Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "A Counselor's Daily Guide to Success"

Our reading for January 28th is taken from "A Counselor's Daily Guide to Success" but is applicable to every adult who has ever held regular employment..."Recall the excitement of that first year". 

This certainly is pertinent to every stage of our lives; whether it be our first year after graduation from high school or college, our first year with a full-time job, our first year of the career you prepared so much for, or our first year after getting married.

The excitement of stepping into a new role in life can be invigorating; it can as well be overwhelming.  Like everything else in our lives, our reaction/response will depend on our state of mind at the time.  Living consciously (aware every decision we make, no matter how small it may seem, effects our next moment, every moment) helps our state of mind from being cluttered of obstacles.

Shakespeare wrote of the consequences of not living consciously in his play, Hamlet.  In his first soliloquy, Hamlet says of the world, "'tis an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely" (1.2.134-136).  Clearly Shakespeare is making a comment to 15th century England, and the world he knew at the time, the degree to which we allow "weeds" to clutter our minds, thus hampering us from making appropriate choices to enhance our lives.

Gardens must be weeded regularly for our crops to not be strangled, thus dying.  Allowing our minds to be an "unweeded garden" results in the same; lives which are stagnant and unfilled.

Worrying less about things over which we have no control (and we only have control over ourselves) opens us up to living fuller, more satisfying lives, thus making those "firsts" in our lives wonderful experiences to recall later in life to edify us and those with whom we share our lives.

Recall the excitement of that first year...and of course...keep looking up. : ) AJ