Getting Back To It

This post has a soundtrack that I encourage you to listen to as you read it, as I listened to it as I wrote it.
Go to Father Sleep's Free Music Archive webpage, and click the play triangle to the left of 01. Over the River and Through the River (03:35).

Sometimes breaks happen. Sometimes the breaks are mental, sometimes they are physical, sometimes they are just plain restful taking of time for oneself. It doesn't take much to discover that there is something useful in any break, regardless of the amount of pain involved with taking or experiencing that break. There is joy in loving the world, there is happiness in the world around us. We just need to see it, we just need to make it a personal mission to see the beauty in every single thing that we do. We are here to live and to thrive, to love and let those around us share in our love with and for each other.

Something made us this way, whether by plan or by accident, by design or by incremental changes. We have just to enjoy it. We have to see the wonder of our being, and live through that to be the better people that we want to be. We need just to enter into what is most evident in all the world, that we are fearlessly and wonderfully made.

I often get stopped by the fear that I think is inside of me, or outside of me, tackling my desires to be better, to want to shoot for the moon, but I can't, I think, I am afraid, I think, but I am none of those things. I feel them only, and I let them pass me directly by. There is joy in letting the things come and then just letting them go as easily as they came.

What do we all want? We want peace, we want structure, we want to live in a natural way that is in harmony with everything around us. Sometimes we feel it is the else or the other or the not us that is not living in the natural way, but first we should look inside ourselves and know that we are doing what we can, what we always know we are able to do, in order to live that natural way, in order to love the world around us.

What time it takes to understand this is a blink of an eye. You don't have to try, it just happens or it doesn't. The more you read and search, the more likely it will be to happen, but YOU CANNOT MAKE IT HAPPEN. It will happen when it is time. What this is that I am talking about is awakening. There is an awakening that can happen to all of us, a way for us to play and be inside what there is and there will be and there was.

And being okay with what is and was and will be is the art of happiness. Constant acceptance of the reality we are faced with can lead to constant enjoyment of the reality we are faced with, which can ultimately lead to enthusiasm toward the experience of reality that we all have

How to Build a Successful....

1. Create Positive Content

Create positive content. Create positive content. Create positive content. There are so many opportunities to report on the negative that may be seen, let’s instead take the opportunity to report and dwell and focus in on the positive in life. There is positivity everywhere you look, you just need to actually look, and actually see. There is something managable about being able to just get by on negativity, but negativity does not allow one to actually thrive in life. The positive aspect of life and living is what makes life worth living, and what makes someone become the special individual that they are able to become because of all the positiivty. What makes one person better than another is nothing, because we are all on the same goddamn playing field, all in the same plane, all in this together as one big happy dysfunctional group. But there is something that can help us become more functional, become more effective, become more happy, loving and enjoyable to be around and with and be ourself around. That is positivitiy. The strength of staying positive resides in the idea that there is nothing really to be upset about. Every little thing is going to be alright. It is all going to work out for the best in the end, and that is something that can be used everyday to establish what we are all working on. Positivity makes the effort where so many of us don’t.

2. Share Often

Sharing is an important part of love and life and living for the fullness of the world. It is one of the main reasons we are on this planet. To share with each other. This comes in many varieties and forms. There is glory in sharing, there is something special about sharing that makes all of us want to have a piece of sharing and that is ironically beautiful because we can share sharing in and of itself. What makes one person unique can make another person unique too, but we need to share our differences as well as our similaritities in order for any of us to learn and grow. We cannot learn from someone else about which that someone else does not share. A wonderful or tragic experience can occur but it may or may not be worthwhile because there is something that prevents the owner of the experience from sharing. That is something that is really too bad. To miss an opportunity to share is one of the most lackluster points of life. But these opportunities will be presented to us again and again. The universe wants us to succeed, wants us to be a success, and all we have to do is see the signs, and share with each other that there is something glorious about what we do.

