Life comes at all angles

Life is forever continuing; creating new challenges and opportunities for you to embrace.  My son is now 8 weeks old and has nearly doubled in size.  My family is growing closer than ever, my career is moving along superbly, and my wife has the opportunity to work from home to give the best care possible to our little one.  All of this seems like a wonderful place to be in life, with many happy moments to share and new experieinces to relish. 

For the most part, I am in a fantastic place in my life right now but it is not without daunting worries of the present and future.  One of my biggest fears is to become complacent.  Also, one of my biggest goals in life is to find a peacefulness and happiness that (more or less) creates complacency.  I struggle everyday with trying to find light in the dark and stay in a peacefull state, all the while trying to always better my position and not become stagnant.  I think I have come up with a few ideas that might help myself and others that may be in my position or currently on their way there.

Life is challenging, plain and simple.  It is how you meet these challenges that determine your emotional well-being.  However, the magic in the challenges is what keeps you from becoming complacent.  If you constantly face obstacles in life, you are constantly forced to overcome them and inherently further inner peace and happiness.  It was this realization that helped me to realize that the only real way to become emotionally stagnant is by turning everything off and shutting out the world.  If you strive for peacefullness you will have to constantly pursue it, therefore always making some sort of progress.  Admittedly, my progress has been a lot of two steps forward and one step back but it is progress nonetheless.

I have found that in certain times I have to actively find challenges for myself that will keep my progression in the right direction.  This blog, for example, has been a constant challenge to keep at the forefront of my mind and not let life's clutter get in the way.   Creating small (attainable) goals for yourself can keep you from sliding backwards when all else in your life seems to be going the way you feel it should.  This practice will also keep you prepared to handle any challenges that may arise unexpectedly.

In conclusion, do not be fooled by apparent easy-goings in life.  There is always another door at the end of the hall that may open easily or need to be broken down.  Keep your emotions in-tune by creating small challenges for yourself inbetween the harder ones.  Pick up an insturment, start that book you've had in your head for months, teach your dog some new tricks, take that class on Renaissance Art History you've been yearning for, take a family hike to discover the beauty of nature in your own backyard.  Anything to keep you engaged in life and striving to want more will help you on your journey.  Until next time, keep active (emotionally, mentally, and physically) and accomplish those smaller goals on the way to a few big ones.