After the storm...

My good friend Morgan just announced that she recently got engaged. This is very happy news, and it just makes me smile.

I worked with Morgan back during the "glory days" of my cabinet sales business, before the economy began to suffer. The company she worked at was a great client for me, with a great team of people all working together.

Altogether, it was a wonderful experience, and I'll always think back and have fond memories of the group of people that were in the company at the time. I think that most of us enjoyed the experience, and I feel like we had a lot of success.

Alas, we take the storms with the sunshine, and most of us are doing different things now.

It's the hard things in life that help us grow, and those same hard things make the good times that much more meaningful. Without the perspective, we could never appreciate the good things in life.

One day a couple of years ago, I talked with Morgan after she had just gone through a painful breakup. I remember how devastated she felt at the time, and how I tried in my feeble way to encourage her.

They say that when one door closes, another opens. I suppose that if you could ask her, she would tell you that she has grown a lot in the last couple of years, and that this relationship is much better for her.

Life turns around.

It has for Morgan. Nothing stays bad forever, and while sometimes it's hard, and sometimes it hurts, that's okay. Learn what you can, and look toward a better day, because sooner or later it will come around.

Why ask for more . . . ???

Quoted from The Alchemist:

"...He was selling better then ever, as if time had turned back to the old days when the street had been one of Tangier's major attractions . . . "Business has really improved," he said to the boy, after the customer had left. "I am doing much better, and soon you'll be able to return to your sheep. Why ask more out of life?"

So...Why? Why should we ask more out of life? As long as we have food to eat, clothes to wear, a place to sleep that is warm and dry, and an adequate social experience, shouldn't we just be content with that and be happy?

"Because we have to respond to the omens," the boy said . . . "Because life wants you to achieve your personal legend . . . "

It's very easy as humans to become content and complacent in our situations. When we have our needs met and we are comfortable, we often tend to "go to sleep" physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But deep inside us, a small something wants to emerge, a small something that whispers to us that we can be, and do, more.

That small something will only be silenced at a cost, and a very high cost at that.

I'm not talking about asking for more money.

I'm not talking about asking for more stuff.

I'm talking about increasing your "expression in the world" as David Allen says it. And I'm suggesting that the best way to do that, is to follow that inner voice that tells you what that expression should be, and how you should begin to achieve it.

Chances are that you’ve put it to sleep. But that's okay, because you can still wake it up again, but you have to start listening, and then start acting on what it's telling you. You have to be willing to follow "the omens."

Scary? Of course it is, but then, there’s no real living without risk.

And that's the topic of my next post . . . .