It’s used in toy bears
And turkey’s too
Let’s take a look then
At the stuffing in you
Hello my dear family,
I hope that you all had a great week and that you are looking forward to spending the upcoming holiday with friends and loved ones.
This week I sat in contemplation around what I have been most thankful for this year. I am thankful for the courage and tenacity it has taken me to discover the real me. It’s been over three years now and the journey continues. While this year has not been easy or comfortable, it has been perhaps the most rewarding to me. I have been presented with the greatest opportunities for growth and I have just begun to uncover what I stuffed down for so long.
Stuffing is fine for toys and turkey but when it comes to a way of life I wouldn’t recommend it. We self sabotage ourselves when we keep our feelings inside of us. Whether the feelings are based on fear or love, we become afraid to reveal our true selves because of what others might think of us. The need to feel accepted and acknowledged becomes so important that we forget who we are and what we want. We hold back because we don’t want to be rejected. I ask you, what’s more tragic? Being rejected by someone or rejecting ourselves?
When we reject ourselves our thoughts and emotions begin to turn toxic. We begin to believe that we are not deserving or worthy of having everything we want in our life. To make ourselves feel better we either compartmentalize or deny what is really going on. We get involved in using stuff on the outside to make the stuff on the inside more comfortable. We overeat, overspend and overindulge creating a vicious cycle of merely surviving and not truly thriving.
What is even worse is that when we fill ourselves with stuffing we cover up the best part of ourselves, our light and our unique gift that is so needed in the world, right now! So my wish for you this holiday season is for the comfort and security that you need to share your innermost selves with those who you hold so close, starting with yourself. Let’s keep the stuffing on the table where it belongs.
I’m so grateful for all of you!
Peace, blessings and warm wishes,
Mary
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Who's to blame?
Playing the blame game
There’s never a winner
No matter who it is that’s playing
A saint or a sinner
Hello everyone,
Hope your week was full of excitement and that you all reached a little bit outside of your comfort zones. Because I have spent a lot of time outside of my comfort zone lately, I decided to celebrate and return to one of my favorite places of comfort, the mall!
Walking through those doors at Macy’s, seeing all the fashion, smelling the perfume and looking at all the décor was like returning home for me. I wanted to shop till I dropped, but I was stopped in my tracks. The only item in my wallet that was plastic was my driver’s license. I wanted to celebrate and be happy that I was no longer living on credit but instead I felt frustrated and a bit depressed. I wanted to be able to shop, to get that fix that used to feed me. The frustration turned into a little bit of anger which quickly turned to blame.
Let’s see, who could I blame for not being able to shop? First, I could blame the credit card companies who charge outrageous interest rates making it next to impossible to EVER pay them off. Second, I could blame my parents for never teaching me the importance of saving money and lastly I could have blamed my ex-husband for not helping me out with my serious financial issue forcing me to close all my accounts and start paying off my debt all on my own. If I let myself stew in this self pity any longer, I am sure I could have come up with more people and events to blame for my inability to get things. At this point, the “old” me may have just decided to be pissed off and leave the mall casting blame and judgment on whomever I thought deserved it. Though it seems like I was immersed in this blame game for what seemed like hours, in reality it lasted only for a few minutes.
Because of the inner work that I’ve done, two things happened next. The first thing that I did was take a second to acknowledge the part of me who was selfish and pouted when she didn’t get what she wanted. I found the girl inside of me that wanted the golden goose and wanted it now! I took a minute to sit down on a bench in the mall, close my eyes and talk to her. I explained that while we may not always get what we want, we will always have what we need and that anytime she wants to throw a tantrum, I’ll be there to listen. After taking a deep breath, I stood up and continued to walk about the mall, taking in the people, the beautiful decorations and the lovely clothes, shoes, bags, all of it. It felt good to not need any of it and just enjoy the scenery.
