Box of Randomness

 I was up super late supporting my daughter with her virtual high school assignments so I am fuzzy brained today. I have been having random thoughts about things I think are quirky about me that I wonder if other people do, so I thought I'd brainstorm a list! 

• I love rippled potato chips dipped in ranch
• Fresh, crisp, clean sheets are the best to crawl into
• I can't walk past items misplaced in a store without at least leaving them somewhere obvious. If it's something that should be refrigerated and is still cold, I'll go out of my way to put it back. 
• Speaking of stores, I can't just leave my cart somewhere, it must be somewhere it goes, which is why I usually park by a cart corral.
• When I plate food for my family, I always pick one of the plates for myself. However, it's usually not about the food itself. Every once in awhile I'll pick the piece of meat I want for me or if there's something I really like, I might give myself just a little bit more. But it's usually something weirdly mundane, like I prefer one plate pattern over another, or I like how the food looks plated on one plate over another. Every time, I feel silly and strangely pleased by giving it to myself.
• It really bugs me when Tostito Scoops are eaten plain...they're scoops!
• Gunky toothpaste or any other openings gross me out - salad dressing, lotion, the dried milk around the opening...ick
• My house is often a mess, but if people leave a cup or bottle in my cupholder in my vehicle, I get upset. I bet that's crazy-making for my family! I think this is because my car is a smaller space and thus I feel I can keep it tidy and organized, while my house is shared with three others and I have some resignation -- something for me to take to my coach!

I'm sure there are a gazillion more, probably there are quirks that I don't even realize are more unique to me and not mainstream. 

The bottom line is how we think about these quirks we have. Writing this list, I'm not thinking, "These are wrong" or some other derogatory thought. I'm actually enjoying thinking of these quirky things and I'm thinking, "Ha! Aren't humans silly creatures?!"

I started this blog two weeks ago -- what's great about it is I've spent these two weeks looking for my quirks and loving them. In addition, I've been noticing the quirks of my family, and I've been practicing loving those, as well! I'm also noticing the quirky things I already love...and taking the opportunity to tell my loved ones what I love about them, especially when it's not something they would expect. 

YOU ARE WORTHY OF LOVE - QUIRKS AND ALL!

What if YOU spent time appreciating the goofy ways YOU show up in the world? What if you loved your quirks fully? What are the quirks you can't love in yourself and others? What if you just love those, too?

Practice taking just one step, one baby step, towards loving those quirks. Let me know what arises and what delightful discoveries you make!

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Grace and Acceptance

Last week, as I was sitting here trying to figure out what to write for my blog, a friend called me. As you can see, I never actually produced the blog that her call inspired...however, it's been simmering until now! 

First thing, I do try not to "figure out" things as my default. Work in progress. Everything is way more fun when I let my heart lead instead of my head.

So, my friend called, we'll call her Rose. We have a weekly call scheduled, but the week prior she didn't answer, didn't text, didn't call, nothing. So last week I didn't reach out, I just kept working. She called a few minutes after our scheduled time, and I was surprised! I answered, but kept my love from her...I interacted, but begrudgingly. I was very guarded. I didn't like how I was being, since I'm committed to being loving, but couldn't shake it. Not at first.

As I listened to her, though, compassion started seeping into my listening. I knew her struggle, as she described how taken out she had been the prior week. I have spent so much of my life reacting like a turtle, withdrawing into myself when it doesn't feel safe. I was merely a few steps ahead of her on this transformational journey we call life. And for me to not bring compassion would be to miss out on what it means to be human. Humankind. Both words, as the bumper sticker says. 

As I felt myself open my heart and let her in, and thus allowing love into my speaking as well, we connected more. The more I opened, the more compassion I had for her. It sucks to be in that stuck place, where you know in your head that what's best is to reach out and get yourself supported but the action is thwarted by your heart. It can be crippling and so very detrimental. For me, it looked like this (sometimes still does, but I've moved some mountains so it's not as reliable a reaction anymore, thank goodness!)

