Not sure what makes me need to write at 12:30 in the morning, but here I sit, my Native American flute music in the background, finding just a little bit of zen, or heaven, or enlightenment, or awareness, or mindfulness, or interconnectedness, or whatever else you want to call it. Maybe it’s just my insomnia playing with me, taunting me to think that at least if I am awake, I may as well be productive.
So, here I sit.
Contemplating the day.
Contemplating tomorrow.
Knowing I have a lot to do, working hard to turn off my mind enough to rest so I can do it all. People often ask me how I do everything that I do, or why… When am I going to slow down and take time for me. Take a break, or stop long enough to sleep. My funny answer? This IS time for me. This is what I love. This is what makes me feel alive. I don’t know any other way.
My major life contemplations lately have come from some of these questions.
I was at breakfast the other day wondering how I got this way… What makes me tick like this, and need to work all the time, throw myself into a thousand things at once. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you everything I actually am involved in and do in a given day. How many different roles I play. Actually, maybe you would, because maybe you play them too.
I have been working for a while on a workbook/audio program with Dr. Cohn from Florida, my mentor and coach. It’s been a long process but we are close to being finished.
I was thinking about it today when I was at my desk alone. It was quiet in the office. I sat and wondered why some people do things that they never thought they could do. Climb mountains, run marathons and triathalons (way to go Renee!), set goals, and conquer them one by one and maybe collapse at the finish line, but finish nonetheless. Why is it that some people don’t ever get there? What holds us back? What makes getting to the end so hard and difficult?
I think it comes down to the knowing.
I often talk about belief, and how important it is. You have NOTHING if you don’t first believe. That’s pure fact. Think about all the things you believed growing up. You wouldn’t have taken the training wheels off of that first bike if you didn’t somehow, somewhere, BELIEVE that you could ride without them. And sometimes, that belief comes from someone else just telling us we can.
SO we try. And sometimes, we fall down, and other times we stay up, but we at least try.
But I would venture to say that there is a dinstinct difference between believing and knowing. Believing gives you an out. There is room for failure. Knowing, well that’s a commitment. It’s a different story.
And maybe, there are few things in life we actually really know for sure. And thinking about it right now I know I can name three: My family’s unconditional love for me, the fact that the sun will rise again tomorrow, even if it rains… it’s out there somewhere, and that someday, when it is our time, we all will leave this earth. Those things I know for sure.
But in really understand the power in this, I have taken much of my belief and turned it into knowing.
Those days that I am not sure how I am going to get everything done, I find myself calmly knowing. It’s my passion and love for what I do that makes the knowing somehow, grow stronger and bigger everyday.
I set out to make one little difference, or affect one life today.
I set goals to take one step toward finishing my book, to finishing my master’s program, to write this blog. And the reason I KNOW is because I control it.
When you take ONE step toward what you need to do, you feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. And the knowing gets stronger.
So when you figure out what it is that you want, start with a belief that you can get it.
Then, as you do one thing at a time to get closer to achieving that goal, be bold… and KNOW it is possible. KNOW…if you want something bad enough, the how doesn’t matter. You find ways you didn’t know existed.
I sit here often wondering what my future holds. I wonder how many of my goals will actually be attainable and how many I will fulfill… How many lives I will impact on my journey to a million. And as I do, I recall one of my favorite stories about the young man who was throwing the starfish back into the ocean, saving one life at a time. Making a difference to each one he saved…
Somedays I feel like that young man… And other days I feel like the starfish.
And the knowing keeps me strong enough to get through the questions. When life is full of possibilities, when I open my eyes and see a new day…the only thought, the most important thought is in the knowing.
Thank you to all of you who have ever believed in me. I believe in you too. Now let’s take that next step.
Today, we know we can.
