” On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure.  Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear.”

I know this is pretty heavy for a rookie blogger, but I feel I have been preparing my whole life to start this.  Something happens as you approach 50.  You start to think about your legacy. You reflect upon where you have been, what you have contributed to this life, this world and ask questions such as have I made a difference?

The quote I opened with is from The Bhagavad Gita, or the song of the Lord which is an ancient Hindu spiritual writing that depicts a character on a battlefield about to fight the fight of his life.  I won’t spoil it for you but the true struggle is that which is within himself. The battle for self mastery that everyone must wage in order to lead a meaningful and inspired life.

I was recently laid off from a job. Now for many this is something they have gone through a few times in their life, but for me it was my first.  I began delivering newspapers at age 12 and I never really stopped working. I have learned that you need to try to find meaning in the events that occur along our journey.  Sometimes we can’t find any answers but I was able to get off the roller coaster of life and take a step back and truly see what treasures I have in my life: love, simplicity, and humility.  I realized that beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. I got caught up in the race to nowhere, the hectic striving to arrive but never actually getting anywhere.  I started asking myself where I was going, how much is enough, what is the true meaning of success?

The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.  Take time along your paths to look around.  We don’t need sight to have vision.  Look at what you do have and stop trying to obtain everything you don’t have.  I have learned to let go and with that, things just kind of happen. Believe that failure is impossible.  As Edison said while inventing the light bulb, ” I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”