1) Something happens

2) I tell myself I shouldn't feel/react/think whatever my reaction was

3) I then am incredibly critical of my reaction, the resulting actions/non-actions

4) I have a thought that I should reach out and get myself supported by someone who can clear me (clearing is speaking with the intention of letting something go, compared to venting or complaining where the intention is to get the other person on your side so you can validate yourself)

5) I stay in the yuck and therefore have ANOTHER thing to make myself wrong for, that I didn't reach out and get clear

6) I decide I'm screwed/hopeless/worthless

7) I wallow

Ever had that experience? That feeling of wanting and knowing what will make you feel better, but it's as if your foot is nailed to the floor? Yeah, it ain't fun.

What if we listen to everyone through compassion? What if we never took things personally? I know that's not really possible, but what if we lived our lives that way?

I'm taking that on. That's a game worthy of my life.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash   

Self-Expression and Professionalism

 I've been thinking a lot this past week about my "professional image" and who and how I want to be online. As I see it, there are two options for me. 

Option 1 - Be careful what I post, present a professional image, essentially edit myself

Option 2 - Allow myself to be fully self-expressed and trust that those who want to work with me will, and those that don't will be weeded out naturally

Now, when I talk about fully self-expressed, I'm not talking about much different from what I normally post. However, perhaps a little more "colorful" language. Perhaps a little more politics. Perhaps a little more social justice. A little more ME. 

I've been coached to NOT do Option 2. And I get it. Present myself as a professional. However, when I really get still and check in with myself, intuitively it seems that more open self-expression would allow for some pre-weeding, so to speak. People who connect with me know they connect with ME, not just some image I'm presenting. It seems to me this supports both me and my potential clients. Don't we enjoy following people on social media that we relate to? That we feel are expressing OUR beliefs, thoughts, concerns, and sense of humor?

But where is that line? 

Where's the line between too formal and too informal? 

I love it when my coach "tells one on herself." I can relate to her and her humanity, and often I can find myself in it. But what if she really let it all hang out? How would I feel then? 

I guess this blog post is less of a blog and more of a poll. I'd really like to hear your thoughts. Is this a shift in how people do business that I'm present to, like so many other cultural shifts that have happened in the past few years? Or am I bringing casualness to something that I shouldn't?

What do you think?

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Celebrate What You Don't Think You Can

Weird, right? 

We don't think about celebration that way. I first heard of this idea from Dave Ellis, transformational leader and author of Falling Awake. I really thought it sounded like an oxymoron.

And, in a way it is. But it's also access to finding that silver lining, no matter how dark the cloud.

This idea is what's kept me going, among other practices, during the past five months of Covid-19. While I certainly don't celebrate the ever-increasing death toll or the long term suffering people are experiencing, I have SOO many celebrations from this time. The first of which is that it allowed me to realize how much of my life was being gifted to others and not really being used for what I wanted to be doing - working more hours at my part-time job than I wanted to because they needed help, volunteering somewhere because they were short-handed, etc. What I realized is that it was my way of not being responsible (respond-able) for the things I SAID I was committed to. But if I'm spread thin, those don't get the attention they need, do they? Ahhh, the excuses.

But surely, Marjorie, you can't celebrate something like death or murder? Well, again, while I would never ever celebrate the suffering of another, there are often celebrations to be found. George Floyd's death, for example, sparked a revolution our country was desperate for. 

It's a difficult transition to make, mentally. We're so programmed to focus on what's wrong. Heck, turn the news on for five minutes and you'll see what I mean. We're also programmed to think in either/or. This idea requires some powerful both/and thinking. What do I mean by all that? 

Either/or -- something bad happened, I have to be sad or mad, I can't be happy. 
Both/and -- something bad happened, I can be sad AND I can also focus on the gem that comes from it.

If you think about it, we're making diamonds. It's pressure and heat that turns rock into diamonds. It's water cutting away at stone that created beautiful canyons. Beauty often comes from struggle. The most gentle souls often have the most difficult upbringing and childhood experiences.

Embrace it. Hold it and don't push it away. The pain and hurt is part of our growth, as much as we don't want to endure it. That's where taking on celebrating what you don't think you can makes subtle shifts in your life, and, little by little, as you practice any new habit, you'll notice your life is fuller and richer for it. 

