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• Global estimates published by WHO indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Women’s motives for speaking out about sexual assault are not to destroy men’s lives, not to be political pawns, or to be a nuisance. We are simply the wives, sisters, mothers and daughters who are survivors of sexual abuse, driven mad by the collective insanity of what is considered normal and acceptable to in our culture.

There is no statute of limitations for when we must speak up. Trauma creates an emotional wound. Sexual trauma is horrific. We don’t want to talk about what someone did to us. We bury it. We want it to go away. We wish it didn’t happen to us, so we deny it, even to ourselves. We pretend we weren’t violated. We pretend we didn’t “participate” in such a filthy act. We deny the act and in doing so we deny the part of ourselves that it happened to, destroying our sense of self and security.

We move on, trying to live normal lives, but the shame of what was done to us has left its mark forever. It changes our personality. Trust is compromised, with ourselves and with others. We feel unworthy of love and question if it was all somehow our fault. We become masters of disguise but eventually there comes a day when the mounting pressure within is just too much to take. So we either tell our story or take our secret to the grave, sometimes taking matters into our own hands.

Wounds want to heal. Wounds need to heal. It is disgraceful to insinuate a woman coming forward to speak her truth is doing so for reasons other than integrity and to begin the long process of healing. Or in this case, to vocalize her concerns of a man who is being considered to sit “honorably” for the rest of his life on the Supreme Court.

If I’m being honest, it is infuriating to be in the category of women who have been sexually abused, assaulted, molested, or raped and hear people sit back and ask the question, “If it’s true, why didn’t she bring it up when it happened?” I’ll tell you why. Shame, fear of getting in trouble and a crippling fear of not being believed. And in the case of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, I imagine all of her fears are being realized because one cannot say, “I believe you were assaulted but I don’t believe it’s the person you named”. We know who our abusers are. This is not a confusing detail we forget after many years of aching silence. It is burned into us.

We are standing at the crossroads of Humanity. How will we move forward? Will we continue to govern with systematic fear and force, objectifying women as play things? Or do we write a new script? A kinder and more compassionate script. An inclusive script. One that truly represents “We the People” and values all human life equally.

Every day, We the People, have the opportunity to choose what we allow, what we contribute to this world and how we demonstrate our values. I’m tired of being quiet, being scared and giving my power to men. This insular behavior where men get to be right and women must petition for equality needs to stop now. We all have voices that deserve to be heard. Now is a time for both women and men to be brave and stand up for what is right and what is acceptable for the greatest good of all.

I will be 40 years old in two months. I have carried my secret almost my entire lifetime. Today, I honor the beautiful child within who did not ask for this. Today, I honor all women and I stand with all women who have survived the worst, while their abusers were defended. Today, I honor myself, acknowledging my whole story, my whole self, and today I set myself free.

“When we give in the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside each of us.” Eve Ensler

 

 

Although I know bedtime routines are important, I rarely give them the time they deserve.  Last night I was putting my 11 year old son, Beau, to bed.  We were talking in his room and I asked my 8 year old daughter, Amelie, to go brush her teeth.  As she was leaving I asked her to turn the light off.  She pretended not to hear me and walked away.

Beau and I continued to talk, then Amelie returned to Beau’s room after brushing her teeth.  “Amelie, it’s getting late.  Go hop in bed and I’ll be right there,” I said.  “This is my special time with Beau.”  Irritated, she turned to leave.  “Will you please turn off the light?” I asked a second time.  Without a word she walked right past the light refusing to acknowledge me or turn off the light.  “You are being so rude, Amelie,” I called after her.  Still no response.

After putting Beau to bed I walked into Amelie’s room.  She was sitting up in bed, scowling at me as I entered the room.  I smiled and laughed out loud, hoping it was just an icy act that I could break through with laughter.

“What’s wrong?” I asked jovially.

“You said that I’m rude and that was a really mean thing to say,” she replied.

“Well you were being rude.  I asked you two different times to please turn the light off in Beau’s room and you ignored me each time.”  I felt my temper rising and resisted the urge to meet her at her worst.  I took a deep breath and asked with restored calm, “Amelie, do you know how rude it is to blatantly ignore someone who is talking to you?”  She shrugged rigidly; disinterested, refusing me entry into her heart.  (I know she does this because I’ve modeled it many times for her to learn.)

“To ignore the existence of another human being is one of the cruelest things you can do to someone.  I don’t think you understand how powerful you are.  Do you know how powerful you are?” I asked with excitement.  She looked up at me curiously.  “When you are kind and caring and loving you actually create more kindness and care and love in the world.  But when you ignore someone it can create pain and sadness and hurt in the world because that is what it feels like inside the person who is being ignored.”

“Have you ever been ignored?” I asked.

“I don’t know.  I guess,” she begrudgingly responded, barely opening her mouth to speak.

“Well try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.  Do I ever ignore you?  How would you feel if I did it to you?  Or imagine Beau was the one ignoring you.”

“He does ignore me,” she murmured.

“Well how does it feel?”

“Not very good,” she answered in a softened voice.

In that moment, tears began streaming down Amelie’s face.  “Honey, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.  That was not my intention,” I said.

“I just feel so bad.  I didn’t realize it, but I was being really rude to you, Mom,” she sobbed.

“Baby, I love you and I forgive you.  I’m not mad.  Do you know I love you so much and there is nothing you could ever do that would ever change that?”  She shook her head “no” followed by a flood of tears.  “I love you more and more every day.  Even when we argue and you are mad at me or when I get upset with you, I still love you.”  She began crying even harder.  “Tell me what’s wrong,” I asked, trying to pry her open.

“I just keep thinking of what I did like a flip book over and over and it makes me so sad,” she wailed.

I pulled her in close and tried to get her to relax and settle into her body.  I knew better than to leave her alone with her mind at a time like this.  Despite being offered comfort and reassurance in my arms, it was clear her mind wasn’t letting me in.

The mind is a tricky thing.  Used correctly it can be a helpful ally, or as I have found in my own life, an abusive tormentor.  In childhood (and well into adulthood) I berated myself for every little thing I convicted myself of doing wrong.  I never gave myself the benefit of the doubt, I didn’t believe in myself and I certainly didn’t feel love for myself.  It was my secret and I kept it well.

“Amelie, don’t you want to give yourself a break from all of this pain?” I asked with loving concern.

“What do you mean?” she asked, looking up at me with flushed red cheeks.

