I am life as I am alive. I am Love. I am a man. I am a husband. I am a father. I am a brother. A son, a friend, a teammate, classmate and a colleague. I am a stranger in the next car. I am a leader. I am flawed and broken. We all are. I am willing to pick up the pieces and move forward. I am a student of life.

I am capable of many wonderful things. I am here. I am humbled to be able to walk this earth. I am grateful. I am willing to admit my wrongs. I am stubborn. I am egocentric at times. I am born with gifts and I am willing to share those with others.

I am a spiritual being having a human experience. I am gaining some wisdom from life. I am able to reflect on my past. I am touched. I am humbled. I am embarrassed. I am human. I am bewildered. I am done.

When we’re young we hope to become a professional athlete, award-winning artist or a famous scientist/doctor that changes the world for the better for everyone. As we move on in years, sometimes we’re discouraged by the path, as it can takes years – even decades for it to materialize. We’re not willing to pay that price. We quickly realize hope is not going to bridge that gap between not being there and manifesting that dream.

That doesn’t mean we should lose hope. It only clarifies the path one must take and the daily habits we openly embrace in order to move in the direction of attainment.

Let’s not lose hope. But, it can be futile without a plan and the movement of our feet.

As I move on in years, I’ve seemed to grow a bit more lax in different aspects of my life. For one I’m not surprised by much these days. There’s not a whole lot about a person’s behavior or an event that’s transpired and shocks me. In addition, I’ve seemed to ease up on my own expectations of myself in regards to what I’m capable of doing. Another words, I believe much more is possible.

I’m not sure why I’ve drifted to this perspective. Maybe my ego is getting tuckered out. Or I’ve seen too much. It doesn’t really matter, but here’s what I know: I’ve come to believe that people are capable of so much! We are capable of so much! I’m capable of so much! When we are able to get our of our heads, get out of our own way and get to work, magical things begin to manifest.

In actuality, there’s nothing magical about it. It’s cause and effect. Input equals output. Putting in your 10,000 hours. It’s letting the work that we’ve committed to engaging in whole-heartedly speak for itself. When we can focus on the task at hand with 100% commitment we cannot help from being transformed. And maybe even surprised at what we’ve accomplished.

It’s been said by many before me that we are a sum total of the 5 people we hang out with in our lives. Not a real surprise I suppose. But, what is a surprise to me is how very different our day-to-day can look when the right people are in our lives.

For me, I don’t notice the other people I surround myself with quite as much until I witness the kindness, generosity and Love first-hand. And when I do, it’s overwhelming for me.

An example of that was when I was down with the flu, a sinus infection and eventually pneumonia. I was doing my best to get back online, but I just couldn’t fight it off on my own. I ended up in the ER where I was prescribed a double-dose of antibiotics which did the trick. In the meantime, I was texted by someone – who I didn’t recognize their number – wondering if I was home in order to drop something off on our front porch. Embarrassingly, I responded and let them know I didn’t recognize the number. She replied that it was “Mary” the Grandmother of my 16 year old son’s friend and classmate. She wanted to drop off some homemade Chicken Noodle soup because she heard I was struggling to get back on my feet. Now, yes we do know “Mary,” but we don’t necessarily see them on a regular basis. Maybe school events and such. It was such a sweet gesture for her to go out of her way – not just to think of me and reach out – but to make homemade soup from scratch (and you could tell, it was delicious) and drive across town and deliver it to my house with fresh bread and a whole lotta Love. It was incredible. I was so touched I cried.

That single act of generosity and Love has won me over. I will do anything for Grandma “Mary.” Maybe we all can be a Grandma “Mary” today. No doubt, you will touch someone’s heart in the best way.

P.S. I asked her if I can adopt her as my Grandma. She said “Yes.”

What if we were to accept exactly where we are in this moment? Would that be a recipe to help eliminate anxiety? Possibly. What if we were able to stay present in the moment? Could that help with stress? Fear of the future? That eventually can lead to procrastination? Maybe.

It would seem to me that when we get pulled out of where we are right now and drift to the future to what could happen or what might occur, we have given up the wheel to allow someone or something else to steer our vehicle through our own lives.

We may or may not be content with where we are in the present moment and that’s okay. But, nevertheless here we are. There’s clarity in knowing the path that lay in front of us. And so it begins one step at a time.