Photography by David Lawn

The Parable of the Raft is probably one of the most famous parables taught by the Buddha. He compared his own teachings to a raft that could be used to cross the river, but should be discarded when one made it safely to the other shore. 

A man is trapped on one side of a fast-flowing river. Where he stands, there is great danger and uncertainty – but on the far side of the river, there is safety. But there is no bridge or ferry for crossing. So the man gathers logs, leaves, twigs, and vines and is able to fashion a raft, sturdy enough to carry him to the other shore. By lying on the raft and using his arms to paddle, he crosses the river to safety. 

The Buddha then asks the listeners a question: “What would you think if the man, having crossed over the river, then said to himself, ‘Oh, this raft has served me so well, I should strap it on to my back and carry it over land now?’” The Monk replied that it would not be very sensible to cling to the raft in such a way. 

The Buddha continues: “What if he lay the raft down gratefully, thinking that this raft has served him well, but is no longer of use and can thus be laid down upon the shore?”

The monks replied that this would be the proper attitude.

The Buddha concluded by saying, “So it is with my teachings, which are like a raft, and are for crossing over with — not for seizing hold of.”  

So at that I crossover to another part of my life – no need to cling to the things you love but to let them free in order for them to take on a new life for themselves.  

I have followed different personal development blogs over the years and have grown and learned from so many of them. It’s all been said, in one blog or another. The advice offered is splendid but how many of us truly want to create change? How many truly want to get out of their comfort zones? Each one offers different perspectives, different solutions to issues, different ways on how to “get happy.”

So now I will include my list of perspectives on life and what I’ve learned through my amazing journey with MakeGirlfriends.

My list of transformation and growth

1. Live Simply – if that means put everything in storage and move every 4-6 months – go for it – it’s not all about the destination but the journey that makes us who we are. Ghandi stated, “Live simply so others can simply live.”

2. Live in the Present Moment - for this is truly what we have is the “moment”. We may have illusions of time but it’s all about the moment, I have a very good friend that would remind me, where are your shoes right now – I would say right here – that is where the moment lies.

3. No Judgment – stop judging others and it will be easier to stop judging yourself.

4. Forgive and Let Go - forgiveness is an act of self love and to truly forgive allows us to let go.

5. No Obligations – meaning do things out of LOVE and not GUILT.

6. LOVE – really and truly LOVE – for LOVE is the basis of everything beautiful and we are LOVE at our core! See through a child’s eyes. Be thrilled and excited about life. Find miracles everywhere. We are all capable of grand LOVE. Open your heart to LOVE!

7. NO FEAR – There are 2 human emotions FEAR or LOVE – you choose! When you operate from fear there is no love and when you operate from love there is no fear.

8. You are the Author of your life – Live out your life as if you are writing your life story.

9. Too much FUN is never enough! – no need to explain this one so give yourself permission to have FUN.

10. Stop and smell the flowers always – not when there is time but always; make yourself STOP!

11. Be TRUE to yourself – live in that authentic truth to yourself and you will never have to remember the lies to keep a story straight.

12. Live by the Four Agreements – 1) Impeccable Word, 2) Don’t take anything personally, 3) Never make assumptions, 4) Always do your best.

13. Live, Laugh and Dance as if today was your last day on earth.

14. Buy the SHOES!

15. Courage – never be afraid to tell the truth for it takes courage to speak in the truth and can change a life.

Brené Brown, Ph.D. writes, “Courage originally meant ‘To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.’ Over time, this definition has changed, and today, courage is more synonymous with being heroic. Heroics is important and we certainly need heroes, but I think we’ve lost touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we are, about what we’re feeling, and about our experiences (good and bad) is the definition of courage.”

16. Take care of your body – You only have one body and it’s your temple; look good and feel good for yourself first. Exercise and eating healthy is key.

17. I AM Statements – the power of the word from the beginning of time. I AM THAT I AM!

18. Gratitude – live in an attitude of gratitude – the more we are grateful for the more will come into our lives that we can be grateful of. Know that I am grateful for all of you that have followed me and have taken the time to comment on my blog posts.

19. Being Happy is a CHOICE – you choose!

20. Peace, Harmony, Happiness and LOVE to each one of you – living in love and light.

In case anyone is asking why are you letting MakeGirlfriends.com go? I have been thinking of letting go for a many months now and here are some of the reasons:

1. When I realized that habit was taking over my passion for writing posts that’s a true sign to observe and do something different. Habit makes you continue to do things over and over and expecting different results – wait, isn’t that the definition of Insanity?