“Take a deep breath.  I want you to just watch yourself for a minute, ok?  I want you to observe what is happening.  You can watch everything within and around you as the beautiful spirit that you are.  You are the loving presence within Amelie’s body.  Do you see Amelie crying right now?  Do you see how much she is suffering?

It is not easy being human but you can comfort her and love her SO MUCH and tell her that everything is going to be ok.  Be compassionate with her and tell her, ‘We are in this together.  We are going to do great things in this world and I’m always here for you.’  You can be your own best friend and know that you are a complete person because you are always loved by the light within.  You are the light within.  That’s who you really are.”

Just then our dog, Opal, began scratching and crying at the door.  Drying her tears Amelie said, “I think I need to snuggle with Opal.”  She opened the door and her black and white springer spaniel ran in to greet her with unconditional love.

“Do you remember the Zen Pig book?” I asked.  “We all make mistakes so forgive yourself fast…”

“Don’t expect to be perfect or happiness won’t last!” Amelie said in a sing song voice along with me.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

As I kissed my little girl and closed her bedroom door behind me I felt overwhelmed with emotion myself.  I thought of all the times I hurried bedtime because I was tired or it was getting late.  Or the times I told my kids to just “get over it” or “we’ll talk about it later” when they were hurting inside, but later never came.  There is no later.  There is only this moment and what I make time for now.

I continued to think of the moments that turned into years when I didn’t “show up” even though I chose to be a parent.  I thought of all the times my kids have asked, “Mom, will you teach me how to….” and it dawned on me that I am always teaching even when I don’t show up.  Whether I’m conscious of it or not, I am always modeling behavior for my children.

I am not a perfect parent but last night I felt victorious.  In a strange way I felt like I broke a cycle of abuse.  My daughter was beating herself up for one small, harmless action and I responded to her pain with love.  I befriended the one who attempted to hurt me to better understand her suffering.  I listened to her.  I encouraged her to get out of her head and into her heart.  I told her I forgave her and asked her to forgive herself.  Then we made a promise to be always be kind and honor ourselves because it is never, ever ok to be mean to yourself.

Please, speak kind words to your children and heal your hurts as to not pass them on.  Apologize when necessary and teach them forgiveness.  Show them how to love themselves so that loving others will come naturally.  This is an ongoing conversation in our home.  Care to join the converstation.

 

 

Hello My Friends!

In the spirit of having more fun and not taking life so seriously, I am challenging myself to do just that for one week.  I call this “The 7 Day Happiness Challenge!”  This is a fun challenge aimed at choosing happiness no matter what the present moment brings.

Here are the guidelines:

• Empty the mind.  Thoughts may come and thoughts may go but I will not react and I will not judge.
• Take nothing seriously.
• When I am angry, I MUST laugh.
• When I am sad, I MUST find humor.
• When I am grumpy, take a nap.
• If I have nothing loving to say, I will smile and choose silence.
• Negativity is not an option and must be remedied immediately.  (This includes apologizing when I don’t want to and forgiving those who never said they were sorry.)

This week life will be fun!  I will CHOOSE to feel good in every situation.  I will find joy in sadness, pleasure in pain, and peace in conflict.

My challenge begins tomorrow.  If anyone would like to join me in this lighthearted challenge, I would love to hear from you!  Leave me a comment, check in throughout the week, and feel free to share with your friends and loved ones for added support.  I recommend keeping a record of your transformative (and hopefully humorous) moments to look back on.

My mantras for the week:                                                                                   Life is meant to be fun!                                                                                     I am here to love and be loved!

 

 

https://m.facebook.com/HaveArtWillTravel/videos/1089835891053219/

Hello My Friends!

This video features my beautiful cousin, Paige Ferro.  It is a compelling seven minute perspective on labels.  I’m not going to lie, when I first watched her performance, I was shocked.  Shocked and envious all at the same time.  It was so bold and brave!  My head swirled with thoughts of “I could never do that… I could never be that open… That would be absolutely terrifying!”.

After watching the video I went about my day but I couldn’t shake the powerful, alluring feeling that remained.  It was fascinating to me that she could speak so fearlessly.  I loved seeing the real Paige and it was clear she had found her true self because there was no label that could contain her.  I felt her beauty.  The thought of exposing my soul in that way sent waves of panic though me.  But why?  Aren’t we all incredibly, magnificently different and complex?  Isn’t that what makes each one of us shine so brightly?  I realized that the alluring feeling stirring inside of me was… Me, begging to be let out.

When I was a child I was very concerned with what other people thought of me.  I questioned, “Am I doing everything “right” and being “good” and fitting in?”  I grew up being perceived or labeled as “shy”.  But I don’t even know if I was shy – because it was fear that was at the root of my shyness.  A crippling fear of doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing and being judged by others.  So I hid myself away, only coming out when I was in the safe presence of my loved ones.

These fearful attitudes and feelings became the theme of my life and continued around God and religion.  Am I the “right” religion and if I became friends with new people would I come off as too “churchy” and be judged if I said anything about God?  I remember being very young and having conversations with God.  As soon as I could write I wrote songs and filled diaries with messages of God and love.  I grew up in the Catholic church but where I felt closest to God was in nature and in the quiet moments.

As a teenager I began to realize I am inherently attracted to things that are different from me.  I am fascinated by other cultures and I began exploring different spiritual texts and learning more about other religious beliefs.  I didn’t notice it at the time, but whenever I would talk to someone about a belief outside of our accepted religion/Bible/God it was  often labeled as false and I was told OUR God is the one and only true God.  I remember wondering how that would make the “other” people feel to hear someone say their God wasn’t real.

Throughout my youth I let my happiness and my beliefs hinge on the approval and opinions of others.  Today, I just want to be me.  Unabashedly me!  Me, without the worry of pleasing or disappointing, without second guessing or explaining myself away.  I know my purpose is to write because these are not my words.  They are a gift that comes through me from an invisible place.  I’ve resisted this gift because it is not “traditional” and speaks a different spiritual truth than how I was raised.  It doesn’t have roots in a church and I worry what “they” will think and how I will be labeled.  My gift is wrapped in a blanket of fear and the only way to fully embrace it is to peel away the layers.

First I had to start with me.  I had to learn how to love and value myself.  I had to ask myself what was true and what I made up.  I am now learning how to show myself and others unconditional love and kindness.  I am learning how to forgive myself when I make mistakes and now I laugh at the things that threaten my happiness.  I am learning how to live from my heart.