I'd love to hear in the comments about what you've celebrated! 

Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash

Dump the Junk Drawer

Do you ever have a desire to accomplish something but then you end up standing there, unsure where to start? 

Yeah, me too. Often. I used to think there was something wrong with me.

When I was a 5th grade teacher, I took a class so I could better help my students who had ADD. I realized the people leading the class were describing what was happening in MY brain! "Oh my goodness, this is something other people experience?! I thought I was defective!" was what was right there for me at the time.

Since then I have begun to collect strategies and methods to support myself. In fact, as I write this, I'm using a technique I learned in the class - having another person there with you while you work. It has some great name that now escapes me - D'oh! While I write, my fellow ADDer (my diagnosis) and dear friend, David, is in my earbuds on Zoom. In fact, his timer just went off from the stretch break he was taking. In my brain? "Oooh, yes, I should start using a timer too!"

SQUIRREL!

Ok, back to the topic at hand, which really does all relate. 

One technique I have used recently with great success is called a Brain Dump. I even found these fun notepads for it. It's like dumping the junk drawer of your brain. I rely WAY too much on my brain to hold things, and since starting this process, I have more brainpower to do the things that are important to me instead of using it as a receptacle for snippets of conversation, to-do lists, grudges, and whatever else is cluttering the precious CAUSING LOVE part of my brain.

Even as I write this, I feel like this post is jumbled and incoherent. Perhaps I'll identify something from my past at some point that helps quiet that, but for now, the brain dump is gold for me. And it's so easy! Just like dumping the junk drawer so you can sort through it - dump what's in your brain onto a sheet of paper. Get it all out! All of the things you want to do. All of the things you need to do. All of the things you've not gotten to. All of the things you've said you would do and haven't. And especially all of the things you've been dreaming of doing and you haven't taken actions around to make them reality! Sometimes you can even do this when you feel off but don't know why. In that case, a friend with a big listening of you is a good person to dump that to, or better yet, a life coach who is going to be highly trained at listening and isn't going to take any of it personally!

Once you do your brain dump, there are multiple things you can do with that. Sometimes the first action is obvious. Other times you may need to incorporate a prioritizing activity. I learned a great one recently that I use all the time with great success. It's easy and quick, and it's heart-centered so it fits perfectly in what I'm here for (my WHY). And it leaves me with what action to take first, which is usually what stops me from taking ANY actions. 

Another tool that many people use successfully is a Mind Map. These are good for any projects you have that you don't know where to start working. I love these (when I remember to use them!) because I am very visual AND I like puzzles. I love seeing everything on paper, organized but not in a rigid way. Mind maps are a fantastic way to start a project, then you can do a brain dump for each category and then prioritize from there. 

I know people who have these things laid out for every project they have. People who have mastered being organized more than I have. During this pandemic-time, I have shifted greatly from comparing myself to others, in particular people like that, and finding myself lacking TO appreciating how we're all different and always learning and growing. Now I learn from those people around me that have something mastered that I don't, and then I can take action more freely.

What project have you not taken any action on? What do you want to accomplish before the end of the year? What are the tools YOU use that are helpful? I'd love to hear in the comments!

EVERY action moves you forward. Every one. Even (and often especially) those that feel like they are moving you backwards. You got this. Be your brilliant Self and go to bed tonight satisfied that you leveled up in your game of life. 

Go forth and love that squirrel!

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Emergency Room Extravaganza

(Apologies for formatting and lateness of this post. I have struggled to get this blog posted all evening, finally typing it in a Word document and sending it to myself so that I could copy and paste it on my phone. I will fix formatting as soon as I possibly can get my laptop to correctly login. This was written on Friday. Update 7/28: formatting is what it is, lol. I dunno.)

It's been a heck of a week! 

My daughter has felt nauseated since July 4th. Because nausea is a symptom to look out for with Covid-19, she chose to self-isolate. We contacted the doctor after a week and my daughter and the doctor had a virtual appointment. She prescribed acid-suppressing meds. No change. On Monday (July 20th) she started throwing up and didn't stop. Tuesday morning, I called the doctor again and they said, "I know you don't want to hear this, but you should take her to the Emergency Room." Thus, began our 12-hour Emergency Rooms tour.

