Live What You Know

Waking up is more than it seems. You KNOW more than you've ever been "taught"! You chose to be here now. Make yourTRUEself proud!

Tag: your purpose

October 23, 2013

What’s The Rush? Stop Rushing and Start Living!

Rushing through anything for any reason whatsoever creates stress and suffering and goes against the flow of Life.  The truth is that “on time” is when we get there.  We completely overlook the present moment and all the miracles found within when we rush or hurry in any way for any reason.  When we can let go and trust that all things are happening exactly as they are meant and in the time they are meant to, we can embrace the joy of truly going with the flow of Life.  These all sound like catch phrases and clichés unless we really understand what we’re turning on back on when we rush through anything.  We are turning away from life and creating problems in our head.

For years I was the chronically early type to most things and would get quite stressed over being late.  I rushed in my previous over-scheduled work life and I have even rushed like a mad-woman to countless mommy-and-me activities and kids’ birthday parties with my little ones simply out of the habit of doing so.  Yuck.  How many magic moments I rushed though makes me feel ill.  Good thing I know better than wasting any energy on regrets.  I made the connection some time back and realized I cannot continue creating the energy that comes with rushing.  It goes against everything I am.  I have been working towards new habits to reform and retrain my way of thinking that can help me slow down and flow.

I truly understand now and want to live in a way that allows me to arrive at events at exactly the moment I am meant to be there with calm pure energy that allows me to enjoy exactly what the moment has to offer.  If I get my head involved in time and rushing too much, I will miss all of the sacred stuff life has to offer (everything is scared when you take the time to be with it).  Truth be told, rushing doesn’t get you there any faster, just more stressed.  By the time you get to the next thing, the mind starts rushing you to the next and so on.  To truly be anywhere fully, you must quiet the mind created chatter that watches the clock so closely and creates reactions to it.  Of course proper planning and coordinating are necessary to function in society and arrange appointments, etc., but it is possible to eliminate rushing and still keep a tidy calendar and be courteous to others.

In most cases rushing includes resisting what has already happened.  Some little thing that made us later than we had hoped for, or some circumstance we really couldn’t control causes us to react in a panic and rush to get to the next thing because we think we are late or close to it.  If we are late, rushing only means we’re resisting it.  Resisting the moment in this way is in direct opposition to conscious living and honoring the present moment.  If we resist any part of the moment, we aren’t in it.  We are wishing for a new one or that the one we’re in were different from what already is.  We have lost trust that there is a flow to our life and that all things are as they should be.  Even when things seemingly go “wrong” we can trust that it happened for a reason.

There is nothing better than knowing you are flowing…that you are really living your moments the way you are meant to.  It feels like magic and constant hugs from the universe as it sends you messages.  Taking the time to figure out how to slow down is worth the effort.  You can bring so much meaning and joy to your days by living the moments more fully.  A few things that are helping me remember not to rush and to support a life of flowing are as follows:

  • I say to myself “I have plenty of time” – this little mantra when rushing wants to take over helps time lose it’s power over us…it helps me step into the timeless realm of the moment
  • I breathe and clear my head when I feel the urge to hurry
  • I remind myself that “on-time” is when we get there
  • Think of poetry – we have a practice we do at night (posting on this soon), it helps if you let it.  You must read poetry slowly and then you can recall it and bring it to your days.  I would much rather live life like a poem than a hectic whirlwind.
  • Meditate – you can remember the stillness throughout the day and bring it to any moment.
  • Invite others to the moment – I notice my little ones showing signs of my former self with hovering and waiting too early to leave or rushing to the next thing.  I now have to try to help them embrace the idea that “on-time” is when we get there.  Modeling is the best thing, but sometimes we have to talk about it.  I am sure most of us are around people who are rushing, so it is nice to just invite them to relax and enjoy things exactly as they are without rushing to the next thing.
  • Saying “no” to things that don’t fit in the schedule or would cause things to be too hectic.  We can design our days to align with our values of slowing down.

Note – the whole idea behind the no-rush shift assumes that we are doing our personal best in many areas and not at all interested in using the slowing down excuse for being late and making others wait on us, etc.  I am sure this goes without saying, but just a reminder to always do our best to plan enough time not to rush.

Wishing us all the ability to shift to a slower pace that allows us to give our fullest attention to whatever is right in front of us now…listening better, looking better, touching life and everything around us more fully, seeing more deeply, understanding completely…embracing our true nature.  Now.  Sending you joy and love!

