What did I learn today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

  How much you can give is dependent on how much you give yourself. Yung Pueblo  What are you giving yourself to refresh and revitalize yourself? What are your daily habits that focus on pouring into you, into filling your cup? What do you do for your body, mind and spirit? Do you even know? These are the questions I now ask myself to support how I want to live. A life of balance, of harmony, of alignment with giving minus guilt, resentment and regrets. Many of us are unconsciously living through habits- some work in our favor and frankly some deplete us on all levels. Life though, has a way of reflecting to us what  we need to know to bring us back into alignment. We have the free will to choose to listen. When we are out of alignment and we over give, over commit, over extend and give from aup full of dregs as we say here, there will be 1. Guilt 2. Fear 3. Unmet Expectations 4. Health Challenges 5. Forks in the road to provide feedback to fill yourself up. When we have ...

  Sometimes we are looking at the statistics of things, at the probability and not the possibility. We’re looking at 1 in 10 or 1 in 1,000. When we focus solely on probability rather than possibility, we end up giving up before we’ve even really started. When we have a dream, all we need to look at is, “Is it possible?” Period.   Nedra Tawwab  I have been paying attention to the words I speak when I am presented with opportunities, or when someone asks me to do something outside of my comfort zone that would lead to other amazing opportunities.  Sometimes the default I go to is "No" - due to fear of doing something new and failing at it, due to not wanting to do the "hard work" associated with the task and to now having a blueprint or precedent set to follow. What I have learnt is the idea will not be put in my head in any random way, once its planted there will be guidance. The challenge is taking up the challenge and having the courage to follow the guidance I ha...

  To be proud of yourself is simply to recognize and acknowledge the truth about something that happened. Something difficult arose — a challenge, an opportunity — and you met it with courage or creativity or compassion . Elizabeth Gilbert I believe that we can acknowledge and be proud of what we do more often. I don't know about you, but I find myself jumping and going from one goal to the next, one project to the next, just one thing after the other without  a sacred pause to give thanks, to learn, to celebrate and be proud. This is a part of the process, a part of the journey. To be proud of Self There is no better feeling in the world than making yourself proud and acknowledging it. Not from a ego tripping place but from a space of self love, pride and self respect. Make yourself proud is stuck upon my bathroom mirror because I understand that it has to start with me, everything else is icing on the cake. Have an intention to make yourself proud. And when you do acknowledg...

Owning your power also means owning the responsibility for your happiness and for your healing. Yung Pueblo  This is what I learned about owning my power that blew my mind - when I take responsibility for the feelings I feel, I have more power and choice. Rather than blaming others for how I feel which I have learnt really is giving away  the power of choice. Yes, people hurt us, yes there are situations that are outside of our control, yes there are people out there doing crazy things. The power and choice lies in how we respond.  It happened, now what? Acknowledgement  -It happened, let me acknowledge that I do feel hurt, angry, upset, happy, joyful, shame guilt, what ever the feeling is. That is the first step in taking my power back. Feel the feelings- rather than mask them, run from them, hide them, stuff them down in food, and other distractions. Affirmation - Affirm to yourself that you will be okay no matter what. Ask yourself - what have I learned from this...

  Please do not try to achieve your way to serenity: I assure you that it cannot be done. Look around for evidence of this truth — nobody has ever, ever accomplished inner peace through the act of “killing it” yet, despite all their most heroic efforts. Accomplishments do not bring a lasting sense of ease; they only bring a need for further accomplishments — and the list of things you need to get done will never end. Unless, just for a moment, you stop doing them. Unless you stop trying . Elizabeth Gilbert  Achieving goals and objectives are a significant part of the  experience we  call life. We are told, reminded and encouraged to set goals, work hard, achieve the goals and life will be a cake walk. We will be rewarded with everything that we want. What we were probably not told, or forgot is that without balance, the constant need and aspiration to achieve goals becomes a challenge. Achievement of goals must be balanced with peace of mind, with rest, with service,...

  where we stand determines what we’re able to see     Octavia Butler   Another one of the favorited teachers on this experience I called life is Carolyn Myss. she has a theory about living from the penthouse, compared to living in the basement. From the basement the view will be different to the the view from the penthouse. And just with life, from where we are the perspective will be different. The view is, your thoughts, your consciousness, your words, your actions. Your thoughts and beliefs will determine how you see and approach a situation. Our thoughts are our responsibility, our thoughts are our responsibility, our responses to situations are our responsibility. That gives us power, it gives us the ability to move our view from the basement and move up. When we stay in victimhood, when we stay stuck in ego, we stay in the basement. Our views will not change and when that happens we feel powerless to shift, change and improve. The way to move from the baseme...

You are enrolled in a full -time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lesson or think them irrelevant and stupid. You keep learning these lessons until the soul grows into love, joy and awareness. This morning I was listening to one of the most impactful teachers I have encountered Ms Iyanla Vanzant, her question to us is what have we learnt from a challenging situation. And how do get to a point of learning compared to the place of knowledge.   Knowledge is gathering information compared to learning which is changed behavior.  Ms. Iyanla asked us to rise above the situation, come out of the making up of stories, the making of self and others wrong and bad. Observe it all then ask yourself "what have I learned?" where is the change or the new choices  that has resulted from the knowledge. The challenges, the feelings, all of it forms part of the lesson.  This perspective really open...

  One breath, then another, then another.  How do I keep going?  Ask the question; stay open to the answer . Lisa Olivera  I recently had to give myself a pep talk about carrying on despite the challenges, I wrote down my "How do I keep going" list- Here are my top ten  1.   Remember my ancestors -  going all the way back, coming all the way forward- all made sacrifices and endured conditions, situations and environments that I cannot even fathom to experience. 2.  A weekly beach routine - drive to the beach, walk on the sand, go into the water, watch the sunrise- there is beauty, chaos, calm, change, miracles. I am reminded of the sacredness of life. 3. Walking down the river on a Sunday morning, passing through the bamboo, seeing the sun peek out from the bamboo - pure  magic 4. A rocking playlist with dance grooves - put that on and dance like no one is watching. 5. Early  morning journaling - pour it all out on the page. 6. Talk...

The deepest healing and delight arises from letting go . Yung Pueblo   Some of us have a really hard time letting go of how things used to be and who we used to be. ( I am "some of us")  I have learned to reframe and relook  the challenges I face, to find a different perspective, to push open my mind, to entertain another way. For August, I have committed  to embrace Letting Go from another perspective,  Isn't that how life works though? Consistent change, many times without  being able to fix, control, shift, change the situation? And therein lies the challenge, the lesson of acceptance, of surrender, of letting go, of faith. Let's Go - The Flip Side 1. Letting go requires trusting the process and trusting Self.  2. Letting go is not giving up. 3.Letting go is far easier than doggedly clinging, trust more empowering than resistance. 4. Acceptance is the root of letting go.Letting go is the path to moving on 5. Moving on does require letting go. But le...