The lesson that I learned at the mall was that sitting in judgment and blaming others keeps us stuck in the past and we end up giving our power away to something outside of ourselves. It becomes almost impossible to move forward and take action. It is something like saying “well he/she/they/it did this to me so there is nothing I can do about it.” With that frame of mind we become stagnant and our choices become very limited. The only way that we can stop looking back and start looking forward is to take full ownership of our part in whatever the situation might have been. When we do this, we are able to move through life with open arms, eyes, ears, heart and minds creating limitless opportunity.
Next time you find yourself wanting to blame someone or something take a step back, a deep breath and see what part you played in the game. What are you willing to do to turn around the blame, own the game and create a winning outcome, not just for you but for everyone involved?
Wishing you a week of endless possibility and discovery!
There’s never a winner
No matter who it is that’s playing
A saint or a sinner
Hello everyone,
Hope your week was full of excitement and that you all reached a little bit outside of your comfort zones. Because I have spent a lot of time outside of my comfort zone lately, I decided to celebrate and return to one of my favorite places of comfort, the mall!
Walking through those doors at Macy’s, seeing all the fashion, smelling the perfume and looking at all the décor was like returning home for me. I wanted to shop till I dropped, but I was stopped in my tracks. The only item in my wallet that was plastic was my driver’s license. I wanted to celebrate and be happy that I was no longer living on credit but instead I felt frustrated and a bit depressed. I wanted to be able to shop, to get that fix that used to feed me. The frustration turned into a little bit of anger which quickly turned to blame.
Let’s see, who could I blame for not being able to shop? First, I could blame the credit card companies who charge outrageous interest rates making it next to impossible to EVER pay them off. Second, I could blame my parents for never teaching me the importance of saving money and lastly I could have blamed my ex-husband for not helping me out with my serious financial issue forcing me to close all my accounts and start paying off my debt all on my own. If I let myself stew in this self pity any longer, I am sure I could have come up with more people and events to blame for my inability to get things. At this point, the “old” me may have just decided to be pissed off and leave the mall casting blame and judgment on whomever I thought deserved it. Though it seems like I was immersed in this blame game for what seemed like hours, in reality it lasted only for a few minutes.
Because of the inner work that I’ve done, two things happened next. The first thing that I did was take a second to acknowledge the part of me who was selfish and pouted when she didn’t get what she wanted. I found the girl inside of me that wanted the golden goose and wanted it now! I took a minute to sit down on a bench in the mall, close my eyes and talk to her. I explained that while we may not always get what we want, we will always have what we need and that anytime she wants to throw a tantrum, I’ll be there to listen. After taking a deep breath, I stood up and continued to walk about the mall, taking in the people, the beautiful decorations and the lovely clothes, shoes, bags, all of it. It felt good to not need any of it and just enjoy the scenery.
The lesson that I learned at the mall was that sitting in judgment and blaming others keeps us stuck in the past and we end up giving our power away to something outside of ourselves. It becomes almost impossible to move forward and take action. It is something like saying “well he/she/they/it did this to me so there is nothing I can do about it.” With that frame of mind we become stagnant and our choices become very limited. The only way that we can stop looking back and start looking forward is to take full ownership of our part in whatever the situation might have been. When we do this, we are able to move through life with open arms, eyes, ears, heart and minds creating limitless opportunity.
Next time you find yourself wanting to blame someone or something take a step back, a deep breath and see what part you played in the game. What are you willing to do to turn around the blame, own the game and create a winning outcome, not just for you but for everyone involved?
Wishing you a week of endless possibility and discovery!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Me...Me...Me!
Time spent wracking our brains
Trying to figure out who we’re supposed to be
The most important thing to remember
Is that it’s not you, it’s me
Greetings all,
Thank you for all your kind comments on my blog last week. I hope you were all able to sit in gratitude for all that you do have and that you took some time out just for you. This week the focus is on ME time.
Many of us rush through our days busy with our careers and our families forgetting to take time out for ourselves. We are faced with daily responsibilities and before you know it, the homework is done, the dishes are cleaned and then it’s time to collapse into bed ready to start it all over again in seven or eight hours, if we're lucky enough to give ourselves that much rest.
