Opportunities for success are sometimes disquised as problems or mistakes....

My week is over, my tired is big, my fun was amazing, my life is good, my friends are my gifts, my kids are my blessings, my status is cool!! Living in this world with the laws you must know that things will go wrong. Success is not avoiding mistakes, it is finding solutions and being grateful for the homework!Facebook status...7-16-2011


Whether it started off as a normal week (last week) or if it was more like "whose week is this anyway?", I manage to get to the end of them and feel somewhat grateful for my ability to make a serious dent in the to-dos and have a little fun too~

My week is over, but not usually in the traditional way, Friday rarely means that I don't still have stuff to do. I read sometimes about those who have weekend get aways, and down time...and I think to myself I really gotta start trying that. Work at this time of year often spills over to my weekend, but the things that I do to create opportunities and participate in fun with our folks, is the greatest kind of work.

My tired is big, because I have been so busy saying yes, that something has to give...and usually its sleep.

My fun was amazing...this is mostly because it seems that no matter what I am doing, I am having fun.

My life is good, actually this is an understatement. My life is wonderful!

My friends.... I am surrounded by generous, loving, supportive, crazy, hillarious, gifted people...... my friends, and even if I happen to be at what others call work, they make that fun too~they are gifts to my life.

My kids are my blessings. No one knows when they make the decision to have kids that it will be the toughest thing they ever do, probably because moms make it look so easy. But I am blessed daily by one or more of my kids. They have grown up to be the most wonderful people, and I am grateful for them every day.

So the last statement actually came out of a conversation that was meant to be someone feeling a bit of self pity. And as they were talking all I could think about was, first how long is my gratitude list, second-how grateful I am to have learned to look for the positive, no matter how well it is hidden. And finally how far I have come past the moments when all I could do was breathe. I know too, that many times when we get stuck in those "failure" moments that it is hard to see that no problem comes without a solution already available. And that learning to be open to all the opporunities in life surely means two things--that we are open to the solutions which makes them easier to see and when we live in the faith that each of those momenst is an opportunity to practice our skills.

I can remember a time when I had a different definition of what success was, and I am not sure whose definition it was, but I also remember that I did not feel like I would ever attain it. But that definition no longer applies. When I learned that each moment could be a celebration of success, fun, happiness, blessings, and even a celebration of getting through it, life not only got better it got made.

We have no way of knowing when the last minute will arrive, but learning to be alive in each one surely means that we are living a successful life....key words LIVING and SUCCESS. I just got through another set of moments and shared my thoughts. Found many things in this week that I can feel success over. Many moments where others reached my heart and made me smile. Many moments where the success of helping others meant more than anything. Moments where I realized that I was tired but not withough a good reason.

I love this life, every second of it. I wish nothing less for each of you, but that you fall in love with your life, because in those minutes is where your success is. Did you smile at someone elses kindness? Or were you the reason they smiled today? Did you solve a problem, or were you the hero in someone elses moment? Did you count your blessings until you lost count? Were you a blessing to someone who was having trouble getting to 10?

I can see where we get caught in believing that success is when we achieve a position, or a amount in the account. I can see where the seeking of power means that we have reached our goal. I see how it happens, but when we don't see that sucess is really in the moments of everyday....we are not really getting all there is out of this life. I don't wait for numbers, amounts or even permission. I have found success...and it happens all the time.