Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

Archive for the tag “Sprituality”

12 Jun 2014

Taking A Chance

A fathers advice ” You can fail at what you don’t really want to do, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

Very sensible words coming from Jim Carey, a movie comedian with a very silly sense of humor. I think a lot of us “think” this, but how many of us act on those thoughts? Not many I would imagine. It would take us out of the comfort zone that many of us believe we are in. Not that it is truly safe.

But we imagine the brass-ring is out of reach, that there are only “some” people who have the luck or skills to make things be successful in their lives. I think I am in that camp probably most of the time. But every once in a while I have to be reminded that this is an opportunity to do “what you love” .

The reward of helping others, of being part of the solution and providing positive outlook on life can start with just having faith in God. It could be that we just need to take a chance on those things that will make a difference. Hard to know… but the fact is the alternative gets summed up pretty good in 1 minute in this speech made by one comedian who got pretty serious…if even for a moment.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Chances, Change, choices, doing what you love, Happiness, Jim Carey, life is precious, People, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Sprituality

29 May 2014

Making Something Out of Nothing

Often I have heard that expression “making something out of nothing” What does that mean to you?

I mean is the nothing good or the nothing bad? Something made from nothing good could be something bad. Something bad that ends up being good is something well earned and fortune.

I think it is about who or what makes the difference in your life… What elements in your life will make things change? What paths you are going down that you haven’t gone down before?

Would something from nothing be those things that end up taking your view of life in a different way than you expected? Sending you off in a way that you would not ever have imagined. I have had people in my life over my years that helped to make something from the nothingness of my life. Those people took hold of my spiritual center and revitalized it. Made me see things I had never seen before, that meant nothing in my life.

So who is it that will show you that there is “something” to be made from the nothing that may be in front of you? Are you willing to muster up the trust and the faith it will take to let that happen. In God perhaps. Or will you spend your life’s days always wondering about that “nothingness” that lingers somewhere out ahead?

Advice to my kids? Understand that time is precious, and it cherishing that passage of time that will make something of it. Something is coming… just what is it for you? Its right around the corner.

Are you consumed with the unknown tomorrow, or looking for the something that is right here and now? Make something of it. Your expectations have to begin with yourself. Be receptive to the idea that you CAN make something out of nothing.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Change, choices, expectations, Faith, life is precious, Looking for answers, Looking forward, mental-health, overcoming fear, Searching for meaning, Self-Awareness, Something is coming, Sprituality

04 Apr 2014

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Ordinary

It seems like these days everyone I meet is working so hard to be different. Make every day different, be different from the person to the left and right of us. Yet, of course we want to be sure that we are also part of the accepted group of people we believe we are in. So we sometimes struggle for that balance.

But there is comfort in the “ordinary” and there is something to be said about that in our relationships.

There is a value to that ordinary feeling we may have, perhaps we even seek it in our love to be “familiar” to the daily lives with our partners? Ordinary is not a bad word. It means a lot more than that.

Give me a bit of the ordinary then. I don’t mind it.

Here is a great song about being ordinary and in love, from Copeland. Love it.

Ordinary

Today was fine-
I woke up late like I always do.
Made work just in the knick of time-
And thought of you.And when I returned,
I found you just like I always do.
Waiting for me like you always are.Since you came along-
My days are ordinary.
We laugh just like yesterday-
And I kiss you like the day before-
And I hold you just like ordinary.
Perhaps when the day is new,
We’ll find tomorrow is just ordinary too.Tomorrow came-
My shadow it was growing long.
I came home to find you singing songs-
Just the same.And today it seems-
You’re smiling like you always are.
Every day it’s the same old thing.

Since you came along-
My days are ordinary.
We laugh just like yesterday-
And I kiss you like the day before-
And I hold you just like ordinary.
Perhaps when the day is new,
We’ll find tomorrow is just ordinary too.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Being Ordinary, Copeland, Emotion, Happiness, Kindness, life is precious, Life's Soundtrack, Memories, Music, Ordinary, relationships, Self-Awareness, Sprituality

28 Mar 2014

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Embrace the Day

A smell, the weather, a certain sound, a book, a song, a painting, a color, a texture.

So many things capture memories, trigger the recall of things that have been- things that are. The best ones are those you don’t seek I think. The memories you don’t conjure up. They just appear, they just show up in a dream, on a walk, sitting with your friend, your lover.

They take you through time and capture something that was hidden in your brain, a feeling, a thought, a place you’d forgotten, a person who has long since not been part of your life. That is the building blocks of who you are. Those are the things that preserve the fabric of your being.

Yet, some other days seem void of things, almost like they come and go so quickly that they blend in with each other. That is when we need to remember what is really important.

Don’t run away from it, don’t force it or be angry because that day has come and gone with what seems like no purpose. Just embrace the passage of time and be aware of every small victory, every simple opportunity to provide grace to those around us. It only makes those empty days full.

Sometimes its worth saying it again.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, Advice, choices, Finding Confidence, Joy, Lack of Confidence, Life, life is precious, Memories, mental-health, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Sprituality

27 Mar 2014

Focused Restoration

Recently, some very wise men spoke to me and others on the perspective of “restoration.” It was profoundly interesting that it applies in so much of our lives each day.

We work to restore those things that are broken in our lives by doing some fairly outlandish things. Just like those projects to help restore the broken things around us, we work to restore ourselves and others.

As we try to fix what is broken in our relationships, what is broken in our lives – at work, in our families, with our friends, with our own spirituality… our chances of getting it wrong are very high. We tend to count on our own sensibilities to reason out our restoration.

Or worse yet we may be working on restoring others around us. It may be easy to point at others and see their imperfections. It may even be reassuring that by doing so, we can tuck away our own need for restoration. Do you know those “fixers” that work to fix up others in their lives, but miss working on themselves? The focus is elsewhere.

Personal restoration can be kind of like a facade. A false front that has little content behind it. Maybe just go for the quick fix: If “only I ” do this one thing- everything will be better. Life is moving kind of fast, so we hunt down that magic thing that will solve the problems in our lives, will help to mend the issues that seem to be looming and keep us from the better life, keep us from being a better person.

But ultimately I think, the truth is in how we focus our energy, how we make sure that we are doing those things we can do and putting our trust in the outcome. The expectation may be different from the result. Perhaps we need to invest in ourselves? Some may see that as selfish, but it is the genuine investment in our spirituality. The focus on inspecting our hearts and our souls to know that we are right and true to ourselves.