To Grow, We Must Transform

How can you tell if you still might be in a caterpillar stage of growth? Some questions to think about –

Do I hide my value or discount the gifts that I have for this world?
Am I tightly guarded, afraid?
Do I feel like I am stuck in the mud, unable to move?
Can I see my potential, but don’t know how to unlock it?
Do I feel vulnerable, tossed about with no control?

Strength, Wisdom, Courage, These Are The Bags For Our Journey

When the butterfly has completed its change, the last step is to break through the chrysalis and unfurl its wings. Once they are dry, it is time to fly.  The butterfly must care for itself to both emerge and then complete the process of self transformation.

I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self indulgent.  Caring for myself is an act of survival. 

  – Audre Lorde

There is a story about how if you help the butterfly out of its coverings, it is crippled. This is because it needs to complete its growth through the releasing of its casing. If you enlarge the hole it creates, it deforms the wings. The same is true for us. We can be supported by the sun, to dry ourselves off.  We can be uplifted with the winds.  But we are the ones that must spread out our wings in order to thrive.

Damaged people are dangerous because they know they can survive.

  – LoveFromASelfHammer

Sometimes life’s struggles are to help us realize that we need to grow stronger to complete our journey. Being courageous requires us to be vulnerable. It is a sign of strength when we put ourselves out there. You can’t really experience life, if you live without putting yourself out there to really live life.  It is in fact a gift, this struggle, because all of us have far more strength than we ever dreamed possible.  You must do the thing that you think you cannot do. 

Strength comes from struggle. When you learn to see your struggles as opportunities to become stronger, better, wiser, then your thinking shifts from “I can’t do this” to “I must do this”.

  – Toni Sorenson

Remember Star Wars when Luke is trying to lift his ship and he struggles and gives up.  Then Yoda shows him.  Luke could have done it the first time, but he doubted, he had a lack of faith not in God, but in himself.  You must do the thing that you think you cannot do.  It would not have been placed before you if God didn’t know that you could do it.  It is there so that you can believe it yourself.  To grow your faith, for the next time fear stops you.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

  – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Looking at history, I think this quote best describes  two people who suffered in Nazi Germany.  Anne Frank, who still believed even after the things she experienced, that the world is filled with good people.  We can read her diary, as well as the writings of those who new her.  The other is Viktor Frankl.  His book “Man’s Search For Meaning” should be required reading for everyone. 

We run from grief because loss scares us, yet our hearts reach toward grief because the broken parts want to mend. 

  – Brene Brown

When struggles happen to us we have a choice, they can define us or refine us. For Anne and Viktor they refined them. They both chose to reach toward the grief and pain of what was happening to her, to her family, to her people.  They somehow knew, had that inner wisdom to realize that by reaching out, they was in fact healing themselves.  Those who become defined by their struggles are true victims. They can’t move past the horrible thing that happened. They encase themselves with what happened and choose safety out of fear. They stop growing, becoming deformed inside, until they learn to “let it go”. To break out of the casing and unfurl their wings.

Being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure.

  – Bob Marley

Life is short.  Break the rules.  Forgive quickly.  Kiss slowly, like in the romantic movies.  Laugh uncontrollably and giggle whenever you can. Never regret anything that brings smile to your eyes as well as your face.  You take a chance of being wounded by living this way, but living any other way is not really experiencing life.

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice.

   – Ernest Hemingway

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Be The Drop, The Ripple, That Shifts The World

“No one in the world was ever you before, with your particular gifts and abilities and possibilities” – Joseph Campbell

At conception you were granted a “stone”, a sacred life purpose, that you are to “cast across the waters”.  That stone’s purpose is to create many ripples.  Those ripples begin to change you from the moment of casting that stone.  The ripples created also impact many others.  As you cast that stone you set out on the journey of discovering and living your life purpose.

As you walk that path, it shifts and changes both you and the world in some way.  This is because you are impacted by everyone else’s ripples.  Each ripple touches and changes the other ripples.

For each stone that is cast or not cast, there is a change in the water.  It doesn’t matter if you are someone who is hoarding their stone afraid to cast them, or you are one who grabs the courage and risks casting your own “stone” or life purpose.  There is always an impact.

“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion’– Paulo Coelho

You were born with a reluctance to change.  You resist it.  You fear it.  You create stories around every impulse to create change in your life.  Why?  Because you’re human.

You build walls, not to keep other people out, as much as to keep yourself safe within.

As a human you also have this calling to improve your life.  You demonstrate this every January when you create New Year’s Resolutions around the changes you want to make in your life.  Dreams you want to materialize.  Goals that you want to achieve.  You work hard to bring them into reality.

The funny thing is that you keep these competing challenges active in your life.  You don’t want to change, yet you want your dreams to come into reality.  You make it hard work by fighting yourself internally around the changes you earnestly desire to make.  You don’t know what is worse, that you try and fail, or that you try and succeed.

How do the doubts show up?  You are afraid that you will lose your soul along the journey to success.  That you will become too proud; that money will change you into someone you won’t like; that the cost will outweigh the benefits.

You are also just as terrified that you will fail to live your soul’s unique version of success.  You compare your journey with all of those that you know.  You compete, you judge; You are envious, or you pity their fall from grace.  You are full of the dark emotions such as anger, regret, worry, blame, guilt and fear.  You have people in your life that threaten your peace of mind and your self-worth.  Worst of all you have your own judgmental inner self.

“We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced”  –  Malala Yousafazi

You may have been given a powerful life purpose, such as Mother Teresa and Malala.  You may have been given a small vision and life purpose.  No matter how small or powerful your life purpose is, you will come up against obstacles in fulfilling it.

You have made up stories about what has happened in your life since childhood.  Those stories will either weaken or strengthen you, depending on how you have cast yourself.

The choice is always within to cast your stone and live up your full potential or hide from your true potential and play small.  When you play small you will cast blame your parents, your “ex”, your employer, or your best friend who provided the knife that stabbed you in the back.  That way you can create the victimhood that keeps you safely hoarding your “stone” and refusing to allow change to transform you into something powerful beyond measure.  To transform you into who you are meant to be to fulfill your divine purpose.

