The wound story

 

We all have underlining fears and insecurities stemming from our past.
No one totally dodges that bullet. I was deeply entrenched, as a child, 
in feelings of hopelessness, fear, and loneliness. These feeling can still
get triggered today.

It's been extremely helpful to know my "wound story" so that if it does
get triggered, I'll be able to recognize what is happening. If I forget to
pause and think, I'm apt to overreact to the given situation. 

 

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A wake-up call

Some of my best character building lessons have required me

to fall on my head (metaphorically speaking).

I've been humbled in ways that still cause me to grimace.

At times, I can be prideful, stubborn, and ignorant (unaware or in denial).

I say this kindness and compassion.

I think it's true for most people.

We get stuck in self-defeating patterns until life gives us

the perfect lesson to wake us up.

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Riding the waves

 

The best relationships in our lives are the best

not because they have been the happiest ones,

they are that way because they have stayed strong

through the most tormentful of storms.” 

 
― Pandora Poikilos

 

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Trusting a Higher Power

 

She saw all her lessons as flawless,

 

even when it took effort to stay upright.

 

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Our life lessons

 

“To graduate from the "School of Life" you need to

 have met the following criteria:

found your life purpose, lived in essence, trusted life,

became awake, reprogrammed beliefs, handled anger,

forgiven everyone, loved yourself, dealt with fears,

overcome anger you had with God/you,

cleared your emotional complexes & negativity,

let go of the past...”  

 

― Marina G. Roussou

 

 

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Thinking positive

 

Thought is cause, experience is effect.
If you don't like the effects in your life,
you have to change the nature of your thinking.

~ Marianne Williamson

 

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Giving up control

 

 

I read this quote the other day: 
"the problem is not that we ask God for too much, but we ask for too little". 
It made me think...
why do we make decisions from self-will rather than asking God for guidance...
and why do we try to figure things out rather than surrender to not knowing? 
Analyzing means living in the mind instead of the heart. 
Maybe it's uncomfortable to open our hearts wider to life;
to really trust that life is on our side.
We analyze out of fear...trying to feel safe by being in control.
Analyzing makes us feel smart.
Yet we all have a Source to go to for the perfect answers,
Instead we flounder, stumble, lose our way...
unwilling to give up control.
We may tell ourselves we don't want to bother God,
 but it's ego (our wounded self) that likes to feel smart and in charge.
For today, practice asking for help.
Listen carefully for the perfect answer.

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Some simple truths

Picture yourself as a woman

 

who sees her lessons as flawless

 

even when it takes great effort

 

for her to remain upright.

 

*****
 

 

“Now I see that the journey was never meant
to lead to some new and improved version of me;
that it has always been about coming home
to who I already am.”

― Katrina Kenison

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Being flexible

When life begins
we are tender and weak
When life ends
we are stiff and rigid
All things, including the grass and trees,
are soft and pliable in life
and dry in brittle in death

So the soft and supple
are the companion of life
While the stiff and unyielding
are the companions of death

An army that cannot yield
will be defeated
A tree that cannot bend
will crack in the wind
Thus by Nature's own decree
the hard and strong are defeated
while the soft and gentle are triumphant

 

 

Lao Tzu

 

*****

 

If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

Lao Tzu

*****

She let go of suffering

 

She knew pain was a part of life,

but suffering was a choice.

Instead of focusing on her pain,

she looked for the lesson instead.

*****

 

Sharing my book "The Gift of Change"

 

For the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing pages from one of my gift books "The Gift of Change". I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did creating it.

 
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 The Gift of Change (Introduction)

It’s been almost fifteen years since I first began stumbling down the path towards recovery. I use the word “stumbling” because I felt like a toddler when I first began. Everything I was about to learn was very foreign to me. It was a whole new way of life.

What led me to this new path was the anguish I felt inside myself. It brought me to my knees in prayer to ask for help in a way that I had never done before.

My spirit had been crushed as a child. I learned at a young age to suppress my natural feelings. I was raised in a time where children’s voices went unheard and punishment was used to break one’s spirit. Fear forced me into a belief system that reflected the beliefs of my wounded parents. I lost my way in the world.

As I grew into adulthood, I became a people-pleaser. I never learned to trust my own instincts and my self-esteem was low. I didn’t feel like I fit in. There was a emptiness in me that I felt often.

Finding ways to be happy became harder. The choices I made for myself were not always healthy ones. A dark hole in me ached with longing for something to fill the emptiness with. Eventually, I tried numbing myself in various harmful ways only making things worse. It took me several years to reach a bottom and surrender my will. Today my life is blessed because I did.

