Finding your own way

Filed Under Authenticity, Stretching the comfort zone | Leave a Comment

Have you ever walked through an unfamiliar room in the dark, slowly feeling your way along so you didn’t trip over chairs or run into walls? Hands out, feeling along the wall until you found a doorway or sensed a bit of light (or found the light switch)? Maybe stubbing your toe along the way? Do you wind up “cursing the darkness?”

“No one of us has escaped a special plan. And everyone of us is inspired in particular ways, with particular talents.” Author unknown, Each Day a New Beginning

There comes a time for many of us when our life feels like that darkened room. We’ve followed the beaten path, the familiar path, but now some inner nudging is urging us to move on to a new road. We do have choices: we can keep following the well-worn path or blaze our own new one. One we can clearly discern; the other, barely, if ever, trodden. But what choices! Robert Frost wrote in The Road not Taken,

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…

…I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

For some of us, it’s time to take a new road, perhaps a path that has not yet been blazed, yet is our path. And one we must take for our own growth, perhaps our own sanity. Maybe inner guidance is saying “This way. This way.” But as we look down, there’s no trail in front of us. No clear path to follow. Our inner guidance lets us know, the clear-cut path is not for us…we’ve passed the point of no return. We’re having to forge ahead, perhaps slowing our pace to an excruciatingly slow crawl, feeling along every millimeter, trying to find our openings. As we muddle along, learning to hear our guidance more clearly and feel for those openings more gracefully, our hearts begin to remember their purpose and say “yes.” And as that happens, our way is made lighter and more joyous. Given our world today, it is especially important that we each recognize and work at fulfilling our “special plan.” Each day, take a step along your path, even if it is a tiny one. If you need help, ask for it. Be in communication with your inner guidance - listen and heed its advice. When your heart says “yes” - move with it! It knows the way home.

Love and Sparkles

Filed Under Sparkle | Leave a Comment

A dear friend forwarded this message from “The Universe” - great thought-provoking or inspiring tidbits from Mike Dooley. It’s a fun one! You can sign up to receive his musings up to five times a week.

Did you know that whenever you feel love, you literally begin to glow? You probably did.

But did you know that the glowing is actually made up of zillions of minute sparkles? And that these sparkles receive as much energy as they create? And that because of this energy exchange you completely stop aging and look younger? Abundance is immediately drawn to you? Healing powers fill you? Muscles are strengthened, pounds are shed, and your vision improves? Lingering questions are answered? New friends are summoned? Old friends are poked? Problems are solved? And maple syrup tastes more maple-y?

All when you feel love.

It’s true -
The Universe

Can you feel your sparkle? Just imagine what you’d feel like if you knew, really knew you were sparkling…even now!

Being the Decisive Element

Filed Under Gratitude, Joyous Living, Setbacks as opportunities, Success | Leave a Comment

Sometimes, like when I’m having a pity party, I forget that I’m not a “victim” of life’s circumstances. I forget that there are a lot of perspectives from which I could be viewing my life. Some of them may not be so pleasant, but a whole heck of a lot of them could show my life as pretty darn good. As much as I might be “enjoying” my whine, I can remember that I am, as Goethe calls it, the decisive element in the equation.

I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated…

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

What is required is a willingness to change a point of view AND, frankly, a bit of patience while developing the skill of shifting perspective. If we’ve been stuck in a rut of negative thinking, listening to “gremlins,” or whatever we may call it, shifting the thinking may take a while. Why? Because this thinking is likely deeply ingrained…much more so than you would ever guess.  And so much so that you probably rarely even notice it…until you’re feeling bummed or blue or out of sorts.  But, in that blueness, you’ve got a great opportunity! You can reclaim your power to make life miserable - or joyous! Or not - and isn’t that a point of power to be able to choose even that? Enjoy your whine when that’s what you’ve chosen!