Posts tagged ‘Inspiration’

May 8th, 2013

Keep Hope In Your Pocket

{Etsy print by JCSpock}

{Etsy print by JCSpock}

I admit I spend too much time worrying about the things that don’t end up even happening in my life. I worry about wasting time, but much of it is spent obsessing over the illnesses I have and the opportunities I don’t have.

Last night, however, I dreamed about possibility, hope and miracles. In it, I was told that everything we think we know about life is just the surface of what’s true. We grieve and bemoan our situation, for example, because we think it’s permanent. We allow logic to override miracle. We’ve grown too accustomed to computers and smartphones that tell us what is true instead of figuring it out for ourselves. And the weather? Trust your forecaster or Siri instead of just popping your head out the window.

As a result, intuition falls to the wayside. Hope no longer exists unless we have evidence to prove it.

Because something seems impossible or improbable we give up. But the whole notion of faith and miracle is dreaming up the impossible. If so, what we believe can be true is delivered to us on a platter.

Sounds easy, but the real struggle is challenging our old and jaded minds. We have to fight the fear of being vulnerable, being wrong, being disappointed.

We knew this as children. Every thing we absorbed then was magical. Do you remember it? But we let the pain and suffering of growing up wound us. Some allow it to wound them permanently.

If we can strip away the negativity, the paranoia, the obsessive need to know in this moment, we might return to that place of innocence, hope and joy. Instead of searching intently for a way to rid of your current ailment, let’s spend a moment in prayer and acceptance for what is so that we may lay open a door to possibility that everything. is. okay.

You won’t get that from the internet, a friend, your spouse, a sibling, or even a doctor. When you sit quietly or stand in the middle of nature, however, you will know it.

Do what you can with what you have and then surrender it and let it be. Life will happen regardless of how much you try to control it. But within those seemingly confining boundaries, there is and always will be hope. Trust in it. Hope is the armor of courage best used in battle. It will carry you through sleepless nights of worry, distrust, and panic. It is the only thing besides love that will help you through the unknown. And when you’ve landed safely on the other side, remember it. Remember that there is always a ray of light upon you just as you look back toward the shadows. It matters not what you go through, but where you’re focusing.

May 1st, 2013

Will You Live in Fear or Faith?

{Flickr photo by 27147}

{Flickr photo by 27147}

Between moving to our first home and landing a new writing gig, I haven’t had spare time to write for fun, much less keep up this blog. [insert =( here.] But I know the value in doing it. It’s forced me to sit on the ground with my laptop, exhausted after 5 hours of moving behind me.

Why?

Reflecting on this moment is of the utmost importance and sharing all the mini lessons I learn along the way makes it all worthwhile. Even if there are only a handful of you still reading this now.

2012-2013 has been filled with some of my most exciting and painful moments. I’ve said goodbye to good friends, got slammed with unexpected good and bad news and was continuously tested on my faith. The question that kept looping in my head was: Do I choose to live in fear or faith?

To live an inspiring life, many might assume that it means living a pain-free one. Some might think that true happiness is a life void of difficulty and filled to the rim with constant joy, and luck. Those who feel this way can get pretty tied up in feeling sorry for themselves (I can vouch for my own self-pity parties in the past.). But what they don’t realize is true happiness and joy stems from having the confidence to overcome obstacles, from being able to put one foot in front of the other regardless if you know where that path will lead.

Any one of us can easily fall into the gap of paranoia and fear especially in regards to the news lately. Any one of us can stay in the past and glorify a frozen moment. It’s easy to let yourself get overwhelmed by difficulty, problems and uncertainty. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

On the other side of the fence is hope. It’s still scary there. Unknowns lay like hidden potholes. But love, courage, faith there are stronger. I’m not saying that the road is easier. In fact, if you decide to live your life with faith, it may even be harder. But if you choose it, your confidence will grow. And in doing so, you will reap the benefits of a truly lived life.

I meet a lot of people these days who like to play their lives safe. Being cautious feels smart. It feels like the best way to live your life. But play things too cautiously and you’re putting yourself at great risk. You’re risking your ability to love deeply, laugh loudly and experience the life you were meant to live.

We were not meant to live life problem-free. We were meant to bend in the wind, to fall, to bleed, to shed our leaves and grow beautiful like the trees…

March 22nd, 2013

It’s Not Them. It’s You!

