A Work in Progress

In our lives there are times of joy and there are times of pain. When we come to the realization that there will be both, with the right attitude and spirit, we can enter a place of peace and rest. We must embrace the experience of both pain and joy. In pain we experience humility and growth. In joy we experience elation and reward. We must learn to celebrate both. Like when a sword hits the grindstone, sparks fly and the metal screeches, but the blade is sharpened and it shines. There will be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. We must avoid seeking to fix pain with hallucinogens. These band-aids, like drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography or attention from the opposite sex are a delusion. They are a never ending hole, that drags us down and causes us more pain. When we use these vices, we numb the pain for an instant, but we aren’t dealing with it. The pain is still there. If we don’t face the pain and our issues, they linger, attack our well-being and remain with us. Like a tree, if the roots become diseased, the tree’s ability to thrive, grow and sustain through storms is diminished. The tree will continue to attempt to feed the infected roots, all the while wasting energy. The tree’s progression to the sky halts. When we don’t deal with our pain and our issues, we miss the path that will take us to our destiny. Because we want to avoid adding more pain to our lives, we remain stuck in the same place. We miss the opportunity to become the person we were meant to be.

Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison didn’t succeed at changing the world because they were simply brilliant. In fact there were many others that were more talented than them, brighter and had better technologies. Jobs and Edison succeeded because they believed their projects and companies were the greatest, and there was nothing else out there that could match them. But there successes didn’t come with out failures. Jobs was fired from the company he founded, and failed at another before he came back to Apple. Edison had over 1000 failed attempts at creating the light bulb. Our lives can be the same. At times we will fail, but if keep our sights on the big picture, the vision, that we have somewhere great we’re going and we are getting there, we will continue to make progress. When it’s a fault of our own or life throws us a curve ball, we must get back up, and rise well. We mustn’t get discouraged. There is a time for mourning, but that too must not linger for long. Life is too short to mope and drag our baggage through the city streets. It’s easier said than done sometimes, but sometimes the best way to move on is to stop focusing on ourselves. See the beauty in others. Seek to help them out and make the world a better place. Life is often a one step back, two steps forward type of thing. You fall, but you’ll get back up and launch two leaps forward. Where you once fell will be miles behind you as you continue to look ahead to greater things.

When a building is under construction, it is a work in progress. Our lives are a bit like a construction site. When the building is going up, at times, it can be messy, materials and tools are scattered everywhere, there is no paint on the walls and there’s no roof to keep the rain out. Our lives can remain like this as we will always be learning until we leave this earth. We should always be progressing and growing, not striving, but never satisfied with yesterday’s progress and victories being enough for today’s journey. Although we are made perfect, often our actions and reactions are far from perfect, and that’s okay! We mustn’t get caught up with our failures, setbacks or a strive for perfection. Some of our greatest achievements and steps forward will come as a result of our failures; not trying to get it just perfect, but just get it done and not worrying about failure. “When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.” Life is an adventure; a journey. Everyone’s is different, but all of our journeys can be exciting and beautiful if we want them to be. You need to admire… always admire that, you are a work of art, in progress.