3. Be Inclusive

There is no one who can’t benefit from everything. There is no reason to exclude or pander to one group of people or another. There may be a niche market in what you do with your creations and energies, but there is no niche customer. They will come from every walk of life and every single race and nation of the world. This is the world wide web already, so there is something magical about what is happening and why it happens. There is no one who can’t be reached, no one who you should exclude for any reason. And it goes the same to say that there is no one group of people that you should try harder to get the attention of. What makes one customer great, makes all customers great. They are people and they are alive, so they matter to me. The amount of money they have or their personal history does not matter to me. I am not after bigger customers, I am after customers, period. [The more customers I have is a direct reflection of the work I am doing. If I am doing good work, I will have many customers. If I am doing not so good, I won’t]

4. Develop a Strong Voice

A voice is going to be developed regardless of what you do, when creating a website or any other content for that matter. So, since the voice will be created anyway, you might as well make it strong, and clear, directly from your source so that there are no two ways about anything when it comes down to it. Stand firmly in your own area, and allow your source to work its way through all the work that you do, and let the voice of your source stand on its own. There is wonder in the way that works as well. It is magical to get in line and allow the source to work its way into your being and allow the wonder of the world to start off working in all the ways that you may have thought previously were impossible. But allow the voice to stand strong on its own. There is no need to modify much of what the source will say, but it is important to note the way the source will speak through you is different than the way the source will speak through anyone else. There is magic there. There is time there and there is energy there. The source will create the most wonderful voice for you to have. Don’t get in it’s way. Allow the voice to be strong, and stand out from the crowd.

5. Allow Space and Time for Wonder

Wonder is a most wonderful creation. Sometimes it can take up most of a persons life and time, and sometimes it becomes the focus of whatever is the most important thing at the time. Using a sense of wonder is a most important act in allowing the universe to work within you to create the ultimate you that you are trying to be. Wonder at nature. All of it created and evolved in a magnificent symphony of colors and textures and brilliant light. There is glory in all of creation, and there is no greater way to allow all the things to take place in life than to wonder at all of it.

6. Bring It All In (Focus)

Bring all of the knowledge and experience that we have together into one central location. Make it special because it is all of the knowledge and experience that we have. We can send it through a crucible of time and energy, and really work the kinks out. Now distill it down. Multiple times. Send the knowledge and the experience through the still again and again until what comes out is the most refined piece of work that is possible to come up with in the time and energy constraints placed upon us. That is focus. Focus is hard work.

Focus is hard work. But it is not that hard when you think about it as a process instead of as an act. First get all the gunk out there. Send out the worst of the worst as well as the best of the best. Get everything possible out there, not in here anymore. Once it is out, then we have something to work with. Like a potter, start to knead the clay and get the energy into it again. It was raw and cold, so we need to start warming it up again. Get the energy back into the clay and make it warm to the touch, so that it can be smoothly molded.

Once the energy is back into it, you can begin to make the clay take shape in our minds, begin to make things from nothing, begin to make the world behave in ways that no one thought was possible before or since. There is magic in all the world, and it comes from being able to spit out everything that is inside you, getting evrerything on the page or the board, or the easel, then start to work with what you have out there. Start to hone it down, start to focus it in. It is important to work on focusing, but not until everything is out there. Bring it all out first, then bring everything in again.

7. Learn and Love

Learn from each other. Do not think that learning is only taught in school or that you must be enrolled in a classroom setting to learn. We all learn every day. We may repeat the same things every single day and so some of the lessons life has to teach us are lost on us. We may think there is nothing much to learn from washing the dishes. But if we do it with awareness, if we are aware that we are not the thinker, but the being, doing the dishes, we will be able to learn. And learning is what humans do. Processes improve, humans learn.

We can’t improve a process without humans learning first. And not all humans learn well in a classroom setting. We can take the 6 senses and put them all in a basket and pick one out and try to impress it upon the students. But a more effective way would be to have the students root around in the basket and pick which senses they are most capable of learning from, and then help the student learn through that mode.

What else we can learn from is love. Love knows no bounds. Neither does learning. Learning happens all the time. We reinforce some of the lessons that we have learned in our past every day. And sometimes through negative thinking, we enforce and engrain lessons that really should not have been there in the first place. Failure is a fact of life, but learning from that failure is the most important thing there is to do. There is something about failing that is more important sometimes than winning. Learning that we can all win and that there is plenty of everything to go around makes the most sense. We all build something so that others can have it. Wouldn’t we want the others to have as much of it as possible? Give with love. Why should someone wait until they have the money to get what they really want? Can’t we just give it to them with love, instead?

8. Be Grateful

Being grateful is more than just saying thank you. It is lowering yourself in your ego enough to realize that what has happened could not have happened, without the help and support of others and the universe. Thankfulness comes from a place where one realizes that it is and was impossible to make something happen without the assistance from others. There is power in the words thank you, but when said with meaning and true spirit, they can change the world.

Saying thank you is a wonderous opportunity to live the life that the universe is unfolding for you. You are grateful to be alive at all, grateful for your outer purpose here on earth, and grateful that you were given the opportunity and understanding to glimpse and pursue your inner purpose.

