Believe In Your Own Greatness

 

If I were to ask you what your highest potential is, would you have a ready answer?  Would you need to think about it for awhile? What about the first career that you thought you wanted when you were little?  A policeman, Fireman, Doctor, Teacher, or maybe even the President?  What was it about that career that appealed to you?  Why did you change your mind?  Why did you give up the dream?

You have everything you need to build something far greater than yourself.

  – Seth Godin

Usually we give up a dream because we think we don’t have what it takes to make it happen.  This can come from the outside, from parents, friends, peers etc…, or from the inner critic fear, who convinces us that we aren’t good enough to be that person who can make their dreams come true.  To catch our potential and live our dreams we have to fight our greatest fears.  I believe absolutely that if we are given the dream, then we do have the potential.  I believe that all of us are better than we think we can be.

As human beings greatness is not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves.

 – Ghandi

When faced with those fears of living out our dreams, we tend to run away.  We blame others for what we are afraid that we can’t accomplish.  We get involved in time sucking activities.  We live down to the lowest level of our potential, figuring that falling off the first stair step of the staircase won’t hurt as much as falling down one or two dozen steps.  Then looking up from the ground level, that idea of reaching for the moon seems even further away and less obtainable.  We run around with others who are running away from their own potential, so that we feel part of a crowd, safe and secure – “just like everyone else”. 

You can see and feel this mindset when you try to make a change.  The crowd around you doesn’t want you to make any changes in reaching out to grow into your potential.  They see that mirror of you reflecting back at them, and they will oppose it, because they don’t want to wake up to their own true potential.  It would mean that they have to grow and change too, and that is just too scary.  It is far easier to remain unconscious and in a rut.

Have you even seen pictures of the Oregon Trail with the ruts that were worn into the prairie by the wagon trains?  Some of them dug so far into the earth that it was like a wall on both sides of the wagon as they went through.  It might make you feel safer, but ruts are filled up with limiting beliefs, uninspired sameness, mental, physical, and career burnout.  It is a sure path to being asleep in your life.

I want people in my life who are more interested in my growth than my comfort.

  – Eric Johnson

Why does that matter?  Because study after study reflects that as a group, we develop a “sameness” in our actions.  Eating habits, exercise habits, even monthly menstruations, it all tends to become regulated to the group.  So if you want to reach your potential you need to associate with other people who are trying to reach theirs.  People who take action.  Who are awake and conscious not only to their own potential, but in the potential of others around them.  People who will cheer you on, who will stop when they see you take a fall and help you get back up. There isn’t any competition with this group of people, but rather collaboration in helping each other get up the next level of growth, and celebrating all of the milestones along the way.

To reach your full potential, you have to set goals that will stretch you.  You must not be afraid of taking risks.  You must learn to recognize opportunities and have the courage to pursue them. You have to make better choices that will provide better results.  Finally, you need to avoid the negative influences of other people and surround yourself with successful people who will encourage you to pursue your dreams.

  – Zig Ziglar

And you should expect to fall down more times than you succeed.  It is part of the process of learning something new.  You learn a new language, you will say the wrong words, in the wrong sequence, or just pronounce it so poorly that no one can understand you.  But if you immerse yourself in the language and culture (go live in the country that speaks that language with an actually family that refuses to speak your native tongue) you will be amazed at how fast you become proficient.

The problem is when we fall down and get up, at some point when we fall down again, we say we can’t get up again.  You fill in the blank of what your favorite excuse is, because anything we say after the word “BUT” is just that an excuse.  I wanted to finish college, but . . . “this is too hard”;  I wanted to interview for the new promotion, but . . . “I am afraid I it’s too big a leap”;  I thought we would be married forever, but . . . “I’m just not cut out for this”.  If you can build a visual picture of your life when you have accomplished the dream, it makes it easier to get clarity, to stay focused, to in a few words, “Have a Vision” and accomplish it.

Vision is the ability to see potential in what others overlook.

  – Rick Warren

So what do you do if it has been forever since you listened to your dreams?  If you have forgotten what wakes you up and fills you with joy of life?  First of all you need to believe in your potential being way greater that where ever you are right now.  Then think back to what makes you happy.  If money, time, and family was all in your favor, what would you do with your life right now?  If you knew that you only had one week left in your life, what unfinished dream would you want to dedicate all of your remaining time to?  What is it that haunts you, keeps you awake when you give your mind the freedom to think about it?  What is the “only if” in your life?  These are all places to look for that dream if you have misplaced it.  It also shows up in the areas in our life that come naturally to us.  Look for the pattern and sew that dream back together piece by piece.

So we have this dream.  We map out the path to bring it into reality.  We create a Destiny Map.  We start building bridges to grow ourselves into the kind of person that dream requires us to be.  Then at some point, we see that we have to cross a different kind of bridge.  The gap between where we are and where we want to go next, requires us to step out onto a bridge that we can’t see.  Like Indiana Jones we have to literally walk across what we see as air, and trust that the bridge is really there.  We have to risk everything we have, all of our beliefs in what we are capable of, to cross that bridge.  If you are lucky enough to reach this bridge, this is where most dreamers quit. They fail to seize the moment to do something they have never done. 

When you are not willing to be challenged, disturbed or offended, you are not willing to explore your weaknesses or ever reach your highest potential.

  – Bryant McGill

So expect failure.  Expect to be wrong.  Expect change.  Expect challenging times.  Realize that your greatness is hidden in your true potential and keep digging it up until you find it and expose it to the world.  Unlock the treasure chest and release your potential.  It is a priceless treasure, which doesn’t do us any good unless we are out there distributing it.  Dream big.  Work hard.  Believe in yourself.  Be who you really are.  Dream, plan, execute!

When everything seems to be going against you remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

  – Henry Ford

 

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Be Brave – Entertain The Uncomfortable And Shoot For The Stars

The Three C’s of Life:

Choices, Chances, Changes.

You must make a Choice to take a Chance or your life will never Change.

