Life’s Journey Is A Gift, You Decide How It Unfolds

 

“In life, finding a voice is speaking and living the truth.  Each of you is an original.  Each of you has a distinctive voice.  When you find it, your story will be told.  You will be heard” – John Grisham

I found the truth of this when I started writing these blog posts.  Each post dug deeper into who I really was.  Who I truly wanted to be in the world.  It demanded that I become visible, even though I was terrified to be seen.

• If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it.
• If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.
• If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.

“We are either in the process of resisting God’s truth, or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth”  –  Dr. Charles F Stanley

Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life.  Tip toe if you must, but take the step. Each foot forward is a reflection of the respect you have for yourself.

The journey to living my life on purpose has sometimes seemed very slow.  I was moving forward, but at times it felt like I was walking through mud with each step being a hard process.  Other times it was like riding the rapids downstream and a furious pace.

“Your journey has molded you for the greater good.  It was exactly what it needed to be.  Don’t think you’ve lost time.  It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now, and now is right on time”–  Asha Tyson

“When life takes me on a new journey, I simply remember the smile my first ballet recital put on my face and I move forward” – Andrea Thompson

Life brings you so many experiences to enjoy, but you can’t do that if you are always putting lenses of fear in front of your eyes.  Then you are not letting the experience reveal itself.  Instead, you’re trying to make it fit into a preconceived box.

What I discovered on my journey to be visible again, is that this voice of fear had been in control my whole life.  It colored every expectation and looked for ways to twist the story of what had happened to keep me captive in my invisibility.

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.

As I worked on becoming visible, I met so many new friends, who were on their own journeys of discovery.  I became aware of how you attract those in your life that can help you in your journey.  Some lessons were painful, as the parting of the friendship reflected the places I still needed to work on.  Some of the friends were “soul friends” and as Rumi says, they were a pure joy in my life.

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy” –  Rumi

Be grateful for all the obstacles in your life.  They have strengthened you as you continue with your journey.  No one knows what changes, big or small, lie ahead.  One thing is certain, your journey’s not over.  Be prepared to be amazed at how incredibly, breathtakingly beautiful your life can become.

“Faith is not a light which scatters all our darkness, but a lamp which guides our steps in the night and suffices for the journey” –  Pope Francis

I know that I wasn’t born to follow others blindly.  I am still trying to figure out what I am meant to lead.  What I know for sure, is that I am capable of whatever is required to live my life purpose.  I am still on the hunt, for who I am becoming and I know that the only way out is through.  I see that I need to find more joy in my journey, instead of being single focused on manifesting it.

“You will get there when you are meant to get there and not one moment sooner…, so relax, breathe, and be patient” –  Mandy Hale

And the journey continues…, ever onward.

• A journey of finding your true self.
• Of finding your power to live a fully lived life, without self-imposed limitations and fears.
• Of finding that delicate balance of living for yourself because sometimes you need to walk alone in this amazing journey.
• Of changing yourself, and thereby changing the world into something better than you started with.
• Of enjoying all of life’s experiences, even those you judged, and wish hadn’t happened.

Recognizing the truth that life happens for us, not to us.  And the journey continues…, never ending.

Humor Can Get You Through Almost Anything

Have you ever had that really close friend?  The kind that you can say anything to?  You know, how when you are really, really mad at your boyfriend or spouse, and you just want to kill them – and you tell all to your best friend, and she says something like – where should we hide the body?  “Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missed.”  LOL.  I love my girlfriends.  They not only let me bleed out all of my frustration about what is currently wrong in my life, they jump right in with more wit and sarcasm.  By the end of the conversation all is right in my world again.  Humor can get you to the other side of almost any heartache.

We need people in our lives that will serve as sounding boards for us.  They allow us to vent out what is wrong, so that we don’t bury it under deep levels of sarcasm.  “Bestfriend, the one you can get mad at for only a short period because you have important stuff to tell them.”  Unknown.  When we don’t have a way to work through and release the hurtful things said or done to us, we tend to bury the hurt.  Then either that person or someone we don’t fully trust not to hurt us makes a comment, not intended to hurt.  But, because we have the buried wound, it does hurt.  “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip”  Winston Churchill  What can happen then with sarcasm is it becomes unbalanced, in that it becomes a reflective action, in which we hit back before they can hurt us.  Having that someone that we can talk to, and tell them everything that is on our minds, is what helps us to keep out thoughts, mind and hearts in balance. 

