Next Stop - The Land of Hope and Dreams

"Grab your ticket and your suitcase,
Thunder's rolling down this track,

Well, you don't know where you're going now but you know you won't be back.


Well Darling if you're weary lay your head upon my chest,
We'll take what we can carry and we'll leave the rest,


Big wheels roll thru fields where sunlight streams,
Meet me in a Land of Hope and Dreams,


Well I will provide for you and I'll stand by your side, you'll need a good companion now, for this part of the ride..


Now Leave behind your sorrows, let this day be the last,
Tomorrow there'll be sunshine and all this darkness passed,


Big wheels roll thru fields where sunlight streams,
Meet me in a Land of Hope and Dreams,


Well, This train carries Saints and Sinners,
This train carries losers and winners,
This train carries whores and gamblers,
This train carries lost souls,

This train carries broken-hearted,
This train carries thieves and sweet souls departed,
This train carries fools, carries kings,
All aboard..

On This train - dreams will not be thwarted
On this train - FAITH will be rewarded
On This train - hear the steel wheels singing,
On This train - bells of freedom ring...

---- B. Springsteen... Land of Hope and Dreams...

Stay Strong!!!

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Sunrise

I was running very late this morning and as I rushed out the door to attempt to catch the next train, I was struck like a punch in the stomach by something so beautiful, so powerful, so very overwhelming that I was literally stopped in my tracks!!

The sun was peeking it's head ever so slightly over the Long Island Sound, and just the mere sliver of it radiated such a massive and encompassing orange glow that I could not take another step toward my car! I was struck motionless by the light and energy that I saw rising steadily over the water!

I literally dropped my bag and grabbed my camera phone, stuck motionless as the sliver quickly became a semi-circle of fire, in a feeble attempt to somehow catch and document this absolute thing of Beauty and spectacular Splendor!

I stood in the driveway staring and felt so moved by this sunrise I cannot begin to explain the emotion of it.

I stood there for at least 10 minutes - awestruck and not wanting to leave!

Now granted, I have seen many a sunrise in my lifetime fortunately and this was certainly not the first one to have moved me with it's beauty and massive strength.

However, for some reason today's sunrise felt different. It felt more meaningful, more beautiful, more of a message to me and now to you --- Every Day belongs to us and we MUST seize it - appreciate it - utilize it and realize that we have a Mission here on earth!

We have a duty to each other to help, assist, encourage, and strengthen every single person you encounter!!

There is NOTHING more important that that - I repeat: THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR DUTY TO EACH OTHER!

The picture I managed to muster does not come even close to capturing what that amazing ball of Love, Fire, Hope and Strength conveyed to me this morning, but I hope you can at least gleem just a little inspiration from the photo to help you move through your day with Joy and Happiness and Peace!

Stay Strong!

Two MUST READS - and I mean TODAY!

I just gobbled up 2 books on my Kindle and I have to urge all of you to do the same!!! TODAY!!

The first is George Anderson's "Walking in the Garden of the Souls" http://www.amazon.com/Walking-Garden-Souls-George-Anderson/dp/0425186113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258466287&sr=1-1 and the second is "Lessons from the Light" by Kenneth Ring, PhD. http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Light-Learn-Near-death-Experience/dp/1930491115/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258466364&sr=1-2.

Both of these books, albeit differently in approach and specifics, deal with the prospect of what happens after we die and more importantly - give us inspiration as to how to find Joy in this life as a result of these lessons!!

Both are fascinating, inspirational, powerful and life-altering in their messages and lessons!

Bring only an open mind and your strong Faith and what you read in these two works will transform your outlook on life INSTANTLY! For the Better of course!!

George Anderson's book is an amazing work on lessons he has learned in his vocation as a spiritual medium. He has joked that he is more like a "small" than a medium.

His lessons are derived from the multitude of Souls he hears from beyond this earth as he connects them with their loved ones still here on Earth. I know it sounds bizarre but I witnessed first hand his ability and amazing gift with our own loss and healing (http://www.fallon.freewebsitehosting.com/) after losing our precious niece and Goddaughter Fallon. His work saved lives!!

Dr. Ring's book is a study on NDE survivors, or Near Death Experiences. His clinical yet riveting studies on the accounts of numerous NDE survivors is couched as such to share the amazing lessons these people learned in their brief time away from this earth - and to stress that you do not need your own NDE to grasp and learn these lessons and benefit from their POWER to change our lives and outlooks in this lifetime!

The accounts of what occurred to these people - all completely unrelated - are amazing in their consistencies, similarities, and shared lessons learned despite all of them being totally separate and different situations, people, lifestyles, circumstances, beliefs, backgrounds, and religions!

You must pick these books up and read them ASAP! For your own happiness and joy!!

These lessons are too valuable to leave unknown any longer!!! For any of us!!

Stay Strong!!!

The Relativity of "Happiness"

Who doesn't want to "BE HAPPY"?

I mean really - isn't that the ultimate goal we all seek in this life?

Every book we see on Amazon.com has some "secret" to happiness, the "125 ways to GET HAPPY", "Get Happy Now", "Your Way to Happiness", etc...or some variation.

