Soaring above fear

My valentine tree...

The door to freedom is open to those who live larger than their obstacles... In other words, each time we give into fear, our lives shrink... and every time we push through it, our world expands... From personal experience, I can tell what to expect when you take the risk to do something scary, courageous, and wonderful for yourself: you will flounder, make mistakes, sometimes fail the first time or two, doubt yourself, want to give up, stumble, and sometimes throw yourself on floor like a child having a temper tantrum... but as things move forward, you can also expect that your wings will get stronger, your fear will diminish, and soon you will soar...

Grace

Grace doesn't always come in ways we would expect. When we experience an act of kindness from someone right at the moment we're in need of it, we know it’s grace... 

But there is also the kind of grace that comes from being broken open. This can mean illness, loss, confusion, despair… Sometimes we aren't willing to change until we've been brought to our knees...

When grace is fierce, it smashes through our denial. Before grace, we are captive to fear. We mask it with behaviors like pride, arrogance, rigidness… After grace, we soften, become more open-hearted, and relinquish defeating behaviors...

Building a new foundation

 I wasn't ready to take down the tree yet

so I took off the xmas ornaments 

and am turning it into a Valentine tree...

Control is a coping mechanism that we use when we are afraid of not getting our needs met. But the more we use control as a way to feel safe, the more insecure we become.

In surrendering control, we begin to find the places in ourselves which need love and healing...

The purest kind of love

An awakened heart has no fear or judgement...

It doesn't seek out special relationships...
It sees everything as an expression of love...

A time for renewal

 There comes a time, especially for women who have had the responsibility of managing 

a lot of movings parts, that things begin to unravel…

This is called GRACE… 

Women have the tendency to be prideful when it comes to how much they can juggle. However, there is a price to pay when we lose sight of our emotional and physical needs, our dreams, our desires, our ability to have a kind, loving relationship with ourselves... We get caught up in the busyness rather than finding quiet time to reflect, connect, and rejuvenate... 

If things appear to be unraveling in your life, perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise… A time for change... A time for clarity and answers... A time to look inward...

Infinite possibilities

Life is always blessings us with gifts, but we often miss them. We think things should look a certain way instead of realizing  that what is happening now is the gift, no matter the situation appears to be... 2017 is going to be a year for miracles, infinite possibilities, wonderful changes... Open your mind and heart... Look for gifts... There will be many...

A shining star

One day you will discover a flame of love inside you 

that burns brightly every moment of the day...

And when you do, you will take this love out 

into the world and share it with everyone…

Coming home...

My craft room...

Many of us hide the parts of ourselves that we're ashamed of...
We diminish who we are by becoming someone we’re not... 
The persona I adopted at a young age was Ms. Nice Girl... 
I mastered my disguise so well that even I believed it...
I put a smile on my pain and swallowed my feelings till my gut ached… 
But there came a day when I could no longer live a lie... 
The pain and emptiness of my insides, brought me to my knees... 
In surrendering myself to truth and the healing process,
I began the journey home...

Infinite possibilities

It is in dying to our old ways 

that we come ashore to

 taste the joy of new freedom...

Life lessons

Using a macro lens on my camera
gives me a closer glimpse of nature...

We all get life lessons, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not... If we ignore them, I can promise you that they will continue to reappear... Some people think they have bad luck, but that's not really true... What they see as bad luck, is actually the lesson they've been ignoring, popping back up again...

Remember that lessons are gifts meant to enrich our lives by teaching us things such as forgiveness (especially for ourselves), making better choices, learning to love ourselves so we can love others more purely, and sometimes our lessons force us into dealing with the emotional baggage we think we have cleverly buried from sight...

The fullness of life

A little glimpse of my home... 

Pink, soft, playful...

The craft room...

I'm so grateful to live with someone who
doesn't care that his house is pink...

Our days become a series of adventures 

when we experience life through our hearts rather 

than our hurts…

The best is yet to come

As women, we tend to put more focus on others than taking care of ourselves. 

We do it for various reasons: our upbringing, what our society expects of us, and because we are nurturers... But we do it for other reasons too (whether we're aware of it or not): issues with unworthiness, a deterrent from looking at things we don't want to deal with, and an attempt to feel secure by being needed... In other words, we hustle for love and approval... To turn it around, we must first learn to love ourselves (at least a little bit)...

***

FYI - If anyone is interested in doing a women's private Facebook group, go to my Facebook page (you can find it on the right-side of this blog) and send me a request... Here's a little bit about each 

"Women Walking a Spiritual Path" (a gratitude circle)

"Doing the Steps - Women in Recovery" (targets co-dependency - learning healthier boundaries, self-care...)

"A Course in Miracles - a beginners group for women" (how to understand and begin to live this beautiful book)

"Inner Child Group for Women" (a safe place to gently examine childhood wounds)

You may also want to sign-up to receive a daily email of my blog... You will find this on the right column, as well as, a place to sign-up to become a follower...

Look forward to hearing from you... Feel free to ask questions in  the comment section under my daily post... God bless

Building dreams

For a woman to claim her power,

she makes peace with sorrow, broken dreams, 

dashed hopes, and what she thought her life would be.

