A Beautiful Place to Be

Sunset in Sarasota Florida. A view I get to see often. :)

After years of writing (and a lifetime of pondering!), I finally decided to make a home for it all. I'm of course doing this at 5 am, so the first post will be short. But what better way to start than with the reminder that perspective is everything. Often we can see only what is right in front of us, and sometimes it looks bleak. Sometimes it's looked so bleak for so long we feel we have nothing left to give. But there is always a path that got us to that point, and there is always a path back. The problem is that we either can't believe it or we can't see how it will happen.

I'm quite logical and have long been plagued by the needs to know how things work and to reason things out on my own. But one thing I've learned recently is that if we demand to know how something can work out before believing it can work out, it usually won't happen. Our doubt and hesitance become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've also learned that if we put ourselves in the right state of mind or being--if we are living true to ourselves, operating with self-compassion and mindfulness, and giving mental energy to the positive things that fulfill us--we attract more of the same. The universe will then give us what we pursue in the most efficient and expedient way.

Our dreams materialize in ways that, when we try to work it all out in our heads, we can never anticipate. Which means that if we want to move forward, we must focus our energies on creating the atmosphere and energy we want today, knowing that those efforts will attract like people and opportunities. Instead of being paralyzed while we worry or ruminate or analyze, we open up the doors to life, and that is the only way things will begin to change for us.

There is always light just waiting to be found. It is something I consistently lose sight of when I'm faced with challenges I can't seem to overcome. But each time we make that journey, we learn how to better find and access the light, even when circumstances first appear dark. Usually, it won't look the way we thought it would, and it won't be where we thought it would be, but it is there. And the first step to finding it is coming back to ourselves with compassion, thus cultivating peace and mindfulness within ourselves. Compassion generates freedom, energy, and renewal, and we need those things--especially when the road is trying and we feel spent. Once our inner well begins to fill, we find that instead of exhausting our energies dealing with the problems in life, we now pour energy into things that continue filling our well--and enrich those around us, too!

I believe there is a law of faith or energy or maybe in some sense quantum physics that we humans, with all our intellect and analysis, often bungle. When we direct energy toward something, it will respond and resonate. That is, if we focus on our problems, ruminate over our past, or worry over how we'll accomplish something, we are living in an energy state that attracts the very things we're trying to prevent. And we keep feeding them! We will be so preoccupied with that focus that we will not have the same interactions we would have had, we will not generate the same opportunities, we will not think as creatively. But if we live mindfully, appreciating the present moment and cultivating the kind of thoughts and energy that align with abundance and fulfillment, not only will we encounter the world differently, but it will respond. What a beautiful, empowering principle! We truly are creators in our own lives. :)

So what's the most beautiful place to be? The present moment. We can always be in the most beautiful place, no matter where we are physically. Here's a great talk on mindfulness and the obstacles we face:

Peace of Mind Through Mindfulness Video

--"Anyplace you don't want to be becomes your prison. . . .Anyplace you like to be, you feel free. . . .As soon as you change your attitude...you feel free." Ajahn Brahm

PS. That was long. Every time I start off with "this is going to be short," it always ends up this way. -_-