With such an overwhelming emphasis on this seemingly elusive state of being and emotion, and with so many people, experts, pundits and ordinary folk (yours truly) spouting off about "Happiness" and ways to achieve it, wouldn't you think that EVERYONE - or at least the majority of people with access to all this genius, secrets, tips and know how would actually... Be.... Happy!

No?

Think about it - how many people can you name and count who are truly HAPPY? I mean 100%, unadulterated, genuine and all-encompassingly HAPPY?

Not many - if any at all... That I can cite off the top of my head!

Now, I understand there are many, many people that are NOT UNHAPPY - but that is an entirely different thing altogether is it not?

Why is that? Even if you named 2 people that you feel are really, truly happy in their current state, that does not really amount to that many people on this grand world on a strict percentage basis does it?

Again - why is that? Why is happiness so darn elusive and rare in these lives we are leading??

I think I have a theory!

I believe, in my Faith, that we are all Souls. Beautiful, amazing, loving, caring Souls.

Hear me out for a second!

Have you ever been somewhere amazing and beautiful and fun and peaceful in your life? Have you ever spent time somewhere special and spectacular and had to return to wherever it was you came from before you were in that amazing place. Or even more so, had to leave that amazing place for a lesser place?

How did that feel? Crummy, no doubt.

It gets so that you can only really remember that beautiful and amazing place while you are in the lesser venue and dream of how happy you were back in the beautiful place.

How difficult is it to duplicate that feeling of joy and happiness you experienced in the great place in the new place? How happy can you be in the new place having experienced the splendor of the beautiful spot??

It is challenging indeed.

Well, I believe that part of our struggle and difficulty in being happy in this current life is due to the fact that we had once experienced something so peaceful and beautiful and joyous, prior to our existence here on Earth, that although we cannot consciously remember it - we can sense it and feel it and just know that it was an amazingly special place compared to where we are now!

Subconsciously we long to be back in that place of Joy and Happiness and nothing material, earth-made, ego driven or in existence physically can bring us that total and complete sense of peace and love and joy that we have already tasted once before.

How does someone like Elvis Presley kill himself with drugs - when he seemingly has everything we all strive to achieve--- fame, fortune, adoration, wealth and celebrity? The obituaries are filled with unhappy, miserable people who have passed unhappy and incomplete.

Why???

I truly believe that our purpose on the earth is to serve each other - assist and help each other - to learn and grow and develop as beautiful Souls!

And I also believe we will end up back in that beautiful spot we know deep in our subconscious, surrounded by loved ones, experiencing only Joy and peace and love - and finally the true happiness that we seek will be ours!

But not so fast!!

We have work to do here first, people! There is a purpose and reason we are here and we must do our best to grow and develop and love one another until we can get to the greatest Happiness we could ever imagine!

Forget the material trappings and the measures of success we use on this earth!!

The measure of true success is the kindness and love we bring to others, the support and help we offer those who are struggling more than we may be - the growth we seek and achieve in service to one abother and to our God!

That is what we should use as a tape measure!! Because that is all that truly matters after this life is over here on this planet!!

Think about it - when are you closest to true joy??? True happiness?? What brings you closest to that feeling we so desire??

You know the answer!! ;)

Stay Strong and keep your eye on the Goal!!!

Happiness will be ours without doubt!!
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Free Play!!

For those of you who are familiar with American Football, the term "free play" means something to you.

For those who are not, a "free play" occurs when a penalty flag is thrown during a play and an impending penalty is signaled on the defense. The play, however, does not come to a stop as the rules allow the play to go on to completion before the penalty is assessed to the offender.

This creates a "free play" for the offense. They know there is a penalty on the defense and that NO MATTER WHAT they will either score, gain yardage, or if they fail to do so, will get the ball back due to the penalty! No worse for the wear!

It is a great feeling that allows you to take a risk you may not take normally - to really go for a big play - throw the ball deep toward the endzone in hopes of a big catch - all the while knowing that if the other team intercepts the ball - it will not hurt your team.

What a great concept huh?

A free play.

Well, I believe life is like a free play in American Football in that we have our spiritual strength and faith to fall back on - NO MATTER what happens to us, NO MATTER what is thrown our way, or what obstacles we must endure, etc!

We have a multitude of free plays because of the fact - that when all is said and done - and that final whistle blows - we will all be OK!

I truly believe that we cannot do wrong when we live rightly in our hearts - when we allow ourselves to be guided by FAITH, HOPE, LOVE and seek PEACE!

We have a plethora of FREE PLAYS at our disposal when we realize that after all of our battles, hard trials, pain and suffering, hurdles, uncertainty, and FEAR here on earth are over - when we reach the Final Goal -- what George Anderson call the "Garden of Souls" - we will look back and realize we had nothing but Free Plays in our lives!

Take the risk - LIVE and LOVE without fear or anxiety or worry!!! Throw the proverbial football all the way downfield and see what happens!! By doing so you cannot be harmed!!!

Do not play your life conservatively in the aspects of love, kindness, Faith and HOPE!!

Let it Fly!!

No harm will come of it! There is nothing to FEAR when you know it is a FREE PLAY!!

And all of our lives are filled with FREE PLAYS!!

Stay Strong!!
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