Following Your Destiny

Affirmation:  I am following my destiny.

At 7:00 p.m. on September 9th of this year, 2014, at Barnes and Noble in Cary, NC., I'm going to have a book signing of my book, Creating PositiveAffirmations, Living an Intentional Life.  It's my first event of this type and I've been asking others for advice about what to say.  Most people tell me to explain why I wrote the book.  The book has developed from writing this blog, Creating Positive Affirmations.  Why did I begin writing a blog?  I didn't know how to blog and to be honest I'd never even read a blog but I understood the concept and I had found such strength and peace by creating my affirmations, I wanted others to have that same sense of well-being.  I began writing with the hope that I would make a positive difference in other lives.  I decided that even if my writing only helped one other person, I would consider it a success.

Have you ever had the seed of an idea that you nurtured and then saw it grow?  I believe we all have had the experience of getting an idea and wondering if it's worth investing in.  I'm sure there have been both good and bad ideas that people came up with and went ahead with.  Have you seen the movie or the play The Producers?  It revolves around two men whose idea it is to produce a flop of a play in order to keep all the investment money.  To them it seems like a great idea and they go to all sorts of lengths to make sure the play will not succeed.  They buy an offensive musical script about Hitler, hire a terrible actor to play the lead and get a group of inept performers for the chorus.  It's so bad, it's funny and it becomes an immediate success.  Now, they are in trouble.  It's one example of a bad idea.  Certainly, there are many other examples of bad idea especially those terrible ideas that injure another in any way.   

There are, however, many many examples of good ideas.  Have you see the car commercial when they show all the great businesses that began in a garage?  Amazon, Apple, Google, Disney, Hewlett Packard, Mattel and Harley Davidson are just a few, not to mention all the famous bands that began in garages.  I find it inspirational that some people are willing to listen to those inner urgings and follow through with creating something new and wonderful.   

I've had at least two obvious times in my life, other than when I chose to marry Sandy, when I followed that inner voice, or maybe God's voice and seen something wonderful come about.  The first of these was the creation of the Pink Ribbon Yoga Retreat.  At the time of this entry we are just finishing our tenth retreat, thirty four women breast cancer survivors attended for four days at the NC beach.  The seed of the idea was planted in me and it must have been meant to be because once it began to take root, it grew and grew until we now have this wonderful yearly event to benefit any woman who wants to come who has been treated for breast cancer.  It's been miraculous. 
 

The second time was when I kept writing this blog until I had enough entries to put together into a book.  I've listened to many people share their desire to write a book.  I never had that desire.  While I love to sit and journal, that's just for me.  It's my way of centering, clearing and focusing.  I don't concern myself with the grammar or the punctuation.  I just write.  I love the feel of the ball point pen on the paper and watching the miracle of the words appearing on the paper.  Writing for an audience was never part of my plan but here I sit   Sometimes there are things we are simply supposed to do.  I am supposed to write about affirmations.  I am supposed to share with others my failings and fears and challenges and how I've come to not just handle those imperfections, but how I am able to neutralize them or perhaps even turn them into blessings.  I consider myself to be a fairly normal average person and I believe if I can make myself better off because I've found a way to perceive life from a positive perspective, most people will also be able to accomplish that and if I can be of service to even one person and maybe to many more, then that's what I'm supposed to do and so I write. This is my 185th blog post.

I write with the hope that I lift the spirits and the hopes of anyone who chooses to take the time to read these pages, who chooses to read my book.  I write because I feel like it's my responsibility, my mission, my destiny.  I know I cannot cure the world but I can offer what I have learned about hope and about the the tools necessary to live a fuller, richer more blessed life.  May these words and stories do just that for you.  May they give you the gifts of peace and strength and make the world seem less onerous and more beautiful.  May these words empower you and may they help bring you to a place of serenity and hope.