The universe is constantly moving. It is constantly doing things with or without your consent. Stock markets collapse, people get promoted, people get fired. The world spins madly on. It may all look like chaos, it may look like a mess, but the fact is that there is a pattern; we are just too small to see it.

Life gives you a choice, you can either roll with the punches or you can stand up for yourself and fight. We lose so many opportunities because we don’t have the courage to seize them. We are afraid of failure and we are even afraid of our own greatness, so we sit back and let opportunity pass us by. We could have had a great love with our first crush, we could have gotten that big promotion in the office, but we don’t, because we never asked. We never asked our crush how they felt, we never asked our superiors to consider us for a higher position or we never turned that idea into a business.

Then we complain. We never got what we feel we deserved. We never got what we didn’t ask for, what we didn’t fight for. Of course we don’t put it in those words. We say that life is unfair, that we are undervalued, that we are unlucky.

I believe that life isn’t something that just happens to us. We make our lives what they are by our actions and our inactions. We are the ones to blame. We are not puppets dancing to the beat of a puppet master. We are individuals capable of shaping our own destinies. We are responsible for our own choices.

If your life is not what you want it to be, then that is because you aren’t surrendering and doing enough. It’s easy to place blame on external factors. That is our coping mechanism. The truth is that we don’t have the things we want, simply because we never asked.

We all have goals in life. We want to be rich, we want to be successful, we want to be famous, we want, we want and we want some more. There are many ways to get what we want. Some people inherit their money, some get lucky and win the lottery and some work hard to earn every penny. At the end of the day the heiresses, the lottery winners and the hard workers, have all achieved their goal of being rich. As for being famous, you can be famous for a number of things, some good and some bad.

Life is not about being rich or being famous, life is about the things you do to become rich or famous. Life is about how you stay rich and/or famous. When you are standing at the peak of the mountain, it’s not about standing at the peak, it’s about the climb. The steps we take to get what we want are what matter. Because a goal is something you achieve at one particular point in your life but the things you do to achieve that goal, those are things that make up your everyday life.

If all you really wanted was to get to the peak, you could have your self flown up, but the point is to make the journey. The joy is in the hard work. The things you are going to remember are the thing that happened on the way. The stress, the relief when you round a dangerous bend, the fortitude it took to keep going even when all you wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep.

There will always be obstacles in your way. How you faced those obstacles, how you overcame them, those are the stories that make up a life. To quote Miley Cyrus, ‘It’s not about how fast I get there; it’s not about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.’

A lot of people think black cats are unlucky. There is a popular belief that says a rabbit’s foot brings good luck. You should never open an umbrella inside the house and a three leaf clover is a sign a good fortune. I couldn’t help but wonder, why a rabbit’s foot? Why not a rabbit’s tail? Or ear? Why not a mongoose’s foot? Why is it ok to wear a raincoat inside the house but it’s not okay to open an umbrella?

Is there any truth to these beliefs? If yes, what gave these objects their power? How come a rabbit’s foot is lucky, but a mongoose’s foot is just a foot? What makes these objects special? Do they have some intrinsic power? Or is it that they are special because we believe they are. Do black cats really bring bad luck? Or is that bad things sometimes just happen and we blame them on the cat?

We associate feelings to everything in the world around us. We have convinced ourselves that cockroaches are disgusting. The scientific fact is that they are the cleanest insect alive. We associate fear and disgust with a cockroach. The cockroach itself is just a cockroach. Just like a foot is just a foot, we are the ones who believe it is lucky.

If holding on to a rabbit’s foot gives a person peace of mind, if it makes them feel a little more confident, does it matter if their belief is false? Is there something wrong with associating good feelings to an object to make your self feel better? Is it really such a bad thing to believe in something ridiculous if it eases your anxiety? No it isn’t. There is no harm in having beliefs, just remember that life is only as good, or bad as you think it is.

I was watching the news yesterday and saw a piece about the spread of Swine flu in India. There is mass panic in the country; it was the same situation in Mexico as well. This got me thinking about fear. Why does the virus always cause panic and worry wherever it surfaces. What are we so afraid of?

Are we afraid of death? At least three people in any city of the world die everyday, in road accidents. Rape and murder claim more lives than we can count. Still, we aren’t afraid of the road. We aren’t afraid of the hundreds of people we cross in the street.