“Just as one drop of water creates countless ripples, so does one gesture of kindness or love change countless lives”  – Randi G Fine

Water is an ultimate teacher for you.  It changes shape to adapt to its situation.

Steam, fog, a cool refreshing liquid against your skin, a single snowflake, a sheet of ice or a mountain glacier, a hot volcanic pool of water that would be death to enter.

Oceans waters waves kiss the shoreline gently, in a storm it pounds against the rocks wearing them down into small particles that get dragged deep onto the ocean floor.  It carves into the earth deep canyons and flows down those same canyons as a beautiful waterfall.

It both gives and takes life.  It is neither good or evil, light or dark.  It reflects back to you how if you take action with your stone or conversely you have inaction with your stone, still an impact is made on this earth.

In a different way, you can have what they are now terming “Raindrop” moments.  This is the disruption of a certain type of business, by new developments that take over in technology.

Think of things such as physical books in print, newspapers, music in CD/Albums, which have become digital.  Think of live streaming and all of the options you now have in watching movies and T.V. and the loss of business with cable companies and how it is changing the nature of both entertainment and business.

We can see the future disruptions in the movie and TV industries, changing from having human actors to artificial actors.

We see businesses such as Taxi’s being impacted by new businesses such as Uber.

These are all the results of someone who cast their stone across the water and created a ripple that was felt around the world.  They made an impact.

Change happens whether you want it to or not.  What water has to teach us is the ability to adapt, to improvise, and to overcome.  It teaches you to shift your shape and transform.  You have your “stone”, the divine purpose that you are here to achieve.  The method of how you are doing so, is within you.

The ability to change, shift your shape, to transform, is what brings you to success. You must be that change that you wish to see in the world.  If you think that world hunger is wrong, what are you doing to feed someone?  Whatever you have strong beliefs around, what are you individually doing to make that change in your own space in this world?

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks”–  Christopher Hitchens

Be like water and adapt, improvise, overcome, shift your shape (consciousness), transform.

At some point in your journey you will come to a crossroads.  You will have to pick a path (without any ability to know), if it will or will not lead you to your destination.  You have to ask yourself that unanswerable question, Do I go forwards, backwards, left, right, diagonal?

Steve Jobs asked this question to John Sculley when he was vice president at PepsiCo, before Apple was a household name.  “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

Do not allow anyone’s definition of who you are, including your own, to define who you are.  Like water, you can transform into what is needed to travel your own unique path in life.

The important thing is to stay curious, keep looking for open doors, keep asking unanswerable questions.  To quiet the mind, and to listen to the soul, which is the source of the unanswerable questions.  To go deep within, to visit and learn from the place our of real existence.  Promise yourself, to not permit fear of failure or fear of greatness keep you frozen in place.

“Believe in yourself and all that you are.  Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle” –  Christian D. Larson

That something is divine guidance, trust in it and don’t stop.

Listen To Your Soul

 

When you can quiet the fluctuations of your mind and drift into stillness and silence, you can finally hear the whispers of your heart.

  –   davidji

Silence isn’t just empty space.  It is the container that holds all of the answers.  But you can’t access it, until you release what you think life should be.  It is only then that you can begin to see what is, and accept it.  When you can process life as it is, only then you can see what it can be.  That is the beginning of the journey of transformation.  Because it is only in this place that you can begin to hear the sound of your soul.   

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.

  –   William Penn

It is in the silence you begin to hear your own heart.  It is in the heart that the soul hears the whispers of the divine, Gods answers.  This is where true intelligence is, not in the mind.  By listening to this voice, you see things in a different light, a different space.  This is the space that you hear God’s voice answering those prayers for direction.  That is the space where your soul is at peace with your minds thoughts.

Dare to stand before those you fear and speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.

  –   Maggie Kuhn

This is where what they call “out of the box” thinking occurs.  It is the place where the curiosity starts, where creativity lives, where you can find the right solutions.  It is the place of firm collaboration of the mind, body and soul.  Where the spirit and soul commune to stand in an overwhelming force for doing the right thing, regardless of what anyone else is saying or doing. 

 It’s a shame when the things that are on your mind and in your heart, never reach your lips.

  – Unknown

The worst thing that can happen is for people to be too ashamed, too scared, or feel too unworthy to speak their own truth.  When other people to try crush you because you don’t share the same religion, the same culture, the same language, the same color of skin, or the same sexual orientation the human race is being robbed.  We should welcome all expression.  Risk being seen, not just in all of your glory,  but with all of your imperfections..

The biggest bully most of us will ever face lives within us, located inside our own heads.  The screaming thoughts that we hurl at ourselves about ourselves, we would never allow anyone to say to us.  We worry about what kind of person we would be if we let loose who we really are.  That we are too much, too emotional, too loving, too sensitive.  That we are a bad person; that everyone would judge us as not enough and we will be destroyed.  We don’t give ourselves the love we give to others, the grace and forgiveness that we give to others. 

 Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.

  –  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Like most things in life, silence also has it shadow that gets expressed out in the world.  Martin Luther King Jr. wrote about this shadow when he said:

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 

  – Martin Luther King Jr.

This is what all civil unrest and protests comes from.  Something that matters so much that they are willing to step outside of fear of judgment or retribution.  I know that to me these people are like modern day Joan of Arc’s.  Their bravery lies in standing in protest, being willing to be beaten, hit with water cannons, or tear gas. To be arrested or even the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.  I may not always agree with their beliefs, or their methods.  But I do praise their courage that they are willing to stand up for their ideals.

They say that time heals all wounds.  It isn’t the passage of time itself that heals.  It is the knowledge and application of that knowledge (using it wisely) that heals.  I know that from the murder of my nephew, there are stages of grief.  The more distance there is from the actual murder, the more time the raw emotions have to pass through you.  It is the emotions that create the pain and suffering.  But you can only live in that place of raw emotions for so long.  If you don’t process through them, they will literally drive you insane.  It is self preservation that moves those emotions through you.

The ultimate way of Being lies beyond all contradictory pairs of opposites with which our two dimensional thinking mind operates.  As soon as we are successful in silencing the restless activity of the thinking mind and give a chance to intuition, the pure all embracing spirit in us will manifest effortlessly.

