Hang On

Hang On
Life will throw you curveballs where you might feel like you are hanging on by a thread. You might be doing everything within your power and grasp just to stay steady and to not let go. That's ok. That makes you human. Life can come at us at full speed and sometimes it's just so hard ... but hang on because you got this! You are stronger than anything thrown at you and ultimately, you will find your balance again. It may take some time and you might be hanging on for a awhile but life will steady itself and so will you.

Rise

Rise
Getting back up after being knocked down by life can be the hardest thing you will ever have do and it seems as though you have to do it time and time again. 

Rising up means you forgive yourself and you release yourself from old hurt and pain.
Rising up means you are willing to learn from your past & try again but this time a different way.
Rising up means you refuse to let anything that is a challenge to stop you from your purpose.
Rising up means you embrace life as messy and glorious as it can be and keep going.
Rising up means you allow others to help you along the way.
Rising up means you realize you have so much more to give.
Rising up means you open yourself up to love again.
Rising up means you change your situation in order to change your life for the better.

You become stronger by allowing yourself to rise back up ... so dust yourself off and go!

Destiny

Destiny
Each one of us has a life purpose. We were put here to do extraordinary things but more often than not we get swept in the belief that we aren't good enough, we don't have the resources, or we experience situations that seem to derail us from our path. What if all of the challenges were not to throw you off but to teach you, to bring you closer to your purpose, and maybe even to help others on their personal journey? What if everything that has happened has been a book full of lessons for you to master and then share with others? Know that everything in your life, both good and bad, was put there to guide you to your fullest potential. Pay attention to you life, believe in your abilities and strengths, and let that fuel you to actualizing your destiny!

Release

Release
We carry around our past hurt and burdens like a blanket just because we can't remember what it is like not to have them around. We get so used to them being with us that we stop recognizing the harm it's truly causing to our souls. We may have even convinced ourselves that as long as we carry them around, we can't be hurt again. Well we have told ourselves a lie! 

When we carry around our pain we don't have any arms left to carry around the joy. We have blocked ourselves from feeling any emotion since the space is taken up by pain. Two things cannot occupy the same space and it's the same way for our emotions. Pain is a feeling and it can't live on top of joy. It just does't work that way. We must finally release the hurt in order to live the life we were meant to live. It's time to give yourself permission to feel again, to be present again, to love again, to laugh again, and above all to fully live again.

Spring

Spring
Today is the day where life starts to awaken. The past few months were a time of reflection, cleaning, and resting. Now is the time for new beginnings. Now is the time to watch everything you have put your time and attention to bloom in leaps and bounds. Now is the time where life ushers in "the new".
     New relationships
     New opportunities
     New growth
     New awareness
     New ideas
This is the time in our lives where we can grow tremendously, if we let ourselves. It's time to shed everything that has not served our higher self and leave room for the "new" to blossom. Spring is a time for awakenings...so stretch, yawn, open your eyes and bloom where you are planted!

Resilience

Resilience
Life will happen to us. Things will go wrong. Not every day will go smooth. That's when we find our resilience. It's that deeper understanding that you might not able to control a situation but you can control your attitude about it. 
     You are not an illness.
          You are not an injury.
               You are not a failure.
                    You are not broken.
When life happens to you, don't let it define who you are. Find your way to come back even stronger.

Perspective

Perspective

How you view the world is through your own personal lens. That lens has been layered by your experiences. As you look at people and situations, you tend to only see it through that one particular lens leading to misunderstanding and miscommunication. It's time to see things through a different perspective. Take the time to look at a situation from many angles, not just the story you are playing in your head. No situation is alike just like no person is like another. The more you try and put your own expectations and experience on someone else, the more you will find that narrows the picture. Take the time to widen your lens, to look at situations from multiple perspectives or here's an even crazier idea - look at something with no preconceived notions at all. The story you built in your head never usually matches the actual situation. Remember, if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change (Wayne Dyer).

Fly

Fly

You were born to fly. It's as simple and as profound as that. You are here for a reason. You matter to this world. There are lessons to be learned, wounds left to heal, and most importantly you have untapped potential left to discover. The abilities you were born with are your life purpose. That is your calling. The strengths you already possess are the keys you have been searching endlessly for but yet you have been looking at the deficits for the answer this whole time. If you quiet your soul, you already know what your life purpose entails. You may not know the pathway to get there (none of us do) but that's the journey we are all on together. It's time for you to finally embrace who you are, all the talent that lies at your fingertips, and spread your wings and finally allow yourself to fly.

Walls

Walls

We have been taught that in order to keep ourselves safe, barriers are needed.  We need fences around our houses, gates to enter our communities, and now a wall around our borders. 

Somewhere we have translated this to be true for our hearts as well.  We have learned to guard them fiercely due to past pain and hurt. We have convinced ourselves that by having these barriers up, we will never get hurt again. 