 – Zig Ziglar

They say that everything you have ever wanted is one step outside of your comfort zone.  If you are around my age, you may remember the day that the astronauts landed on the moon and took the first step onto the moons surface.  Everyone around the world that had access to a T.V. was watching.  No one said a word as they watched, holding their breath.  Then again, when the astronauts came back home and safely splashed into the water.  It was an amazing time, because something had happened, that couldn’t be believed.  They went to the moon, they walked on it and brought back space rocks.  They made it back safe and a boundary was forever broken that most of us believed wasn’t possible.  Sometimes I think that the one step outside your comfort zone is just like that first step onto the moons surface.  Because that first step in the direction of our dreams is soooo very hard to do.  It sometimes feels like we might not make it back alive, when we take that step.

You don’t get over the fear of doing something by not doing it.

 – Zero Dean

Stepping outside that circle begins with a vision.  Look at the stars colored into the lines.  Those are all of your dreams that you have been given to go out and bring into reality.  Each star is like the rest stop on a long road trip.  A safe place to stop and take a nap if you need it.  A place to refresh yourself as you get ready to get back on the freeway and travel to the next stop along your destination.  A place where they have a map that says, “you are here” and marks out places that you can go explore.  Some of them are located at landmarks, and some at scenic views.  You can meet people from other states.  You can talk to truck drivers who go from one side of the United States to the other, transporting everything that we have in our homes to the marketplace.  Step out onto to your first star.  Move from where you are, to where you need to be.

We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong.

 – Unknown

Did you know that in order to write a single sentence, we need to have the ability to see the sentence in our minds?  That is how we start out when as a young child we start writing out sentences. Along the way, we do this by habit.  We begin with a vision.  Then we start building bridges along each step of the way.  We start coloring in the stars as far as we can reach.  And one day it happens, that in order to color in the next star, we have to take a step into the vision itself.  You will have to leave the place where you are in order to continue to give birth to the vision. It will mean that you feel lost, uncomfortable and awkward.  It will mean that you fail, not once or twice, but many times.  But once you get the hang of it, your life will change in the most amazing ways.

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

 – Christopher Columbus

At some point we have to light our fire, our passion to overcome the fear of taking the step.  We have to want it more than we are afraid of it.  The greater the fear, the greater the growth.  If you have kids, you will have witnessed growth spurts.  I remember when my boys were little.  I always knew when a growth spurt was coming because they consumed food like they were vacuum cleaners and they would sleep longer.  Then practically overnight, I had to buy new clothes and shoes because nothing fit.  There is discomfort when we grow at first because everything that fit us yesterday, doesn’t fit us today.  But when we give it a little time and space, we grow comfortable again with a new favorite pair of favorite jeans or shoes.  We can’t let fears rule over us and make us afraid to walk into our future selves.  That is where the joy and adventure are waiting for us.  The “Stars” are calling us, we just have to take the call.

The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.

 – Steven Pressfield

Courage is the realization that this fear of leaving the comfort zone is just a place marker.  It marks the place where you are about to do something that will shift your life into a totally new place.  Do you remember the first time that you moved?  If you were a kid, it meant a new neighborhood.  New friends.  New school.  Maybe the move was to go to college and you left your family behind to go to school in another state.  Or maybe your first move was out of state for a new job.   All very scary “new” things.  But kind of exciting too.   Because you didn’t have any idea who your new friends were going to be; who your new teachers would be; what your new home would look like.  You said goodbye to a lot of things, and at the same time you got to say hello to some new things.  The fears that we imagine are just there to let us know that something wonderful is coming our way.

If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.

 – John Maxwell

Outside of that circle is where life really happens.  It is where the magic is – that is why the stars are there to guide us.  It is where we get to create our own life.  We can decide and choose who and what we want to become.  Keep walking, maybe even running sometimes to the destiny that you have been given.  Hold to your vision and don’t let anyone or anything keep you from it.  Trust in the process, remember to breathe, and if you haven’t got uncomfortable, then you haven’t left your comfort zone.  Your fears can be pretty tricky, and they will make it seem like you stepped out of the circle and onto one of the stars.  But do a gut check – no butterflies, no giddiness, no feeling of “What Did I Just Do” and you better check to see where those toes really landed.

Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

 – Les Brown

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Follow Your Inner Compass

“If you follow the inner path using truth and clarity as your compass points, the outer world cannot help but respond to your intention”  – Deepak Chopra

Years ago I used to travel with work three weeks of almost every month. I flew into or drove through almost every state except Alaska, Maine and Hawaii. The rental cars were charging extra for the GPS and my employer seldom got a rental car with one. It was printed directions from google maps or a similar program. My favorite saying was no trip was complete without at least one U-turn.

My husband swears that I have no sense of direction, and at some point in almost every trip I would get lost. Sometimes I thought I must have driven too far and would turn around, only to find the destination had been just a little further down the road. Other times I would drive around in circles. Did you know that in some places in New Jersey they don’t allow left hand turns? You have to do this weird three right turns so that you are on the street which crosses the intersection to the address you are looking for. It once took me 20 minutes to figure out what the directions were telling me to do.

“You inner voice always knows what to do, but it is a quiet voice.  You can only  hear the whisperings of your inner voice, your inner compass – when you turn down the volume of your fears, your regrets, your resentments, and the fear based advice your neighbors are so willing to give you” – Jonathon Lockwood Huie

So I have experience both literally and metaphysically with turning around because I am going in the wrong direction. The most interesting thing about it though, is how do you know when you are going in the wrong direction? How do you tell that it is time to turn around, because you will not be able to get to your destination on the road that you are traveling on? How do you know that you don’t just need to drive a little further down the road?

“You must find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible: – Deepak Chopra

The first thing that I had to do on my actual road trips was quit stressing about being late; about being lost; and just stop and get my bearings. When I stopped stressing and looked at the directions calmly I would usually see where I went the wrong way or what I misunderstood. Sometimes I had to humble myself and call the place I was trying to get to and ask for directions. Sometimes there was a nearby gas station to give me directions. The same is true on the metaphysical level.

