Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. ~Babatunde Olatunji

Life is always tossing challenges our way. We always have a choice. We can handle challenges with acceptance and peace or we can choose resistance and suffering. I have always been a believer in the power of the universe and fate. I know that all things happen for a reason. I know there is such a thing as unanswered prayers (and not just because Garth told me). I know that we all have a purpose in this life. I have spent the better part of the past 5 years seeking out my "purpose". I worked in the mortgage industry for years and I hated it. I tried insurance and failed. The bar scene was too much for me as a full time gig. When I got my current job I was desperate for work. I applied for anything that sounded like my background. My current job is a culmination of every job I have ever had in the past. As much as I don’t LOVE what I do, I think I do it better than most people could just because of my background and experience which is unique. I have been reading a lot lately about inner calm and peace and the key to all of that is being happy with what you have. I feel as if I follow this mantra pretty regularly (ok so I fall off of the wagon occasionally). That doesn’t just mean saying “ok, I am happy now. All is right with the world”. It means actually taking stock in life and appreciating what you have. I have a job. There are many who don’t. I can afford to eat, many cannot. I have a home, love of good people and my health. I have a fantastic family and some very great friends. These all may seem like basic things but that is what life is…extremely basic. When you add more obstacles, possessions, things in life you create the space for disappointment. The basics are important every day of your life.

I spent a lot of time in my life thinking about the past. I think of my parents’ mistakes in raising me as well as my own mistakes in growing up. All of that time and thought process brought me to one conclusion: I can’t change the past. This is where the choice comes in; I can accept the past for what is was and look for the blessings that were there or I can be angry, bitter and mad at the world. I choose to accept that what is has already happened and I cannot change it. Analyzing it does not guarantee that I won’t repeat it so fear of that only assists in holding me back. I have also spent a good deal of time recently thinking of the future. Where should I be? Where am I going? What is my purpose on earth? Purpose is what you do. My purpose right now is writing this blog and getting my words out to you. After that my purpose might be to avoid work a bit more before eating my lunch. If I look for 2nd jobs later, that will be my purpose then.

Again, this might seem very basic to some of you but I just had this awakening (shout out to Eckhart Tolle)so let me bask in it for a minute. I find myself sometimes wanting to control things and situations as a reaction to my past and lack of control. Once I recognize and accept this behavior it becomes much easier for me to see that control is not what is important. Being true to the moment you are in is all of our purpose in this life. If you are doing something, do it with all that you have. Know that things are ever changing and evolving and accept that no one has any control over what happens. That is part of destiny, of fate of living this crazy thing we call life. A big part of life is accepting what IS and sometimes also what IS NOT.

I have decided to give myself over to what IS. I cannot dwell on what used to be or what could be because the only thing that really matters is what IS. If what IS, is not what I believe should be then I will have faith that room is being made in my life for what truly IS. I have also learned that you cannot solely depend on fate. If you want something you have to put it out into the universe. You have to ask for it, make it known and work towards it. Make your actions reflect your dreams or passions. Go after everything in life with 100% and then even if you lose the job, the guy or the thing you wanted most…you know you gave it your personal best. That is the purpose of life and I am here to fulfill that mission within myself. I am present.


With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us. ~Michael Cibenko

Don't let the past steal your present. ~Cherralea Morgen

There is no distance on this earth as far away as yesterday. ~Robert Nathan, So Love Returns

If you are still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done much today. ~Author Unknown
Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. ~Cherokee Indian Proverb

The past is a good place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. ~Author Unknown

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. ~Euripides, Alexander

The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post. ~L. Thomas Holdcroft

Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace. ~Author Unknown

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. ~Alexander Graham Bell

If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is. ~Author Unknown