{image via The Urban Slant}

{image via The Urban Slant}

The hardest thing to do, which is also the most life-changing, is to take responsibility for your life. This means that you look at everything going on right now, not as evidence of bad luck or misfortune, but as the decisions that led you up to this point.

It is not about self-blame or self-pity. You may indulge in both for awhile. You may need to. But to truly grow as a person and be happy, you need to empower yourself. That takes seeing your life as it is not colored by someone’s bad choices, your parents’ mistakes or hard luck.

When it comes down to it, it’s so much easier to blame someone else than to understand, have compassion for, and be aware of what you did to yourself.

It was a hard look at my own life that made me realize this. It took years for me to wake up. I saw that the company I chose to surround myself with, the situations I put myself in and the life that I used to lead were the results of bad choices stemming from a low self-worth. It’s also hearing a quote by Theodore Roosevelt spoken aloud by author, professor and public speaker Brené Brown on Super Soul Sunday that made things sync for me.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

It’s not bad luck that led to moments of insecurity and self-doubt when it came to following my dreams. I realized that I chose people in my life who reinforced a long-held belief that I could not write, that I was not a good enough writer, and that I would never live the life of my dreams. I saw a trail of critics who validated what I was feeling internally. When I finally lifted myself out of the negativity, I saw that I was the one who was putting myself on the line, risking everything, and being vulnerable by following my dreams. The people I listened to were simply good at being on the sidelines, feeling courageous in their critiques.

I say this because you may be in the same boat as me. You might be struggling, working hard, dealing daily with people who don’t support your dreams. You will encounter this whenever you strive for a non-traditional life. Don’t make things harder on yourself by surrounding yourself with negative, non-supportive people.

Happiness and success come when your insides match your outsides. When you notice that the people you spend the most time with are loving, understanding and genuinely care about you, then you’ve done it! You’re on the road to the life you were meant to live.

March 13th, 2013

When Your Best Isn’t Quite Good Enough

{Etsy print from lizzylemonsouthsea}

{Etsy print from lizzylemonsouthsea}

From Out of Control to Controlling

I felt out of control a lot as a kid. We all did. We were completely dependent on tall, powerful beings that controlled what we could eat, what time we could go to bed, and what we did. While there is comfort in depending on others, it made me feel trapped, unhappy and unsafe. As a result, I developed ways to carve out a sense of freedom in little ways.

It turned me into a nerdy perfectionist. I demanded A’s in all of my classes. And when I didn’t get it? I pulled a Cher (from Clueless) and talked my way into one. This may not sound surprising to you. But imagine a C average grade school student who was so shy she would rather fail a class than do an oral report, and you might understand how shocking this was. But getting good grades was so immediately gratifying! There was nothing else in my life that allowed me to get direct and positive results like that. The idea that I could change my world by simply working hard taught me an important lesson about life:

Hard work = Good grades

Unfortunately, I learned after college and graduate school that life itself didn’t work that way. Sometimes you can try your hardest and still end up failing.

What Failure Means In Your Life

There are many moments in my life when I feel like a failure. I feel it when I don’t get a writing job. I feel it when I’m having a bad day. Sometimes I’m overcome with self-doubt when I wake up in the morning. But I never let it stay.

I realized that I am not God. I don’t know why things are happening so why sabotage the gift of what is for the gift I want.

On Super Soul Sunday, spiritual teacher Panache Desai said something so profound that it completely altered the way I saw my life.

He said, “Life is happening for you and not to you.”

It was just a play on semantics, a simple juggling of words. But the idea stayed with me, shook me up and changed the way I saw everything in my life.

Maybe that writing opportunity I didn’t get wasn’t right for me so it fell out my grasp. Maybe that house I was dreaming about wasn’t taken from me, but hidden for me so that I could find the true home of my dreams.

I used it on a trip to California last week and saw gifts bloom like flowers in Spring time. I didn’t hem or haw over lost sleep one night and the next morning I was grateful for the fatigue-I slept like a baby on the plane. I wasn’t worried about being on standby and got first class instead. I didn’t plan our trip to Monterey and found places my husband and I, who have been there multiple times, had never been. In the week that I was there, I learned that by letting go of my own expectations, I made room for life to unfold as it should. And the outcome was more beautiful, and more breathtaking than I could have imagined.

The thing about failure and about being “good enough” is that it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Maybe what you’re labeling as failure in your own life is simply your life..

unfolding for you

not to you.

