Another young life snuffed out over the weekend always causes stirs in the close knit community that we lived in for so long.  Our children knew him, went to school with his siblings, we helped his mother with pain when we had our store, she too a victim of a car accident.  But this time her son was taken back to where we start and left a terrible hole in the hearts of many.

One of my close friends that I love was in a similar accident and was thrown from her vehicle.  The very same fate could have met her.

Our lives are whispers, really.  There is no time to live a life that is not ours.  In each of us there are specific passions and interests that are meant to lead us to the life that we will have the most impact on the people around us and be the happiest.  A blueprint, if you will.  The prayers that are answered and the seemingly amazing chain of events that allows a person to live their dreams is not luck or karma, it is the path that person was supposed to follow!

Our paths and interests change as we do.  Everything I have done would appear to have nothing in common but there are links through them all.  From modeling to dancing to herbalism to farming, I have been teaching the whole time.  I have long been interested in everything old fashioned and devoured books like Little House and Anne of Green Gables.  It is not surprising that I am here.

Now, where would you like to be?  Here are three exercises for you to write down and your path will be ever clear.  Through these you may find that you want to pursue a new hobby or completely change your lifestyle.  Maybe you want to move or maybe just take up sommelier classes!  There are no right or wrong answers.

Exercise #1– Write down your ideal morning.  What time would you wake up?  What are you drinking?  What does your view look like?  Who are you with?  What are you doing?  Where are you?  Would this be a morning you could do every day?  How do you feel?

I wrote this down a few times and after a while I realized that I was waking up and living my ideal morning each day!  Up at dawn, quiet house, cups of coffee, writing, then sitting on the porch with the kitty when it is warm.  I feel peaceful and ready for the day.  If I am rushed in the morning, my mood is rather unattractive!

Exercise #2– Walk through each row of the non-fiction section of the library slowly and look at each section.  Notice your reaction to each category.  What subjects pique your interest or simply make you smile?

I did this a few days ago.  I find that I smile at the books about children and the children’s section.  I love the travel section, mostly the Italian wine country memoirs.  I love the wine section and I can never leave without twenty cook books!  I love books about farming, particularly memoirs.  I enjoy fictional books about the Amish.

Five years ago I may have been obsessed with all of the herbal medicine books.  Five years before that I might have been interested in beginning gardening and decorating.

I bet librarians know a lot about their patrons just by seeing what they read.  You can find a lot of things out about yourself this way.  We tend to lose ourselves in the world.

Exercise #3– Make four columns on a piece of paper. In the first one write everything you love in your life.  Kids, job, pets, roses, pretty table cloths, whatever.

In the second one write down everything that causes you stress. Why?  Is there a way to change your reaction, your situation, or is it something you can get out of your life?

In the third column write what you have found out about yourself from the exercises above.  What do you love?  What makes you happy?  What do you want to learn?  How do you want to live?  What does your ideal life look like?

Finally, in the fourth column write three ways you can start to get the life you really want.  This could be big or small.  Put house on market.  Sign up for Spanish classes.  Stop obsessing about food.  Get a library book about becoming a rose farmer.  Get chickens.

All of our lists will be different.  I do this regularly.  Sometimes we just need to write things down.  Sometimes the obvious is lost in the hustle and bustle of every day.

Happy Dreaming!  Happy life planning!  Happy living the way you are intended to live.  Whether you are nine or ninety, I wish you your ideal life.