The Original You

If there is nothing on your calendar today, you are still valuable. If all that you do today is breathe, you are still valuable. What a beautiful truth. How many of us attach our self-worth to our activities and to-do lists? I know I have. It is an easy thing to do. We have been taught by society that our worth is determined by what and how much we do. Things have slowed down for me recently. My activities have been curtailed, and my calendar has less appointments on it. When you look at your day ahead, can you still believe that you have value without doing anything? The answer is yes. You have value. You have value because you exist. Our worth as a human being was decided before we came to this planet. It was decided by the One who created us that we were worthy of love. We were worthy of love before we inhabited our bodies. We will be worthy of love after we leave these bodies. It is not only our physical body that is valuable. Our soul and spirit have worth. Immen...

It takes faith to go to sleep. When we sleep our body goes into auto pilot. Our lungs take in and expel air, our heart pumps blood throughout our body, our stomach digests food, and our brain keeps everything working together in perfect harmony. This is happening out of our control. It takes faith to let this happen. When I put my head on the pillow there is a blessed calm that comes over me. It is a surrendering of the day that past, and an excitement about the day ahead. Whatever I didn’t accomplish that day must be let go of. I turn over my need for perfection, the need to get more, and to have the desires of my ego fulfilled. All the hopes and dreams I started the day with must be surrendered. They must be turned over to a loving force that is taking care of me. It takes having a faith that we are connected to go to sleep. It takes trusting that we are one with our loving Creator who is literally breathing through us as we sleep. Each inhalation is tak...

There is a beautiful part of you waiting to show itself to the world. There may be good reasons why you have not allowed this part to be seen. It’s OK to respect those reasons. I invite you to look at them. In the past there may have been a good reason to not share. Maybe you were hurt. It may not have been safe for you to be yourself. You may have been ridiculed. It takes courage to show up in the world. We never know whether we will be accepted or not. I am grateful for the people in my life who support me. These are the magical people who encourage me to take healthy risks and put my creativity out into the world for people to see. These people keep me going during the tough times. As a writer there are going to be tough times. There will be times of great doubt and stress. There will be times when we question the sanity of putting our stuff out there, knowing that a great majority of it will be rejected. When we hear about a success story, you can be sure that that person...

Kindness is something the world needs more of, and it’s something I could display more of. Kindness is the quality of being friendly and generous to ourselves and to other people. This is an important part of my life today, because I spent much of my life being angry and bitter towards other people. I don’t believe that I was a very kind person. I hurt others, because I was in pain. I don’t do that anymore. At least I don’t go out of my way to hurt others. I’m sure I cause hurt sometimes, but it is not intentional anymore. I have learned over the years that It takes more energy to be unkind. Creating pain in the world takes a lot of time and energy. What does it take to be kind to others? It takes the willingness to see them as human beings worthy of respect. This is easy when the person you are kind to is someone you like. It is not easy when you encounter someone who you don’t like or is being openly hostile towards you. How do we show kindness towards someone we don’t like? ...

I have always been sensitive. I probably always will be. There was a time in my life when I believed that being sensitive was a character defect. I don’t see being sensitive as a negative thing anymore. In fact, I believe that being sensitive is one of my most positive attributes. I received this beautiful gift from several people in my life. My Mom is at the top of the list. She taught me that having feelings was a sign of strength and resilience. She taught me that feelings are a gateway to our soul. I will be forever grateful to her for this beautiful gift. To this day, she is still reminding me that being sensitive is a powerful gift that allows others to be themselves. There are many reasons why I believe being sensitive is a good thing. I want to list five that I believe best describe how this beautiful personality trait can help to heal the world. 1. Sensitive people are always looking out for the welfare of others. We care how other people are doing. We are the nurs...

Time cannot be ignored. It cannot be bought. It cannot be bargained with. It cannot be argued with. Time is that thing that is a construct that none of us really understand. If every clock on the planet stopped right now, would time itself have stopped? No. Time is that which we have no control over. We can measure time, because man has tapped into the rhythm of the universe. We know when the sun will rise and set, because we have found a way measure time. Life has it's own rhythm. It has it's own timing that does not adhere to any calendar. Things happen in life that do not check in with our clocks. Natural disasters will occur when we least expect them. People will die at times that make no sense. There seems to be a randomness to it all. But, is it really random? Is everything just a bunch of chaotic happenings? I could go on about the theories of why things happen when they do. My truth is that I have no idea why things happen when they do. What I do know is that ther...

