We all know that the beginning of a new year brings with it a lot of new year's resolutions. Losing weight, getting fit, doing more of this or that or the other - most of us make them, and a lot of us fail. We fail because we are looking for a quick fix. Well, I can tell you there is no such thing. Did you get where you are overnight? No, of course not. So why do we think that things will change instantly? Things worth doing, worth having, and worth being take time. And resolve and commitment.
This is the third year of this blog, and those who know me and have followed this blog during that time know that my life has changed quite a bit over the past few years. Patience, persistence, resolve, and commitment are key to gaining and growing in the long term, as is beginning things right.
So you've got a goal - something you want to change or do this year - great! Why? Why is that goal important to you? And a better question is does that goal fit with the overall sense you want for your life?
Here are some questions to get you started on making your life more authentic, for making it make more sense for you and who you really are, deep inside.
First, rank your satisfaction level in the following areas - 1 is low/non-existent and 10 is high/off the charts:
Your overall well-being
Your health
Your financial situation
Your career
Your spiritual life
Your relationships
Second, do you consider yourself optimistic or pessimistic? Why?
Third, more questions to ponder/answer:
What are your three most significant accomplishments? Why are they accomplishments in your view?
What are your three most significant disappointments? Why are they disappointments in your view?
Describe your top three strengths. Why are they strengths in your view?
Describe your most aggravating weakness. Why is it a weakness in your view?
When you feel happiest?
When do you feel lowest?
How would you describe your state of health?
How would you describe your state of well being?
What would you do if you could do anything?
What goals or desires do you have yet to fulfill? Why are these important to you?
What is stopping you from fulfilling these goals or desires?
What draws people to you - why do they like you?
Take as much time as you need to really answer these from the depths of that which is uniquely you.
Next week, we will ponder on our personal prose and what that is saying to our inner self and to others as well.
Namaste!
Showing posts with label MaXIMIze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MaXIMIze. Show all posts
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Monday, December 9, 2013
MaXIMIze - More Questions to Consider
Certainly you didn't think the questions posted last week were the be all and end all, did you? Of course not! There are a lot of things to dig into when you are working to discover what matters, what gives your life meaning, and what you need to let go of.
Here are some more questions to ponder in this vein:
How would you describe your perfect job? What would a day in this job look like?
What kind of people would you be working with and/or for?
How would your work benefit you beyond earning a paycheck?
How would your work and you specifically doing your work benefit others?
How would you feel after a good day at work?
These questions just cover one aspect of your life, you know. The other aspects we will explore in 2014 include financial health, relationships, spirituality, physical well being, emotional well being, and your life as a whole.
The remaining blog posts for 2013 to be on the look out for will deal with how to cope with holiday stress - managing expectations comes to mind, the reason(s) for the season beyond the materiality and consumerism, and a year-end wrap-up of the various topics covered in this blog during 2013.
In January, we will reset - 2012 was focused on letting go. 2013 added becoming. 2014 will add growing, particularly in the areas noted above.
I look forward to continued sharing in this blog - namaste!
Sunday, November 24, 2013
MaXIMIze - Finding Your Passion
So, a dear friend is going through a passion crisis of sorts. I think we all go through these at least once in our lifetimes, if not several times. As human beings, we grow and change over time and what we thought we wanted to do, to have, to become can change as well, particularly if we've really never given much thought as to what really drives us, what makes us feel alive, what just feels right no matter what.
In the film The Legend of Baggar Vance, Baggar (the caddy) tells the golfer, "Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing. Something we were born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be taught to you or learned. Something that got to be remembered."
Remembering is sometimes the hard part - remembering what it was that lit us up from the inside out when we were younger, before education, society, and even we ourselves put us in boxes.
So, if finding your passion is an area you need to work through, here are a few questions to get you started.
What did you enjoy doing when you were younger? What did it make you feel like?
What are you good at - what do others see as your gifts?
What excites you, lights your inner fire now?
What draws you as a moth to the flame - what you do read about, learn about, teach and tell others about?
Passion lives in your heart, not in your head. The flames of passion are fanned by engagement, not by thinking. What feels right in your life, right here, right now? What makes you feel alive?
As you are working through the deep contemplation these questions deserve, remember you bring into your life what you put out into the world. So commit to and love what are doing right here, right now. By doing your best in whatever you are doing today, you will uncover the light and passion within you to shine forth tomorrow.
