If I were to truly explain what this entry is about you'd judge the book by it's cover. In fact if you have a difficult time dealing with reality I suggest you don't pull your vehicle in. Life is a series of changes and challenges, victories and reasons to grow outward a quarter inch at a time. We love to pull things toward us without realizing at any given moment it can be taken away. But how do you deal with it? Anger? Depression? Do you instantly get locked up on new vices that send your already awkward path into a spin before you win? Writing with truth is how I deal with faith. Growing up is what we are invited to do everyday. It's something so many never get used to. Mainly because it's too easy to wear a mask.

I recently sat in the forest paying close attention to the changing of the leaves. Slowly one by one they'd drift to the earth below. I love to people watch. There's a dance that we do during times of challenge and or reasons to want to grow forward. Body language says a lot and most of the time those carrying the message have no clue what they're sending out. During those bouts with doubt and or shame where does the energy come to remain faithfully strong and unbent? Where do you locate peace during times of thunder? And if the storms are too strong is it because unknowingly we've halted the energy of the universe from physically entering us? A lot of questions but that's how you begin to grow forward. Ask them out loud so you can find focus on days when leaves are changing only to fall so gracefully to the planet below. During your times of change is it always a hard fall or is it a dance you've gotten used to? Where do you grow next?

These are some trying times. So many unexpected headlines and business decisions causing horrible shades of stress leading to fear. How can we survive the attacks inside an age of where it's OK to tell employees to work free of charge during overtime hours? Society bounces back in ways that make very dark headlines. That in itself causes fear to pop its shell and begin a process of growing roots. World leaders with potty mouths and no desire to back off. It's all there! Every reason to begin trusting fear. Which isn't a good field to plant new dreams, ambitions and reasons for being. What if it wasn't up to you? When the "J" guy was in the garden shortly before his arrest he fell to his knees and said, "Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” I'm no scholar but many have argued about this story and lesson. I don't see "J" fearing but rather giving. Use it as a lesson on your own personal journey. The first sign of thunder clouds rather than running for cover give your season to the maker of rain.

I was moved by a thought that filled my heart while talking to a legend in music. It flooded my process to the point of taking the words into the forest. I wanted to better understand why in the center of such an incredible conversation something so moving leaped into my heart and then onto a page. The weird thing about being a writer. What once moved you has a way of steering you toward deeper waters and valley floors. As much as I was inspired by the short little paragraph that touched my soul. I somehow made my way into another paragraph about standing in front of God. I was asked about what I was thinking while on the path. With so much thought he felt I wasn't serving him but myself. That's an eye opener. Because how many of us say we're in it all the way for the Great Creator but everything we do points us to serving ourselves first? This isn't a Bible thumping message but rather an openness about being aware of your presence in the present. Do your actions and reactions meet the command?

I've spent a lot of time in mediation studying what it means to live in the presence of the present. There's a huge amount of energy waiting to be tapped into. But too often we allow the outside world to crack the code. Putting focus on being in the present allows the movement of all things to become part of your awareness. There are large amounts of natural songs being given birth while putting colors in the sky that no maker of paint can copy or erase. Growing within the shapes and shade of being present in the now isn't a healing task but it does open your heart to the availability of insight. You're able to patiently study the waters flooding your personal goals and ambitions while trying to put purpose in the dented wall you keep hitting. Put down the purpose and operate a better plan. Just because the Preacher up front is spouting that God told him this and that and yes and no should never put your heart in a state of wow I am alone because I never get to hear such things. Trust and Faith take on an entirely different appearance when the openness of the present is allowed to take up shop in the visions you keep setting aside. Locate a place of peace. Go there to only listen. Soon you'll start to write. Then you'll begin a journey of activation. It's a choice. One that requires time. I mean look how long it took you to get here.

We keep hearing how there's too much noise in the world. So much so world leaders are building devices and shooting them off into space just so people can hear his voice. But what happens when chance and opportunity put you inside a forest. Not just any collection of trees but rather on this particular day everything within the limbs and leaves was completely silent. You were sent to sit in the forest not to listen to your heart or study the incredible art of a far out creator. Your mission that day was to do nothing more than understand what it means to be in the presence of the present. Not to use today. But to store away. To study. To return to during moments of furthered lessons. Staring at a blank wall is no different. But do you respect the silence or quickly try to fill it with whatever's passing by?

Science has gotten really good at predicting weather. Through man made technology we can spot a collection of swirling clouds days away from where we presently stand. So often I hear people talk about unexpected things always creating storms in their personal lives. It's followed with, "I never saw it coming." But we can predict the storms. The paths are laid out hours and sometimes days in advance. We choose not to listen to the signals. Being a daily writer I'm able to view word formations that point the writer in directions of decisions being made. Being aware of where you are is living in the moment. Mindfully we can hear the future arriving and can correct certain situations before they take shape. But it requires a lot of work. Especially in an age when most of us can't listen to a full song on the radio. Stop participating with the next thing and hear your journey as it's taking shape.

The things we are missing are the things we keep taking. What if we weren't supposed to have it? What if making such a comment was speaking to our over zealous behavior of always wanting something bigger and better than what we already have? It's extremely difficult to walk into any business and truly find a person with deep happiness. I can spot a fake within 15 seconds of making eye contact. It's almost as if the employee is screaming for help "Get me out of here." Call me crazy right? I accept that. But you didn't complete the presented thought. The goal was to make you aware of how possible it can be to reignite the juices that gave you hope in the positions you hold in the business world. Many jobs get filled with the wrong people? Or is there something in the deeper picture? The things we're missing are the things we keep taking. I challenge you to put it back.

Like a great movie or favorite song the most recent total solar eclipse is still very much alive in my everyday walk. I can't help but wonder if its because my focus during those three minutes of transformation were off the physical bright light becoming dim and more on the reaction of everything around me. Sitting inside the forest to fall witness to how the other living things reacted to something that has been taught to us by way of science, education and social media endlessly discussing that golden moment. The birds disappearing from the scene was a unique experience only to hear a single owl hoot four times in the center of the eclipse. But that wasn't the only exchange of natural expression. The temperature changed in ways that invited a breeze which gave the leaves on the trees a reason to move rather than look down. It was within that moment that I realized something so simple... this must be a visual of what loneliness looks like. No light to warm and no sound to soothe. Only an owl that kept his guarantee to protect those walking in distance.

In the movie Beautiful Mind Russell Crowe's character not only dealt with but lived with several mental beasts. Those voices in your head and heart that seem to always win invisible confrontations. Within my daily writing I've often described them as being faceless beasts. When you look in the mirror you can't see them. When you speak with others they can't find any shape they carry anywhere on your frame. A faceless beast isn't always evil. If you look around they're everywhere. People that act one way at work or school but are completely opposite when in different places. The roles we play are the image of the beast within. We become so that we can't be overcome. We rely on the energy of the beast to move us through moments. By giving them a little power it serves as an invitation for them to stay. Eventually taking control of decisions. When the environment changes but the beast stays the same... Now we have the struggle. Winning before the beast arrives is a step in the right direction.