“The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality” – Conan O’Brian

When you get grounded, release the stress, and get into that calm place – you can get your bearings. You just need to breathe, trust and let go. This gives your inner compass a chance to get your bearings and stop spinning wildly in circles. Your true north will always draw you to it.

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself” – Alan Alda

Sometimes the issue isn’t that your lost. It is that you are living a life of holding your potential in check. You need to be brave and unleash the potential to start moving. You feel like if you claim that you are lost, you won’t run the risk of failure. By quitting you are playing it safe.

The truth is that whether you stay put or move forward, there is a price that is being paid. Since you are already paying for being stuck in place, why not go ahead and pay the price of moving forward – why not “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” and move forward?

“You gut is your inner compass.  Whenever you have to consult with other people for an answer, you’re headed in the wrong direction” – Oprah

Being lost is just a nuisance. There is no new discovery until you release the potential.  Your potential is revealed by your values, your purpose.  It is part of the souls journey.  So put on the backpack, grab the walking stick, partner with a trustworthy friend and get going. Risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight and discover what your human spirit is all about.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Live An Extraordinary, Creative, Inventive Life

Life Is A Journey Of Discovering New Possibilities

Whatever happens,

Wherever you go,

Whatever you do,

Remember this;

No one can take the Fire out of your soul,

the Stars from your eyes,

the Passion in your heart.

Those are yours forever.

 – S.L.

Do you remember that famous line from “The Wizard of Oz”?  Almost at the end, Glinda the Good Witch says, “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas”, then the Scarecrow asked why she didn’t say anything at the beginning of the journey?  And Glinda replies, “She had to learn it for herself.”  The same thing is true for each of us.

“Have faith in your journey.  Everything had to happen exactly as it did to get you where you’re going next” – Mandy Hale

I love the thought of curiosity in our travels.  Around the next corner, you never know what might be waiting for you.  Your focus will reflect what pops out at you.  You will notice the sun shining brightly, or the clouds coming to cover it up.  You will see rainbows or the coming thunder storm.  It is all a matter of the filters that you are viewing your life from.  Each experience adds up to who we are at this very moment.  And each moment, presents change and a new you.  Who are you becoming, as you journey down the road of life?

“The journey between what you once were and who are you now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place” – Barbara DeAngelis

When you have some specific goals in mind, time seems to be so slow.  You feel like you’re wading through the mud, with each step taking so much effort.  Stepping down into the mud, feeling the cold water flooding inside your boots.  Even your toes are struggling to get a grip on the sole of the boot, as you’re trying to lift your foot out of the mud to take the next step.  Fighting against the boot as it remains stuck in the mud. You tug at your boot.  Finally getting it loose you struggle with the weight of the mud that is still attached to the boot.  You keep trying not to lose your balance and do a face plant into the mud.  It takes forever just to take a few steps in the right direction.

Have you ever felt that way?  Your have to remind yourself that each experience in your life, has been right on time.  Your are never late according the divine destiny.  Each step, and each situation that showed up at your door step right on time.  Right now you may be experiencing sickness, a job loss, work furlough, stress around your financial future, worried about putting food on the table.  That would be you stuck in the mud.  It’s hard to tell where to take the next step.

“I am learning to trust the journey even when I do not understand it” – Mile Bron

Each obstacle that you encounter, every mountain that you climb and then hike back down again, strengthens your muscles.  Some of the muscles are physical, some mental, and some are spiritual.  Learning to pace yourself so that you don’t get injured or tired and quit.  Learning about the importance of not getting caught in the mind whirlpool of indecision.  Learning that even when you think that you’re abandoned by God, you are in fact always being supported.  The breakdown teaches you so much about yourself.  You are stronger than you will ever know.  No matter what is falling apart in your life this minute, you can conquer anything and anyone.

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything.  Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place” – Summer Saldana

It is also important to take the time to give thanks to every single person that has been a part of your life’s journey so far.  The wisdom of the mentors in your life.  The love of family.  The blessing of friends, who are only a text, IM or phone call away.  You can Skype girlfriends from around the world, and see their faces and feel in your soul how much they care and support you.  Remind yourself to stop feeling that world is passing you by.  Enjoy the journey.  If you have a habit of getting so involved in planning, in working, in taking action, that you spend all your time “doing” – push the pause button and take time to just “be”.  To remember that joy and happiness are found within the journey itself, not as a reward for reaching a new destination.

“I am deeply reminded that our life’s journey is a gift, not a given, and that we can never truly know how long the journey will last.  All we can do is decide how it unfolds” – Sonia Choquette

The best part of the journey to self discovery, is that it really never ends.  Because each time you reach a destination, the new you that it took to get there, looks around and says, “Where are we going to go now?”  The journey has way-stops or check points along the way, but each destination opens doors.  Doors to new places to go to, new ways you grow into.  Sometimes going around the corner to a new destination, is simply learning to look at familiar things with new eyes.  The thing that I know for certain, is that the journey is never over.  Even when you leave this life, you will still be on a journey.

 “You are not on a journey to God; you are on a journey with God” – Dr. Steve Maraboli

Divine Timing – Trust, Let Go And See What Happens

When you truly “let go and let God” you stop trying to make something happen by a certain time.

You stop pushing the stopwatch.

You stop pushing those goals which are like large boulders up the hill, only to have them roll back down to the bottom when you get distracted.

What will then happen, is that divine timing is allowed to work in its own way, its own time, and its own mysterious plans and ways.

Paths open up before you that take you places that you would never have chosen to go.  Places that open you up to something new and so delightful that you never want to leave.

“Patience is quieting the ego and trusting divine timing” – Dean Jackson

Divine timing has amazing short cuts.  Let’s say that you have on your bucket list to go to Mt. Kilimanjaro.  You have no money to finance this kind of trip.

