Tag: experience

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Why

As a kid I used to ask my parents, “why?”

I rarely received a satisfactory answer. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Maybe they didn’t know either. More likely, they didn’t feel it necessary to answer or they just plain didn’t want to. They were probably too busy for the onslaught of follow up questions I was no doubt going to ask.

In order to avoid this, I was told, “because I said so.” And that was supposed to be that…done deal…conversation over.

Well, I’m a grown up (mostly) and I still want to know, “why?”

The issue is, who do I ask now?

Do I have to answer all of my own questions from here on in? If so, I’m going to be in trouble because this world is far too complicated for me to figure everything out that I’m curious about.

I have a mile long list of questions I’d like the answers to. Maybe you have a few on your list too. It would be fun to compare notes sometime. But until then, here’s something I’d like to understand.

Why can’t we all get along?

I try to sit back and listen so that I might discern some of the reasons. The first thing that jumps out at me is that we’ve all received strong cultural training, whether from our parents, other family members, teachers, bosses, leaders, really everyone that surrounds us.

We seem to start out with a blank baby slate. Nothing on it at all, just some inner coding to help us get what we feel we need: food, tender loving care, clean diapers, a nice crib. “Why” doesn’t seem to matter.

But as we grow older, we become a part of an opinion factory. We are told what to think and how to act or we observe it. Either way it becomes a part of us. We absorb everything around us and filter it through our training. If it doesn’t fit, we set it aside.

And in that very moment, “why” becomes lost. We act by rote.

I wonder, how could it be different from this? How might we be trained so that we could be open and so that we could listen and ask questions and hear answers?

And while it would be nice to start over, fresh and clean, that’s not very realistic, so I search for an alternative. From the place I am right now, can I become a blank slate, ready to have an open dialogue with others, ready to talk about all of the “whys”?

What would make this possible?

My first impression is that compassion, sympathy, and empathy need to take center stage. I need to acknowledge that I have pre-formed opinions about almost everything. And further, I need to consider that none of them might be accurate or fair.

If I can accept this starting place, I think I have a chance. I think I can ask real questions and hear real answers. I think I can fit the new answers in around all the other things I’ve been told and let them influence each other.

And perhaps I’m asking the wrong question.

Maybe the question ought to be…”how” can we get along? Maybe “why” is a rabbit hole, a deep set of tunnels where everyone gets lost.

I like the idea of “how” because it’s active and leads me forward, rather than “why” that often leads me in circles.

“How” is hopeful and full of potential. “How” is worth exploring. It’s connective and alive. So, I think I’ll release needing to know “why” and focus my time and energy on “how”. Maybe you’ll want to join me.

“How” is a way forward that folks can work on together. We can explore our views and preconceptions with each other and seek commonalities, then build from there, believing that there are answers and solutions for everything.

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What Words Describe You

Now that’s a thinker of a question.

When I asked myself this, it was hard to get started. There’s so much ground to cover to choose specific words to describe a person, any person, let alone myself.

The temptation for me is to begin with words that describe what I do like, writer, bookkeeper, walker, artist, cook, reader. Or perhaps, labels I could easily apply such as male, ‘more than’ middle aged, liberal on some things, conservative on others, spiritual vs religious. The lists could go on and on.

But I find these are not the words that express who I am or who I want to be in this world. I have to go deeper.

I lean into a few, dreamer, creator, visionary. I check myself to be sure I feel they apply to me. I ask for confirmation. Have I dreamed something into existence, created it and brought it to life, followed a vision into reality?

I take my time before I answer.

I look into my heart and ask a second time because these are big words to use. Big words to apply to myself.

Perhaps like me you’ve been trained by our culture to question your contributions and their value, as if we need to constantly measure up to someone standards. Many times, the bar is set pretty high, higher than we think we can reach.

I decide to be a renegade and toss the bar aside. I trample it and choose to give myself permission to use any word I like the sound of and any words that I feel suits me.

I accept dreamer, creator, and visionary. I open my mind and see all the things I have experienced in my abundant life. They spill out onto the page, and I treat them reverently.

What are the words you would choose for yourself?

If you decide to play along with me in this adventure, please give yourself full permission to use any word(s) you’d like. Let them flow out as easily as you can.

I wish I could see your list. I hope it’s filled with awesome, happy, healthy, adventurous, wonderful words.

I wondered what else I could add to my brief list of three. I stretched myself and decided to allow anything that wanted to come out to jump onto the page. To do this, I released my need to conform to any societal standards.