What are you so afraid of though? Someone hurting you? Not being good enough? Not living up to your potential? Well guess what, people will hurt you and people will disappoint you because we are all human! Everyone is walking around with open wounds and 10 foot barriers and colliding into each other all of the time. When you allow your true self to shine through though, you will attract those people into your life that have also let their walls down. You have given your life the space it needs to expand and grow in the right direction. By taking down your walls you have broadened your world, your life, and ultimately your ability to love.

Recognize that the walls you built are only doing one thing - keeping you in. Don't confine yourself any longer.  Release the walls, release the past, and start living for today.

Rest

Rest
We spend so much time in motion. We run from one chore to another and the next thing we know the day is almost done. We look back and say what happened today? What did I accomplish? Sometimes we may even feel a slight bit guilty if we stop being in motion. We feel that we don't have the right to just stop for a moment as long as there are dishes in the sink, laundry to be done, cleaning to accomplish, projects to finish, papers to write, etc. We continue to stay in motion only stopping to collapse or just fall asleep on the couch to wake up a few hours later and do it all over again. 

But for what? Why can't we just let ourselves off the hook from time to time and just...
-have that cup of coffee while watching the Golden Girls
-play with your kid(s) and make more of a mess than they would
-give your dog more than a 1 minute belly rub
-read that book that's been sitting next to your bed for the past few months
-hold hands with your loved one while you chat about the day instead of holding your phone

There is not time like the present to allow yourself to unwind from a long week and just give your body and mind the time it needs to rest and recharge. You don't have to apologize for doing that; quite the contrary. Be the role model on what it looks like to rest and take care of yourself so that you can tackle part of your list another day.

Timing

Timing

Timing is everything.  The universe always answers us back about our desires and dreams but most of the time it’s not in the timing we were looking for or packaged how we envisioned.  It’s usually at the most inopportune time, or so we think. We throw our hands up and say “really … right now! What happened to 6 months ago or in 2 years!” But as we throw our hands up – keep them up and then turn your palms up to the sky. Realize that in this moment you were given a gift, be open to it, embrace it as much as you can, and understand you are given exactly what you need at exactly the right time even if you don’t see it through that lens right now. Whatever happens know that life has your back and be open to it creating miracles along the way.

Laughter

Laughter

When was the last time you laughed? Like really laughed? If it wasn't yesterday than it's time to find the humor in life because it is nothing short of humorous. In most situations there is humor but we must allow ourselves to not take our situations or even ourselves so seriously that we forget to find the funny. Even in the most trying moments of life, there is reasons to smile and to laugh. Never apologize for finding the reasons to smile, for laughing so hard it hurts, and for embracing life in all of it's gloriously ridiculous moments. Your homework is simple, go find the funny in today and see how much you not only feel lighter but by the end of the day you can rest your head with a smile.

Angry

Angry
So many people are walking around angry. They are angry at their jobs, their life, their spouses, people they don't even know and well, just everything. We see it every day through the TV, computers and our phones. Every story or video seems to lead with arguments and fights. It can almost seem that the entire world has become bitter and nobody knows how to have a conversation or play nice in the sandbox anymore.

Well, it's time to change our view. Turn off the TV, put down the phone, walk away from the computer and realize that you are surrounded by amazing things every single day. The acts of kindness around you or that you are apart of may never make the news but they will be imprinted on your soul. They tell the bigger story, the one that is not being told; that people are still loving and good. Find those stories. Post those on your social media pages. More importantly, be conscious of the energy you put out there in this world. If you lead with patience, love and empathy, your world will open up. If you lead with anger and hostility, you keep you world small. Be responsible for what you say and how you treat people, for that will be how your story is told in the end.

Reaction

Reaction
Situations happen in life which cause us to be on the defensive right away. We get angry and frustrated but what we are really upset about is that we feel a lack of control. So we react ... and if it's not a thoughtful reaction, well we then have given the situation more power than it deserves. Situations are lessons, all of life really is, and our reaction shows us just how far we've come or how much further we need to go. There is only one thing we ever have any real control over and that's ourselves. What a freeing thing to finally realize you don't have to control everything - because you really can't anyway! 

Stillness

Stillness
When we stop being motion, when we silence the voice that is constantly going in our heads, when we allow ourselves to just stop and be in complete silence, that's were we can finally hear from our soul. Stillness allows you to connect back to yourself, it reveals the truth you already know, but above all it reminds you of the greatest gift - that you have had the power all along. Most people run from stillness because they are too afraid what they might hear. They don't understand that they are only running from themselves. Choose today to not run. Choose today to find a few minutes of silence to hear your soul. Choose this moment to allow yourself to connect back to you. The answers you seek, the happiness you've been chasing, and the love you deserve are all within the space of silence. It's time to greet it like an old friend and this time, keep the connection going.