2. I spent so much time, energy and money on this website and I started to cling to that fact instead and I continued to post blogs due to that fact.

3. Letting Go = Failure (EGO talking) – In reality – LETTING GO = FREEDOM

4. Trusting that when you say “no” to what doesn’t serve you, life says “yes” to your greatness.

I read recently a quote from Abraham: There are no choices that are really a detour that will take you far from where you’re wanting to be because your Inner Being is always guiding you to the next, and the next, and the next. So don’t be concerned that you may make a fatal choice because there aren’t any of those. You are always finding your balance. It’s a never ending process.

I have made incredible relationships through the blogging community, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Corinne Edwards, Kelly Rudolph, Maureen Simon and Nicole Rushin. I have not met Galen Pearl, Alex Blackwell, David Stephens, Martin and Pam Clooney, Irving from Hans of Harmony and Debbie Bills. All of these people work very hard on their blogs and I celebrate their work.

So now I take all the time I’ve spent on blogging and writing for my blog and will dedicate that time to writing my book that has been in progress for about 2 years now. I am in the creative collaboration stage so I am a little reluctant to give you the title. I ask that you stay in touch for I would love to hear about your lives. I will continue to follow your blog posts but won’t feel the pressure of having to respond, picking and choosing what I would like to read. Living in line with my truth. I will now have more time with face to face and eye to eye interaction with people I meet.

So now I introduce you to the first person that came to my “heart” Nathalie Villeneuve. She started the group on facebook named “The Women of Facebook” and she will continue this beautiful space of love and passion with MakeGirlfriends.com. Nathalie will not be changing the name of the site.

I will have the pleasure of introducing Nathalie next week to you all. My final day will be August 1, 2012.

I introduce you to Nathalie Villeneuve

Peace, Harmony, Happiness, Love to all of you and……as always, I sign off by saying:

Accountability, Appreciation, Celebration, Change, Closure, Comfort Zone, encouragement, Friends, gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, JOY, Living in the moment, love, motivation, new beginnings, passion, Power of words, Spirit of a woman, The Five Agreements, Think Big, Truth acceptance, appreciation, awakening, change, encouargement, friendships, Girlfriends, gratitude, Happiness, illumination, impeccable word, insight, inspiration, joy, love, motivation, positive thinking, revelation, Self love, Truth

by Erin Williams LMSW, BCD, CHt,

I’ve been familiar with the concept of “loops of learning” on my journey for a while now, and damn it if it isn’t more apparent now than ever.  So here is how it works….You learn a lesson in life, maybe through a relationship or recurring situation, and you heal part of it.  Then a few months or years later, a similar situation occurs, so and you are faced with another OPPORTUNITY to heal a deeper part of that issue.  It can feel like riding on a roller coaster that you had no intention of going on.  You thought you were in line for the tunnel of love, and instead found yourself in a full harness on Mega Mountain.

            When you become aware of the “loops of learning” in your life, you will be able to see them all over the place.  For example, you may have felt betrayed by a girl friend in high school, so now when you meet new girl friends there is some level of distrust.  The concept of “loops of learning”, might have you meeting new girl friends every year or so, where you have the opportunity to work through your distrust.  You might feel it in the beginning like an automatic reaction to the new friendship, but the learning process would allow you to eventually discern who was trustworthy, and who may not be a suitable friend for you.  In this way, you are healing the automatic reaction of distrust, and allowing yourself to now create deep connections with women in a way you weren’t able to do before. 

            Recently, I have had many clients coming in and talking about BIG issues resurfacing.  I hear a lot of “I THOUGHT I HAD HEALED THIS!!!  WHY IS IT COMING UP AGAIN!”  Well, for those of us that are paying attention and aware of the energy shifting lately, we can feel that it is INTENSE, to say the least.  What is happening is that we are being given big, big, and BIGGER opportunities to heal all those skeletons in our closets, so that we will be able to welcome the new, profound, and truly beautiful energy that awaits us.  You see, the deeper you go with your healing, the more capacity you have to experience this profound loving energy…..the more you heal, the more bliss you are able to experience NOW!

            Do not allow yourself to be frustrated by this process.  Let it wash over your body like a warm wave of water, and just float on top of it effortlessly.  Go ahead and tell yourself it’s safe to feel all of your emotions, then feel them and watch as they dissolve into greater levels of happiness and contentment.  Most of the time, we try so hard to distract ourselves from feeling the emotions or doing our own healing work, so it comes up again and again.  So now, once and for all, decide to feel it, and release it.  Trust that fear has no power over you, and that you are in fact SAFE always.  Try the mantra, “I now choose to release all that is not truly me.”  Since we are LOVE at our core, this will help to release all of the ego, fear-based dilutions that are weighing your vibration down. 

Blessing to you!  Good things are coming!

Erin Williams, LMSW, BCD, CHt

http://healingplacecounseling.com

Erin Williams awakening, change, encouargement, insight, inspiration, motivation, positive thinking, Self love, women friendship

by Patricia Gozlan

Where we are and what we do are constantly pressured by modern society – everything needs to be done fast, we want it all, and we want it now! How is it possible to have it all while maintaining a healthy work life balance?

There are some important things that cannot be done in 5 minutes or less, for all savvy business owners:

1. Getting married to Mr. or Mrs. Right
2. Pregnancy
3. Seeing your children grow
4. Admiring a sunset
5. Savoring a good glass of wine or a delicious homemade dish
6. Attracting the right persons in your life or business
7. Learn an art or skill and accomplishing them
8. Recovering from an accident, open wound or injury…

The list goes on, and I’m sure you can think of even more!

So how can we manage all our daunting little ‘chores’ thinking we must go fast, be productive, and also learn from, without taking the growth of our own selves as spiritual beings into account?

This is like wanting to have the dish your mother or grandmother knew how to do, where they left the food to cook for hours, using the most exclusive ingredients and pouring their love and energy into making it so delicious… but you are expecting to find this very dish in a fast food restaurant instead.

What is the right compromise when it comes to ‘fast and good’ or ‘fast and indigestible’?

If you had a choice between a plastic ring and a diamond ring, which would you choose?

Well, for all matters in life, all these apply:

1. Divide the big tasks into mini or small tasks. With smaller expectations, bigger satisfactions come when you finish them.
2. Find a balance between ‘fast and well done’ and ‘slowly as where time does not exist’.
3. Decide how many hours you choose to set your microwave, and always remember to calculate the risks, especially when going too fast.
4. Savour each moment, each day with your family and loved ones, hobbies, friends, nature, and good food as though they were your very last.

 Here are some quotes for you to ponder on and help you achieve that balance:

• With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown. – Chinese Proverb
• Our patience will achieve more than our force. – Edmund Burke
• Infinite patience creates instant results. – Anonymous

What are the tasks and actions you can choose to go slower with, and what are the ones you can do faster?

Slow Living is about connecting with a group of people outside from the internet community and savor the moment by expanding the concept of time.

Work life balance strategy:

It is important for your work life balance and to enhance the quality of your life to take a break and get out of the city where air, noise, and light are natural and where time does not exist or to take long breaks in the middle of nature far from cell phones, computers, cars and stress breathing fresh air, sleeping well and eating organic natural foods.

Does having a microwave-mindset make you feel more prosperity, inside and out? How can  you as a savvy business owner achieve lifework balance in terms of quality and time?

 For more information about adding quality time in your life, please download my free report in the free start here (http://www.patriciagozlan.com/free-products/) and let me know your unique strategy on how you decide now to create more quality time for you.

Patricia Gozlan change, encouargement, insight, inspiration, Manifestation, motivation, positive thinking, work balance

by Guest Blogger Flo Bradley

My Mission Statement

I want to be a lover of life. To embrace the beauty of my life’s journey, taking risks if it means achieving my goals. Even if the path isn’t straight or lit and I stumble over rocks and bumps which send me crashing to the ground, I promise to never stay down. While there is still sweet breath, marinating my lungs, I’ll rise, retrace my steps, learn the root of my fall, change it, avoid it, conquer it and move on. My heart, I’ll fill it with love- of family, relationships and faith in the Lord. This will help me in my journey. Material wealth is not important to me. I just want the fruits of my labor to yield happiness, not only for me but for everyone that I encounter. I want to be a mentor to the generations after me. Overall, whatever I do . . . I want to leave a legacy of living on purpose with purpose. 

