Enlightened Engagement

Failure Failure is an inevitable aspect of life. Everyone fails. I fail daily and often. The difference between someone that is happy and successful is what they do with that failure. I often forget to do important things and fail to complete tasks. Although I do this I look at failure as an opportunity to learn and be better at failing less. Every day is another day to fail less. One great philosopher said that no real learning occurs without failure. Your important lessons are retained longer and are more deeply ingrained in your psyche when you fail. You don't learn much from success or winning. Obviously it is more fun to win and be successful, but failure teaches you more. I don't prefer to fail but I know I will because I am human and when I do I pick myself up and try again. I learn and do it differently next time. Sometimes it takes me many times but I never give up.

Love Love is the essence of life. Just like water and air are the essential ingredients to your physical existence love and understanding are the essential ingredients to your emotional survival. We see the effects of when love is absent in people's lives on the news every night. We see murder, mayhem, and crime committed by people who don't love themselves or anyone else. Love is required for you to find purpose and it is as important as every other emotion. If you give love then you get love. You can see that in the development of young children. There is nothing more precious or essential than the giving of love. When you give a young child the unconditional love they so desperately need then they grow up into functional and loving adults. If they are deprived of that needed love then the act out in ways that tend to be against society and our system. Love can be expressed in many ways bur the way that has the most impact upon the human personality is the act of contact a

Smile I learned a very valuable lesson from a 1 year old yesterday. That lesson could be summed up in one word. Smile. When you smile one more time during the day or a second longer than necessary then you will find that happiness expands and increases. Smiling begets smiles. When you smile someone else smiles back whether it is someone you know or not. I found myself smiling because I saw someone else smile as I was walking along in the store. Smiles create smiles. Have you ever heard the saying, "Smile and the world smiles with you." Well it is true. Smiling creates happiness just like thinking rich creates an atmosphere where you can become rich. Even if it is a forced smile. Even if you are not really happy when you smile if you do it with intent then happiness ensues. Happiness is created with just one smile.

Growth Growth is inevitable in every organism including humans. Every seed sprouts into a plant. It may shrivel and die depending upon whether or not it received enough water and food, but it grows until it dies. We humans do the same thing and we are always growing. The complications in our growth lie in the amount of nurturing and love we receive. If we get lots of love and understanding we grow exponentially and become humans of excellence. If our seed lands on barren or dry ground we don't grow very well. As parents we are tasked to provide a great place to grow. When you give your kids, friends, acquaintances, and yourself love, understanding, forgiveness, tolerance, and limits then you provide them and you a place to grow. Your growth depends upon your love and understanding. Love is the key to growth.

Happiest Place on Earth Some people say that Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. To many happiness is the place where you can experience joy inherently and for many people that comes in the form of rides, great eats, time with family. and unique experiences. We have this stuff happen to us every day although most of our happy moments are spread out among many hours and days and often times seldom recognized. Well I just experienced happiness to a high level at the airport in the arrival section. As I was waiting for my ride I slowed my thinking and just enjoyed the people arriving and departing. As I was just being in the now, the smiles of the people getting picked up was infectious. When the people where  getting picked up their friends or family had such genuine smiles and joy that it infected me. To see such happiness from the reunion filled me with true happiness. I was reminded that I don't have to be part of that family reunion to experience the joy they were feel

Listen Communication with others comes in many ways but is often just you opening yourself up to the messages that others send you through their words and actions. When you listen, process, and internalize the experiences of others, even if you disagree with them, you grow and learn how to navigate the world more effectively. In other words you become a better person when you listen. The universe conveys to you many messages that can lead you toward success and happiness if you just listen. In every single second, minute, and hour you are immersed in experiences that can teach you lessons to lead you to happiness. Happiness is a state of mind and when you see that we are all the same traveling a different path then the state of contentment is more prevalent if you just listen. We have a tendency to just talk so we can tell our story which is important but real satisfaction comes when you listen and understand someone else's story. Use all your senses to see, hear, feel, smell,

Do One Thing I often times am caught up in resting on my laurels. I have had an excellent life, influenced many people, raised great children, and changed the world, at least to a small degree. Subsequently I sometimes find myself unmotivated to pursue any significant goals. I find myself not being very active in things I considered important, at least I considered them important a few years ago. So consequently I find negative things to say about myself because I am not moving forward very effectively. That is a dilemma we all face whether we are in the beginning of our life or in the later stages of our existence. I have felt this way and laid back my desire to succeed in every phase of my life but it usually didn't last that long. What I have done to break the grip of complacency is start a campaign of doing one thing. In this case I am writing one blog a day. If you just do one thing toward a goal you feel is important then the desire to criticize yourself is reduced because

Rest Even though most of us would like to rest more than we should, it is important to balance the desire to rest and be productive. I think that everyone is an individual and the desire to be ultra productive is an individual characteristic. Human nature leans us toward relaxing and resting. We work hard in our daily jobs, chores, family responsibilities, and behaviors but it is important to find time to rest and revive your spirit and body. Rest can come in many forms. Rest is normally thought of as sleep or just laying around listening to music or watching TV, but rest can be meditating, working out at the gym, or cooking a good meal. Whatever gives you a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment can be considered restful, especially if you find joy in the activity. Any type of rest will fill you with a renewed energy to attack all the things you need to do to feel accomplished. So take some time each day to pray, meditate, cook, stretch, sleep, play games, or whatever you consider re

Serenity Taking things slow is super important in the scheme of life's adventures. Ever hear anyone say, "Time goes by fast, or They grow up so quickly," Of course you have. Everyone thinks and says these types of things. We do this because we want to slow down the process of all the great events of life. Seeing someone grow up and become a wonderful human being is an awesome experience. Viewing a beautiful sunset or sunrise is so awe inspiring that we want it to last longer but the sun rises or sets and the view is gone. We want to slow down time. All humans go through this process of thought. This is us instinctively wanting to stay in the NOW. If you can stay in the now you are able to reflect less upon your worries, you think less about what will happen in the future, and you spend less time thinking about all the negatives that may or may not occur as a result of the previous decisions you made before. When you can enjoy the NOW you find that peace and contentment