Boundaries

Boundaries
People will take advantage of your kindness if they can. If you don't know how to say no when you mean it then you are going to always be in a state of feeling pulled in many directions. Saying no doesn't mean you are a bad person. It doesn't mean you aren't kind. Saying no and setting boundaries means you understand deeply that you must protect your energy, your time, and ultimately your soul to have balance and peace in your own life. Here is your permission to say no to anything that doesn't feed your soul -

• No to helping move that friend - again!
• No to seeing that comedian - who you don't think is that funny anyway
• No to running errands for someone else when your list is a mile long
• No to taking a "working" lunch
• No to taking that trip someone else wants to take but doesn't want to go alone

If you are asked to do something and it doesn't feel right, it takes away your own time to take care of yourself, it collides with your self-care, then just don't do it anymore. Only say yes to things you really mean. Once you do that, watch just how peaceful and joyful your world truly becomes.

Stress

Stress
We've all been stressed. Some of us reading this right now feel overwhelmed and maybe even anxious. There is so much going on within us and around us that makes it so hard to feel at peace. We try our best but it seems that by the end of the day we are left with the feeling - what happened to today! We are concentrating so much on things beyond our control and worrying about things that could possibly happen in the future that we find ourselves too stressed to really enjoy the "right now".  We've stopped allowing ourselves to practice that in which brings us calmness because we feel either we no longer have the time or we are not worthy of our own attention.

Prolonged stress causes many things, including illness. There is not one more minute to waste on finding ways to release and let go of what you can. Your health and life depend on it. Take a look at what causes you the most anxiety. What can you do about it? Are there ways to lessen the burdens so that you can breath a little more? What are you trying to control that you can't? Somewhere you need to allow yourself to resign as master of the universe. You have far less control than you think and once you realize that, you allow your soul to start to relax.

Above all, our stress usually comes from keeping things within and not reaching out to others not just for help but maybe just a listening ear. Being able to express what's going on will release the pressure from inside. You are not in this life alone, you don't have to go it alone, nor do you have to figure it all out alone either. Take steps today to start to release your fears, burdens, and stress and know that it's okay to not only ask for help but to also stop and just be for awhile...

Free Yourself

Free Yourself
You will come across people in life that appear to have your back, to want the best for you, to be cheering you on and yet you will discover that these same people had a lot to say about you when you weren't in the room. They may have even tried to sabotage you personally or professionally. Some people do not understand that there is room for everyone; that someone else's success doesn't equal their failure. They haven't figured out they can be empowering others as well as themselves at the same time. Well guess what, you don't have to have them in your circle of trust while they figure this out! You only need to surround yourself with those who uplift you, those that revel in your success as if it were their own, and those who push you to keep being better and doing better. You also need to be that person in return ALWAYS. If you can't, you have no business being in their lives and if they can't be that person for you - well then it's time to cut the cord and say bye!

Silence

Silence
The most powerful tool you have is not your words but your silence. When you stop talking you can finally hear all that's swirling around you. You will be able to decipher truth from lies. You will get clarity on situations and relationships. Silence doesn't mean you lost your voice, it means you gained wisdom. Look at the situations in your life and see where you need to turn down the volume and get quiet. It's in the silence that you find your answers and your strength.

Regrets

Regrets
Every challenge you've gone through, every decision you've made, every relationship you've experienced has all lead you to being who you are. You've learned what you value. You've learned what you will tolerate. You've learned what's important to you. It has all lead up to this moment. Regrets should have no place in your story. Regrets mean that something shouldn't have been, that you would have made a different choice but would you be who you are right now if everything had gone smooth and according to your plan? Lessons can be disguised as regrets if we mask them as such. By thinking this way we deny learning from the lesson and my friends life is really just one giant lesson! So regret nothing. If you didn't like a choice you made well here's the key - make another one! That's the beauty of life - it's meant to be lived and we are meant to learn every step of the way.

Release

Release
Holding on to the past, to pain, to guilt, to frustration, to betrayals, to anything other than what gives you peace will suffocate you if you let it. It will consume your thoughts, it will cloud your decisions in the present, and it will keep you from growing. By releasing all of the baggage - ALL OF IT - you allow yourself permission to grow. You give room for miracles. You pave the way for a smoother journey. Releasing means freedom and don't you deserve to finally be free...

Hope

Hope

There are times where you feel like life is coming at you sideways. Before one challenge ends, another one pops up ... or maybe even three more. You feel beyond stressed and just want to say enough already. It's during these times that it's so hard to concentrate on what's positive. It's hard to be grateful when everything seems to be coming down on you. That's when you hold tightly on to hope because even in the most difficult of situations, you know deep down that this too shall pass. You ultimately know that when challenges occur, that's life setting you up for something better to  come along. If you can hold on and find your calm in amongst these storms, that itself is a  lesson. Remember, pressure produces diamonds and heck, at this rate you will come out the most beautiful gem the world has ever known. Don't forget how resilient and strong you are. You got this!

Crutch

Crutch

Sometimes we are there too much for people. Sometimes we are there so much that we put ourselves last. Sometimes we allow others to walk all over us as we support them, not seeing all along that they were just using us as a mechanism to get ahead. It it time we take the blinders off for good. It's time to take an inventory of the people we give our energy too. 

Take a long hard look and see which relationships are more of a give than a take. Who is supporting you as well or who is just taking advantage of your kindness, your empathy, and your giving heart? Keep those who have the best intentions for you and vice versa. Anyone else, well it's time to go!  It's time to cut the cord for good to anyone not in your life for the right reasons.