The best thing that could have ever happened to me was to sink as low as I could go. The pain motivated me to reach out for help and become teachable. I won’t tell you that climbing back up from the trenches I fell into was easy. I had a lot to learn.

There were many lessons along the way. But over time, a transformation began to take place.

This morning I decided to challenge my body and jog instead of my usual walk. It was freeing to know that I could still run even though I hadn’t run in years. The process of healing is similar. You have to be willing to challenge your spiritual muscles, in order to grow. You have to do the things you think you can’t, such as facing your fears, healing the past, and finding a healthy belief system.

It’s my desire to share with you the things that have changed in me, in hopes that it inspires you to keep reaching for your best life. I believe that God dreams bigger dreams for us than we do for ourselves. May you surrender to receiving the riches you deserve.

She held on to the promise of hope

as she faced difficult challenges.

When she reached the other side,

she had outgrown her cocoon

to become a beautiful butterfly.

 

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will continue on tomorrow's post

Our lessons in life

 

Embrace the journey.

 There will be times...

 

you'll experience fear, struggle, loss,

but you will also know hope, love, joy.

Open your arms to all life offers.

 Trust there is wisdom in all your lessons.

Let go of doubt, worry, insecurity...

Don't play life safe.

 

Be willing to risk everything...

 

to fulfill your dreams.

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My heart knows there's a blind...

 spot in every leap of faith;

a sheer panic as the last brick tumbles.

At that moment, the space between...

 is when we are completely vulnerable.

There's nothing left...

 except to completely surrender.

Kristen Jong

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Faith is the daring of the soul...

 to go farther than it can see.

William Newton Clark

*****

 

"I open my arms wide to life"

Saying "yes" to your dreams

 Another page from the book "Attempting Flight" by Kirsten Jongen. She writes about
taking the risk to pursue her dreams, even though the process is uncomfortable.

"Taking flight is like being in labor; with every frantic inhale and exhale, the question
 arises whether or not it's worth it. Should I shrink back into the life I had before...?

I want to live a maximum life, a life of actualized potential. I want to be limitless...
When I'm challenged to fly in a new direction, I will consciously try on yes.
And not look down.

 As I say yes to each new dream, I'm still the gangly teen who doesn't fit in...

I didn't realize I'd feel inept and out of place and even a fool at times... But I can't go back.

 I have seen the possibilities and felt the exhilaration of my first take-off. "

*****

I too,  found a lot of buried insecurities when I started my own business. There was
a voice in me that would say "who do you think you are". I felt unworthy... It was a
quite a journey overcoming some of those fears. But to achieve success, first we
must discover everything that blocks it.

*****

"I am no longer interested in living my life full throttle;

the wear and tear on my nerves is too much....

I have traded full throttle for full rich...

I want to live with purpose instead of panic..."

K. Jongen

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"I will be all that I was created to be"

Bits of wisdom

I was lucky to get a picture of a young grasshopper and the adult. Do you see her watching me?

“Some of the best lessons we ever learn,

we learn from our mistakes and failures.

The error of the past is the wisdom of the future.”

Tryon Edwards

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Important lessons I've learned through my mistakes:

Success is the art of living simple - along with a whole lot of gratitude.

Carrying the belief that “life is hard” will only create more of what I don’t want.

Putting my own needs first is not being “selfish”.

Being impulsive and reacting to my first thought is not usually a good idea.

I can banish the critical voice in my head by changing my self-talk.

People don’t need me to rescue them.

Grief is only temporary unless I try to avoid it.

Acceptance of my imperfect self and my imperfect life brings me peace.

*****

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely
to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable,
unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments,
propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step
out of our ruts and start searching for different ways
or truer answers.”

Scott Peck

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"Making mistakes is part of my process"

Unexpected lessons

I’ve come to accept that teetering, stumbling, falling…

is part of gaining balance again…

when life throws me an unexpected lesson.

I’ve learned that lessons can be messy and uncomfortable …

bringing me to my knees again and again

crumbling, rebuilding, crumbling…

It takes a strong act of faith…

to surrender…

to the unknowing, the mystery, the possibilities…

And in the sometimes gut-wrenching process...

I am birthing something so pure...

it is nothing short of a miracle.


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Eventually you will come to understand that love

heals everything, and love is all there is.

 Gary Zukav

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"I can relax knowing life is taking good care of me"