‘Those things which are precious are saved only by sacrifice.’ ~ David Kenyon Webster

This isn’t about catchy metaphors that can bring you in a state of ecstasy. It also isn’t about collecting a bunch of fancy words put together and then published as just another post. No! No way!!! This is the real thing babe! This is what has been on my mind for some time. Read on to find out what is my Devilish Dilemma!

Have you ever been in the position where you had to juggle with a situation of conflicting causes. A situation where you had to choose left or right, but it’s totally impossible to choose both…. I bet you  have, and you may even recognize what I’m saying here. It’s possible you even remember one or more examples from your own life, right? It seems like  this is as certain as death and taxes! Situations or circumstances that all of us will sooner or later get into at some point in our lives.  One question that comes to mind is if these kind of situations can be avoided?  Well… I guess so, but can I counter a question back? Isn’t life all about learning things and going through new experiences?

Anyway… my dilemma kept me busy for some time. No… wait!  Let me put it different, It left me idle and sitting around doing nothing for some time! I never realized before how indecisive I could become. Procrastination became my middle name. I always thought these were ‘traits’ that could be sought after and found in other people. It amazed me how without any physical power I was cornered and forced to sacrifice something in order to maintain  something else.

How did I finally resolve this and came to a conclusion? The answer is quiet simple. Life goes on, so at some point after a lot of thinking and considering things I made a choice based on what I thought was common sense. Instead of relying on my  ‘underbelly’ feelings. It was these feelings that made my dilemma devilish in the first place! Now that I write this I see that I knew all along what was the right thing for me to do. Maybe this can be compared to things or just about anything that we have too much of. You like it but inside there is a little  voice telling you that you should be moderate.

It wasn’t easy, to take a loss and basically admit that it was wrong to get myself in this whole situation in the first place. But as time goes by I am happy with my choice and it doesn’t feel like I sacrificed something anymore. In the end when I place my story  in a greater context, I can say that the outcome was not really determined by a choice or desire. It came in an almost natural way, I think the outcome was formed and made by my character. Going into this could be a whole new story, maybe that’s something for the future!  Anyway, I think that choosing otherwise  wouldn’t  have felt good and might have been against my very own nature. I am looking forward to speak to you again.

Photo Credit: Ironmarc

‘It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities’ ~ J.K. Rowling.

During our life we are all continuously making choices, sometimes we choose without thinking about the outcome or consequences of our choices. Sometimes these consequences especially those that happen after short-term thinking can be  quite dramatic in the long-term. That’s why I feel exactly what the quote mentioned above is all about. Wrong choices….. I’ve made a few .

It is also interesting when you consider the kind of choices we can or have to make during the different phases of our life. I mean we can choose to have a positive or a negative mindset. We can choose to have a below average life, an average or an abundant life. Btw I believe  abundance has  many different forms, for me this is not just restricted to finances or financial gain. But that’s a story of a different order, so let’s continue with the choices.  We can successively choose to: go left, or maybe right, to love or  be loved, to be happy, to be wealthy, to be successful (in whatever we do). well… there are literally thousands of examples of things that force or make you choose.

I am talking about choices because I have come to a point in my life where I cannot afford to make faulty choices. But then the question arises : ‘what is a faulty choice???’ 

Somehow this makes me think about my childhood and life as a teenager also. During those days choices were basically made for me, and thus actually paving the way and create the person I have become today. Another thing I am wondering about is if we can we choose our legacy? Does it matter to leave a certain legacy? Does it matter to you? Another choice… YES or NO? I think that  a growing number of options to choose will in turn raise more questions.

But no matter our choices, we are still living ‘LIFE’ right …. So in the end it is as it is!

Photo Credit: Ponchosqueal

It’s been a couple of weeks since you last read something from me. I can come up with many reasons why :  I am busy with a writing course. I have a lot of work to do in and around my house. I work 5 nights a week. If  I think a couple more minutes I might be able to come up with more reasons, or should I say excuses….

You know that with every post I write lately I have the feeling that I am doing the same thing over and over again. Even though the posts have different topics I strongly feel like I am repeating myself.  In short that’s my problem and why I feel stuck. My intention with this blog was to write about how to simplify life, keep things light and entertain readers with stories that would either be motivating or just nice to read.

In the last few weeks I have been starting with new posts, but never finished them because I felt it wasn’t what I really wanted to post. So I am thinking and thinking about how to find my way out of what seems to be a one way alley.

I am thinking about some changes and how to sort of reinvent myself. It will happen, I am sure of that. I don’t have a clue how long it may take, but I promise it won’t be too long

It feels good to write this down, I see it as a start of more interesting writings to come. I like to write posts like ‘A life like yours’  ‘Here comes the Sun’  to name just 2 of the ones I like.

I am looking forward to talk to you real soon again, and if you have tips that can help me in the process of getting back on track I am looking forward to hear from you.

