Living Well

One of my primary goals is to learn to live well.

Learning to live is a process. The only way to learn to live is to go through it. But to expand beyond existence to living--and living well--is a true challenge that requires focus and discipline.

My hope is that soon, the focus and discipline will create habits of what, at this point, seems unnatural and soon I will find myself living well, naturally.

At first, it seems like all work, but then there are small victories where I realize that I'm fulfilling my objective--through the process--and that I am living a well life.

It's then that I realize that I'm also experiencing happiness, joy and peace...and they all seem to be the byproducts of the effort I have exerted to learn how to live a well-lived life.

I find that living well is a daily--even momentary--choice. But it is worth the effort and the rewards are eternal.

Silence--the Voice of Peace

Shhhh....

Silence. Where do you go to experience it?

To me, silence is as the evasive happiness...the more you seek it and strive for it the less likely you are to find it. When you think about it, silence is only known by the sounds that interrupt it.

Yet silence is the language that speaks peace.

I live near a large art museum and it has large gardens and sculpture gardens on the grounds. Often, I will go there in the evenings to pray and to read.

Last night, I sat next to a fountain and closed my eyes in prayer and meditation. I focused on the sounds...each individual tone that made up the music of the trickling water. But then I tried something else, I consciously tried to listen to the the silence within the trickling water fountain.

Peace.

It filled my spirit. Gratitude soon followed and overflowed my soul. And Love seemed to sit beside me as I sat there.

Silence, Peace, Gratitude and Love--happy companions for a wonderful life.