• Thursday, May 3, 2018 No tags Permalink

    Accept what is. Release what was. Create what must be.

    Releasing what was gives you new pages to write your life on. Accepting what is unleashes your power. Freeing yourself from your past in the same breath as you accept where you’re at in this moment. is the only way to create the truest version of you.

    She let go.

    She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

    She let go of the fear.

    She let go of the judgments.

    She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

    She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

    She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

    Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

    She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

    She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

    She didn’t search the scriptures.

    She just let go.

    She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

    She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

    She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

    She didn’t promise to let go.

    She didn’t journal about it.

    She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

    She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

    She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

    She just let go.

    She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

    She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

    She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

    She didn’t call the prayer line.

    She didn’t utter one word.

    She just let go.

    No one was around when it happened.

    There was no applause or congratulations.

    No one thanked her or praised her.

    No one noticed a thing.

    Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

    There was no effort.

    There was no struggle.

    It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

    It was what it was, and it is just that.

    In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

    A small smile came over her face.

    A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

  • Alchemy

    Saturday, February 24, 2018 No tags Permalink

    Note to self:

    Beloved…

    Cut yourself some slack today.

    Whatever you didn’t get to today, extend yourself some grace. Give yourself some credit for just showing up.

    That’s half of the battle and it’s admirable.

    I see you and I celebrate that you showed up.

    It’s a New Day.

    Like most people, I am harder on myself than on anyone else.  I don’t cut myself much slack. I have high demands and push myself until I push myself too far.  That’s probably not the best idea.  But I am learning.  🙂 It’s a new day.

  • Happiness and Purpose

    Saturday, January 20, 2018 No tags Permalink

    The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily.”

    ~ Plato

    Christopher Reeve was born into a wealthy family in New York. Reeve split his young adult life between Ivy League schools in the United States and sipping wine and riding horses around Europe. In 1978, Reeve hit his big break and scored the role of Superman in a big-budget Hollywood movie. He earned millions and became one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world.

    Reeve made a fortune. He spent that fortune on nice houses, nice cars, luxurious parties and his passion for riding horses.Then in 1995, Reeve fell off a horse and cracked two vertebrae in his spine. He would never walk or breathe on his own again.

    He became an advocate for the disabled and spent the rest of his life fundraising for spinal cord research. He was the first celebrity supporter of stem cell research. Reeve later claimed that his accident helped him “appreciate life more.” It wasn’t a joke. He noted that there were “able-bodied people more paralyzed than I am,” and once remarked, “I can laugh. I can love. I am a very lucky guy.”

    Happiness, like every other emotion, isn’t something you obtain, but rather something you inhabit. When you’re really angry, you are not self-conscious about your state of anger. You are not thinking to yourself, “Am I finally angry? Am I doing this right?” No, you’re just angry. You inhabit and live the anger. You are the anger. And then it’s gone.

    Just as a confident man doesn’t wonder if he’s confident, a happy man does not wonder if he’s happy. He simply is.

    What this implies is that happiness is not achieved, but rather it is the side effect of a particular set of ongoing life experiences. So often we get this wrong, especially since happiness is marketed as a goal in and of itself. Buy X and be happy. Learn Y and be happy. But you can’t buy happiness and you can’t achieve happiness. It just is. And it is once you get other parts of your life in order.

    Research shows that people who focus their energy on materialistic and superficial pleasures end up more anxious, more emotionally unstable, less healthy, and less happy in the long run. 

    One vital aspect of attaining a measure of happiness is to have a sense of a purpose in life.  For most of us, it is something that is constantly evolving as we move through life. This is my latest iteration:

    To live mindfully and passionately in the present moment, to discover my surroundings, discover myself, to follow my heart and to love freely, to become the greatest version of myself, to be a lifelong learner, to seek adventure and growth, and to spread kindness and peace along the way.

    I ask myself these questions to discover my purpose: What do you love? What are you good at? What are your greatest passions? What makes you truly feel alive? Make certain to follow your heart (do all those things that make you feel happy, that lift your spirits, that give you butterflies, that make you feel light) and evolve spiritually — become more enlightened.

  • What’s in Your Cup?

    Wednesday, January 10, 2018 No tags Permalink

    You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

    Why did you spill the coffee?

    “Well because someone bumped into me, of course!”

    Wrong answer.

    You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.

    Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

    *Whatever is inside the cup, is what will spill out.*

    Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

    So we have to ask ourselves… “what’s in my cup?”

