The truest thing I can tell you: the gift of today

Photo by Knuth Waltenberg on Unsplash.

While I believe it’s always the write time for hope, humor & heart, oftentimes grief shows up at our doors without invitation. An emotion that follows no rules—no “how to” manual—I’ve heard grief described as a “sucker punch” by one, and as a wake-up call by another. In my own life, grief…[read more]

Brave enough: finding strength to admit our brokenness

 

From the start, my purpose for writing “A nasty word called addiction…” centered on a message of hope and redemption, as well as a way to mark a milestone in my own journey of healing. It’s no secret that many of us suffer in silence from a laundry list of afflictions. Yet, the older I get, the more I feel a kinship with those who hide behind the fake smiles, the false bravado. Because I, too, share the DNA of brokenness. Yet, as I navigate—aka stumble, skip or sidle (depending on the day)—this season of Club 50, I often entertain second thoughts about broaching various “taboo” topics in conversation or my writing. However, if we’re unwilling to allow ourselves the discomfort of vulnerability, then we miss an opportunity to engage in deeper connection with humanity, and ourselves. Transparency, I believe, serves as a catalyst to healing and a collective oneness. And affords us strength when we’re brave enough to admit our brokenness.

Are you brave enough?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Walking proof: the catalyst to inspire

After a recent sweat session—aka Bikram yoga class—I conversed with a young lady who practices at the same studio. Her story inspires: 50 pounds heavier last year, she suffered with depression perpetuated by the chronic recitation of self-defeating thoughts and words. One day, she began to listen to and read positive affirmations daily and also established an at-home yoga practice. These new habits served as the catalyst for the person she is today, one who exudes confidence from the sparkle in her eyes to the smile that lights up her face. She knows she’s amazing and beautiful (she repeats this mantra habitually). What’s her secret? She mentioned synchronicity—the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection. Yet we both know it’s what I tout in my posts: That what we think, what we believe and what we speak are essential to attracting abundance in our lives. This young lady is walking proof.

What does your life prove about you?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

What is muse and where do you find it?

As the weather cools in the Southwest, the mountains beckon me with their rugged magnetism, the twists and turns in their craggy landscape. Yet sometimes it’s different, not the terrain—although, each time I’m there, it feels like new territory to explore—but the escape. Instead of finding respite, the noise in my mind might be matched by the noise on the trails. Hyper aware of my surroundings, this prohibits me from receiving solace, from settling into my muse—or source of inspiration—and picking up where I left off the last time I set foot in the desert. My time there is never wasted, however. Oftentimes, it’s there I feel closest to my creator as I marvel at the splendor of my surroundings. And then I realize that it’s life, in all its glorious imperfections and unpredictability, that serves as my real muse. The mountains simply function as a catalyst to fan the dormant embers of passion into a burning flame.

What and/or where is your muse?

How a kick-in-the-butt can change your life

 

Crazy bird, she was. Only flew when no one watched.
None could keep her. All failed to train her.
Funny name she had. Time.
~ Anonymous

 

My recent post, ‘Tick tock…,’ talks about time and our elusive grasp on it. I can actually define the catalyst—or kick in the butt—that snapped me out of my Rip Van Winkle state, the one where I slept away more than twice the amount of time as the fictional character. I call it BC and AC. Before I re-enrolled to complete my undergraduate degree, my life felt ‘tiny,’ unimaginative. Timid. After college (and also while attending classes for my Bachelor of Arts in Literature, Writing & Film), my world became vast, inspired. Daring. How differently my path might have unfolded had I attended college before middle age. Yet, I wouldn’t trade my experiences or the connections I built, the new tricks I learned and still do. The important thing is where I go from here: forward.

What’s your life’s catalyst?

Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Starting from scratch

[Image credit: vichie81]

It’s never too late — never too late to start over,
Never too late to be happy. ~ Jane Fonda

What if you’re middle-aged (considering you’ll live to be 90) and you have no idea what you want to do or be when you grow up?  Imagine you’ve also been asked by a close friend what your deepest passion is, but you look at her (or him) with a blank stare because you really have no idea.  Perhaps you haven’t given it much consideration before.  You’ve been too busy living the life you began adulthood with — raising a family, with no time to cultivate your own dreams, or you took a job you really didn’t want, simply to pay the bills.  But you know there has to be more.  You just have no idea what it could be.  You long to discover it, though.  You wish beyond anything else there was something new and exciting to get up for each morning, that single most driving force that may actually be the catalyst to define you.  Perhaps it’s not really starting over, but more like moving forward.  Either way, if you’re still breathing, then you still have time to figure it out.  You still have time to find happiness.

What is your deepest passion, the one that defines you?