What It Takes
It’s not the dazzling voice that makes a singer, sheryl. Or clever stories that make a writer. And it’s not piles of money that make a tycoon.
It’s having a dream and wanting to live it so greatly that one would rather move with it and “fail” than succeed in another realm.
You so have what it takes,
The Universe
I think that this is what the real definition of passion is – that you would rather fail doing it than succeed in any other arena. Something that has such a strong pull that it drags you along. It changes everything in your life. You walk away from other opportunities because even though it would have been something in your “old life” that you would have given anything for, this passion makes it seem unworthy of your time.
The bible parable of the man who trades everything he has for the “pearl” of great wisdom. Imagine a man who in today’s standards would be considered very rich, like a Bill Gates or a Richard Branson, trading all of their millions for a single pearl. Everyone would say that they had lost their mind, but if that pearl was their dream, their passion, then they truly would walk away from everything else just to obtain that pearl.
When I think about that I realize that a true dream is never a possession – it is never a particular net worth. This dream is an idea that you have that not only changes you, it changes your world, it changes everything. It is like a leap of evolution, where the actual DNA within you changes, because you can’t imagine your life without this dream. And it evolves with you, so that it isn’t so much the accomplishment of it, as the doing what needs to be done, because it changes as you change. It becomes clearer, it becomes bigger, it is a lifelong passion that you revel in the doing of,, not the accomplishing of.
I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone else, but this is what I feel in my heart and soul about community, connection, collaboration. It isn’t a goal that I accomplish, it is the life that I am living. The passion is to share this dream with everyone that I meet, so that my dream can be fuel for their dream. That is my passion – what is yours?
Paint
I have found myself in the pattern of avoidance lately. The thing that I am putting off isn’t what I am avoiding, but it is a step away from what I am avoiding. So I keep finding something that is more important to do, thus postponing what I am actually avoiding. It is a simple thing to get done, but I keep finding something that my mind says must be done first.
Sound familiar? I avoid this thing because my mind is saying “I can’t paint” – now the actual painting isn’t hard – you just dip the brush in the paint and let the paints flow across the canvas. But the mind that wants to avoid it says – what if you don’t get the brush strokes right? What if the colors blend together and just look like mud? What if you get paint all over the floor or yourself? What if it isn’t the right kind of paint or brush? You don’t really know what you are doing, so first we need some books to read or maybe a dvd that will teach us, or maybe we need a teacher, only right now I can’t really afford one, so I will plan this for the next payday. And so on, and so on.
All of the “excuses” sound pretty good – I mean you want to do a good job right? And you need to make sure that you have the right equipment; the right teachers; the right ….., always something else to add to the list. And it is really more important that you get all of the chores done before you go play with paints. So instead of painting and silencing that voice in your head, you allow that voice to keep telling you that you have much higher priorities in your life right now and later, when the kids grow up, or your job gets easier, when you have more time – then you will paint.
Only what happens is that perfect time never comes, and so that not so perfect painting will never get done.
Instead – try everything once
color outside the lines
dance when people are looking
play in the rain
be the change you wish to see in the world and most important of all
don’t count the minutes, count the laughs – (starting with laughing at yourself for being so silly and trust that you will do that thing you are avoiding just perfectly!)
Potential
I love this photo with this quote because when you are on the edge, it is a fine line between success and failure. Walking a tightrope means that you are putting it all on the line, because one misstep and you fall.
When you step out over the open air the only thing that you can do is to have absolute focus and intention on your goal. There is no turning back, and even though your heart is pounding and your stomach lurching, all you can do is keep going. – The glory is what happens when you reach the other side. OMG you can’t imagine the jumping for joy, and the screaming until your voice is gone happiness that is on that other side. Because you know that you totally went for it, and killed it, and I can’t believe that I really did it feeling that you get when you do something like that. You can’t feel any more alive than when you have achieved something that you knew you could do, but at the same time were scared to death to even try.
