Keep Going
No Matter how bad things are right now
No Matter how stuck you feel
No Matter how many days you’ve spent crying
No Matter how many days you’ve spent wishing things were different
No Matter how hopeless and depressed you feel
I promise you won’t feel this way forever
Keep Going
I don’t know about you but I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I read the books when I was a kid. I was excited when the cartoon versions came out in the 70’s and over the moon when the movies were made. The composer of the music did a fantastic job. It really moves the emotions inside of you. I can listen to the music and see in my minds eye the scene as it unfolds. I know when something bad is happening, when they are triumphant in battle, when someone has died or when hope is being born again – it’s all there.
“There’s a ripple effect of new thoughts. A tidal wave of new feelings. the demons are being tied up and gagged. I’m just not sure how to handle the new. I thought the old was here forever. I don’t recognize that woman in the mirror, she smiles more than I, laughs more than me” – Swedreams12xx
Music frees you in a way that nothing else does. It encompasses all parts of life. So it is no surprise that there is music for the storms that hit you in life. Music for going to war; for peace accords being signed. Music for giving birth and for saying goodbye to a loved one. Music to study by, and music to get your groove on.
Music reminds us that there is a time for everything. A time for it to feel like your soul is being ripped from you body, to be torn apart so that you can come back together in an even more spectacular way. A time to heal the broken bits into a new whole that is bigger and better than you were before.
“Even now, as broken as you feel, you are still so strong. There’s something to be said for how you hold yourself together and keep moving, even though you feel like shattering. Don’t stop. This is your healing. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or graceful. You just have to keep going.” – Maxwell Diawuoh
In the middle of a storm you can’t control what’s happening, but you can challenge yourself to control the way you respond to what’s happening. That’s where your power is. That’s the true meaning of courage. The quality of your life, your legacy is how long the ripples continue that you made while you lived.
When the storm is battering us to bits, it’s important to just breathe. Don’t lash back out at the storm, it’s ineffectual and doesn’t stop the storm from swamping your boat. Just breathe. Breathe deeply in, holding it for a moment. Then breathe out, holding it for a moment. Just keep breathing. Listen for the music of your own wind chimes. They will remind you that no matter how much it feels like life is beating you, you are creating beautiful music.
“Doing good holds the power to transform us on the inside, and then ripple out in every-expanding circles that positively impact the world at large” – Shari Arison
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It doesn’t mean that you can’t do it alone. It means that you realize that you aren’t meant to. When you are in pain and allow others in, it creates connections. Connections are vital to creating the beautiful music. Music is filled with bridges that connect the story and flow of the piece. The harmony of the music is created by bridging together different instruments, different voices. Sing out your song courageously, and don’t allow the fear to overwhelm your song.
“There are two basic motivating forces, fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life” – John Lennon
Your sense of self acceptance is demonstrated by your levels of connections. The more connections you have, the more self love and self trust you have. So keep taking deep breaths to settle your emotional responses. Allow your heart and soul to reconnect to your brain. Allow yourself to release the fear and take in the love – love of yourself first and foremost, which makes room to love others.
The depth of love you have for yourself and others can be measured by the depth of authenticity that you show up with in your life. I believe that every day you have miracles show up in your life that you don’t see or don’t acknowledge. By showing up with gratitude for what life is revealing to you and about you, you can turn rain storms into rain showers.
“Every time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and . . , those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance” – Robert F Kennedy
You have stories worth telling. When you hold back from telling your story you degenerate the experience it gave you. This is true both for yourself, and the value it could provide by helping others weather their own storms. When you present the perfect face to the world; the perfect family, “no problems here” kind of picture, you are not allowing the rain storms to be seen.
You create a false dome of protection from the rain so that it doesn’t appear to fall on you. You are in effect saying to others that “you don’t get wet”. You are in denial. You are contraction mode. You are not allowing for new growth to happen.
You need to not only allow for the rain, you need to express gratitude:
In order to create the ripples that change both yourself and others, you need to show up and be seen. You need to show up fully in your life, allowing for the growth that comes from being watered. Allow the expansion of creativity in your life. Contribute from a place of love, which is the birthplace of creativity and change.
“Just as ripple spread out when a single pebble is dropped into the water, the actions of individuals can have far reaching effects” – Dalai Lama
To show up fully, you must never let fears stop you from pursuing your dreams. Don’t let your fears of what might happen, mean that you don’t make ripples happen. Come join us for our next Zoom call. Bring all of those creative “hope” juices to the table and let’s see what we can make.
I invite you to join us on June 6th for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
“No matter how happy someone may seem, they have moments when they question if they can go on. No matter how confident someone may look, there are times when they feel insecure and unsure. And no matter how strong someone may appear, they have days when they feel like they’re falling apart. Never think for a moment you’re alone with your struggles. You’re not a mess. You’re human.” – Lori Deschene
Most of my friends and relatives consider me a very positive person. Someone who can handle whatever life throws my way. A person who will look and look until she finds the silver in the silver lining of the cloud. But there are days when I think that I am not capable of helping myself, let alone others. There are days when I feel like I am not having a positive impact on anyone. There are days when I look at everything I am trying to accomplish with my life and wonder why I am bothering – when it feels like I am working so hard and getting nowhere fast.
“To attract loving and connected relationships, we must first embody the love and connection we seek” – Dr. Debra Reble
Those days will happen to you, no matter how strong you think or others think you are. When they do happen, I have a story that I pull out to remind myself that I am creating ripples, even when I don’t know who those ripples are helping.
A couple of years after my mother had passed away, a friend that used to babysit my kids when they were little and she was a teenager, lost her daughter (a senior in high school) in a bus accident. She was having a really hard time and we were talking about her loss. I really don’t remember what I told her, but I know that it had to do with something I had brought out of the loss of my mom on how to deal with grief and heartbreak.
Years later she was at my mother in-laws funeral and she came up to me to thank me for those words. She remembered them all. They helped her through the dark tunnel of her grief. I had no idea that anything I said could be that impactful. I know that with her own experience, she also was able to give those words to others when they were dealing with overwhelming grief. What I don’t know is how many ripples those words have made, and how many more they will impact.
To be truly happy, you must have connection in your life. First the connection must be to you. To your life purpose. To personal growth. To being the best possible you, that you can be. Self love, self trust, being honest with yourself. Then connection to friends, family, to a mission, vision or cause is vital to live a life that brings you satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.
It’s also about the way you think about things that are happening – are they happening “to you” or “for you”? Do you look for the silver lining? Do you assign the best possible meanings to what you see and hear around you? Or does that negative mind talk take over and make you feel unwanted?
