Let's Go Back...

I recently saw a statement in a magazine that said, “If you could say one thing to your 16-year old self, it’d be…”  I would say, “Stop, rest assured that all will be better than you ever imagined it to be.”

High school was the bitter pits for me.  Living in a dysfunctional home with an even more dysfunctional mother, I never knew from one moment to the next what was about to happen.  Fill it in with the insecurities of self-esteem, lack of confidence and all else that happens in high school that is filled with drama and thinking that all is super important!

Quite frankly, I am surprised that any of us survived childhood and high school.  Why didn’t someone teach me to trust myself early on - to know that when I do, life shows up according to what I have pictured in my mind.  Why did it take me so long to figure out that I needed to think in the affirmative because that is what shows up?  Who knew that when the storms showed up that I could just dance in the rain and jump in the puddles? 

Why didn’t someone in high school tell me the importance of what I was learning was going to make my life easier later on?  Or what to do with checking accounts, savings accounts, paychecks, etc?

So, whoever in my life influenced me to do better, to go for excellence, to take the hard road rather than the easy one, to always give more, and to always be kind, you have my heart felt thanks.  And I am glad you took the time with me to explain the importance of each step in my life. 

Because you did, I can truly say that my life is better than I ever imagined it to be.  You, like John Quincy Adams, encouraged me to remember that my actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more in order to be an influential leader.

I couldn't do that...

Several of us recently were in a conversation about blowing glass for beads.  The woman next to me was showing me her latest creation and I commented on how beautiful it was.

The woman in front of us, turned and said, “I couldn’t’ do that!”  I asked her if she had ever done any glass blowing.  “No, I could never do that!”  I asked her, “How do you know that?”  She replied, “I just couldn’t do that.”

How many times have we judged some wonderful opportunity because we have said “no” instead of “I wonder if I could.” So many times we don’t even know what is involved but we have deemed it “too hard, too complicated, I could never do that!”

That conversation taught me to check out something before I deem it “anything.”  I usually start off with “I wonder if” and go from there.  Most of the time it turns out easier than I expected and usually more fun that I could have imagined.

The Truth of the matter is, YES we can!  Do it, that is.  Most of us don’t have a clue as to some of the hidden talents we have within us.  We need to get curious about “what else is there.”  And as Jean Houston tells us, “we are multi-talented.”

I wonder what my next new adventure is going to be?

Spiritual Community

            Since semi-retiring earlier this year, I have been feeling the separation of being with and in a spiritual community.  I have not been comfortable returning to the community I retired from and there isn’t another similar community in the city I live. 

            One of the reasons we need spiritual community is to keep us in the conversation of Spirit.  There seems to be an added dimension of hanging out with people of similar belief systems that add to what it is that we are experiencing. 

            The value of being with people is to remind us of what it is that we know, what it is that is important to us, and what it is that we need to practice in our lives in order to continue dancing playfully through life. 

            When things are going good in our lives, we tend to forget what it took to get there.  Maintaining that level consciousness is as tenuous as when we were working to get there.  Recently, I told my prayer partner that I wanted to “bask in the glory of grace.”  Even I had to stop and think about that request for a minute.  Having achieved this level, I want to stay and go even higher.  Once achieving a new level takes getting use to and it needs to become familiar before we can go up to the next level.

            I invite you to think about finding a spiritual community that challenges you to think bigger, greater and in different ways of being.

I know there are many ways to create community and so, my challenge, is to explore different ways of doing this for myself.