 

We started at the ER nearest to us. After a short wait, they took us back and started an IV and took blood. Because she had been vomiting for almost 24 hours, they immediately started a saline drip and anti-nausea medication. After a few hours at this ER they told us there was nothing in her bloodwork to tell them what was going on. It indicated that she was dehydrated (understandably so) and slightly high white blood cells, but not high enough to cause any concern. They were getting ready to discharge her when, all of a sudden, she had a sharp pain in her lower right abdomen. Immediately, they had concerns for appendicitis. However, apparently, the ultrasound they needed was at another hospital...off we went to the Children's Hospital Emergency Room.

After driving through a thunderstorm, we pulled into our second ER of the day. On the way there we both agreed that appendicitis was good. It is known, little risk because she didn't have a lot of pain yet, and then we could release her from her quarantine. Ok, we can do this, this is good!

 

Several hours later, after an extensive ultrasound and more fluids and anti-nausea medication, it was time for the discharge conversation again. They hadn't found appendicitis, her ovaries were fine, nothing with her gallbladder. Maybe Covid-19? It has presented with children differently. But they didn't feel very confident about this. They were getting ready to discharge her with the provision that we come back if her pain increased. Then the attending came back and told us she was torn...like me, she had concerns that the dehydration would get worse if she sent us home. After checking in with what my daughter wanted, it being her body, after all, she was admitted to the hospital. At this point, she had had a bag of saline at the first ER and a bag and a half at the second one. 

 

We got settled into her room in the Pediatric Ward. Her first hospital stay since being born 14 years ago. She was feeling "puny", to quote the attending who admitted her. Her belly really hurt, the anti-nausea meds were working, but still, her tummy was all squirrely. She didn't trust herself to drink anything (though she did drink a can of Gatorade in the ER). Luckily the first ER had left her IV in, so she only had to be stuck once this whole time. 

 

We tried to sleep. I was on a chair that pulled out to a single bed. It felt like I was camping and once I found a comfy spot, I was afraid to move for fear of losing it. By 6am I had been woken numerous times and my body couldn't take that bed...so I moved to the recliner. My girl didn't look much better. The night doctor came in to check on us before she left and we talked about whether it could be Covid-19. She said in children they often have gastrointestinal symptoms and that they would test. With the shift change and my renewed fear that it might be coronavirus, I started thinking beyond medicine.

 

I remembered I had contact information for an intuitive healer. "Worth a shot," I thought. I texted her who I was, where I had gotten her information, and what was happening and asked if she had time. Then the nurse poked her head in and said they were going to do a Covid test and that everyone who came in the room would be all decked out in gowns and shields. I could feel my fear rise into my throat. 

 

Luckily, I heard back from the healer pretty quickly. She asked me to send a current picture of my daughter and told me she would call me after her meditation session. A little bit of hope crept into my fear. When she called me, she told me that it wasn't a virus (phew!) and that it was a bacterium acting like a parasite. "No problem, I can kill it. So, it doesn't overwhelm your daughter, I'll do it in a few sessions," she told me. Wait, what? Really??  I quickly sent her payment via Venmo and waited.

 

Meanwhile, gowned, masked and shielded people came and went. A nurse with a Covid test up the nose and three doctors who had no idea what could be wrong with my daughter. 

 

I've heard people who are empathic or intuitive talk about getting downloads. I've always wondered what they meant. 

 

Then, while helping my daughter go to the bathroom and wash her hands, I had this experience - it was like I got a whole bunch of information in a split second. While holding onto her IV tubes while she painstakingly washed her hands, using what seemed like the last of her energy, it hit me. "I'm living out of a fear of something that my instinct says isn't true!" I'm all about love, and here I've been living in fear. I remember hearing about perfectly healthy babies who have failure-to-thrive in orphanages because they don't get touched enough. My friend and wellness coach always says we need at least 12 hugs a day to maintain health. My daughter is incredibly touchy-feely. No wonder she's not doing well, I'm not being MOM! I'm letting fear circumvent my maternal instinct. As a mom, I will do practically anything to make sure my kids are thriving. And I've let my fear of a virus that I don't think she has run the show. This was all in a split-second. My daughter felt and saw a shift in me. I wrapped my arms around her fragile body and held her and apologized. 