In your hometown is a non-profit that you volunteer to work for.  One day this non-profit, along with other agencies get a call to provide relief supplies for some villages near the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  You volunteer to go and help to deliver the supplies.  The helicopter drops you off at the village.  You are now within immediate climbing distance of your goal.

Now they ask for some of you to go up towards the summit to deliver the supplies.  Divine timing has just express delivered a bucket list goal and all you had to do is say yes.

Now that story was totally made up, and you are probably saying, but that doesn’t really happen.  So, I want to share my own personal favorite story of divine timing happening in my own life, when I had no other choice but to let go and let God.

My middle son called me to tell me that he and his girlfriend were getting married.  I was so happy for them.  This was in January, and they had set the date for August.  I sat down and planned out what I could do to get enough money together to pay for their honeymoon.

If I was extremely budget conscious and could earn some extra commissions at work, I could just pay for the honeymoon that they wanted In Mexico.  The end of February they called with a new surprise; they had moved up the date to May.  I looked at my now destroyed plan and no matter how I moved the numbers, there was no way to pay for the honeymoon by the end of April.

So, I sat down and pulled out some paper and wrote a letter to myself in that moment in time, from myself in June.  I wrote how happy they were to go on their honeymoon.  They had a terrific time, and I poured every emotion and feeling of gratitude and happiness into this letter.  I wrote how amazed I was how unseen forces seemed to move my financial mountains to make it happen.  I wrote how I never could have foreseen the ability to make my dream of paying for their honeymoon happen, and how grateful I was to God for providing me with the funds.

Then I put the paper away, with no attachment to the outcome in a drawer and placed all of my faith in divine timing.  Two weeks later, I got a phone call from a neighbor who lived across the street from our second home in Upstate New York.  They wanted to know if I was interested in selling them 10 acres of our property. They would pay cash and we could close in two weeks.

Now when we had bought this house, it was on 20 acres.  I didn’t know why at that time, but I negotiated to cut the parcel in half and have 10 acres of land and 10 acres with the house.  We paid full price for the 10 acres with the house and $1.00 for the 10 acres of bare land.  So, I was able to say yes to the neighbor and we negotiated a fair price.  We closed the end of March and the first week of April I was able to fully pay for my son and daughter in-law’s honeymoon.

Even if I had thought of selling the land to pay for the honeymoon, it is highly unlikely that we could have sold and closed on it in 30 days.  That time of year the area is still covered in snow.  But I believe that divine timing knew that when I bought that house five years previously, I was going to need to liquidate that land to pay for my son’s honeymoon.

Because I had listened to intuition and split the property, divine timing was able to maneuver into place a quick sale and funds to pay for that honeymoon.

An analogy of “letting go and letting God” is water.  Water always finds a way.  It might take a year, it might take a day, but what is meant to be will always find its own way to completion.

I always think of the Grand Canyon.  Water carved that canyon out of solid stone.  In one place within the canyon is a small island of stone in a perfect circle of water that wound around it.  I don’t know how that perfect circle of stone is still standing.   But the story my imagination tells me is that the stone was especially strong in that one spot and that it took water a lot of time and persistence, but it was able to carve away all of the parts that didn’t belong, until what was left, was what was supposed to be there.  A tall stone island in a perfect circle of water.

So, know that in your journey, you are always on perfect time, divine time.  You are not early; you are not late.  You are right now where you are supposed to be.

That goal, off in the distance that you are busy running to, will happen right on time.  It may be that like me, you don’t see any way that you can make it happen.  But if you are willing to listen to intuition; If you are willing to do things that may not make sense at the time you are doing them; like splitting up 20 acres into two 10-acre parcels, divine timing will place what you need into your hands, right on time.

• 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?

We here at LemonadeMakers not only write about waking up to the reality of who you are and your life purpose and living up to your full potential.   We also are here to help you ask yourself the right questions to open up your mind to the possibilities of living the life you have always dreamed of.  Contact us anytime and we are happy to have that conversation.

The Best Things In Life Are The Moments When We See The Little Things Clearly

 Such a profound question – what is life?

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, that hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.  Delicious Ambiguity.  

  – Gilda Radner

When you look around at your friends and family, how many people do you know that “just exist”? They are here. They wake up each day. They take in the breath of life, they eat, they go to work or school, they come home and watch a movie, TV, play video games. They are here, but what else is there in life, besides just being here?

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. 

   – Marcel Proust

There is something about asking questions that opens life up.  About being curious.  Asking yourself the questions that you are afraid to ask, afraid of how the answers might change your life.  Questions like, “Why am I not happy with who I am”?

Be not afraid of life.  Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

  – William James 

I think that there is more to life, than just existing. I think of some of the stories that I love best. They are made up of characters that progress down a timeline, the hero’s journey. They are walking along a path and something happens. Things go wrong, they change to meet the challenges and come out the other end a different person than the one we met in the beginning of the story.

Time is like a river, you cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.  Enjoy every moment of life . . . ,

  – Unknown

They discover things about themselves during the journey. They discover the “fire in the belly”, passion. They learn to speak up and speak out. They learn that they have courage to fight for truth, justice, life and liberty. We root for them to beat the odds and win. Take the first “Rocky” movie.  He is employed in a sketchy business as a collector for a loan shark..  He boxes and  is made fun of, nothing but a loser and a bum.  He dreams of a better life and thinks that fighting in the ring, could be his ticket to be somebody. He gets a one in a million shot at it, wins against the heavyweight champion, falls in love.

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. 

  – Unknown

Boxing was his passion.  He learned to have self confidence in his talent.  He learned that we can all be somebody if we are willing to pay the price of hard work to make it happen.  If we are willing to not give up when it looks hopeless.  As the rest of the series of movies show, transformation is an ongoing process.  We will learn valuable and painful lessons when we don’t remain conscious of who we are and where we are going in life.

Most of us have been through some sort of personal hero’s journey in our life.

Someday everything will make perfect sense. So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears and keep reminding yourself that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. 