January 22nd, 2013

Returning to the Freshness of Childhood

 Waikoloa Picture

Do you remember when you were a child? Everything was new and exciting. A trip to the pool was a deep sea adventure. Going to the mall was a journey into the unknown. Every moment held within it a jewel of wonder, a moment of unlimited possibility.

And then you GrEw Up!

On a recent vacation to the Big Island, my husband said something to me that made me think about the loss of childhood. We were at this fabulous pool with slides and waterfalls and I told him the following:

“I don’t know if I’m going to go in. The water’s cold and once I get in there what will I do?”

He said, “Funny when we’re kids we don’t have that problem.”

It’s true. If I forget, I only need to spy on the kids next to me and see how their imagination never fails to make use of every moment. Me? Bleh. I need to have a plan or else I’m wasting time.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Even though we might have lost the magic of many “first-times” as we get older, we also have the ability to rethink the way we see our lives. It just takes a little imagination and perspective.

How to Refresh Your Life

1. Take a class in something extraordinary. Or at least something new. I signed up for a watercolor class several months ago and this month? Embroidery. That’s how you keep your childhood enthusiasm up. You jump into things you’ve never done before and you go in with open eyes. These days there are tons of Groupons, Living Social and Bloomspot deals so you really have no reason to try.

2. Go on a date with nature. It’s hard not to feel small when you’re looking up at the twinkling sky, swimming in the deep blue ocean or walking amongst tall vast trees. That’s how kids feel too. They are amazed at the wonder of the world and you will be too. Spend time with nature and nature will reinvigorate you.

3. Go from multi to single sense. These days I don’t enjoy going to the movies. The loud speakers and intense action are overwhelming. Over time, they work to de-sensitize. But returning to childhood also requires a return to simplicity. Pick a sense and fully immerse yourself in it. Take a wine tasting class and remember what wine really tastes like. Bring your camera out hiking and zoom in on the visual work of art in front of you. Focusing on one sense at a time instead of multitasking can return you to a state of peace and mindfulness. Suddenly, what felt like a tedious, monotonous task feels new, exciting and extraordinary.

Is it sailing, biking, reading that does it for you? What do you do to bring excitement and adventure into your life?

December 7th, 2012

Friday’s Inspirational Quote: On Light and Dark

November 5th, 2012

Is Passion a Dirty Word?

If it is now, it never used to be. I think passion was a buzzword until it burnout from overuse.

Nowadays some cringe when they hear it. They believe passion prevents us from getting things done. It can be stifling. If we’re not living up to our passion, maybe our lives are useless. And do we even need passion anyway? There are tons of people who are filthy rich and successful doing things they are not passionate about right?

How Important is Passion?

To answer this question, we must first look at what passion is. According to Joan Borysenko in Fried: Why You Burn Out,

“Passion is pure energy-vitality-which is exactly what dies in burnout.”

It is the inner spark, that internal enthusiasm that makes you stay up at night following a dream, what you can’t stop talking about, what drives you despite setbacks, obstacles or fear. It is flow. It is bliss. It is the sense that you could do whatever it is you’re doing regardless if you were getting paid for it. Passion is not deterred by change. It is enlivened by it. Sometimes we lose our passion because we are burnt out, we are afraid or get so caught up in the day to day tasks of our lives that we forget. But it is still within us.

Passion isn’t a luxury, it is our necessity. Following our passion allows us to express the very essence of who we are.

I sometimes think people say, “passion shmassion” (or maybe they don’t literally say that) because they are afraid of pursuing their dreams. It takes courage and faith to not just follow what thrills us, but to find it. Borysenko says it requires two things: listening for external cues and having faith in the unknown.

Maybe people get caught up into believing the following:

Passion = ? (doctor, lawyer, artist, teacher, etc.)

They get bogged down in the erroneous belief that passion requires a specific role or occupation that needs to be filled. Instead The Book of Awakening author Mark Nepo says, “This is not about being a poet or a florist or a doctor or a lawyer or an architect. It is about the true vitality that waits beneath all occupations for us to tap into, if we can discover what we love.”

And passion isn’t just a byproduct of a middle class economy, it is our god given right to pursue it. Nepo beautifully adds that the joy received when we follow our passion is “not an added feature; it is a sign of deep health.”

Remember that the next time someone calls you “selfish” for following your dreams!