Some of us haven’t learned to take the quality ME time that we need every day. Perhaps we grew up learning to please others or we were afraid that we’d be called selfish if we took time out for ourselves. For many years, I struggled with being called selfish. I was taught, as many were, that being selfish is bad and not right. Being selfish to a lot of people means only thinking of themselves without regards for any other person. I do believe if taken to extreme, being selfish will rob you of your true purpose in life. Perhaps a step to getting closer to your true purpose is to accept that on some level you may be seen as selfish because you know how to take care of your body, mind and spirit first before being of service to others. You make it a daily practice to fill your own container of self worth and love so that it overflows out into your world. It is not only important but imperative to learn how to do this. Robbing yourself of self care can lead to resentments, anger and just plain exhaustion.
Whether it’s through exercise, reading, writing, listening to music or just sitting still, we all need some time each day to recharge our batteries. This week I encourage you to take a few minutes each day just for you. Find something that fills you with joy. See if you can start with just 2 or 3 minutes and then add a minute each day allowing more serenity into your life.
And if you are worried about seeming selfish when taking time for you, take the advice of any flight attendant and “put on your oxygen mask before assisting another.”
Breathe it in…
Trying to figure out who we’re supposed to be
The most important thing to remember
Is that it’s not you, it’s me
Greetings all,
Thank you for all your kind comments on my blog last week. I hope you were all able to sit in gratitude for all that you do have and that you took some time out just for you. This week the focus is on ME time.
Many of us rush through our days busy with our careers and our families forgetting to take time out for ourselves. We are faced with daily responsibilities and before you know it, the homework is done, the dishes are cleaned and then it’s time to collapse into bed ready to start it all over again in seven or eight hours, if we're lucky enough to give ourselves that much rest.
Some of us haven’t learned to take the quality ME time that we need every day. Perhaps we grew up learning to please others or we were afraid that we’d be called selfish if we took time out for ourselves. For many years, I struggled with being called selfish. I was taught, as many were, that being selfish is bad and not right. Being selfish to a lot of people means only thinking of themselves without regards for any other person. I do believe if taken to extreme, being selfish will rob you of your true purpose in life. Perhaps a step to getting closer to your true purpose is to accept that on some level you may be seen as selfish because you know how to take care of your body, mind and spirit first before being of service to others. You make it a daily practice to fill your own container of self worth and love so that it overflows out into your world. It is not only important but imperative to learn how to do this. Robbing yourself of self care can lead to resentments, anger and just plain exhaustion.
Whether it’s through exercise, reading, writing, listening to music or just sitting still, we all need some time each day to recharge our batteries. This week I encourage you to take a few minutes each day just for you. Find something that fills you with joy. See if you can start with just 2 or 3 minutes and then add a minute each day allowing more serenity into your life.
And if you are worried about seeming selfish when taking time for you, take the advice of any flight attendant and “put on your oxygen mask before assisting another.”
Breathe it in…
Less is More
Remember the saying
He who dies with the most toys wins
I think it is due time to examine our values
To wake up and realize
He with the highest of scores
Is he who has learned that needing less
Gives you so much more
Hello everyone,
I hope that you all had a safe and fun Halloween. I was able to volunteer in my daughter’s classroom for part of the day and what a gift and treat that was for me. It reminded me of the simple things in life and that it is possible to have a great time without affecting my checking account. As I sat in this moment of “some of the best things in life are free” I decided to share my thoughts around money and what I’ve learned this week.
Due to the state of the economy, we have all had to cut back and reduce our spending. We’ve had to cut corners and some have even had to make very difficult decisions such as home foreclosure and filing bankruptcy. One of my greatest secrets that held so much shame was the amount of credit I had racked up. I became one of the statistics that was living on credit and was in denial about the damage that it could do. Not only did being in denial and hiding this shame create issues with my credit report, but it caused some irrevocable damage to a certain relationship in my life. I am not writing this blog to talk about my shame and how I kept it hidden. That’s a whole other story in itself. Instead today, I am going to write about the gift of this shame.