  – Anagarika Govinda

Intuition and creativity takes you on a wild ride of so many options and choices, it is life inspiring, life fulfilling, and more valuable that all of the gold in Fort Knox. This is because life is not just light and dark, and choices are not just this or that.  We live in a multi-dimensional universe, and we were created in God’s image.  Each of us has the power of miracles within us.  When we embrace his spirit and power, we manifest our divine destiny.

 Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

  –  Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt is one of my heroes.  She is on my bucket list of people that I would love to have a long visit with.  She has such great wisdom, and she was an amazing woman.  When we operate from that space of great minds, the soul speaks. 

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

  –  Ram Dass

It helps when you surround yourself with people who can hear the sound of your soul, as well as their own.  If you listen to the voice of intuition, the voice of the soul, you will find the way of life that you love, that was designed just for you.  Then all that is left is to have the courage to live it.

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You Are Stronger Than You Think

“Don’t be satisfied with stories how things have gone with others.  Unfold your own myth” –  Rumi

Stay strong, even though you have every reason to breakdown.  Strength doesn’t come from the doing what comes next or what is expected.  It comes from doing what you think you can’t do.  Strength comes from breaking through and blasting past, what you didn’t think that there was any possibility to do.

For years no one believed you could run faster that a 4 minute mile.  Doctors said it was medically impossible.  It was a barrier than remained in place for years.  Then in 1954 Roger Bannister broke the record, then 41 days later his record was broken.  Once the myth was broken, the records were broken over and over.  It now stands at 3:43:13.

Unfold

your own

myth

When you are down in that pit of despair, what gets you up and out of it, is listening to the sound of your heart beat.  That small still inner voice, the one that constantly gets beat down by the voices in your head.  It is that small voice of the heart beat that tells you what you are really capable of.

You must listen to what it says, when it whispers, “you will make it through this, and this will make you stronger for tomorrow“.

“There is an invisible strength within us; when it recognizes two opposing objects of desire, it grows stronger” –   Rumi

It is in the journey itself, that you develop the strength to continue the journey.  It is the spark that lights the flame, which lights the way. Into the darkness your strength shines forth.  Out of the ashes, you arise again and again.

Within your soul, you are a limitless divine expression of God.  You are made in his image.  Every single day you have the opportunity to create the life of your dreams.

Your stories are powerful.  They are important.  They must be told.  Do not be ashamed of the steps of your journey.

While you may see failure after failure, others see a strong woman who continued moving forward.  Who didn’t stop, never gave up.  While it may seem like you took a step or two backwards, you continue to move forward.

Invisible strength is forged in the fires of transformation, hammered in each step of the journey, you grow stronger and stronger.

“Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it” –  Brave

There is within all of us, light and darkness.  It can’t be seen; it casts no shadows.  But like the wind, you can feel the results of its passing.

The combination of light and darkness is what makes your soul fierce.  It strengthens your heart and mind.  It is the collaboration of all of your parts, that make you a whole human being.  It is when they combine, that your passion is ignited in your soul, and you are finally ready to transform.  To breathe in the inspired divine breath.  To break loose from the barriers and boundaries of who you were told you were, to who God made you to be.

It is when life seems to be failing you, that you discover the deeper powers that lie buried deep inside of you.  It is when you think that you have lost everything, that you find the only reason left to live.  It is that moment when you discover what you are made of.  That you see just a sliver of what you are truly capable of.

It is terrifying, soul expanding, and it seems like the fire of the crucible will totally destroy you.  It is when you discover that you are in fact only now truly alive.   The joy of life in that moment, burns out the pain of transformation.

“Painful as it may be, a significant emotional event can be the catalyst for choosing a direction that serves us more effectively.  Look for the learning” – Louisa May Alcott

I love the line, look for the learning.  It is the silver lining in every situation.  It is funny how when you look back at life, so many little decisions you make combine into patterns that create the tapestry of your life.  Each thing nudges you forward.

Like the baby learning to walk, it is sometimes hesitant, sometimes stumbling, and sometimes falling.  But each time you get back up, you get closer to your destination.  And when you reach one destination, a new path opens before you, a new challenge to grow, a new opportunity to learn.  Always look for the learning.

PM us if you would like to have a conversation around unleashing the powerful being that you are.

Ask, Seek, Knock, But Most Importantly, Open The Door

One of my favorite scriptures is, “So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9.  So why is it, when the door is opened to us, we are so afraid to step through it?

Always continue to grow.  It is possible to achieve what you wish, if you take the time to learn who you are, and are willing to be who you were meant to be.

  – Embellished Minds

Babies are all about growth.  It is almost like you can see them growing in what they are learning, and in the growth of their young bodies.  When we are babies, somewhere around the time we start rolling around and trying to crawl we get to go into a walker.  The walker opens up a whole new world for us.  I remember with my first born that once he got into the walker, there wasn’t a plant in my moms living room that had any leaves left within his reach.  The walker opened a door of growth for him and he took advantage of it.  Nothing was safe from those tiny hands.

It is impossible to live without failing at something.  Unless you live so cautiously that you  might as well not have lived at all.  In which case you fail by default.

  – J.K. Rowling

As older kids, we have things that we wanted really, really bad.  Maybe it was our first bike.  We got it, with training wheels and start learning to ride the bike.  Then we begged to have the training wheels off.  We accepted that as part of learning to ride the bike we would fall.  Finally it happens and after a few crash and burns, we are riding down the street.  A whole new world of freedom opens up for us.  Now we can ride our bikes to our friends house, or to the movies, or the grocery store.  Distance was no longer a problem.

Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth.

  – Bryant Gill

At some point in our growing up, we stop thinking that those open doors are a good thing.  We start becoming afraid of them.  Start becoming afraid of growth.  We start to worry about failing.  We realize that once we step through that door, we are closing the door to our past behind us. The future is uncertain and scary. There are no guarantees that walking through the door is going to turn out the way we expect. In fact, in most cases it won’t be what we expect. But each door that we step through is the opportunity to create something new and wonderful in our life. 

Close some doors, not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because they no longer lead somewhere.

  –  Paulo Coelho

It reminds me of the Garth Brooks song, “Thank God for unanswered prayers.” What we think we want in our lives, is often a small, safe vision. What the divine has planned for us, is a much larger vision. The difference between the two happening, is our personal growth. Each new beginning requires us to walk away from an ending.

