2012 Holiday Faith + Inspiration

It's the 2012 holiday season.  For many in this world, this time of year is about family, friends and faith.  

With the tragedies that continue to unfold in our wonderful country and in other places in the world, many are rightfully questioning faith.  Things quickly twist to politics, press and criticism.  I'd also echo the thoughts widely published after the Sandy Hook tragedy about the state of our media and how information is reported, updated and analyzed.  The media focuses on the evil (the killer) and not on the good (the victims and their families).  In short, it's not a bad idea to watch or read as little of the news as possible.  The weather and traffic reports might be helpful, but how much of the rest is actually helping us bolster our faith in the world?

For starters, and there are many places to find faith let's take a look at a few reasons to keep our faith.  I'd suggest you start here for a dose of faith in humanity.  Some reminders on why we are here always put things in perspective.  

Second, keep looking for inspiration.  There are plenty of great examples.  I chose to find mine from Zach Sobiech, who is battling osteosarcoma.  You can check out his music video called "Clouds" right here.  It's worth the 3 minutes and 13 seconds of your time.

Third, those that read this blog aren't likely the people that need our collective help to stay on the right path in life.  Just like the global fight on terrorism, if you see something that looks out of place, or a person's behavior or comments appear to indicate a mental illness, communicate with someone.  Communication with people is our key to at least having a clue to their state of mind.  In my last blog, I wrote that, even though our ways to communicate have skyrocketed, our true communication is lagging.  Many times we find out too many details that may have aided us in preventing a tragedy.  The take home point: communicate with you family and friends.  It sometimes is painful but give it a shot.  

I'm not saying communication will prevent all of the tragedies of our world.  To the contrary, maybe it's just part of trying to improve the state of our world and making tomorrow better for everyone.   However hard to do in these times in which we live, have faith in the good of our world.  The planet, the people, the purpose.   You may be familiar with the Sanskrit term "Namaste", which is sometimes said between two people to mutually honor the divine light of each person.  

Namaste to all, from my heart, and Happy Holidays 2012.

Facts, advice and intuition

October, November and December.  Fall to Winter.  One of my favorite seasons if not the most favorite.   Between a stop in El Paso, back to school in South Carolina, and then the Thanksgiving holiday in Philadelphia, the past three months have been filled with thinking traveling and absorbing.   Today's post is when you need to satisfy your self, your soul, and your life - all at the same time.  The power of intuition.  

In other words, when you are at a crossroads with where to take your life, how do you make a decision?

Facts and their sources are numerous.  Trusted people, websites, traditions.    They guide our lives and our decisions.  Maybe sometimes too much.  Who do you believe and why do you believe it?  Trust, trust, trust.  But how do we gain trust?  Through positive repeated experience for certain.  As the old saying goes, good judgment comes from experience.  Unfortunately, the experience came from bad judgment.  So true, so true.  

In terms of advice, it can come from anywhere.  These days you hear it, read it or live it.  We spend enormous amounts of time texting, facebooking and twittering.  More times than not, we are reading, assimilating and judging based on social media.  Our ways to connect have went up exponentially but we spend less time actually communicating face to face.  

Our intuition is a bit harder to gauge.  It’s that internal compass.  It’s that gut feeling.  It’s always part of that voice inside.  Sometimes it is right on the mark.  Sometimes maybe not so much.  But it really depends on the person, situation and timing.  So how do know what the heck to do with the voice that never quits talking to you?

A few thoughts on how to manage all of this torment:

1. Facts and advice are pieces of information that you decide the validity, significance and impact.  

2. Your intuition shapes your self.  Don’t ignore it.

3. Both are equally important to what you do and when you do it.

4. Fight like hell for what you want, but don’t be afraid to change the plan if that voice inside you is screaming for a change.

5. Don’t have regrets.  Yeah, right.  That sounds easy.  It’s not.   Don't look back and painfully look at what could have been, could be or might be.  Go forward.  

As this Fall comes to a close, it's worth repeating:

Facts, advice and intuition are all important.  

Listen to your voice.  

And always be going forward.  Always.  

Have faith that things will fall into place.  

No regrets.  Ever.