  – Unknown 

What did we discover about ourselves? Brendon Buchard tells a story about his own personal journey when he was in college. He had a bad breakup with his girlfriend.  She was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with.  So to try and get out of his depression he went on a trip with a college friend to South America.  They were driving in a rural mountainous area on a narrow road.  The road turned out to be a hairpin curve.  His friend lost control of the car, and they went tumbling off the mountain.  When he came to he was bleeding.  They had fallen down a ravine.  He thought that he was dying.  In despair he asked himself three questions – Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?

Thankfully they didn’t die.  They both got medical attention, and when he returned to the United States he was a different person.  He is an international bestseller with multiple  books; he is the founder of Experts Academy and High Performance Academy and is a sought after motivational speaker.  How was his life impacted from getting a broken heart?  From an auto accident that could have ended his life?  We never know how the painful experiences of our life, will be positively used for the rest of our lives.

Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen at once. 

  – Paulo Coelho

I think that we all want to live a life that results in great friends and family that love us.  That results in us being happy and passionate about what we do with our days and nights.  That results in knowing that we had a positive impact in the world. But sometimes we fall asleep to those dreams.  Sometimes we get so beaten down by our hero’s journey, that we give the dream up as being impossible.  What I have discovered in life is that we tend to do one of two things.  We act without thinking our decision all of the way through and so we end up paying the bill of “unintended  consequences”.  Or we think about it, and think about it, and do nothing about it.  Why?  Because we can’t face our fears about “what if?”.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they life. 

  – Lao Tzo

So each morning, what if the first question we ask ourselves is:

If my life is a story, what can I do today to make it a New York Times Bestseller?

What could I do today, that a movie producer would want to make my life into an inspirational movie?

What can I do today that uses up all the best parts of me (my talents), to inspire the world around me to be a better place?

What can I do today that makes people laugh, smile and be more joyful?

Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live. 

  – Norman Cousins

They have a saying, that the best stories are in the graveyard.  There are books that never got written; apologies and forgiveness that were said in their heart, but never left their lips.  Millions of secret recipes that never got passed on.  Don’t wait for the end to ask, “Did I live, love and matter”, but instead ask it each night.  Ask if you showed love, and gave love to others each night. Ask if you were able to do one small thing today that mattered to someone. If you can say yes, to these questions each night, you have a wonderful life. You inspire me to try harder, to be better, to live fully in the present. To lose myself in the sunset.

Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun. 

  – Randy Pausch

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Passion Changes Everything

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

  – Mark Twain

Finding your passion isn’t just about a dream job for your career, or about being wealthy.  It is about finding your authentic self.  It is about having a meaningful life, with both spirituality and community weaved together.  This authentic life is your life propose.  The surest way to find your life purpose is to follow where your passion leads you.  When you find it and align everything in your life with it, that is when your eyes light up, and your heart sings with joy.  You literally fill up your soul with light and shine brightly from within. This is your calling, given to you by the divine. It is the difference between really living and just existing.

Always go with your passions.  Never ask yourself if it is realistic or not. 

  – Deepak Chopra

When you are in alignment with your purpose, passion creates a calmness within the heart, so that no matter what the madness and chaos that is happening around us, we are at peace.  When you embrace your authentic self, you have no competition.  When you focus on your passion and fulfilling your purpose, the doors of opportunity swing wide open.  Creativity seems to pour out of your soul.  Ideas pop into your head.  You see so many possibilities that your like a kid in a candy store and you can’t decide which one to taste first.

Have the courage to follow the things that you are naturally drawn to. Pupose is the reason you journey, walking the path towards insight pulls you forward.  Passion is the fire that lights the way, and keeps you going on the dark and stormy nights.   I think of Jane Goodall, who has lived her whole life for monkeys.  I don’t understand her passion for them, but you can see it.  What I can understand,  is having that kind of passion.  I have it, for LemonadeMakers.  It is your job, your responsibility, your calling, to let the world know why you are here.  The world needs people who have come alive with passion.

Curiosity only does one thing, and that is to give.  And what it gives you are clues on the incredible scavenger hunt of your life.

  – Elizabeth Gilbert

We find happiness by being driven by this curiosity, because it causes us to ask questions that we would never think to ask.  It causes us to look in strange places for answers to the questions and make connections.  The connections might seem strange, yet they fit perfectly to what is happening in our lives. Each one a clue to the next place to look, the next discovery to make.  We get so excited about what we are discovering that our friends and relatives look at us as though we have gone over the deep end of the pool.

One of the oldest and most generous tricks that the universe plays on human beings is to bury strange jewels within us all. And then stand back to see if we can ever find them. 

–   Elizabeth Gilbert

It is looking in the strange places that we find clues to what we are capable of in our lives.  We see how everything in our past is connected.  We can see the dots being connected.  The main path we are walking, with all of the side roads winding through the woods.  We see how each  served a purpose, even though we did not connect the dots until years later.  But each jewel we discover is required to have the complete set of our string of pearls, which is our life.

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smiling, non-apologetically – to say “no” to other things.  And the way to do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. 

  – Stephen Covey

You have to peel off the masks of social conditioning that say you must meet the needs of others, before your own.  That what you need and desire, is as important.  In fact, will be fatal to your soul if you don’t pursue it. You must become what you are seeking.  It needs to seep deep into your pores, become part of your cells.  Live and breathe your dream.

Do you remember having a favorite article of clothing that you loved to wear?  It might have been when you were a child, and you wanted to wear it every day, and your mom would argue with you to choose something different.  But you only wanted to wear that particular outfit.  So you would pitch a fit until she gave in, or maybe you snuck it out of the house and changed and wore it anyway.  Wear your passion like that.  Be a rebel.

You’ll learn as you get older that rules are made to be broken.  Be bold enough to live life on your own terms, and never ever apologize for it.  Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well beaten path.  Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look.  Dance as though everyone is watching.  March to the beat of your own drummer.  And stubbornly refuse to fit it. 

  – Mandy Hale

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You Were Born With Wings…, Use Them And Fly

“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right” – Charles Spurgeon

This is such an interesting quote.  It is easy to tell what is right and wrong in most cases.  So many things are literally black and white morally or ethically.  It is the right, and the almost right – that tricky gray area that gets you into predicaments. 