The gift I have been given is the gift of making new choices and finding the pleasure in little things and yes, living with less than what I was used to. I was used to being able to buy what I wanted when I wanted. Shopping was my addiction and in order to break that addiction, I had to sign up with a debt management company and get rid of all my credit cards. I can now celebrate living within my means and not using credit cards for over a year now. Though this hasn’t always been fun or easy, living with less has given me so much more. I have learned to take better care of my things and appreciate what I have. And now when I treat myself every once in a while to a nice meal or even a delicious latte, I savor the moment and not take it for granted. I make sure to hang up my clothes after work or after they come out of the dryer and when I go to bed at night, I am grateful for the roof over my head and the bed I have to sleep in along with so many other priceless things, my family, my friends, my community and the list goes on.
It has been said that there is a purpose for everything under heaven and maybe the purpose for the economy crisis is to teach us how to live in appreciation and gratitude for everything that we do have.
Food for thought (thoughts are free after all)…
With respect and humility,
Mary Laughlin Cunningham
He who dies with the most toys wins
I think it is due time to examine our values
To wake up and realize
He with the highest of scores
Is he who has learned that needing less
Gives you so much more
Hello everyone,
I hope that you all had a safe and fun Halloween. I was able to volunteer in my daughter’s classroom for part of the day and what a gift and treat that was for me. It reminded me of the simple things in life and that it is possible to have a great time without affecting my checking account. As I sat in this moment of “some of the best things in life are free” I decided to share my thoughts around money and what I’ve learned this week.
Due to the state of the economy, we have all had to cut back and reduce our spending. We’ve had to cut corners and some have even had to make very difficult decisions such as home foreclosure and filing bankruptcy. One of my greatest secrets that held so much shame was the amount of credit I had racked up. I became one of the statistics that was living on credit and was in denial about the damage that it could do. Not only did being in denial and hiding this shame create issues with my credit report, but it caused some irrevocable damage to a certain relationship in my life. I am not writing this blog to talk about my shame and how I kept it hidden. That’s a whole other story in itself. Instead today, I am going to write about the gift of this shame.
The gift I have been given is the gift of making new choices and finding the pleasure in little things and yes, living with less than what I was used to. I was used to being able to buy what I wanted when I wanted. Shopping was my addiction and in order to break that addiction, I had to sign up with a debt management company and get rid of all my credit cards. I can now celebrate living within my means and not using credit cards for over a year now. Though this hasn’t always been fun or easy, living with less has given me so much more. I have learned to take better care of my things and appreciate what I have. And now when I treat myself every once in a while to a nice meal or even a delicious latte, I savor the moment and not take it for granted. I make sure to hang up my clothes after work or after they come out of the dryer and when I go to bed at night, I am grateful for the roof over my head and the bed I have to sleep in along with so many other priceless things, my family, my friends, my community and the list goes on.
It has been said that there is a purpose for everything under heaven and maybe the purpose for the economy crisis is to teach us how to live in appreciation and gratitude for everything that we do have.
Food for thought (thoughts are free after all)…
With respect and humility,
Mary Laughlin Cunningham
Surprise!
“…this is more about our life plans and how we make them…but if we’re really honest with ourselves, many of our plans don’t work out as we hoped…so instead of asking what are my plans for the future maybe we should tell ourselves, plan to be surprised.”
The above paraphrased quote was from a movie “Dan in Real Life”. Our character Dan was talking about life plans and how they don’t work out as we had thought we wanted.
How many times have you made plans only to find out that what actually happened wasn’t anything that you had expected? I think one of the great paradoxes of life is that we make plans with the best of our intentions, yet life has a way of showing up and giving us something different. We find ourselves asking “how did I get here?” I know that in the last couple of months, I have asked myself that very question. Sitting in the space of “what the heck happened?” you have two choices, either to react or act.