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

  –  Joseph Campbell

This door is something that is only open to you, that only you can see. So when you shut the door to your past behind you, others around you, who love and care about you, may panic. You can try and explain it to them, and they still might not understand. Because you are seeing this door through the eyes of faith. Through the heartfelt vision and intuition, that is saying to you, yes – step through this door. Take the leap of faith. You will have the wings to carry you across the great divide. 

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

  –  Walt Disney

It is so scary to walk through the door, because you know in your heart of hearts, that your vision is being reflected at the end of a long tunnel. You aren’t sure what is between you and the end of the tunnel. You don’t know how this will change your life, but you know it will change. You are afraid of what will need to be released, in order to grab onto this opportunity. 

Sometimes, divine revelation simply means adjusting your brain to hear what your heart already knows.

  –  Dan Brown, Angels and Demons

One of my favorite Alice in Wonderland quotes, “I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.” This is what happens every time we step through a new door. Some things get too small, and some things get too big. Anything that no longer fits, is left behind.  A very little key can open a heavy door. 

There are things known, and things unknown, and in between are the doors.

  –  Jim Morrison

We have so many more open doors in front of us, we just don’t see them.  We can’t perceive them, because most of the time we won’t move unless circumstances force us to do so.  How many times have you thought I should leave this job, or this relationship?  We are unhappy.  We don’t see things getting better, instead they are going downhill fast.  Yet day after day, week after week, month after month, we are still there. 

If the doors of perception were cleaned, everything would appear to man as it is, INFINITE. 

  –  William Blake

Then one day it happens, and our employer lays us off or our partner says goodbye and leaves.  And we are broken hearted, even though it is something that was making us unhappy.  It’s because our doors of perception are dirty, and we can’t see through the dirt, to the wonder and beauty on the other side of that door.  We literally wait until the pain becomes so great, that it forces us to change.

Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.

  J.K. Rowling

Every adventure requires the first step,…. and remember, all adventurers are thought to be mad! According to Alice, all the best people are.  If you could open a door to anywhere, where would you go?  Start walking down the hallway.  You will see door after door after door of possibilities.  The key is in your hand.  The door is right there. 

The door is wide and open, don’t go back to sleep.

  –   Rumi

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Grace, Accepting, Receiving, And Giving Bring True Freedom

Grace comes into your soul when:

• When you face who you are – acknowledging the real reasons why you do what you do
• What your actions have been – even the ones you are hiding from yourself and others
• You face yourself with no excuses – the choice was entirely yours, not because of others
• As honestly as you can do it – without illusions or rose-colored glasses

If you dig down to the bottom of the matter, you will find that you have done the best you can, with what you knew at that time.  Sometimes that falls short of what you wanted to happen.  It is impossible to see where the entire string of possible consequences of a decision can take you.  It is impossible to know what you or will not do until the experience happens.

That’s when a real decision must be made on how to handle what’s happened.  Hindsight only helps you to see where the smallest of your actions may have led you astray, unfortunately, hindsight all comes too late to be of any use.

It is vitally important when plans have gone astray to give yourself gifts as balms for our health and wellbeing.

• The gifts of compassion for intentions gone astray.
• The gift of acceptance of what is, guilt heals nothing.
• The gift of love, for knowing that you can and will be better.

To love a person is to see all of their magic and to remind them of it when they have forgotten.  That is the beauty of reflection.  When you see the goodness in me, you are also seeing it in yourself.  The same is true of the judgments you make about others.  It speaks to something in yourself that you have judged as being “not enough”.  Grace helps you to accept the good and the bad in both.

“You can’t pick and choose what parts of her to love” – Heir of Fire, Sarah J Maas

Everyone is a rose with thorns.  You are an Amazonian Queen with warriors’ blood that rises up when you are challenged.  You are not reduced by failures, but rather grow stronger through each step through them.  You don’t just go through the storm; you ride through it shaking the world.  There are some who will find fault with you.  They even throw stones, rocks, and arrows at you.

They are challenged by your not accepting the “norms”.  By your not staying safely inside the box.  What you have learned is that the only way to truly live life, is to dare greatly.

You might lose your way momentarily, but the winds of courage will blow away the clouds that covered your vision.  You will win through, even though at times you may just want to die and be done.  You came to earth to live your life on purpose.  You don’t have to apologize for doing so.  You may be flawed, but you are still priceless.

In life you are tested as you climb up the proverbial mountain.  You may reach the top and think, ‘I made it!’  Test over.  But you forget that you also have to climb down the mountain. It can be as hard to get down as it was to get up the mountain.

I always think of cats.  They climb up into the trees, on the top of roofs etc. . . .  but it is the getting down part that has them crying for help, seeking to be rescued.

In both going up and coming back down, grace is how you are able to navigate through both the darkness and the light.  Accepting the lessons learned, taking them to heart, and processing them into wisdom is the meaning of divine grace.

A Strong Woman is one who feels deeply and loves fiercely.  Her tears flow just as abundantly as her laugher…,

A Strong Woman is both soft and powerful, she is both practical and spiritual…,

A Strong Woman in her essence is a gift to the world…,

A Strong Woman doesn’t “need” a partner to complete her, she is whole in herself…,

A Strong Woman is fierce, fearless and independent. 

“Sometimes, being strong is to forgive in the name of love, to make someone smile when our own heart is broken, to comfort a friend when we ourselves needed help and to keep the faith when we have lost hope” – Brigitte Nicole

Starting in your own families, your own neighborhoods, you need to show that love is the answer to all of the questions.  Remember how far “we” have come in society.

Life has always been “some steps forward, and some steps backward”, so don’t let the fear that is being dished out discourage you.  Keep walking forward in faith that you have won battles in the past, and you will win battles today, and tomorrow.

“Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. 

Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. 

Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.  Charity is expecting the best of each other”– Elder Marvin J Ashton

Sometimes in both your personal life and in society, the breakthrough comes in the breakdown.

Grace connects to courage at the breaking point

When you are tested to the breaking point, grace helps you to bend.  To be flexible.  To consider what is happening.

With peace in your heart dissipate the clouds of darkness and bring your heart back into the light.  When you are in the depths of negative emotions, you make assumptions based on limited information.  It is so common to put the worst viewpoint, to what is happening.

