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So many times I have put things I wanted to do for myself aside and said maybe I'll get to it tomorrow and tomorrow never seem to have come. I found myself so busy just trying to keep up with all my daily obligations that I never had that moment to devote to me and found myself not being able to catch up to my own self, my own life.
I decided to slow myself down and take time to watch a sunrise and sunset and this simple task was so amazing.
I next decided to go to the beach and enjoy the water and the coolness of the ocean breeze and as I watched each wave crash against the rocks I found myself closer and closer to inner peace, this feeling was incredible.
Finally I decided to take a long drive by myself, in the Valley, with no radio playing, and what I found was that my thoughts took me to such a beautiful place of joy. I thought about my father who had past ten years ago and how I had been so busy I had not even had the time to enjoy my memories of him. I thought about my goals which I had set many years ago and how many of them I had actually achieved which made me smile.
I thought about my future plans and than without even realizing I just didn't think anymore. I enjoyed the beauty of the Valley, the vineyards, the mountains, the blue sky, the fresh air that blew threw my open window and most of all I enjoyed me.
I than decided to not allow my duties as a productive human being to overcome my duties to love myself anymore and that I would take a few moments everyday and devote it to me. I begin to set aside ME TIME every day for two hours and spend it doing something nice for myself and doing something I wanted to do.
"TWO HOURS," you say.
Yes two hours.
You see I realized that if I can give eight hours a day to a job that earns some other human being millions, no billions of dollars a year without a second thought, I could give myself two.
We at Ed's Place challenge you to love yourself, get in touch with what brings you inner peace and embrace it. Slow down and smell the flowers, enjoy the amazement of a tree, observe the freedom of a bird soaring. Get in touch with your mind, body and spirit and love yourself every day.
We challenge you to put aside your stress for two hours a day and just find joy in what makes you happy and don't feel guilty or like you are cheating the world out of anything. REMEMBER, YOU DESERVE EVERY SECOND, MINUTE AND HOUR that you set aside for yourself. You are so worthy of this.
Don't wait until tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes.
If anyone listens to the news it will have you afraid that our world, our country and our lives are falling apart. 2010 was a hard year for many but we all survived and are here to welcome 2011, congratulations. We at Ed's Place wish each of you a very prosporous year and know that there are great things out there for us all. Remember to set goals, dream big and know that is is possible to obtain all that you want in life if you believe and not give us. Many of us have struggled but with grace we were able to survive. Life has its stuggles but in each one there is strength which comes from that struggle in which we over come. 2011 is the year of hope and fulfillment. Name it and claim it and it is and will be yours. Happy New Years, challenge yourself to greatness and believe.
Ed's Place
A young professional man was recently laid off his job. He had a wife and three beautiful boys who depended on him. In his search for a job he was blessed and found one which was over 2,000 miles from where his family presently lived. After prayer and discussions with his wife they decided together to take the job and make the move to a new place.
During a conversation with a young man whom Ed's Place is working with in finding a job, he complained about how there were just no jobs in the area where he lived. I asked him, "what are your ties to this area?" "My ties," he exclaimed, "my boys live here and ain't no place like Cali."
As I listened to him go on about all the things that his city had I realized that in his mind Cali was his home and there was no other place like it. I begin to speak with him about other places I had visited in my life. In different cities, states and yes even outside the country and how one thing I found is that most places have slight differences, may have different weather and climates buts ultimately are the same and that we as humans adapt to change.
As I spoke with him further I begin to learn more about him and that he had never been anywhere in his life but in the surrounding 100 miles radius of what he called home and I asked him to take a moment with me and leave his comfort zone and explore the world. We hopped on the Internet and begin to look at all these different places that he had always heard about and wanted to go and as we looked I could see the excitement build in his eyes.
"Look at that ," he said when we did a virtual tour of New York on one site. "Oh my God," he exclaimed when he saw the water falls at Niagara falls. "Damn," he said when we watched a short video on Africa. "All those beautiful places but I won't never get there," he hung his head and mumbled. I looked him in his eyes and boldly exclaimed,"any of those places can be home for you and your boys will always be your boys just a hop, skip and a jump away"
We live today in a world were what was once impossible is now probable. All we have to do is set the goal to do it, believe it can be done, make a solid plan to achieve it, and implement the plan. Don't never think that there is no job out there for you, because there is. Think outside the small circle that we all live in as individuals and look at the big circle which is the world. Be like the young couple and know that home is where you make it, anywhere in this world. Don't be afraid like the young man who hung his head in disbelief. Believe that you are worthy to live and be anywhere your heart desires.
