Inspired by Soule

I found I had the time to visit one of my old favorite blog sites. (Just a quick side note - it's interesting how reading blogs has replaced the television for me.) I particularly like soulemama and her world in Maine. She inspires me with her constant doing, living, loving and being. I remember now what I am trying to accomplish with my own life. I want our home life to be as readable as Soulemama's. For me, she is a true diarist and her dairy inspires me to live a little closer to home.

The other day (just yesterday in fact) I was talking to a person in my life. She is hurting and making some choices I'm glad I don't have to. As she talked to me about her dilemma I couldn't help but see how small her life was. I am not trying to be insulting or judgemental for I'm trying to honor where she is at and where she is trying to get. And yet I see how she hasn't really been living to her full potential these many years and now she is paying the consequences. It got me to thinking about living a large full life and how determined I am to make sure I do. Soulemama's blog about pinch pots reminded me that living large happens in the smallest details.

Living large happens in the smallest details. It happens day by day and in the corners of our bookshelves. It is collected on windowsills and in the laundry. It lays amongst the dust bunnies under the sofa. It happens while we read to our children and to our inner child.

I thought about the principles (I have been obsessed with principles lately) I must follow to make sure I live the largest fullest life I possible can. This is what I came up with...

1. Love & serve God
2. Love & serve others
3. Work hard
4. Make sacrifices
5. Seek truth and knowledge
6. Develop talents & use them to help others
7. Enjoy nature
8. Laugh as much as possible

I think of all the people I believe have lived or are living life in a big way and I see that they follow these principles. When I look at the times my life has been small or at the smallness of others lives, these principles are lacking.

I hope that I can be as dedicated a diarist as soulemama. I hope I can live 'closer to home' by looking closely at every little detail and appreciating just how blessed I truly am.

I use to love this quote by Roald Dahl because it reminded me of childhood and the magic of imagination but these words take on a whole new meaning for me this evening. Magic happens everyday in our homes, we just need to look with new eyes...

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't beleive in magic will never find it."

Believe and Live.