There is an infinite world of possibilities within each and every one of us. I  have found this mystical world within myself in moments of meditation that transcend any traditional knowledge of God or religion, and because of my personal experience, I know it to be real.  This language of Spirit has no words.  It is feeling.  It is the deepest sense of love I have ever known.  It is a sense of Oneness and knowing I am connected to everyone and everything seen and unseen… It is God as I know It.

I realize I’m doing what everyone says not to do by discussing religion, but this is me being brave.  This is me “coming out” and inviting in all of my worst fears.  The biggest one being, will I be judged for being me?  Maybe.  But I like the feeling of being in on the secret.  The secret of being me.  I am the only one who truly knows what I know, how I feel, why I came to earth and what I am here to accomplish.  That is between me and my higher self.

We all have fears.  We all have been labeled, either by the way we perceive ourselves or the way others see us.  But when you look at your fears, your labels or your beliefs about yourself, ask this one question:  Is it true?  I have found most of my fears are not true and it’s the lies we tell ourselves that keep us locked up in self-imposed prisons.  And the truth is the key.  Ah, the truth will set you free!  Only you know your truth.  Be brave and speak it.

Thank you, Paige, for being you!  Thank you for inspiring me and encouraging me to be brave too.

 

 

 

Hello My Friends!

I am not one to make New Year’s Resolutions because I seem to be better at following directions, so instead I wrote a New Year Manifesto or instruction manual for myself:

Make happiness your #1 priority.
See beauty in everything.
Don’t take life so seriously.
Know that the highest ideals of yourself await quietly within you.
Laugh at the things that bother you. (If you are not above it, it is above you.)
Love without offense, bias, judgement or question.
Just love and BE love.

Focus in on what you want today.
Now switch gears to fantasy mode.
Live life through the imagination.
Create daily personas.
Accomplish new things as this new persona.
Love this being so completely you would do anything for her!
She is amazing.
Animate her to the fullest!
She will do anything you ask her to do.
She may be scared at first but talk to her;
let her know you are there for her and you never leave her.
As she does, you do.
Together you will accomplish incredible things!
Whisper encouraging things to her.
She will hear you.
Take her places, she will love it!
Exercise her body; it will make her strong and clear her mind.
Give her strength, purpose, confidence and choices –
make them all great options to choose.
Give her a world of excitement without the ability to see ugliness and fear.
Give her a heart of pure love and fill it with kindness, compassion and service.
Deepen her connection with others and bless all of her relationships.
Lift her up when she is down
and show her how brightly she shines in the darkness.
Tell her to do what she loves.
Not for the purpose of getting ahead or “figuring it out”
but purely so she experiences joy and love every day of her life.

Hear this!
Your life is what you make of it!
Imagine your dream relationship.
Imagine loving people through diversity.
Imagine yourself above negative emotion.
Not emotionless, as if you don’t care, in a negative way
but unaffected, in a positive way.
DO THIS EVERYDAY!
Imagine yourself so in love with everyone.
See yourself this way.
See the world this way.
Live in this fantasy world within the so-called “real world”.
Go within even outside of meditation.
This is being present, staying present, holding fast to what you want.
Let that be what is playing over the “real” story.
Live “real life” but always be running the dream.
Think it.
Feel it.
When you question, when you don’t feel connected,
STOP.  Stop asking.
Surrender.
Stop questioning.
Just revere.
Just be love.
And if you cannot connect and feel it – don’t fret.
It will come.
Maybe not today, but it will return.
Stop pushing.
Stop pressing.
Stop asking.  Just be.
Be peace.
Stop asking for peace.  Just be peace.
Breathe.
BE the feeling of peace.
It is calm.
It is love.
It is contentment.
The questions block the peace.  Stop asking.
Start allowing, accepting, start connecting.
If nothing is coming, you are not feeling; start doing.
Or simply accept knowing God is in everything.
You can see God and feel God in everything.
Stop asking.  Stop searching.  Just see.
God is everywhere.
There is love in everything.
Maintain a state of love.
It feels like wanting the best for everybody,
being completely accommodating
and your beliefs or feelings can be set aside to truly understand
and think of only them.
Be that.
Live in such a manner others are humbled to know you and blessed in your presence.

A change of perspective begins…

With the age-old question “Who am I?”.

In the quiet contemplative moments my mind wanders,

Seeking silence for answers.

It begins to feel a bit like a crowded elevator of the mind when I think of all of my selves: Who I was, who I became and who is asking this question.

How could we all be contained in one body?

I like the freedom and curiosity of my childhood self.  She and I are the most alike.

Through the years my mind has been molded.  A lifetime of thoughts harden into casts of belief; setting me in my rigid ways.

My spirit atrophies, I lose my bliss and become ignorant to what I have lost.

This cast I wear holds me in place until I can no longer take the confines of this state.

Think.

No, FEEL.

Remember.

You know there is more than this.

You are only a prisoner in your mind; armed and guarded by your own fear.

Do not participate and you will be free.

Something inside me is stirring.

Someone else is awakening.  How could I have slept for so long?

The Real Me is not this girl I see.  I am the someone peering out from behind my eyes.

I am more than the human existence I see in the mirror.

She has lost her way.

She is not her body.  She is not her mind.  She is none of the labels used to classify her.

Her nature is spiritual.  THAT is who she is.  She is eternal.  She is a perfect, beautiful, infinite soul.  She is connected to the Source of the Universe and has no beginning and no end.

I am her and I am here to help her remember.

I see the flaws of the flesh she’s been blind to and accepting of.  Anger, blame, judgement.  She is none of that.

And suddenly she remembers…

This is not me.

I want out.

I would be scared if I didn’t have this very familiar feeling that I am on the right path.  I’ve been here before.  I have chills.  Someone else is with me.  I feel It.

I feel the itch, the need to stretch and my cast begins to crack.

Light pours in, illuminating dust and I wonder, “Where have I been?”.

My body is amnesia and I am born again.

The more I explore, the more I emerge, the more I know who I am.

I am the soul of this body!  I am pure positive energy, accessible at all times.

I seek Truth but only in beauty and beauty is all I choose to see.

The Soul, the Real Me, has ability beyond description but not beyond imagination.

Doors appear that give access to unseen things and unseen places.

I am at the threshold.

I have been dreaming of this place.

I am awake.

Hello My Friends!

It’s been a while, but I am back!  The last few months have been a period of reflection.  I have been mourning the death of old thoughts that no longer serve me and experienced a frightening rebirth that has left me naked and shaken, standing in unfamiliar territory.  Since I haven’t been able to focus on one idea and see it to the end, I thought I’d ask you to come on a walk with me down memory lane.

Some of the most beautiful moments of my life have been experienced in meditation, and when I go to that “place” the words just flow.  I am writing, but another Presence within me is speaking.  I may begin by writing from my perspective but then I find my self in the Presence of something much greater that I alone have ever felt.  I am choosing to share this because it is not only for me.  I experienced it, but as God says in the Bible (Exodus 3:14), the I Am Presence is a universal truth that connects everything created on this Earth.  Please know this is just as much meant for you as it was (and is) for me.

December 16, 2015

I am in process.

I am in transition.

Abolish all thoughts but love.

Don’t be so hard on yourself.

This is a time of change; a new season.  With the falling leaves comes new growth in the spring.  You are not in the winter of your youth, you are in the winter of your thoughts.

Know that you are loved unconditionally.  You are meant for great things. Appreciate everything for what it is.

Let the dog barking in the distance test your tolerance of outside forces. You need not change.  Your happiness lies within.  All is within, nothing is without.  In time, you accept the dog for what he is – change your vibration and he changes his.  But does he really change or do you?  He may still bark but you hear no sound because you are living with him – not separate from him.  He is part of your world just like the rest.

Keep calm in your heart.

Notice the things around you.

Geese…  airplane…  snow falling outside the window…  a squirrel on the highest branch of the tree.  Fearless and happy.  Winter has come and there is food everywhere.

The barking dogs do not scare away the squirrel but the sound of my own voice.  Harsh, emotional, unnatural, out of order, unwelcoming.  And I chose to scare him away rather than choosing peace and quiet.

Keela, the lessons are everywhere.  There is no right or wrong.  Just choices.  Choose love.  Choose to be in the moment.  THIS is the most important time of your life.  This moment.

How do you feel about it?

How do you feel about yourself?

How do you feel about others?

What are you sending them?

What are you telling yourself?

What do you think when you are not listening?

CHANGE your subconscious thoughts.  They are vital to your happiness and well-being.  Apologize for behavior, don’t apologize for being you.  Live fearlessly and INSPIRE those around you.  You are contagious!  You are love.  You are acceptance.  BE those things.  They are your core.  Don’t be impaired by the body, the human form, the “human mind”.  You are spirit.  FEEL it.

Don’t turn your back no matter how much it hurts.  You are strong and have the strength to withstand.  I Am with you.  I Am you.  Don’t think, just feel – not low (human level) but high (spirit) unbridled, endless, pure, love, light, vast, all-encompassing, ever surrounding, eternal, beautiful, constant, unwavering, euphoric, flowing  L O V E .  Spirit.  Feel Me always with you and share with everyone around you.  Feel My peace and know I Am here.  I Am there.  I Am always.  I Am love and I never leave you.  Be at peace and love yourself because I love you.

 

 

 

 

Hello My Friends!

Lessons.  They’re hiding everywhere in plain sight.  I can’t tell if they have good disguises or if I have really bad vision and it usually takes someone like a child to plainly state what I’ve been missing.

I’ve been struggling about how to write what I have experienced over the last six weeks (since the hedge trimmer accident) and the insights I’ve received.  I find myself writing, deleting, rewriting and questioning how my words will be perceived when people read them.  However, I have found similar to life, the best things seem to emerge when I stop worrying about what other people think, be myself and just let it flow.  These are some of the recent lessons I’ve learned:

Let people help you.  One of the first lessons that presented itself to me was my reluctance to let my husband help change my bandages.  I love this man with all of my heart and yet there is something inside of me that habitually resists his help.  He literally had to ask me, “Why won’t you let me help you?!” before I realized once and for all; accepting his help when I need him most does not make me weak.

Be prepared to have your wishes granted.  Accepting that I had asked for my injury in a very, very open-ended prayer sort of way, led me to a place where my complete “surrender” was tested.  At one point I could no longer keep my swell of emotions contained and I broke down sobbing.  “Why?  Why this?  I don’t understand?  I’m so frustrated!  I wanted to be of service!  How is helping anyone or anything?!”  My sobs turned into deep breaths until I heard myself utter the words “Thank You.”  The moment I said “Thank You” I had peace.  So I kept saying it over and over and over again until I had completely embraced the experience I may never understand.  That moment transformed me.  All of a sudden it didn’t matter “why?” and my suffering was replaced with a curiosity as to how this all works into the big picture.  One thing I do understand; humbling myself to lovingly accept ALL situations in life is the ultimate freedom.

“Mean” people may be hurt people.  When humans are in pain, they get grumpy and mean.  There is an ever-present temptation to judge and assume that we know more about what other people are going through than we actually do.  We don’t.  If we could error on the side of empathy, we might see that the human race shares more commonality than difference.  Each human shares the same fundamentals regardless of race, religion, politics, sexual orientation, difference of opinion or temporary nastiness resulting from pain: We have all been created by something so complex no one can agree on or prove what it is, we each have our own purpose and we are all intended to be here by our Universal Creator.  Lets not get swept up in the drama of negativity when there is another option; connect with the universal spirit of humanity that resides in all of us.

Everything gets better when I take the focus off myself.  Completely frustrated with the ups and downs of the healing process (physical, psychological and emotional), I found myself on the verge of tears with my head in my hands.  I had just given myself permission to breakdown (again) and feel sorry for myself when my phone rang.  My dear friend who received a cancer diagnosis had an amazing day and we talked about HER healing journey.  Something truly magical happened in that moment.  Our conversation instantly changed the way I felt once I stopped thinking of myself and rejoiced in her happiness, which became my happiness.

Lessons will repeat themselves until they are learned and the behavior is changed.  No explanation required.

Reprogram your Default Mode.  It’s so easy to simply react and let negativity take over when uncertainty strikes – and I have been repeating this lesson for the last 6 weeks (and 37 years).  There is no negativity unless you assign it.  Call it a blessing, call it a lesson, call it life.  My new default mode?  Awareness.  All negative reactions have individual feelings assigned (anxiety, pain, anger, rejection, disappointment, stress, etc.) and I have control over what I feel.  So I step back and view things from a distance.  I observe what it looks like and how little it accomplishes when I unnecessary react, make a rash judgement and cause myself pain.  When I become the observer of my own life, I perch myself at the highest point and look for the potential in every situation.  (Disclaimer: Reprogrammed Default Modes frequently malfunction and require routine monitoring.)

Sometimes when you are looking for your purpose it may have nothing to do with you and everything to do with someone else.  I said I would do ANYTHING to be of service in this world.  What if suffering is part of my service?  I began wondering, “Could this all be for someone else?  Is it possible my inexplicable feelings of anxiety and inadequecy were given to me so that someone else could be of assistance to me?  Perhaps someone needs to hear that I am struggling and they are comforted because they struggle too.  Perhaps someone needs to know how much I need them if I haven’t expressed it otherwise.  Perhaps I am destined to reach out to someone who is meant to be there in hard times so that our relationship can deepen and grow stronger.  Once I stopped thinking of myself (again) and shifted my focus to those around me, I became fascinated with thoughts of connectivity, how necessary we are for one another to create a network of humanity and how my plight may contribute to the greater good.

The content of the fight doesn’t matter.  It’s how you resolve the conflict. It doesn’t matter who you are having conflict with.  It doesn’t matter what you are fighting about.  The fight doesn’t matter.  It’s about how you treat one another when things get tough.  Do you yell, call names, withold or accuse?  None of those are part of a resolution, so why put yourself through it?  I think we have been paired up with everyone we encounter in life and they all have the potential to help us grow.  Not only that, we are all part of someone else’s process too.  So how do you respond when the going gets tough?  Seldom, if ever, has my first instinct been love.  But why not?  We eventually get there in the end, so why not train yourself to stay in a state of love even in conflict?  If we (as individuals) resolved all of our problems with love, think of what that would do for the collective consciousness of our world.

I feel like part of my mission in life is to shed light on how connected we are as humans and show love as the string of potential to connect each and every one of us.  I’d like to share something that recently “wrote itself” after one of my meditations.  I hope you all have a beautiful day and see love in everyone and everything!

June 15th, 2016 ~ Today I felt an overwhelming clarity in love.  Everything was stripped away – motive, stress, judgement, frustration within relationships.  GET RID of it.  And if it exists in the other person, love them through it.  BE love.  Stay above all negative emotion.  Do not exist there.  Elevate to the highest level of existence – LOVE.  Observe all negativity through the lens of love.  Love it.  Don’t react to it.  Pleasantly observe how it plays out.  See negativity in all it’s forms; the way it mutates from one form to another: stress, judgement, anger, intolerance, hatred, selfishness, blame, self loathing, fear, regret.  See it all from a loving distance.  Feel empathy for those experiencing these states of emotion.  This only has to do with the individual – no one else.  People take on the stress and emotion of those around them unnecessarily.  Do not react to these maladies.  Respond in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello My Friends!

What if today you found out that nothing happening to you is really a negative experience?  What if you accepted that every detail happening in your life has been perfectly planned out for you?  You just get to choose how you react to it.  What if experiences are being hand-picked for your maximum learning and growth while on this planet?

Two weeks ago I had an experience that has forever changed me.  Something seemingly horrible, and certainly gruesome, happened to me that has challenged the way I view a crisis.  And the most mind-blowing thing is, I asked for it.

To backtrack just a bit, about year ago something shifted within me that ignited a search for inspiration and meaning in everything I encounter.  I am marching on a continuous path, determined to conquer past fears and limitations (usually self-imposed) to get to the good stuff.  During this search for self, the real me, I eventually found myself standing at the highest point of familiarity.  My choice?  Go back down to familiar ground or take a leap into the vast expanse.  I chose to dive head first into uncharted territory.

I had recently been listening to Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra speak about observing impermanence and finding peace and happiness in the present moment.  I loved Deepak Chopra’s parting words.  To paraphrase, he said: The present moment is the only moment that never ends.  Situations and circumstances around the present moment will change, but the present moment won’t change.  It’s timeless, it’s transcendent, it’s eternal… The most important time in your life is now.  The most important person in your life is the one you are with right now.  The most important activity in your life is the one you are involved with now.

I was trimming the bushes with the electric hedge trimmers in my front yard two weeks ago.  My friend, Nikki, and her two daughters came over to show us their new puppy.  The kids were in the backyard with the puppy and Nikki was helping me clean up out front.  I was leaned over trimming the last bush when a shocking surge of energy radiated from my brain through my whole body.  Although I felt no pain, something told me to stop.

In a moment that felt like a dream, I realized I had cut my hand.  My thoughts couldn’t make sense of what my eyes showed to be reality.  “Is this real?  There is a lot of blood.  Is this really happening right now?”  I dropped the hedge trimmers in the grass, covered my bleeding left hand with my right hand and pulled it in close to me. “How bad is it,” I wondered.  “I don’t want to look.  I think all of my fingers are still on.”  It didn’t hurt initially but once I glanced at my injury, my mind started to race, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh… I can’t believe this is happening.  I don’t want the kids to be scared…  I need to stay calm.”

I stopped myself and thought of Eckhart Tolle.  Instead of allowing myself to freak out, I tried observing my present moment without assigning “good” or “bad”.  “Ok… I am in this moment.  It is undesirable.  I am experiencing pain.  It’s starting to hurt now.  But, in the grand scheme of things, pain is an illusion.  This is only temporary.  I can get through this.  Right now I am experiencing the worst of it.  It will only get better from here.  Soon they will numb my hand.  Soon they will stitch my hand.  After that, my hand will begin to heal.”

“Nikki,” I said as I walked over to where she was sweeping up trimmings. “You need to take me to the hospital.  I just cut my hand really bad,” I said calmly.  Perplexed, she asked, “Are you serious?  You didn’t even scream.  Are you sure it’s that bad?  First, let me get you a towel.”

I sat down, took one look and said, “Yep, we need to go.”  My mind was still racing, but strangely in a calm.  I knew the neighbors across the street were home and could watch the kids if needed, but Nikki was already reading my mind.  “Ok, I’ll leave my phone with the kids.” she said.  “What a relief,” I thought.  I knew the kids would be fine and Dustan would be home in an hour.  I was starting to feel faint so I grabbed a water bottle and climbed into Nikki’s car while she scrambled to find my phone and my purse.

