I wrote earlier about the necessity of pursuing a purpose in life and its significance for achieving happiness and a strong sense of self. Especially after a break up or divorce a new direction is important for gaining a new perspective in life.

The following short inspirational story reminds us what joy following your life purpose can bring into your life.

Author Joseph Campbell often talked about "following your bliss." I heard of a bus driver in Chicago who does just that.

He sings while he drives. That’s right… SINGS! And I don’t mean he sings softly to himself, either. He sings so that the whole bus can hear! All day long he drives and sings.

He was once interviewed on Chicago television. He said that he is not actually a bus driver. "I’m a professional singer," he asserted. "I only drive the bus to get a captive audience every single day."

His "bliss" is not driving a bus, though that may be a source of enjoyment for some people. His bliss is singing. And the supervisors at the Chicago Transit Authority are perfectly happy about the whole arrangement. You see, people line up to ride his bus. They even let other busses pass by so they can ride with the "singing bus driver." They love it!

Here is a man who believes he knows why he was put here on earth. For him, it is to make people happy. And the more he sings, the more people he makes happy! He has found a way to align his purpose in living with his occupation. By following his bliss, he is actually living the kind of life he believes he was meant to live.

Not everybody can identify a purpose in life. But when you do, and when you pursue it, you will be living the kind of life you feel you were meant to live. And chances are… you will be happy.

Find something you are passionate about, make it YOUR special life-purpose and combine it with helping others.

"Follow your bliss" and I will guarantee you that you will prosper.

Your friend,
Eddie Corbano

This article was found floating around on the Internet, unfortunately no information is available about the author.

Today’s inspirational story is somewhat different.

Everybody knows the movie “Rocky”. When we think about this movie a likable underdog who never gives up immediately comes into mind.

Nothing wrong about that – that alone could be inspirational enough, but do you also know the story behind the making of the movie?

Tony Robbins tells the story behind the movie and I promise you, after hearing it you will see Sylvester Stallone in a new light (not to mention that you will be blown away by what this guy went through to make the movie happen).

Watch now how he had to sell his best friend – his dog – for $25 and how he finally got him back:

Here are a few memorable quotes for you:

“…he knew his whole life what he wanted to do since he was very very young, he wanted to be in the movie business. Period.”

“He said I was thrown out more then fifteen hundred times of agents offices in New York. I said there aren’t fifteen hundred agents in New York. He said, I know, I’ve been to them 5,6,7,8,9 times.”

“He said he went to the number 1 guy. I got in there at 4′o clock and he wouldn’t see me and I stayed there, I would not leave and I stayed there overnight. He came back the next morning and I was still sitting there. That’s how I got my first job…”

“He said I knew the only way I can do this as if it was the only choice if I burnt all other bridges, ‘cus if I did a normal job pretty soon I’d be caught up in that rhythm and that stuff and I feel OK about my life and I feel like my dream would just gradually disappear. I wanted to keep that hunger, that hunger is the only thing I thought was my advantage.”

“What did Poe do for you? He said Poe got me out of myself. He got me to think about how I can touch other people not to worry about myself so much.”

“I was so broke that I couldn’t even feed my dog. I had to sell my dog, my best friend for $25. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life.”

“Here’s a man with no money, none, totally broke, offered a $125.000 and he walked away because he knew he real worth. And why, because he was committed to it.”

“The first thing he did after the contract was signed, he went to that liqueur store for 3 straight days and hoped to buy back his dog.”

Isn’t this amazing?

Just imagine how this kind of determination can matter in your life.

Have a goal you wholeheartedly believe in, stick to it no matter what, and one fine day it’s pay-time. Your dream come true.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

If Sly could do it, so can you.

Your friend,

Eddie Corbano

This is the first article of hopefully many in the new category “Inspirational Stories”.

These stories all have in common that they are inspirational and uplifting, they give positive energy and imply a fundamental truth at the same time. They teach us lessons about life.

Today’s story is all about choices. The choices we have to make in life.

Many years ago I had to make a choice too. Whether I wanted to live or let my pain destroy me.

I chose life.

By Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said. ” Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.”

“I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

This article was found floating around on the Internet, unfortunately no further information is available about the author.

Many thanks to Occy for proposing this article.