“Don’t focus on what’s wrong. Things may not be perfect but be grateful for the opportunity to experience each day. Live each day like it could be your last” – Joel Osteen
When your only seeing yourself through the lens of your past mistakes, your regrets and failures – you need to remind yourself that you are so much more. There is a beautiful person hiding inside of you that is vulnerable and afraid. Fears of not being worthy, not enough. Fears of being hurt because someone hurt you in the past. Whenever this beauty seeks to emerge you push it back because fear tells you it isn’t safe.
Think of the caterpillar all wrapped up in the chrysalis. He has transformed into a beautiful butterfly. It is time to break open the lining, to unfold the wings to dry, and take flight. But in fear he keeps grabbing the sides of the lining to try and stay hidden. It’s a scary world out there.
All these fears overwhelm him and he tries to hide himself to keep him safe. Yet the real danger is in staying hidden.
Just like this butterfly, you might think that you are providing safety, by hiding behind a mountain of buried pain. It is time to tear down that mountain. To remove every single brick of the walls that you have built up. To put down the suitcase of your past failures and disappointments, and walk burden free into your future. It is time to spread your wings. It is time to fly into the future you are meant to have. Yes there will be new failures as you learn to soar. Remember that you have potential. That you have gifts that enable you to live a life full of possibilities. You can make your dreams a reality. But nothing will happen, until you try.
“Resolutions for the Soul – No more what if’s…, no more wondering what if I tried that, started that, said that, told that person how I really feel, went on that adventure. No more wondering what if. Starting now, we do it, try it, step out, start, take the risk, make the leap. We make a vow to stop living wondering, what if…,?” – Rob Bell
Quit collecting every painful word that has even been spoken to you or about you. Quit putting meaning to thoughtless words and actions of both yourself and others. Since every experience is seen through your minds eye, change your mind and start collecting hope. Start putting the best meaning possible into what you hear. Start viewing your world through the lens of compassion, both for yourself and for others.
When you focus on leading a creative, positive, inspirational life fear is going to raise it’s head. Fear is always triggered when you pursue change. Change is growth and growth is something to be happy about. Do you remember as a child standing against the wall and measuring how tall you were? How you would measure yourself against your friends and family members who were taller than you to see if you had grown to the same height or gotten taller? You couldn’t wait to grow. Instill that same feeling into your own personal growth. Fear hates it when it doesn’t know for absolutely positively how something is going to turn out. Uncertainty is something that fear can’t stand. But you can change your relationship with both fear and uncertainty.
“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self acceptance” – Brene Brown, PHD, LMSW
Never let fears stop you from pursuing your dreams. Don’t let your fears of what might happen, mean that you don’t make anything happen. Come join us for our next Zoom call. Bring all of those creative “hope” juices to the table and let’s see what we can make.
I invite you to join us on June 6th for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
It’s turning out to be a bad day, a day when the sun feels like teeth. – Jennifer Egan
There are days where every mistake you made in the past year shows up at your doorstep, all at once. It is overwhelming as they are all vying for your attention. All you hear is the screaming inside your head competing with the screaming happening in the chaos around you. It’s deafening. Your self-esteem takes a nose dive, as it scrambles away, trying not to get trampled by the growing crowds of people asking if you know what what the #$&% you are doing?
Never underestimate the power of a good outfit on a bad day. – Unknown
If you try to shovel your way out, the snow just keeps falling and in a few minutes you can’t even tell where where you were shoveling. You shovel out your driveway and a snowplow comes by and fills it up again. It becomes overwhelming. Nothing you do is getting you out from under the chaos. You naturally believe the story your head is telling you is 100% true. You are not smart enough, pretty enough, just plain “NOT enough” – just a big loser with a big capital L on your forehead.
You let the less than 1% of negative overwhelm the more than 99% positive and you start shoveling and digging yourself in deeper and deeper.
And now, after everything, I know this. There is a reason I am here, and the reason is bigger than me. So I will carry on with great faith beyond what I can see, in pursuit of bold courage for the adventure in the journey. – Morgan Harper Nichols
When you have those days, you can’t dig yourself out. So rather than beating yourself up, calling yourself names like loser, screw up, worthless and so on, choose a different path. Make snow angels. Give yourself a forgiveness pass. Give yourself compassion. Acknowledge your only human. Sing the Christina Perri “Human” song. Sometimes “I crash and I break down”.
That is the best time to make snow angels.
I loved the Mark Twain quote where he says that 99% of his worries never happened. So maybe today, what happened was just that it was “the less than 1%” negative day. Statistically they happen. When they do, thinking of what good things the future holds for you is also important. Some of the best days of your life haven’t happened yet. What milestones are you looking forward to and what can you do today to bring them closer to reality?
When you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to get mad . . , you should do what I do . . , Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky! Some people are much more . . , oh, ever so much more . . , oh, muchly much-much more unlucky than you! – Dr Suess
Humor is critically important. Not thinking so much of yourself is vital. Don’t blow up whatever has cascaded in your life into Niagara Falls. In truth it’s a tiny waterfall in a pond.
I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always triumphs, and that heavenly promises are always kept. – Jeffrey R. Holland
Keep a memory book of your good days. When my kids were little we called them zipity do dah days. The days when you could be in a Disney cartoon movie dancing across the stage with a catchy happy song. These are the days to pull out for emergency purposes. They are like the oxygen masks that drop out of the holder on a plane. You put them on and you can breathe again. You can slow down the panic. You are not dying. It’s just a bad day and it’s not the end. Hold on to those good days and the warm feelings they generate, like a toasty fire they will fill you with warmth and peace. Remember, you are who you choose to be.
When you fall asleep tonight, I want you to think of at least one good thing that has been good today. It might be difficult and you might think that there’s nothing but, however bad a day has been, there’s always one thing, even if it’s a tiny thing, that has been good, and sometimes it can be helpful to remind yourself of that as you fall asleep. – LiveLifeHappy.com
We all tend to let the negative overwhelm the positive in our lives. When we have a bad day, it is important to instead find the positive in the day and let it balance out the negative. It is the proverbial silver lining in the day of thunder and rain storms. Even if it is as simple as someone smiled at us, it is there waiting to be picked up so it can shine its light upon us.
It is amazing how a long walk through nature can help us clear our heads. Keep walking until the negative mind talked has talked itself out. Then you have the space to step outside of the rushing river of pity and see what is really there. Accept where you stepped wrong. Just let the river carry away the things that don’t belong to you. The broken branches, tree roots, and miscellaneous garbage that the storm waters pulled into the water. If it isn’t you today, then let it all go. Now ask yourself, what positive step can I take to fix what can be fixed, apologize for where I was wrong, and let the past stay where it belongs, in the past.
