READY, SET, CHOOSE

"Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out." 

~ Micheal Burke ~

How can we act on knowing that a part of us doesn't want to know, because it means we will have to face something that we don't want to face? It seems easier to squash down our instincts, and play at everything being all right, but there is in-authenticity in this, and a price to pay down the road.
     We must choose a path. That is our responsibility. We can choose to go along and get along, or we can choose to honor our truth. And the action we take in making our choice is the very thing that will free us.

I choose which path to take forward every day that I live. 

IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run..." 

~ Kenny Rodgers ~

I'm an expert at normalizing the abnormal and making the best of things. It's something I learned to do young, and have been doing all my life. When others are ready to cut bait, I am still looking and pretending that all is well, that it's really ok, that maybe it's not as bad as it seems. And at times, this has its advantages, and at times, it serves me somewhat well.
     But other times, it's a recipe for a kind of self-punishment, a make-it-work-or-else kind of approach to life that actually hampers growth and constrains progress instead of promoting it.

I commit to clear sight, honest appraisal, and right guidance.

GUILT FREE LIVING

"Guilt is always hungry- don't let it consume you." 

~ Terri Guillemets ~

Guilt destroys the quality of life. It robs us of freedom and ease. It harps at us, scolding. It's full of shoulds and self-doubt and restriction and fear.
     Guilt is toxic and constrains us in ways so deep they are beyond our understanding. It makes us be in the world in ways that are not authentic or sincere.

I release the burden of guilt and live free.

USING LANGUAGE TO CREATE A WORLD

"I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." 

~ James Michener ~

Language has power and words create our reality more than we realize. The immense weight we generate with all the things we "have" to do can be energetically shifted quite easily. Observe the difference:
1. I have to (or should) work out. (Burden)
2. I want to work out. (Pleasure)
3. I am going to work out. (Power)
4. I could work out. (Possibility)
     And there are other options as well, the option of choice itself, and gratitude- that we can do anything at all that we can do.
     So let's bring awareness to our language, and realize how our use or abuse of it is impacting our day.

I choose my words with consciousness and care.

EVOLUTION BY DEGREES

"Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are." 

~ Rumi ~

The rhythm of life we are living is not the only rhythm of life there is. Time and experience can be cyclical, and circular, and topsy turvy all over the map rather than linear, although that's not necessarily how it feels in the business world where all is deadline driven and seemingly so urgent.
     And yet, all things, even business projects, grow as in nature, by degrees, by the sun, and by the season. Let's align ourselves to these natural rhythms and allow our lives and projects to evolve naturally rather than be born by insistence.

I embrace the natural unfolding of life and myself.

CLAIMING INDEPENDENCE

"Work in the invisible world at least as much as you do in the visible." 

~ Rumi ~

I've spent most of my life being co-dependent- worrying what others are thinking, feeling punished by their silence, creating criticism out of thin air, but I'm done with it. Right now, in this moment, I claim my independence from the opinions of others, whether real or imagined. I act with love, choose with care, and live my best life being my best self. If others rally behind me I welcome it, and if some are flatly opposed, that's ok too. I'll take each relationship as it comes, deal with the facts as they arise, and turn off all creative speculation about what things may mean or not mean.

I live free from co-dependence. 

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

"You are only as beautiful as your last action." 

~ Stephen Richards ~

In line at Costco there is so much resignation. Exhausted bodies labor away from the cashiers with full carts, at the registers, serious, worried faces process their debit cards; those arriving and ready to check out nervously scan the aisles to ascertain which is fastest.
     And in the middle of it all, a little girl in white short leggings and a yellow tent-top is smiling and dancing. She's leaning over a stack of water bottle cases and then opening her arms to the sky. And she's making the adults who are with her smile as well.
     Most of the people around her are oblivious. I enjoy her antics. She makes me smile too.

Whatever I do has an effect on those around me.