The freshness of a new snow, that is what life should be like.

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There's something beautiful and almost magical the morning after a big storm.  The sun is shining and there is a quiet all around.  Peace is able to take hold, if for only a short period of time, but peace none-the-less.

Many people will be talking about the "big" storm and just how hair raising it was.  The pictures are flying all around the cyber-world and little ones are just wishing for another day off from school.

Yes there is a tranquil beauty the day after a storm, and it is this beauty that I want you to focus on today.  We all go through storms in our life.  Some are just a dusting, and others are the grand Nor' Easter.  Living in Maine I have had my share of these storms, and after each one I will sit and marvel at the resiliency of people to just get going and do what they have to do, without regard to what just happened.

This is what should be taking place in your life when you are either facing a storm or whether you have just come through one.  There are lessons to be learned from each situation we face or go through.  Lessons that will take you to the next level of your development.  How you handle these lessons will dictate whether or not you are going to have to repeat them in the future.

I have been through numerous storms in my life.  Unlike a snow storm when there is constant talk about what to expect, how much we're going to get, and precautions one should take to make it through, there is not normally a prep time for the personal storms we face in life.  If we did in fact heed the warning signs of impending doom, then we would be able to avoid many of the storms that come across our path.  Being human, many of us have not learned the subtleties or signs of what is to come, unfortunate, but very true.  Most of the time these storms are simply thrust upon us and we run around not knowing what direction to go in, wondering what just happened, and then crying when things just aren't going well for us.

Just like a snow storm, we have to realize that there is life after a situation.  There is peace and a beauty to having been through a storm and that is what you should expect to get out of them.  Now many will not find the beauty in such storms, but there is joy in everything we experience if we will allow ourselves the opportunity to walk in that joy.  When you are able to find the joy in every situation then you are changing the energy that you are giving out.  When you send out joy, then joy comes back to you.  Conversely if the sky is always falling, then you will be living in a cycle of hell on earth, and there isn't much that is going to change for you, even though change is exactly what you may need in the moment.

I want to quickly touch on a topic that I have written about in the past, but it is something that may open some eyes, and in seeing things a little differently, then you have the ability to put things in perspective.  Time is an illusion.  We think that time is a set of standards that we have to follow in order to get where we want to be, when we want to be there.  Anything that upsets our own timeline is somehow counter productive, at least to us, and is in fact a nuisance.  What we have to remember is that things happen for a reason, and things happen in the perfection of the Creator.  We may not always believe that, and definitely we don't want to hear it, but perfection is just that, perfection.  When we go through trials and storms, there is something that we are needing to learn in that moment, and if we will grasp it with open arms, we will then experience the peace that comes after the storm.  It is only when we fight these things, that we are doomed to have to repeat them time and time again.

When you come through a storm, you now have a new appreciation for what you have been through, and you can sit back and just know that you "did it."  You can look at current situations and realize that if you did it once, you can do it a second time, and then time and time again.  We just had a huge snow storm here in Maine, and when it was over we all knew that one would come again, but we had just a moment to sit back and smile because we had done it again.  Storms are nothing to be afraid of.  They are there because they teach us something, and when that happens only good can come from it.  It is time to reflect and find the peace and beauty that will always follow a storm.  When you are able to do this, then there isn't much that will stop you. Find the peace, find the beauty, and then the joy will find you.