When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace. – Unknown
This is such a simple statement, but the power and wisdom in it is amazing. If you are letting others shovel snow on you, that is where the first change needs to happen. You need to own your own breath. Once you have accepted responsibility for what part of something is yours, then the rest of it doesn’t belong to you. If you don’t let it go, it steals your peace. It steals your breath, your life. So if any area of your life is not peaceful and conducive to making snow angels, you can decide today to stop. To take back your breath. To hug tightly to your snow angels and embrace peace.
My To-Do List For Today
– count my blessings
– practice kindness
– let go of what I can’t control
– listen to my heart
– be productive yet calm
– just breathe
Demand your inner voice start listening to what is acceptable in terms of the inner you. To actually completely engage in a life of self-exploration, you need to get curious. To ask questions that dig deep into the soul level. To unravel one thread after another.
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
– Albert Einstein
Imagination is directly or indirectly where our expectations of life originate. We take a goal and make a plan. We see into the future possibilities. We attach meaning and purpose to a particular way we “see” the goal being accomplished. Imagination is how we come up with the plans in the first place. It is what enables us to make anything possible, anything happen.
The imagination is the golden pathway to everywhere.
– Terence McKenna
One of the danger signs on the road of our imagination is that we project meaning into everything that happens. Now if we are projecting good, positive meanings to what is happening, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, many times what we are projecting is suffering into what is happening. If someone sent you a text message that said, “boy, what a day I am having”. What’s the first thought that comes into your head? Without the emotion in the voice or cues from body language, where does your mind go first – to something great is happening in their day or something horrible is happening to their day?
Reality is something you rise above.
– Liza Minnelli
We need to constantly ask ourselves, what am I busy painting onto the canvas of my imagination? There are no rules to what I decide to paint. If I think that I can only be successful if my view of my current reality is matching to what I imagined my life would look like, then I am going to be doomed to disappointment. How many times have I whined in my head, “but this isn’t how it’s supposed to be?” How can I rise above what I perceive to be my reality, to what I am trying to create in my life?
Imagination is the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force the world has ever known.
– Napoleon Hill
Imagination is what leads to creation. Think of all of the great science fiction writers and their imaginations. Deep sea diving, submarines with Jules Verne. Star Trek and their recorders to our cell phones. Isaac Asimov and self driving cars and the stun gun (taser). H.G. Wells and atomic power. We are so close to being able to print and replace body parts, organ transplants, tricorders for medical diagnosis. To travel to the stars and go beyond our galaxy. All things that have happened and will happen in our futures, because someones imagination said, “what if . . , “.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
– Albert Einstein
Imagination is what you need to see that although there may be problems in your life that need to be solved, they are also realities to be lived through. It is the meaning I give to my life that enables me to perceive that I am successful, that I am happy. How I perceive my life to be, is the reality I am creating for myself. The meaning comes from my feelings about what is happening. I can get lost in the maze of what it should be. I can also choose to see life as it truly is and acknowledge that most of the times when I have really grown have been when I was in the middle of some sort of failure. Taking the risk of failing, is really taking the risk that the growth that comes out of that failure is worth the cost of failing.
The world is a canvas for your imagination. You are the painter. There are no rules. Get to work.
– Fearlessmotivation.com
There is a beach collage in the movie “The Man of the House” which the mom Sandy, (played by Farrah Fawcett) adds to every time she goes to the beach with the family. All through the movie she is adding a piece to it, until finally she sets a final piece in it and declares it is done. It is highly likely that this collage in her head when she first imagined it and what she actually created are not the same. But who makes the rule that it has to be the same? We do. We are the ones painting on our canvas. We decide what stays there and what gets scraped off and repainted with something new. The rules are created by us and we can change them. Our imagination can reshape the rules, can reshape what is on the canvas, can reshape anything to mirror what we desire to achieve in our life. My perception of my life is what makes up the reality of my life.
The power of imagination makes us infinite.
– John Muir
So what am I focusing on? Is it something that brings my imagination into reality? Because if my reality and my imagination are not even close to being the same, then I need to refocus to make it so. It’s funny how sometimes the way to make that adjustment is to learn to lose how I thought it had to be, in order to find out a better way to live it. It’s a matter of holding onto the vision that imagination has created and trusting the process of trying, failing, learning and trying again.
Live out your imagination, not your history.
– Stephen R. Covey
Raise your eyes to see the possibilities everywhere around you. They are always there. An endless hallway filled with doors waiting for you to step through. As you go through a new door, remember – nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. To be perceived in such a way that it creates the reality that you are searching for. So don’t just sit there. Get up and get busy!
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome – Arthur Ashe
Every year I go on several trips to seminars that are usually three – four days each. The year before Covid, they arrived all at once. One of them I was supposed to go on the previous year, but my body had other plans (back surgery) and so I was unable to attend. So, they transferred me to this event. The second one is part of the coaching plan I was on, and I wasn’t able to travel yet with the event the previous year (on restrictions from said back surgery) and the third event was an annual American Indian Retreat I do every year.
I go on these journey’s each year to recharge my batteries. To open my mind to new learning. To get away from the everyday life, so I can relax. To let in the divine the messages I am too busy to hear, when I am involved with a fulltime job at the bank as well as running my LemonadeMakers page. When I am out of my element, I see things I am missing at home. I meet new people since I go to most of these events by myself. I get to travel and see what in my life needs to change.
Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey – John O’Donohue
So, no surprise, that with attending a four-day event (Thursday – Sunday) three weekends in a row in three different states, I woke up to some things in my life. I have always loved trees. It has always seemed to me that they talk to me. They are so relaxed and go with whatever mother nature sends their way.
They connect to other trees through the root systems and even send nutrients to other trees far away that need them. Some of the recent scientific studies show they actually create community and support each other. Every home we have purchased it was because of the trees on the property, not the houses that I fell in love with.
There is a great book to read to learn more about trees – it’s actually one of the years most recommended books. I heard about it on a pod cast.
So, imagine my surprise when I realized that lately trees haven’t been talking to me, water has.
When I was at my first event outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico at Tamaya, located on a Pueblo Indian Reservation, they had strong winds blowing. I had opened the door to my hotel room and was listening to the wind, rain and thunderstorm. When I closed my eyes and listened, I heard the sound not of the wind, but of strong waves breaking against the seashore.
When I flew into Phoenix for my next event, the winds were blowing, and I still heard the ocean in the air.
At Joshua Tree in California, I spoke to Chief Roberts and his wife Terri about how I was hearing the ocean everywhere I went. I knew water was calling but I didn’t know why.