If you can instead seek deeper communications to fully understand what is happening, you will find that the light of reason almost always discovers a way to rise above the disaster.  Transcend the challenges by listening to your heart and soul.  You are the one that you have been searching for.

“I understood myself only after I destroyed myself.  And only in the process of fixing myself, did I know who I really was” –  Sade Andria Zabala

So let go of things, thoughts, attitudes, and feelings that don’t serve you.  The moment that you accept yourself fully as you are, is when the real journey begins.

You are at that moment delivered into your own beauty and power.

It is in the unfolding of life as we are supposed to be living it that our hearts truly open.

Remember, we are here to support you in whatever way we can.

Sing And Dance The Wild Woman’s Song

There she was standing barefoot on the shore of all that would be.  And the earth whispered her name, and she had faith.  She was ready.  She wanted to show the world how to love, how to open up and how to embrace each other.  She was ready to be the change – Wild Woman Sisterhood

Be an original Wild Woman – Shake off whatever is holding you back.  Say to yourself:

• I want to be your friend.
• I no longer want to deny that I am beautiful just as I am.
• I am cast in iron, strong and never brittle.
• I am clothed in gold, a wealth beyond measure.
• I am a wise old soul, with the wisdom of thousands of years.
• I am not defined by limitations, and boundaries do not limit my life.
• I no longer apologize for my wildness.
• I don’t need to be rescued; I have my own sword.

Which one applies to you the most?

• Like the phoenix I have risen from the fire again and again through countless transformations.
• I rise to dance with the wind.
• I am a passionate wild soul, gathering the possibilities to my breast and flinging them to the four cosmic winds.
• I dance in expectation of what magic they will fling back into my life.

“Strong women aren’t simply born.  We are forged through the challenges of life.  With each challenge we grow mentally and emotionally.  We move forward with our head held high and a strength that cannot be denied.  A woman who’s been through the storm and survived.  We are Warriors” – Attitude to Inspiration

There are times in your life when you hear unkind words that have been said about you; when you get those looks of judgment from others as you walk by. When that someone you thought would be your “happy ever after” leaves you. When you had to leave what you loved and move on because that love wasn’t healthy for you. You lost a job or a best friend. So many things that you have to shake loose from your soul and shake it off.

All of these situations require you to love yourself enough, that you remain centered. That you focus your energy, not on looking backwards and fighting to keep the same old way of life, but on building a new life. That you shake off the hurt, the disappointment, the feeling of abandonment or betrayal. That you forgive yourself for where you failed and forgive others for not living up to your expectations.

Be the woman who is not afraid to take risks.  Not afraid to take that leap of faith across the chasm.  Who would rather burst her heart with a wild song, than water down her life in fear of being left.

There is no competition among wild women.  They are too damn wild to be caught in the tiny space of envy.  Instead, they dance together and allow good to flow abundantly to them – Wild Woman Sisterhood

Wild women don’t allow themselves to be defined by words that simply define their looks.  Their soul refuses definitions based on their hair, face, body, the way they dress. 

They let loose their fiery hearts and release their wicked brains.  To live life loud at full volume.  To sing off-key, be brazen and boundless.  To free themselves of the restrictions of being a “quiet good girl” and instead to live a fully passionate life.  They listen to the drumbeats, and dance to their own rhythm.

AND each time she dances, she heals the broken bits of the worlds soul.  She dances in the circle, where all are equal.  No one is above or below you, but beside you as a sister. The circle is the symbol of unity, of sisterhood.  The dance will shift, change and like the waves it will surge to the shore and then retreat to surge again.  Ever shifting and changing it remains wild and free.

“Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed.  Maybe they need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them”  – Carrie Bradshaw

• Decide that your life is yours alone, and celebrate it.
• Shake off the apologies, the excuses, the blame.
• Realize that in order to shine, sparkle and glitter, sometimes you need to cut out the parts that don’t belong, and shine the parts that do. 
• Let the lightning crackle and the moonlight shine on who you are. 
• Take the path that is only yours, that no one else sees. 
• The voice of your soul has been calling you.  Trust it.  Feed it.  Grow it, so that it becomes an echo through the mountains guiding you to your highest destiny.

Thank You For Your Support!!!

Our pinned post about transformation has reached a new milestone.  We now have touched the lives of 2,003,310 people with this one post.  Of that post 1,069,443 are organic, meaning that you, our wonderful community have shared it over 33,000 times,and tagged people, and that the universe itself has directed people to this post.  Between the shared posts and our page itself, we have over 116,288 likes and loves; in addition we have over 3, 278 comments (not including comment strings with some having 100’s of comments).

I am blown away by how much this community tries to reach out to those who are in a dark place, to give them hope to carry on.  You have shared how much this one post has meant to you, and I am overwhelmed to have touched your lives in some small way. You encourage me to continue to devote myself to write what gives my own life meaning, and to hope that what I share helps you to continue with what gives your life meaning.  “Life is about creating and living experiences that are worth sharing”  Steve Jobs.

This post is to thank you, the almost 43,000 that have followed my page.  When I started this page, I had no idea what I was doing.  I just knew that this was one of the directions, that my life purpose was pointing me in.  In July 2015 I started writing my own posts, creating the photos with quotes.  At the time I had about 500 followers.  I had a dream of creating a reality T.V. show and when I saw the vision of what my life purpose was asking me to do, the only way I could go forward was to create a bridge from where I was to where I saw that I needed to go.  This Facebook page is part of that bridge.

I knew that in order to get to that T.V. show I needed to show the T.V. world that there was this vast audience out there that would support the kind of show I wanted to produce.  LemonadeMakers was created to ultimately provide community support, education, training, and media awareness for nonprofits in local communities so that they could be successful in helping to make our world a better place.  I wanted to do a “makeover” with local nonprofits to help fill in the gaps, bring awareness to their mission, and support them in bringing their mission into reality.  The fact that 70% of the nonprofits that get created each year are gone within 3-5 years is unacceptable.  This Facebook page, is part of that process.  It has created both intended, and unintended changes in my own personal life.  I hope that it has been the same for all of you.

