I’m at my sisters for Christmas and my niece and nephew (9yrs) asked if they could help me write this one. I thought it would be nice to share with you, some of their thoughts about life. Meet Madison and Beckem.

I’m not sure exactly when this hit me, but I’m assuming in the last couple weeks since this last lockdown. I’ve hit lonely! And it wasn’t too long ago I said to a friend, I’m never lonely. “There’s always something I can do.” But what a difference between doing and feeling. Doing is what I was doing so that I didn’t have to feel my lonely.

Srikumar Rao shared:

We are all control freaks. And here’s what he says: You don’t have control, You never had control, You never will have control.

I would bet at this stage in your journey, you know what you’re good at and not so good at! This message is not about changing you. It’s about accepting you, right now, as you are. 

I know you love yourself and I also know you are your own worst critic. If we believe what we’ve been told, by society or well meaning people, instead of the loving voice inside of us, life can be tough.

Be accountable for where you are at. Without trying to figure out why you are here, or putting blame on you or anyone else, just sit with where you are at. 

The ‘purpose’ of life is a question I’m sure you’ve asked yourself at some point or another. What’s my purpose? Why am I here? All good questions. And over the years my purpose has changed and evolved. The definition and what I’m here for. So don’t ever make this deep question stress you out. 

We’ve been hurt (and will be again) and have old wounds from our life experiences that weren’t always our fault. No one should have hurt your precious heart. Yet, it happened. And we are left to sort it out, often without the skills required to heal, yet we expect this amazing life that we ‘deserve.’

I heard this statement and it really resonated with me. “Experiences don’t happen to us, they happen for us.”

What an interesting way to view your situation, right? It takes you from victim mode to curiosity and gets your power back.

Whether or not an experience in your life is good or bad, it allows you to step back and ask yourself some questions. I believe it’s a way for the universe to say, hey I’m with you, but you need to look at this. There is something you need to either appreciate, heal, look for what you need to learn or move on.

I pretty much spend my days learning. And each time I take a deep dive into the spiritual teachings with the thought leaders of our day, I feel better. Many of them are saying the same things, but each teacher brings the information in a different way based on their own individual experiences. You also could write the book, create a video or help someone based on what you’ve experienced. My challenge to you is to help someone who might need your story this week.

I write to you today because I have been surrounded by grace over the past week as I’ve been alone to mourn the loss of my amazing Dad. I’ve been following my guidance, for what my heart needs and I’m so grateful that I have. What I mean by grace, is a feeling of comfort, security and calm. An influence of spirit unexplained and not outside of myself.

If all your days are numbered, have you ever wondered yours?Have you been there and done that, or are there still more doors?You can’t explain your journey - where you’ve been or where you’re headed,Who has been important and of those, has all been mended?

My dad passed away on Monday. I am just so sad.

My Dad is in the hospital and I just want to say - please take the time to love the ones you’re with. You just don’t know how long you have or how long you have with the people in your life. I’m so thankful for the healing I’ve done. My forgiveness and hurts from the past have long been replaced with endless joy, laughter and memories that will last a lifetime. The tools I’ve gathered along the way have allowed me to accept and handle anything that shows up in my life. 

Do you feel centered and calm?

Meditation is not a new term thankfully. But it’s shocking to me how many people I talk to that ‘know they should’ meditate, but they don’t. (Remember, try not to should yourself. Do it, or don’t).

My oldest brother and I recently had an opportunity to spend an amazing week of quality time together. We had many interesting conversations about what we’ve learned lately and what we are both working on. Meditation is one thing he has tried, but hasn’t been very successful at. He knows he should do it but it just isn’t easy for him. Maybe you can relate? 

I realized it wasn’t because he didn’t have the time, it was mainly because of how he thought about it, which I think is what was making it hard for him.

I think it’s important to put your inner beauty at least as important as your external beauty. Consider the time you spend on yourself. Are you updating your ‘look’ inside too? And it wouldn’t hurt to question why you focus on the external. (I’m right along beside you, doing the same things).

New people are always being brought together, whether you want it or not - friends bring different friends to a party, or a family member brings in a new person to the group, or a new coworker joins the team… it’s so interesting to watch and learn about the newbie! One of two things cross my mind:

I truly believe these tools help everyone and are very essential to the real purpose and joy of life. They provide freedom and a lightness that makes life easier. Not always easy to get under the belt, as it does require work - but once you do - life is way more enjoyable and what??? EASIER!!! When you learn them and how you implement them will be up to you and your unique journey. Here are some of the tools I’ve learned and continue to practice because hey, we are human and never ‘done.’ 😲

I’m so shocked, I had to share this with you! After all the work I’ve done on myself and the joy and comfort that I mostly feel - I can still feel like a kid at times when it comes to my parents! As a kid I mean, I can revert back to who I was before I learned all the tools that healed me from the hurt I experienced as a child. And hey, they’ve been great parents, yet I can still be hurt. Have you ever felt this way ??

To me, intuition is your gut feeling, about something specific with a nudge to do something (right before you want to analyze it).

Fear is a feeling that you won’t get your desired outcome. It usually creates a standstill where you aren’t sure what to do. It makes you stay in the same place, since you fear the unknown. You can be scared of making a decision, not knowing what to do or what your next step should be.

The challenge, is that you can have intuition and use fear to not follow the nudge. Or fear your intuition because you know you have to do something you may not feel ready for. 😧

If you have ever heard yourself say, “this is just the way I am,” or “I’ve always been this way,” I challenge you to ask yourself how and if this is still serving you. You can’t make others change, but you absolutely have the power within yourself to make changes.

Taking time for yourself is doing things you enjoy. It can be movies, shopping, yoga, facials, walks, mani/pedi. Getting to know yourself is different. This requires a quiet contemplation to talk with yourself about things you notice. This is about becoming aware of your preferences, comforts, discomforts and making new choices based on what you discover about yourself.

Do you capture favorite memories by putting them in a picture frame? They represent the things that are part of your life right? And I bet I could guess what you love about your life by the pictures you have.To have a balanced life, I've always imagined mine in a picture frame. I then cut it up into many different pieces, so say there are 12 spaces.

What things in your life occupy those spaces? How many spaces do you have?