 

After that, my daughter napped. She slept more peacefully and deeply than I had seen in a long time. My heart was full, I couldn't help but just sit there and watch her.

 

 

While she slept, the nurse came in to tell me her test was negative. Confirmation of what I already knew in my knowing. Her sleep was confirmation to me of the healer's energy work and the rehydration efforts of the multiple IVs (at this point I think we were up to five or so bags). 

 

When she woke up, she looked different. Softer, somehow. Like the edges that the pain had caused were easing back. My daughter was starting to emerge again through that fog of pain. She was finally willing to try and drink something from her collection of about 15 little bottles and cans they had brought her. It was like winning the lottery for this momma.

 

By the time our fantastic day nurse, MM, came to say goodbye, it was obvious she was feeling better. We were exhausted from everything and we headed to bed early. But, lying there in the dark, we gabbed like we were at a slumber party while holding hands. 

 

Yesterday, Thursday, I woke at 5:30am when her IV bag ran dry and couldn't go back to sleep. So, she and I watched the sun come up. Wednesday she couldn't even tolerate the shades being open, but yesterday we had them wide open, watching the helicopter come and go, the Covid-19 testing line, and the shapes in the clouds. She went to the bathroom by herself and danced with her IV pole (sorry, she won't let me post that video). My spunky, sassy, sunshine of a daughter was peeking back out, full of life and ravenous. After permission from the doctor, she had a banana. When that stayed down, she had a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, grits, and a biscuit. I was a little worried that was too fast, but that stayed down too. "Yep, she's gonna be ok," I thought.

Shortly after that, the doctors rounded. They stood at the foot of her bed; mouths agape at the transformation she had made in 24 hours. 

 

Eight and a half bags of saline and two nights in the hospital later, she was discharged around 3pm Thursday, July 23, 2020.

 

As I write this, a day after we came home and a long night's sleep for both of us, I'm in awe. I'm very present to the power of love and intuition. We have a culture of authority. We listen to others instead of ourselves. Can I say definitively what has my daughter home next to me on the couch, munching on mango? No. But what I am present to is we all worked together. I don't think she would have bounced back as fast without the energy work. But the energy work wouldn't have been as successful without the IVs flushing the killed bacteria out of her system. And, she wouldn't have been as settled without the unconditional love and comfort of mom. 

 

And I'm clear it wouldn't have happened had I not started listening to myself. And I feel that Spirit was right there with us, to make sure we got the care she needed and for us to all have the breakthroughs along the way. In the first ER, the pain in the side. In the second, the attending offering us the choice instead of the resident sending us home. My niggle to call the medical intuit. My download. I'm not someone who has had that kind of relationship with Spirit before. This is my turning point. This is my line in the sand. Trust myself. Forget what others think and TRUST MYSELF. There are so many times this week that I could have ignored niggles. And you can argue so much in here. Any one of three things could be given all the credit for her recovery. It doesn’t really matter what did it, not to me. Having my daughter curled up on the couch next to me now is the world to me.

 

Who do you need to go hug right now? Where is fear crippling you? Where is life on hold? Go, take powerful action.

 

 

No one gets out alive, every day is do or die
The one thing you leave behind
Is how did you love, how did you love?

 

Shinedown, “How Did You Love?”

Life Derailment

I love trains. I love analogies. Buckle up for this blog post! 😏

I declared to myself and a friend that I was going to post a blog post every Friday. I have been late on a few and for the past few weeks I haven't posted any at all. His suggestion? Write about it! 

Imagine you're getting on a train to New York City. You are excited! Big city, here you come! You have your plans, you're empowered, you feel alive! All of a sudden, as you're settled into your seat and you're watching out the window as the train gets ready to pull out of the station, the conductor comes on and in a crackly voice, he welcomes you to your direct route to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Now, there's nothing wrong with Tuscaloosa, I'm sure Tuscaloosa is lovely, but you want to go to The Big Apple! 