We are all here for a reason. That reason is to awaken. To bring an end to suffering to be enlightened. There is joy and happiness in that. There is wonder in the fact that we are all here for the same reason. Some people know and understand that reason, other people do not yet. We can all help each other to come to the same conclusion. But without force. There is not force in awakening. There is only love and honesty and thankfulness. There is wonder in it too. That is a glorious purpose that there is wonder. The wonder can make all of it worth while.

Discovery

Discovering that which has always been in my life.

I have always had a desire to write. I have not written very much, until most recently.

To write is to allow the present to enter my life, and the imagination and the expansion of the universe to unfold.

Writing is an exercise in humility and pride at the same moment. Humility to get out of the way, pride in knowing that what I am doing is what I “should” be doing.

It is taking the time to notice the simple things.

There is time and there is energy.

Time is a constant turning of one thing into another. Energy is the way things are turned from one to the other.

There is a constant burning and a constant yearning.

We burn to know, to discover, to understand. We yearn for more, to realize our potential, to be in the moment.

We work toward our goals. Do we set our goals correctly? To be inspired, to be part of life as it unfolds, to be with all of those that are together, not apart, but together.

We work toward a vantage point that shows us that we are all one and the same. We are all part of the same fabric.

We were woven together in a never ending tapestry, but all we see is that we are individual threads. We can step back at any time and see the tapestry, but we get slogged down in the day to day and so lose that idea of stepping back.

We need to make and take time to step back.

There is energy where there was none.

There is feeling where there was none.

Working the process of creation causes creations to exist. Honing the skills and processes to their ultimate sharp edge will keep the creations coming, and at a better and higher quality.

We are discovering that we are not alone. We are not alone because we are all together.

When did we ever take the time to discover that we are not alone?

When we were forced to, many times.

But some go voluntarily as well.

Some go voluntarily as well as being forced to.

But the force is not really a violent forcing at all, it is still voluntary actually. The pillars of a life are just eroded to a point where discovery is the only viable option left, knowledge that we cannot do this alone. We were not meant to do this alone. We were meant to be together.

And together we shall be. We shall be together in what we do, in what we say, in who we are as people, as individuals.

There is a joy in connecting the two together.

There is a happiness beyond understanding that brings us all together into one place.

This all comes from the universe. As it should, through me to the universe. Not necessarily making much sense yet, but that is the resistance in me filtering it through making it unknown, making it inaccessible, but it will become more accessible as time goes on.

There is much to align, well really not much, just me and the universe, the way the tao. I try to align myself daily, but lead myself off the course. I will continue to align myself forever as I live.

Alignment is for the greater purpose of creating a life that is sustainably creative. Creative because the universe has taken over and has made the creations possible. The universe in fact is the one who creates the creations, I just am an observer. I observe the creation being made, and get to enjoy the process.

When dealt into the theater of work, I must observe that I am no longer interested in the baubles or prizes or anything of the like. I am interested in keeping my family sheltered, clothed, fed and with healthcare, and I am interested in creating. Do without doing. I have slipped in productivity, but I have gained in insight.

What I have gained in insight has allowed me to look at life in a completely different way. I am not here to attain anything. I am here to live. And to live in the most beneficial way for me and my family as possible. The best way for me to live is to follow my passion, do what I desire, and be happy creating as much art, writing and music as possible.

I am eager to get to that stage. But it feels as though I cannot get there fast enough. I have all sorts of other things to do, but I focus instead on my passion. That doesn’t feel wrong. In fact, it feels right.

But I still worry. I worry about everything. With my bipolar disorder I find that I see life more clearly, but I am more anxious about the small details of life.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

In the end, I am confident things will work out. In fact, I am confident things will work out in the beginning and the middle too.

The worry is given up to the universe.

Allowing

The universe knows no time for it creates only in the now and allows the rest to be forgotten. In the now I create by the creativity of the universe. I am becoming one with my destiny. I am not ignoring my fate. The writing is my purpose, and here in the present I am able to practice that purpose and make it a reality.

We all have somewhere to be. Be here instead.

We all have something to do. Do without doing instead.

Will and want when necessary, then allow, allow for everything to be a part of all of everything again. There is a rising and a falling. There is a growing and a dying. These are all a part of life and living, all a part of experience. Appreciate all of them. They may only come once. They may only be noticed by few. They may be missed by most.

It does not matter.

