The thorny road to bliss

Just like every day, when I open my social networks, no matter which one, I can find a number of beautiful inspirational quotes, shared with my friends or professional contacts. And that’s lovely, isn’t it? Most probably they post and share them either because they need something exactly like that at the moment, or simply because they like them. A given inspirational quote may remind us of an already overcome experience or a goal achievement, or it could give us as a new direction in life and make us feel a little bit more confident in what we are striving right now.

But it’s not about the quotes and how much they can inspire us as we can get inspired by many other things which the mundane reality can offer. We only have to look around and see the thousand other signs to have been already at our disposal to energize and brighten our day. It’s sometimes difficult to notice the hidden meaning of all those little hints which come to bring a sense of awareness of what we are doing and where we are going to, although they are always right next to us. Those meaningful signs are aimed to support us while thriving to reach that concrete destination we are heading to.

Still, from the moment of getting aware of a given challenge to the moment of the actual achievement of our goal, there’s a long, and to be honest, quite thorny road to be walking down. This thorny road is made to keep us going, to offer us the most important lessons and to prepare us for what we have already planned and defined as our goal or bliss. Keep on going down this road, is basically the real success story of our endeavor. For it is measured by each defeated obstacle on it and how we have been able to take it emotionally, and our strength as well to stand up and keep on going again with the necessary self-confidence.

The greater the goal, the longer the road might be and, of course, there’s a steady reason to support this notion. The real and most beautiful things in our life do not come as a windfall, as we have to be prepared and wise enough to firstly see and then to safeguard them. I know that this road may look quite long and even endless at times while the thorns are painfully tearing our flesh. It’s a real trial to our strength and willingness to keep on going, though we could feel more likely to give it up. That’s the moment to remember that whatever has come on our road is as big enough as we can take it and to go on. 

If, however, you can’t find the strength to stand up and go on, then simply look around for the hidden signs to help you get inspired. They may come as a lovely inspirational quote, shared by a friend or somebody you admire. You can also look for those signs in other places and through other sources. Try to stay open to the world and learn how to observe and absorb each positive vibe around you. It will not take long till you find out the abundance of useful hints which will lead you steadily down your thorny road to bliss. Each next step will make you feel more confident till you finally realise that your goal has been long ago achieved. 

Hey Jude, let’s make life better!

I know how hard it feels when life has taken away something that we cherish so much and especially when life has taken a beloved one. The pain paralyses you, suffocates you and it gives you no chance to make the next or at least a small step towards the future. It could be even worse – you may see no future in front of you at all. And it’s not because there’s no future, but because pain is holding us back from everything wonderful that could be on our road ahead.

Let’s not blame life for being fair or unfair for whatever has come on our road, for that’s just our life schedule and we simply keep on following it the way it should be. We are the only managers, skillful and clever enough, who are able to lead it into that concrete direction which we would like it to be. There are nothing and nobody else who is more capable and responsible at the same time, to lead the company called “Me and Myself”.

That’s what I was trying to teach a friend of mine almost a year ago while she was struggling to overcome the loss of her beloved husband. Then she wasn’t able to see any future; she didn’t even want to accept there is such, as the charger of her life had already gone. It was so painful to observe how an inspired and always joyful musician was fading away from the world. Her piano was covered with a black cloth and reflected the melancholy music of her soul. 

She came up with a thousand excuses why the piano should stay covered while I was convinced that the only way to get the grief over was to start playing again. The hardest thing of all was to make her believe that life can get better and it’s up to us to make that first step. I have to confess, I almost had to drag and drop her in front of the piano to do something we had been doing so many times before – she, playing the piano and me – singing next to her.

We opened the first piano chord book, as she had no idea what to play, and “Hey Jude” popped up out of the blue. That was great! She was playing, although it was quite difficult at the beginning, and I was singing as I felt like signing exactly that song. I didn’t pay any attention to the lyrics at that moment, as we were both much more involved into how to tune each other into the song. We kept on repeating it over and over again to actually make a sad song better.

A year later that song popped out of the blue again, while we were both enjoying the end of a successful week. I love synchronicity moments! This time, I tuned much more into the lyrics, talking about everything we did and managed to achieve in that period. My friend stepped into her new life, working on her dream project, right as her husband expected it to be. The piano is no longer covered as there’s a number of cheerful kids learning to play on it together with her.

So, take a sad song! Take whatever you are struggling with in your life right now, it could be even a dream that you want so badly to achieve, and make it better. Let it out and let it in and make sure that you can feel it. Don’t let yourself down as you can make your life better the moment you believe you can. Just go out there and get it, for you have already planned it this way. And don’t forget - you are the only executive manager of “Me and Myself” company.  

Kiss the frog

That’s not the story of the frog prince and there will be no need to kiss a frog, at least not literary; or probably it is as the flip-flop of a frog inspired me to write it down! That’s a story of how to find your lost motivation when it seems that you have already reached the bottom of the swamp and there’s not a single ray of light coming through the muddy waters.

The frog reminded me of a dream I had a couple of years ago. I was talking to some ladies about the art of rhythmic gymnastics and how gracefully one should perform each element. The magic trick to enchant the judges is to toss the ball as high as possible, to make some breathtaking elements in between, and to catch the ball a second before it reaches the floor.

Just like the princess in “The frog prince,” I tossed my glittery ball very high. I did some elements, and at the moment when I was supposed to catch it, something heavy hit my hand and I dropped it. It was not my rhythmic but a rugby ball. I ran after it and caught it. And there I was holding that rugby ball in my hands, wondering where it came from.

I spent some time pondering the dream the other day - the symbol of the ball and playing with it, presenting the life and more specifically how I felt about it. I remembered how happy I was at the gym, filled with creative energy and enthusiasm; and how unhappy and emotionally drained I was at that moment with everything I was doing.

I was aware it was a time for a big change, which was giving me the chance to get out there and find myself. While I understand that it is much easier to be said than to be done, kicking the ”rugby ball” as far as possible away from me, was the only possible solution to have myself on the right track again. I know it is not an easy task at all and it wasn’t.

I spent some time trying different things and taking off new projects to soon find out that all of them were nothing but a new expression of the old ”rugby ball”. I found myself totally lost in life, wondering whether I could do anything at all. I was reading articles on how to find my lost motivation, ticking the boxes with all those precious advises, but my inspiration had left me completely alone.

That was the moment when the little frog came to me – just like the princess who was sitting next to the spring and crying for her lost golden ball. It was not a real frog. It was a yoga frog pose – one of my latest undertakings which were supporting the finding of my lost me. I knew that I could do it, but it was too hard to make it. That was the moment when my inspiration came back.

Whenever you find yourself lost just look around since the frog is most probably sitting somewhere next to you. It could be anything that somewhere deep inside you want and know you can achieve, but it needs some efforts to be done. Leave behind any uncertainties and excuses, and “kiss” the little thing. Very soon it will turn into the most handsome prince you have dreamed of or a dream come true.