Reacting, in my opinion, is focusing on what didn’t happen instead of being in the present moment to what life wants you to experience. We stay in resistance to what is in front of us and rack our brains by going over and over, step by step, what we could or should have done differently. Reacting gives us an opportunity to point the finger and blame other people, places and things for the circumstances that now exist. It also keeps us stuck in the past unable to let go, accept what is and move forward. Resentment starts to build up keeping us closed off to seeing new opportunities and possibilities.
Choosing to act is another term for taking action. When we decide to take action, we see things as they are, not how we wanted or expected them to be. Instead of focusing on what went “wrong”, we learn to find the lessons by uncovering, integrating and accepting ourselves and how our choices and free will contributed to the experience. We sit in acceptance, chalk it up to “life happens” and take away the gifts, moving forward ready and willing to see something new. We go with the flow instead of padding desperately upstream.
I am a firm believer that the Universe has greatness planned for all of us. Part of that greatness lies in how we act or react to the surprises that show up in our life. So next time you find yourself surprised or when your life show’s up in the middle of your best laid plans, will you act or react?
And when you are sitting in the place of “what happened here?”, always remember what John Lennon said “life is what happens to us while we’re busy making other plans”.
Wishing you a week full of surprises!
Boo!
The above paraphrased quote was from a movie “Dan in Real Life”. Our character Dan was talking about life plans and how they don’t work out as we had thought we wanted.
How many times have you made plans only to find out that what actually happened wasn’t anything that you had expected? I think one of the great paradoxes of life is that we make plans with the best of our intentions, yet life has a way of showing up and giving us something different. We find ourselves asking “how did I get here?” I know that in the last couple of months, I have asked myself that very question. Sitting in the space of “what the heck happened?” you have two choices, either to react or act.
Reacting, in my opinion, is focusing on what didn’t happen instead of being in the present moment to what life wants you to experience. We stay in resistance to what is in front of us and rack our brains by going over and over, step by step, what we could or should have done differently. Reacting gives us an opportunity to point the finger and blame other people, places and things for the circumstances that now exist. It also keeps us stuck in the past unable to let go, accept what is and move forward. Resentment starts to build up keeping us closed off to seeing new opportunities and possibilities.
Choosing to act is another term for taking action. When we decide to take action, we see things as they are, not how we wanted or expected them to be. Instead of focusing on what went “wrong”, we learn to find the lessons by uncovering, integrating and accepting ourselves and how our choices and free will contributed to the experience. We sit in acceptance, chalk it up to “life happens” and take away the gifts, moving forward ready and willing to see something new. We go with the flow instead of padding desperately upstream.
I am a firm believer that the Universe has greatness planned for all of us. Part of that greatness lies in how we act or react to the surprises that show up in our life. So next time you find yourself surprised or when your life show’s up in the middle of your best laid plans, will you act or react?
And when you are sitting in the place of “what happened here?”, always remember what John Lennon said “life is what happens to us while we’re busy making other plans”.
Wishing you a week full of surprises!
Boo!
Shadows and Addictions - BFF's
Hello all,
Each week, I usually start my blog with a short poem that I wrote. Due to the subject of my blog this week, I chose this quote instead:
“We move in our recovery from one addiction to another for two major reasons: first, we have not recognized and treated the underlying addictive process, and second, we have not accurately isolated and focused upon the specific addictions.” - Anne Wilson Schaef, Ph.D.
As most of you know, the coaching work that I’ve emerged myself in for over three years now focuses on the shadows that lie within each of us. I ran across this description of the shadow recently which states:
“Hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, both good and bad, which the ego has either repressed or never realized. They are rejected aspects of ourselves and also underdeveloped potential. Jung said our shadow is 90% gold.”
The only thing I would change with the above quote would be the words “both good and bad.” I would replace those words with both light and dark. The reason is because we have both light and dark qualities of ourselves that we keep locked down and hidden. Because we aren’t able to be with these qualities, we will do whatever it is that we need to in order to remain unconscious of what lies within us. We seek solace in external comfort by using food, work, people, money, alcohol, drugs and whatever else it takes to get through another day. After awhile these “things” on the outside turn into addictions. Some may think that the longer we live on the outside of us, the deeper the addiction may be. What I do know, by my own experience, is that until we are able to uncover, accept and integrate those parts of us that we are hiding, it is quite possible that we will move from one addiction to another.
Addiction is not just about drugs and alcohol, even though that is what most people associate it with. That is what I used to think. To better understand addiction, the first thing I did was look up one of the definitions for it which describes it as being “the condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied or involved in something”. This may be presumption but I am fairly sure that we have all, at one point in our lives found ourselves compulsively occupied with something. I know that I’ve experienced addiction around diets, relationships and spending sprees to name just a few. When I become compulsively occupied in any of these situations, it is usually because there is something inside of me that I am either unaware of or am too afraid to deal with. I am not an expert on addictions but I do believe that no matter what your “poison” is, it can rob you of your passion, your soul and your life. Therefore, it is important to understand where our addictions come from first before we can start to get control of them.
Do I think that our addictions will go away if and when we are willing to look inside of ourselves and uncover something we have yet to see? Because we are humans I don’t think we can ever rid ourselves of whatever addictions we might be suffering from. However, if we are willing to do the internal work to unlock that which is in us that we don’t think we can handle or be with, that will be one small step to enlightenment and one huge step for living your life as the extraordinary being that you are!
I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for being you.
Each week, I usually start my blog with a short poem that I wrote. Due to the subject of my blog this week, I chose this quote instead:
“We move in our recovery from one addiction to another for two major reasons: first, we have not recognized and treated the underlying addictive process, and second, we have not accurately isolated and focused upon the specific addictions.” - Anne Wilson Schaef, Ph.D.
As most of you know, the coaching work that I’ve emerged myself in for over three years now focuses on the shadows that lie within each of us. I ran across this description of the shadow recently which states:
“Hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, both good and bad, which the ego has either repressed or never realized. They are rejected aspects of ourselves and also underdeveloped potential. Jung said our shadow is 90% gold.”
The only thing I would change with the above quote would be the words “both good and bad.” I would replace those words with both light and dark. The reason is because we have both light and dark qualities of ourselves that we keep locked down and hidden. Because we aren’t able to be with these qualities, we will do whatever it is that we need to in order to remain unconscious of what lies within us. We seek solace in external comfort by using food, work, people, money, alcohol, drugs and whatever else it takes to get through another day. After awhile these “things” on the outside turn into addictions. Some may think that the longer we live on the outside of us, the deeper the addiction may be. What I do know, by my own experience, is that until we are able to uncover, accept and integrate those parts of us that we are hiding, it is quite possible that we will move from one addiction to another.
Addiction is not just about drugs and alcohol, even though that is what most people associate it with. That is what I used to think. To better understand addiction, the first thing I did was look up one of the definitions for it which describes it as being “the condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied or involved in something”. This may be presumption but I am fairly sure that we have all, at one point in our lives found ourselves compulsively occupied with something. I know that I’ve experienced addiction around diets, relationships and spending sprees to name just a few. When I become compulsively occupied in any of these situations, it is usually because there is something inside of me that I am either unaware of or am too afraid to deal with. I am not an expert on addictions but I do believe that no matter what your “poison” is, it can rob you of your passion, your soul and your life. Therefore, it is important to understand where our addictions come from first before we can start to get control of them.
Do I think that our addictions will go away if and when we are willing to look inside of ourselves and uncover something we have yet to see? Because we are humans I don’t think we can ever rid ourselves of whatever addictions we might be suffering from. However, if we are willing to do the internal work to unlock that which is in us that we don’t think we can handle or be with, that will be one small step to enlightenment and one huge step for living your life as the extraordinary being that you are!
I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. Thank you for being you.
Have you ever woken up
And pulled the sheets o’er your head
Not wanting to get up
And face the day ahead
What is it you’re afraid of
This could be your best day yet
Throw the covers off your body
Invite in the light, let go of regret
Happy Fall everyone,
Can you believe that we’re into November? Where has this year gone? It feels like yesterday was the beginning of the year and now we are approaching the end. Since fall is the time for gathering and harvesting, I thought this would be the perfect week to talk about what it is that you’ve planted this year and what it is that you would like to be harvesting.
