You can create beautiful works of art throughout the design of the house. I have seen embossed leather wallpaper in a study with dark wood bookshelves and a large fireplace that made me want to live in that room. I have seen such grand staircases that you wanted to dress up like Scarlet O’Hara and come down the staircase to make a grand entrance.

As an architect you can use your imagination and create a life that has never been lived in the past, and will never be lived in the future. You can make a difference, not just in the small circle of people that you live with and around, but you can make a difference to the whole world.

Look at some of the medical advances, that were dreamed up because someone wanted to cure their mom or dad or sibling or spouse. Vaccinations that have saved millions of lives. We are all here for some reason. You may think that your gift is a small thing. But your gift has a reason for being in the world at this moment. You are here as part of the picture, and without you the picture will be incomplete.

I have heard several of the contestants on The Voice (listening for when my neice finally!! is on the show) say that singing is the only thing that saved them. There was an example of a girl with something wrong with her brain that couldn’t talk and singing somehow fixed the damage; the boy who was obese and bullied who found solace in singing; and how singing was the only thing that pulled another boy through depression when both of his parents had illnesses that took their lives. Now they are sharing the gift that saved them with the world. And somewhere in the world, someone is going to be saved through their own unique gift because they now know it is possible.

So be the architect of your future.  Don’t let what has happened to you in your past stop you from living the life of your dreams. Somewhere in the world is someone who needs to hear your story and know what is possible for their own lives. Your people are waiting for you to step up, don’t keep them waiting forever.

But the truth is that all emotions originate inside of us. They originate from some story that we are telling ourselves is true. They come from a perception, projection, or interpretation to what we see through the filter of our mind. Your internal fears are telling you that something is missing, when in fact real happiness is just behind the illusions that your mind is projecting.

Watch a baby to see how effortless happiness is. There is a video on you tube of a baby that has a piece of paper and the baby just laughs and laughs as the dad rips the paper. (it is called Baby Laughing Hysterically at ripping paper (Original). Look it up for a moment of happiness for yourself). Happiness is a natural part of life, not the result of anything that we do. It is like the air that we breathe, always there and part of life waiting to be experienced. It can’t be possessed, or chased after. It just is.

Babies are such good examples of letting the emotions flow through you. They might get mad and cry, and then two minutes later they are giving you kisses or laughing at you. They don’t get attached to their emotions; they don’t let them rule their experience of life, and that is why they are such good examples of experiencing happiness.

Babies also love to make you laugh. They love to spread their happiness to everyone they meet. I’ve never met someone who when a baby smiled at them or laughed didn’t smile themselves. They are so contagious with their happiness, they love to share it. We need to follow their example, and enjoy life every moment!

As a business person have you ever thought of yourself as a great leader? It is what every successful business person is.

The list could go on and on. I was at a seminar this past weekend with the Rejuvenate crowd, listening to the same workshop that I attended almost 2 yrs ago. It really hit home how much I have changed personally in the last year and a half. And some of those changes happened because Jesse and Sharla are great leaders themselves.

I firmly believe that the universe puts us in front of great leaders to prepare us to be one ourselves. My whole life shifted at one of Jesse Koren’s talks when I was given permission to become the great leader that I always knew deep inside that I could be, but was afraid to be. It is a very vulnerable place to be, because great leaders are not only noticed, they are judged. The truth is though, that we are all judged everyday. Some of those judgments are true, some are just someone else’s perception or projection.

Since we are all judged no matter what, why not step into that place of vulnerability and become the great leader that you are? I watched this past weekend a crowd of people that the universe had brought to listen to Jesse. Some of them said yes to the stretch outside of their comfort zone, hopeful that what Jesse had to teach would enable them to grow into the great leaders that they knew themselves to be.

Some of them said no. They had their reasons (most of which were excuses), as to why they couldn’t stretch past their boundaries. It is so sad to me personally because I know that they each of them have a gift that our world needs so badly to shift the consciousness of our world into peace and harmony. I only hope that the next opportunity that the universe puts into their path, is one that they say yes to. We are all waiting for you to express your gift. We need you to do so.

I celebrate everyone who is saying yes to growth and expression of the gift they have for us. It is such a high, a absolute joyous high, when you are growing and learning to more fully be who you are and sharing yourself with the world! See me, doing the “Snoopy” happy dance, celebrating both you and me giving ourselves to shifting the world to a better place!!!!

It’s a funny thing about a rut – when you are in one, you lose sight of the landscape because the rut is a wide, deep groove that obscures what is around you. You can only see straight ahead and behind you – the landscape to the left and right is hidden. Taking this as an analogy, the rut causes you to lose sight of the goals and dreams of your life, and leaves you with no vision of what is around you. And because the rut is a comfortable groove, well worn like a comfortable pair of shoes, we tend to stay in it, until the rut becomes so deep it seems impossible to climb out of.

We become like a cog in a machine, going around in circles – having the same routine each day when we get up in the morning, driving back and forth to work the same way each day, watching the same T.V. shows each evening – spinning around and around until something breaks us out of the routine. We have some crisis happen in our life – it could be the death of a loved one, a serious illness for ourselves or a close friend/family member. Something happens that causes us to wake up to what we are doing with our life. A tidal wave strikes us and lifts us up out of our rut, and we look at our life wondering how we got so far off-track from our dreams.