Her aches and bruises heal, she creates new dreams,

 and other than her most cherished memories, 

she no longer holds unto the past…

***

For over 40 years, I've worked in various fields: addiction, mental health, special needs, and shelter homes for women in abusive relationships... For the last twenty, I've been teaching women how to do healing work... I started this blog in 2011 as another way to reach out... It has been a source of joy for me and a great honor. I am looking forward to 2017 and whatever it brings next...

Telling our story...

No one likes to talk about addiction.... It's a messy, shameful topic, but nonetheless, but most of us have been affected by this disease in some way or another, whether we want to admit it or not. 

I'm grateful that I am able to tell my story without shame and can use my experiences to help others... I'm grateful that I don't subscribe to secrets... Secrets are the cause of shame... I'm also grateful for recovery programs like AA and Al-Anon... They not only changed my life, but saved it... This disease doesn't discriminate... It doesn't care where you live, what kind of car you drive, or what your degrees are... And for those who have family members with addictions, it doesn't matter how much you love or try to help them, you are powerless. Having lost a child to this disease, I know this to be true...

I want to end by saying that this not just about addiction today... I'm also bringing to the light that it is our tendency to hide whatever we don't want the world to see... We pretend to  be okay, while we silently carry the burden of pain, fear, unworthiness, loneliness, guilt, shame... If we don't deal with our issues, we are forced to wear a mask... I did that most of my life. And I can tell you that it was more painful than telling the truth...

New rules

I spent a lot of my life...

 trying to color inside the lines, 

ignoring the God-given gift called "intuition",

playing by rules that make no sense to my soul, 

pleasing others rather than taking care of myself,

making myself small so others won't feel threatened. 

And in the process, I lost myself...

But when I got sick and tired of the old rule book, 

I threw it out and wrote a new one that goes like this... 

I am kind to myself,

I don't care to be perfect, 

I trust what my gut tells me, 

and I let myself shine...

Unconditional love

I bought an "earth box" for my herbs... It's amazing!
My plants are happy and thriving...

We will only try to change someone if we have an unconscious belief 

that there is something lacking in us that we can get from them.

But the truth is, we already have everything we need... 

When we give up our stories of lack, truth will seep into our soul 

and the love that we will offer others, will be unconditional...

Dealing with loss

My daughter Jody

My brother, mom, and me...

The last photo taken of Jody

 I've learned that life is fragile, often messy, 

unpredictable, and gut-wrenchingly hard at times... 

I've also learned that no matter what life brings,

it's up to me what I do with my pain, hurt, loss...

I can choose to see the glass as half-empty or half-full...

I can feel victimized by my circumstances or find the gifts...

I can find the courage to look pain fully in the face or run from it...

I can look for something to fill in the missing pieces of my heart 

so that I won't have to feel the emotional insecurity that comes from 

losing so much family, especially a child...  or build a strong foundation 

within myself so that I feel at peace with the emptiness...

This month marks ten years since my daughter Jody, died...

  I'm always reminded, especially around the holidays, 

that my parents, my brother, and my grandparents are gone too...

What I know to be true about loss is that pain heals, life goes on,

and in-between the sorrow, joy continues to be woven into the threads of life...

The faith to know...

Found this little guy in my garden yesterday.
Maybe looking for his dinner?

To be in harmony with life, we surrender ourselves to it.

Instead of managing fear by trying to control our circumstances,

we enter a sacred contract with life through faith.

The way to your soul

There is a beautiful path; one that leads to your soul.

But you may have to travel the difficult path first. 

Pain is often the catalyst that shatters ego/self-will.

It is only when ego is absent, the path can be found.

Little blessings

I love healthy food 

and cute plates...

Color your world with fun, kindness,

new adventures, yummy food,

and a good sense of humor...

Shining brightly.

There is so much beauty, goodness, and love in all of us, 

but unworthiness will cloud our view of this truth... 

In order to own the truth and let ourselves shine, 

we must meet and accept the parts of ourselves 

that we have denied, hidden, rejected...

A clean slate

Clean up the past until all that remains 

is a blank canvas for God to paint on...

Feeling supported

You will know that there is an abundance of love in your life 
when you no longer look for someone to give it to you...
Abundance doesn't depend on others... 
Abundance is a solid belief that you are lovable and 
that your emotional needs are always being met...

Soulfulness

 It is not the soul that looks for outside validation. 
The soul is content in it's own completeness.

It is the ego that looks for something to make itself 
feel good, happy, important...

A gift to your soul

One of the holiday cards I designed last year...

We can choose to be popular by pleasing others or we can find the courage to be revealing and honest. In other words, genuine... Being popular feels good, especially if we're hungry for acceptance. Being authentic may not get you the popular vote, but I can promise you that it will be more pleasing to your soul...

Waking up

There are those who wish to stay asleep and those who wish to be awakened... 
There is a price for either choice. If we remain sleep, we miss the true experience 
of what life is about, but in order to awaken, we must meet ourselves in the 
most intimate, honest way imaginable...

Finding peace

We have these fixed ideas about how life should work. 
We like things to go our way. We're fear losing control.
It's important to know that unhappiness, frustration, pain,
and anxiety are the result of our inability to trust life
and our lack of acceptance for how things are...

Changing old habits

from my garden

It is in dying to our old ways 
that we taste the joy of new freedom...