They are for all to see. Ask for eyes that you may see as well.  We are all together. Together as we are. Not as we "should be" or designed to be or mutated or whatever. The truth is that we are all together. We have a destiny to meet. A joyous occasion of presence and peace. It is all coming. We are all going to be there. Make it so.

Be yourself.

Don't hide anymore. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I'm going to let it shine!

Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.

Be the light of your being. Be who you are. Become the human being you have always been.

Sharing

I wanted to share something. Nothing in particular, just something. I feel connected, and I want to share that connection with others. Others are connected as well, and we have a connection to each other.

Sharing the connections is why we are here. Sharing the connections with and for each other.

What do I have to share today? My voice, my thoughts, my being, my writing. I want to share it for all to enjoy if they are interested.

So here are some thoughts and reflections I wanted to share:

We are not alone.

We are stronger than we can imagine.

We are together even if we are far apart.

We make the world a better place.

We make a difference.

Everything we do touches someone's life.

A small amount of positivity can create an avalanche.

An avalanche of positivity can tip the scales of the world.

Working together we can achieve more. That does not mean we should not work alone.

Differences are superficial.

Similarities are not coincidental.

Imagination is an amazing skill. Yes, skill.

Fear prevents us from doing what we know we want to do.

Who said to be afraid?

Who showed us how to fear?

Where we are in our being acts as the only compass we need.

We are not afraid. If we are afraid we act anyway. That is courage.

Space

All around us we are surrounded. What makes us stand apart is not ourselves, but the space between each thing.

Everywhere there is room. There is breathing room, there is time.

All around us always there is an impalpable space.

The space is there for a reason.

To let things flow freely, to move easily, to prosper, providing room to expand and grow.

There is space within each of us. But it is not a physical space. It is the space of being. The open ground from which we can build our lives. There is space and time and room to grow.

To space we belong, to space we will return.

We are formed and formless at one time. The two are not opposite. The two do not divide as oil and water, but become one, we only need to see it as one.

We are form and formless together and the space that is involved in our lives allows us to see that all is one.

How else can I describe it? There is nothingness around us, at the same time that everything is around us. The nothingness is there for a reason. For us to see that the room and air we interact with has more meaning in our lives than the forms that we interact with on a daily basis.

The room is there for a reason. The space is there for a reason.

We want more space, we want more room. More room to grow. More space to expand into.

A horizon is a glimpse at the two becoming one. We see the division of the earth and the sky and think of it as two different things meeting. Allow it be one. The horizon is one thing, not two. The space meeting the earth is one thing not two.

Similarly, our bodies and our being, our essence, are one thing not two. Add to that our mind, and we have one thing, not three.

How one plus one plus one equals one.

The space we experience around has been placed in our lives for a reason. Do not let the space go unnoticed.

Do not think that the space is just what isn’t. The space allows what is to be.

Take this space and allow yourself to be.

Creating with Low Energy

So the energy that we want to regain is low, but we still want to create something. We can allow that something to be created anyway, by allowing the energy to fill the area and make something wonderful. What does it mean to be energized? It means to be full of energy. There are two ways to all things. With and without. Be completely at peace with the existence of both things, and their place in your life.

With energy is not better than without energy. Without energy is not worse than with energy. It is what it is, all things are equal.

So the low energy we had may not be replaced with high or normal energy. Create anyway. Create something, anything, and let your light shine. Let the light of your being shine through the limited resources you have at your disposal. Money will not bring you more creative powers. Creativity will carve a place in your being for you to be more and more creative every time.

Do without doing. Create without creating. Let the energy flow. It comes and it goes, but we are steady on the course, on the Way, in the Tao. Like water, energy flows around obstructions, ebbs and flows like the sea. We are energy, energy is us.

Take what we have to say and amplify it by writing the course of human events in a style all our own.

Your voice is louder than a thousand trumpets, when you speak from your being.

Get in there and play. Start the end and be the beginning.

There is much to create. There is much to do. There is much to be. We all have the same experiences in different ways. Share. Create. Make. Do.

Live your energy from day to day, in its low points and its highs. There will always be more, for the universe connects us all and gives to us all we need and more.

Thank you. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the current level of my energy. Thank you for everything.

Connected

I wish for my family to be calm, close and connected. What does connected actually mean? What does it mean for my life and what does it mean for others?

What connected means is an ability to be part of the whole, to be part of everything that matters, part of the whole experience of the earth and the world. What matters is connection, connectivity.

To be connected we have to be open first. We have to be open to change, open to revolution from within. Open to others reaching out for us, to connect with us. That is the meaning of remaining open to what we want to be and do.

