Regardless Of Outcome

There Are No Wrong Decisions
Many of us have a hard time making decisions. We fear that if we choose the wrong partner, then we'll be stuck in an unhappy relationship. Or, if we make the wrong financial decision, we'll make a bad investment. Yet, there are no wrong decisions. Perhaps we could, at times, make different choices regarding our relationships, personal pursuits, careers, or the right color of paint we should buy for our bedroom. Yet, regardless of the outcome, we always gain valuable experience or insights from any choice we make.

Making a decision is always better than making no decision at all. At least we had the courage to decide, take a chance, and make a move in a particular direction. We can't take action unless we make a decision first. And, a decision is never wrong because we always gain something from it - whether we get what we thought we intended or learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes, we need to follow through on a decision to realize that we don't really want what we thought we did.

For instance, maybe you always wanted to live in a big city, so you leave family, friends, and a secure job in a small town to move across the country. However, once you get there, you find out that you don't really like city life. You never could have known that unless you tried it. So, you move back home, all the more appreciative of small town living. Rather than constantly wondering what else is out there, you are now able to fully embrace your surroundings and the direction your life there is taking. Your decision to move to the city did work out - just not in the way that you envisioned. While our decisions may not always lead us to what we thought we wanted, we always end up with what will ultimately make us happiest. Being able to make decisions is one of life's privileges. Exercise your right to fearlessly decide.

The Great Transformer

Loving What You Hate
Hatred can be irrational, and it has a greater impact on the individual who hates than the person or object being hated. Yet overcoming hatred is difficult because hatred reinforces itself and causes greater enmity to come into being. The most powerful tool on can use to combat hatred is love. Deciding to love what you hate, whether this a a person, situation, or a part of yourself, can create a profound change in your feelings and your experience. There is little room for anger, dislike, bitterness, or resentment when you are busy loving what you hate. The practice of loving what you hate can transform and shift your emotions from hatred to love, because there is no room for hatred in a space occupied by love.

Granted, it is difficult to forgo judging someone, love your enemy, and seek the good in situations that seem orchestrated to cause you pain or anger. But in deciding to love what you hate, you become one less person adding negativity to the universe. On a simple level, loving what you hate can help you enjoy your life more. On a more complex level, loving what you hate sets you free because you disengage yourself from the hatred that can weight down the soul. Responding with love to people radiating hatred transmutes ther negative energy. You also empower yourself by not letting their negativity enter your personal space. Rather than lowering yourself to the level of their hatred, you give the other person an opportunity to rise above their feelings and meet you on the field of love.

Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Loving what you hate sends a positive, beautiful energy to people while spreading peace and harmony throughout the planet. Instead of reinforcing hatred, you become an advocate for love. Hatred responds to hate by causing angusih. But hatred responds to love by trasforming into blissful peace.

An Empty Vessel Can Be Filled

The Power of Not Knowing
There is wisdome in not knowing, and it is a wise person who can say, "I don't know." For no one knows everything. There are many types of wisdom-from intellectual to emotional to physical intelligence. Yet even deemed experts in their fields do not know all there is to know about mathematics, yoga, literature, psychology, or art. It is a true master who professes ignorance, for only an empty vessel can be filled.

There are many things in life that we don't know, and there are many things we may have no interest in finding out. There is freedom is saying "I don't know." When we admit that we don't know something, we can then open ourselves up to the opportunity to learn. And there is power in that. We can't possibly know everything. And when we think we do , we limit ourselves from growing and learning more than what we already do know. A person who can admit to not knowing tends to be more intellectually and emotionally confident than someone who pretends to know everything. They also tend to be more comfortable with who they are and don't feel the need to bluff or cover up any perceived ignorance. People can actually end up appearing more foolish when they act as if they know something that they don't.

We would be wise to respect people who freely admit when they don't know something. They are being honest, with us and with themselves. And we, too, should feel no shamed in saying, "I don't know." In doing so, we open ourselves up to the unknown. We can then discover that lies beyong our current levels of understanding. It is the wise person in life that answers questions with a question and inspires the pursuit of internal answers with a funny face, a shrug, and a comical, "I don't know."