One of our outdoor activities was to walk a labyrinth. As I walked it, I was looking down at the rocks that outlined the path. All different kinds of rocks, different minerals and crystals in them. All shapes. They spoke to me about water.
Even in my planning for where we are going to live when I retire, water has been showing up. First as I wanted to live in Northern Oregon or Southern Washington along the coast next to the ocean. Then my son sent me a property listing outside of Astoria Oregon on the John Day River for a houseboat. It was like water was saying, if you don’t want the ocean, how about living on the river? We chose the ocean and are building a new home west of Olympia, WA.
I felt like the mom in the kitchen making dinner with her three-year-old grabbing her pant leg, saying “mommy, mommy” over and over. And I kept saying, in a minute, I’m really busy right now. Water was not letting me get away. It just kept trying to get my attention.
Your journey in life is not set in stone, you can change direction – Steven Aitchison
As I traveled round and round the labyrinth I started thinking about when water had started talking to me. How had it been showing up in my life? That winter was been the wettest winter since we have been living in California – the amount of water was comparable to all the water we have gotten the last 10 years or so combined. My patio kept getting flooded over and over again.
Then I thought about how we just redid the logo and website and Facebook page design, and it has the ocean with breaking waves on it, whereas before it was the trees in the forest. Then I thought about the webinar video I created and again it was about “Catching the Perfect Wave”. Even down to my remodeling of the bathroom I had to replace all of the drainage pipes as they used cast iron when the house was built, and they were all damaged with rust and corrosion.
In a recent deep meditation class, I asked my intuition what I needed to know. I am very visual, and it showed me this vision in which I had already given birth and was now expelling the afterbirth. Childbirth has a lot to do with water – LOL.
When I looked up the meaning behind this, it validated my thoughts that I am in the middle of a big life transition. I have been told for the past 6 months that I am probably going to be laid off from work. I begn liquidating other properties we owned, paying off debt and getting everything ready for the possibility.
I think that this is why water is showing up for me, “Big changes are coming”. Everyone I was talking to at all three events were experiencing big changes in their lives. They were all in the midst of some transition in their lives.
I am taking a leap of faith in my own transition that it is time for me to devote full time to LemonadeMakers.
This is a big risk as it means I have to find a way to spend more time with LemonadeMakers. It is a big risk, because I have no idea where this journey will take me. I just know that water says I have to go.
No one knows what changes, big or small, lie ahead.
One thing is certain, our journey’s not over.
Enjoy each and every step.
So, my question for you is this – what is trying to get your attention? What are you ignoring because you are so busy doing, that you are forgetting to take the time to listen?
Realize that you are probably in the midst of a transition yourself. Be brave. Go someplace. Even if it is to simply take a walk in the woods and get away from the everyday part of your life. Ask yourself “what do I need to know for the next part of my journey?”
Updated 11/24/2021
You are probably like me, and you want to be liked and accepted. This internal need that you have to be loved, sometimes causes you to put on a mask of who you think that someone wants you to be. The perfect little girl. The shy teenager. The princess, the joker or the nerd. The smile pasted on your face, that life is wonderful, when inside you are screaming in frustration.
You can see this for example when you go back home for the holidays. You fall into the childhood role or character you have for your family, even if it no longer fits.
“Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory” – Jim Carey
It is hard to show up without any masks, but it is vitally important for you to be true to who you are. These masks are the cause of so much unhappiness. You meet someone you like, but if you are both wearing masks, then neither of you is communicating who you really are. So you fall in love with the mask, and not the person. You communicate to the mask, and what the person deep inside is trying to say never gets heard. You create so much drama and trauma to yourself and others that way.
If you just say what you really mean, life gets so much easier. The truth is that you may not be who you want to be yet. But you have come a long way from where you used to be.
It takes great courage to be vulnerable enough to remove the mask. It takes great courage to stick to your values and not allow others to sway you into actions you don’t want to take. It takes great courage to trust others with who you are at a soul level. It takes great courage to be persistent enough to keep removing the masks. So continue remove mask after mask. Burn them up, so that who you show up as the real you.
Embrace your imperfections. Be authentic.
“Loving ourselves through the process of owning our story is the bravest thing we’ll ever do” – Brene’ Brown
What I loved about the main photo for this blog, is that they people in it are being crazy. They are playing at being stupid, silly and weird. But when you look at each face you see that they are also having fun. How many times do you catch your face in the mirror or a reflection on a window and see that kind of happy expression on your face? On others faces that you love?
You need to be who you are and find those happy faces more often. When you let the world’s conflicts and tragedy’s be the things you focus on, you lose that happiness. The news focuses on hyping the negative, and giving you very little of the positive things that happen every day.
You need to celebrate all of the wonderful things that happen in your life and the lives of those you love. Don’t let those who are still sleep walking through their lives stand in the way of your awakening.
Closing with this quote, because “I see you” needs to be something that happens to you and you need to see others.
You need to stop being invisible. You need to let those who are trying to become a better person, know that you see them as a human being deserving of love and respect.
You don’t have to agree with everything that they have done in their life, to still give them love and respect. How many people in nursing homes, living in the street, eating their lunch alone in the café – how many people do you pass by that are not being seen? How many just need a hug, and someone to say, I See You? I SEE YOU!
Updated 1/28/2019
“You are capable of far more than you know. Don’t be afraid to unleash your greatness” – Unknown
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not” – Unknown
“Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve” – J.K. Rowling
“When life gives you something that makes you feel afraid, that’s when life gives you a chance to be brave” – Lupytha Marmin
“There is nothing more beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. And wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more every day” – Jodie Foster
“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God” – Leo Buscaglia
I discovered that I could survive differences of opinion. In fact, I discovered that I could grow through the differences of opinion. While you all have had different experiences in your lives, there is a core of everyone’s experience that is the same. The differences are what makes the variety that we all need in life.
The fact that difference isn’t a scary thing was a major reveal for me. You are all STRONGER than you think you are. You are all SMARTER than you think you are.
I have a different way of looking at the world. I love to find multiple meanings in words. I think that words are like colors and have these shades of color waiting to be explored. It gives each word depth and height and width.
You also have these hidden sides. You can talk to any astronaut, and they all have a similar story. From the time they were small children their dream was to become an astronaut. So, they worked hard to be a pilot. They may have enlisted in the Air Force or became a stunt pilot. They went to college for science and technology. Anything they could do to fulfill that childhood dream.
When you look at the stories of those who go through fiery experiences in their lives, you see what they learn about themselves and others. It gives new meaning to what humanity is all about.