“In life, friendships change, divorces happen, people move on, others die.  Money and jobs will come and go.  Live long enough and your health and body will change.  It goes with the territory of being human.  The fact that you are still here gives you an advantage.  DON’T LOOK BACK.  Look straight ahead!  Decide to use all of your knowledge, skills, experiences, and your life lessons from your mistakes, defeats, and setbacks, to start over again.  Life changes.   You may not have the same life as before, but you can still enjoy your life!”  Les Brown.

Change and transformation is so vital in our lives.  My destiny map keeps changing, as I become more and more aware of what is needed as the next step in my own personal transformation, and in the transformation of what LemonadeMakers can mean to our community.  I thank you for walking this process with me.  I feel your presence in my life everyday.  In a few months, our first in a series of LemonadeMaker books will be published.  It is now in the hands of the editors.

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So thank you for this milestone of helping us to reach over 2 Million views of one of our posts!  Without you I would not have been able to touch the over 2 Million individual souls with my message, with just this one post.  Thank you for helping me be a part of something that I know in my heart and soul will help to change me, change you, and change our world.  Thank you for letting me be a part of something so big, I can’t see the end of it.

 I encourage you to check out our LemonadeMakers Club.  It is being designed with helping each of us to dig deeper into hearing our own inner guidance.  To learn to understand the directions of the divine through our souls voice.  To better understand not only how to access it, but to see what in our lives is undergoing transformation and learn to work with it, instead of against it.  We have a special for the first month of $1.00, so that you try it out.  I look forward to hearing your questions, your suggestions and your contributions.  Click on the tab LemonadeMakers Club at the top of the page, read more about it, and take the next step in transforming your life. 

Passion, Purpose, Fate, Dreams, Genius, All Collide To Create Destiny

I was having a conversation this morning, about the art piece I posted.  The artist made amazing pieces of art out of thrown away metal, gears, assorted bars, and pipes.  When he talked about his art it came from a place deep within his heart.  He was deep within his gift.  His soul just poured out of him.  He lays it down at your feet waiting for your reaction.  And because it was all about the gift.  It had nothing to do with ego.  It wasn’t about his being invested in what you thought about his art.  He does it, because he can’t not do it.  Being that connected to your gift is your purpose, and when you are in that space, destiny collides with you. 

Ego says, Once everything falls into place, I’ll feel peace.  Spirit says, Find your peace, and then everything falls into place.  

 –  Marianne Williamson

There is a moment when you are walking in your purpose, where the fears and dreams collide together. 

Decisions determine destiny.  

  – Thomas S. Monson

You can follow the dream where it leads you, or you can bury it down in shadow, where it will become unbalanced.  This imbalance create patterns in your life that won’t be beneficial to you.  Have you ever felt like you had your foot on the gas and the brake at the same time?  That is shadow patterns in your life at work.  Have you ever experienced self sabotage?  A time when you know that the words coming out of your mouth are like someone else is in control?  You watch as before your eyes, you destroy something you love and you can’t help yourself?  That is shadow patterns in your life.  They come from fear.  From fear wanting to protect you, even as it is destroying you.

Fear cannot isolate you, if you allow love to surround you. 

  – Sarah Jakes 

When you are balanced in your life with your gift, you bring it out of the shadow.  It is about being real as to who you are.  No masks.  No living from the opinions of others.  You share your true self, and by doing so you touch the lives of others.  We are all one creation based in love.  It is only egos and fears that separate us.  Those egos and fears create beliefs to further the separation.  Live from the space of love.  The space of being true and real is where it all starts.  You character helps to shape your destiny into the reality you are reaching for.

It is when you realize that, like the artist above, you don’t have a choice but to live within the gift.  It has a hold on you.  Sleep, food, riches, fame – nothing matters except releasing that gift into the world.  When I am in that space, my writing just flows out.  Hours go by and nothing else matters.  I reveal the elusive words, analogies, stories.  Everything flow down into the characters on the blank page.  My soul pours out and I can’t stop it.  And then comes the moment, when the gift has used me all up.  I come around to being hungry.  I notice I am cramped from sitting in my chair too long.  Once again awareness of the world around me seeps into my consciousness. 

A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one’s own path, not chasing after the dreams of others… In spite of your fear, do what you have to do. 

  –  Chin-Ning Chu

This dream that leads you to your destiny is that one that keeps coming back.  No matter how many times you push it away, it returns.  The successes, failures, the ups and downs of life don’t shape your destiny.  Your destiny shapes you by swinging back into your life, situation after situation.  It serves your life, unless you push it down into shadow.  Then it wrecks havoc in your life.  No matter what, like a pendulum, it keeps swinging back into your life. 

Even if your life hasn’t turned out the way you expected and you find yourself in an unexpected place, decide to make the most of where you are, because there is always a spiritual reason that your destiny has led you to this destination.

  – Unknown

It is a constant collision that creates both order and chaos in our life, all depending on how we shape the way it swings.  Order and chaos both have good purposes in our life.  They are like the monster waves we are riding in the ocean.  We can ride it for miles, exhilarated by the fears we are facing.  It dances with us in the sunlight, unfolding past the fears.  If we push it away it can drag us down into the depths of the dark water, spitting us back on the shore, exhausted and battered.

Your mission your purpose and your destiny will all be tied to one thing – your gift.

  – Steve Harvey

My passion is to help everyone who reads my words to realize something wonderful about themselves.  To glimpse their own dreams.  To follow them wherever they lead.  To not let the loose shale cause them to stumble.  To not cut themselves on the sharp edges.  To not fall into the pits of others opinions of what you can or can’t do.  Rather to leap or crawl over the boulders of confusion.  To realize that the only person who can truly stop you is you.  To not let anything put you in the space of giving up.  

Every time you rise up, your dream becomes stronger and your destiny flourishes.  Use everything as part of the creation process, just like that artist.  Realize that everything that comes into your life, can be used to further bring your dreams and destiny into reality.  Just like that artist, every piece of metal, heated by the fire in your forge, can be bent and hammered to serve a purpose.

The universe conspires to reveal the truth and to make your path easy if you have the courage to follow the signs.