I told Nikki, aka the most important person in my life right now, “I don’t need to go to the ER just take me to Primary Health Urgent Care.” and I must admit, I was surprised by my cool demeanor.  With my seat reclined, and my pulse throbbing in my fingers, I gave her step by step directions to the closest Primary Health.

I wish I could say that once we arrived at Primary Health, the rest was a blur and I was stitched up in no time.  That was not exactly the case.  The adrenaline was wearing off and the spiking pain was now coming in sharp pulses as I waited to see the doctor.  The nurse unwrapped the towel from my fingers and asked me what happened before telling me sarcastically, “You did a really good job.”  The hedge trimmer had badly cut my index, pointer and ring fingers on my left hand.  The index and middle fingers were really “chewed up” and ultimately required 13 stitches.

I practiced staying in the present moment, reflecting on Eckhart Tolle’s words, ” Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obsticle to overcome.  Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.”  So believe it or not, I attempted to find joy and gratitude in the present moment.  Nikki was also instrumental in helping with that, pointing out all the reasons this was my lucky day!  Such as: I’m grateful for modern medicine, I wasn’t home alone with my kids when this happened, my ring finger didn’t need stitches, I didn’t cut my wedding ring, I didn’t break any bones, I didn’t hit any tendons and all of my fingers were still attached!

It was only when the doctor began stitching me up that I became overwhelmed with emotion.  GRATITUDE.  He was telling me how bad the injury was, “The middle finger will definitely scar since it’s difficult to stitch something together where there is nothing there.”  I replied, “I don’t care if it scars.  Thank you so much for stitching me up.  I am so grateful.  Thank you.”  That was what brought on the tears.  Pure, loving, sincere, appreciative, gratitude.

Before I even left the doctor’s office I just had this knowing that what happened to me was a gift.  In the days that followed I spent a lot of time resting and reflecting on why exactly this was happening in my life.  I opened my journals and read my words that repeated on various pages over and over again. “God, use me….  I want to be of service….  I’m open to anything You ask of me.”  And there it was.  Confirmation of what I already knew deep down.  This is a gift that I asked for; an answer to my prayer.

A gift can often be masked as something negative, but that doesn’t mean that it is or has to be.  Imagine how different your world would be if you chose to see each struggle or conflict as your “lesson for the day/week”.  These irritating things hindering the present moment will never stop coming because this IS life!  Life IS the present moment chalked full of experiences for us to endure, cherish, appreciate and overcome!  Remember the words of Deepak Chopra: The present moment is the only moment that never ends.  Situations and circumstances around the present moment will change, but the present moment won’t change.

Pause for a moment and realize; you are being blessed with gifts from God/the Universe every day.  Your prayers are being answered.  I did not  quite expect mine to be answered in this way, but it was.  The way I see it, if I can change the way I view negative events in my life, I can set myself free.  Free of fear, stress, worry, resentment, suffering, hatred, judgement, defeat, self-pity, blame, one-upmanship… the list could go on and on!

I think opportunities for growth frequently pose as something “screwing up your life that you don’t have time for”, but what if you challenged yourself to find the deeper meaning in the moment?  I have struggled through this injury physically, mentally and emotionally but I still choose to see everything in my life as a gift, or a lesson (which I still ultimately view as a gift).  This experience has taught me to give thanks for EVERYTHING happening in my life.  Even a tragedy.

Although it’s difficult to explain, but I am humbled and grateful for the pain I felt.  Now I am able to understand how others feel and experience pain in a way that would not have been possible without physically enduring this injury.  From this experience, I have gained a deep sense of empathy and compassion for the complexities that arise when we, as humans, experience a crisis.  I don’t know exactly why this experience was chosen for me, and maybe I never will, but I am learning and growing and I will continue to be thankful for it.

We all knew this when we were kids, but don’t forget; it hurts to grow.

 

 

 

“Love is to fear as light is to dark; in the presence of one, the other cannot exist. So wherever there is a place of fear in your life, think of one thing — even if it’s just a thought you can think– where you can generate love to cast out the fear.” – Maryanne Williamson

 

Hello My Friends!

Fear.  Just the word alone can paint a haunting picture in my mind.  It’s a heavy, suffocating, secret place that has the potential to house a lifetime of horrid thoughts.  It lurks.  And if given free rein, it won’t stop there.  It creeps.  Like a silent impostor in your thoughts, it quietly plants its seeds.  It can be quite patient, waiting for turbulent soil and the mind to ripen.  Then, many times when you least expect it, fear will turn the mind into a crippling playground.

Most of my life I feel like I was living two separate lives.  One life included a very happy childhood.  The other, was a childhood plagued by fear.  Some fear was based on reality (knowing there wasn’t always enough money, etc.), but most of my anxiety was based on irrational “what ifs”.  “What if something goes wrong?  What if this happens if I do that?  What if I get scared?”  In adolescence and my young 20’s, one reality included jobs and friendships and good times with my family.  The other included racing thoughts, missed opportunities, seclusion, researching if heart palpitations can kill you and questioning my own sanity.

Yes my friends, I suffered from anxiety for many years of my life.  In the past my motto was, “If there is a pill that will fix it, I’ll take it!”  I just wanted it to go away.  So I took a cocktail of prescription drugs for 10+ years until I recently realized, I wasn’t fixing anything.  I was just covering it up.  I was operational.  I could function.  But if you will refer to the first blog I shared (Hello World), it’s clear that my method of not dealing with what I inherently feared (or avoided) caught up with me eventually – and I was still a hot mess!  

Then a thought struck me.  Why am I modifying myself to exist where I don’t belong?  (Even if that meant persuading my thoughts to continue thinking in a direction that no longer served me.)  My “what ifs” took a new turn.  What if my destiny has been trying to present itself to me for 10+ YEARS??  What if instead I chose to see anxiety not as something that controls me, but something nudging me to stop covering things up, let go of the things that bring me grief or don’t have meaning in my life and seek out the real me!  

I no longer need medication, I just need to remember who I am.  Like you, I am a spiritual being having a human experience.  Don’t forget, we are visitors here.  We are of this world but not from this world and we are not here for the long haul.  Stop piling things on that don’t matter.  Slow down.  Enjoy the present moment.  Go within.  Remove one thing you don’t like from your daily routine and add one new thing you love but haven’t made time for.  