To be open is to remain feeling that we are all connected and that everything is one and that all is going to

be alright. We are all connected, we are all feeling a connection in our being, but our minds don’t let us know that connection is there at all. We feel it, but don’t know what it is, and so usually dismiss it. It is a power of connection that brings people together from all walks of life.

The power of connectivity can bring someone from across oceans to become connected with someone far over the mountains. We are all connected, and we move in and out of these interconnected webs as we move throughout our days and lives. There is much to learn from the connections that we make. There is much to be a part of and much to encourage ourselves to be when we think about how connected we can be.

Become open to the possibility that we are all connected. When you meet a stranger, know that you are connected. When you see a stranger on the street, know that you are already connected in more ways than can be described. We are all connected, we are all a part of the greater picture of  the universe. There is joy in creation and evolution, and there is joy and happiness in connection. We are all part of the same web. We are all working on the same project, but many of us may not know it yet.

There are differences among all the different aspects of how we see that we are actually connected. A connection happens every time we interact with space or time. What we leave behind can also create a connection with whoever comes after us. What we do makes a huge difference in all the world, all the time, every time we do anything.

The impact of our lives on everyone else is magnified by ridiculous amounts when you think about it. There is magic in the connection,

So how do you connect?

Presence

I am at peace with the present moment.

I am at one with life.

In the present stands the only task. To be fully in the moment, every single moment.

When asked what peace felt like, the teacher replied, “Now.”

In the stream of our daily conscious lives we are all working and moving and trying to do so much all the time, but what really can make it all great is if we just slow everything down. Slow everything down to the exact time that we have. This second. This nanosecod. Now is our only source of force and power. The now that we have is magical. It cannot be traded for anything else. We cannot escape it. We cannot get around it. It is always happening, always here.

When we look at the rest of our worries and cares, none of them come from the now. They all come from the place where our thoughts go, to the past or the future. Depression is caused by obsessing about the past. Anxiety is caused by obsessing about the future. In the now stands the only opportunity to really get out of our own heads. Now is the way.

Here in the present moment. We are all here in this present moment. We are all reacting and working and making things be all the time. But in the present moment there is freedom. There is freedom to act, live and be exactly ourselves. Exactly what we want to do and be. There is much freedom in thinking that we are what we are. We can be in this moment just as we are in any other moment. But we don’t have to worry about any other moments. Only this one.

Only this moment is the important one. The rest can wait.

My daughter said “That works, dad, but what if something bad happens in this moment?”

Kids say the best things.

What if? It is so easy to be afraid. I want to eliminate fear. Be in the moment, come what may. Stay in the moment through trials and tribulations and it will become clear that all things pass and fade away. The highs the lows, the standard moments of all of this thing called life. Everything is temporary.

Thoughts

Take only what is given.

Live in the now.

Stay present.

Know your role.

Live your role.

Be where you are.

Understand that being is your highest talent.

Live true to yourself.

Live for the world.

Share often.

Make your dreams reality.

Step into the current and let go.

Make every day your best.

Learn from your mistakes.

Allow time for wonder.

You are special.

We all come from the same place.

We all live here now.

Let's make our experience amazing.

Get down to it.

Get down to bedrock.

There is fuel for your fire. Burn it bright.

We are magic in the making.

I can't do it for you.

Know you are special.

Be grateful.

Shine like the sun.

Every moment is temporary.

Live every moment.

Feel how special you are.

We don't work alone, even when we are alone.

Time is on our side.

Don't let yourself get away from you.

Take time to make time.

Discipline yourself to become the person you are.

There is time for everything.

We are all alive for a reason.

Be special. You are already, so show it.

Make magic happen on a daily basis.

Be generous.

Share frequently.

Know no bounds.

Be free.

Love often.

Make the most of every opportunity.

Make your opportunities.

Make the world your world.

Love your neighbor.

Amaze everyone.

You are amazing.

I am growing every minute.

There is joy in every part of life.

Work to make your dreams come true.

You are who you say you are.

Allow your light to shine.

Everyone is special.

We all can make everything better.

Make the world clear and fabulous.

The mind likes to play tricks.

Be careful.

Tread loudly.

Understand that understanding is not always necessary.

The sum is greater than the parts.

You are a miracle.

What we do moment to moment defines our lives.

What do you choose to do in this moment?

When in doubt, align yourself.

This is the moment.

Getting Healthy

To get healthy there are a ton of things to do.