The mix-up that you may have seen at the academy awards is a small example of this principle.  Warren Beatty saw the card, read it a couple of times, and in his gut knew that something wasn’t right.  But he let his head override his intuition.  And the result was a mix up that certainly wasn’t his fault, but which he contributed to because he felt that he couldn’t interrupt the show to confirm his suspicions. 

How many times in your life, have you second guessed something?  Knew that something wasn’t quite right, but allowed your mind to convince you to go ahead?

One of the hardest things to do, is to identify the true nature of your spirit . . ., to know when you are losing your center and how to find it again. When the whole world seems to be literally falling apart, it is so easy to let the chaos around you take you off center. 

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way” – Paulo Coelho

When you are trying to live a conscious life; to live to your full potential, you have to exercise extreme caution.  It is imperative to have those little alarm bells ringing, when you go off course. 

“So, it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last works of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains” – Lucretius

You could be moving along, with everything in life going perfectly.  You are in the flow or zone, and it almost feels like life is finally going right where you want it to go.  You got the new job or promotion . . ., family life is moving smoothly . . ., your home is finally decorated perfectly . . ., then a ball drops.  It could be a health issue, or your spouse could ask for a divorce out of the blue, something strikes out at you and turns you off center. 

It is the flash point of wisdom to see things from the viewpoint of the heart and soul . . ., to be able to see what is both true and lasting, from what is not.  With every season in your life, there is a shift and a change.  A moving forward in your journey along the path you have chosen.  To transforming in line with what has been shifting and changing around you.  

“The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path”– Jim Rohn

It takes discernment to see what direction your life path is taking you.  You will need to constantly re-determine what is still valid in your life.  It becomes time to do some interior house cleaning.  To release what no longer fits in your life – things you have outgrown and no longer serve any useful benefit. What items shift with you, versus what you have moved beyond.  What needs to be left behind?

“We have to be the women we want our daughters to be” – Brene Brown

Just remember, as you are taking stock of your life – you will never have to sacrifice your dignity, for your destiny.  Whenever someone or something makes you feel that way, it is time to leave that mess behind you too.  Walk away . . ., breathe and let it go . . ., and reconnect to your center. 

Discernment refreshes your soul.  Discernment helps you to understand the deeper reasons of why things happen.  The power of spiritual perception into deeper meanings, the ability to tell what is actually going on.  Don’t let fear choose your destiny.  There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.  Recognize inconsistencies, the half-truths, the misapplied truths, or false truths – what is genuine versus self-deception. 

Playing chess teaches you discernment.  You learn how to plan out your moves ahead of time.  See how each possible move affects your game.  You learn to sift and identify what appears to be a good move, but in reality, is a bad move.  To see when a move will put you into a possible trap later in the game. 

You have the innate power to shape and change your life by tearing off the mask of half-truths and self-deception.  To draw down into the depths of your heart, to who you are meant to be.  Your life has immeasurable potentiality for greatness.

“Discernment is a light of protection and direction in a world that grows increasingly dark” – Elder Bednar

Discernment is saying the right thing in the perfect moment and biting your tongue to not say the wrong thing at this most tempting moment.  To realize that sarcasm and scathing remarks do not serve your purpose, no matter how much you want to put someone in their place.  Instead of feeding the fire, you learn how to use it to your advantage. 

“Align yourself with people that you can learn from, people who want more out of life, people who are stretching and searching and seeking higher ground in life” – Les Brown

It doesn’t mean that you are not going to make mistakes.  We are all imperfect.  But you can look at your imperfections and know that true wisdom is the acknowledgement of them. You can live a life of integrity. 

Let people be inspired by that fact that even though you don’t have all of the answers, you are still willing to get up every morning and do the best job you can.  Instead of saying “I can’t because . . ., ” say, “there are endless possibilities in front of me and if this path doesn’t take me where I want to go, I know that another one will show up that will”. 

Show your social circle that living a life of integrity is how you find the right path to accomplish your dreams.   

It is an interesting fact of life, that when you raise up others, you rise too.  On this path what you discover is that when you have the courage to risk making mistakes, your life becomes a series of miracles. 

The problem is that when you are busy fighting the chaos, you forget to take a moment to notice the miracles.  You don’t see your own value shining in the eyes of those that know and love you.  You forget to be grateful for the many daily miracles in your life. 

You don’t see how you are modeling for your daughters and your sisters, that they can be successful without being in competition with other women. 

“Your life does not get better by chance; it gets better by change” – Jim Rohn

It goes along with the saying, that if it is important, you will find a way to do it, and if it isn’t you will find an excuse as to why you can’t do it.  “I know” is different from “I can” . . ., because “I can” has the energy of action contained within it.  You can intellectually know something, like you know how to make homemade bread, because you watched some cooking show telling you how.  To “I can” make homemade bread, because I have done it before. 

Put your journey on the “express train”, otherwise you will find yourself on the slow boat to nowhere. 

“May every word that is ever spoken by our mouths or typed by our fingers be words that lift up, and never words that tear down” – BraveGirlsClub

Talent Can Happen, Genius (Vocation) Must Happen

Doing what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible with talent is genius.

  – Henri Frederic Amiel

What is the difference between your talents and your vocation?  Your talent is the thing that you spend the 10,000 hours training for to become a master.  In the old days, you were apprenticed to a master craftman and you learned at the masters feet to grow your talent, your skills.  You have worked hard to become the best in your field of endeavor – you may have gone to school to learn to be a doctor, an accountant, a teacher.  Or you may have learned on the job how to be a plumber, an electrician etc…Your vocation is what you were made to do, it is a divine calling, a divine purpose. 

A Man knows when he has found his vocation when he stops thinking about how to live and begins to live.

  –  Thomas Merton

Your vocation in life comes from where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.

