If you enjoy these posts – you might enjoy a copy of my book, “Happiness is Over There” – which is a personal memoir detailing the stories, learnings, and exercises I used to shift my life from dark and chaotic to light and peaceful.  You can buy a signed copy at www.paperclipthinking.com or you can email me at travis@paperclipthinking.com to arrange book delivery.

It’s June in Michigan, which is one of my favorite times of the year.  The leaves have returned to the trees, the grass is as green as it will be all year, the flowers are blooming, the day time temperatures are in the low 70’s and the evenings require a sweatshirt.  Vacations have been scheduled, another school year is wrapping, and I can’t help but notice how each of these pieces fit together like a watch and its gears.  If you have seen the internal workings of a clock or watch, you might agree that it is quite a beautiful dance.  The gears spin, turning each other, and consequently moving the hands that share our perception of time with the world.  Each watch has a center gear, much like cars have a power train, or bikes have their crank shaft.  These “center gears” all receive energy and then they use that energy to turn everything around them.  As long as that center gear is in aligned and working, time seems to spin effortlessly.

Now…one wrong twist of that center gear and everything risks being thrown into chaos.

I like to compare my life to the nature that I live in and the watch I referenced above.  Our planet has its own center gear and it turns the tides, the seasons, and literally spins our planet around and around.  Our lives have a center gear, too, and it is my opinion that these center gears are critical to one’s ability to experience peace, productivity, opulence, wealth, and an overall happiness.

What is that part of you that you might consider the center gear? And…how many other gears does your center gear turn?  I have a work gear, a parenting gear, a philosophical gear, and an “out in nature gear”.  I have an exercise gear, a writing gear, a spouse gear, a relationship gear – and that about sums up what makes me tick.  Each one of these gears represents a facet of my life, so what turns all of my gears?  My center gear is my relationship gear, soulful connections as I like to call them.  If I am surrounded by soulful relationships, those types of relationships where conversations flow effortlessly, the topics of discussion are wide and varied, and the relationships are loose and free – then my other gears: work, exercise, parenting, etc. all seem to flow and produce amazing results.  If I don’t work on my relationships and choose wisely with whom I am spending my time, then life gets a little crazy.

If I choose to surround myself with unhealthy relationships, everything runs the risk of falling out of place.  How does your center gear affect your life?  Ponder on it, note those gears, and ensure you take care of that center gear, because it will support your life being aligned to the core of who you are and that is more powerful than most of us realize.

Cheers to all of you and your continued journeys…