After completing an online webinar with one of my favorite author's Marianne Williamson, I received some profound guidance and advice that she was able to share with those of us in attendance.  Among my favorite was a statement that she made about how you define great people.  She stated, "Great people are not the one's that never fall down.  Great people do what it takes to get back up".  Think about the many times that you have fallen both literally or figuratively and the feelings associated with those periods which could have been embarrassing, shameful or even periods of defeat.  After she provided this statement, the first thing that came to my mind was an actual fall that I had when I was young in my preteen years.  I was running an errand for my Grandmother on my bicycle and I had a bag on my handle bars that was swinging back in forth from what I had bought at the store for her.  As I got closer to her house the bag swung right in to the bicycle spokes and in a split second, it prevented the wheel from turning and I immediately flew over the handle bars.  The moments shortly thereafter passed as if in slow motion as I slid on the asphalt on the street.  A neighbor who saw this came running over to me and as I made myself get up and limp away telling the neighbor that I was just fine.  I do remember that I could barely stand, as the pain that I was feeling from the scrapes and bruises began to set in.  I told myself in that moment not to cry and as I walked very slowly away and I felt extremely embarrassed over what had just occurred.  It would have never occurred to me as I think back at that explosive moment that the circumstance would enable me the opportunity to show the characteristics of being a great person, because I was able to get back up.  We are all riddled with various such examples I am sure, that poignantly can illustrate times in our lives where we may have taken a spill.  Perhaps it was an emotional or spiritual spill and we may have felt the lingering effects afterwards.  Some of those periods could have stayed with us for a far longer than we would have liked them to.  I  know that everyone has had at least one day in their life when they felt that perhaps they were not strong enough to get up.  Amazingly, most us did get up and are still standing until this day.  Give yourself some credit for what you were able to withstand and think about how much stronger you have become as a result of those falls.  In the morning or at night, look in the mirror and take a deep look at yourself as you embrace the experience that has come with your ability to stand there today.  While we all embody greatness, the amount that you give yourselves credit for will have to do with how much you believe this to be true in your own life.    

"Dreaming matters and allows you to become that which you aspire to be", this is part of a poem titled "Living Life" by Bonnie L. Mohr.  This poem is a wonderful tribute to not only what consists in living life, it also encapsulates the sage words that we all would want to produce in an explanation to someone who would ever ask us the question, "what is life about"?  I gave a portrait of this poem to my sister over the holidays and although it temporarily is housed with me, every time I pass by it I re-read a few words or a different sentence.  It has given me much to think about and re-affirm as I go about my busy days.  What I also enjoy about this portrait is that it is anchored by an image of strong and majestic looking tree, that appears to stand out from the others around it.  I have long been a proponent of dreaming and ensuring that young children continue to dream out loud, for as adults we need to encourage them that anything is possible.  Not too long ago we celebrated the day dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, who famously transcended and captured the pulse of a nation with what his dream was.  I remember being outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago and standing at the dedicated engraved brick where he once made this historic speech.  I thought about how he as an individual dreamed out loud and led a movement that altered history.  In my quiet moments looking out towards the other wonderful monuments of that great city, I became mesmerized by the thought that anyone with a dream, hard work and strong conviction can achieve what they set out to do.  Perhaps we are not all called to revolutionize history or create a transformation of magnificent proportions.  However, we are very capable of altering our own lives, so that we can live out the remainder of our days in such a harmonious state, that we achieve the illusive inner peace that we all seek.  As with the tree example in the poem, it all begins with one seed that gets watered and nurtured until branches start sprouting and leaves eventually decorate the growing organism until it reaches out to the world to display its natural beauty.  We too can add things to our lives that hydrate us with positive emotions or nurture ourselves by being surrounded by caring people that value who we are.  With each passing year, our roots grow deeper as we become even more grounded in who we are and what we are meant to do.  Strong winds and storms come and go, yet a tree always glistens afterwards with a renewed sense of purpose.  We can learn a lot from a tree as we too have weathered these downpours that sometimes stop us in our tracks.  Therefore, continue to dream and encourage it from everyone that is part of your inner circle.  Aspire to grow each day as a regal tree does and greet the world around you with infinite determination that you are a living example of what dreams are made of.