I'll post more questions to consider here over the next couple of weeks. And, for those of you who haven't found my page on Facebook yet, click here to check it out.
Namaste!
In the film The Legend of Baggar Vance, Baggar (the caddy) tells the golfer, "Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing. Something we were born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be taught to you or learned. Something that got to be remembered."
Remembering is sometimes the hard part - remembering what it was that lit us up from the inside out when we were younger, before education, society, and even we ourselves put us in boxes.
So, if finding your passion is an area you need to work through, here are a few questions to get you started.
What did you enjoy doing when you were younger? What did it make you feel like?
What are you good at - what do others see as your gifts?
What excites you, lights your inner fire now?
What draws you as a moth to the flame - what you do read about, learn about, teach and tell others about?
Passion lives in your heart, not in your head. The flames of passion are fanned by engagement, not by thinking. What feels right in your life, right here, right now? What makes you feel alive?
As you are working through the deep contemplation these questions deserve, remember you bring into your life what you put out into the world. So commit to and love what are doing right here, right now. By doing your best in whatever you are doing today, you will uncover the light and passion within you to shine forth tomorrow.
I'll post more questions to consider here over the next couple of weeks. And, for those of you who haven't found my page on Facebook yet, click here to check it out.
Namaste!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
MaXIMIze - Find Your Passion
How do you feel when you're living your passion? This quote pretty much sums it up:
“You will wake up every morning
with a limitless reservoir of energy and enthusiasm. All your thoughts will be
focused on your definite objective.. You won’t have time to waste time.
Valuable mental power will, therefore, not be wasted on trifling thoughts. You
will automatically erase the worry habit and become far more effective and
productive. Interestingly, you will also have a deep sense of inner harmony, as
if you are somehow being guided to realize your mission. It is a wonderful
feeling.” ~ Robin Sharma
Today, I have two questions for you to ponder:
What is it that you love to do so much that you would pay to do it?
How much would it take for you not to do what you are currently doing for a living?
These questions came from listening to a couple of Brian Johnson's sessions from the En*Theos Academy - either his Philosopher's Notes on the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz or Optimal Living 101 Q&A, Session 19, I can't remember which at the moment - and a discussion with a co-worker after I said in a smart-alecky tone, "I LOVE my job!" one day in the office.
Now it should be noted that I do enjoy my current job very much. However, do I truly love it? No. Why not? Because most of the time it does not feed my fire, it does not fulfill my passion.
My passion is helping people realize that we are all human beings first and all else comes second, and from that base helping others become the best human beings they can be. I pay to learn how to express that passion more fully in life by the classes I take, the group functions I attend, and most recently attaining my professional coaching certification. I share my passion by helping other people grow, either directly by mentoring and coaching or indirectly via my Facebook page, this blog, my poetry and/or my fiction.
As to answering the second question, if I brought income in that matched what I currently make at my "day job" plus 20% doing what I truly love to do - helping others grow as human beings - I'd retire from my current job tomorrow. Heck, I 'd give my notice right now!
How can you tell the difference between doing a job you like and doing what you love? Doing what you love feeds the fire inside. And, you cannot not do what you truly love to do - you may be able to bury it for a while, ignore it, or neglect it for a time, but your passion will always boil to the surface. If you don't feed the fire that feeds you, you'll feel more numb and depressed than alive and invigorated.
So follow the light and path of your passion and the fulfillment of feeding the fire!
Namaste!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
MaXIMIze - Taking Care of You
A recent conversation with a dear friend reminded me that - as those lovely flight attendants tell us during the safety briefing at the beginning of every flight - we cannot take care of others if we do not take care of ourselves first. And beyond that, if we are doing for others all the time, we could become depressed and resentful because our needs are not being fulfilled and our emotional bank accounts are being drained rather than replenished and balanced.
So, are you doing enough for yourself? Do you practice extreme self-care? Or are you always giving to others, perhaps even to others who do not give back in return?
You are the only person you can control, therefore you are the only person you can change. If you need to change gears and take more care of yourself, do it!
Those who truly care for you will adapt, support, and understand. Those who don't - well, you'll find out who really cares for you and wants what's best for you when you start doing what is best for yourself.
You are worth it!
Namaste!
So, are you doing enough for yourself? Do you practice extreme self-care? Or are you always giving to others, perhaps even to others who do not give back in return?
You are the only person you can control, therefore you are the only person you can change. If you need to change gears and take more care of yourself, do it!
