I love reading Joel Osteen, I have all his books, and if I wake up in the middle of the night feeling anxious, I read a few of his pages and instantly feel better. This morning I was re-reading Starting Your Best Life Now and specifically, the chapter Dare to Unpack Your Dreams, and the sentence, “What do you want to do with your Life?” made me think. What do I really want to do with my life? Sometimes, I have the thought that I am too old to have dreams. I’ve already lived 66 good years, how many more can I expect to have? But that is a defeatist thought. It’s the kind of thought that will keep a person in bed or just lolling through life aimlessly…and I am not up for that!
So I thought what do I want to do with the rest of my life? The usual dreams popped immediately into my head: write blogs, write a best-selling book, be on stage talking about my books etc., etc. And that is all well and good to have big dreams, but those are not my life. My life is being with family and friends and co-workers. My life is doing the small every day things; emptying the dishwasher, taking my daughter’s dog for a walk, playing with my grandchildren, flying to VA hospitals to teach workshops and so on.
If I’m unhappy because a plane has been delayed, or a family member is upset, or my finances are in a mess, then I am not having joy in my heart for my life. Life is the people in it and I love the people in my life…every one of them. And what I realize is that we are all connected; even the people who made the lamp that I read by, the laptop that I type on, or the house that I live in. And when I think of the millions of people who have envisioned all these things in my life–things that elevate my life to such a high degree–then how can I ever be depressed, sad or unhappy?
It is impossible to be anything other than happy, when I remember what an amazing life this is–what a fantastic and magical planet we live on–and what a beautiful moment it is to take in a wonderful deep breath of air! Breathe my friend….breathe and be thankful for this moment.
Combat Moves to Kick Depression 