Every city has the same basic premise, houses, stores, gas stations, hospital, entertainment, parks etc... and you can find one that adapts to your needs and your desire. The human spirit will adapt to wherever you decided to plant your seed and whatever changes may be in your new environment if you are bold enough to make that move if need be.
So if you are job searching look outside your surrounding area and see where the best opportunities are located for you. If circumstances allow you to, BE BOLD and be willing to move outside your comfort zone for a greater opportunity. As always, we at Ed's Place believe in you and know that greatness awaits you.
I remember hearing the old saying that, "life is too short," and never really taking those words into context. As time passes on you begin to loose key people in your life (parents, older relatives, siblings, friends, class mates etc...) and you begin to realize how it was just yesterday that these people were young, vibrant and enjoying life. A member of Ed's Place talked about the death of her father and how she always wondered if he had the opportunity to do the things in which he wanted to in life. "He was such a giver," she said, "always fulfilling the needs of others." As we continued to conversate she recalled going through his things with her mother after he had passed and how surprised she was of how very little he had in material things. "No real expensive jewelry or man toys, no excess in clothing and not much in his bank account," she sighed. "So many thought he was wealthy," she went on to tell me, "but in reality he was not at all, he had so little."
As I thought more about my conversation with this person I realized that she was wrong. He had more than most of us in life has because he was a giver and that was where he fufilled his needs. His joy and his satisfaction came not from what he had but from what he was able to give to others. What a beautiful human being he was and how much joy he must have received in life while helping all those in which he did. What struck me the most was that he did in life what he wanted to, rather his daughter understood or even I understood, he did what made him happy.
We at Ed's Place write to you today and say, don't worry about how you will be judged in the end when you are no longer living, make your life choices for yourself today while you live. A good life does not consist of how much you accumulate materialistically, it consist of how much you get out of it personally. What is a day to us is but oh but a moment to time Do what makes you feel good, happy, satisfied and fulfilled as long as it does not in any way hurt others. Go for it, grab it, give it away, if that is what you want to do. Don't just search for but find, joy, peace and enjoyment each day because when you really think of it life is too short...
An old man in old clothes was walking down the street and came upon a stranger carrying a bag of grocery. "I am hungry," the old man told the stranger. The stranger looked at the old man in old clothes with discuss and crossed to the other side of the street and went on his way.
The old man in the old clothes continued to walk and came upon another stranger with a beautiful wool coat. "I am cold," the old man with the old clothes said to the stranger. This stranger shoved the old man with the old clothes out of his way and crossed to the other side of the street and like the first stranger continued on his way.
The old man in the old clothes became weary and he sat on a large rock to rest when a third stranger came upon him, too tired to speak the old man with the old clothes hung his head. The third stranger looked at the shivering old man with the old clothes, took his coat off and laid it upon the old mans shoulder, he handed his bag of groceries to the old man in the old clothes and placed in his hands all the money he had in his pocket and without speaking a word the third stranger continued on his way.
That night the third stranger died in his sleep and when he walked through the gates of heaven he saw before him, the old man in the old clothes sitting on his throne.
These are hard times for many. Natural disasters have devastated cities throughout the United States and across the world. The economy is said by many to be at its worst and there are many struggling and in the same position as the "old man in the old clothes." If you are one of those who are fortunate and can help another, we at Ed's Place challenge you to become the third stranger who identified a need without having to be told or having someone ask and showed an act of humanity that others did not.
Give to your local charity, church or school. Volunteer your time to those who need help such as hospitals, non-profit organizations such as ours or kitchens that feed the hungry. Mentor, motivate or encourage someone you know who spirit may be broken. Donate your old clothes to be shipped to people in need (especially shoes) in places like Haiti and Africa.
As the third stranger you too can make a difference and who know one that you help me be someone unexpected. Continue to be blessed.
Ed's Place/www.edsplacetoo.com