Potential is such a loaded word, because although it seems to have a high vibration, there is a bit of hope included in the word, which is not a high a vibration. Potential has the meaning of possibility, which leaves room for doubt. Being capable doesn’t mean that you will be, only that you can be. We normally don’t see our own potential, and try to discount it as not being that special. I think that is why the edge is required, because we need to be daring to realize our potential.
But at some point in your life, your purpose will hook you and you can’t not go in that direction. There are some people who turn their backs on this moment and they are the ones that live the lonely life full of regrets. But we are not those kind of people. We are the kind of people that scream a full throated yes! We are the kind of people who drag our friends and family along with us, and they come even though they think we are crazy, because we catch them on fire, so that they can’t help but burn with us. That is what being alive is about – it is about our purpose catching the world on fire and changing it just because we dared to live in full glory of our potential.
Cruising
Sometimes I think that life is moving too fast and I can’t get anything done. Sometimes that my progress is too slow and I will never reach my dreams.
But this puts all of that in perspective – because I am moving. I may take a detour or have to climb over a roadblock, but changes are still happening. And at the end of the day, as long as I am moving and growing, that is all I can really ask and something that I need to take the time to be grateful for.
Grace
I love this definition of grace. When my mother inlaw was dying from cancer she epitomized grace. Because it had traveled to her brain she lost the ability to speak, but she would smile at you and you knew she was still there and full of love, she still gave freely.
When we had to bathe her and change her, she still smiled and received gratefully and because of her grace we didn’t feel like we were taking away her dignity.
She accepted what was – she didn’t rail against the injustice, but accepted that this was her path to travel.
She considered others and made us feel loved.
It was an amazing gift of grace that she gave to us and I will always treasure that I was there to help take care of her, she was truly my mother.
So the most amazing gift that you can give yourself and others is to live your life with this kind of grace. I don’t know that I suceed, but I try to return the gift that she gave me to everyone that I meet.
True Self
I think that we have all worried that if we let ourselves be who we want to be that everyone would judge us in some way. We have all dimmed our lights thinking that this would keep them safe.
The reality is that if you keep lowering the flame of your brilliance you run the risk of losing your light altogether.
So cut loose all of the bindings and let your passion flame high – we all know how brilliant you are, and we are tired of waiting for you to acknowedge it!
Regrets
This is a list of the most common regrets that we as humans have when we leave this mortal body –
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Most people don’t honor even a half of their dreams and it is really sad because our dreams are why we are here. We came to be the best at something and, because of others expectations or our own fears of failure, we make excuses for how we will do that dream at a more convenient time, and that time never arrives.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
What are you missing out on in your life by working long hours at a job? Family, Friends, a “real” life?
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
When you don’t express your own feelings, you condemn yourself to a “so-so” life, because your life becomes full of compromises and this feeds in to #1 – never becoming who you came here to be.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
We become so caught up in the daily routines of our lives that they we let golden friendships slip by over the years. I am always telling my friends that at least FB lets us keep up with each other, even if it is just the occasional im when we see them online. This is much better than the lets call each other tomorrow and tomorrow turns into the next day and so on, until we lose touch completely.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Happiness is a choice that we make every day of our life to have, or to sabotage by staying stuck in a rut of bad habits or victim mentality or just plain fear of change.
Why don’t we choose “today” (don’t go to bed until you have done it) to make sure that at least one of the top five don’t pass us by today?
Nails
Pounding In and Pulling Out Nails
The parable of Will, a nine-year-old whose father abandoned his mom two years earlier. Will was angry, and he often would lash out at others with hurtful words. He once told his mom, “I see why Dad left you!”
Unable to cope with his outbursts of cruelty, she sent Will to spend the summer with his grandparents. His grandfather’s strategy to help Will learn self-control was to make him go into the garage and pound a two-inch-long nail into a four-by-four board every time he said a mean and nasty thing. For a small boy, this was a major task, but he couldn’t return until the nail was all the way in. After about ten trips to the garage, Will began to be more cautious about his words. Eventually, he even apologized for all the bad things he’d said.
That’s when his grandmother came in. She made him bring in the board filled with nails and told him to pull them all out. This was even harder than pounding them in, but after a huge struggle, he did it.