A challenge is not stress from our work or a family crisis at home. A challenge is something that is good for us, that causes us to reach beyond what we thought was our limit, to discover there are no limits. So using this definition, what have you done this year that caused you to change and grow – what have you done that you didn’t think you could do? If nothing comes to mind, you still have a few months left of 2012 to achieve something wonderful that makes a dream come true!

Don’t wait for the tidal wave to hit you, instead become a force of nature, taking action for yourself and your dreams. Don’t die with your dreams still inside of you. Live out loud!

As part of the program, we learned to release our resistance to things by paying attention to the energy that we bring with us as we live our lives. When you have resistance and pull the cord of energy that is attached to that resistance, it creates a totally new way of dealing with the “drama of everyday” as things that pop into our lives.

I think that this level of awareness is what Guy Finley was referring to with this quote. I also believe that living life with this level of awareness is illuminating, as you begin to see how the little irritants that we are used to living our life with, can simply be let go. It isn’t necessary to be attached to the story that we tell ourselves about what someone said or didn’t say; what someone did or failed to do; and how it really isn’t all about us at all. Pulling the cord releases the drama and then we can look objectively at the issue at hand and determine how much of the drama was simply created by our own illusions about what something means.

Living with this level of awareness isn’t an easy thing to do, but it is something that we can remind ourselves of everyday. At first we realize what we have done afterwards. Then we pull the energetic cord and forgive ourselves for falling into the illusion again. And if we pay attention, we start catching ourselves right in the middle of the illusion; and then one day we stop ourselves from spinning the illusion right at the beginning. Of course since we aren’t yet perfect we still spin some interesting stories that we will find ourselves pulling cords over, but as time progresses the stories become few and far between.

I think that a good catch phrase is “what does love want this to be?” If we can just remember to ask this before the drama starts, we have the “perfect” level of awareness for every relationship that we enter into everyday of our life.

So someone with a strong faith will do things that they never thought possible, even risking their life to save others. The hero is actually birthed by the strong faith. This isn’t necessarily a faith in oneself or a higher spiritual being, although both of those play into it. It is a strong faith in the idea itself that is being defended. It is the passionate belief of the individual along with those other things that are always talked about.

The woman who lifts an automobile off her child doesn’t have strong faith in that moment that she can lift the car, and probably doesn’t even have a thought about how heavy the car is. What she has strong faith in, is that she will do anything to protect that child and at the moment that means, lifting hundreds of pounds like it is a sack of potatoes. If asked she will say that it was a miracle of God, or that she doesn’t know how it happened.

In Viktor Frankl’s time it was what motivated people to save people of a different religion that they didn’t know, at the risk of their lives and of their families lives. That strong faith could have come from a religious belief; from saving the children who were at risk; from the value of a human life – no matter whose life it was; from a combination of these things and others that they were personally passionate about. But the strong storm of the Nazi regime was the motivating wind of destruction that struck a cord within them that said, “no more” can I stand by and do nothing.

Today in your life, what are you willing to give thought to and apply that strong faith to, and change in your life or the lives of others from that same place?

If we look around our world we see so many problems, with people struggling to put food on the table, make the rent/mortgage payment, worried about losing their job and their families, and the stress seems unbearable. The problems are so large, and they are so intertwined that we can’t even see where we could start to help, or we feel that the help is too small and wouldn’t make any difference. We worry that we might start something that has unintended consequences, and so we “cross the street” so as not to see it, and continue with our lives doing nothing.

But look that what Amelia says – a single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and those roots spring up to make new trees. You may not know what to do, but any act of kindness can be life saving. That person who received the smile may have went back home to a spouse and children, who would have been left without the bread winner. That smile could have caused him to try one more time to get hired on at the local store, and this time they said yes. That smile could have caused him to get counseling and save his marriage. That smile could have made it possible for his daughter to go to college, and become the scientist that created the cure for a disease that kills thousands.

Her quote is like the butterfly that flaps his wings in Brazil and changes the climate in America. You just don’t see the roots that spring out from one act of kindness and the tress that grow from that. What I do know is that most of the wonderful inventions, creations and programs that help all of us, come from someone who experienced hardship in their life and stood up and said “no more”. No one should have to experience this, and so they stand up and make the difference.

Your “smile” whatever that is, could be the one thing that shifts the balance and it can make a difference. So instead of “crossing the street” today, see if there is one thing that you can do, because that one thing will spread roots across the world and shift the balance.

So like Johnny Appleseed, plant some trees and don’t worry about how small the seed is. There are still apple trees across America that were planted by Johnny, and he didn’t need to look back to see the fruits of his labor, because he believed that God would make each and every seed sprout and spread roots and grow strong.

It has really made me think about how I react when someone tells me of a new dream. In the past it wasn’t so much that I downplayed their dreams as unachievable or not valid, but rather in the back of my mind was the thought that here is one more thing that they won’t finish or accomplish. I would think of them as niche switchers. These are people who every month are changing their business model to something new. Now that for the first time I have a passionate vision, (which really means that the vision has me!) what I realize is that one of two things is happening – either they are allowing those close to them to cause them to stop, or they haven’t yet found that one thing that they would leave everyone behind in order to accomplish.