Those who truly care for you will adapt, support, and understand. Those who don't - well, you'll find out who really cares for you and wants what's best for you when you start doing what is best for yourself.
You are worth it!
Namaste!
Sunday, September 1, 2013
MaXIMIze - Take a Cleansing Vacation
When did you last take a real vacation - one where you fully let
go of the day-to-day trivialities and just enjoyed where you were?
Are you tending your garden,
your medicine, the balm of your soul?
Are you regularly cleansing
your persona?
Like our homes get dusty,dirty and cluttered, so do our personae. Whether it is a nine-day vacation away from home (like I just did) or a few hours focused on something other than the day-to-day stuff, we all need to cleanse our souls from time to time so that we can come back to "real life" renewed and refreshed.
By being focused in the here and now, we leave the worries of yesterday in the past and the ones of tomorrow in the future, enabling ourselves to live each day as fully as possible.
So take some time to cleanse your persona on a regular basis, whether it is via a class you can lose yourself in, a trip to the zoo, a solitary walk near in a creek, time spent with someone special away from home and work focused on nature, or whatever feeds your soul and allows you to let go of that which no longer serves.
Namaste!
Friday, July 19, 2013
MaXIMIze - Declutter Your Life
As I read Cheryl Richardson's book Take Time for Your Life for the perhaps sixth or seventh time, I find a theme that is going through my life reverberating in her writing. It is the theme of leaving behind those things that no longer serve you in living your best life now.
As we move up the spiral staircase to our highest, most MaXIMIzed life, we must leave behind those things - ideas, habits, thoughts, people, situations - that no longer serve us. This can be difficult to do, as they are usually a part of our comfort zone, much like Linus' blanket or our child's favorite toy.
As a child puts away those toys he has outgrown, however, so too must we put aside those things that no longer serve to move us up the spiral staircase, and, in some cases, are pulling us down the bannister back toward the bottom step.
What things in your life - ideas, habits, thoughts, people, situations - are hindering you from living your best life now?
As we move up the spiral staircase to our highest, most MaXIMIzed life, we must leave behind those things - ideas, habits, thoughts, people, situations - that no longer serve us. This can be difficult to do, as they are usually a part of our comfort zone, much like Linus' blanket or our child's favorite toy.
As a child puts away those toys he has outgrown, however, so too must we put aside those things that no longer serve to move us up the spiral staircase, and, in some cases, are pulling us down the bannister back toward the bottom step.
What things in your life - ideas, habits, thoughts, people, situations - are hindering you from living your best life now?
Monday, July 1, 2013
MaXIMIze - The Space between Reaction and Response
This one has been percolating away for a couple of months now, and is an amalgamation of several items/events recently - the phrase "put away childish things" appeared in a Daily Read from Science of Mind, a discussion on FaceBook regarding a post/picture I shared, and other things in my own life as well as the life of others.
Action, Reaction - Reactive
Action, Response - Responsive
When we are children, we are dependent upon others - our parents, our teachers, our preachers, and yes, even our peers. The action/reaction chain, nay, dance becomes ingrained from an early age in our subconscious.
When we react to the actions of another, the subconscious remembers similar previous actions - either by that particular person or a more general group that person may or may not represent - and we do not consciously consider our response - we simply, well, react. This is the action/reaction dance - quick, choppy, prone to missteps and misunderstandings.
The action/response dance has a much different form, and in order to learn and master this form we need to learn to let go of what has been ingrained in us since an early age that no longer serves us. We need to learn to step back, take a breath, move outside the circle of the action, and really look at the situation from all sides. We must determine if the reaction we feel welling up is a valid one that fits the situation or if it is one that is borne out of remembered fear, pain, loss, rejection, etc. from a seemingly similar situation that does not fit the current one.
When we choose to choose our reaction instead of allowing our reaction to choose us, we are then responding to the action/situation rather than reacting to it.
So, the next time you feel an extreme, visceral reaction coming on the heels of someone else's action - stop; breathe; step outside the circle; and look at the whole picture. Then, choose your response.
Action, Reaction - Reactive
Action, Response - Responsive
When we are children, we are dependent upon others - our parents, our teachers, our preachers, and yes, even our peers. The action/reaction chain, nay, dance becomes ingrained from an early age in our subconscious.