   –  Frederick Buechner 

I firmly believe that all of us have a vocation, a calling.  That we are an individual puzzle piece that completes Gods plan for what is happening in our lifetime.  If we walk away from that, then that piece of the puzzle is missing, it is incomplete.  We might still be able to see what the puzzle is supposed to look like, but the hole is still there.  It is sometimes really scary and daunting to realize what our talents and vocation truly are meant to be.  We look at that and we get scared of failing to complete the picture.  We get scared of getting called up on stage to sing in front of an audience.  We get scared that if we truly shine, people will judge us as imperfect.  They will throw judgment or hatred for where we demonstrate that we are not perfect.  Of being called a fraud.  Of being laughed at. 

If you’re not the hero of your talent story, you simply become a player in one you didn’t choose.”

  –  Jermainne Perry

Sometimes walking away has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with strength.  We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value, but because we finally realize our own. 

  – Robert Tew

What we don’t realize is that true failure happens when we walk away.  When we plug our ears and ignore the calling.  When we deny who we are.  When we walk past that door of opportunity and say, “Oh no, I am not talented enough, capable enough, you have the wrong person”.  When we do that we end up living an unsatisfying life.  We drag ourselves to work everyday at a job we hate, doing boring work.  We numb ourselves at home with liquor, drugs, or being a couch potato, watching movies and T.V. and doing nothing with our life.

Everyone has talent, what is rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.

  –   Erica Jong

Everyone has a purpose in life . . , a unique gift or special talent to give to others.  And when we blend this unique talent with service to others we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.

  –  Deepak Chopra

Part of the journey of the intersection of talent and vocation, is that we have to go back in our lives and pull the vocation out of the deep hole that we buried it in.  How many times have you watched one of the many shows on T.V. for talent contests – whether singing, dancing, or being a comedian.  You hear person after person say that at some point in their life, people discouraged them.  Told them they weren’t good enough.  Not enough talent.  Rejected for auditions. 

Every man has his vocation.  The talent is the call.  There is one  direction in which all space is open to him.

  –  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star because the editor said, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas”.  It wasn’t true, he was just in the wrong job, not his vocation.  Oprah same thing.  She was fired because she couldn’t sever her emotions from her stories.  That is exactly what made her so good at her T.V. Show.  It was part of her vocation to follow the emotions of the stories being told.  Elvis after performing at “The Grand Ole Opry was told that he should return to being a truck driver.  It wasn’t that Elvis couldn’t perform, sing, or play his guitar.  It was that Country Western music wasn’t his vocation.    So don’t let rejections around your vocation stop you.  It may just be that you  haven’t yet found how your talent and vocation intersect. 

Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

  –   St. Francis of Assisi

Vocations usually start out as something small.  Maybe as a child you would draw pictures in crayon.  Your mom thought you were a genius.  As you grew older, you started drawing fashion designs for your dolls.  Then when you got into Junior High or High School you started taking art classes.  Your talents were nurtured and they grew.  Then one day, you discovered sculpture.  It took over your life.  You felt incomplete when you were not working with metal, stone, or marble.  

Entrusted with the task of crafting, to create a work of art, a masterpiece, your vocation sheds light on the path, so that you will know which way to go.  The vocation is built into you.  You literally have no choice. It is the air you breathe. 

If you are what you should be, then you will set the world on fire.

 –  St. Catherine of Seina

David was Michelangelo’s masterpiece.  He saw him in the marble and released him, a symbol of beauty and strength.  Look at what the world would have missed had his talent and vocation not intersected.  If he had walked away from his vocation, saying it was too much pressure.   

We must realize our own talents and, having realized, accept them; and play on them like a symphony in which all other instruments are harmonized to make a better universe.

  –  Jeane Dixon

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Seasons Change, People Change; A Year Changes You A Lot

The distance between your dreams and reality is called action.  Desire to transform is what gets us started.  The secret to action is doing just one small thing each day to further the dream into reality.  The secret to success in found in having a daily routine in which you insert those small steps.  Determination is what helps us build momentum, to keep going as the path takes us up a steep hill.  Sometimes that means we let go of less important things. 

The secret to change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

  –  Socrates

Remember the wagon train days.  They loaded their wagons with all of the belongings they couldn’t bear to let go of.  Along the trail to Oregon, you found the landscape littered with such items that became too heavy of a load to continue to carry.  Sometimes it means we learn to do something differently.  We all have good intentions.  We set intentions to accomplish our dreams.  But many times hoping and setting those intentions isn’t enough.  You need to be committed to bringing those dreams into reality.  You need to be faithful with your actions to back up that commitment.  Dedication is how we continue.  

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. 

  –  Steve Prefontaine

What is currently happening in our life, is a reflection of our past choices.  Releasing and letting go of what no longer serves us, is like cleaning up the gutters on our roof.  If we want the water to drain correctly, then the gutters need to be cleaned of all of the debris that has been deposited into them.  If we don’t, they won’t work correctly, and the water collected from the rain will drip all over, instead of being channeled down the drain spout.  Everything in your life currently is a result of choices.  The people in our lives, our career, the home we live in, the car we drive.., they were once a choice of something that we wanted, needed, or desired to have. 

Seeing things from a higher perspective causes you to experience sudden bouts of stunning clarity – you understand that everything that’s ever happened in your life played out exactly as it was supposed to.

  –  Stephen J. Hopson

The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.

  –  Anthisthenes

For years I told myself that I would write when the kids were in school; then it was when the kids were out of the house; then it was when I would retire – then I would have the time to write.  I kept putting off my dreams, not because there wasn’t time.  That was the lie that I told myself.  It was because I was afraid that what I wrote wouldn’t be worth reading.  Who was I to think that I had some kind of talent?  Publishers would reject my stories.  No one would want to read what I put on paper.  I had to realize for myself that at some point, later would never happen. 

 Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.

  –  Maya Angelou

I had to realize for myself that the words in my head telling me I would be a failure, were not true.  That the voice in my heart telling me I could do this, was the one that I should listen to.  That my personal transformation started with a transformation of my inner voice.  I would no longer allow it, to make me feel small and unworthy.   I might have a learning curve, it might take time to go from a beginner to a master, but if I kept putting myself into action, I could do this. 

