second part of what you ache for

This is the follow-up to yesterday's post from my prior blog. more about what you ache for. i hope some of it resonates with you. please like, share or comment. your response and continued interest is truly appreciated.

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and, if you dream of meeting your heart's longing" (The Invitation)

As I continue to talk about "what I ache for" from The Invitation, let me reiterate that I ache to experience clarity of emotion so that I can: (1) be happy with who I am and what I do with my life, (2) experience deep, abiding, true love with my family, my friends and a man I can share my life with; and (3) share true, inner happiness and peace with those I love.

Though I do not have a lot of friends, I treasure the ones I have. We have been through good, bad and some very hard times and have managed to stick it out, together. When my husband was killed, my assigned counselor once told me he had never seen a group of friends as caring and kind to each other as my group of friends. I knew it to be true then and I know it to be true now. Times may change and our lives may change but not our love and caring for each other. I firmly believe, it is not the number of friends you have that makes the difference, it is the quality of friendships you keep. That is clarity of emotion.

As for a man in my life. Well, I had a great run with a wonderful man. When he was killed, I believed I would never love like that again. I no longer believe that. I know I have a lot of love to give. I am ready to share all of that with another. That is the longing of my heart. I am looking for a life partner, a soul mate. I want a man who -when he says my name leaves me breathless, when he looks at me I get weak in the knees, and when he kisses me, I tremble with desire. Some say I want it all. That may be, but when I find him, I will give my all to him. Trust, we will share a deep, abiding love that will make others want what we have. And, it will be good. That is clarity of emotion.

Finally, I ache to share true inner peace and happiness with those I love. Now, I know that no one lives in a constant state of peace or happiness. But I also know that I would rather be happy than unhappy. I would rather be at peace with myself and my life than not. I would rather be inwardly happy than in constant pain. I have been there. I believe we can live a life of true, inner happiness and peace. True, inner happiness acknowledges pain when it comes and learns from it; true inner peace then allows you to let the pain go. I want that type of happiness and peace inside of me. In my heart. In my soul. In my every day experiences. For those I love. That is clarity of emotion.

What is true, inner happiness? What is inner peace? I think it is inner satisfaction with the choices we make and how we live our life. It is the ability to look in the mirror without shame or embarrassment. It is having friends and family that matter to you; it is knowing that you matter to someone. It is having hope and faith in something real. It is having purpose in your life. It is having something that you are passionate about. One can be poor but be happy. One can be sick and yet be happy. One can even be alone and be happy. But one cannot be without friends, family, purpose, or someone to love or the love of someone and be happy. Trust, if one is alone and happy, that person knows that the alone-time is, for the most part, by choice.

Inner happiness exists when we are surrounded by things that make us happy and do things that make us smile. Inner happiness is not really a journey that we take, it is the road we take on the journey to where we are going; it is the road we took on our journey to where we are now. You can choose to be unhappy but why would you . Why would anyone willingly choose to be unhappy. I choose, every morning, when I wake up, and every night before I go to bed, to enjoy inner happiness.

Inner peace is the ability to sit in silence with yourself and find contentment. It is actually hearing the still, calm voice inside of you that says everything's going to be okay. It is knowing yourself and your life and accepting yourself and your life. We are none of us perfect but we are, most of us, doing the best we can. When we learn to love and accept ourselves as we are knowing we are actually giving life our best, that is inner peace. Accepting yourself, loving yourself ... it turns down the volume on the you that is constantly criticizing yourself and that allows more inner peace into your life. i choose every morning, when i wake up, to love myself more, to stop putting myself down and to find my inner peace.

Once again, take a moment and search your inner heart, that still small place within you that most of us avoid. Take a close look and ask yourself - what do I ache for? What do I long for? And once you know the answer, take the next step and ask yourself if you are taking the steps necessary for you to achieve what you long for, ache for, I did. I hope you will. Until next week and more of The Invitation, take care of you.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. 

Henry David Thoreau