Having patience is almost impossible when we’re children.

The older we get we learn to temper our excitement as we put more life experiences under our belts.

As adults we understand there’s a rhythm to all things.

And so we learn to temper our expectations and have more and more patience for all things.

Let’s not confuse patience with being jaded or callused.

The one who is patient knows all will be taken care of in a the perfect time.

Being cynical presumes one deserves something for nothing.

Looking back at my childhood, I’ve come to realize I had it good. Really good. I’m so grateful for my experiences and treasure the memories as I reflect upon them as a middle-aged man.

My threshold for “happiness” was pretty high back in the day – maybe a testament having almost everything at your disposal. Some may even call it “spoiled.”

Since becoming an adult, I’ve come to learn otherwise. My threshold for happiness is pretty low. Meaning it doesn’t take much for me nowadays to relish a moment in time – while wearing a silly looking smirk on my face which is tough to wipe away.

As you probably already know where I’m going with this – again, it came down to making a choice to be happy. My days look different, things have changed and some things have remained almost the same.

The difference is my perspective of my life. We could all find a way to complain about something in our lives, but not all of us can chose to be happy. That’s a real commitment. A choice. And something we might want to keep working at.

I’m sure I will.

We can search high and low for the definition of success. We hear it said in our schools from the teachers that stand in the front of our children’s class and from the staff that works behind the scenes, in our workplace and in our tightknit groups of friends and Loved ones where we share our intimate secrets and desires.

“To be successful . . .” “What you have to do to become successful is . . . ” “Wow! That person is so successful . . . ” The easy way to become successful . . . “. What does that mean? You have money? You have a lavish lifestyle? Or I should say, You appear to have a lavish lifestyle? You have a big house? You have your health? You have a wonderful family? You’re surrounded by quality people who Love and respect you? You travel? You’re able to extract significantly more money from business commerce than the average person? You’re cancer free?

I’m not sure to be honest with you. Everyone’s definition is a little different, but let’s not be disillusioned by what we see from the outside. In today’s world where it seems everyone is eager to showcase the highlights of their lives to millions of strangers – to what seems to me – an overzealous desire to overshare – including the fabrication of their day-to-day events, Is there anything tangible or of substance there? That road doesn’t appeal to me.

But, what the hell do I know.

In the long run, I haven’t found it productive to place the blame and point fingers at others as a result of my day-to-day activities. We always have responsibility for what is going on in our world.

Albeit, it’s much easier to shirk that responsibility and direct our – and others’-attention somewhere else while pointing out the numerous flaws with ‘them.’

It’s much more challenging to sift through the ruble and identify our place in the situation and claim it as our own.

When we’re willing to take 100% responsibility for everything that goes on in our lives, we can become the catalyst for the change we intend to see.

Lord knows my routine, habits – good and bad, daily activities and even my perception of the world can use a re-boot every so often.

We can get caught up in our own world to the point where we’ve lost touch with the grand view of things and our part in it.

For me, I have a tendency to shut the rest of the world out in order to accomplish my goals. That’s fine and all, but I can isolate myself a bit too much. I’ve always felt I make the most impact in the world when connecting with others. I know this can take many different shapes and forms, but keeping your nose to the grindstone and not coming up for a break every so often to see what is going on around us and checking in with others we care about, isn’t so healthy either.

And all it takes is hitting the refresh button to make our adjustments so we can find balance in our lives once again while prioritizing what’s most important to us and then implementing a strategy.

There’s always time to refresh ourselves.

Who doesn’t like a do-over?