When we react to the actions of another, the subconscious remembers similar previous actions - either by that particular person or a more general group that person may or may not represent - and we do not consciously consider our response - we simply, well, react. This is the action/reaction dance - quick, choppy, prone to missteps and misunderstandings.
The action/response dance has a much different form, and in order to learn and master this form we need to learn to let go of what has been ingrained in us since an early age that no longer serves us. We need to learn to step back, take a breath, move outside the circle of the action, and really look at the situation from all sides. We must determine if the reaction we feel welling up is a valid one that fits the situation or if it is one that is borne out of remembered fear, pain, loss, rejection, etc. from a seemingly similar situation that does not fit the current one.
When we choose to choose our reaction instead of allowing our reaction to choose us, we are then responding to the action/situation rather than reacting to it.
So, the next time you feel an extreme, visceral reaction coming on the heels of someone else's action - stop; breathe; step outside the circle; and look at the whole picture. Then, choose your response.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
MaXIMIze - Right Here, Right Now
All you have is right here, right now - worrying about anything else robs today of its pleasure. Everyone has a past, everyone has a future - 'tis true - and how we choose to live today determines both.
The here and now is what we really have - and we can choose to look back to the past, look forward to the future, or look moment by moment to the day at hand. Life is built moment by moment by the choices we make here and now.
What choices are you making as you live today?
The here and now is what we really have - and we can choose to look back to the past, look forward to the future, or look moment by moment to the day at hand. Life is built moment by moment by the choices we make here and now.
What choices are you making as you live today?
Sunday, April 14, 2013
MaXIMIze - Self Confidence
So, today's blog has several inspirations - my dear friend, a link from a Twitter post, and Sheryl Sandberg's new book.
First, everyone should have at least one dear friend who is a luminary as well as matter of fact support. Someone who reminds you not to put anyone in a box, least of all yourself.
Second, I am always interested in figuring out what makes people tick - whether it's through the Meyers-Briggs testing, Strength Finders, astrology (oh come on - it is older than and therefore at least as valid as the others - and I'm not talking daily horoscopes from the paper either...), and now, the newest discovery of mine - blood type. Yes, blood type. Who knew?
And third, Sheryl Sandberg - this woman is bloody amazing! She is the COO (chief operating officer) of Facebook, among other things. Her book reinforces my belief and message that we are all human beings first - all else comes after that.
Now on to the recent ah ha moment...
I was sharing the post about blood types mentioned above, and reading mine to my dear friend - I'm type O, by the way - and noted that while it says I am supposed to be extremely self-confident, I disagreed with that part of the description. My friend then informed me that yes, I am indeed self-cofnident...when I allow myself to be. Bing! Light bulb moment!
When I concentrate on my abilities, my talents, the things that make me damned good at my job as well as helping me with the other successes in my life - yes, I am self-confident. When I focus on my failures in life, then not so much. And I am the first to say focus on the positive and turn your face to the sun, the light. Yet, I, as much as anyone else, can allow what I consider failures to fill my mind instead of the successes.
And why shouldn't I be self confident about what I have achieved to date? I have a good job, have raised relatively happy, healthy and responsible children, and and happy, healthy and responsible myself. So, by my own definition, I am successful. I do not hesitate to give a hand up to others, and truly enjoy being of service where I can.
So why shouldn't I believe in and build upon my own abilities? Why shouldn't I be confident in them, and thereby self-confident?
And - why shouldn't you be equally confident in your abilities and thereby self-confident?
As per Eleanor Roosevelt, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent - so why are you allowing yourself to undermine your confidence?
Get out there and share your own special light!
First, everyone should have at least one dear friend who is a luminary as well as matter of fact support. Someone who reminds you not to put anyone in a box, least of all yourself.
Second, I am always interested in figuring out what makes people tick - whether it's through the Meyers-Briggs testing, Strength Finders, astrology (oh come on - it is older than and therefore at least as valid as the others - and I'm not talking daily horoscopes from the paper either...), and now, the newest discovery of mine - blood type. Yes, blood type. Who knew?
And third, Sheryl Sandberg - this woman is bloody amazing! She is the COO (chief operating officer) of Facebook, among other things. Her book reinforces my belief and message that we are all human beings first - all else comes after that.
Now on to the recent ah ha moment...
I was sharing the post about blood types mentioned above, and reading mine to my dear friend - I'm type O, by the way - and noted that while it says I am supposed to be extremely self-confident, I disagreed with that part of the description. My friend then informed me that yes, I am indeed self-cofnident...when I allow myself to be. Bing! Light bulb moment!