His grandmother hugged him and said, “I appreciate your apology and, of course, I forgive you because I love you, but I want you to know an apology is like pulling out one of those nails. Look at the board. The holes are still there. The board will never be the same. I know your dad put a hole in you, but please don’t put holes in other people; you are better than that.”
Break Free
It really is all about changing yourself from the inside. When you change an amazing thing happens, the whole world changes too!
Break free from the past and start a new life today.
Compassion
In the past month two young girls took their lives because they couldn’t stand the torment from their peers any longer. They lost hope. They both expressed the thought that the attacks would never end. They put a bright face on and said they were fine, but they both posted to the internet images that told you they were not fine. The teenagers involved in the torment seem to have the pack mentality of hyenas where they locate the wounded animal and attack relentlessly until the animal has died from their injuries.
As parents we need to wake up to what our children are doing. Who their friends are; how they talk about others; how they treat others. Open up the compassion that they are expressing after these girls have taken their lives, to being expressed every time they see someone being bullied, whether it is physical; emotional; verbal – online or offline. Give them the courage to stand up and protect those less fortunate than themselves. Teach them how to lend a helping hand instead of a stomping foot.
We need to teach our children that love and respect are not just shown to those who are like us; it needs to be shown to every living being.
The Top 10 Signs A Really Huge Dream of Yours Is About To Come True
“The top 10 signs a really huge dream of yours is about to come true, are:
10. You regularly visualize the end result, the after-party, or beyond.
9. Every day you “show up,” doing something about it.
8. You’re not attached to how it will come true.
7. It really matters to you; you really care.
6. You know who the first 3 people are that you’ll call with the news.
5. You’re smiling and winking way more than normal.
4. Sometimes you speak and behave as if it already has.
3. It probably doesn’t depend upon specific people.
2. You already know what your next goal is.
1. You keep whispering, “Sweet! Thank you! Yes!” with clutched fist.
Sweet! Thank you! Yes!” The Universe
The only thing they forgot was the Snoopy Happy Dance!
The universe is amazing in how it reminds you to never let one day pass without making progress with your goals!
Adversity
When faced with adversity, do you lie down or do you fight?
I thought about this line for some time in the back of my mind. Then I read an excerpt from a book about wolves and I thought that they were really the object lesson for this question. They have a life of adversity, and they make it through because they have mastered how to focus their energy. They don’t run around aimlessly, but instead have a strategic plan and they execute it through constant communication with others of the pack. They are masters of planning for the moment of opportunity and when it happens, they are ready to act. They each understands their role and understands exactly what the pack expects of them.
The wolf does not depend on luck. Everyone does not strive to be the leader in the wolf pack. Some are consummate hunters or caregivers or jokesters, but each seems to gravitate to the role he does best. The wolf’s attitude is always based upon the question, “What is best for the pack?”. The cohesion, teamwork and training of the pack determines whether the pack lives or dies.
Because of training, preparation, planning, communication and a preference for action, the wolf’s expectation is always to be victorious. While in actuality this is true only 10 percent of the time or less, the wolf’s attitude is always that success will come—and it does. (excerpts from Simple Truths)
When adversity strikes, it’s not what happens that determines our destiny; it’s how we react. The thing to do is to create a wolf pack around you now, before adversity strikes. This applies both to our employment situation and our personal lives. Do you have friends, family or work associates who form together a cohesive union, each fulfilling a role, and each looking out for each other? Do you know all of the dreams and aspirations and goals of each member of the pack, so that you can help them achieve their dreams as they help you to achieve yours?
The answers to these questions will determine not only how successful you can be, but also how much you are really there to help others be the same. It helps you to formulate that winning expectation of success for both yourself and the members of your pack. It helps you to finish strong because you were prepared for adversity and made the most of each day to make it a success.
Winning at all cost is not the right answer. Even if you succeeded, at all costs indicates that you are alone. But winning in tandem with your pack, having fun along the way with the jokesters, taking care of those who need extra care from life’s adversities, whatever our role – this winning brings everyone along and that makes all of the difference.