When Anger Dissipates There is Room for Peace to Enter"

As a teenager I talked with my father a lot when he was home. Things that upset me in our house would make me quite sure I was right, my anger was justified, and the anger was real but the reason for the anger was at times skewed.  Things I could not understand as a teen Dad would tell me., "That's your perspective and you cannot know life from an adult perspective, it is not that black and white all the time."

Kindness versus selfishness is always clear but shades of gray in any relationship can confuse us.

I did not know what he meant at the time, there were things that were not good at home but he was not going to change anything. I look back now and see he did not know he had options.  That is the greatest lesson I learned from that conversation.

We do have options if we allow our mind to go there, to change what life we settled for to another life more peaceful.  The only way to change is not be afraid of losing what we have but seeking to have more, a better life.  We can have more but it takes courage, willingness to let go of everything you know in exchange for an adventure you never knew existed "out in the world."

Speaking with a friend yesterday about the life we have lived, the only one we can know, I commented "Life for us has not been a carousel horse ride but a Kraken roller coaster."  Scary as hell at times but at the end of the ride we arrived wiser at the station of departure, ready to go again.

My life has been rough at times, but my God what a thrill.  The roller coaster ride is one we all will take if we did not learn at home how to navigate the challenges with calm confidence that "All will be well and all is well."  Steady, stay the course you can handle whatever comes you way.  To remain calm and actually tell yourself, "No matter what happens I will act as if I had chose it to be so"  makes life more bearable when tough times come and more enjoyable when the storm passes.

Life is a wonderful adventure. People are wonderful in the world when you see all of them through the eyes of peace. Outer peace comes from inner peace, acceptance of yourself as good, complete, imperfect in actions but perfectly acceptable, we take rose colored glasses off and open the mind and heart to accept everyone else. If we evaluate every circumstance by "What is the kindest action to take for everyone concerned?"...the confusion of decision disappears.

We don't have to like the choices others make but we can accept we are all here doing the best we can, all of us based on what our own perspective is, we can choose to be patient and kind.  Thankful I had the courage to seek my life outside of the familiar. It has made all the difference the world to me, that is my perspective now.

Thankful for my life and our family.  So thankful, anger is disappearing, peace has room to enter now.