in what has happened up to this moment, choose to transform the energy of that disappointment into inspiration. Use the positive inspiration to immediately start making up for lost time. While you’re at it, add some gratitude for the chance you now have. See how enthusiastic you can be about the opportunity to make a difference. You don’t have to re-write history, yet you can now relate to it any way you choose. Choose to let all that has happened, whatever it may be, teach you and encourage you to live this moment in a meaningful and productive way. You’ve made your way to right now, and you’ve earned the chance to live it fully. With your actions, your priorities, your words, attitude and thoughts, give yourself what you’ve earned. This is the time that counts, and this is your moment to use. Much has happened to bring you here, and now you can make it all for the best. This is it. This is the moment when success happens. This is the moment when you can choose to either follow your dreams or to sabotage them. This is when you select and execute the specific actions that create the reality of your life. Achievement is not some far off, future concept. Achievement is built from what you do now. You will not ever get anything done if you keep scheduling it for someday. What you do with now is what truly makes a difference in your life. Remember now, and again and again, that this is where your consequences are determined. This is when you put real life and substance into your dreams. Enjoy this moment in all its fullness, and remember. You are creating your life right now. You become what you think and what you do. Your life is an empty canvas upon which you are continually painting your own special masterpiece. Though you will have much guidance and inspiration, what you do with that guidance and with that inspiration is ultimately up to you. It is at once an awesome responsibility and a blessing of the most profound and unlimited proportions. And today is when it happens. This is the place and the moment where it all comes together. Even as you ponder these words, the unique work of art that is your life is taking shape. What an immense opportunity it is to be you. The clothes you wear, the car you drive, the title on your business card are relatively minor factors compared to the real, genuine person you’re capable of becoming. See your life in all the fullness of its grand perspective, and spend each moment perfecting the special masterpiece that you were born to live. This moment is pure magic. Though it may seem completely ordinary and without distinction, this moment is surely a miracle.
For in this moment, every possibility exists. Right now, in this very moment, you can act to make a difference in your own life, and you can truly change the world. Though you see no mystical vapors and hear no mysterious voices, this moment is as intensely magical as they come. For the real magic of living is not in strange, unexplained visions, but in the beautiful essence of your being. You are here and you are now. You can think and feel, you can love and understand, you can experience and you can do. What could possibly be more magical than that? In this ordinary, everyday moment the profound and exquisite magic of living is yours. Choose wisely from the vast array of possibilities that have opened up to you in this moment. And live the magic that is here right now. There is a beautiful universe all around us, and yet we often fail to truly experience it because we’re too busy thinking about it and making judgments about it. Thought and judgment are certainly useful and valuable, yet it’s also useful to regularly give them a rest.
Stop the noise in your mind for a moment and simply experience what is. When a thought starts to pop up, just let it go. Enjoy how it feels to drink in the beauty of your existence for a while without thinking about it or making judgments about it. Clear you mind for a moment and know the depth of serenity that comes when you have the confidence and faith to just let yourself be. Each day you put forth an enormous amount of effort to build and maintain a life for yourself. So spend some time truly enjoying and experiencing that life. You work to make it good, so live the joy and beauty of it. Regularly take time to enjoy and appreciate the wonderful, beautiful, miraculous fact that you’re experiencing life, right here and now. The more fully you appreciate and enjoy what you have, the better it will become. The world in which you live depends on the perspective you decide to adopt at any given moment. If you look at a hammer, you can see an object made of wood and metal, or you can see an implement of destruction, or you can see a tool of creativity. It all depends upon your perspective, and your perspective depends upon you.
The world around you is what it is, and yet what it is to you depends upon how you choose to relate to it. Two people in the same identical situation can achieve incredibly different results based on how each one chooses to respond to that situation. A competitive business climate can be an excuse for poor performance or an opportunity for excellence, depending on the perspective you decide to adopt. A dark, cold day can be depressing or energizing, depending on your perspective. Think for a moment about your own perspective. It is taking you in the direction you wish to go? If so, keep it up! If not, you’re free to change it whenever you decide, and by so doing you’ll change for the better the world in which you live. Even though you have every right to be angry, you have every reason to let it go. For when you let go of your anger, you make more room for joy.
Even though your first impulse may be to retaliate, you’re likely to be better off when you reconcile and forgive. After all, when you’ve been hurt, it makes no sense for you to prolong the hurt with your own attitude and actions. Even though the world is often cruel and unfair, it does not have to get you down. The more fully and willingly you accept what is, the more power you have to improve upon it. Even though many things will come along that could be frustrating and annoying, you can always choose to respond with patience and with grace. By so doing, you’ll be building strength as well as focusing your energy in a more positive and productive direction. Even though events may not go your way, you can continue to move in the direction of your own choosing. Success depends very little on being given what you want, and much more on becoming the best you can be. Even though life has its setbacks, disappointments and tragedies, they pale in comparison to the new and positive possibilities that increase with each passing moment. Choose to fully live the immeasurable blessing that is your life, and every day will move you forward. |
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