“Don’t be the reason someone feels insecure. Be the reason someone feels seen, heard, and supported by the whole universe” – Cleo Wade
I am so glad that I take the chance each day to express my thoughts. It helps me to work through the questions in my life. It helps to build resilience in my soul. When I look out at the world it is so filled with fear, lack of trust, and uncertainty. As I express research and study the wisdom of others and then express it out on this page, I believe that you are helping to create a community of souls that are looking to the future with hope. Hope that together we can show the world that it is filled with simply amazing people – and yes that means you!
Your encouragement gives me the confidence each day to express my thoughts, and I hope in turn that I can encourage just one more person each day that life is not only worth living – but that we are all brave enough and strong enough to climb to the tops of mountains and explore the depths of valleys and swim in the oceans.
What are your dreams, visions, your life purpose? Are you on track to bring them into reality and complete them? Have you allowed distractions to sidetrack you? Are you unclear on what your life purpose is or how to bring it into reality?
LemonadeMakers is happy to talk to you about your challenges, to encourage you, and provide inspiration to continue on your individual journey. As we share the lessons of each one’s individual journey, resilience is grown for everyone. Join the conversation and become even more inspired to reach out and pull your dreams into reality.
Updated 12/27/2018
There comes a time when the desire for transformation demands action. Never let your fears be the deciding factor, of taking that action.
“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards, but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight” – Orison Swett Marsden
Action is required when the change comes from within you. When you are facing the choice to enter through the gates of greatness, it is an internal change that is initiated by your desire to live a fully engaged life. This change requires of you, just a touch of insanity because it means that you will no longer live a life of conformity. It requires from you that you recognize and let go of beliefs that no longer serve you. You begin by setting intentions and making conscious designs of how you want to change your life. Something new is birthed into existence when this happens. Like the caterpillar you emerge from the chrysalis a new creation.
“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing” – Theodore Roosevelt
There comes a time when the caterpillar has to make the chrysalis. He has to overcome the fear of what is going to happen when he closes it off with himself all wrapped up inside of it. He has to let go of the fear of how will he be able to breathe? How will he eat? What happens if it something goes wrong? How will he get out?
“It is when I struggle that I strengthen. It is when I am challenged to my core, that I learn the depth of who I am” – Dr. Steve Marboli
It is the struggle of the transformed butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis, that the wings become fully functional. If you “help” it to escape, it will deform the wings and it will never be able to fly.
“Having courage does not mean that we are unafraid. Having courage and showing courage means we face our fears. We are able to say, “I have fallen, but I will get up” – Maya Angelou
There is an analogy that tells of how an arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. When life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep your aim true. I have always loved this story, because it is by the action of pulling back the arrow that it launches you through the gates of greatness. It is such a great analogy of understanding that struggle is part of advancement.
“Fear, to a great extent is born of a story that we tell ourselves” – Cheryl Strayed
I don’t know how many of you remember back to the late 70’s, but there was a gas crisis. We had lines around the block to get gas, and you could only get it on even or odd days depending on your license plate number. It was around this time that all but two states, decided that we had to pump our own gas, it was all self service.
Now I had never had to pump gas. I told myself this big fear story about how I was going to do it wrong, blow up the service station or something equally horrible. For quite a while I got away with leaving my husband with the almost empty tank, until one day it happened. The tank was on empty and I had to pump my own gas. Well as you can guess it was simple and easy. I didn’t pour gas all over the station, I didn’t implode, nothing caught on fire. I laughed about my fears when I drove away – it was just a made up story, by my fear of the unknown.
“The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder” – Richard Bach
That is what I learned from that experience. 99% of your fears are just like mine. They are a story of “what if’s”. What if this or that happens. And they are just as silly as mine was. Fear isn’t meant to shut you down – it is meant to wake you up to wonder. I had let this fear limit how far I could drive. I had let it stop me from filling up my car with gas. I have always pulled that memory out when fears start getting in my way. Fear was making me a prisoner, and overcoming that fear set me free. Behold wonder!
“You gain strength and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Free to go have adventures, to embrace transformation and change in your life. To take actions, which is to take risks. Risk is always present when you are doing something that you don’t know how to do. This is what bravery and courage is, not the absence of fear, but the ability to push through the fear and by taking action, to do it anyway. There is nothing more liberating that doing something you didn’t think that you could do. No matter how simple or easy it actually turns out to be.
I invite you to join us on May 2nd for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
“Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will” – W. Clement Stone
It is the actions that move you forward. Actions say who you are, whereas the words, or talking about something, simply say who you want to be. What you have to remember is that your lives are a message to all of those around you. They see the actions that you take, how you go forward in the world, and that is how they see you.
Think of the iconic movie characters. Rocky who fights against the odds and wins. Indiana Jones who will find the treasure, then have to fight the bad guys and win against impossible odds. John Wayne; The Lone Ranger; Darth Vader; Luke Skywalker; Bilbo Baggins; Gandalf; the Mandalorian; James T Kirk; Khan – when you say the names, you see the characters that they represent. The reputations that the characters earned, by the actions that they each took – both good and bad. Each one has a message to the world. They have become archetypes of certain attributes. Each name invokes a certain feeling in you.
“Adversity introduces a man to himself” – Albert Einstein
Think about Luke Skywalker and how when he was training with Yoda and entered the cave. He asked what he would find inside and Yoda said, “whatever you take in with you”. He took into the cave his fears of Darth Vader, but what did he see when he took the mask off of Darth Vader? His own face. His own fears that he would become what he hated. That somehow he would fail and become evil too. That is the story of his fear. When he faced that fear, he saved not only himself, but also his father Darth Vader. He inspired his father to change back from his evil ways.
“Your fear is 100% dependent on you for its survival” – Dr. Steve Maraboli
Your souls dreams lead you into transformation. This transformation requires that you change. Change requires that you initiate some sort of action to make everything happen. When you are inspired by your purpose to seek change and transformation, your mind transcends the limitations or bonds that have kept you prisoner, held in place. The whole world opens up to you. You see things that you missed, because of the blinders your fear had in place.
“Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that’s the one that is going to help you grow” – Caroline Myss
Your talents and gifts come alive and expand to fill in the void created by facing your fears. These gifts are that which is needed for transformation. The caterpillar builds the chrysalis. Then the divine takes over, as the caterpillar physically changes into the butterfly. The action of the caterpillar has to happen first. So it is for us.
“The thing about being brave is it doesn’t come with the absence of fear and hurt. Bravery is the ability to look fear and hurt in the face and say, move aside, you are in the way” – Melissa Tumino
You feel the need to transform. You take the needed action to start the process. Then you transcend your limitations. Your gifts come alive and you begin to see the divine purpose you have in being here. You discover that you are a greater person than you ever dreamed you could be.
Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside of you that the world is waiting for. That the gifts you have been given are required in this time and place. That these gifts can help you to overcome any obstacle. Life has a habit of pulling out of you what is needed. So don’t just dream about the life you wish you had. Go out and make that life real. Let your faith be bigger than your fears.
“What you fear will not go away by constantly thinking about it. It will go away when you see it for exactly what it is” – Unknown
Just remember how silly I was to let the fear of pumping gas stop me from having adventures by limiting how far I could travel. Every time you face a fear, you can laugh with me at how silly we are to let fear stop us for even 5 minutes.
I invite you to join us on May 2nd for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be” – Alan Watts
You are on a spiritual journey of unlearning the fears created by your past life, and learning to accept yourself as who you really are. At some point in your life, probably multiple times, you have let someone else tell us you were wrong to believe in the things you do. They abandoned you. They betrayed you. They ridiculed you. They said and did hateful things. They made you feel that you were not good enough, that you were stupid, a waste of space, not even useful as garbage.
“Whenever there is fear, there is opportunity. When there is great fear, there is great opportunity” – Andy Stanley
It may be that you didn’t live up to the expectations of your family, or at school or work, or with your so called friends. So you became a victim and were abused, bullied, and treated disrespectfully. Or it may be that they were so dysfunctional and unhappy that they didn’t know how else to treat you. And you let it happen. You believed them, you listened to them, and they shattered you. Then in an act of self preservation you gathered up all of the broken pieces of yourself and put them deep inside a cage, so that no one could cause further destruction.
“To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own” – Jack Kornfield
Then your negative mind talk took up where the others left off. It seeks to keep you inside of that cage, because it thinks by doing so you won’t be hurt again. That it will be able to keep you safe. But at some point that small child inside the cage starts making some noise. It wants to be free. It wants to come back into the light and start pursuing your dreams again. At some point you start becoming conscious of this desire that is building up inside your soul You have to start taking some risks. You come to know that you can change your life. That it is a possibility, and not as hard as your mind wants you to think it is.
“Being strong means rejoicing in who you are, complete with imperfections” – Margaret Woodhouse
In order to trust in the dreams, you go on a spiritual pilgrimage. A spiritual journey of discovering a path to happiness. Of creating new paths of your own, breaking your own trail. Of making changes even though they terrify you. You discover doors to open that you never saw before. You set yourself free from those shackles. You used your key to unlock the cage you had locked yourself into. You know in your bones that you deserve to be free and happy.
“Survival mode is supposed to be a phase that helps save your life. It is not meant to be how you live” – Michele Rosenthal
With every choice, with every small change you will go on a new heroes journey. You begin to discover the possibility of a new life. You stop being who you were and start uncovering who you really are. Hope begins to find a home inside your soul again. You know why the caged bird sings – because it’s about to experience true freedom. You begin to love yourself without boundaries or restrictions. You open up to the possibility of being loved, and loving others without boundaries.
“Hope is the magic elixir that energizes dreams, fuels possibilities, and lets you live beyond the limits of your historical thinking. It is not a promise that something you want will happen – it is an invitation to enjoy the possibility of what you want while you and life negotiate the eventual outcome. There is never a good reason not to hope!” – Michael Neill
This begins the life of taking second chances. It is the most powerful gift you can give yourself. The opportunity to amplify your love. To see life from the place of your restored hope. To live a life of value, redeeming those qualities and values you abandoned. To be made whole again. To change the story of your life. To expand out past your comfort zone, (the cage you imprisoned yourself in) and begin living a life of potential and possibilities.
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” – Alan Watts
I invite you to join us on April 4th for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
Close the chapter in the book that contains the story of your being a victim. That might have been who you were when you lost your way. But now with your transformational compass firmly in your hands you are navigating your way to start living a life of purpose and meaning. You are climbing back up the mountain in your heroes journey, refined. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes you take flight. You are starting out on a new journey, a new sacred destination of fulfilling your destiny once again.
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist, because you’ll have already shut it out – you can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself” – Mae Jemison
You look back at your life with gratitude, even for the stuff that was devastating. You now see it was all a gift. It bestows reverence on how God works with everything that happens, and turns it into something valuable. It allows you to see the world through love, and creates these transcendent moments of awe that change you right down into the DNA of your cells. You experience the world in a different way. It becomes a daring adventure. You become the brave hero exploring the new world. Yes, you will fall down. Yes, you will be hurt. Yes, you will find yourself working to regain your vision. But now you know that you can choose your thoughts. That you can keep what brings you joy, peace, and happiness. That never again will you find yourself having to imprison yourself to save yourself. That you can release the things that make you suffer, let them take flight and be free.
“I wish for the same thing I’ve hoped for since the beginning. I wish for a life so brave, so unpredictable, so full of unexpected joys and unforgettable love that no box could possibly contain all my memories. Such a life won’t be perfect. It’ll be something better. It’ll be my own paradise” – Patti Smith
I invite you to join us on April 4th for a purposeful gathering. Our intention is to create moments of life-changing conversation on how to make 2020 the year of achievement.
Chances are that what you’re struggling with, others are too. What life questions you have been asking yourself, others are asking themselves too. Get clear on what you want and how to obtain it. If your 2020 dreams and goals are already stalling, get recharged and refocused. Learn how to pivot to success. Join us for a gathering that no one will forget.
Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite poets. My kids all read his poems when they were little. This is one of his poems that I wanted to share, because it is now part of my life with my dad.
The Little Boy and Old Man
“Said the little boy, Sometimes I drop my spoon. Said the little old man, I do that too.
The little boy whispered, I wet my pants. I do too, laughed the old man.
Said the little boy, I often cry. The old man nodded, So do I.
But worst of all, said the boy, it seems Grown-ups don’t pay attention to me. And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand. I know what you mean, said the little old man.”
Recently I crossed over from being a daughter to being a parent for my father. Some changes in your life, tear your heart into tiny pieces. 22 years ago, my mom went on to her next adventure. She passed away at 56 yrs old from cancer. I stayed with her and took care of her the last three months of her life. My aunt and my mom’s best friend stayed with me as she needed around the clock care. With them by my side, while I had hard moments, it wasn’t traumatic. I miss her so much with each new family event. My kids graduating high school. college, marriages, and of course grandchildren and now great grandchildren. She missed it all.
It was a family understanding that when my dad retired from work that he would move in with us. And because he had poor heart health, having a triple bypass, he actually retired a little early with disability and came to live with us. At first he had a motorhome that he lived in, so he could keep his independence. We had a motorhome pad, with electricity hook ups and everything. Then came the day he had to move inside, because his health was deteriorating.