When I concentrate on my abilities, my talents, the things that make me damned good at my job as well as helping me with the other successes in my life - yes, I am self-confident. When I focus on my failures in life, then not so much. And I am the first to say focus on the positive and turn your face to the sun, the light. Yet, I, as much as anyone else, can allow what I consider failures to fill my mind instead of the successes.
And why shouldn't I be self confident about what I have achieved to date? I have a good job, have raised relatively happy, healthy and responsible children, and and happy, healthy and responsible myself. So, by my own definition, I am successful. I do not hesitate to give a hand up to others, and truly enjoy being of service where I can.
So why shouldn't I believe in and build upon my own abilities? Why shouldn't I be confident in them, and thereby self-confident?
And - why shouldn't you be equally confident in your abilities and thereby self-confident?
As per Eleanor Roosevelt, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent - so why are you allowing yourself to undermine your confidence?
Get out there and share your own special light!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
MaXIMIze - Life Plans
A recent conversation with a friend caused me to wonder how many of us really have a life plan when we are younger? How many of us are dead certain of what we are going to be when we grow up, let alone plan for it and achieve it?
I know I had no clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. Life was too chaotic for me to think beyond getting through the day at hand most of the time. I do remember when I was little, though, five or slightly younger, having two unmatched socks, one red and one yellow, and making up a story about having two children - a boy named Erik for Erik the Red (the red sock), and a girl named Sarah (the yellow sock) - none of my children bear those names, yet my oldest son is the red sock and my daughter is the yellow - and my youngest son is simply the blessing I never planned for.
The older we get, particularly if we feel unfulfilled and that life is passing or has passed us by, regret can set in - and so can depression. We tend to forget that as long as we draw breath on this earth we can draw into our life that which fulfills, comforts, completes, and sates us.
There is an Orson Swett Marden quote that fits here: "If your task is not a perpetual tonic to you...you have not found your place."
The following questions might help you to determine what your place is - and encourage you to take the steps necessary to reach it. I picked them up at some training or other I went to for work, and they are applicable for all of us.
1. What are the three most important things in your life right now?
2. What are your three main goals in life?
3. If you only had six months to live, what would you do differently?
4. If you came into a lot of money, what would you do differently?
5. What have you always wanted to do but were afraid to try?
6. What activities give you a sense of importance and/or a sense of joy?
7. If there were no boundaries, what would you want to achieve, do, and/or have?
Take the time necessary to contemplate each question and answer it as thoroughly and authentically as possible. Consider your answers and how you can reach the path they are directing you towards.
I never said anything was easy; I say things can be done, however.
I will leave you with my all time favorite song that embodies this message pretty well, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. Jimmy Page starts this video off with the saying, "I think this a song of hope." I agree - Namaste!
I know I had no clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. Life was too chaotic for me to think beyond getting through the day at hand most of the time. I do remember when I was little, though, five or slightly younger, having two unmatched socks, one red and one yellow, and making up a story about having two children - a boy named Erik for Erik the Red (the red sock), and a girl named Sarah (the yellow sock) - none of my children bear those names, yet my oldest son is the red sock and my daughter is the yellow - and my youngest son is simply the blessing I never planned for.
The older we get, particularly if we feel unfulfilled and that life is passing or has passed us by, regret can set in - and so can depression. We tend to forget that as long as we draw breath on this earth we can draw into our life that which fulfills, comforts, completes, and sates us.
There is an Orson Swett Marden quote that fits here: "If your task is not a perpetual tonic to you...you have not found your place."
The following questions might help you to determine what your place is - and encourage you to take the steps necessary to reach it. I picked them up at some training or other I went to for work, and they are applicable for all of us.
1. What are the three most important things in your life right now?
2. What are your three main goals in life?
3. If you only had six months to live, what would you do differently?
4. If you came into a lot of money, what would you do differently?
5. What have you always wanted to do but were afraid to try?
6. What activities give you a sense of importance and/or a sense of joy?
7. If there were no boundaries, what would you want to achieve, do, and/or have?
Take the time necessary to contemplate each question and answer it as thoroughly and authentically as possible. Consider your answers and how you can reach the path they are directing you towards.
I never said anything was easy; I say things can be done, however.
