Do you need some help finding your way in life?

Life can seem like a confusing and overwhelming journey at times.  It isn’t always clear which way to go or what to do next.

Fortunately, there are some clear guiding lights you can follow if you learn to recognize them.

These signposts will show you exactly what you should do.  There isn’t any crystal ball or hocus pocus involved.  It is just learning what to look for and following.  As you do, the right path will reveal itself.

Guiding Lights to Help You Find Your Way

It is rare that life grabs you by the shoulders, jerks you around and pushes you directly toward where you should go.  The signs are usually much more subtle than that.  Therefore, you’ve got to know what to look for and be attentive to the direction given.

Here are ten guiding lights that I’ve used to help me find my way:

1.  Discontent

Do you ever feel dissatisfied with where you are at?  If so, then this is a guiding light that it is time to try something different.  The first step in any journey is to realize that it is time to get up and leave where you are.  That restless desire you have is a sign that your time has come to move along.  Listen to it and start looking for what you should do next.

2.  Passion

There is a lot of talk these days about following your passion.  One of the reasons for this is that passion is a strong guiding light.  What have you done lately that really made time fly for you?  You probably need to explore this area of your life further.  It is likely a strong hint that will lead you to greater fulfillment and happiness.  By the way, if you need help discovering your passion, then check this out.

3.  Beauty

Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.  What do you find beautiful and pleasing?  The allure may be trying to tell you something.  You are attracted for a reason.  Follow this longing to discover where it leads.  You may just find a whole new life for yourself surrounded by what you love the most.

4.  Obstacles

Believe it or not obstacles are some of the strongest guiding lights you’ll ever encounter.  I’ve experienced this personally more than once.  I’ve been hot on the pursuit of a new endeavor only to keep running into one problem after another.  It seemed that no matter what I did, I couldn’t get any traction.  Later it came to light that these obstacles were saving me from a big mistake.

5.  Past Achievement

When you are stuck and trying to figure out where to go from here, it is a good idea to reflect on your past achievements.  Where have you had success before?  What are your strengths?  The answers to these questions are little indicators to help you find a new path to explore.  Maybe there is a new, creative twist you can apply to a past success to get things flowing again.

6.  Failures

Guiding lights can help you know what to avoid as much as what to pursue.  Failures may tell you what not to do again.  We should learn from our mistakes.  Where have you failed in the past and what caused these failures?  The answers should reveal to you lessons that you need to incorporate into your future plans.

7.  Relationships

I’m sure you are familiar with the old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  Well, there is certainly some kernel of truth in this.  What does your network of contacts look like?  What direction are they leaning and how can you follow in their footsteps?  If you dig into these ideas and analyze them a bit, you’ll definitely find some guidance.

8.  Talents

I’ve found that we generally have two lists of talents.  Those that we use regularly and some that are fairly well hidden.  You need to take a look at both.  Make a list and start considering how you might be able to bring some of your hidden talents to the forefront to enhance talents you use more regularly.  This may disclose to you a previously unnoticed opportunity.

9.  Serendipity

Serendipity is a beneficial or desirable outcome that seems to happen almost by accident.  Serendipity is often referred to as luck or good fortune.  Don’t ignore these chance encounters and odd twists of fate that materialize in your life.  I’ve found that these guiding lights often have bigger payoffs than any other I follow.  My life wouldn’t be nearly as good if I’d missed a few serendipitous opportunities.

10.  Open Doors

I’ve met more than one person that was standing on the threshold of an amazing new chapter in their life, but was hesitant to step through the open door before them.  Open doors are like huge beacons calling us forward.  If you don’t take the risk, you’ll always regret it.  How much brighter does the light have to be before you’ll follow it?

What signs or guiding lights do you follow when you need direction?  Leave a comment below and let me know.

Photo: Copyright PhotoXpress.com

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
~ Henry David Thoreau

I absolutely want to avoid going to the grave with the song still in me.  I guess that’s why I’ve dedicated this blog to ideas for helping people, including myself, live life to the fullest.  I want to be totally used up knowing that I gave living my all.  Therefore, I am always on the lookout for new ways to live a deeper and more meaningful life.  Today I am offering several ideas for getting started in the right direction.  You are sure to find something below that will enrich your life!

1.  Seek to continually improve

I read books and blogs continuously looking for new ways to improve myself and the life I am living.  We can never become complacent.  Life always has more to offer and the only thing holding us back from getting it is our own thinking.  We can completely change our lives by changing our thinking.  We need to constantly look for ways to improve ourselves and our habits.  This will help ensure we get the most out of our lives.

2.  Take responsibility for individual actions.

It is impossible to improve if you do not accept that you alone are responsible for your station in life.  No matter what your circumstances, you choose your response to what comes your way.  By accepting this and deciding to live the very best life possible, regardless of external influences, you are making a giant leap toward a fantastic life.

3.  Live a life of integrity.

Awhile back, I wrote about how doing the right thing is a cornerstone of the good life.  So much of what we accomplish in life is centered around how well we build relationships.  If you don’t live with integrity, then chances are your relationships will not stand the test of time.  There is no way around it.  The truth almost always comes to light and if you are being deceitful, then there will be consequences to pay.

4.  Achieve Freedom from debt.

When we owe other people money, we become a partial slave to them.  A portion of our effort goes toward paying them back.  Our choices in life are reduced because we have a commitment to repay the debt.  We become tied to it.  Are you really free or are you a slave?  Freedom is the path to a good life.  I recently paid off all my debt except for my mortgage.  It feels good to be free!

5.  Give to good causes.

A part of living a meaningful life is taking action to make the world a better place.  This may be in the form of giving your time or money.  We have to invest our lives in worthwhile causes to have a sense of purpose.  Do you feel the way you spend the majority of your time benefits others?  If not, look for ways to start investing in a good cause.

