Lost then found

How often do you find yourself lost somewhere when you have a destination in mind and you don't seem to know exactly how to get there? How often do people appear in your life as if from nowhere to make themselves available to offer you directions?

It never ceases to amaze me how a sense of feeling lost can trigger fear and pending despair.  Yet, each time I have been in a new place and temporarily disoriented, it never fails that a stranger will appear with perfect timing. I take steps to approach people I've never met as part of a kind of pilgrimage to ask for directions, to strengthen my sense of being in the right place at the right time.  Its a question of accepting personal responsibility I wouldn't give to others.

You may arrive at a point in your life where you're prepared to believe almost anything people tell you.  It doesn't  have to be a stranger standing at an unfamiliar crossroad.  Your instincts evolve to think 'innocent until proven guilty.'  You let a sense your conscience guide your steps.  All at once, you realise, what matters in your life is how you understand and connect with mystery and uncertainty.  A spark or curiosity can easily lead to a fountain of enthusiasm.  Normal people can believe in magic and wonderful things that can unfold in the unknown.

Whomever you meet in passing can be a catalyst for your own transformation.  A person who speaks a few words may be all that is necessary for you to see the light of things that had escaped you for too long.  Its connected to experiences of faith.  This isn't the same as religion.  To believe in something defines your spiritual side.  Your obedience to religious rules which are imposed could be completely different, if you choose to believe in collective religion at all.

Believing in angels is like confronting your understanding of life and death and what you're in the process of doing in between.  All roads lead to a place the living often have yet to experience  or at least remember, if for some reason you believe you have been there before.  Angels are friendly reminders of what we're supposed to know or remember.  In the event you forget your way, they'll nudge you if you remain open to the qualities they seek to highlight. 

As you evolve to recognize you travel an endless path, you also come to value changes that take place in yourself.  Angels can be your companions who don't change you themselves, but they recognize the benefits in beginning to grasp your truth because you realize you're never alone.  You can always sense an indescribable presence.  To hear a voice inside you that helps you recognize who you are is like being found.  It is people who shape your life, and you decide whether it will be for better or for worse.  You also decide whether some may be supernatural, and whether you believe even the unexplained have your best interest at heart.

The struggle & its omens

Some people will say they dream of writing books yet, struggle much of their lives to achieve what they set out to do.  Why is that? Writers like to immerse themselves in their lives and the lives of their fictional characters.  They like to evolve to peer out and decipher the world.  Self-acceptance and courage can grow over time.

The time comes when you manage to see conditions differently than before.  What causes you to open your eyes wider or observe subtle nuances you had missed before?  More often than not, its people you encounter who draw your attention to things in passing that have far more significance than you initially thought.  Do you believe in omens? Signs of things to come?

As I was leaving restaurants, while still a child and later, adolescent, I would take great pleasure in signing guest books .  The thing was, I very seldom signed my real name.  More often than not, I signed, 'Hercule Poirot.'  Its as if some voice inside was telling me that I was on a path that led somewhere and that now I was on my way, I would have to see it through. 

Are we all not playing the role of detective when it comes to uncovering the truth about our lives?  We need not devour Agatha Christie Mysteries to figure that out, but reading can inspire opening our eyes.  To feel certain of the direction you follow means you recognize where you are and what you're meant to do.  Not everyone's life path is so clear, at least in the beginning.

If you believe in a life struggle and its omens, then you decide making mistakes and learning about them is worthwhile.  If you are unsure of yourself, feeling like you wander blindly at times, you may be unclear about the meaning you sense in words.  Join the club.  To my way of thinking, you can choose to believe in the power of words and the treasures they can help you discover inside yourself. 

You need not be a best-selling author to transcribe thoughts in a journal and learn to make more sense of your life.  The clarity of words on paper enables you to intuit what course of action would enrich you at a particular time.  You may not believe in omens, or may find it hard to know whether an omen is a positive or a negative sign.  When a person begins writing, that person may not have faith in very much.  Yet, as the soul speaks, the struggle that led up to it all becomes worth it.

Dream job gone sour?

Each of us has a dream job, you know, the vision of where you do what you enjoy, feel challenged, get paid well, and get along with all your colleagues, staff and superiors.  In a way, this may sound like an ideal that you've never experienced.  Yet, for other people, its something that seems to materialize and then, slips through their fingers.  If you had a job you liked, and then it went sour, its useful to understand why so the same thing doesn't happen again. 

1) Have you outgrown your circumstances?  You may be learning and growing faster than your peers.  When you get to where you no longer feel challenged or stimulated by your work, then what used to appear your dream job can turn into an undesireable way to spend your time.  Remind yourself that how you perceive yourself and your life begins with you.  If you determine you're no longer happy where you are, only you can make the decision to do things differently ofr find a place where you'll be happier.

2) Is there a personality clash?  A workplace can be agreeable or disagreeable based on your co-workers.  When you get along well, things can seem to go great.  Yet, politics may enter the picture.  If so, feeling like you have to look constantly over your shoulder or, wondering who may be saying what behind your back isn't pleasant. Tolerance may only go so far. What alternate courses of action have you considered?

3) Have you forgotten what drew you?  People choose jobs because of different reasons.  Something about a dream job usually motivates you at the core.  Have you forgotten why you chose what you do? When might you have become disconnected from your passions.  To rekindle the reasons for your choices may be well within your grasp.  Reach inside and re-energize.  Consider what you would need to do to get the good feelings back.

Break out of the mould

Do you dream of breaking out of a mould? Perhaps no person in your family went to college, or ever earned much money.  You may not think any of your family or current friends amounted to much.  This doesn't mean your life must be like that.  You can be the person who changes the trend and raises the bar.  What makes you think you can't break the mould and create a different kind of life for yourself?  

You may have been surrounded by negative people who set examples and standards for you.  Just because you're familiar with how to be negative and critical, and you know people who are frequently gloomy and complaining, you're not obliged to adopt and copy these behaviors.  Why not take steps to change all that and redefine your vision for success?

What about your workplace? You may have been conditioned to follow the lowest common denominator. Peers may douse your enthusiasm and discourage your initiative.  Have you felt like a victim of 'tall poppy syndrome?' Are people trying to convince you that you should be less than you are? If you don't feel you fit in, you may not in the most suitable environment.

The odds may be against you, but you're not limited by environment, by your family, by your pocketbook or by your history.  Whether you step out of a mould is based on your choice.   Your understanding of your abilities and your potential are wrapped up in your idea of success. 

The 'make-other-people-happy' gene

You may not consider having a change of heart controversial, but what about people around you?  What if you're the type of person who doesn't like to disappoint others? 

Maybe, from the time you were a child, you considered yourself a 'good kid.'  You always felt you did the right thing.  You felt the love and respect of your parents and or at least a close circle of friends, teachers and mentors.  Somewhere along the way, you developed the desire to please and this became synonymous with your own sense of happiness.  You couldn't tell the difference.

Suddenly, you're having seemingly radical thoughts.  Your intuition is suggesting you change course.  You sense something doesn't fit. You envision separating from what you know or have known.  People are not looking at you kindly. Will you leave them in a bind and think of yourself? Intead of inner peace, do you experience inner turmoil?  What makes the most sense when your desires are in diametric opposition?