Then we purchased a hospital bed because he was having problems breathing at night, with a lot of coughing and this would allow him to raise it up enough that he could comfortably sleep. Then more ups and downs. He acquired a walker because he couldn’t walk more than a few steps before he was out of breath. Then back and forth to hospitals, ER’s, tests and more tests. Changes of medication when they damaged his kidneys. Changes of medications to help his heart failures.
My dad has a phobia around hospitals. An intense fear. He refuses to go, wanting to stabilize himself with drugs at home. So that is very trying as it usually means intense discussions with both me and his cardiac specialists. The drugs have started causing kidney damage and they have to dial back the dosage. I feel horrible that he becomes defeated. He sits in his chair and watches TV all day and I know he has feelings of depression and being defeated by his body. Sometimes I feel like the worst daughter in the world, as I crossed over into being his parent. I am his advocate when he doesn’t or just can’t understand what is happening and why.
There is a moral task of caregiving, and that involves just being there, being with that person and being committed. When there is nothing that can be done, we have to be able to say, “Look, I’m with your in this experience. Right through to the end of it.
Dr. Arthur Kleinman.
Why do I do this? About 52 years ago, my dad married my mom. She had six little girls, all eighteen months apart with a set of twins. My dad has a lot of faults, like all of us. But he also has some amazing qualities. One is that when they got married, we were his daughters. Not his step-daughters. His daughters. Not once in 50 years has the word “step” exited his mouth. I think that many who read this will not understand how important that is to a child. For me, putting the word “step” before me, makes me less than his own child. I know how lucky we were that we were never step children. When my mom died, 22 years ago, we were still his daughters. No words can express this kind of love. Believe me, if you met some of my sisters, you would understand how amazing it is, that he still calls them his daughters – lol.
Of all the lessons I’ve learned through my years of caregiving, the most important is to keep the love connection going. Just tell them that you love them again and again and again. You will never say it too much, ever.
Joan Lunden
It is scary to cross this transition from daughter to parent. It was different from my mom, as I never felt I became her parent, I remained in caregiving mode. It is scary to see that in the near future, he will go on to his next great adventure, leaving all of us behind him. We are both scared right now. What happens when we let our fears get ahold of our mouths? We shout, we get angry, we say hurtful things. But it is just us being scared. Caregiving is hard, but it is also so rewarding. I can remember when I was taking care of my mom, that some of my sisters were absent because it was too hard to watch the lung cancer take away her ability to care for herself. I learned what the true meaning of words like grace, dignity, love, sacrifice really were deep under the surface of the meanings we usually give them. I am again reminded of it now everyday.
To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.
Tia Walker
I wanted to share my story because I know that many of you are doing the same as I am. Day by day watching a loved one fade away. Sometimes with a fight and sometimes with a whimper. It is hard to watch, and harder to experience it happening to oneself. I wanted to say how while all of our experiences are different because of the people involved and other circumstances, I know how hard this is. I know how fulfilling it is one moment and utterly draining the next. But this is still a gift. A gift of grace, love, and all the other virtues.
Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know was even possible.
Tia Walker
You are not alone, even when it feels like it. If you feel overwhelmed, please join a caregiver group, whether online or up front and personal. It helps to share what is going on and they can help you with getting assistance when it is needed. Believe me, it is hard to find help when you don’t even know where to start and what is available. Even the strongest person can have the weakest day of their life and having access to someone who knows and understands what is happening is priceless.
Remember the power of your angels. Remember to be guided by love and take strength in the good memories, when those you care for are having a bad day and giving you waking nightmares. And remember the grace of how those things we can’t change, can change us.
When we are in a state of severe loss, of pain and grief and a darkness of the soul – that is when life is at its hardest to bear.
But if we just take a deep breath, followed by more deep breaths we can walk into the middle of the chaos. It’s messy in the middle, but in the middle we have the space to start working through the story of our loss. And as we walk through the story, we eventually reach the end.
The end is the place of new beginnings. Our life has been forever changed by our tragedy. We must remember in this space of pain, grief, and loss that the new beginning will be waiting for us.
The sun will shine. The stars will shine brightly. New people will come into our lives. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, if we only will open once again to breathe in the love.
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dream of meeting your heart’s destiny – Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Orian Mountain Dreamer is one of my favorite writers. I invite you to read her books, they are small but mighty. The Invitation is what this quote is from. The poem is a wonderful deep dive into important questions that probe who we are and why.
Your words have power. When you hide how you feel, what you think, you are trying to live your life using someone else’s light. You can’t find your way home that way.
May you always be guided by the light that shines forth from within you – solitaryview
Life is always about the meaning that you give to it. If you take a lamp as the analogy, your soul is the light inside the lamp. The things that happen to you are the glass that surrounds the light. That glass doesn’t matter, it is the heart and soul – the light that matters.
You tell yourself stories about the events in your life, to give some meaning to what is happening to you. Some of you are writing horror stories, or stories that leave you drained from your fears and worries.
Others are writing stories about the gifts they have received as they travel through life. The gifts from the wonderful things that have happened to you, as well as the tragic things.
The best way to count your blessings is to look at life through a variety of lenses. To bring things into and out of focus. To look into the depths of your soul to see what the storms dredged up for you to look at. When you sift through it all, you can let go of everything that doesn’t serve you. You can realize the lessons you have been taught. You can keep growing into who you came here to be.
There is a big difference between making something happen and forcing something to happen. Forcing something to happen isn’t natural. It is like forcing yourself into something that doesn’t fit.
Have you ever laid on the bed to force your stomach to be flat so you can get your jeans buttoned and zipped up? Or forced your foot into a shoe that you loved, but doesn’t really fit? You might be able to get the jeans fastened, but it hurts your stomach when you try to sit. You might be able to walk in those shoes for a little while, but eventually you have to take off the shoes because they hurt your feet so badly. The vanity of false beliefs leaving you with blisters isn’t a good way to live.
And I know how broken you are, how heavy you feel, but still, you have to find the light in you. You have to hold on to it with care and never let it go, even if it drags you to the end of the world – r.m. drake
Making something happen is really all about taking small steps to bring into reality what you are dreaming of. It is catching the light of your soul and holding it up into the darkness, so that you can see where to go.
It is taking the voice or dancing lessons because you want to be in theater. It is taking leaps of faith when you don’t know how to do something. It is going for the brass ring as the merry go round flies around and around. It is learning a foreign language for a trip of a lifetime to a foreign land.
It is taking big, medium and small actions, not just dreaming about it. You don’t just sit there doing nothing to make it happen.
Have you ever gone somewhere new and experienced Deja vu? That feeling that what is happening at this moment, has happened before?
Have you ever learned something new, and it was just so natural and easy that you didn’t even need instructions to do it?