Are we afraid of the flu? We know what causes the disease. The symptoms are clearly defined. If caught early on it can be cured. In a few months time there will even be a vaccine. Then there are diseases like cancer. We don’t know what causes it, the symptoms are varied and erratic and we may never find a cure to cancer. When we step out of our doors, we don’t even think about the fact that when we come home we may have cancer, or HIV or a hundred other dangerous diseases. So we’re not afraid of the flu, the flu is nothing new. We’re afraid because there is nothing we can do to fight it.

We can however, have faith. Faith in the fact that even as we read these words, smarter and sharper minds than ours are getting closer and closer to finding a cure. There is no point in panicking. There is no point making a hue-cry, because sometimes our fear is only a response to feeling helpless.

A few years ago, I read a book about a boy who was given a worry stone. He had had some tragedy in his life, and he was frightened of the changes swirling about him. Whenever he felt worried, he was told to rub this worry stone. Now that I’m hopefully a little wiser, I wonder about the wisdom of a worry stone. It was supposed to alleviate his stress, but wouldn’t accidentally touching that stone in his pocket, which signifies worry and fear, make him feel even more worried and fearful? It seems reasonable to me, since it’s the embodiment of all those negative emotions.

I think people should rethink the worry stone; it should be thought of as a comfort stone instead. Why not imbue this symbolic stone with such positive energy as hope, faith, peace, love, believe, or whatever other positive aspect you need. Rub your comfort stone to remind yourself to hope and to believe that good things are going to happen to you. Your “worry stone,” now a “comfort stone,” will be a constant reminder that your dreams can come true, and you can live a very peaceful and satisfying life.

Keep your comfort stone nearby – be it in your pocket, purse, desk drawer, or wherever you can easily reach for it. When you need some positive affirmations throughout your day, touch it and think good thoughts – positive and peaceful thoughts. Soon you’ll train yourself to automatically feel positive and peaceful, even during difficult times.

Turn your worry stone into a comfort stone; turn your life into a positive and peaceful direction by flipping negatives into positives!

I have an aunt. Whenever she pours something she says, “Say ‘when’.” Of course I never reply, she just stops pouring when the glass gets full. She’s my aunt, she likes me, and she knows when it’s time to stop, even if I don’t say it. I sometimes wonder, what would happen if she didn’t stop? Would the liquid keep pouring? Would it spill on the table or would she place a new glass under it? Would the jug ever just, run out?

Bad things happen in life, to everyone. The universe can be quite nasty. It will knock you down and then, kick you when you’re down. It doesn’t stop. Most of us can’t survive the onslaught long enough for the jug to run out. Those of us that do start to wonder why we even bothered to hold on.

At such times, it’s best to just say it. Just say when. Only you can. Only you can make it stop. The universe will listen to those who speak up. If you’re having a bad time, say when and the universe will stop pouring trouble your way. Ask for better and you’ll get it.

Then there are the times when we don’t want it to stop. When the universe is good, oh, it can be so good. Then we want it all. Even after we have it all, we want more. At such times, enough is never enough. Keep asking for more and the jug won’t run out, at least not at a time when you’re around to notice.

Say when. Sometimes you need to stand up and say that you have reached the brink. Sometimes, you have to take action if you expect a change. Then there are the times you wish nothing would change. The glass is bottomless. If you want something and like something, go after it, or at the very least ask for it. The universe is listening.

When we are born we don’t have too many thoughts. We think about things like, we’re hungry, we’re thirsty, we’re sleepy and so on. We don’t know too much about anything. We don’t have opinions about anything. As we grow up we learn things. We learn that it is good to share. It’s not good to hit people. We learn that people can be mean and that mom’s, though not always right, will always love you.

Most of what we learn is good, but sometimes, in the process of growing up, we pick up some ideas that are not so good. Some people are taught that they should always think of themselves first, that it’s okay to kill an animal for sport and that, boys don’t cry. We are all made up of our ideas and our beliefs. I propose that, ‘You are what you think’.

How many of us take the time to question our beliefs? You may have an opinion about something, but have you ever thought about whether or not that opinion is yours? Are you a vegetarian because you don’t believe in killing animals, or because that is how you were raised? Do you hate a particular place because you hate it, or because that’s what you heard from the people around you?