What feelings and emotions do you experience? 

I bet there's a fair bit of panic, annoyance, and probably a lot of self-criticism. "How was I so stupid?" or some other version of that. Even when you get on the right train, you can't shake those feelings. Even when you're on the New York bound train for real, you're definitely not as excited as you were when you first got on the train (not knowing it was the wrong one).

That's been my past two weeks. I forget my reasons for not posting two weeks ago. Last week my reason was taxes and that my friend didn't come to our work session (like his being on Zoom with me makes a difference as to whether my fingers are on the keyboard). Still, no matter how good the reasons are, they don't take care of the fact that you made the promise. Even if you only made it to yourself. Even if you didn't use the word promise. 

Integrity is the state of being whole, you know, like nothing is missing or left out. When we make promises we don't keep, it erodes our integrity and thus our view of ourselves. We're usually far better at keeping our word to others than we are to ourselves. That's because we're sooooo concerned about what others think. Why aren't we just as worried about what we think about ourselves? We think it doesn't matter.

IT DOES. It sucks the life out of you. It lowers your bar for yourself. 

Photo by Joan You on Unsplash

So, how can you restore yourself? How do you get your train going where you want? How do you put the integrity back in?

It's actually really easy: Tell someone! Acknowledging it in the listening of someone else really makes a difference.  

So, dear readers, I promised I would post a blog post every Friday and I haven't done that in July. That leaves me feeling disappointed, doubting myself, criticizing myself and noticing all the OTHER places I haven't been consistent, further spiraling and expanding my disempowerment. The impact on you, dear readers, is you haven't gotten a blog post. I don't know the impact they have on you, but I definitely know that no blog post = no positive impact. I promise to post every Friday from here on out.

So, in your listening (after I first talked about this in the listening of my friend David) I have restored my integrity. I feel lighter and free.

What did I do?

1) I acknowledged the promise I made that I broke

2) I stated the impact that broken promise had on me and you 

3) I made a new promise

If you notice that something's off, start looking at your integrity to yourself or others. Get curious. Go in a scavenger hunt. I have only recently started restoring myself in the listening of someone else for promises I made to myself. It never occurred to me before, but that's probably because I was still focusing on what other people thought of me. Restoring your integrity is for you. Your wholeness. Your power. 

I invite you to make a list of all the promises you've made to yourself and others that you didn't keep. Then take on restoring one from each list, one to yourself and one to others, every day. Notice how much lighter and empowered you feel with each conversation. Share below in the comments, we'd love to hear!

Photo by Derek Story on Unsplash

The Blahs...

Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash

You know those days when you set an ambitious alarm and then you reset it when it goes off? And then you hit snooze five times before resetting it again? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does things like that. 

Today's a BLAH day. I used to make myself wrong for those. I should be doing work, I should be productive, etc. If you aren't already aware, "should" is a neon sign that your identity (see Voices blog last week) is revving up to take control. 

There are many reasons for that BLAH feeling. Only one of them is that your identity is taking over. And yes, it's often that. But sometimes it's your body sending you messages too. I know just enough about that to know who to turn to for more information. Louise Hay is one of the most well known in that field, and I go to her book Heal Your Body regularly when I have physical symptoms. She is one of many who believe that physical symptoms are representative of metaphysical causes. Said in plain English, whatever's going on in your head and emotions manifests itself physically. I view it as your identity's way of making sure you pay attention to what it's saying. So, for example, when I look up "Fatigue" in Heal Your Body A-Z it says:

Now, I'm still self-quarantining, I have been since March 18th. So, yeah, I can see plenty of reasons for resistance and boredom! So, instead of making myself wrong for the blahs or trying to push through, I stop and consider how this is true for me. I'm definitely not loving what's happening in my life now, stress in our house is getting higher by the day. The closer we get to the end of the month and my husband still looking for his next contract, the more my son asks about being able to see his girlfriend, the more time it takes to go through the boxes I'm working through...it all takes a toll.

