Sunday: New Year's Day 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's a Sunday, and I'm hoping you're in the middle of a three-day weekend! Yes. The holiday seasons have turned into a series of three-day weekends, and it's nice. I hope you're off and are relaxing from whatever holiday celebrations you got your self into (and hopefully out of) last night!!! It's a Special Edition of Rants From A Midwest guy in the land of milk and honey. Yesss! It's special because we get to take a brief look back over what happened or didn't happen in 2016 decide if it was good, bad or other, and figure out what to look forward to this new year of 2017. 

The sun is out!! And the streets are still freshly coated from last night's rain. There have been more clouds in the sky than I can remember in the last couple of years of my travel to and from SoCal. It's a gentle reminder of the Homeland and the ever changing weather patterns, and I love it but not more than actually being in the Homeland when I can visit. Hahahaha. 


Like most people in the world, we want better things, more richness in our experiences, and strive to connect with our loved ones, friends, and maybe even ourselves. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was getting on a plane headed back to the promised land from a week of the cold and snow. As is the case most of my visits, I was greeted by family and warm familiar friends to keep me in the moment every day of my stay last year. The drive home from LAX was drab but the beginning of a new optimistic as I drove by what was becaming my place of practice and growth--Malibu Chiropractic & Wellness.

Well, it's been a year now. I've grown to appreciate a mantra I repeated to myself time and again ever more deeply.. all things are one and written by the same hand. Everything that was supposed to happen, happens..and for reasons that we may not clearly see or understand as our lives unfold (Sometimes they happen because you just made a choice-good or bad). It's difficult to see the emerging new picture of your life when you're still focused on the old one or the details. I made some new friends. I've refined some of my old friendships, and continue to have a great new job. My physical person continues to be a work-in-progress that dubs as my 'part-time' job of going to the gym or 'gyming-it' as I say. I had a list of things I didn't do the year before last, and the list of things I plan to do this year include returning to the world stage of travel and adventure (maybe checking off a few other things in the process). I've experienced just over 40 other countries and their respective cultures, and I think I may return to a few but definitely want to see a couple more.

Last year when I wrote this blog for this holiday, I mentioned in the list of things I did that, "I dared greatly and let myself be vulnerable to the pursuit of a dream that I could have the life ( a normal life) I want to have win or lose." The life that I have now is part of that dare; it was part of my personal development strategy, which should also be on your list of things to do--self-improvement.

The year had definitely went more smooth than my last. Most of this I attribute to an old principle a couple of my Bible school friends would talk about, and that is finding the peace in life. I often make reference to my friend Jon Gannon when I mention the idea of peace or "finding the peace" as we often spoke about it. My almost instant life besty I met in college. He was witty, funny, and easy-going but firm in his convictions about God, salvation, and his life's mission. He grew up in Israel and has since our college days been around the world fighting the good fight as he knows it promoting Jesus and the need for salvation. We were trained the same, by and large, but we now stand in opposite ends of the salvation story, and in it we still are close friends. 

Now, much like our college days, we continue to speak about finding 'inner peace' in our lives. Finding the inner kind of peace that makes sense to us even if it doesn't make sense to other people observing our lives. Finding it, the inner peace, isn't always in the most peaceful environments or situations. We understood it as a deeper kind of peace that we are 100% invested in with 100% of our being because in it the ultimate expression of our person can be reached, experienced, and expressed. That kind of peace in our lives gives us strength and the ability to travail into and out of difficult times when they come to us. I don't know about you, but I think we as a nation have some difficult days ahead of us, and every single one of us may need to become better at finding that kind of inner peace; we may have to do some daring with ourselves, what we believe to be right and wrong, and stand up for those convictions when necessary. Maybe it's time.  

I will end this edition by quoting last year's blog because it still makes sense. "Dare Greatly. The Creator is waiting and the universe is cheering you and me forward into 2017! You just have to do your part and step forward and show up owning the moments you are given. The sun has not set on you forever if you can still breath, and now is a good time to take action. Thank you everyone for everything small and great. Spoken and unspoken. Happy New Year!! God Bless America. 
#Allthingsareone #Mnman #Mnstrong #Californiadreaming #GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife