#ChooseTheGood

If we are honest, sometimes things get dark. We are told to follow our hearts, to find our passion, our calling, but nobody tells us HOW to get to these things. It can feel like an endless search to get lucky, to find that four leaf clover in the vast clover field. Did you know it’s about 1 in 10,000? We search and we search for the thing we think we WANT, only to miss the thing we NEED right in front of us. Hidden in plain sight, it takes a sideways glance, or a music lyric, or maybe the intensity of an incredible workout to wake us out of our slumber, and show us reality for a second. Gasping for breath, panting, and struggling for air, you look down and you see something BETTER than you were after…you see life as it REALLY is…in all it’s beauty. In the darkness, when times are tough, you still get to choose. You always have a choice…a choice to see the good, to see what is right there in front of you, to choose to silently smile and accept that happiness is available to you right here, right now, no matter your circumstance. In Buddhism Plain and Simple, Steve Hagen likens this to a feast set out before us, complete with every delight you can imagine. You can partake NOW, or at any moment of your choosing, and yet we complain of our hunger. We thirst for the water, the wine, and the milk and honey…that are set right in front of us. We complain because it’s familiar, and it doesn’t make waves. Everyone else is doing it, and so we have solidarity. It’s counter-culture to SNAP people out of us it and say what Marcus Aurelius said, “If it is endurable, endure it. Stop complaining.” What’s more counter-culture is to say, in earnest, to “WAKE UP!” It’s not a magic pill, and it doesn’t last long…maybe a second or two, but when you see that tiny glimpse of something beautiful, it’s time to breathe deep, take it in, and own that moment. If you ever catch someone smiling silently, take note. They know what we are talking about here. You get to choose, so choose to see the good.

#silentSmile #ffw #freedomFromWish #ChooseTheGood

First blog post

This is my very first post. The stock photo is beautiful, so I’m keeping it. This site is the answer to a challenge.

Have you ever heard yourself utter the phrase “I wish…”

Fill in the blank with some unfulfilled desire, want, dream deferred, or pipe dream for that matter. That phrase lets you consider the prize, but connotes defeat. The wish is a trap.

Action is the antidote of a wish. Action is making something happen. This site may start off as a humble, unassuming blog, but it is a first step in building an empire. Chew on these philosophical treats:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu

“If you want to escape the burdens that oppress you, you should not be somewhere else, but someone else.” – Seneca

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.”  – Jack Welch

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan

The voices we allow into your lives will change us, shape us, mold us. If we are not careful, the music we hear, the political advertisements running the background, the fear-filled media could slowly strip away our strength. Only through focused, diligent attention can we actively choose our destinies.

Right now, you can make the choice to take responsibility for your life. You will no longer have anyone to blame, but you will be able to look back on your days and see something amazing that you made, and never again have to utter the sad phrase, “I wish…”

#FreedomFromWish