What path in life are you taking?

Today I ask you to take a look at yourself. No, not in the mirror but at your hearts. I have been watching my thoughts and my actions pretty closely and found that I have much to learn. I need to tune my ears closer to the wisdom that is offered by others who have insight and knowledge of the good that surrounds me. We have free will and can pick out what’s true and fair. Wisdom and knowledge are pleasant companions while common sense will help us travel the right paths and keep us from following the bad directions of the lost! When we aren’t paying attention to our hearts, we will find a lot of detours and dead ends. When we listen to our hearts and learn from really true friends we will find all the good trails.
Listen for the good in everything that you do, everywhere you go. You will stay on track. Don’t ever assume you know everything because there is so much more to learn! Earn a reputation for living well by doing well. Run from the ones who tempt you to do the wrong thing because they will only bring you into that maze of detours and dead ends. Don’t give that smooth talking temptress a second thought because it will only distract you from looking forward and only tempt you to join them on the path to nowhere. Don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder. The ones who are straightforward are the ones who get respect.

Never walk away from someone who needs help. Don’t tell someone “maybe later” or “next time” when you have a pocket full of money or the time right now. Even worse, never try to figure out ways to take advantage of someone when they are sitting there trusting you and unsuspecting. This is one of the quickest ways to end up in a blind alley and miserable. Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth, don’t tell white lies, or gossip. Keep your heart focused on the right path and ignore the sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the roads will be paved out smoothly for you!

Don't fear death

In the morning consider for a moment the fact that you may not live to see the sunset. When the sunset comes don’t be to confident that you will see the next morning. These thoughts should not make you feel gloomy or sad, but practical. We should live our lives as if it were our last day on earth. Most of us will die suddenly and unprepared. We think that we still have plenty of time and end up wasting valuable time. Death, with all of its uncertainties, is a fact. We need to face facts and see what could be done to better our lives and our surroundings now. Thinking about death will not cause death to happen sooner, nor will it help to escape it! The key is to live in such a way that no matter when death comes, it will find us in sanctifying grace.

Patience will help us in difficult times. It will help us to think more clearly. Humility will help us admit our weaknesses and therefore be less irritable or resentful in our difficult times. Sometimes we need to live through a storm to grow stronger. Life will have hardships and suffering but if you are brave and have faith in God you will find peace in your life and in the next. Many of us pursue an imaginary happiness with money or keeping busy. When we get what we want, we suddenly see that it doesn’t bring us the joy that we had expected. So we slowly begin to search for that happiness again and again. Don’t blame the place you are in or the people around you if you don’t have peace in your soul. Begin today to make a continual effort to strengthen the self love that is needed. Look for opportunities to practice patience, don’t fear suffering or inconvenience, virtues are never gained in easy times. We learn the most in difficult times. Life can be the happiest and most rewarding in these times, if we let it.

Are you Happy?

How are you looking at your life? Are you happy with the decisions you’ve made so far? Are you looking to change your future for the better? Well, these are great questions that we should be asking ourselves an a daily basis! We should realize that today is a gift and tomorrow is going to be a reflection of today. So, the key to true happiness is realizing that we decide what happens in our lives. Forget about bad decisions of yesterday or even of this morning; work on doing better and making today a better day.


So often we try to put blame on others for our misfortunes or shortcomings. Today is the day to buckle up and go on the fun ride which is your life. Yes, you may hit a few bumps along the way but don’t let that slow you down. Enjoy the bumps, smile, laugh, and be engaged in the moment. Your thoughts and reactions have the ability to change your life, while at the same time sharing great times and memories with the ones that you love. Life is a journey, don’t get caught up in the little dramas because you won’t be able to concentrate on the fun and happy road of life....

Listen more and chatter less!

