It’s been an unwritten rule for me to not say “I told you so,” to people when it goes down just as I thought it would. My children are most likely excluded from my childish remarks – unless of course its’ something that is a serious matter.

Mostly because I don’t like it when people say that to me. I think to myself, “They had no idea that result was going to happen.” But, nevertheless the words come out of their mouth as if they are as sure as the sky is blue. Bottom line: Every dog has his day. It’s not about who is right or wrong. For me, it’s about helping receptive people, kind people, loving people be better. In fact, be the best they can be.

That is sooooo much more gratifying to see someone soar in success after numerous attempts at something they were unable to accomplish before, than indulging your ego in a snarky phrase like that.

I always strive to take each and every moment for itself and not let them blend into one another. To get muddled. I’m only human, so there is a lot of work to do. It would seem when rough patches are present, parceling out a glimpse of sunshine amongst the stormy skies can make all the difference for me. Just as with life there is death and with light there is dark, it would be hard to appreciate the moments we enjoy (the good) unless we had the other type (not so good) to compare them to.

Often, when times become the most grim is when it is the most clear to me of what a good moment looks like and how grateful I am to have it show up. In addition, what I work to do is not judging each moment as “good” or “bad”. It’s a moment. It’s an outcome. Learn something from it or not and move on. But, that’s all it is: a moment in time. It doesn’t represent what the rest of our lives are going to look like . Nor the next moment. Let it go. “Good” or “bad.”

And so we erase the slate clean as we move on knowing the past does not equal the future and we must expect greatness to come our way. Otherwise I’m convinced we attract less than stellar circumstances that come our way. Don’t get caught up with the results. That’s not important. It’s moving forward and expecting the best that is.

Everyone knows what a rough day looks like. Whether things went south on a particular job or you blew the meeting because you were asked a question and it made you looked unprepared or personal tragedy struck and you find yourself wondering how are you going to move forward with your day let alone for the rest of your life.

Well, I’m here to tell you: I don’t know what the #&££ to do. Here is what I do know. The sun is always shining behind the rain clouds or another way of saying it is: this too, shall pass. I can say this many different ways – but here’s the deal. Just get through it. Bite your lip, buckle down and plow through. Not like a bull. But with grace, with integrity and with pride. Why? Because that’s the right thing to do. Because when things go bad that is when you learn about yourself. That’s when you grow and evolve. And of course swallow your pride. But that’s okay. Tomorrow is a new day. And everything can be different.

When things aren’t going right for me, I do my best to always continue to be on the right side of history. To do the right thing. For many reasons, but here are a few: Because it’s easier to just give up, to say who cares. It’s much more difficult to hang in there and ask yourself what your responsibility is in this situation and what can I learn from this. No excuses. Everyone has excuses. Don’t be that person. Rise up take responsibility and then demand from yourself that you’re going to be better next time. Always do the right thing/Be on the right side of history: for me that means don’t ever give anyone an excuse to accuse you of not caring or being indifferent or worse a hack. Go above and beyond when no one is looking and rise to the occasion. Be the better man or woman. Because you can. Because that’s what a person with integrity would do.

I had a rough one today and that’s okay. I learned. I was humbled. I took responsibility and I (hopefully) grew. And tomorrow I’m going to wake up and give it my best shot. Anyone can take the path well traveled and roll along while everything is going well. What about when it gets a little complicated. Who would you be if you chose the one less traveled? I’m willing to bet, you would be a heckuva lot more interesting.

A friend of mine reminded me that when it’s all said and done and you have left this earth, the only thing that matters is the dash between the year you were born and the year you died.

That’s certainly one way of looking at it. Not that I plan on having a tombstone, but I would most definitely want my dash to be epic. Well, okay pretty fantastic. I’ll settle for being a good human being and someone who loved really well. And was patient with others. And gave of his time. Made people feel special when engaging with them. A hard worker. Empathetic. Creative. Very creative. And on and on. That sort of thing.

I guess what I really want is my dash to be full. Filled with all the things I experienced and hopefully gave back to this world ten fold. Overflowing with memories and feelings of joy, love and laughter. Not by me of course. Because I won’t be here. But, by others who are left behind and may just have a recollection of who I was.

For the most part, I go through my day to day tasks with very specific intentions. Another words, I don’t like to do things just to do things (when I’m in relax mode – it’s quite a different story). What I mean is this: I do my best to have very clear intentions with my activities. I feel I get the most out of each task by doing this. Another way of saying it is: I don’t take on a project until I can fully commit to the process. If I cannot expend a focused energy on it, then I won’t begin it. Because I don’t want to quit half way. Believe you-me, I have done enough of that to last two life times.

So, my way of sorting that out is by sitting on the idea and weighing the time/effort compared to what I intend to get out of the endeavor. There are a lot of ideas that never see form because I don’t want to expend the energy to manifest it. I’m not quite sure if that’s buying into fear or being smart.

Here’s the deal: When I have a clear intention of what I want to attract into my life and I commit to the work, it seems like the universe begins to line up events that tilt in my favor. But you cannot fake this commitment. It must be authentic. At that point things begin to go your way and the best of what you need in that moment comes your way. I can’t explain it. Nor do I really care to.

For me, it’s because of my intentions. A step of faith into nothingness. And who couldn’t support that?