The Truth

We do not err because truth is difficult to see.  

It is visible at a glance.  

We err because this is more comfortable.  

~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The Truth
It's hard for us to get really truthful with ourselves.  We see our lives through the lens in which we choose to view it with.  We often ignore what's right in front of us and hush the little whispers from our soul telling us to open up our eyes wider.  We do not want to really face the truth because if we did, then we would have to finally make a decision or do something about it.  But then the question is, if we are not living in our own truth, can we really truly feel free?  Can we accomplish our goals with any sort of real joy and enthusiasm?  Can we be the person we were meant to be by hiding away from our truth?  The answer is a resounding no!  It's time to get truthful with yourself, your environment, your work and with your relationships.  Sense with your heart, hear with your soul and walk only in the truth towards your best life.

365

If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you.  

~Author Unknown

365
Have you ever had a goal that seemed so far away?  You didn't know if you could keep up the motivation to achieve it or have the stamina to truly see it through.  When that day finally comes, when you reached a goal no matter how big or small, you realize that you can truly do anything you set your mind to. It might take you a month or it might take you 365 days but you will reach it because there was something deep down inside helping you to keep pushing ahead.  Whether your dreams are enormous in size or can fit in the palm of your hand, remember when reaching for goals, perseverance and patience will help you see it through to the end.  

Advice

It is a good divine that follows his own instructions.  

~William Shakespeare

Advice
Boy do you give some great advice.  You tell everyone what to do, how to think, how to react and what to feel.  Too bad you rarely listen to your own advice.  The next time you start telling someone what they should or shouldn't be doing, stop!  Take a moment to realize if the advice you are about to give is not really meant for them but for yourself instead.  Most, if not all, of the time you should be taking your own advice.  It's so easy to tell someone else what to do or how to react but doing it yourself is the biggest challenge.  So from now on, try to not only give advice but also head your own words and apply them to make your life better.

Shedding

I tell you that as long as I can conceive 

something better than myself 

I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it 

into existence or clearing the way for it.  

~George Bernard Shaw

Shedding
If you have ever owned a dog, or any animal with long hair or fur, you know that there are certain times of year where they shed more than others.  You are probably picking up tumbleweeds of hair right now as they get ready to have a thicker coat for the fall and winter.  Maybe we need to take a cue from our pets.  Maybe this is our time to start to "shed" as well.  What have you been holding on to that no longer is serving you?  What burdens have you been weighing yourself down with every single day?  What people are in your life that are creating a toxic environment for your soul?  It's time to start shedding and clear out your life and environment of everything that is no longer serving you in a positive way.  Will it be hard and uncomfortable?  Yes.  Will it be worth it in the end?  Absolutely.  By getting rid of the "weights" that are keeping you down, you give your spirit the freedom to shine.  It's time to brush off and clear away your own tumbleweeds!

Create

Think left and think right and think low and think high. 

 Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!  

~Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

Create
Your energy is flowing and that feeling of being "stuck" is lifting.  It's a great time to get creative!  Whether it's starting something new, finishing something you've started or just taking your life in a new direction, now is the time to go ahead and try it.  You will bring some much needed inspiration and joy back into your soul. Stop wishing for it.  Stop hoping for it.  Stop waiting for it.  Go on and create it.

Steering the Wheel

Put your future in good hands - your own.

~Author Unknown

Steering the Wheel

Have you ever drove a car and tried to control it, even if for only a few seconds, without your hands on the wheel or you let your front passenger try to steer from their seat?  It's a bit unnerving isn't it?  You feel out of control.  You're not sure if the car will stay in the lane or if your passenger has the same perception of the road as you.  You're moving fast, having to make split decisions and relying on a piece of machinery or another person to control your car.  It's not pleasant situation and therefore you hardly ever let that happen.  Well then why are you constantly letting go of the wheel that steers your life?  Why are you so quick to let others guide you down a different path?  Why do give away your control?  Steer your life like you do your car, with precision, care and direction.  Don't hand over your life to something or someone other than yourself. So go ahead and put both hands on your life at 10 and 2 o'clock and steer it your own way.

Life is Easy

Every day we slaughter our finest impulses.  That is why we get a heart-ache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty.  Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths.  We all derive from the same source.  There is no mystery about the origin of things.  We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open up, to discover what is already there.  
~Henry Miller, Sexus


Life is Easy
Most of believe that we must struggle in order to obtain things.  That life is full of challenges that we must endure to be successful.  We think that it's our lot in life to have bad things happen to us in order for any good to occur.  Well what if we were all wrong?  What if life was not supposed to be difficult?  What if it's our negative thoughts that have created this belief?  What if our lives were meant to be easy?  Just sit for a moment with that thought.  Life is easy.  Repeat it a few times.  Life....is.... easy.  Feel how our thoughts calm down and peace starts to enter our inner core.  


