Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

That's a profound statement, isn't it? How often to we get to start over? EACH AND EVERY DAY. I love the fact that whatever happened yesterday remains there...unless we choose to drag it along with us. Today I can shape the face of my future using tools from the past or blazing new trails. It's so simple that most people miss this....so profound that it can be difficult to grasp. But I have this opportunity to change my life, or even someone else's life in the minutes of this day. The key to change is to let go of fear.

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever. I look at today as a gift that I can set aside and wait on...maybe not wanting to open it because it may not contain what I expected...or because it may be all that I want and once it's open, it's no longer a surprise. The thing is...we get a new gift each day. So why not open it right away?
Change is the essence of life. I want to be willing to surrender what I am for what I can become. There are essential items required for the continuation of your life in positive ways...things you need to let go of...things that you can't bear release...the decisions you make shape the rest of your life in countless ways. Some you might not even realize until many years later.

We cannot change our past. We can not change the fact that people act in a certain way. We can not change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I have people ask me all the time how I manage to keep a positive mental attitude through all I have been through...and I answer this, "I have a great therapist." Seriously...it's all I have that is consistent. The people around me, circumstances, always moving, always shifting...creating different patterns, ripples..never the same. But me? I am me...what is inside me is always the same day after day. I love life. I love that I really never know what is going to happen next. Sometimes it's so amazingly wonderful...and sometimes it's too difficult to bear...but I know that if I keep my heart open and let myself experience a full range of emotions that it all evens out. Someone told me once that we needed to have moments of grief, of sadness, remorse, regret in order to truly appreciate happiness. I believe that is true.

Do I change? Yes. I think I do..but the basic principals of my life do not. I don't change the way I look at things...I don't expect much from anyone else because I find that I am often disappointed. I do, however, expect nothing but the best in myself. I set realistic goals, but keep my dreams. When I think about where I am going, I never forget where I've been...and although I try not to compare the two...I make sure that I don't repeat mistakes...unless they are worth repeating. Some of the greatest achievements in the world have been the result of a mistake. Electricity, the telephone, penicillin.

Everything in life is connected somehow. You may have to dig deep to find it but its there. Everything is the same even though its different. Somehow everything connects back with your life. The faces in certain places may be different, but the situation is the same. Irony is a hidden factor that creeps around us in life, letting its presence felt only after it has left. Picture back to a year ago and the situation you were in. Look at how things are different yet somehow everything it still in someway cognate. Everything connects together to form the balance of life, to maintain structure. Change is and always will be inevitable, but everything is relative, and all the moments and times in your life will come back around again, you just might find yourself on the other side of the coin. Things are always changing, as fast as everything stays the same. It boggles my mind sometimes.

This is what I know about today.... that I won't waste it. I am ready for just about anything that life can throw at me.

I've been called "crazy". Maybe I am. But seriously? I think the world would be alot better if people were as crazy as I am. Someone told me a couple of days ago that it was my "craziness" that was so attractive. I asked them to explain. They said that the most creative people in the world are just a little whacked...just enough that they see things differently. For me? I'm really glad I was hiding behind the door when God passed out sensibility.

Everyone can make something new happen today...EVERYONE. Take a breath. Take look. Take a step. Take a risk. Make today better than yesterday...and never stop reaching for what you deserve.