I want to be a farmer. Not in the traditional sense maybe, but I want land and huge, beautiful gardens. I'm tired of working for other people. I want to do something with my life that gives back to the Earth we live on. To it's people. I want something positive to leave my children.
My wife and I have a dream to own land one day. We want to grow food organically and give it to our community when they need it. We want to invite people out for bonfires and cooking. We want to own a food truck that we can drive down through Seattle and feed the homeless with. We want to have clothing and coat drives in the late summer and early fall so that we can give them to those less fortunate who must brave the elements in the colder season.
I am tired of spending 2/3 of my day away from my family because survival depends on it. I am tired of other people dictating my future.
I can picture a Mead Hall (I don't know what else to call it, it resembles something I saw on Vikings) on our land where we throw parties and feasts when the weather is fowl. Large fireplaces on each end of the room with a smaller (maybe gas) fireplace that runs the length of the hall down the center of it. Large wooden tables are set up on either side of the middle fire pit and I picture friends and family sitting on either side laughing and eating.
I see beautiful gardens and pastures of wildflowers. I want to work all day with my kids and wife in the mud and dirt maintaining them.
I picture my older children taking my younger children out (and grandchildren) and building forts in the woods. I see a large guest house where family comes to stay often.
This is just a glimpse of what my wife and I have discussed. We have no idea how we are going to get there either. But we believe that someday we will have it. And, from what the Universe has taught me, that's the biggest part of it.
Last night my wife got me thinking hard about it again. I had been side tracked by life's follies lately. Today I am back on course. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in life is that yesterday does not define who you are today.
I am not the same man my older children knew. They don't understand that. They have an image of a guy they used to know, and a couple of them hold onto that with a passion. I can't blame them, they think that they have to be who the world thinks they are still themselves. There comes a time in everyone's life, I believe, that they decide they are who they are and stop trying to be this version of themselves that will make everyone else happy. Some call that selfish, as if that is a bad thing. But it's not.
You see, until you come to a place where you can be the best version of yourself for nobody else but you, then you can't be that person for anyone else either. And until you understand that it really doesn't matter what other people think about you, then I don't think you can be as compassionate to others as you are meant to be.
We weren't put on this Earth to hoard our wealth and to envy other people. We were put here to do our best individually so that we can be a part of something greater. We thrive in communities, we nourish with our love, and we find ourselves in giving back to others.
When you get on board with that knowledge it truly is amazing to see how the Universe just puts things in your path to make it easier.
I was stressing about today. It's a turning point for me at work, a new opportunity that I was a little afraid of. Until last night. My wife, without even knowing it, set me straight. Today I embrace change, and I welcome any new adventure. Only in resistance to it do we find hardship.
Today, take the time to look around at all the amazing things that surround you. Literally stop and smell the flowers. Hug a tree. Walk barefoot in the mud. It's in the small, seemingly mundane things that we find the most beauty. Nothing about your life is by accident, it was all influenced by your decisions. Doesn't it stand to reason then that if you are unhappy with what you see, you can simply decide to start looking for something else?
Without change there can be no change, change the way you look at things and the things you look at change!
Understand that life is short and so precious. Don't waste it worrying about what other people think of you when their thoughts are none of your business.
I am taken care of. I will always come out on top. I don't rely on other people to lift me up, my happiness is not their responsibility. I alone have the power to choose happiness even if everything seems to be going wrong.
Today do something nice for you. Then share it with someone else. There is power in that.