So what I now think about is helping them to either fully embrace their visio, not letting anyone tell them not to risk it. Or to seek it more powerfully – what I notice is that each new version of themselves falls around the same general principal. So I think that they just haven’t expanded their vision big enough. They are still playing it safe around what they think that they can do, and they need to blow that vision up into it’s impossible, and then accept that it is possible. That is when the vision gets them, and they can get behind it, and go out and learn how to make it happen. That is when the magic happens. Enthusiasm will fire up the engines and there won’t be any stopping or switching, just full steam ahead! We can do it!

As we were leaving the event I asked if they had signed up for Marcia Weider’s dream workshop on 6/23. They had and we were talking about having dinner afterwards or the night before, she wasn’t sure when they would arrive. Then in response to a comment I made about looking for referrals to help with the business, she said that I needed to write out an outline and get really clear about what I was doing, because after 3 days of talking to me she still didn’t understand what I wanted to do. After all she said, they had just made a presentation and the one person on the panel that they most wanted to impress, had just told them that she didn’t understand exactly what they did.

I thanked her for the advice, but was crushed inside. On the 2 hr drive home I thought about what she had said, and while I am sure that I have a lot of work to do in getting clear on my message in the matter of conciseness, I don’t really think that anyone who has heard me speak about my vision, would say they don’t understand it at all. It was her own internalized pain speaking out, and I just happened to be handy.

I share this because on the road to bringing a vision to reality, we will all have things said and/or done to us that crush us momentarily. Not everything will be true, but I do believe that everything that is said or done can be used to make us a better vehicle for our vision. It all comes down to believing in yourself and your vision so strongly that even if no one else can see it, we can. And that belief coupled with action can bring that vision into reality.

A second important point is in looking at the how Charlie Chaplin saw the world and then interpreted it into his acting. Everything has a gift in it. So bonus quote is the quote from “The Universe” that came today – “For every setback, disappointment and heartbreak, sheryl, ask yourself, “What does this create the opportunity for?” And therein you will find its gift. Everything has a reason”, The Universe

Would Charlie Chaplin have been the great actor he was if he hadn’t experienced the orphanage and trying to find enough to eat? Maybe, maybe not, but he certainly saw the gift and used it. So what do you do when someone consciously or unconsciously steps on your dream in some way? Do you give up, walk away, and call it a day? Or do you look for the gift and the opportunity?

Out of the 20 probably 2 or 3 did a good job. Most of them didn’t have it practiced enough, didn’t cover what all needed to be covered and repeated almost verbatim the same mistakes. It was interesting how because they were so nervous and focused on what they were going to say when they went on the stage, that they didn’t take the opportunity presented as they watched, to edit what they were doing to avoid the same mistakes.

How many times in our lives have we watched someone walk down the wrong path, and because we were so invested in what we were doing have we repeated the same mistake in ours?

What I also thought was interesting, was how many people pitch to investors looking for money and come away thinking that there isn’t any money available? When the real reason they didn’t get funded, is that they didn’t hook or engage the investor because they weren’t prepared with the right information.

How many people today go into a job interview and blow it, and walk away saying that there aren’t any jobs?

Real success is admitting when you blow it, and not trying to hide behind blaming someone or something else. I would rather work with someone who admits their mistake, learns from it where they went wrong and doesn’t repeat it.

That is a person of integrity, because none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes, the key is admitting and learning from them. That baggage is actually honed life skills. A different perspective is all that is needed to turn lemons into lemonade.

I like that thought – I don’t have baggage, I have honed life skills. Instead of baggage, I have a tool belt that has my honed life skills, ready to be used for any future life storm. My life skills are an asset instead of a liability, because I learned valuable lessons that enable me to make better choices, not bitter ones.

Isn’t life interesting?

As a side note, she probably didn’t understand what a inspiration she was on that campus everyday as she went to class. She probably thought she was an embarrassment. Our internal fears turn everything into a negative, when for the most part people are celebrating us! Think about your own life and where have you done this to yourself?

Our happiness in many ways ties directly to our “inner voice” that forever asks the question…”Are you moving toward your dream?” If your answer is “yes,” then hope breeds contentment. However, if the answer is “no, because (insert fear excuse here)…..,” then this is probably the reason that your life lacks joy, or has depression. Because subconsciously we are breeding despair, with the false thinking that it is too late, too hard, not worth trying to live our dreams.

So sign up for one class at the local community college; take dancing or yoga lessons; rent an instrument and begin lessons; open a savings account and start putting in all your space change for your trip to Europe. Pick up the phone and reconnect with an old friend or relative that you lost touch with. If you always wanted to write a book, start by typing your thoughts on facebook (lol). Just take one small step and do something that you have always thought of doing. Then take a bigger step, and a bigger one and pretty soon your like my granddaughter Claire and running all over creation with a happy smile on your face!

As my friend Mark Hoover says “Be Brilliant!”