There is no reason to brag about where we’ve been. There’s no reason for us to compare scars or place honor where honor doesn’t belong. Sometimes we place honor where honor does not deserve to be placed. And yet, I notice that we still do it. I know people that have been to jail, countless times, and they carry their paperwork as if this validates them. They show their collars and the leash that kept them stuck. I have met with people that swear they’ll never go back to their old lifestyle. And yet, sometimes months, weeks, days and in some cases even hours later, they found themselves right back at it.

There is a great phenomenon that takes place when we simplify our life and break down all the complications and intimidations which stand in our way. Suddenly, the elephant in the room isn’t around or so uncomfortable anymore. The big bad wolf isn’t so big or bad. And we see things clearer now.
There is an amazing aftermath that takes place after we deactivate the distractions that grow in our mind, like weeds that suffocate the roots of our dreams, goals, plans and restrict the strategies we’d used to achieve them.

Did I ever tell you about my friend Clear Shot? For the record, Clear Shot wasn’t his birth name. No, this is his nickname. The reason for his nickname was because Clear Shot would create sprinkler drawings for commercial office buildings.
There are old buildings throughout New York City that were built before current standards as the new buildings we have today. Enter my friend Clear Shot.
His job was to sketch a plan for the Department of Buildings to have on file. The drawings were detailed prints which designed the plan; and the details of this work needed to be done according to the plan upon inspection. However, anyone in the construction business knows to always expect the unexpected.

I am going to begin here at this line, which I call the start of my day. The sunrise is climbing higher now. The sun does not carry much warmth this morning and the snow on the ground is pretty to say the least. I am going to start here, at the beginning of my day with hopes to unchain myself from the process of thought.

I say this because this is very important. I say this because our thinking is impactful and can either be our source of empowerment or a tragic downfall, depending upon our angle. And here we are again. We are trapped in a sense, but yet free, or either or. We are able and capable or yet, internally, we are not free at all if we find ourselves locked up or stuck in a crazy mind set. We are not free if we overthink or over analyze. Instead, we are held here in our personal purgatory; unable to move onwards and afraid to be left back.

Something we seldom realize is the word never is a really long time. So is always and certainly, so is forever. So are the ideas we think, which we assume will last forever, like say, the heartbreak we feel during our first crush. Or think about the moments of humiliation. Think  about the times we were hurt or embarrassed to the point we never thought we would get over it and we promised ourselves, “I am never going through that again.”

I am sure there are countless times we have all said, “I’m never going to do that again!” and yet, mysteriously, never only seems to last a few days.

If you ask me, I’ll tell you. And the answer is sure, I have a dream. I have ideas and I have hopes. I have them the same as I have my flesh and blood. And I say it this way because this is my body. This is my brain. And the hopes I share and the dreams I tell you about are as real as my mind, body and soul. They are not meant to be a secret. I say this because it used to be that I would never dare to tell a soul. I would never dare to say what my dreams were or what my hopes were. I would never do this because they were too real and too raw. Plus, what if I mentioned them aloud and then found out that none of them would ever came true. Then what?

The truth is I don’t know who really understands or who doesn’t. The truth is you and I can look at the same thing, and yet, we can both see something completely different. Whether you and I or anyone else sees life the same way is not as important as the fact that we all have a life to live. We both have our own ways of thinking, We have our own views and our own choices to make. The truth is we all have life at our doorstep, each and every day. There is no escaping this.