Hope

I like hope.
No strike that.
I love hope.
Without it what is there?

You see life, this life, the life we are living, the life that our ancestors have lived and our descendants are going to live, this life is beautiful.
It's a fantastic, beautiful, mystical, unphamamable, weaving thing. Yes, it contains suffering, sadness and pain, and plenty of it, but in amongst that, running through all that, is beauty, splendour, love and wonder!
And hope fuels that.

Hope gets us through the mire, doesn't matter what it is in, it just matters you have hope.
And believe me, there is always hope.

Be excellent \m/

New beginnings

On Monday the 2nd of August I start a new chapter of my professional life. If you would like to know more about my new employer follow this link, the feeling I have had since the first time I walked in there is so positive and I can't wait to start. :)

This post is not so much about who I will be working for, or even about my personal situation. What it is about is how positive things can be born out of negative situations.

I bet if you think back into your past you can find an example of what I'm on about. A time when things just seemed to be going wrong, not making sense and seemingly heading nowhere but down. But then, something can happen to change everything around. This something can be large or small, ranging from a life changing gesture of a friend, getting a new job or opportunity to do something you really want to do or a smile from a friendly stranger.
The one thing that is common throughout is that the something can only be what it is because of the negative situation you were in before. Whether the something seems like a direct result of the negative or a coincidence, it can only be the positive thing it is because of what went before.

I have experienced this many times in my life, in the past I didn't see the pattern but these days I do (though when I'm down I might not always acknowledge the cycle at work) and I'm grateful for my insight.

So next time life is getting you down and bad things are the only things that keep happening remember that they will result in something better, it may take hindsight to reveal it but it will be there.

Take care & rock on!
\m/

When life gives you lemons.....

Life's given me a lot to muse over since the start of the year. I won't go into too much detail but between the drastic changes in my family's domestic life and the emotional upheaval that came with it and the changes I have seen in the lives of my friends has made me realize a few things.

There is no plan.

This whole idea of there being some great big master plan to all "this" is a myth. Things happen because they do - cause and effect. The universe began and the ball keeps rolling from there on.

We are not defined by what happens to us.

We are not defined by what happens to us. We are defined by how we deal with what happens to us. How we react and deal with an event in our lives, even the smallest of things, is the important thing. By looking at life from this point of view you can make the best of even the worst situation (although this can take some time - distance and perspective also have a big part to play).

Things do sometimes work out for the best.

On occasion, when the things you "wanted" to happen don't and you have to "settle" for something else, things can work out better than you expected. The trick appears to me to let fate take you were it will.

Family is not defined by blood.

Whilst it is true that blood is thicker than water, the last few months have taught me that blood ties can often mean less than those that are formed through friendship. From my point of view, there are people that I consider to be in my "family" that are not blood relations to me and there are also those who are blood relations of me that I do not consider part of my "family". I suppose really in place of family I should use Clan but as we are geographically separated Clan doesn't always feel like it fits to me.

Growing old sucks.

Now I don't write this from the point of view of someone who is old (I'm only in my 30's) but from the point of view of someone who has watched people who I care about, and who cared about me, grow old (I'm talking 70's, 80's old here) and be ravaged by life, have their spirit drained and left without any of the things that they cherished and work damn hard to hold dear. I'm all for living a long time and experiencing life for all it is but there comes a point where life turns around and well and truly bites you.

So then there's a few of my conclusions from one of the most eventful 3 months of my life.....

Rock on people.

\m/