The Sounds of Silence

I’ve been relatively quiet on here lately, and I wish I could say that it was done purposefully to emphasize the point of this blog. Happy accident I assure you. It did however help to inspire this blog, so I hope the message hits home.

Silence. Calmness. Stillness. Tranquility. All of these things make up major parts of my character. They also make for a great lesson in taking it all in. There are times when we are all exceptionally busy. And when we get that way, we, a lot of times, lose sight of those little things that are important. And that brings me to my overall message. Make sure to take some time for yourself, and make sure that some of that time is spent just enjoying the silence. While few of us have the opportunity to experience the true solitude that nature would bring us, away from the hustle and bustle of the human world, we can still find a source of tranquility that is accessible to us.

Again, a brief message from me, but still something that is very important to us all. Taking time to hear the sound of silence helps us keep a certain peace of mind that will make our lives better, and by extension the lives of those around us.

A Change of Faith

Many people face challenges every single day of their lives. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that all of us face challenges of some sort at least once or twice a week, if not more. Some challenges are small, some challenges change our lives forever.

Those of you who know me personally know that I’ve had a lot of moments like this in my life, especially over the last few years. And those of you who have known me for more than a few years know that I didn’t always handle stress well. I was a very angry adolescent and was shaping up to be a very angry man. I was waiting for the world to provide me with some justice. I was waiting for the world to be fair. And at that point it dawned on me that the world wasn’t going to change for me. Life wasn’t going to make itself any easier. It wasn’t going to just start making sense. I had to look at the world with a new perspective. I had to be the change I wanted to see in the world.

This was a wholly new concept to me, so I didn’t really know how to handle it. I knew how my life had been up to that point and I knew that things weren’t exactly going my way. I had to look at the root of my problems, and that root, I knew, lay deep within my soul.

For the purpose of brevity, which is my style as you can see in my other postings, I will spare you the details of my tedious journey for attempted redemption and repeated failure. Suffice it to say, my salvation rest in religion, and not the one I was currently a part of. Not to take away from that particular faith, but it just didn’t work for me. What I needed was a change in perspective. My world was falling apart, and there was nothing I could do, but change my view of it. So I began to study the various religions, philosophies, and sciences for something that could help me explain this crazy messed up world of mine. And after a time of searching, I eventually found my paradise. I found the change I needed to make in my life to help me get through the tough times. It wasn’t easy to make the changes necessary to improve my life, but it was however worth the effort. I have found a sense of peace and calmness that I hadn’t known before. I have found a way to manage life’s little difficulties and improve the quality of life for myself and for those around me (I hope). And I haven’t looked back.

A lot of times we find ourselves struggling to explain life. We look for meaning in things that have happened and we look for answers to the tough questions of life. However, when we are looking for these answers, we spend so much of our time looking externally for the answers, we don’t always look within ourselves for the answers we seek. Even though that is where those answers are generally found. Now, I’m not saying that any time you have a bad day you should go out and change your whole lifestyle. I just think we should all make sure we take some time to reflect on our own lives and make sure we know who we are and what brings us comfort. That way, when life throws us something we aren’t necessarily ready for, we know where to turn to help get us through it.

Auld Lang Syne

As we welcome in a new year, we all usually like to take a moment and look back on the year we’ve had. The people we’ve loved and the people we’ve lost. The amazing experiences we’ve had, and the opportunities lost. Who we were at the beginning of this year compared to who we are at the end. This is all a natural reaction to the passing of time.

That being said, I’ve been reflecting on the changes that have happened around me over this last year. My memory being what it is, it’s sometimes difficult for me to remember who I was 12 minutes ago, much less 12 months. One thing that has changed for me is my desire to help people. I’m not entirely sure where it came from, but in the last year I started the Global Transfusion Movement (via facebook.com and now this blog). This movement’s only goal was to encourage people to be better, treat others better, and make this crummy world a better place. Now that I’ve been on this mission for almost a year now, I’m not seeing the impact I would have liked, and it makes me wonder if it’s an impossible mission. The whole “marketing strategy” for GTM was to have our members spread the word to their friends and for us to grow and make a difference that way. But with that not happening and the world around me not changing very much, it makes me wonder if it’s worth it? Is there any way to make an impact, or is this world just destined to devolve into a complete cesspool? A very disheartening approach to what I hoped to be my life’s work (outside of raising my family of course). But then I realized something very crucial to the success of my mission. I can’t change the world, but I can change my world. I can make things better for my family, myself, and the people that I affect every day. And with any luck, those people will get on board and start making a difference, but even if they don’t, that’s ok. If I can leave the world just a little bit better than it was when I got here. If I can make small improvements each day, or each year, then the world may never be a good place, but it can be a whole lot less terrible than it is now. And if all this movement, all this blog, and all this time does is make the world just slightly better, than it’ll be worth it.

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. All the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you ever can.” – John Wesley –