Often all I need to do is find myself in the "Probable Cause" and I can kick whatever's got me hooked immediately. With this one, I see it, but it still feels a little bleak. When I read the "New Thought Pattern" it feels cheerleader - rah-rah! So, I'm not there yet. So then I go to my next reliable go-to - self-care.

So very often the physical symptoms are an indicator of not self-caring. They're your body's way of yelling, "HEY! What about meeeeeeeeee?!" That's why you get sick when you're running on caffeine and carbs. It's kinda like your body getting parental and saying, "Ok, I guess I can't trust you to use this properly, I'm taking control for a bit -- you're grounded!" What we often miss are the gentle nudges that lead up to that. The more in tune you can get with your body, the less often you'll be grounded. 😀

While writing this, a client called in her own version of the same yuck. Isn't it wonderful when the Universe/Source/God provides? The call from her allowed me to contribute to her and also had me suggest that she look for ways to contribute to others. I'm fairly certain I would have forgotten that as my last example of ways to get out of the blahs. When we contribute to others, we're naturally out of our heads, and therefore, we feel better. Look for ways to put a smile on someone else's face. Leave the quarter in your cart at Aldi. Pay for the person behind you in the drive-through. Leave a note on someone's car telling them they look fantastic today. Being a contribution and knowing you've done something to make someone smile is a sure-fire way to feel the blahs lessen around you.

Got the blahs?

1. Look and see what disempowering conversation you may be having. What are you resisting doing? Where do you have a should? Are there physical symptoms you can check into for hints?
2. What can you do to self-care? A bath? A walk? Read a smutty novel? What are YOUR go-tos to feed your soul?
3. Make a difference in the life of someone else. What random act of kindness can you do? Who can you text or call and tell them you adore them? Who could you ask, "What can I do to make a difference in your life right now?" Get creative. 

I'd love to hear what yours are! Let's create an expansive list so we have plenty of ideas when the blahs strike again!

Voices

You know that little voice in your head? The one that you probably think is you but mostly it speaks in ways that make you feel smaller/icky/sad? It's got a few names for it, depending on who you talk to. Most known is probably ego or identity. 

Your identity is there to make sure you wake up breathing. It's that part of you that decided when you were three that strangers are scary or that you don't deserve nice things or WHATEVER it might have to say. And, when you were three, it WAS important that you had a little fear of strangers. But at 33, as you're trying to build your own business or make friends, it kinda gets in the way, doesn't it?

Here's the thing -- that voice isn't you. Your true authentic Self (big S) is that you when you're in action, empowered, and feel ALIVE. That's you. Everything else is a conversation that sometimes serves you but often doesn't. The great thing is that you can start noticing it -- and start realizing what you let yourself off the hook for when you listen. 

I have a very strong conversation of "there's something wrong here". This impacts: relationships (They didn't call me back, what did I do wrong?), projects (I'll never be able to get it done), and especially my own self-worth (If you were different, _____ wouldn't be this way), etc. Throw in a pandemic and racial protests and it's kinda terrifying being me some days. The wonderful thing about living committed to love and transformation is that I can just recognize whatever flavor of "there's something wrong" that's running and then take action. 

Wanna know why I think "there's something wrong" is so productive in my life? Because it lets me off the hook. For everything. I get to wallow. I get to be sad. It justifies me being out of action. And until recently, it's been very effective. But in the past week my husband found out his contract is being terminated early, an important young lady in my life told me she is self-harming, my ex-husband told me I was being a bitch because I was worried about Covid (and because I was mad he came and got my son without communicating with me), and my financial coach turned out to be a con man...and I only wallowed a wee bit. 

When you can not let life take you out, it's even more fun! We ALL have our own flavor of conversations that happen and being able to recognize them and BE IN ACTION ANYWAY. Life happens in the action, not in the inaction. Think of the moments in life when you felt most alive -- I bet they started with that voice telling you it was a bad idea.

So, what are you not taking action on that you really want to? Go for it. Take one tiny action. Everything moves you forward.

Life happens FOR you, not TO you. You're the author of you life. YOU. Go write a best seller.