We create what we believe.  If we believe life is difficult, it will be.  If we inherently believe that life was meant to be easy, peaceful, full of love and joy, it will be.  It's simple yet quite profound.  Try it.  What do you have to lose?  Maybe just a difficult life!


Thank you Cheryl Richardson, Life Coach, for this lesson for Oprah's Lifeclass.

You Are Not Alone

We're all kissed by angels

but some of us never think to pucker.  

~Terri Guillemets

You Are Not Alone
When you are feeling lonely; know that you are not alone.
When the world seems to be crashing down around you; know that you are not alone.
When tears are streaming down your face; know that you are not alone.
When you are feeling like nobody understands you; know that you are not alone.
When friends seems to disappear; know that you are not alone.
When stress seems to be overtaking your body; know that you are not alone.
AND
When there is reason to celebrate: know that you are not alone.
When you get accolades for a job well done; know that you are not alone.
When luck seems to find you around every turn; know that you are not alone.
When you listen to your instinct; know that you are not alone.
When you have to make tough decisions; know that you are not alone.
When you are overwhelmed by love; know that you are not alone.

You are never alone.  You have angels all around you, whether they can be seen, heard or only felt; know that you are loved and are never, ever alone.

Stand Your Ground

In matters of principle, stand like a rock;

 in matters of taste, swim with the current.  

~Thomas Jefferson

Stand Your Ground
People will challenge you.  They will try and attack your character, tear you down, and make you question yourself.  Don't hand over your power.  Stand your ground.  You know the truth, you know your values and only you know what feels right.  Many will give you their opinion but only one opinion really counts, yours.  Be confident in who you are, the decisions you make and walk forward fearlessly.

Seasons

Youth is like spring, an over praised season 

more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes.  

Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose 

in flowers we more than gain in fruits.  

~Samuel Butler

Seasons
As the weather changes, so does nature.  The leaves are starting to turn brilliant colors, the air is getting a bit brisk and the night seems to be coming even earlier now (at least here in New York).  Nature is not the only thing that changes though, we do as well.  There is a great shift going on in your life now.  You have felt it coming and now you can't ignore it's presence.  This change is to make you grow, make you learn more about yourself and to bring you closer to your own personal truths.  It's a time of harvest, a time to gather and a time to come together.  Just like the seasons, don't fear these changes, rather lean into them and embrace what this newness is about to bring into your life.

Keep Focus

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.  

~Christopher Reeve

Keep Focus
It's easy for us to get distracted or to let go of our goals too soon.  We get to the point when we want to throw our hands up and say, "I've tried, I've been patient but I see no movement so why should I continue?" We get frustrated and give up.  But if we would have really taken a look at the lesson in the challenge and kept our focus on the goal, we would have broke free and obtained it.  More often than we we tend to look at life as an obstacle, or a challenge.  We think of it as something we have to endure.  But what if we focused on the positive and walked forward in faith and love?  What would happen then?  What if life were meant to be easy, we just make it hard because we have lost focus and let fear control us? Now there's a thought! For today, see if you can look at life as a blessing, in all aspects.  Really connect with the love you can get from life once you drop all false beliefs.  This place of peace and love is who you truly are.  If you can focus on that, the possibilities for you are endless.

Speaking Your Truth

Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.  

~Emily Dickinson

Speaking Your Truth
It's important to have someone in your life that you can speak your own personal truth to.  Being able to release your feelings to a compassionate person will give you the peace you are looking for and the courage to move forward in your life.  Don't get stuck and bogged down with your emotions and don't stuff your truth deep down inside.  That is toxic and there is nothing good that can come from that.  Stand in your own personal light and truth and watch your walls come down and the doors open up.

Critical Thinking

Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again? 

~Winnie the Pooh

Critical Thinking
Life can throw a lot of information at you at once.  You may feel a bit overwhelmed or confused by the thoughts that are now spinning around in your head.  There is no better time to take out your critical thinking hat and look at this information or even situation with a keen eye and a broad perspective.  If you break it down, you can find your answer.  Taking the time to look something over thoroughly will always lead you to the best solution.  So slow down a bit and let yourself become the critical thinker that you need to be for today.


Note: Computer is in the shop so no pictures until I get it back.

Self Worth

Respect your efforts, respect yourself.  

Self-respect leads to self-discipline.  

When you have both firmly under your belt, 

that's real power.  

