My outlook on life is: if you are being true to yourself, and following your dreams, you will make the world a better place. When we find our bliss in every day moments, its spreads to those around us. We will never be able to change another person, but if we change ourselves, the world will change with us. So as much as possible I try to live my life following my dreams, it’s a challenge to always accomplish this, but as the years pass I find I am doing it more and more.
I find myself getting frustrated at all the negativity, violence, sorrow and fear in the world. I know the human race could accomplish so much more than we are. And then I remember if I just take a little time to go out into the world, and spread my own brand of sunshine, those around me will be affected. When we are at peace and enjoying our life, the stress and dis-ease within us melts away.
So if you find yourself full of stress and anger towards an aspect of your life, I highly recommend sitting down and asking yourself, what you REALLY want out of life. What are your true desires that either you or other people have told you just couldn’t happen? What would you rather be doing? It might not seem like it at this moment, but you can do it. You just have to change your perspective on how you are living life. Its not something that changes over night, you don’t want to go quit your job tomorrow. Just start with the little things. Start with one little thing that you have always wanted to do, and have always told yourself it wasn’t practical, or you couldn’t afford it, or you just don’t have the time. Go to the spa, go for a hike, take a soak in the tub, splurge on a special culinary treat. What ever that first little thing is for you, take that moment in, realize that you are actually accomplishing something you have wanted to do for a while.
If you want, you can keep a journal of your journey into the life you have always wanted. You will find as you give yourself permission to do the things that you really want to in life, the easier it will be to do more. Things will fall into your lap as if they were meant to be. As you follow your heart and accomplish your dreams you will find the ‘guilt’ that society has programmed into us will just melt away. There is never any reason to feel guilt for following your heart. Most of the time guilt is projected on us by those that are jealous because they have not given themselves the permission to follow their dreams.
I live an very different life style than most, and I know that I am blessed. Many people do not understand the way I live, because of their programming. I live on very little, my expenses are pretty minimal, but at the same time, if I find something that really draws me I do not exclude it from my life just because it costs me money. I do not have a ‘real job’. The closest thing I have had to a real job in the last 6 years was my very part time job as a breakfast waitress when we lived in Winthrop for two years. The most I worked was 3 days a week, and that wasn’t very common, I usually worked one or two days a week, and usually got the days off that I wanted. If we wanted to leave for a couple of weeks, most of the time I got that time off. And the reason this worked for me was, I stated what I needed, I didn’t ask permission, I wasn’t rude, I just stated what I was up to in life, and most of the time the universe has provided for me. I suppose that is one lesson I have learned in life, there is no reason to have to ask permission for everything, we need to take responsibility for our lives. This doesn’t mean we should walk over other people, we can be courteous to those around us, but we don’t need to let them walk on us either.
When we did live in Winthrop, I worked for the grocery money, and Bernie worked for our landlords in trade for our rent. In the two and a half years that we lived there, the only rent we paid was first and last, and I believe one month. There are ways to live simply yet fully. With the schedule of ‘work’ that we had, we were free to explore as much as we wanted. Often we worked on the weekends, and had the rest of the week to hike, take pictures, play in the river near our house, travel, watch tv on those cold winter days, and what ever else we needed to do to follow our dreams.
We have also done quite a lot of long distance hiking. Since we are not tied into a job or a home, we can take all summer to go for a hike across the country. There are also all kinds of volunteer opportunities to see the world. This summer we spent in the Aleutian Islands doing Sea Otter research. We were not ‘paid’ for doing this work, but they pay for all our travel expenses to and from, and a per diem to cover all food and supply expenses. We got to experience a beautiful part of the world, in a way most people never will. Love the places that you are, and if you dont like it, then move yourself to a place that brings peace to you.
Another helpful way to bring yourself to the place that you want, is to surround yourself with like minded people. As you can change the world around you by finding your bliss, having people around you that are already following their dreams, you will find yourself changing for the better.
Spend some time thinking of what you want out of life. Nothing is impossible. Some things might be a long journey from where you are now, but you can get there. You have to start the journey to reach the end. And the easiest way is to start with the little things. And remember, Do What You Love, Love What You Do.