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October 15, 2013

Perseverance…Just Keep Going…

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.  ~Albert Einstein

If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.  ~Buddhist Saying

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. ~André A. Jackson

At our house, we love Super Soul Sunday on Own, it is a spiritual practice for us.  We quit watching TV several years ago and made an exception for this wonderful program…it has proven to be a great choice.  It is a lovely way to see God in a variety of forms and ideas…a beautiful tribute to the Universal Oneness we can all benefit from understanding.  We get excited for new episodes.  Recently we watched endurance swimmer Diana Nyad talk about her life, her journey, her beliefs, her determination, her recent swim from Cuba to Florida and more.  She shared a piece of herself with Oprah and her audience in a very moving way.  Oprah enjoyed it so much that she made it a two-part episode that continued this past Sunday.  I must admit that when I first saw the topic the week prior to it airing, I wasn’t as excited as usual…I just didn’t feel connected to it and it didn’t seem like I would relate to it so much.  Well, I was wrong.  Very wrong.  It was relatable to me in a deep way.

I had seen the headlines of Diana’s swim from Cuba to Florida and never really bothered to read the story or details of it.  Now I know the story and I am a better person for having heard it and a grateful person for having heard it straight from her.  Long long story really short – she swam 110 miles in 53 hours straight at age 64 on her fourth attempt.  After hearing all the specifics of the challenges of swimming in the ocean (like jellyfish stings) and trying to wrap my mind around doing anything for 53 hours straight (even lying on my bed), the whole idea just seemed a bit crazy and kind of like a strange dream to chase for a lifetime.  That feeling didn’t last long.

Diana has an intense personality.  She is a force.  You can feel her when she talks and in my experience, something deep inside me connected to that spirit that showed so clearly in her.  It really is hard to put into words, but I felt it big time.  I was riveted and deeply moved.  My whole family was.  There is something beautiful about people who are trying to be the best version of themselves and willing to work really really hard to do it.

Afterwards, my eight-year-old daughter and I were talking about her dream and her perseverance.  We were walking through the house gathering laundry as we casually discussed what it meant to us.  We were talking about the swimming part of it and all she encountered, it seemed really really scary to my daughter.  I tried to explain that you take that example of perseverance and you put it in a form that relates to your life.  Without thinking of it, I blurted out what my Cuba/Florida swim equivalent is.  I explained that for me, what I am the most passionate and feel the most drawn towards and consider to be the most important thing in my existence is living in consciousness as a permanent state.  That is, transcending egoic states of mind and truly existing deeply in the present moment.  This may sound strange to some people but this is my truth.  Living in this way is the most important thing and will transcend and bring harmony to life and relationships all around me.

I have been on this journey of trying to live what I know for quite some time.  I fall down all the time.  I react.  I take things personally.  I resist what already is.  I fall below thought and just check-out with mind numbing distractions of various sorts, knowing this doesn’t bring real joy.  I always get back up and keep going.  I can admit that I failed and I don’t have to be mean to myself about it.  I can apologize to those I may have hurt or annoyed and tell them I know I can do better and I am not those choices.  Learning to be kind to yourself in your failure is a gift.  Still learning to receive that gift.  Getting better.

It is strange that watching a swimmer with a completely different type of dream and experience could connect to me so deeply.  I know why it did — It is the same story we all have.  I am grateful to Diana to have shared her story in a way that allows me to be able to consider those 53 hours and what it took to keep going.  I will think of it often as I keep going.  Many times this week, I caught myself right before I may have fallen into an old reaction or thought pattern and I felt deeply that now was the moment to choose to live all that I know.  I was able to sit in whatever was causing discomfort and not let it become me.  I could observe and stay true to who I am and what kind of person I want to be.  In life there are countless opportunities to continue to make that choice.  I am that choice, not the other things that sometimes interfere with my deeper self.  Maybe someday soon  I can live 53 hours straight without any thought chatter or egoic reasoning or reacting…just simply BEING.  The only time to do it is now.  I AM that choice.

Find a way.  ~Diana Nyad

There is an evolutionary impulse that wants to assist us in our growth and towards what we are meant to do.  It takes a lot of stillness and spaciousness to access that place that can guide us.  It doesn’t have to be difficult to persevere.  It can seem incredibly hard when we fall away from the impulse of the flow of life, but the flow is always waiting for us to return to it.  We can choose it at any moment.  It is true that we aren’t really headed to a destination…it is the journey and it is full of millions of opportunities to continue to persevere.

Wishing us all the space to embrace perseverance towards whatever we may feel drawn to.  Sending love!

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October 6, 2013

From Status Quo To Status No

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  –Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have a little saying I love to say to myself and to my friends…or anyone who will listen really.  I say, “Don’t should on anyone and don’t let anyone should on you.”  If someone is discussing another’s choice and wants me to agree with their point-of-view or comment in some way, I like to say, “I don’t like to should on anyone and I don’t enjoy others should-ing on me.”