Photo Credit : Travelure

Everything is subject to change, it always has and always will be. As a matter of fact, that also  includes  you and me…  Previously I would’ve  put a quote right here. But guess what… I won’t … because I want to improve and become a better writer, YES … I am part of the flux!

Once we realize that we are all a form of energy that is continuously changing, it will open up opportunities. For all of us, because we are unique human beings with unique qualities that we can use to improve our lives. If we use our qualities in the right way, over time it will develop and become more valuable.

For me my search for what would be my so called ‘unique quality’ would prove to be the most exhaustive and toughest part of my process of change. I have been trying many different things in my life, and when I look back I did all those jobs with a reason of it’s own. My latest ‘try’ was internet marketing, and even though I wanted it to succeed, mainly because of the possible ‘financial’ gain it wasn’t the right  thing for me.

All that searching… while the solution was actually right in front of me. I like to write, and always have liked to do so. At some point a couple of years ago I decided to listen to my intuition. Beside writing this weblog, I take writing courses in order to improve my writing skills. Because I am already on my way for awhile now, I start to see that I do make progress. Of course I still have to learn, but the development is there. The greatest part of it is that while I work on this I almost automatically get insights in which genre I like to write and because of the writing courses I can actively working on my strong and my weak points.

Sometimes I wonder where I could have been right now if I had used more of my energy for writing instead of for those other ‘jobs’. I am also happy with my past job experiences since it also taught me a lot of lessons of life.

Now, knowing what I want and in which direction I have to point my energy I am feeling better everyday. Because I know I am not putting my energy to waste, and things continue to get better.

You can do the same. You can take the time to ‘listen’ to yourself, find out what is or can be the ‘thing’ or passion in  your life. From that moment on you can just give it a try. It will always be a win-win situation, I mean it’s better to try and fail instead of never trying and never knowing if something works out for you or not.  Don’t look at it as if it’s a long and maybe impossible journey.

Once you start even with small steps you will get fulfillment from it, which in turn gives you the energy and power to go on. From then things may go faster and in ways you probably cannot imagine right now. Sometimes it may even give your life a favorable twist you would not have thought to be possible before.  I am looking forward to your comments and talking to you again.

Photo Credit : Amunivers

As I grow older, and hopefully become…. wiser   I believe the most important thing I am gaining now is  ‘Understanding’…  I mean  a greater understanding of this thing called life.  

‘Electric word life  It means forever and that’s a mighty long time’

Well… I digress, let’s go back and stick to the story.

As time goes by pieces of the ‘great puzzle of life’ seem to automatically fall in place answering the how and why of things, and that’s interesting. But in a way it is also a bit sad, because it keeps me wondering why these ‘pieces didn’t appear a couple of years earlier.

Sigh… this must be the way life goes and things are meant to be. Otherwise we could be questioning why we exist in the first place. However… that’s another story that may be the subject of another post.

Insights often come to mind when you look back on your life. Once you get a view on the path which  defined your walk of life, it becomes clear that the journey of life has been a long and winding road for some of us. I know, because I am one of those persons!

Some time ago I was talking to a friend about time-lines, and I told her that I felt it sometimes took such a long time to achieve certain things or goals in life. I never forget her reply, because it completely changed my attitude and point of view when it comes to things I want to achieve or goals I set for myself. She simply stated that things used to go slow and take a long time, but from now on it would go easier and faster. She made it clear that it was clearly a matter of having the right mindset!  There’s a great quote from Henry Ford that says : “if you think you can do it, or you think you can’t, you are right “. This is the same principle, with a different method. If you think it takes long, it will. But if you think it can be done quick, it can be done also.

The connection of this principle to the insights of life, is simply a matter of doing something at the right time. For example twenty years ago I could’ve taken certain action, but didn’t because of whatever reason or excuse that justified my decision back then to not take action. Now twenty years later I take the action that I could’ve taken so long ago, the reason why I do things now and didn’t do back then is probably because of insight. It proves that the principle always stay the same, it’s just me who changed!

I am curious about how you think and feel about this, and would like to hear from you. I am looking forward to talk to you again.

Photo Credit: papillon666

`There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life.’ ~ Fellini

For me one of the essentials of life is to be able to have meaning in the life of others. To add genuine value and to improve someone’s life, especially if this value comes `straight from the heart’.

When you  are for example listening to the works of great musicians, you can often sense that their inspiration came from the heart. You can almost feel their passion  and somehow we all know the heart is always honest. I mean our`Hearts don’t lie’.

I am not a scientist, but I think there is something special going on when people let their heart speak. When one heart reaches another, that is great.  But when one heart  reaches thousands or even millions of hearts it is a strong force. It’s like the power of the universe  performing it’s magic.

There are many examples of these powers at work. But one real good example would be the current president of the United States,  Mr. Barack Obama.  I think that a big part of his success comes from the fact that he put his heart and passion in his speeches and his campaign… and yeah the rest is history.