The last few months of my mom’s life, humor was necessary and required.  We had friends and relatives coming from all over the U.S, Canada and even Germany so say goodbye to my mom.  She had the most powerful hugs and a laugh that you could hear at the other end of the stadium.  She could walk into a room of strangers and walk out knowing everyone and their life history.  She once went on a trip by herself to Taiwan, Hong Kong and had a blast.  Even though she could only speak English, she managed to make life long friends with people who didn’t speak English.  As people came to visit, they would out of habit ask, “How are you?”  Then they would be mortified because they asked it of a woman who had only weeks to live and was on morphine for the pain of lung cancer.  So we got these t-shirts and would wear them almost every day, which said “Really I’m Fine” with a picture of a black and white cow laying on its back with all four legs straight up in the air. The humor of the shirt helped everyone be ok with what was happening. “I’m not a smartass…, I am a skill, trained professional in pointing out the obvious and I speak fluent sarcasm” Minion Quote  

“Our reaction to a situation literally has the power to change the situation itself”  Unknown.  Do you remember a scene in a movie, where the good guy is in deep trouble.  No way out.  And then they say something designed to tick off the bad guy, and you hold your breath and then the bad guy laughs and the whole scene shifts?  Do something that makes people present their best selves to everyone they meet.  Risk being seen, in all of your glory, not hiding a single refraction of your light.  Don’t just hope for the best.  Hope walks through the fire, faith leaps over the fire.    What you don’t know, but hope for, is what is killing your dreams from coming into reality.  The reason why faith leaps over the fire, is that it is the assured expectation of a reality not yet beheld.  It doesn’t just “HOPE”  it might happen or be possible.  “FAITH” knows that it is already done and waiting for you.

“It’s been a rough week, but on a positive note…, I didn’t need any bail money and didn’t have to hide any bodies”  Minion Quote.  Heartbreaks happen to all of us, but don’t let anyone break your soul.  Realize that a bad attitude is like a flat tire.  You have the choice to change it and go places, or sit there and have a pity party.  If you think about it, every strong person that you have read about or know personally had things go wrong in their life.  Usually a lot of things, that is why you think that they are a strong person.  Michelangelo in creating the statue David, removed more of the marble block as waste. than what remained when the statue was completed.  What we go through in life, removes all of the parts of us that are not needed.  When the divine is finished with us, what remains is a work of art.

And if nothing else gets you moving remember how many people you still have to prove wrong.  Lol 

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Imagination Embraces All That We Can Be

Do you want to change the world? Have you ever imagined what the world would be like without:

• Hatred?  
• Violence?
• Bullies?
• Prejudice?
• Intolerance?
• Fill in the blank ——-?

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”  – Nelson Mandela

One of my favorite non-profits is “The Unstoppable Foundation”.  Cynthia Kersey started this foundation out a burning desire to make a difference. Over the years that I have been supporting her work we have become friends. They have a sponsor a village model that they use across Africa, which brings not only education, which I believe is primary, but also clean drinking water and sanitation, medical, food and nutrition, and they help educate the parents for empowerment and income training, so they can raise up the entire village.  The plan is that after five years, the villages are self supporting and no longer need any aid.  They already have many children who have graduated and are attending college.  The five year plan is working.

Right now with the global pandemic most of the NGOs in Kenya have left or closed their doors.  The Unstoppable Foundation right now is asking for assistance to help those in need.  The situation is critical because there is no safety net in Kenya.  No stimulus, no CARES Act.  So The Unstoppable Foundation is asking for whatever donations you have in your heart to give.  Help these families in their desperate need.  A little goes a long way.  If you feel called to support a family across the world, click on this link.

What Malala has done so successfully, is that she makes peace heroic. Success comes about not because of what you accomplish for yourself with wisdom, but because of what you inspire others to do. We all love being inspired by a hero. We are all hungry for meaning in our lives. Malala is bringing that meaning to many young girls and women around the world through education with her foundation.

