To Warm the Winter's Cold

Being single is not the end of the world.  There are other problems out there that are far more depressing than being single — hunger and homelessness, for instance.

I was asked out on a date not too long ago.  I never accepted.  I never made plans to contact him. If I had, I would have probably canceled the date.  I didn’t have the 'like' feelings for the guy who asked me out.  I knew I wouldn’t be interested in him no matter how many dinners we had, or how many movies we saw.  I’m happy that I’m single right now, and I’m not saying that in a dippy or defensive way.  I obviously still want to one day be involved with someone who will love me in that lovey-dovey way.  I am not opposed to being in a committed relationship.

There are reasons that I have not gotten involved.  I’m not living in a place that I want to root myself to.  I want to move.  Where I move to has to support my career goals, and I have to enjoy living there.  At this point, where I am at right now in my life, commitment or being on the road to commitment doesn’t really make sense to me (and I’ve never really figured out the whole casual dating scene).  Casual dating is not my thing.  I’m glad I’m not tied to someone because then I'd have to consider altering my plans to fit theirs. 

I am fulfilled on my own.  I have been in the past and I am currently.  I want to make my own decisions.  I want to be able to do things without having to ask permission or talk to someone about my plans.  I like the idea of lounging around my house on some days in sweats and maybe not eat a real dinner tonight, or supplement my breakfast with candy, and yes I do that.

I want to have concrete steps taken in the direction of fulfilling my passion before involving myself with someone who I would 'maybe' want to share my life with.

Be Overcome by the Fragrance of Flowers

The journey of the hero and the heroine is the life of our dreams, the moment we surrender to what life is dreaming us to be. 
I've always felt, in certain aspects of my life, that I've been trying to force things to be a certain way and that those forced dreams have always eluded me.  And in other ways where there wasn't a sensation of forcing things, everything has gone extremely well for me.

First came the opportunity to create style boards for a business.  I then won several contests and was rewarded with some really cool prizes.  After that came a travel opportunity for business, followed by making new contacts, which lead to new clients.

My point is that all of the sudden, whatever had been holding me back was replaced by all these new experiences which were taking me personally and professionally to the next level.  I could feel a progression, a new sense of responsibility and it really felt good.  After that, my focus shifted from the past to the present and future.

Trials and tribulations — not getting what we want when we want it, saying goodbye on terms we can’t control.  Each of these is the universes way of humoring us, of helping us grow and allowing us to reframe the past from a place of gratitude for our present and our future.

So brace yourself when the road gets bumpy, strap on that helmet, and prepare to pedal for something greater is sure to come.  Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Never ever forget that you deserve all that you want in this world!  Sometimes you’ll get it through your own mastery and hard work, other times you’ll get it when you least expect it and are forced to let go.

The journey is never a detour; it’s just a way to build up your momentum and strength for the road that lies ahead.

The Touch of an Infinite Mystery

"I love the ocean, I fear the ocean, and I know there’s always a little risk whenever you leave the shore."  I *respect* the ocean.  It's a wonderful place to be.  Neither one of you has a grip on the other, yet it would be effortless to allow total consumption.  Totally wary or all wet?  That's how I feel about love, as well.  It is so easy to get lost in love, so easy to swim beyond the reach, out of sight of the shore.  Having been lost in love before, totally immersed and far far away from dry land, I too realize the spiraling heights as well as the plummeting depths realized during love's hold on my senses.

I've been away from the ocean as well as away from love.  I guess working in tandem suits me these days.  However, I have not lost my deep and admiring respect for both.  I also realize this respect that I feel will cause me to wade in the shallow end, along the beach, when I first re-encounter either.  I respect the pull, the attraction, that my memory provides from former dives into the arms of the deep and boundless sea known as love.  I also recall the need for a connection, a line to safety, if you will.  Respect is a great guide.  It doesn't keep me from diving into the deep blue; it does remind me that I need to remember to be cautious first.  

Every Flower is a Soul Blossoming in Nature

"Simply show up!" I love this one!  That's our sole purpose in life, we are here simply to show ourselves up, to rise up and be seen, to speak up and be heard, to tell our stories and be listened to and most importantly to show up and leave a mark.

If we don't show up, we are not living.

We create our legacy everyday as we live, it is how we live our lives that both creates and shapes the legacy that will remain behind.

The most powerful legacy I want to live is that of a confident, audacious individual who would pursue her dreams regardless of the society status quo and who would go on and chart her own course in life instead of succumbing to an all known, well traveled path to nowhere!  I live my life as confidently as I can and that is my legacy.

You cannot stop a bold and determined person from manifesting his/her dream.

Personally I am creating my digital footprint because I want future generations to know my story. Maybe not in great detail, but just enough to help them understand who I was, what I did, and what I went through in life.  And I hope others are doing the same.

Be Bold, Be Brave Enough to Be Your True Self

I am very familiar with the "there is something missing in my life" feeling. I have laid in bed countless nights wondering how to repair situations that led to that feeling.  Instead of repairing rifts, I blocked out certain emotions and turned my focus on distracting myself with trivial things that actually ended up supporting my future career goals.  It's easy to get caught up in trying to fill empty voids with things that only temporarily bring happiness, instead of going out and finding the things that touch your soul and bring a smile to your heart forever.  Over the last couple of years, I have lost sight of what life is all about. I am constantly reminding myself that life is about reaching out to others, especially those who are hurting and need help.  Showing others love, kindness, and generosity is a humbling experience that has made me feel more connected with the world and those who live in it.

Laughter is Just Like Champagne, Only Without the Headache

I do have doubts and insecurities.  Some of these particular doubts and insecurities are less relevant now, but one thing I do try to stress is that I am by no means an after picture. I've had some really dark lows in my life and I've dealt with a lot of demons. I've struggled a lot, and oftentimes because I made everything so hard on myself. I just clutched to pain so tightly.

