The end of another cycle, thank God!!

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Cycles: they come , they go, but the one constant is that most people will never be able to predict the exact outcome of any of them.  This country just ended a political cycle, and all I can say is "Thank God".  The only constant in the political arena is that there will never be a time when one party is not seeking to lambaste the other party in the hopes of either maintaining power or obtaining it.  Trust me, that will be the extent of my political commentary on what took place yesterday.

The main topic of discussion this morning is what do we do with the cycles we go through in our life? I would like to think that I have grown very adept at navigating the cycles in my life, but who am I kidding, I am just as prone as the next person of screwing things up.  What I endeavor to do is learn from each cycle, so if or when I enter another one I have the tools in which to handle the situations that I will face.

The cycles we go through are no different then the "Oh here we go again" moments in life.  They are those things that you swear you are never going to go through again, yet they seem to creep back into your life and then it's "here we go again" all over again.  There are some cycles that are predictable, but even in the predictability of them, changes occur which more often then not will change the outcome.  It's almost impossible to know when a cycle will end or begin, suffice it to say they will be around you when you need them, and even if you don't need them, they will be around.  The second constant in the universe, besides change, is that you can almost bet that the cycles you are going through in your life are there for a very specific reason, and the sooner you can accept this and not fight it every step of the way, the sooner the cycle will end and you will take from it what you need to take from it.

I have had cycles in my life when I was tested beyond belief.  No matter where I went a testing.  I could hardly step outside my home without something hitting me smack in the face in the form of a test. I chalk all that past experience up to having to learn a lesson.  I have also had those cycles in my life when things just seemed to manifest with little or no effort and I was very content to stay in this environment the remainder of my life.  The problem with contentment is that we tend to get lazy and forget that what we go through both good and bad is there to teach us something.  If you are not desiring to learn each day, i.e. being content where you are, then there will be a time when things begin to slip away.  Keep this in mind, the cycles we go through are not always just about us.  There are things that we need to learn in order to be of service to others in this thing we call 'humanity'.  I know that the cycles of my life have lead me to the place I am at right now.  I know that my life is not simply about what I can do, or what I get, but rather what can I do for others or give to others.  It took me a long time to get to this point, in fact, many cycles have passed throughout the years to get me to the point that I am at right now.

Some cycles are worthy of praise, and others are nothing more then a forgotten memory, at least we hope we can forget about them.  Still, we need to learn from each cycle.  We need to fully accept each cycle.  We need to understand that you have very little control over the cycles of your life, and you would be better served trying to learn from a cycle verses trying to manipulate it's outcome because it may not be what you were hoping for.

Just as there are cycles to our seasons, there will always be cycles in each of our lives.  They key to navigating them is to be as open as possible to them, and realize that this is yet another opportunity for growth.  Not always easy to remember when you are being overtaken by emotion because of something bearing down on you, but growth is growth no matter how you obtain it.

Now the downside to cycles: they are never ending.  The moment one ends, you begin another one.  Perfect example is the elections of yesterday.  Most everyone I know is so happy that they will not have to live through any other political commercials.  Yet, I will bet you dimes to donuts that the political machine is already spinning and it will only be a matter of weeks, maybe just days, before someone jumps into the ring preparing for 2016.  And as the saying goes, "here we go again".

My advice to each of you is this: embrace the cycles of your life.  Learn from each cycle, and share that knowledge with others.  The is always a reason for the things we go through, and once you accept this fact you will be poised to handle almost any situation that may come from what ever cycle you might be going through in your life.  Enjoy the race...