Education is the beginning of the answer.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel”  – Socrates

Education is the beginning of the journey. This is because book knowledge will only get you so far. It starts you down the path – but the path goes much further.  The kindling of the flame is in being curious, in the “wonder” of application of the knowledge.

When you learn something, it starts with the brain, taking it in. Then it is important to download that knowledge down into the heart so that it can be transmuted into wisdom. Wisdom comes from the correct use of that knowledge. Like the American Indian story, we all have two wolves inside of us.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

When you read, learn, and acquire knowledge you are acquiring treasure.  Walking further down this path requires wisdom or application of that knowledge.  It is “the one you feed” that changes you and thereby changes the world.

Cynthia Kersey and Malala both made the choice to feed the one that helps others.  That is their life purpose.  A purpose that comes from the heart.  This wisdom comes from the heart, not the head.

Martin Luther King Jr. stated that we needed to develop a world perspective, instead of a loyalty to some race, tribe or nation. I think that education of girls and young women has really taken this world perspective on, as it is moving from just a few countries around the world, to envelop the whole world. It will take them out of child marriages. It will provide them with both opportunity and choices.

It will not only take these individual women out of poverty, it will lift entire nations our of poverty. It is what will bring the world out of darkness and into the light. It is both hope and peace. Educating the minds, hearts and souls of everyone is what will change the world.

But what about us, as in each of us?  You and me?

“Education is the beginning of transformation.  Dedicate yourself to daily learning via books, audios, seminars and coaching”  – Robin Sharma

Your formal education may have ended years ago, whether it was completing high school, trade school, or college.  But what have you been doing lately to continue your education?  Are you a life long learner, as part of your transformational process?

You may or may not be a book reader.  If you are not a book reader, the use of audio books can make the commute to and from work a more pleasant experience.

I read books every single day in my life.  I love to learn something new.  I love to get that “click” in my brain when something reveals a new meaning to my understanding of life.  I love to find that small change that I can make in my own life from reading the stories of others.  Even my mystery and sci-fi books reveal new ideas that make my imagination take flight.

I love to share with others what I am learning about myself and the world.  I share because this is my passion – to discover new worlds within the one we all live in.  So I ask you to share – what is the book that you read that has most impacted your life?  The book that maybe you have read more than once?  The book that you have recommended to others?

Share your treasure with us.

Stop, Look Around, Believe In You

Insight is a new awareness about something.  I think it is easiest to see it play out in your life, when you look backwards in your life.  About 15 years ago, I started long range planning for what I would do in my retirement years.  I knew I wanted to have my own business, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  I started attending seminars about holistic healthcare businesses, because I had been trained in Herbs, Aromatherapy and Reiki.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a practitioner with it, but I thought that if I leaned how to run a practice, it would be easily transferable to any other type of business.  At one of these seminars, I had a huge transitional life experience.

“Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me”  – Unknown

The facilitator called on me, as I had raised my hand to share something with the rest of the group.  It was a large group of around 100 or so people.  He looked at me, like he wasn’t sure if he knew me, but thought he did.  He asked if I had attended any of their other events and I said yes, three of them.  That was when it happened.  He made a motion like he was removing a literal cloak off my shoulders and said, “You are one of those invisible people.  I am removing your cloak of invisibility.”  It felt like in every single cell, in each strand of DNA a shift  occurred in that moment.  I felt like a spot light was centered on me.  I was blinded by the spotlight.

I knew in that moment, that I could never be invisible again.  It was the beginning of a multitude of shifts and changes in my life, some of which are still continuing today.  Change can happen within a single moment, but if you are not open to awareness, it will pass you by.  If I had just thought, “that’s a stupid thing to say”, it would have passed me by.  Why?  Because I wasn’t open to it happening.  How many things happen around you daily, where you miss the opportunity to shift and change your life because you are closed off?