I still have certain tendencies that I need to work on releasing.  I still stress about ridiculous things. I still feel insecure. I still re-live some memories I wish I could forget.  I still worry about being judged.  I'm still afraid of being hurt.  The list is endless really.  The only thing that has changed is that I've dramatically increased my ratio of happy to unhappy moments.  Once upon a time, most of every day hurt. Now, I feel happy and free far more often than not.  I sometimes forget that this is a victory, but it is.

I’m on this rocky road to self-discovery in several aspects of my life, and I’m learning to embrace it, even though it’s difficult. Right now, my step is to try and distill all the past “should have/could have/what if/if I had/why didn’t I say/why didn’t he do” line of thinking, and the illogical “if I had, then this would have…” mindset.

It's not easy to get past certain traumas, and I think we often make it far more difficult on ourselves by thinking there should be a point in time when we completely let go and become new, healed, happy people. That's a ton of pressure. It's so much easier to take it moment to moment, and to realize that is enough.

It’s time to throw logic out the window—to analyze life less and live it more. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to think for myself, not under the opinions or reigns of anyone else. 

Life Itself is the Most Wonderful Fairy Tale

Sometimes I feel like I’m overthinking things.  Everything from writing to fitness to fashion to do I feel like wearing Superman underwear or lacy underwear today?  From the time my sleepy eyes open to the time those very sleepy eyes close I’m thinking about something big in my life (and yes what kind of underwear should I wear can feel pretty big sometimes).  The truth is, I am often guided by my emotions.  I don’t think happiness is so much about what you have.  What you have changes; your “blessings” evolve. Happiness is about how you interpret what’s in front of you.  How proud you are of the way you live your life.  How willing you are to enjoy simple pleasures, even if things aren’t perfect.  There are things that I feel are missing in my life.  I am very familiar with that feeling of searching for something to fill that empty void.  It's good to be reminded that life is about fun, not stress.  I need to incorporate more lightheartedness into my life.

No Greater Light Illuminates My Path Than Love

I believe that one of the biggest misconceptions in life is that somehow we are powerless to let go of what’s behind us.  That we have to carry all of our regrets, shames, disappointments, and that it has to dictate how our future life will unfold.  Life doesn’t have to be that way.  At any moment, you can let go of who you’ve been and decide to be someone new or to do something different. I'm not saying it's easy, but it is always a choice you can make.  You can either dwell and stay stuck, or let go and feel free.

I did at one point believe I had completely screwed up my life.  In fact, for a while I wondered how I could have "wasted" so much time on things that didn't matter or in moments of complete unhappiness.  If not for the type of thinking outlined here, I don't think I would have even tried to turn my life around. I probably would have felt that it was too late to make any kind of change, and maybe even spiraled into a sense of hopelessness.

So I guess my point here is this: it may, in fact, be too late for some things.  I won't deny that there are a lot of missed opportunities that in hindsight I wish I had taken.  I also realize that there are things I can't change, and there are parts of my life I can't go back and do over.  But that doesn't mean it's too late for everything.  So much of our life is shaped by our attitude. While it's totally understandable how certain situations could make it nearly impossible for a person to stay positive, I still believe attitude can make a massive difference in the way we experience and create our lives.

True wisdom, the stuff you cannot touch but somehow feel and truly understand comes from one place, that source is inside of you.  That place is always there, present and free.  Wisdom is not something you can grab onto, life moves too fast, but if you follow the old saying, 'go with the flow', you might catch some glimpses of it through experience.  Maybe rather than going with the flow a better statement is to be the flow.  Be the flow in your life and everything may just fall into place.  You know the greatest happiness doesn't come from happy thoughts, or all the good times, memories and such.  It comes from getting real with yourself.  Pieces of a pie may be "good" pieces of a pie or they might be "bad", but in the end its still a pie and pie's rock!  Remember to love yourself and allow yourself to be loved, and don't let that feeling go.  Peace!

In All the World, There is No Heart For Me Like Yours

2014 was a good year for me, I started to grow as a person, and I found what it is I want to do with the rest of my life. The best part is that I have managed to introduce persistence into my daily routines.  2014 was a year of transition which was one part of my journey.  I built momentum in 2014 and I now feel I'm on my way to achieving my dreams. I know that it's all about hard work.  I feel that 2015 will be my year because I've already planted seeds that have rooted the foundation for what is coming ahead.  2015 is my year to shine and share my unique sparkle! I took courageous action in 2014 and resigned from a job at a fantastic company, the reason being that it wasn't true to my heart.  I finally mustered up the courage to listen to my heart and not my head.  I had the best end of the year knowing that I have this exciting opportunity to honor my inner voice and create something special in 2015.  Why?  I believe I am here to do something that matters and in doing so inspire others to do the same.  My courageous daily action is to trust the guidance I receive and take action.

Courage is the Magic that Turns Dreams into Reality

The process of a passion isn’t just the road to an outcome, though of course we have specific goals in mind. The process is where the love and life is.  Often, when I want to sit and think about a particular problem or circumstance and try to figure out a solution, it makes a world of difference to stop thinking about it and start feeling and experiencing something else.  For me, taking a break from thinking and processing is inspiring and brings about great ideas and solutions.  I find that my best writing occurs when my mind is clear and I'm not giving any thought to writing whatsoever.  While there is something to be said for thinking things through, sometimes I find that it is far more useful to just let everything go, create some space for myself, and than see what ideas and feelings emerge in that new place of clarity and stillness.  Last week, I began jotting down ideas for a book I had originally intended to start writing a couple of months ago, but life got in the way, as it often does. By being immersed in my process – suiting up and showing up for my life – I created a meaningful outcome.  It has always been a goal of mine to write a book.