I am looking forward to the day that the positive forces from the heart gain the better part of momentum, over-riding negativity.  In a way that it can be the start of a chain-reaction of positive events.  One step at a time…. I keep dreaming. 

photocredit: yopse

‘The grass always looks greener on the other side.’

Early this morning I was driving in my car. The radio station I was listening to at that moment is having a seventies week. As they were playing seventies songs, memories of my childhood popped up. Apart from the images of the obnoxious ever-present step father I like to reminisce about those days.

Days of a life with almost nothing to worry about… No worries about people ridiculing themselves while they are talking negative about you behind your back. Sometimes I wonder when all that changed. It feels like at some point someone took a needle and popped it in the dream I was living in. I want to feel again how I felt before the needle came, but of course…. I know better. At this moment it looks like this will remain a dream.

As I grew up as  a teenager I remember I used to be envious of boys who were dating the good looking girls. I wanted to be like them. I wanted their life. Later on I watched friends how they became successful in whatever they did. I wondered what it was like to be them.

One of the good things of life is that it has one particular thing in store for all of us. What’s great about that is that you don’t have to be rich, successful or poor. It is called experience…. Life experience! What I learned from that is that I have to accept and appreciate myself the way I am! Accept that I create the life I want to live. If I do what I am passionate about, it doesn’t matter anymore if : ‘the grass is greener on the other side.’  No… it will be like  Steve’s comment to this post: ‘pretty much the same color everywhere’. Plus as an extra bonus to that…  I might also get a little bit of those ‘happy’ feelings of my childhood back.

photocredit: vicipix

Last weekend I was reading a post written by Sonia Marcella Martinez, and… well you can find it here. I can relate myself to a lot of the things she is talking about in her post  “Currently Undergoing Maintenance”.

Beside that I’m very positive that there must be a lot of others that are in need of ‘maintenance’ too, that is if they are:

- procrastinating

- indecisive

- don’t stand for anything

- have been doing things half-hearted

- etc…

The good news is that there is a way to change these ‘habits’, that is if you really want to:-). This post is an addition to my previous post how to be happy. So if you read that post, download the Happy book and start to be always  Truthful, Positive and Helping others, you are well on your way to be ‘for real’.

When you are reading through the ‘happy’ book you may find or wonder that facts and anything of the past cannot be changed. These are as concrete as the Colosseum of Rome!  But you can control your emotions and responses to facts as they will occur from now on, and that is great:-). If you start to do things different you will get different results, without a doubt. In fact, the results you get may be very strong. This in turn can be a good motivation for you to go on as you start to see and feel the changes.

For me it’s been years  already since I took off my rose-coloured glasses, and I realized since that things don’t happen by simply changing your point of view. It can make you more aware of reality, but there is more to it. You have to act and do something!

When you want to act and do something it comes down to have discipline and be persistent. It is easy to start something, but to maintain it  and keep it going can be, and often will be quiet challenging.

If you have been reading this far it may all sound easy to you, and you think that you already know all this. This may be true, but knowing, acting upon and really do something with information are very different things.

After finishing reading the Happy Book I am now reading Think & Grow rich written by Napoleon Hill. Reading and digesting the information of these books is what made me write this post. If you want to grow as a person I highly recommend you to read these books.

The bottom-line is that it’s all about trying to find the right purpose in life. Aim for the best and don’t settle for less. Believe in the laws of the universe. Beside believing, why not make full use of it. If it’s there for the taking… You can achieve the life you always wanted. Just do it! It would mean that you live your life the way it was meant to be lived by the law of the universe. From that moment on you can truly say “I Am For Real”. 

‘You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.’ – Mark Twain

Lately my life was completely occupied by my job, my blog, my household, a couple of side projects and a business I was going to participate in. When I was thinking about this the last few weeks I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t go on like this.

First of all it wore me out, and because of that my productivity was less and less efficient. So I decided to do something about it and first I looked back at my goals as I had set them roughly a year ago. I looked at what I planned to do and what I was doing right now. Actually I already knew the results but… anyway what I found was that at some point I had allowed myself to wander off from the original path that I were following.  

Thinking it all over made me realize I wanted to change this situation. I was not being truthful to myself. I was going to participate in and do things I did not  really want to do. I was caught up by chitchat and what some people refer to as mental chatter. Before I did anything I thought it over for a day or so. During that time I came up with a decision. After some talk here at home and some spiritual advice I simply made some decisions, just like that.

I decided to stop working towards being a Law of Attraction coach. What I want is to focus my energy solely on the writing of blogs and I plan to start on a novel. I am going to try to let myself not be distracted by all sorts of opportunities that pass my eyes every day. Bit by bit I reclaimed my life back and with it some more breathing space. I’m already feeling much better now, and I plan to try hard to maintain my focus.

I want to close this off with a nice and appropriate quote from Ayn Rand that I came across today.

“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”"

photocredit: ihtatho