I know so many people who believe in something but have no idea why they believe in it. They don’t even know when they started believing in it. Some beliefs can be dangerous. No person is born evil. So many crimes are committed in the name of personal beliefs.

If people took the time to examine their core opinions, maybe we would live in a world without war, hate crimes or racism, a world in which boys could cry.

A few days ago, I heard the latest song by ‘Flipsyde’. The song is called ‘When it was Good’. Produced by ‘Red-One’, it’s a catchy tune. What really got my attention, wasn’t the foot taping, head bobbing beat; it was the lyrics belted out by new band member, Chantelle Paige. In the song while reminiscing about the good days of her relationship, she sings, “I wish it would, would be that good, when we were sitting on top of the world.” This line reminded me of the countless people who say the same thing.

We’ve all met those people, who have fallen on hard times and love to talk about the good old days. The guy who dropped out of college and now talks about how he would have been a superstar, if he’d stuck to his education. The woman whose business is suffering from the economic slowdown and say’s that she used to have it all; she used to be on top of the world. They talk about the things they used to do. How awesome everything used to be, but what are they doing now? Nothing. They seem to have accepted their fate. They think they’ve missed their chance and lost it all. I don’t agree.

There is always something you can do. If you think, a better education would get you a better life; find a way to go back to school. If your business has slowed down, expand your field, try a new strategy, and get creative. There is no point in reminiscing. All you get from reminiscing is nostalgia.

I think it’s always better to get proactive. It’s good to remember past accomplishments, but you cannot live in the past. Stop thinking, ‘When it was good’ and start saying, ‘let’s make it right.’

We all enter this world with nothing; innocent, untainted and naked. Then we start to live our lives and the innocence gets rubbed away. We go from stage to stage, always looking for something, a good college, a good job and a good companion. We look for approval, validation and most importantly, we are constantly looking, for meaning. We slog day in and day out, in the hope that we will leave a mark on the world, that when we are gone, we will leave behind a legacy. When our life cycle comes to an end, we leave this world with nothing. Naked as we came. Why is it that we are always looking for meaning in the external, in the after life, in a higher place?

They say our deeds make us immortal. The legends of the past will live forever because of the legacy they leave behind, but time erases all. Even the greatest and the mightiest are forgotten over time. A lot of things are done in their name, things I don’t think they would approve of. So, if you will be forgotten anyway, why do anything at all? Why live? We live because only living can give life, a meaning. There is no need to look for meaning in the after life. Do good things to feel good. Have fun to have fun. Be nice because it’s nice to be nice.

We come into this world and we leave this world with nothing. I believe that life can only have meaning in the ‘now’. So live each moment to the fullest. Your life will have meaning only if it means something to you. After all, when it comes down to it, we would be lucky to even end up as specks in the grand tapestry of time and even then, those specks would fade away as more time passes.

Have you ever done something without having any persuasive reason for doing it? Talked to a stranger not because they were good looking or smelt fantastic, but for no reason at all? Stayed away from a place not because it looked dangerous or had a bad reputation but because you had a feeling? Have you ever used the phrase ‘I just had this vibe.’? I’m sure the majority of us would answer that question with a ‘yes’. The reason for this is, whether we are conscious of it or not, most of us are aware of the fabric of the universe that connects all the things in it to one another. We are all part of the same field of energy and we communicate with everything through this energy with the help of vibrations. Even if we are not conscious of this communication it is continuous and carried out with or without our approval. Having a feeling or a vibe about something is nothing more than our conscious mind picking up on a message being sent to us by an energy field in our surrounding. Some people refer to this as intuition others a lucky guess. But a rose with any other name would still smell as sweet. The accuracy of these feelings can be disconcertingly correct.

More often than anything we pick up ‘vibes’ from people. This is because people are always sending out vibrations into the universe. They may be good or bad. It is important that we train ourselves to pick up on these and be careful about the vibrations we send out into our surroundings, because what you attract depends on how you vibrate. If you are able to understand the vibrations coming from people you will be able to understand their motives as well. Remember the next time you say, ‘I just got this vibe’ your not talking about some abstract emotion but an actual ‘vibration’.