Originally posted on Facebook HERE
I took this photo earlier this morning. You can’t get the majesty of this moment by looking at a photo. It was one of those moments in life where time slows down, and you’re just caught up with the beauty, awe and wonder of whatever it is that caught your attention. Like this sunrise. Or a sunset. Or an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Or when you look into another person’s eyes at one of those moments and see they feel it, too. It’s magic. It’s incredible. And I have moments like that every day now. I just walked Gizmo and the entire walk was just… full of gratitude for those exact moments in time. Nobody else will ever know exactly what your magic moments will feel like, but by God I hope you have them. I hope you have moments so filled with love and emotion that you just start to cry because it’s such a fantastic life. My days are filled with moments like that. But it wasn’t always like that. There was a point in my life in the 80s when I was still using, and living in a shitty little apartment in Oshkosh, where I was snorting coke, drinking, doing stupid shit, and wondering if I even wanted to live at all. I don’t remember having magic moments very often, if at all, back then. But… I do know the importance of bottoming out. Napoleon Hill said, “Every adversity, every failure,every heartbreak, carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit”. I read his book “Think and Grow Rich” for the first time in 1990. I’ve read it at least five times now. And even if that was the only line I ever remembered from it, I have become very good at looking at life that way. There is a positive in every negative. The lower you go before bottoming out, well – the higher you can get if you do the work to turn it around. It took me years. I had to quit using entirely. I had to start living by a moral code that helped me begin to feel better about myself. I had to make amends to people I had hurt. Some of the things I said and did I will never forgive myself for, but – it’s those memories that help me from making the same mistake again. And all of a sudden, years later… I find myself here. A beautiful house. A great family. A huge business that I built that allows me to help other people every single day in extremely meaningful ways. A great work environment. Music?… of course. I have several great musical projects going right now. So grateful for all of it – as well as the clients, and fans, and the interaction to these posts every week. It’s an incredible life. Every moment is wonder and awe and beauty, but some of them?… magic. Take your breath away magic. Don’t overlook them when you get them. Revel in it. Share it if you can. See the opportunity in every adversity. Do the best you can, always. Don’t ever take a second for granted. Dig deep and feel the emotions when they start to take over. Let them. Cry with gratitude. Love with passion. Live with gratitude, love and passion. At this point I couldn’t live any other way. And if you’re down, if you can’t see a light anywhere in your life, if you feel like you’re stuck and you can never see anything going right again… I can tell you that the past does not have to equal the future. You can change your entire life the day you start moving in another direction. It will take a while, but it’s worth the effort. Life is a crazy ride. Start looking for those magic moments, and when you get one honor it. Soak it in. Feel the love. Then go forward from there. I wish you well on your journey, today and always.
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