Today is April 8th and this is a very special day in my life. It was my father’s birthday. My father passed away on January 2, 1989. On April 8, 1989, I met Kirk and another special friend. I remember that as I returned home after meeting these two people that I realized that it was my father’s birthday and I thanked him for the gifts that he had sent to me on his special day. Little did I realize at that time that my father had actually sent to me that day the man that would ultimately become my husband.
Kirk and I had moved to Nashville at the request of some music executives that were starting a new record company and who wanted to have Kirk record for their new label. However, they never received the final funding for their new venture so we saved up our money and moved back to the Los Angeles area to start over. I had taken a temp position with a company with whom I wanted to have a long-term association and I was hired as a permanent employee starting on, of course, April 8th. And I am still working for that same company today – 12 years later.
I believe that this was my dad’s way of helping me after he had crossed over to the other side. I don’t think that anything happens by accident nor do I believe in coincidences. If I take the time to think about things in retrospect, I can see how the happenings in life have a purpose and how they provide me with the opportunity to learn new lessons at each step of the way. And as long as I continue to think this way, I find that everything that happens allows me to grow in peace, prosperity and happiness in this life.
My ultimate challenge is finding a way to help others to understand this basic premise. Life is simple. If we choose, we can make it difficult but it doesn’t have to be that way. I recently had a long conversation with a friend who was totally in the “Woe is me!” mode, who believes that the tough times that she has experienced are some of the worst ever and who faces each day worrying that more of the same trials will come her way. It was most difficult for me to not say to her that as long as she stays in that mode of thinking, more than likely, those same trials will, in fact, come her way.
There are three things in play here for her. First, we manifest what we think and believe. As long as she puts out into the universe that she expects more trials and tribulations that is exactly what she will draw to herself. Second, in each tough moment, we have the opportunity to learn a lesson. If we choose not to learn our lessons, we will have the opportunity to have more and more of the same experiences until we do learn or until we crumble under the weight of the negativity that we have created for ourselves. And third, we need to take responsibility for the choices that we make. I will reserve further comment on that until next week.
I thank my father for the gifts that he has sent my way since his passing, not only on his birthday but throughout the years. I thank him for showing me the purpose of awareness so that I have been able to expand it into all facets of my life. And I thank him now for the help that he will provide in the future in helping me to find the way to share the things that he has taught me in my quest to help others. And I will know exactly the moment when that happens as I will have been able to help someone else to understand the things that I know and live. I just can’t wait for that to happen so that I can share his gifts with others.