This is why, even though you say and do whatever you can to help another person, you can’t change them.  They could be drowning in a bathtub and all they have to do is stand up to save themselves.  But if they are not open and aware, anything you say or do hits an invisible shield and has no impact on them.  It breaks your heart to watch them self destruct, to hurt themselves over and over and not be able to reach them.  They have to walk their own path.

“Fight for the fairy tale, it does exist”  – Joy F

Just remember, that for them too, change can happen in a single moment.  For Snow White it was a kiss that dislodged the poison apple.  For Sleeping Beauty the kiss woke her up.  It may be that your loved one just hasn’t hit their bottom yet.  That when they hit their bottom, you hope that like the fairy tale they will wake up.  That they will see that they just have to stand up to save themselves.  What is sad but true, is that most of the time hitting rock bottom doesn’t affect people the way you think it will.  It can be as simple as life catching you by surprise.  Because your mind is not prepared, it’s not on guard.  In that brief moment something as small as a comment can slide into your consciousness unimpeded.  At that moment, your perception of reality changes.

“When you change your thoughts and perception, you change the way you live”  – Rita Zahara

When I look back I can see that it was literally as if my reality changed to a new place.  It felt like all of that was in preparation for LemonadeMakers, as it was just a few months later that my nephew was murdered, which was the catalyst for creating LemonadeMakers.  It was if the timer went off, and Sheryl’s destiny gears began moving everything into place.

“Sometimes in the wind of change, we find our true direction”  – Unknown

Insight is like a faceted crystal, or a kaleidoscope.  Every time you look through it you turn to a new facet, or with one click on the wand, the kaleidoscope changes what you see.  You see a new perspective.  A different angle.  There are so many levels of awareness about what you are trying to see or understand.  It is up to you to be curious.  To ask questions.  To look at the subject through different lenses to see another level of awareness.  So our picture at the top of the post for example, shows a light bulb with an idea that pops into her brain.  Then you see the gears, these are the levels of awareness that she is running her idea through.  The question mark, is her insights, that again start running through more levels of awareness.

“Perception is a wave.  You change as your perception of something changes because you define yourself as a reflection of whatever you happen to perceive”  – Frederick Lenz

There is a game that a friend made up.  You had these slips of paper, and during dinner you would choose one slip and read the question written on it to another person at the dinner table.  I remember once I had the question, tell me a story about your life that you don’t think I know.  I asked my dad and he told me this wonderful story about something that happened when he was a kid.  It totally changed how I thought he was raised.  A little curiosity opened a new awareness, an insight about a man I thought I knew.

“A man of awareness knows that life is constantly changing.  Life is change.  There is only one thing permanent, and that is change.  Except change, everything else changes”  – Osho

You have had something happen in your past that changed your life.  Do you remember when you were a kid in grade school and they had those pictures that were partly formed and you have to connect the dots to complete the picture?  Awareness many times happens, when we look backwards after a change has happened.  All of a sudden we see connecting dots to different small life changes that prepared us for the bigger life change.  We had no idea, insight, or awareness that these seemingly small changes, were in fact a part of the larger picture of where we were going in life.

“I can be changed by what happens to me.  But I REFUSE to be REDUCED by it”  – Maya Angelou

How is it possible to have life change you, yet not be reduced by those changes?

“The spirit of her invincible heart guided her through the shadows”  – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

My cousin had a fitness test at work that triggered a heart attack.   How do you go through “bad things”, and yet not be reduced by it?  Perception.  At first everyone was really upset that this happened.  They were talking about suing his employer.  But when it was discovered at the hospital that he had Graves disease everyone’s perception of what happened shifted.  Without treatment, Graves’ disease can cause some serious and potentially fatal health problems, including: An irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related problems.  So what happened at work could have saved his life.

Perception is the meaning that you give to the thing that happened.  Have you seen those pictures that have a hidden picture in it?  Where some people see a beautiful woman, and others see a hag with a pointed hat – depending on their perception.  When someone points it out to you, now you can see both women.  Your perception is changed.

So many possibilities of something positive coming from any experience – it will all depend on the meaning that you put to it.