I will leave you with my all time favorite song that embodies this message pretty well, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. Jimmy Page starts this video off with the saying, "I think this a song of hope." I agree - Namaste!
Monday, January 21, 2013
MaXIMIze - Take Your Life in Your Arms and Kiss It!
Arthur Miller wrote a play called "After the Fall" shortly after the death of Marilyn Monroe. The play is about forgiveness, and the title of this post comes from a line that one of the characters says in the play:
"I think it is a mistake to ever look for hope outside of yourself. One day the house smells of fresh bread, and the next, smoke and blood. One day you faint because the gardener cut his finger. Within a week you're climbing over corpses of children bombed in subways. What hope can there be if that is so?
"I tried to die near the end of the war. The same dream returned to me each night until I dared not go to sleep, and I grew ill. I dreamed I had a child. And even in the dream I felt that the child was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away from it. But it always kept climbing into my lap, and clutching at my clothes, and I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever was in it that was my own, perhaps I could sleep again. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible. But I kissed it. I think, Quentin, one must finally take one's life into one's arms, and kiss it."
Wow - how powerful that is! No matter how bad you think your life is, if you can just pick it up, hold it to you, and kiss it, you can accept it as it is and watch it transform from the warty toad you think it is to the beautiful prince (or princess) that your life can be.
To work through the transformation, you need to answer this question, though - are you really what you are, or are you what you are learning and what people have told you through time you are?
To help you focus on truly answering this question, I give you another reading, this time from a book called Teaching According to Don Juan by an anthropologist named Castaneda, who studied the Yaqui Indians. In this book, there is a man called Don Juan, and this is what he says:
"Each path is only one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. If you feel that you must now follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear and ambition. I warn you: look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question. It is this: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same. They lead nowhere. They are paths going through the brush or into the brush or under the brush. Does this path have a heart is the only question. If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."
Wow - again, how powerful!
So I leave you with the challenge of kissing the toad that is your life (and if your life is already transformed or transforming into the prince (or princess) you are truly blessed!) and discovering if the path you are on has a heart (if it does, you will know, for it will call to you like a lover and you will not be able to resist it's pull!).
Namaste!
"I think it is a mistake to ever look for hope outside of yourself. One day the house smells of fresh bread, and the next, smoke and blood. One day you faint because the gardener cut his finger. Within a week you're climbing over corpses of children bombed in subways. What hope can there be if that is so?
"I tried to die near the end of the war. The same dream returned to me each night until I dared not go to sleep, and I grew ill. I dreamed I had a child. And even in the dream I felt that the child was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away from it. But it always kept climbing into my lap, and clutching at my clothes, and I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever was in it that was my own, perhaps I could sleep again. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible. But I kissed it. I think, Quentin, one must finally take one's life into one's arms, and kiss it."
Wow - how powerful that is! No matter how bad you think your life is, if you can just pick it up, hold it to you, and kiss it, you can accept it as it is and watch it transform from the warty toad you think it is to the beautiful prince (or princess) that your life can be.
To work through the transformation, you need to answer this question, though - are you really what you are, or are you what you are learning and what people have told you through time you are?
To help you focus on truly answering this question, I give you another reading, this time from a book called Teaching According to Don Juan by an anthropologist named Castaneda, who studied the Yaqui Indians. In this book, there is a man called Don Juan, and this is what he says:
"Each path is only one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path. If you feel that you must now follow it, you need not stay with it under any circumstances. Any path is only a path. There is no affront to yourself or others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear and ambition. I warn you: look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question. It is this: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same. They lead nowhere. They are paths going through the brush or into the brush or under the brush. Does this path have a heart is the only question. If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."
Wow - again, how powerful!
So I leave you with the challenge of kissing the toad that is your life (and if your life is already transformed or transforming into the prince (or princess) you are truly blessed!) and discovering if the path you are on has a heart (if it does, you will know, for it will call to you like a lover and you will not be able to resist it's pull!).
Namaste!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
First Post of the New Year - Becoming
Happy New Year! Another year over, and a new one just begun. Last year what I had on my white board was the phrase "focus on - letting go." You have to let go of that which no longer serves to allow that which will in. This is an iterative process that we go through over and over and over again through many layers - for we have layers upon layers upon layers of experiences to pull out into the light, examine, take the nuggets out of for safe keeping and let the dross go.
