Picture yourself as...

Picture yourself as a woman who is...

creative, fearless, thoughtful, always optimistic,

and takes delight in the simplest of things...

Picture yourself as a woman who has...

faced her past, healed her wounds, found inner peace,

and set the bar high for her future (infinite possibilities)...

A new chapter

Happy New Year... Feeling grateful and excited about 2017... At the beginning of every year, I set an intention... Two years ago, it was infinite possibilities… Last year my word was free-fall/surrender... This year, I'm choosing miracles... I have no doubt that this is going to be the best year ever, for myself and for you...

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...