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”  – George Bernard Shaw

So open up new doors.  Shut the doors behind you that no longer lead to anything positive.  Trust in the magic of new beginnings.  Don’t make it complicated.  Just begin.  Join us in our next monthly call of April 4th and learn about what you can do to have a more positive and fulfilling life.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be”  –  Lao Tzu

Leave No Path Untaken, May You Always Do What You Are Afraid To Do

It is easy to run away from your problems.  Fear is hard to face, hard to shrink, hard to work through.

Facing whatever is in front of you in life, is never easy.  But doing so is building a muscle.  The more you do it, the stronger you get.  It not only makes you stronger, but you gain confidence that you can use in every area of your life.

We’ll inevitably face challenges in life.  The best defense is believing that we are strong, we will survive, and we will be better for it – Lori Desehene

Each time a storm comes into your life, it is a chance to transform your life.  Whether you choose it or you fight it, some part of you will change.

The change can be beneficial giving you strength, determination, self-confidence.  It can bring you emotions of joy, happiness, and an expanded heart.

OR, you can fight the change, and become a defeated, bitter, a victim of life.  It can bring emotions of anger, grief, injustice, and hatred.

It all depends on the path you choose to walk down.

My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, with a short window of time before she would die from it.  The last 6 weeks I took care of her.  I have five sisters and one brother, and I am the oldest.  During those six weeks it was a reflection of what I am talking about here.  Some family members were there every day, others came only once or twice.  We had a service afterwards at her church.  Some family members came, and some didn’t.  That summer we had a family ceremony with all of her brothers and sisters and their families where we spread her ashes, and again some of my siblings came and some didn’t.

What I heard was how they couldn’t handle it – what I knew for myself is that even though it was the hardest thing I ever did, it was also the greatest blessing, and some of my siblings missed out on that blessing.

You can put a smile on your face each morning.  Then begin the stresses of getting the kids to school on time, breakfast made, going to work on time.  Then the car gets a flat tire or makes a horrible noise as you stop at a light.  The engine dies and it won’t restart.  Your boss reprimands you for something at work.  Your teenager swears at you and slams their bedroom door.  You get that phone call that our mom or dad is being admitted to the hospital with a heart attack.

The list could go on and on.  Each day, every week, every month, you have something that happens that stresses you out and makes you wish life was easier.

So, you paste that smile back on our face, and if asks you how you are doing, you say “everything is fine”.  You live a life on social media that only portrays the wonderful things in your life, because you’ve been taught that you don’t “air your dirty laundry”.

You think you have to pretend that you live a perfect life, because you think that everyone else does.

Let’s stop pretending things are ok when they are not, so we can pray for each other and know we’re not the only one who struggles – Renee Swope

• Sometimes when your life is not happy, you need to share that with a best friend.  You need to talk about it, because someone else is either going through the same thing or has gone through the same thing.   Stories tell you that you are not alone in any of your life experiences.
• Sometimes you just need a hug and a reminder, that while today is not the best day, there will be better days.  That what seems to be catastrophic and unending, is just a story you are making up about it to help relieve the stress and tension.
• Sometimes the bad things that are happening are waking you up to other choices in your life.
• Sometimes the bad things cause you to take out life’s road map and choose another way to your destination.
• Sometimes that change is the best thing that ever happened to you.

Have you ever had something happened that seemed like the worst thing, but when you look back on it, you realize that it redirected you to where you were actually trying to go?

Years ago, I took a new job, that ended up being short term.  When I was laid off, the mortgage market in Southern California had a small crash and I couldn’t find a job anywhere.  We moved in with my mom temporarily and ended up moving out of state to find a new job.  I had ruined my credit because of the long term unemployment.

It seemed like the worse decision I had ever made in taking that job that laid me off after only 4 months.  A bad decision that put my family at risk.

But in hindsight, the job I got laid off from, had given me a new skill, which turned out to be just what I needed to land the underwriting job that had been my goal for several years.  It looked like the wrong path, but was despite the rejection and pain, the perfect path.

You just need to believe in yourself.  We are all made in God’s image, which means that no obstacle, no mountain, no immense body of water – nothing can stop you, except you.

While you may sometimes feel that life is unfair, too painful, not worth it – the truth is that life is full of people just like you, trying to overcome each new obstacle.

Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it –  Jamie Lee Curtis

So leave no path untaken.  Every single one has something wonderful hidden within it.

So, stretch and keep choosing a new path to the life you are stretching for.

To Grow, We Must Transform

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

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

Grace Whispers To Our Soul, Lighting Our Way To Our Destiny

 In a recent notes from the universe, Mike Dooley wrote,

When life hurts, when it baffles and confuses, when it doesn’t seem to work, these are just signs from me – as if I were tapping on your shoulder or whispering in your ear, trying to point out that something really, really important, is being misunderstood.
Warm hugs,

  -The Universe

This is when we need grace to come into our life. When we need to shift our thinking. When we need reminding that life isn’t happening to you, it is happening for you. When we realize that we haven’t been listening to the whispers of the soul. When we finally notice that we are holding onto the present so hard, that we are preventing the future from being able to move in. 

There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path.  Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.

  –  Ralph Marston

Imagine that you are driving down a long flat desolate desert road. You see nothing for miles and miles but desert scrub brush and more road. It is late afternoon and the sun is nearing sunset. Every time you think you must be nearing the end of it, all you can see is more miles of unending road. Then from the backseat you hear for the hundredth time, “are we there yet?” Those sweet darling children that are hot, tired and hungry, whose constant refrain for the past two hours has been, “are we there yet?”

The impediment to action advances action.  What stands in the way, becomes the way. 

 – Marcus Aurelius

Obstacles in our path are actually a sign that we are making progress. Obstacles are not road blocks, they are stepping stones that confirm you are on the right path.  They are like mile markers on the long desert road. The numbers get higher and higher telling us how many miles we have actually traveled. They are proof of progress.

Eventually all things fall into place.  Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know everything happens for a reason.

  –  Albert Schweitzer

What we forget is that it is necessary for things to fall apart, in order that they can be shifted into coming back together in a new way. Think of the Rubik’s cube.  The goal was to get each of the colors solid on each of the six sides of the block.  They actually called them stress relievers.  Are we in resistance  when we are throwing the cube against the wall?   Or are we in acceptance that we can figure it out ? Are we there yet?  Do we have the vision to see obstacles as opportunities?

To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad.

  – Eckhart Tolle

The road being unending is just an illusion, just like the illusions of water on the hot desert road that disappear as we get close to them. How long the journey takes us is neither good or bad, it just the illusion that we attach to it that makes it seem that way.

We are like those children, with our journey of self improvement and personal development. We are constantly asking the divine, “are we there yet?” This is because we are constantly in resistance to our journey. We are resistant to transformation and change. This is where grace comes in, as we stumble towards the light. Grace is seen in the power of letting go and the power of moving on. 

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

  –  Socrates

Let the heat of the hot desert burn away all resistance. Let the hot winds of the desert strip away all of the excuses. Let the grace of a gentle healing rain restore your soul. Give up the need to know or understand.

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are, but does not leave us where it found us.” Grace changes everything.

  – Anne Lamott

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Listen To Your Soul

 

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

  –   davidji

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

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

  –   William Penn

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

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

  –   Maggie Kuhn

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

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

  – Unknown

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

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

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

  –  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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

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

  – Martin Luther King Jr.

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

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

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

  – Anagarika Govinda

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

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

  –  Eleanor Roosevelt

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

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

  –  Ram Dass

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

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You Are Stronger Than You Think

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

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

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

Unfold

your own

myth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  – Embellished Minds

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

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

  – J.K. Rowling

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

Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth.

  – Bryant Gill

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

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

  –  Paulo Coelho

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

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

  –  Joseph Campbell

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

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

  –  Walt Disney

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

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

  –  Dan Brown, Angels and Demons

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

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

  –  Jim Morrison

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

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

  –  William Blake

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

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

  J.K. Rowling

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

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

  –   Rumi

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Grace, Accepting, Receiving, And Giving Bring True Freedom

Grace comes into your soul when:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Strong Woman is fierce, fearless and independent. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grace connects to courage at the breaking point

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great Dreamers Change The World

Dreamers make wishes when they blow out the birthday candles with complete confidence they will come true. They blow on the dandelions seeds and spread their wishes all over the world. They wish on the first star they see each night. The secret that they know is — we are all just dreamers in an endless universe.  They know that each dandelion seed that lands, plants a new dream for our future.  They are the new realities waiting to be born, to step out on life’s stage and say, “Hey, look at me!”.  Pay attention, this is important.

Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than familiar ground.

  – Judith Thurman

These dreamers, dream with eyes wide open, and say, “Why not?”  It is about getting creative and caring more about doing it better in some way than doing it perfectly.  Perfection creates limitations and silences the creativity.  It squishes the dream into a tight container and makes it smaller.  More narrow.  More limited in possibilities. 

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.

  – Sarah Ban Breathnach

Doers take the dreamers up a notch. They believe in the magic, but they also know that it takes a little bit of elbow grease to make the machines run. They know that to take the dream into reality we must put it in writing. We must plant the seeds, water and fertilize them, weed when needed, and watch in amazement as the miracle of growth happens. Doers know that the energy goes when the attention flows, so rather than giving their energy to their fears, they focus their energy on their dreams. They know that action needs to follow the dream.

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch, but on it’s own wings.  Always believe in yourself.

  – unknown

The reason I love this quote is that the basic foundation of your life, needs to be deep within in.  Not in a spouse, a parent, a friend, a job.  Not in being identified in someone or something else.  This frees you to be the dreamer who is also a doer and thinker.  Because you know it will not be any one thing that brings that dream into reality.  It will be a combination of many small things, some things you will even think didn’t work – but the magic is that all of it is necessary for the birth and education of a dream.

The authentic self is the soul made visible.

  – Sarah Ban Breathnach

When we are totally immersed within the dream, we allow our true self to peak through the barriers.  It is where the courage to be curious comes from, deep within the soul.  The soul or your authentic self knows and believes in your true potential.  Thinkers know that they can put the dream on steroids because they realize the power of thought and attitude. It is like strapping a rocket onto the doers goals, when the doer has the right thinking to get the dream off the doers paper and into reality. The trick is the right amount of thinking in combination with action.

If you want to be successful in this world, you have to follow your passion, not a paycheck.

  – Jen Wleter

Creative thinking outside the box produces inspiring ideas that can change the world.  Creative thinking doesn’t see mistakes.  It sees disconnections.  It knows that if you just keep tinkering with what you are doing, that the connections will come together.  They aren’t afraid of taking risks, of making changes.  To them change is synonymous with opportunity.

Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.

  – Plato

When we go deep inside ourselves and draw up the dream, enhance it by stripping away all of the negativity about the dream that we have, we become free thinkers who can see without prejudice what the destiny of the dream is. We talk with our souls and see possibilities for the dream everywhere we look. This helps the doer to pick the best door to open to the best opportunities.  We walk away from the fear of never getting what our dreams are reflecting back to us.

That brings us to possibilities.

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.

  –Thomas Edison

What we come to realize is that every dream takes us up another level.  And each level has new challenges and opportunities for growth.  Each level demands we live outside the comfort zone of the previous level.  Each level is a new passion, which burns away a new fear and exposes a new dream.  The journey never ends.  The possibilities just keep multiplying.  If you are going to leave the world better than you found it, you need to climb each new staircase, ascending new summits.  Be so passionate that you ignite the fire in everyone you meet, to rise up and bring the dream into reality.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

  –Thomas Edison

I think that this quote is certainly made by someone who knows it to be absolutely true. If he had not continued his work, then his numerous inventions, most famous being the light bulb would not have been invented. He founded General Electric, had a motion picture and record company in addition to others. All because failure to him was just more information to think about. A part of the process, and not something to be avoided. 

In order to save myself I must destroy the me I was told to be.

  – The Dreamer

Inside each of us is the space where we know. We know, that we know, that we know, that anything that comes into our heart and soul for us to do, is for us to do. And most important, that it is completely possible for us to do whatever is in our heart.  I love the quote by Audrey Hepburn “I M Possible” instead of impossible.

So greet your dream with open arms, know that the doer and the thinker will show you the endless possibilities for you to bring that dream into reality – then go do it.

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