I am loving, giving, a loyal and faithful friend, an old soul, resourceful, lover of music, sci-fi and action movie enthusiast, organizer, planner, To Do list operator, and heart centered.

I am also a channel, able to communicate with the divine, to receive insights and inspirations to pass along to anyone who feels they speak the truth to them. I am an ‘inviter’, who never asks to be believed, because that is not up to me. I speak what I hear and what my heart tells me, but I never expect, demand, or anticipate anyone else accepting anything I say.

My aim is to pass along what wisdom I come into contact with and invite others to decide for themselves whether it speaks the truth to them.

I trust that each of us has an internal spiritual navigation system which offers us the choice of what to believe. There is no system which speaks to everyone, so it falls to us all to decide for ourselves.

If you decide to choose some words that describe you, remember that you are the one in charge. You get to pick what feels right to you. One last bit of advice, if you move ahead with this exercise- choose words that lead you in the direction you wish to go.

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Would A Smile Help

I pulled a card from my Four Word Question deck at random and ended up with this card…Would A Smile Help?

My first reaction was, yes, of course a smile would help no matter what was happening. Smiles are awesome.

I wondered why. What is it about them that is so appealing?

My answer is…because they change how I feel inside me. They brighten my day and connect me, to the world, to others and perhaps most importantly, to the divine.

It feels like a smile is an extension of the love that is offered to the world. Smiles feel like they are filled with good intentions.

I don’t think I ever smile and still have negative feeling toward the world. I suppose it’s possible, but not very likely.

Smiles are definite mood shifters. They may be difficult to put on your face during challenging times. When this happens, they prompt a question for me. Given the choice, where would I rather be, in a happy or unhappy state of mind?

The trick might be whether I can answer this simple question while in a bad mood, a sad mood, after a fight with someone, a depressing day or during a sickness.

Sure, when I’m feeling fine, smiling is easy and fun and I think anyone can do it, but what about during the tough times in my life? I wonder, what would it take to remind myself to smile? What trigger would shift me from frowning to smiling? Could I set some kind of internal alarm that would go off, sparking me to remember to smile?

I want that to be the case.

I’m not talking about a Pollyanna approach where I tell myself that all is right with the world even though it’s not. I don’t find lying to myself to ever be the answer.

Recognizing that at any time in my life I have a choice of how I want to live and experience the world opens me and offers me the opportunity to choose. I find I choose much better when there’s a smile on my face. How about you?

I’m not denying that things can feel out of control and sometimes miserable. They can be and at times, they are.

What a smile does is it sends a message to me and to the world that I am exercising my ability to choose how to see and experience the world. It’s an opportunity to shift my consciousness.

This is an incredibly easy solution for me. Afterall, how many simple, easily controllable things can any one of us do? One answer is that every one of us can smile.

I also think to myself, I am not alone in this world. I ask what sort of message do I want to send out? If given the choice, what do I want to offer others?

My answer is often the same. I want to channel the love I feel running through me from my divine source.

It is such a simple thing to do. All I have to do is…smile.

It feels good and connects me to others. And it’s also great when you receive a smile in return. It’s actually life giving and life affirming and one of my most treasured things.

I invite you to test this out for yourself if it intrigues you. See what happens when you smile, even during your most difficult experiences. I bet you’ll find it lifts you up and brightens your day. I ask you, who couldn’t use that in their life?

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Praise and Miracles

Do you receive praise for the things you do? Does it feel important to you? Do you offer praise to others?

I have a story to share with you. It’s part a book, Little Buddha Book Six, which is the most recent in a series I’ve written. The story comes about because one of the characters, Natalie, wants to see if she can write an engaging story that will appeal to a reader, to offer an important message and at the same time, limit the story’s length to less than three hundred words. Quite a challenge.

She used a picture to inspire her story of a stone roadway with homes on the left and right sides and poles with electrical wires connecting them.

One house has an exterior house light lite which casts a reddish glow on the stones.

Natalie’s story about a young boy goes like this…

I woke up on my mat next to my brothers and sisters and waited. My mother came in shouting, “Get up, get up, there is much work to be done.”

I stood, went to the stairs, climbed into the loft, reached for the broom, and began sweeping. I knew there would be an inspection, so I was careful.

I heard a noise and watched a mouse cross the floor. It tried to jump into a hole in the wall, but because it had eaten well, it could not fit. It leapt again, knocking a chunk of wall onto the floor, then ran in the opposite direction.