At the risk of sounding narcissistic, I wish I had met the real me when I was younger; to guide me and teach me and help me to grow.  I would tell myself fear is an illusion.  It isn’t real, except in your mind.  I would tell myself you always come out ahead when you make decisions based on love vs fear.  I would encourage myself to see  life is a gift, not something to be feared or intimidated by.  And I would let myself in on the secret… Your thoughts create your reality.

You can choose to fuel the fear in your life or you can create a new reality.  I would encourage my younger self to see that she has a choice in every matter.  CHOOSE to see the good in everything, everyone and every situation.  Choose to be better than you were yesterday and choose to see every struggle as a gift.  Choose to be blessed by the lessons you are confronted with rather than allowing your thoughts to turn to negativity.

And when all else fails, choose love.

 

I don’t believe… I know.

-Carl Jung, founder of a neopsychoanalytic school, on the question of belief in ‘god’..

Believe:  1 a : to have a firm religious faith b : to accept as true  2 : to have a firm conviction  3 : to hold an opinion

Know : 1 a (1) : to perceive directly : have direct cognition of  (2) : to have understanding of  (3) : to recognize the nature of : DISCERN b (1) : to recognize as being the same as something previously known (2) to be acquainted or familiar with (3) : to have experience of 2 a : to be aware of the truth or factuality b : to have a practical understanding

Believing is holding an opinion. Knowing is to have direct experience, to understand, and to have a practical understanding of some concept. To further delineate the two different terms, it is important to realize that while one can “make- believe”, one cannot “make-know”.                                            -http://scientificmethod.wikia.com/

Hello My Friends!

When I meditate, I start by giving thanks and asking, “How may I serve today?”  I frequently have specific people or situations materialize in my mind and when they do, I send them love.  I keep a journal to jot down names, images and insights that fill my mind.  Some meditations are more of a reflection or a time to appreciate the peacefulness of each moment.  Other meditations have challenged me to reevaluate my beliefs because I experienced something for myself; something invisible yet something real that does not coincide with the beliefs that were handed down to me.

Have you ever wondered where your beliefs came from?  Most would say beliefs come from our parents, grandparents, friends, school, church, books we read, etc.  But who taught our grandparents and their great-grandparents?  How far back would you have to go to find the governing individuals who made some very important choices for you and I that have affected what we consider “truth”.  Have you ever asked yourself, “Who decided this was “good” and this was “bad”?  Why is this considered “pretty” and this is “ugly”?

My mother-in-law gave me a book for Christmas called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.  My personal opinion?  This book should come with a warning label.

WARNING:  You will never look at your life the same way again.  Side effects may include (but not be limited to): heightened awareness, thinking for yourself and questioning every belief you hold as a “truth”.

The beliefs most of us hold were dreamed up and passed down by people who lived in a place and time that I presume was very different from the here and now.  I wonder why they assigned these beliefs?  Was it to ensure order in society if they drew clear lines of “right” and “wrong”?  Was it for political, religious, financial or personal gain?  We’ll never really know, but with that in mind; what do you believe?  Now ask yourself why?  Is it a belief or a knowing?

Beliefs can change everyday.  I used to think that if I went against what I was taught I was being disobedient.  It’s not.  We’ve all felt that energy that ingites inside of us when we know something.  Don’t be afraid to listen to that; it means you are on the path to discover your real self which is who you came here to be.  We are all connected in this world, and we all have our own purpose, identity and insights that contribute to what makes this world such an amazing place to exist.

Think of it this way: If someone asks you if you know where you left your keys, you might say, “I believe they are on the counter”.  But when you find they are not, your belief has changed.  That belief is not a truth, not because you are being insubordinate but because you now know for yourself, it simply isn’t true.

Following Anita Moorjani’s advice to live fearlessly and be as ME and I can be, I’m going to share one of my post-meditation writings that begged to be written:

“You need not try so hard.  Rest in peaceful waters.  The rest is as important as the struggle to achieve.  Lean on the ones you love, who love you.  Let them be of support to you.  This is not for you to do alone.

Don’t try to find Me.  Be Me.  See Me in all things and everyone.  I am ever-present.  I am the Unyielding Force.  Illusion will trap your beliefs of Me.  To know Me you must set them free.  I offer no cages, for love cannot dwell there.  I dwell in the quiet places and I am there to greet you when you arrive.”

 

When we arrive on this planet, we are taught to love one another.  We are taught to be kind to others.  We are taught to be “good”.  We are taught to pray and encouraged to be moral people.  But of all the things we are taught about love, we’re not taught the importance of loving what lies within; our essence, our spirit, our connection to God and the rest of the Universe.

I read a remarkable book called Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani about her near death experience. Here are two excerpts relating to what she discovered on the other side about self-love:

“…and it’s one of the best kept secrets of our time: the importance of self-love.  You may cringe or frown at the thought but I can’t stress enough how important it is to cultivate a deep love affair with yourself.”

“IF EVERY SINGLE PERSON SUDDENLY BECAME aware of their true perfection and magnificence – let’s say that everyone on the planet had a spiritually transformative experience – our manifest world would change to reflect that new state.  People would be more self-empowered and far less fearful and competitive, which would lead to more tolerance for each other. Crime rates would drop dramatically. Our immune systems would be stronger from less stress and fear, so there would be fewer illnesses.  Priorities would change because we’d no longer be driven by greed, which is another facet of fear. Children would grow up being love – being stronger, healthier, and more trusting.  They’d live on a planet that naturally supports this way of life rather than in a place that’s hostile to it.”

I had the pleasure of meeting Anita Moorjani at a conference in Seattle and I’m telling you, this beautiful woman is pure love.  I heard her speak that morning and tell the story of her near death experience.  When I happened to meet her at the top of the escalator, SHE acted like she was the one flattered to meet ME!  I hugged this beautiful woman who has died and experienced the other realm; yet all she said to me was, she was just so happy I enjoyed hearing her story.  She radiates love.  She absolutely is pure love.  And her message is, we all are.

Of all the things we are willing to try or make time for in life, will you make time to sit quietly to contemplate how amazing you are?

You were created out of thin air!  Your heart beats itself.  You never forget to breath.  You heal.  You have a limitless imagination.  If you think about things, they come true.  You grow.  You have the ability to get quiet, meditate and find heaven on earth.  You have a consciousness AND a higher consciousness.  You have the ability to exist in a state of consciousness and explore higher consciousness.  You are operating a body.  You act it out.  The world is your playground.  You are the star in your life and the creator of your story!  Have fun, love unconditionally and BE who you came here to be!