An open expression of your feelings, can aide you with the healing process in your life.  This was part of an answer that Deepak Chopra, provided to a reader who was asking him about advice regarding his failure to get past the grieving process in the loss of his father.  This was a good example of how unresolved feelings can fester and create a place in your life that is left hollow or unfulfilled.  The issue of opening up and expressing feelings, can be such a complicated one for some people.  Among the biggest items to tackle in those situations, is having the courage to be vulnerable, in that expressing your feelings can possibly lead you to feel hurt or other negative emotions that you were unwilling to bare.  There is also the voice in the head, that you sometimes battle that provides you with examples of how you may have failed in the past and how this could be another one of those situations.  Nobody is better at talking down to you about your life's short comings, than yourself.  We are our own worst critics and we can be so hard on ourselves about where we lack or how we could be better.  As we grow older it becomes rare when we give ourselves praise for a job well done.  We usually expect someone else to recognize us or point out something that we did well.  However, when you lack that type of feedback or your inner circle of support is not as acknowledging as you would like them to be, then you have to action into your own hands.  There is a reason that self affirmations became famous years ago, in that it created an avenue for a sense of fulfillment.  If you have ever kept a journal where you wrote about your life and your experiences, you would be amazed to go back over some of those pages to see what you were feeling and how much you have grown since then.  This is why it is a recommended action that if you can allow yourself a few minutes at the beginning or the end of the day, you should practice jotting things down.  Having a written chronology about how you felt on certain days or what types of things you had to face is part of the formula to your own success.  Sometimes people are not there to congratulate you to tell you how well you did, yet , if you had a journal to go back and review, you would see the mountains that you have been able to climb.  Learn to get better at expressing your feelings, it is great if you can do it in person, however, if you struggle with that aspect then practice writing them down.   Not only will your own words be the medicine that your body and spirit may need, you will create a written reference to how to get past a particular issue.  In the process, you will continue to heal if you needed it and your personal growth will serve as a road map for others to come.        

In watching the Australian Open tennis tournament, I was listening to the commentators talk about a match up between two players.  One of whom has not been successful in beating the other player.  They spoke about strategy and how the player that repeatedly had lost previously needed to change something in their arsenal in order to have a fighting chance.  As I was absorbing the comments by the sportscasters, I felt that this example could transcend a tennis court in country that is on the other side of the world.  In life we are faced with many obstacles or tests if you will, that require us to walk through those difficult days in order to get to the outcome on the other side.  Being in the middle of test or an uncomfortable situation is never something that one hopes for.  What is a common factor in the outcome in any of those instances, is that we come through and are usually better for it.  In a perfect world, we would all be able to grow without sacrifice and be in control of everything at all times.  The reality is that we do not live in a perfect state and therefore we are destined to walk and encounter difficulties in the midst of our life's journey.  As parents, people always tell their children to learn from their mistakes and to approach their decision making a little differently, based upon the wisdom and knowledge of what they have learned.  Sadly, kids tend to not want to listen to their parents as they feel that they are quite capable of making decisions for themselves, particularly at adolescent ages.  It is only after encountering some periods of disappointment due to the consequences of their actions, that they realize that perhaps they should have paid closer attention to their parent's advice.  If you have situations that manifest themselves in your life and you feel that you do not want to walk through these issues anymore, then make sure that you are changing your strategy. Learn from the things that did not work the last time and give yourself the opportunity to grow from the lesson that is presented to you.  We can all fail at times to learn from our prior life lessons, however, it is up to us to be resolved with our strategy and that we give ourselves a good fighting chance to win in the future.  The better we get at recalculating a failed strategy, the better our chances will be that we claim a much needed victory that was a stepping stone towards our own personal growth.