I went over to look inside the hole. I saw two disconnected wires and wondered about them. I twisted them together and finished sweeping the floor.

Later that night my father came home, “It’s a miracle,” he said, as he came through the door. “The light is on outside. How did this happen?”

My brothers, sisters and I stood in a line as we did each night, awaiting his approval.

“It was I father. I am your miracle.”

“This cannot be. You are just a boy.”

Hungry for a kind word from him, I said, “I twisted two wires together and the light came on. Are you pleased with me?”

He looked sternly at me and spoke, “Is it not enough that you know what you did, must you receive praise for it? A man knows what is important inside himself and does not need others to tell him. This is what my father taught me and what his father taught him.”

I felt downcast and pondered his words. I decided something in that moment. This would not be what I taught my son. I would teach him that he is a miracle.                  …end story

Even though I wrote the story, the ending completely surprised me, as if it had been supplied by someone else. I could feel the depth of the young boy’s reaction to the lack of praise he received, and the way his father’s words were spoken.

What I love about his reaction is that he promises he will live a different life and teach his son a different lesson. I can almost hear him speaking to his future son, telling him that he is precious to him and to the world, and that he is in fact, a miracle.

Imagine what kind of life that would create for his son, and also for his daughters. Imagine being regarded in such a positive manner, supported, encouraged, believed in.

I want to more than just imagine this in my life. I want to live it. I want to recognize the beauty and miracles that surround me every day.

Imagine what a difference this could make in the world if we treated each other as the miracles we are.

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Valuable Questions

I’ve discovered how incredibly valuable questions are in my life. Have you noticed this being true for you too?

A well-timed question can open doors you thought might never be opened or guide you in directions that provide insights you hadn’t anticipated.

Asking questions can narrow our focus so that we can feel, sense, or work our way forward. They can also prompt us to dive deeper and find meaning and purpose.

Asking questions was one of the main reasons why my friend, Cheri Warren (Website www.creativewarrens.com. Instagram @cheriwphoto. Facebook.com/creativewarrens) and I developed the Four Word Questions Oracle deck, also known as Self Discovery Cards. In addition to the questions I offer, Cheri provides stunning artwork which adds imagination, color, and beauty to the cards, making them immensely appealing. Together, we believe they have the power to spark your creativity and offer you clarity and insight in your everyday lives.

To give you a better idea of how it works I’d like to share a quick example, so you can see exactly what I mean.

There are 52 cards in the deck, along with two instruction cards, one section of which outlines three ideas for card spreads. A card spread is where you select four individual cards which represent meaningful aspects in your life. In the case of my example, I chose the card spread that focuses on, ‘influences, obstacles, solutions, and outcomes’.

It would take some time to review all four of the cards I selected, so I thought I’d center on one card for now.

The first card I chose proposed this question, “once free, what then?”, and represented the ‘influences’ part of the spread.

Occasionally, at first glance nothing of importance comes to mind, but I know if I stick with it, benefits will follow, as was the case with this card.

I wondered, what are the negative influences in my life? What impacts me the most and impedes my sense of progress, happiness, and hope?

Of course, each of us is surrounded by both positive and negative influences, but I don’t seem to pay as much attention to the positive, as I do the negative. How about you?

Maybe that’s because I tend to take the positives for granted, so my focus shifts to the negatives, the dramatic or the troublesome aspects of my life. And along comes this question reminding me that I have a choice. Further, it prompts me to ask a follow up question, sort of a part A and part B question.

If I allowed myself to release the elements of my life that I label ‘negative’, and free myself from them, ‘what then’?

The promise of liberation from these negative influences and the chance to embrace what I consider to be the ‘positives’, entices me forward.

There is excitement in the idea that this is up to me. No one outside of me is actually in control of my direction, despite any appearances to the contrary. I can choose my attitude and decide what to pay attention to.

Not bad observations for a card that at first glance did not seem to offer me much.

The rest of the reading increased in value and allowed me to adopt new beliefs, ones that serve me and bring happiness and joy into my life.

I believe this deck offers everyone this same opportunity and it is why Cheri and I believe in it so much. If you’d like a deck of your own, go to Cheri’s website: https://www.creativewarrens.com/self-discovery-cards and follow the simple directions.

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An Important Look Back

It was three years ago yesterday that I began writing these posts and I’m surprised and delighted that I’ve been doing them twice a week since then.

When I sat and thought about this, I realized that a lot has happened in the world over the last three years, especially due to COVID. And whereas that was and is hugely impactful, it’s not the only thing that matters.