~Clint Eastwood

Self-Worth
Being here, in your life, automatically makes you worthy of living the best life you can.  It's time to look in the mirror and instead of criticizing yourself, start seeing past the layers of self doubt and instead, take a long hard look right into your soul.  There is a reason for you being here.  There is a reason for the trials and challenges you have endured.  It's not time to give up on a dream or a goal, this is the time to light that fire even brighter.  Stop turning to your job, your friends or your bank account to measure your self-worth.  Knowing who you are, what you stand for, and feeling the endless potential of what you can accomplish from your inner core is what will make you successful.  Stop looking outside of yourself for praise, support, encouragement and your own personal truth.  Start looking in the one place you keep ignoring, your inner self.

Maintenance

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.  

~Edmund Hillary

Maintenance
Your life is in constant need of maintenance.  Be it your health, wellness or even relationships, there is effort needed to sustain them.  Maybe you have been a bit negligent lately or maybe you have ignored them for awhile thinking that they were on autopilot. That isn't the case though and now is the time to assess where your focus is needed to bring these areas back into balance.  Maintaining your body, your mind, your spirit and your relationships will bring you joy.  Ignoring them will bring you pain.  It's that simple!  Don't take any area for granted.  Look at it through a clear lens and see where you need to infuse some tlc.  

Bright Ideas

(picture by my sister, Colleen)

Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea.  

It's the person who gets out of the shower, 

dries off and does something about it 

who makes a difference.  

~Nolan Bushnell

Bright Ideas
Have you ever had an idea that made you stop and say, wow I could do that?  Well if you have and you never followed through, consider this your push to finally go for it!  You may encounter some obstacles but do not let that stop you from crossing the finish line.  Don't get defeated before you have even begun.  If you want to change your life, start a new project, find a new job, move to a new home, start a family or anything else you can come up with ~ do it NOW!  Life is not going to wait for you to be ready.  You already have the thought in your head.  It's your responsibility to see it through to fruition.  Dream big and start working on it today.  You will change your life for the better!

Actions

(my cousin Lucas scoring his first touchdown)

Remember, people will judge you by your actions,

 not your intentions.  

You may have a heart of gold - 

but so does a hard-boiled egg.  

~Author Unknown

Actions

As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words". You can say a lot of what you are going to do but the key is to put action behind what you say. That's how you move forward towards your dreams and goals. Inaction causes us to become stagnant, tired and unproductive. Staying in motion is how you live your best life. Take the time to see what promises you haven't kept, what loose ends you have yet to take care of and what, if anything, that's been holding you back. Take action on your list today and watch new doors start to open up.

Self Respect

(picture by my mom, Sue)

To free us from the expectations of others, 

to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, 

singular power of self-respect.  

~Joan Didion

Self-Respect
You can't wait around for others to validate who you are.  You can't wait for others to believe in you as much as you need to believe in yourself.  There is only one person that truly matters in this world and that person is you.  You matter.  You have always mattered and now it's time to recognize the beautiful human being you are.  You need to respect your thoughts, words, actions and voice.  People may try and break you down, question your character and treat you less than you deserve.  It's up to you not be believe in the false perception they hold for it's not who you truly are and it certainly doesn't define you.  Keep your head held high and know the only respect that you truly need in this lifetime that's worth anything is your own self-respect.

Flow

 Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and 

the winds long to play with your hair. 

~Kahlil Gibran

Flow
If you ever watched the water flow down a path you will notice that it sometimes takes a route you didn't expect and it comes upon all sorts of obstacles along the way like leaves and rocks.  But that doesn't deter it's flow; it quickly chooses another path and continues moving forward.  It doesn't fight against these obstacles, it finds away around them.  We too are flowing on our own paths and we don't always know the direction that we are headed.  We run up against many obstacles in life that try and stop our journey but if we can learn to adjust ourselves, to find a new way of moving forward and not let these challenges stop us completely, then we are learning how to follow the flow of life.  We are meant to always be moving in a better direction.  Don't let anything stop that movement and when necessary find a simple way around the obstacles to keep forging ahead.

Another Day

I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time.  

~Emily Dickinson

Another Day
Today is a day to start all over again.  It is a day to stop analyzing what's been keeping you up and night and actually start taking the necessary steps to make it better.  That's the beauty of having another day.  It's a day to make the changes you couldn't yesterday.  It's a day to make a to-do list and actual do what's on your list.  It's a day to take charge of your life and put in on a trajectory that aligns more with your spirit.  Today is another day to get it right.  It's a day to celebrate who you are and where you are going.  It's a day to take care of loose ends.  Today is your day to get your life back on a path that best suits you.