Eye of the Beholder

Beauty
Beauty speaks to us in soft whispers or bold declarations. She calls on us to gaze in awe at her splendor. We are enticed by beauty. We adore her, idolize her, and even court her. Beauty seduces all of our senses. Beauty's seduction can be as obvious as the striking good looks of a man or woman or as subtle as the charms of a shaggy dog with loving brown eyes. We find beauty in the wonders of nature. Beauty offers us a symphony of colors with every sunrise and sunset and reveals to us her brash power through a storm at sea. Beauty teases us through the shy smile of a child and delights us via the brilliant flashes of fireworks. Beauty sometimes piques all of our senses at once, appealing to our taste buds, as well as our eyes and nose, when she appears in the form of a deliciously baked cake. Beauty calms us with floral scents and excites our aural lust through the passionate sounds made by an orchestra.

Beauty can be cruel, and our pursuit of her can be in vain. We may go to the opera in anticipation of finding beauty there, and she may bore and disappoint us. Instead, beauty lavishes her attention on another suitor who may be more appreciatve of her charms. Or, we may try to capture beauty's essence in a photograph, painting, or sculpture, and still she is nowhere to be found. Beauty will forever inspire works or art, and she will always pose for her portrait, selecting the artist who is most worthy of her catching her likeness.

Depending on our personal tastes, beauty can be found in every color, flavor, scent, and texture. She lives among the poor, as well as the rich, and appears in the faces of the young and the old. She is at home in the ciyt, as well as the county, decorating skylines as well as landscapes. She is the ultimate shape shifter. Beauty is a weather beaten barn beloved by one person and an awesome testament of naval craftsmanship revered by another. Beauty knows no bounds, and we can find her everywhere. All we have to do is look for beauty, and she is there.

One Foot Forward

Finding Your Next Step in Life
Our Lives are made up of a complex network of pathways that we can use to move from one phase of life to the next. For some of us, our paths are wide, smooth, and clearly marked. Many people, however, find that they have a difficult fulfillment and the realization of your life purpose may not seen easy.

There are many ways to discover what the next step on your life path should be. If you are someone who seeks to satisfy your soul, it is vital that you make this inquiry. Often, your inner voice will counsel you that it's time for a change, and it is very important to trust yourself because only you know what is best for you. Personal growth always results when you let yourself expand beyond the farthest borders of what your life has been so far. When figuring out what your next step will be, you may want to review your life experiences. The choices you've made and the dreams you've held onto can give you an idea of what you don't want to do anymore and what you might like to do next. It is also a good idea to think about creative ways you can use your skills and satisfy your passions. Visualizing your perfect future and making a list of ways to manifest that future can help you choose a logical next step that's in harmoney with your desires. Meditaion, journal writing, taking a class, and other creative activities may inspire you and provide insight regarding the next step in life that will bring you the most satisfaction.

It is when you are willing to listen to yourself and be fearless that figuring out your next step becomes easy. Beneath the fear and hesitation and uncertainty lies your inner knowing that always knows which step you need to take next. If you can allow the taking of your next step to be as easy as putting one foot in front of the next, you'll notice that your next step is always the one that is right in front of you. All you have to do is put one foot forward and on the ground.

Going Deep

Self-Examination at Depth
There are times when life urges us to seek more. Small changes to our comfort zone may fail to alleviate any sense of stagnancy or frustration, and we may need to examine our lives and ourselves more deeply to find the right place to start. Everthing we need for success and joy lies within. But so often, life's debris accumulates, building layers around our core that makes it difficult to access the truth that resides within. To reach the depth we wish to access, we must dive below these layers to the deepest parts of ourselves.

The first layer can be found in our minds. Our to-do lists and busy work are ususally less important than we think, so we must look past them to examine the thoughts that matter most to us. The next layer can be found in our in our hearts, where past hurts and disappointments can sometimes cover up our vulnerabilities, as well as the truth of who and what really stirs the love within us. We can choose to go even deeper-to our center. If we can go beyond anything has affected us to the point that it blocks us at the gut level, we can reconnect with our power, our raw instincts, our organic yeses. Here, at the core, lies our truth. Our core is our foundation that supports us and what we'd like to build our authentic life upon.

When we examine ourselves to these depths, we are able to find what we wish to bring to the surface and what we wish to let go. When we remember what lies beneath our layers, we can look at what was floating on the suface, causing blocks and pains, and understand the purpose that they served. Oftentimes, it is the built up debris that causes us to go deeper, so we can search for the truth. Go deep, live life from your truth within, and watch your innate beauty manifest outward.