Sometimes it feels like there is an awful lot of “should-ing” in the air.  It all makes judging others and comparing ourselves so easy.  The technical term for what it brings is what we call “yuckie energy” around our house.  Truly, if you are judging yourself or others or just commenting on what someone should be doing or running dialogue in your mind that tells you that you “should” be doing something, it feels yuckie and it spreads.

Over four years ago, we made the choice to switch to a vegan diet and remove all animal products from our plates.  It was scary and strange and brought about all kinds of expected and unexpected results.  As I look at my life since making this choice, I notice that it was the first time I really chose to go against the status quo and make a big life change that would make some people uncomfortable.  My reasons for a vegan diet are many.  It started with a choice to read a book called The China Study.  From that one choice, many followed.  I kept researching and trying to figure out what made sense to me and what I wanted for my family, etc.  I read and read and read and the reasons mounted.  We jumped and went completely vegan overnight.  I am so grateful!

Obviously this had a major impact on us in the nutrition department and our health and how we live, etc.  What I can now see is that this choice to figure things out for myself and make the best choice for me and my family without worrying or being influenced by what those around me will think (okay, I did worry some at the beginning) changed our lives in many more unexpected areas as well.  This change allowed us to embrace that practice in many more areas of life.  I think this first jump into trying something so completely different from the way we used to live opened us up to life more and made it possible to make other important choices for our lives.  We began making huge steps toward charting our own course.

Clearly, we’re not the first vegans and we are super fortunate to make this choice at a time when it is so easy and becoming much less out of the norm.  Even in the years since we started, it has changed a lot (or maybe we did).  We think its normal now.  Ah, normal.

We have gone on to making many more choices that don’t fit the status quo.  We chose to homeschool/unschool our children a few years ago and that one made vegan seem simple.  Except, now that seems normal too.  In the beginning, it seemed like explaining these choices when someone asked was important and worth the time.  I would be sure to give the most eloquent, educated sounding explanation I could muster.  Now, it’s just normal to me.  I really don’t need to go into these choices much, except to say that we’re happy and it works for us.  If people are sincerely interested or curious I love discussing all the details of both issues, but I don’t feel the need to make them interested or try to convince them of my point-of-view.  It feels nice now.  It feels like being comfortable in your own skin.

I love researching things, implementing new lifestyle choices, trying new things, basking in the unfamiliar…I love taking bits and pieces from all I see around me and creating my own world with my own design…some borrowed, some new, some tweaked.  In the beginning of my newfound willingness to make big choices with big change, it felt like people thought I was judging their choice by sharing my own.  I don’t really notice that feeling anymore.  I may have felt it because I was judging on some level…it is nice to see that slip away.  I remember just not wanting people to judge me.  At this point, I don’t really notice any wasted energy going into worrying about what others think.  I’m just being me.  It feels great…not always a walk in the park of course, but it feels like home.

I love my choices and I love everyone else’s choices too.  I love sharing why I made mine if people are interested, but I no longer think mine are better.  I do like to encourage people to find their own way…but I won’t tell them they “should” do that.  I just like to share that it feels free and wonderful!  When I was a little girl, I was afraid of everything!  Truly!  Even butterflies!  That seems so long ago.  I am grateful for learning to listen to all the messages that come our way to take us from fear to love and open us up to becoming more of ourselves.  Now, the thought of following along and doing things because I “should” is the only thing that sounds really frightening to me and butterflies aren’t scary anymore…they are a magical message about change!

Important note – I am super grateful to those people who feel strongly about sharing the reasons for their choices and helping others make the same ones.  We all hear messages in different ways and those using their voices to bring change are an important part of how we all learn and grow.  I am grateful to those that follow the message to speak loudly about certain things!!!  Someday I may speak loudly about my choices, but for now, it seems my soul is telling me to quiet down and BE a bit more.  Still happy to share, just in a quiet and open to life way.  Actually, quiet is much more challenging for me…so it must be what I am meant to work on at this point in life.

Sending you love and wishing you the courage to chart your own path and listen to your soul…not in a “should-ing” way…just a loving way.

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September 19, 2013

Gratitude

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart

All that we behold is full of blessings.  ~William Wordsworth

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.  ~Jean Baptiste Massieu

My gratitude lately is almost overwhelming.  The last two days have been incredible in so many ways.  Nothing monumental happened and nothing unexpected came my way…but the gratefulness in my heart for what my life is all about has hit me like a ton of bricks.  My kids and I started our new homeschool and household chores routine.  I know.  It doesn’t sound that thrilling.  It is though.  There are about a million things I can count and millions more I can’t see that had to come together and coordinate perfectly over many many years to have experienced the last two days the way I have experienced them.  I have been brought to tears a few times just taking in all that was happening around me and realizing all that came before me to make it possible.  Thank you God/Universe/Life for sending me the messages, blessings, support and courage to make all the choices we have made to be on the path we are on.  We love our little path and we know it is ours…we are making it up as we go along with help from Everything!

