Life Train – clickety clack or smooth express

Have you ever travelled by train?  Have noticed how very rarely does the train go down the wrong track and how it always knows there the next junction is and slows down or speeds up accordingly? This is all part of a planned route, once the passengers are on the train they have an almost 100% certainty to arrive at their destination and in most cases arrive at the time they planned or hoped to.

Life is no different; anyone can end up at their chosen destination at a predetermined time.

The train has a whole pile of planned and controlled signals, signs and indicators ahead of it to get it to where it needs to be when it needs to be. The same signs are there in life and yes you yourself have put them there!

Each and every stage of your life from the moment you are born is something you have planned and as you grow older the stage you are at or the position in a result of previous and past actions.  Like the train you can have a planned route ahead, you can change your timetable now and re-write it to get to where you want to be, should be or even dream to be.

The train and all its passengers has a smooth path  - your life should be the same.  You may dream to get to your life destination slowly in a simple clickety clack manner enjoying the ride and everything around you, you may want to be on the express get there fast and enjoy the end result. I can’t and won’t make that choice for you but each requires the same equal effort and deliberate steps to achieve.

My train became derailed and I am now getting it back on track,  I am on a fast train, not the express but most certainly not the stopping train that stops at every station and beauty spot on the route.

“How am I doing it?” is a question raised by so many and so many who I always thought had everything, had a great life, had money and were therefore happy; funny how my perception was and for so many others is wrong.

I do it with a combination of things. Firstly I see those I once perceived as “happy” and to be honest are happy(ish) but not Content and think to myself “is life about money?” or “is life about possessions?” or “is life having a 9 to 5 job?”. I look at those “happy” ones, look at myself and smile and deep inside I laugh – happiness is not easily defined but happiness cannot and must not be false or based on something easily lost. So firstly I find happiness in life itself.

Secondly I make my choices.  Just like a train going from A to B there often many trains to choose from; some going direct, some stopping, some with no first class, some red some blue – choices choices choices.  I make and think about positive choices, note the two important words  “make” and “think”. I choose to be happy, I choose to believe I am a huge success, I choose to sit back, slow down and think,  I choose to smile, I choose to be with people who encourage me, I choose to dream. I make the choice and that choice lays out a railway track ahead of me with green lights, a few red ones, signs that tell me to carry on and boost me speeding me up or slowing me down.  What you choose to think and believe can and will carry you in the direction of you want to or do not want to go down!

I am not a wealthy man,  I live a life where wordly worry about can I or can I not pay my rent, school fee’s, bills could consume me. I choose them not to consume me, this is my third method of keeping my smile.  I don’t deny it’s not easy, hence my donate button on this blog,  but I will say my life is improving, my station is insight and the stops I am making on the way are more and more acceptable and rewarding.

Fourthly I have faith; faith in God and faith in myself. This faith encourages me and gets me up and about each morning.  This faith or belief is a key step to making my life happen.

Finally I revert back to the thing that gives me so much in life, it brings a smile to my face and makes my train journey the journey that it is.  My final key to my positiveness is giving thanks, being full of gratitude! Mine started with a gratitude journal and I look back every now and then see just how far I have come!

I have come to realise that no matter what train you choose to be on, you yourself are the driver, you may enjoy the slow clickety clack or thrive on the express route but it makes little difference, the way you get to your destination and the stops you make along the way are all determined by the very same 3 actions I choose every day. You can do it, I am doing it… Success is inside you… seize it!