This is my LIFE MISSION STATEMENT.  It was death that ultimately forced me to start living it.  On a stiflingly hot summer evening in August 2005, my cousin, Keisha, drew her last breath.  Ironically, she had been celebrating her 28^th birthday with friends when her heart stopped beating. We had played together as young children, but time and circumstance had erased all traces of her old self.  The once vibrant, loving girl had been transformed by drugs and they had poisoned her heart and broke mine.  For the first time I started to realize that life is an hour glass, whose sand will run out.  Ironically, her death didn’t thwart me in the grasp of melancholy.  Instead, it propelled me into action and I started to really live truthfully and into my mission.

Seven years have passed and the words have manifested themselves in many ways from: me coaching seven-year-old children on the soccer field, to being the director of a non profit, to creating my Life Vision Workshop where I assist others to use Law of Attraction techniques and principles to design their own perfect existence driven by passion.  Any pursuit must align with this mission statement whose birth was planted by knowledge that we only have a moment. Live now because your body is a fragile gift.  Play with what is inside.    

BIO              

Flo Bradley is a successful entrepreneur and empowerment coach.  A native of Massachusetts, she began her career in the financial services arena after graduating with honors from Boston University where she met her husband, Robert Bradly.  In Boston, she juggled a traditional 9 to 5 while dancing professionally with various performances companies.  This is where she gained a taste of what lay beyond the confines of a cubical as well as where she developed a passion for what nutrition could do for ones body and soul. When her college sweet-heart decided to serve his country as a Marine Corp Fighter Pilot, she left her job to follow her heart and started a life with him.

She has lived by this mission statement ever since and has explored so many passions from developing a operations for a non profit to acting in commercials and on stage.
 
Today, she sits on the board of the local charity, The Community of Hope, mentoring and scholarship foundation and in January launched her Life Vision Workshop that helps participants explore their gifts and awaken their possibilities.
 
As a mobile fitness and nutrition coach, she assists clients to make better choices for their health as she knows that the body is the only place where we have to live, and keeping it in optimal health is paramount.

Her work in corporate America as a banking executive for Wachovia has helped her both personally and in the public sector. These skill-sets have enabled her to utilizes her services in two non profits, The Navy Marine Corp Relief Society and Operation Homefront which both have a mission of assisting military personnel and their families who are experiencing financial hardships by providing financial counseling, interest free loans and grants, continuing education and morale support.

Still her best and favorite achievements are her two beautiful children, Avrey-6 and Bryce 2 and the life that she shares with her adoring husband.

Flo Bradley awakening, encouargement, inspiration, motivation, positive thinking, Self love

Words of Nicole Rushin

If I can write honestly for a moment – I have a birthday coming up in only 9 months! I know I will be laughed at by many of you who have passed this milestone, but for some reason this number bothers me, it itches, I want to throw it off.

The thought of being 39 for the last time sits with me, shakes her head, gives me a sideways glance and says, ‘You’re not exactly where I thought you would be.’ As if I have disappointed my demanding inner child.

I want new pictures taken for my online profiles, but I am afraid they won’t look the way I see myself. To be quite frank, when I look in the mirror I still see a young face. For the first time in my life I see smoothness and radiance. Where did this light come from?

I keep hearing that it only matters how we see ourselves, but there is some disconcerting imbalance between what I see and the feeling of not being somewhere. Where is this somewhere? Can I be radiant without reaching?

Oprah used to celebrate women in their forties. Hmph! I guess she bypassed forty and left all of us behind. I see no Oil of Olay ads in my future anyway. Maybe there is still time to make her recommended book list before the clock winds down.

Where is the celebration? The triumph? Balloons? Will there be those? Maybe I can just put in my ear buds and listen to Jack Johnson on a beach somewhere. Again – that somewhere. And how can I schedule this vacation without my inner child finding me?

I guess she’s kind of cute anyway with her snow blonde hair and curious blue eyes. (Maybe she is no harder on me than I ever was on her.) And what a dreamer!  On the swing set alone she pumps her legs with all her might until finally, finally she is airborne and flying in that place of maybe and what if.

What if people had purple faces? What if we had three arms or what would life be like with no moon?

She has the ability to be with no place to be.

I look out the window as she carries rocks to the wild petunias. She tells me the Mimi Spirits need them. I believe her and later on I will help her carry rocks so the spirits can slip in and out of our world.