For me, it feels like something that I have dreamed about, is now happening in real life. That my mind already knows and sees the connections, like it was programmed into being. I think that when this happens, you need to pay attention. That you are in that moment, doing something that is important, even if your mind doesn’t understand it.
The Words I Speak Are All in Languages I Do Not Speak
And yet, when you get here, you are not given instructions. There are no diagrams about how you are meant to live each day or directions on how to assemble some semblance of happiness. You are not even told what colors to paint your feelings or given a purpose and a reason for your life. You have to make all of it up. You have to make all of it up yourself – Iain S. Thomas, from “I Wrote This for You”
No matter if you are in the first month or the last month of the year, take the time to reflect on what the year so far has been for you. To see the places where life has been a blessing. To see the places where you let your dreams fall by the wayside. Pick them back up. Dust them off. Find within them the things that you are looking for. Go beyond your means to make them come true for you. Draw down deep within the story of them and bring it into reality. Transform the pain and regrets of this year and past years into the blessings and joy of a new year.
The journey of life teaches you that growth happens when the dream is bigger and brighter than you ever thought it could be.
In the pursuit of your dream, you will illuminate your heart, capture your mind, and free your soul from the small box that you held it in.
You will discover that there are hidden maps within your soul. That there are clues and invitations to walk through doors that will open your mind up to things you never dreamed could be true. But you can only make those kinds of discoveries when you listen to your heart.
That is my wish for all of you today. That you listen to your heart; that you hear the whisper of your soul and find the dream that is so big, that you too can grow beyond who you are today and enrich the universe.
When we are clear in heart and mind…, only then shall we find courage to surmount the fear which haunts our world – Albert Einstein
I tend to get an idea of something I need to work on/with. Then it percolates in my brain, and I start attracting thoughts and ideas. The things I read in books or emails, from dreams, and the conversations I have with others. Then one day the brain has gathered enough material to put together a post.
Recently I was reading an email from “Tanya – Sistership Circle” on being a Warrioress (Wonder Woman) Archetype. She talked about how the word Warrioress is given an incorrect meaning for most of us, in that we think of a warrior as being in battle in a war. Not necessarily so.
It is about being courageous enough to welcome failure on the trail of success.
It is about having the strength to blaze the trail, instead of following behind others.
It is about living a life of conviction and,
being able to bounce back with resilience when it doesn’t work out the way you wanted.
It is about cleaning up our vision so that we have clarity, instead of chaos…
It is about taking action and breaking down the patterns of self-sabotage,
that keep you from your brilliant potential.
It is about being humble in the truest sense of the word
(That does not mean disparaging your gifts/talents).
It is about living a life of P’s – Purpose, Passion, Persistence,
and persevering even when the road gets rough.
It is about being independent, AND living with community,
because it takes a village to raise us up (even when we are adults).
There are actual studies that prove when you stand with your feet spread out and your hands on the hips (Wonder Woman Pose) that it actually makes you confident. In June 2012 Amy Cuddy gave one of the most watched Ted talks of all time, “Your body language may shape who you are” in which she states that simply holding this pose for one minute causes your body chemistry and your behavior to change.
Now there is some controversy over her study, but I am of the belief that I can make statistics say whatever I want them to. How many times have you seen studies which contradict each other? Such as bacon (or any other food) is bad for and then another that states it is good for you?
There is no accounting for the belief of the mind healing the body of diseases. So, think positive and get up and stand like a superhero!
Do not wait to find courage, it will find you when you take your first steps forward – Mari Huertas
Confidence will help you to break out of the fears that are holding you back. Every single person reading this post has told someone about something that they want to accomplish.
Speaking for myself, I have had a goal that I have been working towards now for a few years. In fear I keep telling myself that I am not yet ready to do it. I procrastinate, thinking that there is something else I have to learn how to do. Fear of failure keeps me running the never-ending hamster wheel of something I am still missing.
It is like building a bridge across a chasm. You need supports to come up from the bottom of the valley, or from the sides of the ravines. You need wood or stone materials to build with. You need a way to nail, screw or cement the structure together. You might need plans from an engineer. Then people to help you build it. All of this comes together before you even start the structure.
Then there are the financial components that need to be in place to pay for the land you are building on, the materials and the labor to do it. Now with all of these moving parts it can be overwhelming as fear sets in.
Fear of failure or success. Fear of looking foolish. Fear of starting and not being able to complete the structure because of lack of money, materials, or manpower. So many fears creep into you, that you keep making lists and looking for what else you might need.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading – Lao Tzu
Have you ever noticed that if you look at something more than a second when you are driving down the road, that your vehicle starts to go in that direction? If what you are looking at in life, is not what you want in your life, you need to change direction.
You will end up where you are putting your focus. This is how fear becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy. We are attracting the bad we don’t want to happen, because it is what is filling up our thoughts.
Part of being human is accepting that you are imperfect, you do have flaws, you do have dysfunction in your life. You can, however, take responsibility to do better and be better. You do better when you accept your failures and work on changing those dysfunctions. You do have rough edges in your personality. You can rub others the wrong way.
My family has a habit of teasing everyone, especially friends and family. We tease everyone. And I have taken that teasing a bridge too far. So, it is my responsibility to realize when I have, apologize and make it right. It is my responsibility to be more aware of who and how I tease others. To make sure it never ever crosses over from love to malice (which can happen in a moment of being triggered).
It is your responsibility to determine if your own rough edges need to be sanded down, and if so, to make those changes. It isn’t your responsibility to help someone else sand down their own rough edges.
May your heart be brave, and your soul have courage, while you travel your path to greatness – Amara Honeck
If you have a door that sticks for example, you can do several things: You can push and shove it to open and close it. You can let it warp, bend the hinges, damage the door handle and just let it deteriorate until it no longer functions or falls apart. Or you can fix it.
Maybe it just needs a little planning on the top, bottom or sides where it is rubbing. Maybe it needs a new door handle, or the hinges replaced? Maybe you just need to repair the frame itself. Bottom line is that you can fix it, or let it get worse. Change it or let it be.
Whenever you think that you are in fear, then it is time to awaken your heart.
Whenever you think that you are all alone, it is time to awaken your heart.
When you are in the space of love, it widens out your awareness of life around you. Love helps you to connect every aspect of your life and your purpose. Love awakens and kindles anew your passion for life. For why you are here now in this space and time.
Acting out of love in any situation takes your intentions to the highest heights. You discover in that space of love, the peace and acceptance of what is. You can see clearly the way to act upon your good intentions.
Love roots out fear. Living with a heart, soul, spirit of love you can fully encompass your highest potential. You can be fabulous!