   -Lisa Unger

Signs of a Good  Life – adventure forth to learn all that you can.  Remember the joy is in the journey, not the destination.  Unleash your purpose to use everything that you experience in life, to grow into who you need to be to fulfill this destiny.  Learn from nature, everything changes from day to day, season to season.  Change is to be welcomed with all honor and dignity.  The challenge from all this change is to guide it into growing, and shifting you in a way that serves you.  The true essence of a life well lived, is to care for and befriend all you meet on your journey.  Who you travel with could be the only way to reach your destination.  Dare to care.  Open your heart and let others in.  See the beauty of life in giving away everything, knowing that by serving others, we serve our destiny. 

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.

  – Brene Brown

So if you are scared.  If you are lost.  If you are unprepared.  If you are falling apart.  If you think that you can’t survive, and all hope is truly lost beyond recovery.  Take heart.  Rise Up!  Rejoice!  We have all been there.  We have all done that.  And still, here we are, walking onwards to fulfill the life purpose the Divine anchored in our hearts and souls.  People come into our lives for a reason.  Sometimes they need a hand, sometimes they give us a hand.  When our worlds collide, let us take each others hand.  Walk we me until your courage is restored.  Light your candle with my flame.  Every passion has its destiny, and for this moment in time, our destiny has linked hands.  When you are ready, let go and fly away with your wings of destiny into the light.

Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.

  – Anthony Robbins

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If It Terrifies You, That Is The Place Where Your Potential Is Waiting To Be Released

 

I had a great conversation today with one of my mentors.  It was really interesting because 90% of the conversation was around potential, and what this year was opening up for me.  What made it so interesting is that I had already written about most of what they were bringing up.  I had written it with myself in mind, as that is what my writing this blog is all about.  Writing what is showing up for me supports me in multiple ways.  I love sharing it with you, in the hope that I can support you in your growth.  It isn’t that you don’t already know everything I write.  It is just that we all need reminders of how important it is to keep growing in our life.  In turn you inspire me back with your likes, hearts, comments, and sharing of what I write.

What I realized during the conversation, is that I had this containment field around what I thought my potential was.  It was an unconscious fence based on how I have been changing and transforming my life.  Based on what I think LemonadeMakers is growing me into.  I didn’t realize that I had put a ceiling on my potential.  I had unconsciously concentrated on my writing gift, as all I had to offer to my community.  A person can grow only as much as their horizon allows.  

Only when we put our perceived potential to the test, can we learn to look, know where to look, and position ourselves to realize our true potential. 

  – Unknown

In the discussion with my mentor, we talked about music.  My writing, especially my poetry has music enveloped within it.  When I write I hear music.  I have always maintained that I can’t sing.  That I am tone deaf.  I guess it came from around 4th grade, when I had a choir class.  The only time I ever took choir was for just that few months.  I remember this moment when the teacher made each of us sing by ourselves to try and find the person who was out of tune.  I was terrified it was me.  I mean really scared.  I was standing there shaking, waiting to be humiliated.  She didn’t find the person she was looking for, but after that experience I refused to take choir again.  My mentors feel strongly that I have some hidden talents around music, so something new to explore this year. 

If it’s both terrifying and amazing then you should definitely pursue it.

  – Erada

As I have said in other posts, we moved around a lot when I was a child.  I don’t think that I finished one whole year at a school until high school.  So at one point, I remember music lessons in an elementary school.  I wanted to learn piano, but my parents couldn’t afford to rent one.  The school had a violin, so that was what I got to learn to play.  I remember practicing, and of course I sounded horrible.  My parents complained about the noise.  When we moved, the violin went back to the school.  I never took music lessons again.  So when they said that I probably had some talent with music and singing, I remembered my childhood experiences.  They were not favorable.  So what do you do when someone tells you, you have a hidden talent waiting to be discovered, lying in a place that you abandoned in failure?

It is good to look at, to examine the stories we have created around things in our life.  While stories help us to make sense of our experiences, they are inherently not true.  Most of them are made up by us.  They serve a purpose to try and make sense of our lives.  But if we live our life as though they are true, we are doing ourselves a disservice.  We will walk away from gifts and talents.  We will assume the story is right.  We will assume that we can’t do or be what we thought we could.  We walk away from our full potential.

Inherent in being proactive and trying new things, and not waiting to be told what to do, is the fact that you’re going to fail, you’re going to make mistakes, and you’re probably going to piss people off.  And it you’re not pissing people off, if you don’t have haters, if you’re not putting yourself in a situation that has some risks associated with it, you’re probably not going to realize your full potential.

  –  Gina Bianchini

Overcoming self-limiting beliefs and self-imposed limitations is often the biggest obstacle standing between you and the realization of your full potential.  One way to see where our potential might be expanded is to make a list of your gifts and talents.  Be sure to list the things that others say you are good at, but which you discount as being “no big deal”.  Then look at each one, and see where the passion is on a scale of 1 – 10.  Then taking the three highest ranking talents, ask yourself how in love with it you are.  The one talent that you are passionate about, and also in love with – that is the one that has more potential just waiting for you to explore and expand.

In keeping with the discussion, I am meditating on what to do with this new challenge around music?  Singing lessons?  Take up piano lessons?  Learn to play the American Indian drum I purchased years ago, but just play around with?  I was just gifted with an Ukulele and it appears to be really easy to learn – at least that was what they told me when they gave it to me.  I challenge you to take up some childhood dream that you had, that you felt like you failed at.  What existing gift or talent can you try to unleash and find your own unlimited potential? 

What can you pursue that is both terrifying, and amazing?  What can you pursue that you will fail at trying, but know in your heart that you are supposed to be doing?  You become a master at something when you have practiced the 10,000 hours.  it is scary to think of how much potential is lost by those who don’t have the courage to unleash it. The edge of potential is where you are meeting difficulties in your life. 

Change is inevitable, but transformation is by conscious choice.

  –  Heather Ash Amara

 

YOU ARE ALLOWED

• You are allowed to have confidence in crazy ideas (they are the best kind)
• You are allowed to sign your own permission slip (go on a field trip)
• You are allowed to stop researching and start experimenting (you know enough and most of what you need to learn you learn by doing)
• You are allowed to try things before you fully understand them (go ahead and take it apart and put it back together a new way)
• You are allowed to define your own success (hint . . . it happens when passion is born and takes you to new heights)
• You are allowed to start many things and not finish most of them (the no guilt zone)
• You are allowed to figure out how to do the work without doing the part you don’t like (there are people out there who like cleaning toilets . . . really!)
• You are allowed to push comfort boundaries (don’t let yourself die why you are still living . . .  comfort zones suck all of the oxygen out of the room)

• You are allowed to FAIL. A LOT. (In fact, it is required)

• You are allowed to push yourself harder than you ever had before (you might decide that you like the rush of the edge of potential)
• You are allowed to invest a new way to do it (vision is seeing potential in what others overlook)
• You are allowed to make work feel like play (love what you do and you will never work a day in your life)
• You are allowed to love what you do and the way you do it (it is what you were created to do, so do it!)