I suppose my thirties have been an accumulation of finding my somewhere, of never arriving, packing my bags, leaving, staying and finally realizing that life is never about the arrival. You find your free space, your somewhere, when you finally stop pumping your legs.

“So child, if we are not exactly where you thought we would be where should we go?”

She pulls at her blue plaid dress because it itches and she wants to throw it off. She jumps off the bottom step like it is the leap of her death, and says, “Let’s go put words together like we did yesterday. You know the way they lean like the little baby cosmos on the fence!” She pinches her fingers together to show me how small they are.

“Where will we get the words?” I ask.

“They’r under the rocks – yu know,” she pulls her dress over her head. I love the way it hangs on her nose and lingers in her sweaty hair. Such freedom. Digging for words under rocks is always better in dirt stained underwear.

At 39 I guess I am realizing there was never anywhere to go. If I had ever waited long enough life would have blown me where I needed to be. People and faces come in on unpredictable winds. People leave, situations change. We create goals and intend our plans, climb a ladder to nowhere only to realize our somewhere was already everywhere.

And here is the radiance. Blue jeans and farm fencing. Dogs that come when you call their names. Pillows! Pillows everywhere, rain and tiny drops of cream and sugar in your coffee… (I am pinching my fingers together to show you how tiny the drops are.)

Turning the corner I pick up the blue plaid dress from the summer lawn. Maybe this itchy number was about freeing my inner child all along. Maybe it was about me believing in her dream.

Believing that the somewhere place could simply be here.

Bio

Nicole Rushin quietly manages her blog Writing as Loud as I Can @ nicolerushin.com where she writes and talks about poetry, dreams, growth, her journey of writing and what it feels like to let go of the pen. She publishes a monthly pdf e-book called Dream-Speak.

Nicole Rushin awakening, birthday, gratitude, illumination, insight, inspiration, positive thinking, revelation

 If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. 

We’ve all have heard this statement, have said this statement or even thought this statement.

That’s Just the Way I AM

Is it possible that this statement keeps us stuck in our Comfort Zones.  We don’t have to change or think about how we can be better and improve ourselves because……well, you know the statement.  THAT’S JUST THE WAY I AM!

It’s easier to make excuses to stay the way we are instead of changing the bad habits or changing parts of ourselves that we may want to improve.  From our tempers, the way we interact with people, the extra weight we carry, the way circumstances are evolving in our lives that keep us stuck in unhealthy relationships.

CHANGE

To change means to first acknowledge what you wish to change.  Once we acknowledge that we have something to change then we evaluate how much work you wish to contribute to the change to make it happen. 

WE MUST NAME IT TO CLAIM IT

Once we acknowledge that we have something to change then we evaluate how much work we wish to contribute to the change. 

AWARENESS IS ALL

Know there is an issue, have the courage to do something about it and then have the awareness to be sensitive as the issue pops up in your life.

CHANGE = ACTION

HOW BAD DO WE WANT TO CHANGE?

I believe we are designed in such a way that when we are at the end of our rope and we get tired of living day in and day out in the ways that doesn’t please us, then we make the necessary movements toward change.  The key is getting to the bottom, the proverbial end of the rope.

At times we may feel to acknowledge change means that we are less than perfect.  Well, guess what – we are all less than perfect and in this place we call life we are all sailing in the same boat.  The winds may catch our mast and we smoothly sail through the waters and then at times the winds are against us and there may be a bumpy ride ahead of us.  The key is how do we react to the rough seas?  Do we make adjustments to our sails and work with the wind or do we fight the wind and go off course?

This is how I see change – it may be bumpy to change but I can tell you that rough seas are temporary and they teach us to be better sailors.  I can tell you that it isn’t always easy to change but the outcome of the change can give you the freedom of living a life full of JOY!

There is a light at the end of each tunnel that you go through to make the necessary changes so we can be better people.

Remember, may the possibilities of today excite you!

Change, Comfort Zone, encouragement, inspiration, motivation awakening, Awareness, change, encouargement, inspiration, motivation, positive thinking

Please welcome our newest guest blogger Galen Pearl 

Yield and overcome

Bend and be straight

–Tao Te Ching

I spent a lovely weekend at my mountain cabin recently.  The cabin sits in dense forest just above a rushing creek.  On the far side of the creek is a ridge, which keeps that side of the creek in shade for much of the day.

