Hurtigruten In 5 Minutes

"Norwegian TV recently streamed 134 hours continuously of a camera attached to a boat. Here it is compressed down to 5 minutes."

Lesson # 16: Build Castles in the Air

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. 

Henry David Thoreau

Lesson #15: Courage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pensiero

This week's lesson is simply, "have courage." I just returned to New Jersey early Wednesday morning and realized I needed to begin making more money, immediately. Like so many others, I usually view money as the one thing that can stress me out and shift my forecast from sunshine to thunderstorms. I strongly believe that making money should always be apart of "the details" and not the entire focus of your life and you absolutely must figure out what you love before any job or opportunity will present itself or lead you in the right direction.

Mackenzie and I always talk about all the beautiful things we love and how many tragic cases we've seen where lives are lost to occupational slavery, but in order to escape that you must first find your passion and then have the courage to step outside the box and pursue. This is what this entry is about, have the courage to follow the beauty and spark in your life. There's no other way to live.

Lesson # 14: You Are Home.

Life will take you in every direction. One lesson I learned on a train traveling from Germany to Italy was, "Life is about feeling it all; the happiness, the sadness, feeling tired, being hurt, working, loving, all of it." The man who told me that was right.  Humans go from one emotion to the next, from one experience to the next, constantly. There's no stopping and no shielding against what tomorrow brings, but if you learn to be balanced internally and yet fluid with the external, it can be exhilarating. It is a wonderful skill to understand what you can and cannot control.

I find myself terrified and lonely every time a major shift happens in my life that doesn't immediately produce rays of sunshine. But that constant motion that constitutes our lives will never stop throwing us curveballs and the sooner you accept that, the more you'll be able to squeeze out of your journey. Trust yourself; know that you are capable and strong and that change brings new light and opportunities to a stagnent life and always, always find that bright side. We learn from every new experience we have, we grow and change and develop. Isn't that the point of living? Don't we all want to grow and evolve and change and become better? Although sometimes change brings pain, every experience helps shape us and teaches us how to cope and thrive no matter where our short lives take us.

Nothing is constant, so be comfortable with the instability. Find your balance within. You are home.