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

  –  Helen Keller

There are no limits.  There are only plateaus and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

  –  Bruce Lee

It is our fears that create limitations in our lives.  My fear of failure and being laughed at, created the limitation of not enough time.  Everything that happens for us, can be transformed into something of value.  Now my fear of success has me dragging my heels, because I know if I am as successful with writing as I think that I can be, that once again everything in my life will shift and change.  Some of those changes I may not like, and I can’t see how all of the moving parts of my life will continue to fit in that new space.  What will it require me to give up? 

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek.

  –  Joseph Campbell

There just comes a time when those thoughts of holding on tightly to everything in your life, are just too heavy.  When there is no other choice but to let go, and let God.  When the compass points in only one direction, the cave you are afraid to enter, because you know what you will find in there.  You will be laid bare with no more excuses; and you will have to own who you are. and do something about it.  That time is now.  If not now, then when?  When the time is all spent, and there is none left? 

Let today be the day you love yourself enough to no longer just dream of a better life; let it be the day you act upon it.

  –  Steve Maraboli

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

  –  Sir Edmund Hillary

Focus on the good that will be gained. Be around the light bringers, the magic makers, the world shifters, the game shakers.  They challenge you, break you open, uplift and expand you.  They don’t let you play small with your life.  These heartbeats are your people.  These people are your tribe.  This is the tribe of LemonadeMakers. 

There is more in us than we know.  If we can be made to believe it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.

  –  Kurt Hahn

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The Journey Is Mandatory; Traveling With Baggage Is Not

If you are unhappy with anything…, whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it.  Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.

  – Tina Turner

When you let go of whatever the negative thing is, you are not agreeing that the situation was acceptable.  You are walking away because whatever is going on is not worth destroying you.  You release the anger, the frustration of trying to get someone else to see your truth; or trying to fix something that isn’t your business to fix.  You wall away, and you do not walk back and reclaim it, because someone promises that this time things will be different.  You walk away, leaving that baggage on the ground, and you climb up onto that plane and you fly far, far away.  Never settle.

You can’t reach for anything new, if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.

  –   Louise Smith

Regrets are heavy baggage.  Whatever we walk away from or whatever we feel we have lost in our lives, usually have regrets attached to it.  What we said or didn’t say, what we should have done or did do.  Whatever didn’t turn out perfectly sits on the scale of our judgment against ourselves or others.  Forgive both yourself and others, wipe the scale clean of all debris.  Recycle those regrets, let go of the past, so that you can truly move on.

We are all responsible for the energy we have around us.  Drama Queens can’t exist without an audience.  Stop being one, and they will find someone else.  This creates space in your life for the right kind of people.  Those who see the real you, that you’ve buried deep within.  They hold up the mirror to you, so that you can see your potential.  The endless possibilities of who you really are.  They believe in you, because they love who you are, not who they want you to be.  These are once in a lifetime kinds of people.  Find them and keep them in your life.

We all fit together to create this experience we call life.  None of us can see the part we play or the way it all turns out.  Maybe the miracles that we see are just the tip of the iceberg.  And maybe we just don’t recognize the blessings that come as a result of terrible things.

  –  Making Faces, Amy Harmon. 

When my granddaughter and I saw the movie “Passengers”, I thought that quote really is the story line of the movie. 

A computer malfunction in the sleeping pod of the main male character happens and he gets woken up around 30 years into a flight of around 120 years.  During first year he goes crazy being alone.

important encounters are planned by the souls long before the bodies see each other.

  –  Paulo Coelho

Then one day he finds a sleeping pod of a beautiful woman and starts obsessing about waking her up.  Even though he knows he shouldn’t one day he does it.  At first she thinks that like him, it was a computer malfunction.  Then she discovers the truth, and her anger at what he has done to her life drives her crazy.  Then a third person, a ship employee is awakened due to continuing computer malfunctions.  They discover with his help that the ship is failing due to damage received from asteroids.  The ship employee dies from health complications created by his pod leaving them to try and save the ship of over 5,000 fellow passengers and the crew. 

In the process of doing this they almost die several times.  They discover that their being together is the miracle and blessing of their being able to save everyone else.  In saving them, they save themselves.  

I entered the after-loss broken and shattered.  It’s like I had this big bag of fragments I once called life and dumped them in the middle of this new world and said, “Here.  this is all I’ve got left.  What can I do with this?”

  –  Benjamin Allen

They come to peace with living out their lives together alone on the ship, knowing that they won’t reach their destination in their lifetime.  She learned to let go of the baggage of what he did to her.  He let go of the baggage of what he did.  They realized that without everything that happened to them, the entire ship would have been destroyed.  They let go of what they planned for their lives by taken this journey, and lived the journey they instead found with each other.  They realized that blessings can come as a result of terrible things.

We all have some sort of emotional baggage in our lives.  One bag is filled with things that people said to us, situations where our character was unfairly tarnished.  This bag is waiting for apologies that will most likely never happen.  Then there is this other bag of regrets where we lied to someone; promises we broke; things we said to others because our pain was so great that we needed to hurt someone else just as much as we were hurting.  The items contained in the bags could be listed down long pages.  They are not unique to us.  What we have to come to realize, is that we need to let them go.  All of them. 

I always liked the story of Noah’s Ark and the idea of starting anew by rescuing the things you like and leaving the rest behind.

  –  Zach Braff

In order to release yourself of this baggage you need to enter sacred space.  Go down into your heart and the soul of who you are.  Keep what builds you up.  Release everything negative.  When you find yourself, and release what is not yours to keep, you make space for your life to transform once again.  You start moving forward in your life once more.  Reach for what is in front of you.  When you know what you want next in life, you wake up excited about life.  If you aren’t excited about your life, this is a sign that it is time to give yourself healing.  Time to once again enter the chrysalis and transform your life. 

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