There is no Guarantee

Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

I know you've all heard those words before, but now more than ever, I think we need to buckle up and maybe even put on a helmet.

It's been quite a year so far and we haven't even hit the end of January yet.

We've been iundated with pictures, videos and sound bytes of natural disasters, of people made disasters and of everything in between.

We've also seen amazing and beautiful things happen, but those tend to get overshadowed in the news.

Good news doesn't really make the news, unless it's a slow day.

It's not flashy or cool to hear about good news, that is, unless bad news brought it about in the first place.

Maybe I'm a little cynical but something really should be done about that.


Let me describe to you what I've seen over the last few weeks.

I've seen extreme sadness, happiness, despair and celebration. 

I've seen tears of joy and pain during a marathon.

I've seen fear in a wife's eyes as she watches her husband fall to the ground & be taken away in an ambulance.

I've seen fear, hunger and hopelessness on the news as stories of death, stories of births and stories of rescue flood the news after the earthquake(s) in Haiti.

But then I've also seen cruelty, impatience and disdain in the faces and actions of everyday people.  Their anger is palatable and makes me cringe.

Why are they so angry?  What has happened to make them feel that way and then act out like a spoiled toddler whose favorite toy got taken away for hitting his little brother?

Why can't they see all the suffering in the world and just let it go?

They don't have the raw deal.  They don't have the suffering that I've seen as they drive away, tank full of gas in their BMW- hey, they say, it's only a 2008.

Get real people. 

Yours is not the life of suffering that you make it out to be.


There are people out there who have way less than any of us yet are happier than most of us.


Why?

Because they have their priorities straight.

They know that tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

They know that it's just as likely for them to not see the next sunrise as it is that they will.

So they focus on what is important.

What is it?


The here and now.


Right now, they take advantage of the breathing, seeing, hearing, tasting and touching that they are able to.

Right now they are grateful for whatever they have been given and whatever they have been blessed with.

They are not cursing out their neighbor for not cutting their lawn.

They're not flipping off the guy in front of them for cutting them off.

They are spending time with their loved ones.  They are working when they have to and they are grateful.

GRATEFUL.

There is no security for some.

But they make the most of each and every day.

We sit and complain that the price of gas has gone up.

It has and that sucks, but let's get real.

What is really important?

What have we lost touch of?

What is it that we can reclaim as our own and what is it that we can do to start making the most of every single day?

Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

But today is.

You still have 100% of this moment, right now, to do whatever it is that you want to do.

You can take the time to complain or you can use the time to make a difference- no matter how small or insignificant you think it may be.

But the thing is that you got up off your butt and did something.


Words & thoughts are just that until you put them into action.

Action.

Simple word, we learn it when we're little but how many people can actually grasp the heaviness of that word.

You've got to show up, you've got to take action, you've got to actually do something.

So why this, why now?

I'm tired of all the complaining.  I'm tired of hearing that this or that is responsible for your life situation.

You are the ONLY one responsible for where you are and for who you are.  Stop blaming your genetics, your parents, your partner or loved ones.  It's all YOU.

Take responsibility and see what you can do with it. 

If you need help, just ask.  There are so many of us out there that are more than willing to help, that want to help, that feel called to help.

I'm not tired of helping people.  I never will be BUT I want to encourage you to take action, to do something other than just spit out rhetoric and pretend that waxing poetic about a bad situation will just make it better because you "thought" about it.

You are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Only right now is guaranteed.

Live you life with no regrets.  If you already have them, then do something about them.  It's never too late.  It's never over when the fat lady sings.

The time for action is now.  The time for living is now.


What will you do?  Will you own this moment or will you let it own you?