If I asked you, what would you tell me about what has happened in your life? What would make it onto your personal highlight reel?

Have you found or lost someone significant in your life? Been released from a job or signed onto a new one? Have you traveled? Read a good book that still captivates you? Learned something new? Added to your family? Grown taller or shorter? I’ve lost a half inch in height, maybe you have too.

There is so much going on in our daily lives, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. We get wrapped up in all of the little stuff and sometimes miss what we ourselves say is most important to us.

When I stop for a moment and broaden my view, I find it enlightening. Opening up to a longer time span helps me to put things into better perspective. So, when I recognized that I’ve been offering my commentary through these posts for three years, I wanted to settle back and take a look at some highlights, and perhaps learn something important about myself.

I decided to write down some events and see if any patterns emerged.

Maybe you’ve done this same thing or perhaps you’d like to do it now and join me in a little life review.

Before I share some of my observations with you, I’d like to suggest a framework for us to use. It consists of four parts: 1) physical wellness, 2) human relationships, 3) creative expression and 4) spiritual connections. Of course, please feel free to use whatever framework you find most comfortable and let it guide your way.

During the last three years I’ve experienced a significant increase in my attention to my physical health and wellbeing, especially over the last year. Visiting my mom at the Nursing Home twice a week clearly had an impact on me and shifted my attention. I’ve made radical changes to my approach to health and have adopted many new (and better) practices to support my wellbeing.

While reviewing for highlights I recognized how fundamentally important human relationships are to me. Being with family and friends, sharing adventures, eating, laughing, traveling, doing arts and crafts, and just plain old spending time doing nothing together. The act of connecting is both sacred and special to me and a center piece of my existence. Despite some sadness in losing folks, there is great happiness and joy in connecting with those who are here, knowing there is deep love between us.

The last three years has been filled with meaningful creative expressions for me. During that time, I wrote three books, co-created an oracle deck, directed, and participated in a play performed at our church, and opened wide to my artistic self, creating what I consider to be beautiful acrylic art pours.

When I had finished focusing on these three aspects, I shifted my attention to the spiritual part of my life. When I am deeply connected spiritually, everything else in my life glows radiantly. Knowing I am part of the divine essence of creation (as are you) allows me to give and receive with joy and love in my heart. This is my lifeblood and I daily nourish my spiritual relationships and connections. This is what gives my life its meaning and value and I am a much better human being because of it.

So, what did you learn during your review? Are there ripe places to be explored? Gaps to be filled in? Wonderful, meaningful ideas to be pursued?

I hope that you found this to be as enlightening an exercise as I did and gained some valuable insight and inspiration.

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Removing Obstacles

Here’s a bold statement.

Everything I experience in my life means something and there is always a message there for me. I firmly believe this is true for me and I also believe it is true for you.

Here’s how it comes about. I’ll take ‘obstacles’ as my example.

I find that sometimes if I’m not feeling well, I don’t always want to get better right away, because then I won’t hear the message. I’ve discovered there is value in being patient, waiting, and listening. Then when I hear or feel something, it’s wise for me to encourage it to surface and come fully to my attention.

At one time in my life, I didn’t feel it was safe to breathe. Partly this was due to COVID and its respiratory implications, but not solely. There were other reasons why I was concerned about breathing. I felt like I needed a filter, something that would prevent irritants and pollutants from entering into me.

Although initially I was safety conscious about external things getting through my defenses, I soon realized that the internal things within me could be every bit as harmful. I also sensed that many things I feared were not real, they only felt real. The distinction however escaped me.

As I thought more about this, some specific fears surfaced. One of these was the fear of rejection. The belief that others would not be interested in anything I had to say, nor would they read what I had written. I felt strongly motivated to prevent this from happening, and recognized two detrimental aspects were involved.

I felt I was a prisoner because I thought I needed others attention. When this is your frame of reference, you never feel safe. A companion realization was that I had no control over what others thought, said, or did. No matter how attractive, insightful, or funny a thing was that I created, it might not catch others attention.

It’s easy to see how this is a recipe for an internal disaster. How is it that I sense rejection without knowing if it’s even present? This is what fear does to me though. It pushes me toward extremes and doesn’t want me to sit back or pause or consider. Fear likes it when I’m reactive.

Taking even one moment away from fear and asking the question, why do I need others to accept me or what I say or write? When I give myself this opportunity, there is space to breathe and embrace new directions. I can give myself a moment to ask, why is what I am doing important to me? What am I really after?