    When life gets tough, what spills over?

    Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility?

    Or anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions?

    You choose!

    Today let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation; and kindness, gentleness and love for others.

  • i am running into a new year {Poetry}

    Tuesday, January 2, 2018 No tags Permalink

    i am running into a new year
    and the old years blow back
    like a wind
    that i catch in my hair
    like strong fingers like
    all my old promises and
    it will be hard to let go
    of what i said to myself
    about myself
    when i was sixteen and
    twenty-six and thirty-six
    even forty-six but
    i am running into a new year
    and i beg what i love and
    i leave to forgive me

    —Lucille Clifton

    published in Good Woman: Poems and A Memoir 1969-1980

    «—»

    We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential. When you start to feel like things should have been better this past year, remember the mountains and valleys that got you here. They are not accidents and those same moments weren’t in vain. You are not the same. You have grown and you are growing. You are breathing. You are living. You are wrapped in endless, boundless, grace. And things WILL get better. There is more to you than yesterday.

    One thing I love to do every year is Apartment Therapy’s January  Cure. The Cure is a month worth of assignments, a giant kickstart to the new year in which you do something good for your home, every day.  You get a small task every day, and by the end of the month, your home is a better place to live.  I love it!  You can sign up to get a daily reminder here.

  • Choose Love

    Friday, December 1, 2017 No tags Permalink

    No matter what commandments, scripture, sutras, philosophy, religion, or spiritual practices you follow, if you choose love, you win.  We all win.  It’s that simple.

  • Gratitude

    Wednesday, August 2, 2017 No tags Permalink

    Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

    Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

    The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot afternoon. Or it can be as startling as cold water being thrown in our face. How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we’re really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance

  • Simple Formula

    Thursday, July 27, 2017 No tags Permalink

    Simple Formula for Living

    Live beneath your means.
    Return everything you borrow.
    Stop blaming other people.
    Admit it when you make a mistake.
    Give clothes not worn to charity.
    Do something nice and try not to get caught.
    Listen more; talk less.
    Every day take a 30 minute walk.
    Strive for excellence, not perfection.
    Be on time. Don’t make excuses.
    Don’t argue.
    Get organized.
    Be kind to unkind people.
    Let someone cut ahead of you in line.
    Take time to be alone.
    Cultivate good manners.
    Be humble.
    Realize and accept that life isn’t fair.
    Know when to keep your mouth shut.
    Go an entire day without criticizing anyone.
    Learn from the past. Plan for the future.
    Live in the present.
    Don’t sweat the small stuff.
    It’s all small stuff.

  • Watch

    Friday, July 21, 2017 No tags Permalink

    I think one of the most valuable things I was ever taught was this: you are what you do, not what you’ll say you do. I’m quiet, so I have plenty of time to observe.  Yes, I do listen, but I compare the word with the deed, and if they frequently fail to match up, I lose trust.

    Your word is your bond.  Be certain your words match your actions.  Keep your word and fulfill your promises.  Your character is more important than your reputation.

    “Be Impeccable With Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.” -Don Miguel Ruiz

  • Wide Open

    Friday, June 9, 2017 No tags Permalink

    The simple answer to this is that we forget. We forget the door is wide open. We even forget there’s a door. But it’s there just the same. Eventual we stumble around enough to find it and then summon the courage to walk out.

  • Beautiful

    Friday, March 17, 2017 No tags Permalink

    Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
    -Khalil Gibran

    How do you explain this thing where love comes one day and takes your life back, and suddenly you can’t remember what you found so interesting about before, because you are here and I am here and have you ever seen a world so beautiful as this?

  • The Good

    Wednesday, January 25, 2017 No tags Permalink

    We need to remember that even in these difficult times, there is still good in the world. Seek it out. Share it. Be the good. While we can’t change the entire world, we can affect our own little corner, one act of kindness at a time.

    “Document the moments you feel most in love with yourself—what you’re wearing, who you’re around, what you’re doing. Recreate and repeat.” ~ Warsan Shire

  • Learning to Receive

    Monday, January 2, 2017 No tags Permalink

    I read two things today, two very poignant things.  It was exactly what I needed to read, exactly when I needed it. These pieces caused me to have some rather painful realizations, but that may be just what I need right now. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes. 😊

    I’m going to share one of the writings that was sent to me. I may share the other one on here as well, or I may just send it directly to the person that it applies to. I haven’t decided yet.