My year has been a bit insane but there is so much I am grateful for. At the beginning of the year, I planted some unexpected seeds in a barren garden bed. Doing my own internal work provided the soil with plenty of nutrients so when it was time for harvest, the healthiest and richest part of me surfaced and is now ready to be plucked from the ground and integrated into my soul. This healthy and rich part of me comes down to one word, responsibility. While I have been responsible in some areas of my life, it was very clear that I was very irresponsible with others. The harvesting of my heart and soul has shown up as me taking responsibility for all areas of my life and doing something every day (ok almost every day) that is new and different and that sometimes scares me.
There have been days where I don’t know where I get my strength from but one thing I can say for sure is I have NEVER felt more alive than I do right now. Just last night I opened up to a dear friend of mine and what I shared had me feeling very vulnerable and scared to death. I was scared because I knew that what I was sharing could freak them out but I also knew that if I didn’t share my authentic self, not only would I be robbing that person of really knowing my heart, but more importantly I would be robbing myself of fully living.
As I sat down to write this blog I thought “Sure we all know what we need to do to survive and exist but do we know what we need to do to fully experience being alive?” Is it recognizing, integrating and celebrating our beliefs, thoughts and feelings instead of using some external agent (work, tv, food, sex, exercise, drugs, alcohol, etc) to numb out? Is it being true to ourselves first and figuring out what feeds our soul instead of selling out to who others want us to be? I don’t think there is one right question to find all your answers. Maybe it is a gathering of powerful questions that will help you to listen to what your body, mind and spirit are telling you.
As the days get shorter and the evenings longer, I encourage you to take an inventory of what you have harvested this year. Is it more of the “same ol’, same ol’? If it is more of the same, ask yourself “have I fully lived each and every day to the BEST of my abilities this year”? If the answer is no, you might want to take a look around on the inside to see what shifts you would need to take in order to create your best year yet. We have ninety-five days left this year, let’s make them all count! Are you with me?
Wishing you a bountiful harvest full of gratitude and peace.
And pulled the sheets o’er your head
Not wanting to get up
And face the day ahead
What is it you’re afraid of
This could be your best day yet
Throw the covers off your body
Invite in the light, let go of regret
Happy Fall everyone,
Can you believe that we’re into November? Where has this year gone? It feels like yesterday was the beginning of the year and now we are approaching the end. Since fall is the time for gathering and harvesting, I thought this would be the perfect week to talk about what it is that you’ve planted this year and what it is that you would like to be harvesting.
My year has been a bit insane but there is so much I am grateful for. At the beginning of the year, I planted some unexpected seeds in a barren garden bed. Doing my own internal work provided the soil with plenty of nutrients so when it was time for harvest, the healthiest and richest part of me surfaced and is now ready to be plucked from the ground and integrated into my soul. This healthy and rich part of me comes down to one word, responsibility. While I have been responsible in some areas of my life, it was very clear that I was very irresponsible with others. The harvesting of my heart and soul has shown up as me taking responsibility for all areas of my life and doing something every day (ok almost every day) that is new and different and that sometimes scares me.
There have been days where I don’t know where I get my strength from but one thing I can say for sure is I have NEVER felt more alive than I do right now. Just last night I opened up to a dear friend of mine and what I shared had me feeling very vulnerable and scared to death. I was scared because I knew that what I was sharing could freak them out but I also knew that if I didn’t share my authentic self, not only would I be robbing that person of really knowing my heart, but more importantly I would be robbing myself of fully living.
As I sat down to write this blog I thought “Sure we all know what we need to do to survive and exist but do we know what we need to do to fully experience being alive?” Is it recognizing, integrating and celebrating our beliefs, thoughts and feelings instead of using some external agent (work, tv, food, sex, exercise, drugs, alcohol, etc) to numb out? Is it being true to ourselves first and figuring out what feeds our soul instead of selling out to who others want us to be? I don’t think there is one right question to find all your answers. Maybe it is a gathering of powerful questions that will help you to listen to what your body, mind and spirit are telling you.
As the days get shorter and the evenings longer, I encourage you to take an inventory of what you have harvested this year. Is it more of the “same ol’, same ol’? If it is more of the same, ask yourself “have I fully lived each and every day to the BEST of my abilities this year”? If the answer is no, you might want to take a look around on the inside to see what shifts you would need to take in order to create your best year yet. We have ninety-five days left this year, let’s make them all count! Are you with me?
Wishing you a bountiful harvest full of gratitude and peace.
What are they thinking?
Putting a priority on what others think
Offers us no more than grief
And saps our energy and power
But what matters most is what we think of ourselves
Because for what anyone thinks of us
Is their business and none of ours
Hello all,
I hope last week was filled with lots of breathing space for you. I made sure to follow my own advice this week and create the space I needed to reflect and spend some time reading and writing.
As you may know, I get a lot of my blog ideas from things I may have read or from conversations I have had with others. A recent conversation I had with a girlfriend of mine was around how, as humans, we have the tendency to put a lot of value on what others think about us. That had me thinking a bit about how much time and energy we waste worrying about what to say, what to do or who to be so other’s will think highly of us. We walk on eggshells around certain people in our lives in fear of being ourselves and speaking and acting from our hearts. Well guess what, no matter how good we get on walking lightly on those eggshells, they are going to think whatever they want and we have no way to control that.
Now does that mean that I think that we should do, say and be whoever we want without taking anyone’s feelings into consideration? Not really. But first, I think we need to examine why we do, say and be who we are in our interactions with others. What part of ourselves are we feeding and giving our energy to? Are we putting on a mask so we don’t expose who we really are, or are we coming from that place of authenticity that exists within all of us?
Now you might be thinking, how do I know when I am being authentic? There are several definitions of the word but I think it comes down to knowing who your true self is, and acting as much as you can from that place within you. I further believe you arrived into this world as your true self who was pure love and light energy filled with wonderment, emotions, excitement, inspiration and kindness.
This week, I encourage you to pay attention to your interaction with others and ask yourself the question “am I being authentic and my true self or am I more concerned with what they think and who they think I need to be?”
Wishing you a week of great interaction with yourself and others.
Offers us no more than grief
And saps our energy and power
But what matters most is what we think of ourselves
Because for what anyone thinks of us
Is their business and none of ours
Hello all,
I hope last week was filled with lots of breathing space for you. I made sure to follow my own advice this week and create the space I needed to reflect and spend some time reading and writing.
As you may know, I get a lot of my blog ideas from things I may have read or from conversations I have had with others. A recent conversation I had with a girlfriend of mine was around how, as humans, we have the tendency to put a lot of value on what others think about us. That had me thinking a bit about how much time and energy we waste worrying about what to say, what to do or who to be so other’s will think highly of us. We walk on eggshells around certain people in our lives in fear of being ourselves and speaking and acting from our hearts. Well guess what, no matter how good we get on walking lightly on those eggshells, they are going to think whatever they want and we have no way to control that.
Now does that mean that I think that we should do, say and be whoever we want without taking anyone’s feelings into consideration? Not really. But first, I think we need to examine why we do, say and be who we are in our interactions with others. What part of ourselves are we feeding and giving our energy to? Are we putting on a mask so we don’t expose who we really are, or are we coming from that place of authenticity that exists within all of us?
Now you might be thinking, how do I know when I am being authentic? There are several definitions of the word but I think it comes down to knowing who your true self is, and acting as much as you can from that place within you. I further believe you arrived into this world as your true self who was pure love and light energy filled with wonderment, emotions, excitement, inspiration and kindness.
This week, I encourage you to pay attention to your interaction with others and ask yourself the question “am I being authentic and my true self or am I more concerned with what they think and who they think I need to be?”
Wishing you a week of great interaction with yourself and others.
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