• YOU ARE ALLOWED

Do not dilute the truth of your potential.  We often convince ourselves that we cannot change, that we cannot overcome the circumstances of our lives.  That is simply not true.  You have been blessed with immeasurable power to make positive changes in your life.  But you can’t just wish it, you can’t just hope it, you can’t just want it…, you  have to live it, be it, do it.

  – Steve Maraboli

You have within you, right now, everything you could ever need or want to be a great success in every area of your life.  Whether you’re aware of it or not, you have deep reserves of potential and ability.  If you properly harness and channel it, it will enable you to accomplish extraordinary things in your life.

It’s about personal development.  It’s about creating your own character and pushing it to the limit.  It’s about pushing yourself so far out of your own and everybody else’s idea of who you are, and what you’re capable of, that you no longer believe in limits.  It’s about reaching beyond your so-called potential, because your potential is never where you or anyone else expects it to be, not even close.  It’s about being able to say with the last breath of your life, “I used all my potential and all  my talents and pushed myself to the limit.  I could not have fought any harder”..

  – Charlotte Eriksson

Potential is in fact, limitless.  It is unlocked by gratitude. In order to really experience what life has waiting for us, we need to break out of living close to the potential.  We need to release the fears and unleash our creative potential.  We need to pursue the things we dream about doing.  We need to pursue the things that are pure and real to us, authentic to who we are becoming.

I love piano music.  I can sit and listen to it for hours.  I wanted to play as a child.  I was given a free piano a couple of years ago.  It sits in my living room as a place to put family photos.  It just gathers dust because:  I took it thinking that my grandkids who were living with me at the time could learn to play, not for me to learn it myself.  It needs tuning.  I really don’t have the time to take lessons.  I probably can’t learn to read music, or understand how to get the timing of a piece of music.  I could go on and on listing the reasons (excuses) why I haven’t even tried to learn to play even though it is sitting there looking back at me every single day. 

I am going to listen to divine direction, and see what unfolds around music and/or singing in my life.  I am going to see where inspiration is lying hidden, waiting for me to dig down to it.  To uncover that vein of gold.  I am going to see where the music in my soul is waiting for me to have the courage to pursue it and express it.

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love.  Don’t make money your goal.  Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. 

   – Maya Angelou

So here we go.  I am committing to unleashing my potential around music.  What will you commit to?  Your inner potential cannot develop without your willingness to commit.  Please comment below and say it out loud to be witnessed.  When you say it out loud, it is the first step to overcoming your current limits.  Go do what you were created to do. 

Use your special key.  Unlock that potential 

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“True North” Is Calling Me Home

 

Knowing my True North gives me courage to focus my energy where I believe it should be, not according to what is popular or pleasing to others – Jennifer Cummings

There are times when you feel drawn by something that you can’t quite name. It’s a whisper in your ears, a tug in your heart. You feel it pulling you towards “true north” or home. You may not understand it, but you know that you have to go there. When you are searching for your place in this life, you are looking for your soul’s home.

Your interior compass may seem to be spinning in all directions. You no longer have an interest in looking backwards. You just don’t know what direction to take.

Coincidence doesn’t exist and goosebumps never lie.  Your body already knows the answer.  All you have to do is turn down your spinning mind and continue to follow all signs.  Because you are always worthy of becoming your best and most actualized self – Victoria Erickson

When you are at one of life’s transitions and trying to re-imagine a new life for yourself – that is when you need others. You can help each other to find the way to your own souls’ home.

You don’t throw limited beliefs into each other’s faces.  You help to end the wobble in each other’s compass, so you can each find your own true north.  These kinds of friends celebrate you living your own truth, your divine destiny.  Sharing a path with such a person is a sacred gift.

The path to home is found in only in the direction of the winds of change.  The storms of life are by design to help you change.  They don’t happen to you; they happen for you.  Recognize change when it comes upon you, learn what it has to teach you, and always keep your compass on your own True North.

We are not retreating – we are advancing in another direction – Douglas MacArthur

How much you go through in these storms is determined by the attitude you have, by the actions you take, and how well you are listening and paying attention to what is happening.  I think that the meaning you give to things has a large part to play in how you advance.

Are you retreating or advancing in a new direction?  One view indicates failure, and one view indicates resilience.

The more clarity you take in, the less damage the storm brings with it, as you go through it.

It is always your choice of having a breakdown or a breakthrough.

You don’t have to get lost drifting in the “good old days” feeling sorry for yourself.  You don’t try to avoid the truths that the storm reveals to you by using drugs or alcohol or sex to escape it.  You cannot become who you wish to be, if you don’t push forward and leave the past behind you.

When you focus too much on your past, you give away your power in the present and the future.

Goals are my north star.  My compass.  The map that guides me along the road I wish to travel.  Goals are motivations with wind in their sails, they carry me forward despite the storms – Richelle Goodrich

LemonadeMakers don’t wait for the world to change into a better place.  They change themselves, guided by their journey to their own True North.

LemonadeMakers are driven by the passion they have in life, to do and be extraordinary.  As each individual, upon each individual changes, the world changes with them.  It may not happen overnight, and it may not happen as fast as you want it to happen.  But it will happen.

LemonadeMakers are all just walking each other home. Home is not where you were born.  It is not your current place of residence.

It is a place that you find deep within yourself.  It is that space in your heart, where your soul resides.  It is the place where you discover your true self.

And if the sun is too hot, or the rain is a down pouring torrent, or the snow becomes a blizzard, then we can be each a shelter for each other, until the path home becomes clear again.

Knowing my true north gives me the courage to focus my energy where I believe it should be, not according to what is popular or pleasing to others – Jennifer Cummings