Candles, Cake, and The Life Of Your Dreams

55 candles.

That’s a lot of candles to blow out.

But that is my task this birthday weekend.

And before the candles are blown out, the all-important birthday wish must be made.

How cool would it be if we could simply wish our desires into reality? Imagine…just the thoughts in our head, a puff of air, an extinguished candle and a cloud of smoke.

The problem is for many the wish is where the dream ends.

I look back on my just-completed year and see I have accomplished a quite a bit. I’ve enjoyed a great deal of success and growth in many areas of my life. I find my best years are not the years when I simply wished a good year would somehow magically happen. My best years are the years I’ve worked to create. Those are the years when I am living on purpose, driven and focused on that which I intend to become or plan to achieve.

I’ve also had more than my share of not-so-good years. Those were the years absent of clarity and focus, when the weeds of life sort of simply took over the garden. In those years I was living reactively, without intention, often feeling like a firefighter trying to contain the brush fires which kept popping up around me.

You can’t simply wish for the life you want to live. You need to clarify exactly what you want, understand what you’ll need to do to make it happen, and then go and make it happen. 

A new year is a blank canvas, and we all have a great deal of control as to what will be painted upon the canvas of our lives 365 days from today.

What will the canvas of your life look like one year from today?

I know at my age I’ve probably had more birthdays than I’m going to have. Rather humbling, that is. But that realization has lead me to be more aware of time, more aware of how I spend such a precious commodity. I, like you, have to decide how I choose to go through life. Either living proactively and purposefully creating the life of my dreams, or reactively discontent in wondering why that elusive life of my dreams still hasn’t shown up yet.

Clarify what you want.

Understand what you’ll need to achieve it.

Go make it happen.

If you won’t create the life of your dreams, who else is gonna do it for you?

It’s a great day to be you!