I’m not a farmer. I’m not an expert on how to distribute food. What I do know is that I’m grateful. I’m grateful when I open my refrigerator and it has food in it. On most days I don’t think about how amazing it is that this food found its way onto my table. Today I am. We are living in a time where there is food insecurity and economic insecurity. I’m keenly aware of this. In this moment I want to express gratitude for the hundreds of people that it took to get the food from the farm to my table. Somebody had to pick out the seeds that would go in the ground. Then somebody had to put the seeds in the machines that planted the seeds. Then they were planted in the ground. Then they were harvested by somebody. Then somebody had to get the food on a truck. Then some beautiful soul had to drive the truck. Then this beautiful soul delivered it to the store. Then some amazing human being stocked the shelves. Then a wonderful person cooked the food. I am bles...

Perspective matters. In the year 1998 my friend Stevie changed my life. He was the kind of guy that had an influence on all those around him. He was a free spirit. He was confident, and he knew what he believed. He ran a workshop called the Breakthrough Experience. It changed my world. And telling you about one of the exercises we did might change yours. Stevie invited us to look around the room and find everything that contained the color blue. He asked us to only look for blue. Blue was all that mattered. No other colors existed except blue. We did this exercise for five minutes. After the time was up, Stevie asked us to name all of the blue items. We did that with relative ease. There were lots of things that contained blue. Then, Stevie asked us to do the hard part. He said to (without looking around the room) name everything that contained yellow. We had to sit there with our eyes closed and try and remember yellow things. After a minute or two we could only come up wi...

Every day is a new adventure. When you wake up in the morning, are you able to look ahead to your day with a feeling of excitement? Do your feet hit the floor ready to take on the next thing? Or, are you filled with anxiety and fear about the day? Are you in fear of what might happen or not happen in the next 24 hours? I spent most of my life in the camp of fear and anxiety. I didn’t have the sense of anticipation and adventure. I woke up most mornings feeling fearful about what could happen that day. What changed? It’s been a very slow and steady journey of getting to know myself. As I began to let go of the false beliefs about my unworthiness, I became aware of a part of me that I didn’t know was there. The part I’m referring to is my creative side. In 2018 I experienced a shift in this area of my life. I experienced it as letting off the brakes of my soul’s desire to fly. It was liberating. It was freeing. It was intoxicating. It was life gi...

Gratitude is a beautiful word. It is a hopeful word. It is one of those words that brings me home. I have a lot to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my home, my wife, my family, my friends, food, and an array of things that I have learned to appreciate over the years. The thing about gratitude is that it is available anytime and anywhere. Even during a stressful situation, I can use gratitude to get me through. Gratitude allows me to see the best in every situation. Gratitude is easy when things are going well, and I am enjoying life. When things are painful and difficult it is not easy. This is where the practice of being mindful comes in. I have had days (and I’m sure you have had them too), when I could find no reason to be grateful. Things were happening around me and inside of me that were miserable. There seemed to be nothing to be grateful for. It was on these days that I needed to use the simplest tool possible. Breathe. I took a breath. Inhale. Exhale. In t...

Every morning, my wife and I sit on our back porch and meditate. Today seemed special. The birds were more prevalent, and their songs more beautiful. I don’t know what was different about today, but the singing was especially sweet and kind. I hear these sounds every day. These beautiful birds remind me of my belief that nature is taking care of itself. There is a beautiful symphony that nature is playing in accordance with a divine plan. This knowing gives me great peace. It is a peace that is a balm to my fearful mind. It is a comfort to my heart that has experienced great pain in this lifetime. The birds sing for many different reasons. Some sing for joy. Some sing to find a mate. Some sing to signal the beginning of the day. They remind me that we all have a song to sing in this world. You have something to share that the world needs to hear. In the depth of your soul, you are aware of a yearning that needs to be expressed. It has been there for years, yet you hav...

A very wise friend of mine told me years ago, “John, there are only two relationships that will survive in your lifetime. They are the one you have with yourself, and the one you have with God.” Truer words have never been spoken. He went on to say, “Every other person in your life will leave, so you need to make sure those two relationships are secure.” He was right about that one also. I cannot have a relationship with another human being unless my relationship with myself and my God are OK. When I am able to have these solid, I can move out into the world and connect with other people in a healthy way. You have a different relationship with who I call God. The name you attach to this power is not relevant. Everyone is going to have a different interpretation of who that is. The power I’m talking about is something that is greater than me. For you that may be nature, the seasons, your friends, your family, or some other spiritual practice. I am aware o...