When I’m at the cabin, I spend a lot of time at the creek.  I like to have my morning tea sitting on its bank.  On a hot day, I stay close to the creek.  The water comes from melting snow further up the mountain.  The icy temperature creates natural air conditioning above the dancing race of sparkling froth. 

Over a year ago, sudden warm weather after a heavy snow flooded the creek.  Boulders and trees swept downstream like thundering herds of buffalo.  Afterwards, I saw that a birch tree on the far side of the creek had toppled over.  It lay balanced on several rocks just above the water, its base hidden in the underbrush by the creek’s edge.  Over the winter, it looked just like the other logs and driftwood scattered along the banks.

But with spring came a surprise.  Bright green leaves budded and unfurled along its branches.  It was not only living, it was thriving.  On my recent visit, I contemplated its strange existence.  The roots, I concluded, must still be anchored on the bank.  As I examined it from my side of the creek, I realized that the tree was now strategically placed to get the maximum sunlight during the day.  Away from the ridge and from the towering evergreens, the birch tree’s branches were in the most open area right in the middle of the creek. 

The tree seemed unabashed by its precarious and awkward position.  It was not ashamed at being horizontal.  It was in perfect harmony with the creek and the sun, happy to be alive, busy with photosynthesis, unconcerned with what the other trees thought.

The phrase “bloom where you’re planted” comes to mind.  When I lived overseas, I found that the expatriates who were most happy were those who were flexible, who let go of what was familiar and embraced their new environment with curiosity and a sense of adventure, along with a good sense of humor.  There were times when I initially felt anxious, and I’m sure I looked foolish.  But when I “got over myself,” I fell in love with my exotic surroundings.  Every day was exciting.  I learned new languages, tried new foods, respected new customs, made new friends.

Even when we are living in our “usual” surroundings, things happen that throw us into uncharted waters.  I remember the first day I heard the word “autism” in relation to my son.  I remember the day my daughter told me she was pregnant. I remember falling off the roof (of my beloved cabin!).  I remember other times when my life changed in the blink of an eye.  Many of these changes initially seemed like tragedies, and yet turned out to be my most cherished blessings, blessings I failed to recognize until I let go of my resistance and my fear.

We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can control our attitude towards them.  Like the tree, we can bloom where we’re planted, and thrive. 

BIO

Galen Pearl is the author of 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place (and Staying There), a blog devoted to helping us develop habits to grow a joyful spirit.  In addition to writing, she leads workshops and discussion groups focused on increasing the joy in our lives.

Galen Pearl attitude, encouargement, insight, inspiration, perspective, positive thinking

Guest post by Anne Lyken-Garner

I am truly honored to promote Annie today and her memoir of Sunday’s Child.

Sunday’s Child is the remarkably inspirational true story of a little girl struggling to rise above poverty, appalling living conditions, food lines, violence, abuse, mental anguish and political hardships. It shows how she picks out little glimmers of hope and love and uses them as positive anchors in her life. She draws on everything she has – just to survive. (Published by Pulse Publishing).

About Sunday’s Child

Sunday’s Child tells of the harrowing systematic abuse of a little girl by her grandmother, while giving the reader a glimpse of the political and cultural climate of 1980′s Guyana.

In a desperate economic crisis, Guyana is forced to resort to food and energy rationing. Acclaimed author Anne Lyken-Garner’s tale picks up on the humorous aspects that the young girl experiences while forced to spend hours in food lines, simultaneously unfolding the sadness and desperation that is her everyday life.

A soldier in Jonestown, where more than nine hundred people committed mass suicide, the young girl’s uncle tells her of the dead bodies he’s seen – but she doesn’t mention the one that she herself has witnessed. When she loses the one person in her life who cares for her – and tries to save her – she knows in her heart that her life is about to end…

Click on this link to learn more about Sunday’s Child.

Thank you Annie for sharing your story with us!

Remember, may the possibilities of today excite us!

Anne Lyken-Garner encouargement, inspiration, motivation

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~ G.K. Chesterton

The word grateful in the dictionary states:  “warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful.

We hear the word grateful and living in gratitude these days and I ask how do you live in gratitude?

To truly live in gratitude takes the heart and mind to be in that place of gratitude.  A place where you can truly say, “I AM GRATEFUL.”