6.  Explore your spiritual side.

Many of us find the true meaning of life in our spiritual beliefs.  What do you believe?  Have you spent enough time exploring this part of yourself?  If you live in the United States, you should not take your religious freedoms for granted.  I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to worship as I see fit.  This adds a tremendous value to my life.

7.  Raise a family.

I think that most parents would agree with me that raising children is one of the most rewarding things they’ve ever done.  Raising a family is hard, but most things in life worth doing are a little tough.  Of course, the rewards far outweigh the work.  Seeing the world again through the eyes of a child is invaluable to restoring your perspective.  No one should go through life without experiencing parenthood.  The love you get from kids will make your heart sing!

8.  Take time to reflect.

It is important to occasionally take an inventory of your life.  Ask yourself, are you doing what it takes to get ahead in life?  Answer these questions honestly.  No one else has to know, but if you can’t be honest with yourself about areas for improvement, then you will remain stuck where you are at.  Our world is so noisy and busy that we often neglect quiet times of reflection.

9.  Be humble.

Nobody likes a snob or a meanie.  As I mentioned above, good relationships are very important to living a meaningful life.  To build more relationships, you need to have a humble and open heart.  If this is an area where you have struggled, then you may need to apologize to repair some past mistakes.  This takes humility, but once you have done it, you will feel like a rock has been lifted from your chest.

10.  Seek adventure.

Adventure is the spice of life.  What do you do for recreation?  We have to recharge our batteries or otherwise we burnout.  The best plan is to develop a regular maintenance plan for our minds to avoid burnout.  I find that a little time out in nature rejuvenates me and helps me appreciate my life.  I tend to make up all kinds of excuses for remaining in a rut, but in reality none of them hold water.  A good adventure always helps to cure what ails me and gives me a new appreciation for a full life.

11.  Find someone to make you laugh.

Laughter really is some of the best medicine.  If you reflect on some of the best times of your life to this point, you will probably remember times when you did a lot of laughing.  This may be why so many singles are looking for mates with a good sense of humor.  They instinctively know that a lot of good laughs will add meaning to their lives.

12.  Express your creativity.

As humans, we were born to create.  Just look around you for a moment and you will see hundreds of products of the human mind.  Unless they are a part of nature, the things that surround you were conceived from the imagination of man.  This process of dreaming things up and then creating them is very satisfying.  If you have trouble in this arena, you may want to look at some ways to rekindle your creativity.

Adding depth and meaning to your life is possible!

These twelve tips should get you started down the road to a deeper and more meaningful life.  There will be lots of twists and turns along the way, but you have to start somewhere.  I would suggest concentrating on one suggestion above for now and then revisiting this list from time-to-time to see where else you can benefit.

What are you going to do to start living a deeper and more meaningful life?

Photo by jurek d

Every big success started as an idea in someone’s mind.

The automobile, the phone, and the computer were all simply ideas that an ordinary human being had before they became the phenomenal successes they are today.  These ideas were no different than the ideas you and I have.  Look at Bill Gates, the world’s richest person according to Forbes, who at 20 had an idea that he sold to a computer company which in short order led to the founding of Microsoft.  When Gates first contacted his prospective buyer, he didn’t have anything more than an idea.  The small action step he took in contacting the computer company to see if they would be interested in his idea started the ball rolling which led from one opportunity to another.  By consistently taking this kind of action, Gates built a net worth that today exceeds $59 billion!

All thoughts are energy. 

In the physical world, potential and kinetic are two types of energy.  A compressed spring stores large amounts of potential energy.  When and if the spring is released, BOING, its potential energy is unleashed as kinetic energy.  Kinetic energy is the work done to propel an object into motion.  Your ideas are like stored up energy that is waiting to be released.  When you take action toward achieving your desires you release the BOING.  The action you take is necessary to unleash the potential energy of your ideas and create momentum.

Momentum builds speed. 

Once you have speed on your side then it is difficult to stop your ideas.  A racing locomotive has a lot of momentum.  It takes a really big obstacle to stop it.  When you do the work necessary to get your ideas in motion, they become like the locomotive.  It is practically impossible to stop them from becoming a success.  How awesome would it be to see your greatest desire with this kind of momentum?  It can happen and it all starts with one little step in the right direction.  It all begins when you do the work.  The movement may be hard to detect at first, but it will build on itself.  Once you get things going they can move quickly.  For really big dreams, it may take months or even years of work to really get moving, but you never know.  The one thing that is certain is that if you don’t take the first step toward your dream, then it won’t ever have a chance.

Can you imagine what you will accomplish if you live your life as Kettering suggests?

Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.
~Charles Kettering, Inventor

If you believe and act like it is impossible to fail, you will take the steps needed to make your greatest desires a reality.  Where would you be today if you had started one, two, or five years ago to work on your dream?  What about a month ago?  Why not start today? 

Take action right this minute!  I mean it.  Get a pencil and piece of paper and do the following:

1. Write your dream or desire at the top of the sheet.
2. List the first three steps you need to take to make your dream a reality.  These should be straightforward action steps.  Nothing complicated.  Start them with a verb.  For example, if you were going to make a presentation, you might write down, “Reserve a room“.
3. Now immediately, without thinking about it, do the first item on your list.

Congratulations!

If you did what I suggested above, then you just created momentum.  Go on to the next item on your list.  Waiting to take action will let fear and doubt creep into your mind.  This is usually why our dreams never become a reality.  Of course, now that you are aware of it, you will avoid delay.  You will take action and do the work to start living the life you dreamed of when you were little!

Photos by Xseriesthree and Charles & Clint