There are lists and lists of exercise fads and fables, things that are supposed to work and things that will make you thinner skinnier etc. The goal is not to lose fat. The goal is to have a fit and active lifestyle.

To have energy for every part of my day and night, to have more than enough energy to do whatever it is that I want to do with my time. I am on board the idea that I can be a part of that life and that lifestyle. Parts of it I want no part of, but the benefits I see are really there, can really be true, can really be me. I want the energy back. I want to feel energized all the time. I want to wake up in the morning before my alarm goes off. I want to fall asleep at night as soon as my head hits the pillow, but not even feel a bit tired before then.

Or maybe I could take small naps. I have done that before, a small power nap on different days. They really did help. They got the juices realigned in a way that was beneficial for me.

What am I learning now? That being healthy is more than just working out. That being healthy comes back to the idea of what I am eating. I can put unhealthy food in my body. I can put unhealthy drinks in my system. I can breathe in harmful smoke and vapors. But I can also just decide to be a part of life and the life cycle and eat the good things that are there, the good things that are available to me. That is what is important. Being healthy is not a comparison chart.

What I want to learn is how to be my most healthy self. And to do that I need to get out of my own way, and start exercising. I know that my body is athletic under all this flab, and I just need to get in touch with it. I just need to experience it and become one with it, to understand it and work with it and be around it as much as I possibly can. That is the first portion of my healthy lifestyle. To become one with the movement and energy flow of my body. Allow it to rediscover itself. That is important. I once had amazing jumping abilities and could jump over picket fences in two steps. I lost that when I started eating Cheeze-Its by the box and watching Batman the Animated series instead of running track in high school. That was a tipping point for me to become more acquainted with my mind than my body. I was part of my mind more often than not.

By becoming identified with my mind I became self conscious. I became interested in myself as a human, what I could offer myself, family and the world, and I thought it was all cerebral. And so I lost touch with my body. I thought that the body didn’t matter, that it only mattered what was going on between my ears.

That is not the case. What goes on between my ears still matters, but what goes on in my body is important as well.

Spirit Mind Body - a full balance makes a wonderful human.

To align all three successfully takes trial and error and experimentation, but the stage can be set by others. I don’t have to learn alone. I can pick up where others left off and work to find my own balance. I can work to find a balance in my life like no other balance I have had before. Finally there are three pillars, and I can balance the stool of my life on the top equally and have a firm seat.

I will work to get back to that state with my physical body as well. Allow my physical body to be pummelled back into working order, then we can start looking into the idea that there is something beneficial in balancing the mind body and spirit. I thought last night that my spirit alone needed to be strong, but I finally realize that balance is the key to living a full human life. To balance my mind - the thoughts that I have, the problems it is able to solve, the work it is capable of - my spirit - the being that I am, my life force and energy - my body - my physical structure from which I operate my mind and spirit.

Getting all of those aligned will help me greatly on the journey of life. It is not something that happens overnight. I continually need to remind myself that. It is something that will happen by incremental improvement. Something that will not happen necessarily, but become. I will become more balanced among the three pillars of my life and through that balancing will find new ways to relate to all the people around me which will bring amazing experiences into my life.

Become balanced. My spirit needs a chance to stretch it’s muscles. Now that I see what it is capable of, I am happy. I was happy all along, but I had covered up my happiness with other things, so that I was searching for something that wasn’t really missing. It was happiness, and now I am all about it.

The experience of my life will be the reawakening of my body. The toning of my muscles. The elimination of fat from my body. My diet becoming better and more healthy. There being a desire to work my body and make it stronger and more flexible. A desire to push the limits of my physical body so that I can better know myself and the world.

A balance will be struck, but first I must really whip the body into shape. Maybe that is not the best idea. Perhaps if I whipped the body into shape, or at least started out trying to do that I really wouldn’t succeed but would only find myself giving up. Better not to set myself up for failure. I have set the stage, now I just need to baby step my way to success. To do that, it is important to just understand that I need to take baby steps all the time. It is okay if I only do two reps at the gym. It is okay if I only do one lap in the pool. Whatever. Do something. Do more than nothing.

But don’t let yourself fall back. Don’t fall off the starting block before the race has even begun. Get in there and start swimming as hard as you can for the other side, but don’t go so fast that you run out of steam. How will you know when you will run out of steam if you don’t push yourself as much as possible? How will you know what your limits are if you don’t test them? Push yourself to the limits of the finite and the possible and see what is there.

Hone your eating skills to a razor sharp edge. There is magic in there. Make it happen. There is magic in those eating skills make them be perfect and great.