I was reading an excerpt from Marianne Williamson's new book, "The Law of Divine Compensation", where she dedicates a chapter to the topic of a job versus calling.  It was a very interesting insight to a question that has plagued most of us through out our lives.  If we were to think about the great difference in perspective of what is our true calling on this Earth and what great purpose we are here to serve, as opposed to finding a job that is to pay bills and make ends meet.  Most people fall in the latter of the two philosophies, as I remember after graduating from college that I had college loans that were imminently due for re-payment.  Most of us in that situation look for a job that has some areas that we can relate to with regard to what our major was or specifically related to our interests.  It is not until some time later that you find yourself in the midst of doing a job for a period of time that you realize that you are in fact establishing a career.  Although I have worked for the same company for many years, I have this creative side that needs to be fulfilled and I have had the opportunity to exercise that propensity to write via this mechanism and through publishing a column of the same name.  I no longer spend time trying to answer my own question about pursuing a calling.  I decided some time ago to let the questions be answered by my higher power. I needed to simply walk forward in trusting that what I was meant to do and how I was to do it, would be manifested to me in a way that a lighthouse beams a ray of light to the ships out at sea to help them navigate their journeys.  Having faith and knowing that there is never a job or a situation that you are placed in without some type of tools that will assist you in performing the required tasks.  This again is where time works in your favor to teach you to be less anxious about what is to come as you grow older, as long as you invest and perform your best along with exhibiting a great attitude.  I can't wait to buy this new book by Marianne, as I have others by her and I always learn new things based upon her enlightened and eloquent perspective.  In the mean time, I will continue to walk forward enjoying my calling, while adding value to as many people as I can.  When my journey takes a new direction or I am presented with the next curve in the road, it will simply be an another opportunity for me to learn from as my calling continues to lead me through this great experience that I call life.

I was listening to someone on the radio the other day and they were talking about miracles and how some people may not believe that they can occur.  At the end of the conversation, the last thing that was discussed was that if you were a person that did not believe in miracles, then maybe you should begin with the fact that you are a miracle to begin with.  I was mesmerized by the conversation, as I am one of those individuals that believe that miracles can manifest themselves in our lives and I even believe that they occur daily.  My perspective on this is that a miracle is not necessarily a lightning type of occurrence, when the Earth stands still and time freezes so that we can all observe the remarkable revelation.  Through the many books that I have read and the research that I have done with some of the most powerful and spiritual people that have given us a road map for how we can live and embrace more of our lives, I have found many examples. Consistently I have seen the message about phenomenons that can have have the power to change you, your surroundings or your circumstance and their frequency can come in varied sizes including very small instances.  How we are able to marvel at things that happen through out our day, with that sense of wonder that embodies what a miracle is, depends on our attitude along with our perspective.  A definition for the word miracle that I ran across which embodies this conversation is; a person or thing that is a marvelous example of something.  We are surrounded by these great illustrations daily and yet we can be so detached from our keen senses of observation, that we pay little mind to how pronounced they can be in our lives.  Therefore, remember that we are great examples of something as the definition read before and we can begin the conversation of miracles by looking at ourselves in the mirror every morning as a starting point.  Open your eyes, ears and heart daily as you affirm the true meaning of the term miracle and how they can be more plentiful and abundant in your life.

"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product" is a famous quote by Eleanor Roosevelt.  Succinctly stated, we should aspire to do the things that make us happy and if we are being true to ourselves and cultivating the things that bring us joy, then you will be happy regardless.  This was my own interpretation of these great words, as I took them in.  There are a variety of examples of people who attribute the state of being happy to attaining something else.  Perhaps if they just had a better job, or if they just could find the right person or if they lived in a bigger house, then they would feel happier.  The truth is, that the state of one's personal harmony rests with ourselves and how we view our own state of being.  Money doesn't buy you happiness and for some getting divorced may bring some perceived happiness, while others feel that getting married will help them achieve it.  Human beings are fickle when it comes to some of these life matters, that the people around us may begin to question whether we even make sense at times.   Our goal should be to do the things that bring us joy and make us passionate about what we are doing. When older people are asked about the things that brought them joy in their lives, they usually have a number of examples to share with others about being in that state for as long as they could capture it.  None of us want to get to the point in our lives that we would have any type of regrets about what we should have done or failed to accomplish.  This is why we are to live for the present, which we sometimes can take for granted.  Individuals with youth on their side, may think that they have a lifetime ahead of them in order to achieve such levels of happiness, that they put it off into the distant future.  It is not until one is older that time begins to move quite fast and then you come to the realization that you may have less time than you think.  Therefore don't postpone joy any longer in your life and live for the little things that make you smile and fill your heart with exuberance.  Reflect on what a blessed life you have been privileged to live so far, while happiness is attracted to you in enough small amounts that it becomes an abundant by-product of who you are.