Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the tag “Joy”

31 Oct 2013

All That I’m Allowed

I get so sad sometimes. Just watching people wasting their lives away.

They consume so much of their time feeling that they are victims, or looking at the dark side of their life and being angry at everyone and every thing around them.

Sometimes I want to shake them and tell them to stop it! Quit sinking in the quicksand that is wrapping itself around them and slowing them down. It is tough to say how to help them. They don’t want to listen, they believe that “others” are creating their circumstances and that there is no way out. They are looking for more.

There is a look of hopelessness in their eyes. I cannot tell them the hopelessness I have experienced fighting a disease in my body that is not curable. It will always be there and my wife and I had to make a choice. Let it consume our lives or do something about it. We turned to our faith in God. We also turned to each other to help understand that His love is stronger than anything when it comes to life. We know that life is not eternal here on earth. We know that there is an ending to our timeline here, and that it is eternity that will matter most.

What we have learned: Have faith in each other, have faith in Him. Look at life as something to embrace no matter what the future holds. It has to be part of the equation. I feel bad for those with no hope, with no feeling of what “comes next”. They need to take another look at make something better out of the time we are allowed.

Standing Firm in Faith while in the Midst of Uncertainty (leslieannvarela.com)
Cancer survivor finds healing in faith (times-news.com)

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Elton John, Faith, Grace, Happiness, Hope, Hopelessness, Joy, life is precious, Music, Postive Thinking, Religion and Spirituality

01 Oct 2013

Meaning

Meaning. A big word that means a lot. People are looking for meaning in life, and wanting meaning in what they do. I know it is important to me, and it seem to be that every one is seeking it.

Maybe it is a meaning for the job? After getting paid, it would be nice to know that you are a contributor, that you make a difference in the job, that you get recognized for the work you have done.

Maybe it is understanding “why” – defining the meaning to injustice in our lives and the world around us, the unfair things that happen to others, to you. Understanding why people are violently hurting each other, hating each other, making life miserable for others.

It could be the ultimate “meaning of life“- looking for the spiritual center. Are we really only on earth for such a short time only to have it all end? Is there something more? What are we supposed to do while we are here on earth? (that is a topic for another day, but it is clear then that eternity matters most).

People want meaning in their lives too. So many want to mean something to someone. To the ones they love, to their family and friends. They want to be significant in their lives.

There is the gallant goal of doing something meaningful (good or bad) in life. Showing mankind that you have something more to give can make for a lifelong task. Sometimes achieved, sometimes never reached. Not all the heavy stuff of Kant’s enlightenment or something. Just searching.

So in the end- what is that driving meaning in your life? Can you reach for it? Is it elusive or in-reach? Are you always looking elsewhere and not right in front of you? It can be so simple I think, yet so difficult to find. It can be a daily driving force. A preoccupation that can consume us. It can find us somewhere in a “hollow” place, It can be infinitely rewarding.

Here’s my take on it: Look for it in the closest places. In your heart not your mind, in the eyes of others, in the places that provide peace in your life. Look for it in God, look for it in the air you breathe. Breathe in. The meaning is there.

The meaning of life per perspective. (williamkiddjr.wordpress.com)
Youth ,hopes and dreams- meaning to life (rajatkumar1069.wordpress.com)

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Fear, God, Grace, Happiness, Joy, Meaning of life, moments, Philosophy, Reality Check, Religion and Spirituality, Searching for Significance, Who Are You

24 Jun 2013

“Mad” or “Sad”?

I was in a grocery store over the weekend and I heard a lady exclaim to her husband how “really mad” she was about the fact that a cracker company had discontinued her preferred sized box.

I had to laugh a bit because I couldn’t think of a situation such as that where it would make me be “really” mad. I always thought that “mad” was reserved for horrific things that happened to people or circumstances that became unable to control or ultimately did not turn out the way we expected. Even then there is a fine line I think between mad and sad (or disappointed I suppose).

It seems like more and more people are “mad” at things that really stretch the idea of or being angry. There is room for anger in our lives; applied to those things that may some how stimulate us to a better life, to be more conscientious or be stronger for someone or some cause.

It seems the “madness” I see stems from something else. Perhaps the frustration of the moment or the feeling of helplessness. More than ever before, there seem to be a lot of people who are more angry over things that they cannot change. That is likely because in this “information age” of constant incoming data we are increasingly more exposed to things we can get mad at.

Maybe that is the idea of what someone means when they refer to the past as “simpler times”? Maybe because of ignorance (which I have heard is bliss) or maybe though intentional avoidance, some people just didn’t have to deal with being angry in those simpler times. As time has changed, and war, poverty, hate, disease and the like have come 24/7 into our lives, maybe we have become an angrier society?

Whatever the path, seems like something to be sad about. Perhaps mad; but likely sad…because the ability to turn off that 24/7 input has passed many people by. Unless we ourselves make a choice.

Be mad if you need to, but remember to be sad when you can. Either way you have to find a place where you can move on…. make a difference, change what’s happening, or focus on something else that you can effect. Getting “stuck” in mad is maddening enough.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Anger, Compassion, Emotion, Grace, Happiness, Hope, Joy, Kindness, mental-health, Sadness, Self-Awareness

13 Jun 2013

4 Comments

Signs of Sanity

When you enter the front door of my house, we have posted the sign below for all to see. After all- life should be “sunny side up”

There are some other signs that have made me smile along the way. Sharing them. Sorry I cannot tell you where I got them exactly, but they make me smile at the pure silliness of our life here on Earth.

And for me – there is profound statements here….

Sign 3 Sign 1

The best sign of about signs.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Humor, Joy, life is precious, Messages, Postive Thinking, Signage, Signs, Statement

10 Jun 2013

All Things Must Pass

More frequently these days I recall how precious life is. It is very fragile. We have our chance to look at life from many ways. But in the end it all will pass. That’s why I share this song from the late George Harrison. It has always been one of those songs that captures the spirituality of the passing of time.

Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

Sunset doesn’t last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of lifes strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the night-time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
Its not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
All things must pass away

A VIDEO FROM VH1 – George Harrison’s last live performance before his death.