This year the phrase is "focus on - becoming; prove the devil otherwise." You also need to focus on what it is you really want in your life and becoming the person who draws such things to you. The devil is that evil little voice inside that is full of the "you can't, you aren't good enough, you aren't enough period" type phrases, the one fueled by your insecurities and old patterns of thinking - those things you need to continue to focus on letting go of through the iterative process noted above.
As I believe I've said before, no one said this path was easy - you'll hit walls, fall into wells, tumble and tremble and want to give up many times along the way - however, it is worth it in the end. YOU are worth it in the end.
I'm going to share with you now some of the things that help me keep going, particularly at times when I feel like nothing more than a battered and broken toy not even fit for Santa to rescue from the island of misfit toys. They are the quotes I retweet on Twitter (@bethane13, if you're so inclined to find me there). These quotes lift my spirits and remind me I am not alone on my journey through this world, and I hope they do the same for you. And I give thanks to all the folks I follow on Twitter for sharing these with me and others.
Where the heart is willing, it will find a hundred ways. Where it is unwilling, it will find a hundred excuses. - Arlen Price
Don't be afraid if people leave, be afraid of not being yourself to please someone else. Be authentically you no matter what. - Mastin Kipp (The Daily Love)
Most human beings have an infinite capacity for taking things for granted. - Aldous Huxley
The 3 C's of life = Choices, Chances, Changes. - Dr. Marion Ross (shiftyourlife.com)
Our wounds are often openings into the best part of us. - Dr. Marion Ross (shiftyourlife.com)
Free yourself from fear, guilt and regret. The past exists only in your mind, your future also. Let go. Forgive. - Valacier
The way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger. - Dalai Lama XIV
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus. - Tony Robbins
If beating yourself up worked, you'd be thin, rich and happy. Try loving yourself instead. :) - @coachoncall
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. - Ludwig Boerne
Watch your language; by altering a few words we can create different results. - Lopez (@Lopez_nlp) This one was a reaction to a saying on a Starbucks cup - The Way I See It #283 - The most important thing in life is to stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will." Consider nothing impossible then treat possibilities as probabilities.
There are many more of these that I have shared over the time I've been on Twitter, and I may share more of them here in future blogs.
Until then, I bid you Namaste!
This year the phrase is "focus on - becoming; prove the devil otherwise." You also need to focus on what it is you really want in your life and becoming the person who draws such things to you. The devil is that evil little voice inside that is full of the "you can't, you aren't good enough, you aren't enough period" type phrases, the one fueled by your insecurities and old patterns of thinking - those things you need to continue to focus on letting go of through the iterative process noted above.
As I believe I've said before, no one said this path was easy - you'll hit walls, fall into wells, tumble and tremble and want to give up many times along the way - however, it is worth it in the end. YOU are worth it in the end.
I'm going to share with you now some of the things that help me keep going, particularly at times when I feel like nothing more than a battered and broken toy not even fit for Santa to rescue from the island of misfit toys. They are the quotes I retweet on Twitter (@bethane13, if you're so inclined to find me there). These quotes lift my spirits and remind me I am not alone on my journey through this world, and I hope they do the same for you. And I give thanks to all the folks I follow on Twitter for sharing these with me and others.
Where the heart is willing, it will find a hundred ways. Where it is unwilling, it will find a hundred excuses. - Arlen Price
Don't be afraid if people leave, be afraid of not being yourself to please someone else. Be authentically you no matter what. - Mastin Kipp (The Daily Love)
Most human beings have an infinite capacity for taking things for granted. - Aldous Huxley
The 3 C's of life = Choices, Chances, Changes. - Dr. Marion Ross (shiftyourlife.com)
Our wounds are often openings into the best part of us. - Dr. Marion Ross (shiftyourlife.com)
Free yourself from fear, guilt and regret. The past exists only in your mind, your future also. Let go. Forgive. - Valacier
The way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger. - Dalai Lama XIV
One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus. - Tony Robbins
If beating yourself up worked, you'd be thin, rich and happy. Try loving yourself instead. :) - @coachoncall
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. - Ludwig Boerne
Watch your language; by altering a few words we can create different results. - Lopez (@Lopez_nlp) This one was a reaction to a saying on a Starbucks cup - The Way I See It #283 - The most important thing in life is to stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will." Consider nothing impossible then treat possibilities as probabilities.
There are many more of these that I have shared over the time I've been on Twitter, and I may share more of them here in future blogs.
Until then, I bid you Namaste!
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