Welcome to Live and Love Intentionally. A great life is built one day at a time with, of course, some days being smooth and others not so. In this series of chapters, we will explore all the ways in which we can live and love intentionally. It's through the contrast that life brings our way that we learn what we do not want and what we do want.
Each day is significant and it matters how you approach each day for each is a gift; an amazing gift. We all live with the choice to make it great or be passive about things and simply let it go by.
Let's work together to make each day extraordinary, and less than ordinary.
Chapter One | Life Lessons
Every person we meet has a story to tell and/or a lesson to teach. Teachers are everywhere - our children, friends, complete strangers, elders, enemies, critics, neighbors and family. Simply look and listen. Borrow from their discoveries and note their mistakes. Know what brought them success and do your very best to avoid what brought them difficulties. These types of lessons are invaluable.
Make your day much more meaningful by paying attention, opening your eyes, ears and heart to the people around you and learn the lessons that they teach. Thousands of lessons are around us in thousands of forms.
In A Better Way To Live, Og Mandino wrote, "Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when that cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble." We are also taught many lessons in adversity.
Thomas Edison spent years trying to develop a light bulb, but failure and frustration were his main discoveries. But instead of giving up, he said, "I am now very well informed on the ways that I cannot do it."
Adversity brings benefits. It tests our faith, stretches our endurance, our tolerance, builds character and teaches us. Adversity reminds us what really matters.
The ordinary is ordinary only because we have grown used to it. The common, the simple and the small often hold powerful lessons. Don't ignore the little things; don't label anything as insignificant or meaningless. We miss so much happening all around us when we do not pay attention to the little things.
So look for life lessons everywhere. You can find them in the most wonderful and surprising places; in a song or a movie, during a blizzard, on Christmas morning, on the bumper of a car, in a smile, a cloudy day, in a dream, on an afternoon stroll, at the park, in the break room at work or even under a patch of sunlight in a field.
Open your eyes, ears and heart to life's marvelous lessons.
Ronald Regan, our former President, once said, "For many years now, you and I have been shushed like children and told there are no simple answers to complex problems which are beyond our comprehension. Well, the truth is, there are simple answers. There just aren't easy answers."
It is my hope that you return to read this blog learn more in my Blog-Series. I truly hope that it offers introspection and provides some simple answers to you.