Because I paused, my answer is clear to me. I want to live from a heart of joy. One of the critically important steps for me to realize is that having to work my way through the obstacle of fear of rejection is a giant step along my path.

Without releasing this fear there would be no way forward. I see that it sat in my way, not as an obstacle, but as a signpost, guiding me to a better destination.

In this way my fear of rejection was an integral part of my path to living a joy-filled, joy-full life. And it can be for you too. You may need to substitute your own obstacle in place of my fear of rejection, but each and every obstacle is guiding us to our ultimate aim(s) in life.

Rather than resisting or turning back, when you meet your next obstacle, recognize that you have a choice. You can choose to see them as signposts telling you that they are not the way forward. You can shift and find what does work for you, what feels ‘right’ to you and what brings you joy or whatever you desire to reveal in your life.

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Sharing Pain

An important question surfaced recently that I wanted to share with you.

It’s really more of a confession of sorts because I don’t feel it casts me in the greatest light. But I’m committed to telling my story as is, rather than what I want others to think it is. At least, that’s what I try to do.

My question is this…why do I feel a need to share about my physical pains with others?

Surely, they have their own. Do they really need to hear about mine? And I wonder, will it turn into a contest of whose pains are worse, a game that seeks to constantly up the ante?

Telling another about my pains and suffering might be okay if someone specifically asked me and wanted to know. Or if I was at a medical office, and they needed to understand my story in order to provide helpful solutions.

But ordinarily, do others need to be bothered by my list of aches and pains? I’m pretty sure they don’t.

If I’m paying close enough attention though, I hear my words and recognize I’m sharing my pains and sorrows and most of the time it’s unsolicited.

I encourage myself to sit back and open to what fills the silence. I allow myself to let everything come in, no matter how it feels.

Here’s what happens.

A series of answers march forth, one after the other, trying to educate me.

First to appear is a sense that I am asking for others sympathy, as if that will provide me with some useful energy. I’ve discovered, it doesn’t.

Next is a feeling that some part of me needs to complain, to say how hard I have it and how unfair it all is, in an attempt to elicit empathy or sympathy. Occasionally it works, but seriously, how often do others want to have to provide this to me. Afterall, they have their own issues and concerns and probably need the same thing from me.

Other times, I have a desire to be released from my pains and sorrows and am looking for legitimate opinions and suggestions from others on how to accomplish this. I need relief. But one thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I don’t always listen to what they have to say, or I listen and yet fail to do the things that might make my situation better.

This seems ridiculous to me. To receive great advice then disregard it…what sense does that make? Not much.

I wonder to myself, could there be something valuable in divulging my conditions? Might it open a door to a worthwhile conversation with someone, something beyond ‘misery loves company’?

It struck me that if I was open and sensitive to others, I might find some common ground, some territory to have a meaningful discussion, one that might go beyond physical issues. It might transcend the usual dialogue and delve into areas of commonality. We might be able to talk about our genuine feelings about our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual lives.

That felt very different to me. Beautiful, in fact.

Maybe it’s not about what I share, but how I share. Perhaps it’s about coming from a place of compassion and love, rather than a place of need and fear. I think that next time I’m going to try to keep this in mind and rather than coming from fear I will seek to come from love, the source of all good things in life

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Unintended Outcomes

I wanted to provide you with an opportunity to explore something with me if you’d like.

Let’s suppose that the following happens…EVERYTHING you think you want, actually comes true. Not just some things, but EVERYTHING. You don’t have to work for it or negotiate or trade, whatever you want, it’s yours.

What would you choose?

I invite you to take a minute or two, if you have the time right now, or save this exercise for when you have a couple minutes. Sit back with a pen or pencil and pad/notebook and brainstorm, recording what comes to you.

Would you choose things that provide you with fame or fortune or popularity or trophies? Or would you choose things that would increase your bank accounts or investment portfolio or your compensation package?

Would you opt to live longer or healthier or pain and disease free? Or perhaps you’d decide to make things better for others, so you might give away tons of money, or medicines to the poor or education to those who don’t have access.

Maybe you’d bypass the monetary or health things and go straight to the choices that would provide you with happiness and joy and dynamic relationships and overall contentment.

If you were free to choose anything and made a set of decisions, what do you think the ramifications would be? Might there be some unintended outcomes that would occur?

I wanted to dive into this myself, because I felt there was so much room to learn something important, something I might not access any other way. I sensed it could take me a little time to discover, but the journey would be well worth it.

Here’s the first thing that happened to me.

