Compassion / Open your heart and love others / A smile warms the Heart

Yes, you can make a difference in your world. So many times we let "things" in our lives control us. We are controlled by our work, telephone, internet, in-laws, Mom, Dad, friends, church, Bank, IRS, education, etc. Why is this? Why do we let people and circumstances control our lives? How many of us are in a job that we really do not enjoy, but we have to go in order to pay our "bills". How did we get these bills in the first place. Are we trying to build our portfolio's to try and have the "DREAM"? Dream of success, money, happiness, a bright future for us and our family?

Let us examine who we really are. First and foremost, family is everything. Of course we need to respect our family and parents. They should always come first in our life, and bettering their future IS a Great thing.

Work is another story. We have been mislead into thinking if we work really hard to better ourselves and our family then things will be blissful and money will come rolling in. Where does this ideology come from? It comes from the "great lie". This lie has been handed down from generation to generation saying the money can buy happiness. Well, in my book it is nice to have money, but it sure doesn't buy happiness.

So how can we chisel away at what we have been taught in life and begin focusing on who we are and what we can do to make a difference in life? We can start by simply making a small plan. The plan may consist of doing some good deeds to start out with. For instance, is your neighbors grass 1 foot tall? maybe you could go mow it for him as a surprise. What about a nursing home. I know many elderly people in nursing homes that would love for someone just to go talk with them. Kindness is truly bliss. Happiness comes to those with kind hearts.

Do you really want to make a big difference in life? Maybe its time you sold your home and down graded to a home you can actually afford. Then you can get rid of the job you may not like and have more time to yourself and family.

I know all of this may sound foreign but I'm getting to my point. The point is, free up some of your time for yourself. When you have more quality time to yourself is when you can make a big impact around you. You will actually have time to do some nice things for yourself which in turn will bring about change, happiness, rest, fun. Then in these times to yourself you will find that you will be available to help those around. you may actually have time to help your mother or father with a project you have been promising to do for them. You will have much more time with your children (if you have them) to go to the park, or day trips close by. You will have more time with your wife. Go on some dates with your wife, or your girl friend. Inspiration a lot of times come when we have time to ourselves.

So, you can't quit your job and you really don't want to downgrade your life? Then there are a few things you can do as well. Purposefully pursue time off from work to rest. We all need rest. Rest, relaxation, and more rest bring about evaluation of our lives. Evaluation is always a good thing. Were are we, where are we going, what do we want to do later in life? Focus on that simply plan and stick by it. If your plan gets off track, then simply get back on track. While focusing on this plan you will succeed only with time to yourself to rest and reflect. Again, rest and reflection brings about insight, idea's, excitement, and hope. While resting, let us always help our neighbors in need, or volunteer to help the community.

There are so many ideas out there to help make a difference in the World, and we can do it while either sticking to our schedule, or revamping our schedule and life style. All in all making a difference comes down to this: Be Kind, Be respectful, Be a loving person, help people in need, surprise people with gifts, give your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend with flowers or a fun night out, send birthday cards, take time for your children/spouse/friend, and the most important is REST. Give yourself some time off.

Be inspired, help those in need, love your family and friends. Don't let people run over you or try and control you. I've found in life it is best if we are NOT around people that try to control us. Simply smile and be nice to people that are controlling, and then go about your way. Let us now go and begin to make a difference in our World, by first starting at home with ourselves. Have a great day all. Try and go help someone in need this week. Your heart will be overjoyed with happiness. Truly, it is more blessed to give then to receive. Cheers.

Article written by me, @crowe on steemit

(All pictures in this article are from google imaging under the subjects: beautiful mountain, idea, helping, inspiration beautiful valley, make a difference)