Tender Mercies Post 1: Falling back in love with life

As you look back on your life, you will often realize that many times you thought you were being rejected from something good, you were in fact being redirected to do something better. We can't control everything, but sometimes we just need to relax and have faith that things will work out. Let go of the little things and just let life happen. Sometimes the truths you can't change, end up changing you and helping you grow. One of the things that I have pondered lately is falling back in love with life. I think too often in life we overcomplicate it, and forget to appreciate the small things that make life worth living. Here are some of my thoughts on falling back in love with life.

1. Everything is as it should be. It's crazy how you always end up where your meant to be--how even the most tragic and stressful situations eventually teach you important lessons that you never dreamed you were going to learn. Remember, often times when things are falling apart, they are actually falling into place. The hard times in life make me appreicate the good times. I don't have any regrets in life. I truly believe that life is how it should be. It may not always be what I want, but it will always be what I make of it.

2. Not until you are lost in this world can you begin to find your true self. Realizing you are lost is the first step in living the life you want. The second step is leaving the life you don't want. Making a big life change is pretty scary. But you know what's even scarier? Regret. Vision wihtout action is a day dream, and action without vision is a nightmare. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it. I have learned the most when taking risks in my life. It may be picking myself up after being knocked down over and over again, but I figure the more scars I have at the end of the life the better!!

3. It's usually the deepest pain that empowers you to grow to your full potential. It's the scary, stressful choices that end up being the most worthlile. Without pain, there would be no change. But remember, pain, just like everything else in life, is meant to be learned from then released.  If we hold on to pain too long it can be destructive.

4. One of the hardest decisions you will ever face in life is choosing whether to walk away or take another step forward. If you catch yourself in a cycle of trying to change someone, or defending yourself against someone who is trying to change you, walk away. But if you are pursing a dream, take another step. And don't forget that sometimes this step will involve modifying your dream, or planning a new one. It's okay to change your mind or have more than one dream.  A dream is something that is created with our deepest desire.   

5. You would have to take care of yourself first! Before befriending others, you have to be your own friend. Before correcting others, you have to correct yourself. Before making others happy, you have to make yourself happy. It's not called shelfishness, it's called personal development. Once you balance yourself, only can you balance the world around you.  You must be on higher ground before you can lift someone else up. Take care of yourself!!

6. One of the greatest freedoms is truly not caring what everyone else thinks of you. As long as you are worreid about what others think of you, you are owned by them. Only when you require no approval from outside yourself, can you own yourself. I learned this truth a long time ago. I don't mind constructive criticism, but in the end I decide who I want to be.

7. You may need to be single for a while before you realize that, although the co-owned belongings for your failed relationships might not have beed divided equally, the issues that destroyed the relationship likely were. For how can you stand confidently alone, or see the same issues arising in your newest relationship, and not realize which broken pieces belong to you? Owning your issues, dealing with them, will make you far happier in the long run, than owning anything else in this world.  The only way to have a successful relationship is to start with yourself first. 

8. The only thing you can absoultely control is how you react to things out of your control. The more you can adapt to the situations in life, the more powerful your highs will be, and the more quickly you will be able to bounce back from the lows in your life. Put most simply: being at peace means being in a state of complete acceptance of all that is, right here, right now.

9. Some people will lie to you. Remember, an honest enemy is better than a friend who lies. Pay less attention to what people say, and more attention to what they do. Their actions will show you the truth, which will hlep you measure the true quality of your rleationship in the long-term.

10. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough. If you are thankful for what you have, you will end up having even more. Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold; happiness dwells in the soul. Abundance is not about how much you have, it's how you feel about what you have. When you take things for granted, your happiness gets taken away.

11. Yes, you have failed in the past. Don't judge yourself by your pasat, you don't have to live there anymore. Just because you are not where you want to be today doesn't mean you won't be there someday. You can turn it all around in the blink of an eye by making a simple choice to stand back up to try again, to love again, to live again, and to dream again.

12. Everything is going to be alright; maybe not today, but eventually. There will be times when it seems like eveything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong. You might feel like you will be stuck in this rut forever, but you won't. Sure the sun stops shining sometimes, and you may get a huge thunderstorm or two, but eventually the sun will come out to shine. Sometimes it's a matter of us staying positive in order to see the sunshine break through the clouds again.

Life is what we make of it start living your life today!  I love being in love with life!

Crystal Angel