People learn a lot in their lifetime from trial and error. We learn what works for us and what doesn’t. We also learn that what works for one person, won’t necessarily work for another. You have to find the right combination of things in your life that contribute to your happiness and success. I feel like I’ve learned that now and for the most part, finally get it. I slip up and revert to old ways of thinking only to be reminded very sternly that they don’t work for me.
I didn’t realize until my late twenties that the leaning post I relied on growing up was a hypothetical construct. NOT an easy pill to swallow. Realizing your parents are in fact human, learned what they lived with and make mistakes that you yourself don’t want to make means you’re ready to start making things happen for yourself. You can blame the past for what you’ve been through, but you can only blame yourself for where you’re going.
I let fear rule my world. I missed out on so many friendships, relationships and love. I realize now what I did and I flat out refuse to let my past define who I am today. I know where I came from. I know what I’ve learned from it. Now it’s up to me to define who I want to be, who I will become, what I stand for and put forth my best intentions so I can make a difference.
So what did you learn growing up? How to judge, how to think, how to let your beliefs limit your true abilities and gifts? All of the above? Ok, you’re like a lot of people then. What are you going to do about it now is really the question. What will be the meaning of your life?
Write these steps down where you can see them daily:
1. Define the meaning of your life & what you want out of your life
2. Don’t judge how others choose to live (live and let live)
3. Make sure your actions are in full support of who you want to be & getting you closer to what you want
4. Wash, rinse & repeat
Define The Meaning of Your Life & What You Want
For things to change, first you have to change. These words have never meant so much to me as they do now. Since the things I do, my actions and my reactions define me, I realize that I must make a concerted effort to change aspects of my life to help me be the person I aspire to be. These things must not be ‘kicks’ or ‘resolutions’ or ‘passing fancies.’ These things must be commitments and yes, you may need to give yourself reminders once and a while. We all do.
Close your eyes and look at yourself from a bird’s eye view, like it’s a movie. What would that person do if they were living up to their full potential? How would they act. What would they do on a daily basis? What kind of friends or spouse would they have? Where would they live? What would their life mean?
For me, life is all about love, the highest and coolest vibration in existence. It’s about whom I give my energy to and who gives energy back. It’s about my intentions and the energy I put into thoughts to attract experiences to me. If actions and reactions aren’t done out of love, they should cease to exist as they only negatively contribute to our communal existence. We are all connected. All one. Be the best person you can possibly be and you will no doubt achieve love, awareness, balance and true happiness. A side note: You can only achieve all of these things when you stop relying on outside influences to fill you up. After I’m reduced to ashes, I want to have positively affected people’s lives and make them really glad that they had the opportunity to know me and most importantly, are a better person for knowing me. This is my desire. This is my truth. I challenge you to find yours.
Don’t Judge How Others Choose to Live (Live and Let Live)
Your life is uniquely your own. You’re not going to agree with how everybody chooses to live, but it’s their choice to make, not yours. Choose what contributes to your happiness and don’t worry about others. If it feels like other people’s choices prevent you from being the person you want to be, realize that it is a self-created obstacle.
Align Your Actions to Support Your Goals
My intention is to encourage you to refocus what you do on a daily basis that contributes to how you want to be. Happiness is subjective. Someone else might think that what you value is dumb. Yeah, so what…they are not living your life. You are. Let everyone judge as they may. Get a grip and start living your life for you and everything else will fall into place. I’m not talking about being selfish either. That’s not what this is about. Being selfish is being self serving without regard to those around you. Open your eyes. If what you are doing is hurting someone or something else and you don’t feel good about it, stop. It’s that simple.
Before making any life changing decisions, I want you to have a very firm grasp on cause and effect relationships. Newton’s third law of motion states “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This not only applies to matter in the physical world in which physics explains why things are the way they are, but this also applies to your actions. Humans do things repeatedly even though they know it’s not right; right for others, right for the environment or right for them. We keep repeating mistakes thinking that for some reason, this time, it will produce a different result. If Webster could define everything that is crazy about that, it would be a book in and of itself.
If you eat too much, you might gain weight. If you smoke, you might have breathing abnormalities. If you spray the fields with chemicals, it may affect the ecosystem. If you yell at someone, they might cry. If you put someone’s ideas down, they may always remember you negatively for it. The list could run on for an infinite amount of time. I won’t make you read that long. Stop repeating your mistakes. Keeping your life goals in mind, do an audit of your life. Keep the things that help you get closer to your goals and disconnect yourself from the things that don’t. Your happiness depends on it.
Wash, Rinse & Repeat
I’m not a guru. I don’t play one on TV. I’m not a licensed psychologist with a PHD from Harvard. I am just a simple person with a simple message. I’m not trying to influence anyone to think or do the same things I do. I want everyone to read this and think to themselves about what is important to them. That is the only way you will live your truth. That is the only way you can look back on your life and have no regrets.
Your dreams are a possible reality. Any obstacles are self created and the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can move forward in your life and enjoy it whether you have two or eighty-two good years left in you. It’s your life. Make it brilliant. Namaste.