I am so grateful I listened!

When you’re on the right path and you’re listening to life and charting your own course you not only love your path, you begin to love the path that everyone else has chosen as well.  Feeling like your path is the right one or better than another choice is no longer possible when you’re full of love and gratitude for having found yours.  You wish with all your heart that everyone finds and loves their path too.  We’re all headed to the same place on different paths.  It feels so comforting to love our path so much and see the beauty and joy in other paths as well.  We can let go of judging as we create and enjoy our path and enjoy watching others do the same.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wishing you a heart full of gratitude!  I am so very grateful you are visiting me here and I send you so much love, joy and gratitude!

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September 17, 2013

The Gift of Authenticity

Years ago I had what seemed at the time like a close friend.  We were spending a lot of time together in group settings and with our children and alone on occasion.  The thing was, you never knew what you were going to get with her.  Sometimes she was lovely and great company, sometimes she was rowdy and a lot of fun, sometimes she was down right rude and hard to get along with, sometimes she seemed to have a wall up to create distance and make herself appear to be something (I’m still not sure what it was).  One day when we were together, she was having a bad day and really let her guard down and spoke from her heart.  I got to see this open and genuine side to her.  It was a bit of a relief and very refreshing.  I can’t remember exactly how I worded it, but I told her on the spot how much I liked her when she was just really being honest and open and sharing how she was really feeling that day.  She quickly responded, saying “Well, it’s not practical for me to come with my ‘woe is me’ story every day.”  She quickly returned to her somewhat closed up protective persona.

I let this friendship slip away.  That wouldn’t happen today.  That friendship taught me a lot throughout the years.  I now know that you can only see in others what you have in yourself.  Even as I recalled my experience of her above, it didn’t seem real anymore.  I think I would now experience her in a completely different way.  I was choosing to experience her in that limited way.  I was not as far along on my own path of finding my authentic self.  Perhaps when we aren’t there authentically, we can’t feel others authenticity either and we don’t offer a space that welcomes it.

I used to think I was too open.  I would sometimes regret having shared too much with someone and have that sick feeling of regret.  I would then try to tell myself I wouldn’t share so much next time and that I would learn from that feeling…only to have it happen again soon.  I haven’t had that in a long time.  I didn’t become less open, I just found my way to more authenticity.  For that, I am truly grateful!  Recently someone meaning well and trying to give me helpful advice relating to my children’s activities told me to “keep my distance” with a particular group.  She had compelling reasons and was really trying to help me navigate a situation for my children.  Her advice seemed reasonable and she had much more experience in this arena than me…for a minute I thought I might be able to do what she was suggesting.  It didn’t work.  I figured out very quickly that I am just not a “keep your distance” kind of person.  If I am there, I am open.  For me to try to create distance would stop the flow of life and I want to experience that flow and whatever it may bring.  When you are completely authentic and present (or at least as present as you are able to be), the interaction will be what it is meant to be and the fear of over-sharing can drop away.

Authenticity comes slowly over time (like most wondrous gifts).  Without knowing it, I have been working at it for years.  As a child, I was so afraid of everything.  Even butterflies.  I made many choices out of fear of what others might think or to do what I thought I was supposed to do.  It is remarkable how little what I really wanted or felt meant to me.  I think it is sad to spend time walking around with masks on trying to protect ourselves from something…but really, just keeping ourselves from living.  I want everyone to know how amazing it feels to truly stand in your own authenticity.  It is such a relief to ourselves and to others who spend time with us.  It allows us to make brave choices that align with our purpose and to truly grab hold of this life and live it.

It is a beautiful thing to be so “you” everywhere you go.  Sometimes I am shocked at how different it feels these days to be authentically me.  Sometimes the things that bring me the most joy surprise me so.  Many things have changed slowly over time and I have found the authentic me to be much more than I thought as I have learned to chart my own course and make authentic choices for my life.  Whatever it is, whatever I am feeling, I am it…no pretense, no people pleasing, no mask…just me.  Sometimes I have it together and spread love and joy.  Sometimes I am a mess and it shows.  Whatever it is, it is authentic.  When it is a mess, it doesn’t last long…authenticity has a way of bringing us back to the only thing that truly exists…love.  It sort of wipes all the fake stuff out-of-the-way and brings more space for love.

We know in our hearts how important authenticity is.  We must work to find it and know it so well we live from that space in every choice, action, thought or word.  Once we can live in this way, we can work to expand it and watch it grow us into our true nature.  The Universe is authentic, it will meet us in that space and we will see our connectedness to everything and how we see the world will be transformed.

Sending you love and wishing you authenticity in everything you do and a reciprocal flow from everyone you meet!

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