I thought to myself, if I got everything I wanted, no mess, no fuss, just immediately there for me…a feeling of dissatisfaction would come over me. I would feel it was too easy and I would take everything for granted. Things would lose a lot of their meaning and value to me.

If I hadn’t had to work for them, hadn’t traded any of my time or spent any energy in exchange for them, I think that whatever value they initially provided me with would be lost quickly.

The next thing I felt was a sense that not having to work for things would take away or sap my resourcefulness. I wouldn’t have to think or plan or interact with things. And I would shy away from anything that was difficult or challenging.

And then I thought, what will all these easily obtained things mean to me over time? Would they grow and expand in meaning and become favored things I treasure? My answer was ‘no, they would not’. For things to mean something to me, I need to exchange something for them. Some time, energy, skill, money, effort, something.

Although my initial list contained items like, best-selling author, wealthy donor, healthy beyond expectations, well respected, I felt I needed to take a second look.

There were unintended outcomes involved. I discovered each one of these attractive items to me wasn’t anything I would ever be in control of. They are the choices others make.

And finally, the primary outcome of having everything given to me is that my drive, my personal mission, and my desire to experience the world would be drained from me.

I’ve come to realize that it might be nice to occasionally have some things come easily to me, but for the important stuff, I want to be directly involved. I want to work hard, give of myself, connect directly with others in meaningful ways and reap a sense of personal satisfaction from what I choose to do with my life.

I want to see what it’s like to make all of my own decisions and experience all of the natural outcomes, no matter what they are.

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A Beautiful Messy Life

I want to paint you a picture, something vivid you can see instantly in your mind’s eye. I am restricted to using words, but I believe this will not interfere with your ability to create your own clear images.

Here we go.

Imagine your house or apartment with your car parked outside in the driveway or on the street. Inside, there are several rooms with a variety of furnishings. There are also people there, your family or friends.

Okay, got it?

Now imagine your kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes and pots and pans. You open your cupboards and refrigerator and discover they’re almost empty and need to be restocked. In the bedroom, some clothes are strewn about, while others are heaped on an unmade bed. Children’s toys are littered throughout the living room and your kids’ bedrooms. You check the mail and there are bills there you’re not sure how to pay, like the daycare and mortgage or rent. You look out the window and remember that your car won’t start and if you want to get somewhere, you’ll need someone’s help or you’ll have to ride your bike. While you’re walking around your house or apartment, you’re followed by your faithful dog, begging for a walk, some water, and a treat. You stop for a glass of water and wonder to yourself; how will you ever pay for college and still afford to retire?

You may not be able to identify with all of these. You may need to substitute your own things, things that are just as important to you and your family. But the point remains the same, the picture feels daunting and overwhelming.

Why would I bother to bring this up? Why remind you of how difficult things can be, because surely you know this already.

Well, the answer to that is the point of this post and something I often desperately need to remember.

Let’s take the list and break it down. Let’s see if it is possible to shift our mindsets and create beauty out of chaos.

Having a kitchen full of dirty dishes, pots and pans means you’ve eaten and are not hungry. Your cupboards and refrigerator can be restocked because you have access to grocery stores with food on their shelves.

A messy bedroom means a lot of things; you have clothes to wear, sheets and a blanket to stay warm in and a bed to lay comfortably on. The fact that there are toys everywhere means your children have something to play with, probably enough to share with their siblings or friends.

And sure, you have bills, but this suggests you are surrounded by opportunities. To own a house or be able to rent an apartment, to be able to send your children to daycare or school, where they are cared for, taught, and encouraged is a beautiful thing.

Seeing your car that won’t start could remind you that we take for granted all the times it does work, the places it takes us, the freedom it offers. Having a dog or other pet that waits for and greets us with loving attention as soon as you arrive home can remind us how precious a gift they are to us.

Still wondering how you’ll pay for all those important things yet to come in your life? No doubt you are and it’s very difficult to see clearly into the future. This is where hope, faith, and trust come in.

Every dream, aspiration, goal, and aim are based on our own personal belief system. Do we see the dirty dish or what it represents, a well-fed family? Do we see a messy bed or the beautiful place we sleep and recharge? Are the toys on the floor a source of displeasure or a cause for thanksgiving, that we are rich enough to generously offer our children the gift of play in their lives?

When I look around my house now, I see an entirely different scene. I see a beautiful messy life filled with activity, opportunity, and love. I’m going to keep somewhere intentionally messy to remind myself of how wonderful, fulfilling, and gorgeous my life is.

Care to join me?