    This is could have been written by me. I never ask for help. I never admit that I need anything. When you are un-demanding and self-sufficient everyone forgets you even have needs and you’re easy to be pushed down the ladder of priorities. 

    Continue Reading…

  • Every Day

    Wednesday, December 7, 2016 No tags Permalink

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    An excellent read:

    Remind me to always lie with you, but never to you, and that hurt only hurts while it lasts. Remind me to hold hands but never hold back.

    Remind me of love, remind me of heart, and remind me that life will not tear me apart today, but if it tries and when it does, remind me that I’m good enough to be enough for you.

    Remind me that the only way to make it last is to put us first, and remind me that the past is a prelude and pain is a choice, that I’ll get knocked down but I can get up quick, and yes, I’ll get destroyed but I can rebuild again.

    When you see me flailing in rough seas, coughing up lungfuls of dark waves, and I’m thinking I’m sinking because my arms are numb and I can’t feel my legs, remind me with a hushed assurance and a knowing grin, “You’ll drown slower if your chin’s up, friend.”

    Remind me to have faith.

    Remind me why I love you.

    Remind me that the stargaze stares we share and the galaxies we wish to explore are inside, not above, that the paths we long to travel are internal, not foreign, and remind me when my dreams seem lost like faraway lands in disrepair, that you’ll hold my hand and always care.

    Remind me that it’s me you think about when you wish for happily ever after.

    Remind me that not all aches are bad, that black nights still shine light and even in rainstorms or when hail comes and the sky is filled with emptiness we run from, the sun is always out somewhere.

    Remind me that I am filled with light.

    Remind me why your eyes do such funny things to mine and how, sometimes, time stops in the shadow of your smile.

    Remind me that storm clouds are just water up high in the sky, that water is needed, that water gives life, and though it may arrive in drops of sweat or tears of strife, remind me that I can heal.

    Remind me to keep you close but to never go too far, and remind me that even if we feel like a lifetime stopped and stuck in its tracks like a frozen statue of our distant past, even if it feels like pointless paralysis or a beginner’s magic trick, even when we resemble an empty well all out of wishes, remind me it will be okay and already is.

    Remind me that you are strong, and remind me so am I.

    Remind me that you aren’t scared when, can’t run from, won’t hide, and don’t mind my pain when it’s all I know and feel and fear.

    Remind me that we’ll never know how it ends until it does, and even then, it doesn’t because what we have and who we are isn’t something we can just pack up and leave behind, like some kind of shooting star in some cold and fleeting night.

    Remind me how I love getting lost in you.

    Remind me that you are an adventure worth taking and never forgetting.

    Remind me it starts now, today, for always in all ways, and remind me to remind you of this, all of it, always in all ways.

    -Jeremy Goldberg

  • A Song

    Monday, December 5, 2016 No tags Permalink

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    💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

  • Principle, Dignity, Self-respect

    Monday, November 21, 2016 No tags Permalink

    image

    I read this and struck a chord with me.
    ‘You know, originating from a small town in ‘fill in the blank’—one of the areas that likely made a difference in this election—I didn’t realize until just this week how much all the learning, and the travel, and the business, and the experiences, and simply having the opportunity to live as a citizen of the world, as opposed to the citizen of just one country, has been about so much more than pleasure and fulfillment. It’s been about living an intelligent, curiosity-driven life. It’s been about growing. And expanding. And experiencing. It’s been about seeing. And feeling. And exploring. And you know what it’s really been about? Not the money and the success and all—that’s really just the superficial stuff—it’s about principle. And dignity. And self-respect. And options.’

    One of the best things I’ve done is travel and live in different parts of the country.  I grew up in a very homogeneous atmosphere.  Everyone, and I mean everyone was a WASP  (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant).  I went to one of the largest high schools in the state, yet in my graduating class there were only two black students and none of any other race/ethnic background.  I didn’t know it while I was growing up, but I lived in a sundown town.  Sundown towns, sometimes known as sunset towns or gray towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of segregation by enforcing restrictions excluding people of other races via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation, and violence.  What I also didn’t know when I was growing up is that there was a very active branch of the KKK in town as well.  Now, if someone asks me where I grew up, I give a vague answer such as northern Indiana.  I don’t want to be associated in any way with such a place, lest someone mistakenly think that I am a prejudiced bigot.

    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

    ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It