Life can be difficult. Circumstances can become seemingly unbearable. How can one’s spirit survive all the negativity that surrounds us?

I have a plaque on my wall that says, “Life is too serious to be taken seriously.” Hence, I find that, by lightening up, everything does get better. This is not a Pollyanna idea for it is real, and it works. I bring a sense of purpose to each day. Through this vehicle called blogging, I am sharing ideas to aid others along their paths. Perhaps it will help each one, enabling that person to arrive at a new perspective. This will bring about positive changes so that each one can live a more effective life. What a joy that would be! Based on thousands of comments, it is happening.

At a lecture with Og Mandino, he gave the following story:

“There is an old Japanese legend that tells us that, may thousands of years ago, in the central part of Japan, there was a mountain with a flat top surrounded by dense jungle. The mountain was called, ‘The Place Where You Leave Your Parents.’ As the legend goes, if one’s parents were still alive at a certain age, their children carried them bodily through the jungle up to the top of this mountain so they could leave them there for the gods.

One day, a strapping young man was fighting his way through the underbrush, heading right for the mountain, carrying on his shoulders a wisp of an old lady. As he fought and pushed his way through the dense jungle, heading right for the mountain, he noticed that she was doing something with her right hand. Finally, he turned and looked up at her,

Half in anger at himself for what he was doing and half in anger at her, he asked her, ‘Mother, what are you doing?’

The old lady looked down at her son with tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks and said,'”Son, I’m just breaking off a few branches and dropping them to mark a path so that, after you leave me, you will be able to find your way back home.’

I would like to break a couple of branches for you so that, if you have lost your way, you might be able to find the path again.”

So, I now say to you, let me break a few branches off for you so that you, too, might find your way to a better choice.

In the helter-skelter existence we live in, filled to the brim with noise, chaos, confusion, conflicting priorities, lack of money, stress, etc., how does one begin to make even a little sense of it all?

As I have stated in other blogs, you must begin with yourself, living your life from the inside out. Finding a sense of purpose is part of that process. Take a closer look at you so you can appreciate the assets you already have. Each of us is like a snowflake, unique, different for all others. Only you can make a difference in your life by the way you express your ideas to others around you by living your life in accordance with that inner vision.

Author Richard Bach has said, “There is a golden web of others out there who connect with us. As we reach out to others from the best that is in us, we find our extended family, not of blood but of spirit.”

We all need to find that family. Together, we are stronger and better than when we thought we were alone, which connotes helplessness and inability to deal with life constructively.It is so overwhelming.

An example that I saw in the movie, “The Straight Story,” the main actor states, “If you try to break one branch, it is very easy. But if your put more branches with it and bind them, it is impossible. We all need somebody.”

As we reach out with knowledge and understanding, we plant the seeds for our tomorrows and others as well.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have shared this blog, for sharing is the highest form of praise. It has been a joy to my heart to see my own golden web forming. May you find yours as well. God bless you on your journey!