Eckhard Tolle ~ “Love is a state of Being.  Your love is not outside; it is deep within you.  You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.  It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.  In the stillness of your presence, you can feel your own formless and timeless reality as the unmanifested life that animates your physical form.  You can then feel the same life deep within every other human and every other creature.  You look beyond the veil of form and separation.  This is the realization of oneness.  This is love.”

Wayne Dyer ~ “You are a creature of Divine Love connected at all times to Source.  Divine Love is when you see God in everyone and everything you encounter.”

 

Hello my friends!  Some of you I know, some may just be passing through.  And so it goes in life.  I recently awoke to find I am on a very exciting journey… and it involves each and every one of you! (By the way, you are on a very exciting journey as well.  If this comes as a surprise to you, just think about how many people you cross paths with and have an influence on everyday.)  This exciting journey is LIFE!

In the past, I always considered myself to be an open minded person and prided myself on seeing the good in everyone.  Yet my head was full of judgement.  I judged everything.  “That’s good, that’s bad, that’s stupid, that’s pretty, that’s ugly.  Why would they do that?  They shouldn’t do that, they should do this.  They are lazy, they should get a job…”  All day long.  Out loud and in my head, judgment was a constant stream in my thoughts.  I never noticed how toxic my thoughts had become until I heard my words being spoken from my child’s mouth.

I was driving my son and daughter home from school and there was a homeless man on the corner holding a sign.  In a moment that changed my life, I listened to my son confidently regurgitate my ignorant assumptions.  “Mom, why doesn’t that guy go get a job instead of just standing there begging for money?”  And there is was.  The truth.  The truth was, I was not open minded and I was not raising my children to see the good in everyone like I thought.  Of all the things I had taught my children, all I could think was, “I’ve taught them how to discriminate.”

How on earth had this happened?

When we come into this world we are small, humble and perfect!  We are love and curiosity.  Curious of the world and curious of others.  I began watching babies and children to try to remember who I was when I came into this world.  As children, we are observational.  We are intrigued and excited by new things.  We trust, we accept and we are grateful for the smallest of things.  As children, we take it all in without bias which led me to reflect on my own childhood.

I found myself digging up memories of school mates I hadn’t thought of in years.  I remembered kids in my classes who looked different and smelled different than me but I don’t remember any judgment.  I saw them for who they really were.  The awareness that they hadn’t had a bath recently or their clothes were too small or they had a lisp was a mere observation and nothing else.

I innately understood that my friends were not just what my five senses told me, but as a child I didn’t have the understanding I was seeing my peers as they were – on a soul level.  In fact I remember loving my friend’s lisp and it didn’t bother me if someone brought an odor to school with them.  I loved them anyway.  But perhaps, deep down, I knew that it had nothing to do with who they were which is why I was not bothered.  I loved them.  Their whole being.  I simply had an awareness of these things but these things did not define them.  These are my memories from when I was 5-7 years old!

At what point in our lives do we swap love for judgment (and assumptions, taking offense, presuming we are better than others, etc.)?  When did we stop all being the same?  When we were kids, we were all just kids.  We have always lived in a world where individual differences exist; height, weight, skin color, religion, but it didn’t matter.  So why can’t adults just be adults?

I realized somewhere along the way, I had switched over to auto pilot.  Someone else was was doing the thinking for me.  A new person had moved in without my permission and I hadn’t even noticed.  I was stressed; in life, in my marriage and I was drinking every day.  As a mother, I constantly reflected on what my sorrow would feel like when my kids were grown and gone and I had not spent any time with them.  I was being swallowed up by daily tasks, obligations, negativity, and self loathing.

I was completely overwhelmed.

I was so busy doing other things, I quit showing up for the most important job ever gifted to me.  My life.  I was not longer in charge of my life.  My thoughts ran rampant.  I felt sorry for myself constantly.  I was angry and irritable.  I blamed other people and other things for what my neglected thoughts were conjuring up.  Of all the judgment I passed, the cruelest words were the deepest, darkest, meanest, secret things I told myself.  36 years of abuse.  “I am not good enough, I am fat, I am ugly, I am stupid, I am worthless, I can’t do it”; the usual list of unfortunate lies we tell ourselves (that ultimately have nothing to do with who we really are).

I had to start somewhere and honestly all I wanted to do was escape.  I fantasized about transporting to anywhere but here. I knew nothing in my life would get better until I slooooowed down.  That’s when I began exploring meditation.  Instead of watching TV before bed, I made a conscious choice to listen to relaxing music as I fell asleep.  (Even if it required wearing headphones to create a peaceful place.)  I started meditating everyday and in no time at all I became addicted to the silence.

I began prioritizing my time and writing instead of lurking for hours on Facebook and Pinterest.  Even if my thoughts were negative or questioning at first, I wrote them down.  Then I meditated on it, asking God (insert your preferred name here for the Universal Intelligence that is responsible for you being here) to provide me with insight.  Any thought that entered into my mind I wrote it down.  For the first time in my life I feel like I have a personal relationship with God and meditation gives me a daily escape and something that has become the most wonderful paradox.  It is something that is only mine and yet I feel completely connected to everyone and everything around me.

While looking for meditation music online, I discovered Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “I Am” meditation.  He explained the two words “I Am” are the name of God found in the Old Testament, translated from the original Hebrew as “I am that I am”.  Then he said, “Every time you say “I am” you use the name of God.  How do you use this name?”

When I awakened to the idea that we share the same name as God, I became very mindful about what words follow when I say “I Am” (in my head and out loud).  We’ve all heard various quotes about the power of our thoughts, but I wonder, do you really know the tremendous power that each one of us holds?  If we have the power to make ourselves miserable by essentially doing nothing, just think of the “unimaginable” things we might accomplish if only we imagine them?

I know this has been quite a long introduction.  My desire to start this blog is to stir the soul.  That is who we really are after all.  Our bodies are changing everyday, but the soul, the imagination, our thoughts… The parts of ourselves we cannot see or touch, THAT is who we really are.  Be kind to yourself, be kind to others, be mindful of your thoughts and what you tell yourself.  If my words are not enough to convince you, listen to the wise ones who have gone before us.

Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be. -Henry David Thoreau

What you think you become. -Buddha

For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. -Proverbs 23:7

Imagination is everything.  It is a preview of life’s upcoming attractions. -Albert Einstein

Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality. -Earl Nightingale

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. – Marcus Aurelius