I have been doing a lot of writing lately about everyday situations and how I cope with some of the challenging moments. I learned at a really young age to not let others attitudes change our own unless it is for the better. I was talking with a person about a month ago whom told me that his life is so hard, he hates his job, he doesn’t get along with his wife, his kids don’t listen to him (no matter how loud he yells) and that he is about to lose his apartment because the rent was raised by 30 percent by his landlord! I felt his anger over all of the bad things that were happening to him and I suggested that he take a step back and look at his situation from another persons’ point of view. Sometimes when we are in the situation we are to close to it to see the obvious solutions, it is really that simple. When I screw up on an invoice or a quote at work my boss will come into my office and show me what I did, I will initially feel annoyed because I cannot believe I screwed up on something that I have done a million and one times before. His advice to me was so simple the other day, yet so true “when you are exhausted from a long day, stop what you are doing and just pick it up the following day!” When we try to do everything all at once we are bound to make mistakes, we are human. So, when I told this man to step back and look at what was really going on, he too saw what I was seeing. Instead of condemning people for what they do, let’s try to understand the reasons why they do what they do. If you have a kid who is being a terror why would that kid behave better when he is being screamed at? We need to step back and see what it is that this kid is looking for, I would bet you a large coffee that he only wants your attention! I try to always remember that most people would rather have bad attention over no attention at all, ignoring others wants and needs and putting our own first is a selfish act but, striving to help others first is being a loving person. You will get much more satisfaction in life when you put others needs in front of your own, try to see the other persons point of view from a distance and start listening more than you talk. Another bad habit that we all have at times is that we love to hear ourselves talk! I will tell you that I have been watching everything I say in the past few months and I listen more than I talk now and have solved many issues in my own life by doing so. If you listen to what your friends and family has to say, you will learn so much more about them. If you chatter nonstop you are only babbling and people won’t listen to you as much. Take the time to listen to everyone around you, be truly sincere in your listening and life gets much easier. Ask questions and seek the answers. I received an email from my friend we were speaking about earlier and he started to listen to his boss, his wife, and his kids more intently. He started to take a breather before he would get defensive and genuinely started to listen to what they were saying! Within the first two weeks of trying to break his habit of “talking over” everyone and “yelling” about what is going wrong in his life, he started to see the changes immediately. He told his wife and his boss that he was trying to “lose his angry temper” and is working on becoming a better husband, father, and co-worker. His wife immediately saw the difference in the kids. They actually looked forward to their father returning home from a hard day at work and spending a little time playing with them without the yelling. His boss noticed he was coming into work with a smile and his productivity has increased tenfold, so he gave him a much needed raise of 20% and is paying for night classes to get him to become a supervisor with a life changing career within the company. The raise will pay for the increase in the rent and be able to pay off debt within two years. His story can be common if we have the right attitude toward both ourselves and everyone who surrounds us. We create our situations in life and we can change those situations in a very short time if we put in a genuine effort to do the right thing for the right reasons. We just need to think of all the good that surrounds us and brush off the negative emotions that arise in situations in our lives, start thinking outside of the box and seeing our own situations from outside of that very same box as-well. Bottom line here is to listen more and chatter less!

A few words from Life In A Week; A book about being really happy!

Everyone is here for a reason, and that reason is to express ourselves and bring happiness and joy to this world. When we have happy thoughts filled with love and goodness, it will radiate through us naturally in our voices, expressions, and our vibes. When I feel like I’m going to have a stressful day or a difficult time, I will. When I feel like it’s going to be a great day filled with laughter, it will be. Our thoughts are what make us up; therefore, our thoughts are who we are. You can be the most handsome guy or the prettiest girl at the dance, but if you don’t know it, it won’t matter because you’re not going to dance much. However, if you thought positively with love, then you would know what a hot ticket you really are, and you would have the confidence to ask anyone to dance. You would have a great time because love attracts love. Love yourself for who you are, and you will be surrounded by love. Treat people with love, and most will respond likewise. If someone is mean-spirited to you when you were only good to them, don’t let it bother you. If you let their negativity enter into your thoughts, you are only giving that negativity power. What I do is simply walk away and wish that person goodwill and peace. If I can’t just walk away due to the circumstances, I will never react in the same negative way, no matter what. Always try to treat others how you would want to be treated. Do not treat others how they treat you. Maybe your smile or your brushing off of the rude words spoken to you will eventually plant the seed of goodness and love into the negative person’s heart and, therefore, their thoughts. When we walk around knowing we are good and helping everyone we can, we will radiate that love through our vibes, expressions, and body language; we will pass it along to everyone we meet. That happiness and love really is contagious, so hold that door open for the next person, say hello to the old guy on the park bench, ask the cashier how her dayis going, and you will make a difference in someone else’s day. That difference will not only be contagious to them, but also to you; your thoughts will stay more positive, therefore making your day better and healthier.

Forgiveness (from my book)

The key to true friendship and love is being sincere and being honest enough to say you are sorry or that you were wrong. When you say you are sorry, you must really mean it. I screw up a lot, but I try my best to be a good person and admit when I am wrong. That's why it is so easy for me to accept an apology from others when they do or say something unkind to me. I look at like this: we all wipe our butts the same way. All that means is we are all equal; no one is better than anyone else. It hurts the most when someone close to you does something bad to you, and it will be the hardest to forgive that person because you have so much love for him or her. But you will feel so much more joy when you forgive that person because the burden was the heaviest when you were carrying it around with you, like a thirty-pound weight around your heart. Whenever we do something that will hurt someone we love, there is always a reason for doing it. Whether it was because we were only thinking about ourselves, we didn't think before we did it, or we just didn't care, there is always a reason. When we screw up, we really should figure out what the reason for the screw up was so that we don't do it again. If we excuse it again, then there is a problem because it's becoming a nasty habit.