Letters From Dad #1 Believe and Enjoy The Ride

There will be times in your life when it appears everything is falling apart. You’ll have your heart broken, probably more than once. You’ll have a dream, a fire in your belly and work as hard as you possibly can and you’ll come up short. You’ll get a pimple on your face right before that big event. You’ll be left out of something everyone says was epic. You’ll be the reason something comes to fruition and you won’t even be mentioned when praise is given.  

Your hopes and dreams can never overshadow your gratitude and appreciation for the journey. You must never assume an event is either good or bad, but instead be grateful for the experience understanding the same energy that brings the sun up in the morning and down in the evening is in the works. A caterpillar can either become depressed, fearful and wrought with angst upon being completely handicapped by a cocoon – OR it can feel gratitude for the freedom it had, and lay in wonderment at what the world has in store not truly understanding it is about to be freed again as one of the most beautiful, appreciated creatures of all.

I’m not saying this is, or ever will be easy. You will feel pity for yourself, jealousy, greed, anger, resentment and all of the other human emotions which are unavoidable. What you can do, however, is practice control. Practice gratitude. Practice being aware in advance of the mind wandering off into the unknown and pulling you down with it.

Practice being comfortable not being in control.

I’ve spoken to you both about this on different occasions but it’s worth repeating here to emphasize the importance of having faith and being comfortable when things don’t go exactly as planned in your lives.

You’ll find in life little miracles will occur. You’ll be thinking of someone whom you haven’t seen in years and they will show up in your life. You’ll be in a situation where you desperately need a favor and a complete stranger will come along with exactly what you need at exactly the right time. Often times these little miracles are obvious and will leave you with a sense of inspiration and awe.

It’s the miracles happening all around you which are not as obvious and do not leave you with closure that you need to become aware of. Let me explain.

If you were standing on the side of a street and a car came barreling off the side of the road, missing you by an inch, it would be an obvious miracle to you. But what if it missed you by three miles? When you are sitting in traffic aching to get where you’re going, delayed by a train, randomly forget something at home and need to turn back or any other subconscious or out of control level “inconvenience” don’t dismiss this as bad luck or proof that your life is out of control.

These delays or inconveniences may be in your life to help you avoid that accident that would have occurred had you not been delayed. It may hold you back just long enough to meet that person who ends up changing your life or takes you back to correct something that you’d missed while on your journey.

It’s important to have faith in the process. This is not meant to be permission to be irresponsible, fail to be on time or simply sit back hoping great things happen. It is meant to bring clarity while on the journey toward reaching your dreams.

I just want you to have faith. Believe in yourselves and the journey unfolding right in front of you.

Life is indeed a short ride. I lost many years in frustration trying to control what I thought would bring me happiness while ignoring the miracles happening all around me. As your Dad it’s my job to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made, or at least teach you what I’ve learned on my own journey.

Work hard, have fun, smile a lot, make others smile, love, be grateful for your blessings, be a great friend even to strangers and the next time you’re stuck in the worst traffic jam of your life late to that important meeting, you may want to say thank you – it could be the best thing to ever happen to you…if you just let go and believe.