We take so much for granted in life.  We have so many commodities in our everyday living.  Food, drink, shelter, clothing, the air that we breathe, the beauty around us.  Keeping our eyes open to see the beauty, to appreciate life and all its wonders, this is living in gratitude.  The wonderment of life and all it has to offer.

We sometimes get so wrapped up in our busy lives with all the things that are on our “TO DO” lists that it’s so easy to lose sight that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.  When this happens we forget gratitude.

So how do we reset our brains to connect with our hearts and live in a space of gratitude?

Some Simple Steps to Follow

1.       Take a moment to breathe

2.       Start living in the moment by appreciating the glories of the present moment in our ordinary

3.       If you have to start wearing a rubber band around your wrist to stop yourself in your tracks

4.       Don’t take life for granted. 

Start a “gratitude” journal - if you are one of those that can’t find anything to be grateful for, then start small:  for getting up  in the morning in a bed, for the sunshine, for the rain, for a place to live, for food on your table.

I truly believe that the more gratitude we have the more things will come in our lives that we can be grateful for which leads to total joy for life.

Living in an “attitude of gratitude” changes our perspective in life.  It’s the shift in our thinking.  Dr. Wayne Dyer states so boldly; “when we change our feelings we change our destiny.”

Start with the little things to be grateful for and the bigger things will come…..your life will change!

Appreciation, encouragement, gratitude, Happiness, Insight, inspiration, Manifestation, motivation appreciation, change, encouargement, gratitude, inspiration, joy, motivation, positive thinking

by Erin Williams, LMSW, BCD, CHt

Drama has its own very special energy.  For me, it feels like my heart is trying to stay grounded in the midst of a hurricane.  However, it’s different for everyone.  I had a client once tell me that it felt like she was drowning in a kiddie pool.  At first, I had a difficult time understanding what she meant.   Then after some time, I began to think that was a brilliant description of drama!  Drowning in a kiddie pool….it’s like all you have to do is stand up and walk away, or sit up for that matter.  However, for whatever reason, you begin to believe that you have no choice other than to take mouthfuls of questionable water. 

So what is the art of detaching from drama?  There is an art to just about everything else, so I’m sure there is one for detaching.  Let’s see….I think first you have to realize you are indeed in the kiddie pool, and surrounded by 5 year olds.  So take a moment to really look around.  It can be a bit like the matrix at first, where you realize, HOLY SHIT!  I thought I was surrounded by mature adults, but suddenly everyone is wearing swimmies and fighting over who gets the big, red, bouncy ball.   

Don’t panic!  You are safe, and seeing things clearly is the first step to detaching.  With this new realization, you can now recall your present age, freedom, and power.  I like to do that by stating, “I am __________ years old, and I have the power to make any choice in this lifetime.  I can choose something that will serve me, or I can choose something that will not serve me.  Today, I am choosing to DETACH from this situation, because that will serve me, my health, and well-being.”  Then take a giant step out of that pool and dry off.  Drying off may look different to different people.  Perhaps you physically go away for a period of time, or you mentally and emotionally spend some time away from the drama.  You decide.  After all, you are the one that is in charge of you.

The next step is a really important one—-REST!  Then rest some more.  When you are consumed by drama, you are vibrating at that low frequency, and that has the ability to make you ill and depleted.  So you will need to take some time for yourself to rest, heal, and raise your vibration.  Raising your vibration is key here, because it will allow you to see the situation in a better light.  You will begin to see more options, and you will be able to let go of anger, frustration, and resentment. 

Ways you might raise your vibration include spending time near water, drinking more water, taking healing baths, listening to happy mood boosting music, eating healthy beautiful foods, exercising, and spending time doing the things you like to do, with people that make you feel good!  Give yourself a set amount of time to heal and rest, before you even allow yourself to think about the situation….let’s say at least a week.  Then go ahead and revisit it.  If it still feels like it’s sucking the life out of you, take another week, and then repeat.  YOUR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS IS IMPORTANT, so get out of the kiddie pool, put on your ipod, and go layout in the grownups only section.  DOESN’T THAT FEEL BETTER?!!  Ohhhhh yes it doesJ

Wishing you an abundance of JOY!!!!!  You so deserve it!

Love to you,

Erin Williams, LMSW, BCD, CHt

www.healingplacecounseling.com

Erin Williams awakening, Detachment, encouargement, Happiness, insight, inspiration, motivation, positive thinking, Self love