14Sep 2014 by CJ

Seems happiness isn’t the ONLY purpose in life

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
Famed writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” I find his rather candid statement to be somewhat contradictory. After all, thousands of self- help gurus have written countless books on the subject of personal happiness and now all of a sudden Mr. Emerson is saying that “the purpose of life is not to be happy”? I don’t get it! But in all seriousness folks, I do get it. When our lives come to an end, and they all will someday, the only thing that will matter is how much good you did for someone besides yourself – how…
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12Sep 2014 by CJ

Oftentimes it’s the little things that remind us of home

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
It’s six o’clock in the morning and I’m sitting here with a steaming hot cup of coffee writing this blog post. It’s still black as coal outside, with a light rain gently tapping against my bedroom window. I’m somewhat surprised I didn’t wake up to the first snowfall of the season, as temperatures in Colorado had dropped to 34 degrees overnight. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the up and down climate here in my new state, but it does keep it exciting – never knowing what to expect from one day to the next when you walk out your front door. (taking a sip of my coffee) Up until now the only clothes we’ve needed to pull from storage tubs sitting in our oversized closet or from…
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11Sep 2014 by CJ
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the art of enduring

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the art of enduring

Life & Living, Youth
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” Mary Anne Radmacher People are often confused by the word “courage”. Many believe it’s about physical strength and the absence of fear in their heart and their mind. But as Radmacher says in the above quote, “courage doesn’t always roar”. It’s often not some impressive act of heroism or intense bravery in the face of adversity. No, many times courage is found during ordinary days and less than extraordinary circumstances. Sadly we often dismiss just how courageous we all are because of how insignificant it may appear in the eyes of those always searching for sensational headlines and grandiose displays. But I assure you, on any given day,…
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10Sep 2014 by CJ

Planning is great, but can you adjust when things don’t go your way?

Life & Living
Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Many times we start out with a realistic, achievable plan in life – one we’ve taken great time to nurture and revise based on circumstances we forgot to include when we started. But what I’ve come to understand in my almost 40 years of living is that plans rarely go the way we “plan” them in our heads. This derailment of expectations can oftentimes lead us to an unfamiliar environment with no road map or contingency plan to help us navigate through the uncharted waters of life. For some it’s cause for anxiety and even sadness – feeling utterly defeated at the failure of what…
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09Sep 2014 by CJ

It seems society has forgotten what true communication really is

Life & Living
Forgive me, but I feel the need to repeat myself on the subject of communication. This was posted a year ago on The View from Here, and sadly not much has changed. In fact I think the problem’s gotten worse. Emails, voicemails and text messages are all acceptable means of communication in our technologically advanced society. I believe that no matter which method you choose to deliver your message, a response would be an appropriate expectation, right? Sometimes I really wonder if I’m completely invisible or dead and don’t know it. It seems no matter how I choose to communicate (personally or professionally) people don’t always feel that compelled to get back to me with a proper response. But maybe it really isn’t me. George Bernard Shaw once wrote that…
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