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

Inner Critic -- Tame Thyself!

About a week ago I began to pull the string of my latest mind-blowing breakthrough. 

I knew I was judgemental, I think we all are, to an extent. I just figured I had an extra big helping of it. My inner critic had A LOT to say about me. I bet yours does too. Have you ever noticed that it's never complimentary? What a life it would be if my inner critic was also a cheerleader! But no, mine likes beating the drum of me not being worthy and not enough. Recently I've noticed it really likes, "Why bother?" Like I need help not doing the things I want to get done while quarantined. 

One of the big things I realized last week is that I listened to everything other people were saying through this filter. What I mean is, if someone said something that wasn't dripping with love, I heard criticism. I live with two teenagers. Let's just say I heard a lot of criticism. With my 16-year-old it would go something like this, multiple times a day, "You don't need to take that tone with me?"

"I don't have a tone, I'm just taaaalking!"

And then we'd both go stomping off. Fun times.

Realizing how much I listened through criticism, of myself and others, had me see so many places that this filter nailed my foot to the ground. 

• I'm committed to love on the planet...hello, that starts with ME!
• It made me pick fights with people because they'd say things and I'd get defensive, which of course makes them defensive
• I never trusted others fully, even an "I love you" from my husband would get a "Yeah, but..." from my brain
• I could never allow myself to get feedback from my peers, from letting others read something I wrote to presenting something...it terrified me and kept me small.
• Just look at my blogging history, that voice kept me from speaking out with a whole lot of, "You need something perfect to say..." or "Who do you think you are? No one wants to hear what you have to say."
• Needing to be perfect everywhere (and therefore often not starting things) -- so I didn't exercise, create workshops, allow myself to be fully myself with people, etc.

I'm sure I could go on and on.

The best thing about this is I keep noticing the LACK of the critic. All week long there have been moments when the silence is deafening. I'm training to lead a course and in our first training meeting she laid out the steps for certification, including videoing ourselves and letting others watch. No voice! I look at myself in the mirror and I notice how good I look. Whaaaaa...? My son does his thing and I joke with him instead of feeling wounded. 

And the really really incredibly amazing thing? I've lost five pounds. Apparently, criticism weighs a lot.

So, I strongly encourage you to look and see what the impact on you is of your flavor of inner critic. Who does it not allow you to be? What do you avoid? Who doesn't get to know the real you?

I strongly encourage you to kick it to the curb and start lovin' on yourself. It's way more fun.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

No, We Don't Want Change

You're probably surprised by my title. Hang in there, bear with me. Don't get upset yet.

Change is a part of our every day lives, we look for solutions to problems all the time. In Australia, they imported cattle. Soon they realized they had a new problem, cow plops. If you know cow poo, it's big and wet and sloppy. The dung beetle in Australia was equipped for kangaroo dung, which is much smaller and drier. So, cow specific dung beetles had to be imported to alleviate this problem. The car was invented to solve the problem of horse poo on the streets, a way to clean up the street. However, it caused a new different pollution problem, one we're still dealing with today. 

We've had change to correct racism, time, and time again. One of the most recent changes was Affirmative Action. While on paper this may sound good, it was a fix and caused a lot of new problems. Fixing or changing things comes from judgment, something is wrong and it needs to be corrected. Here's the thing, when we change and fix things, the original is still there. Have you seen A Bug's Life? Heimlich, my favorite character, is a caterpillar and in the end, he has wings, but he's a caterpillar with wings. 

https://pixar.fandom.com/wiki/Heimlich

What we want is transformation. 

Think again of that caterpillar. In that chrysalis that caterpillar isn't just hanging out and changing...it turns to a liquid and its molecules are completely realigned. [If anyone on here is a biologist, I apologize. I'm sure my description is elementary and possibly inaccurate. Stick with me for the point I'm making, not for my scientific accuracy!] Think of that carbon that becomes a diamond under pressure. Our country is under pressure now, the combination of Covid-19 and the murder of a black man by the knees of four police officers has tipped us over the edge. We've been teetering on that edge for decades. 

So, what's required for transformation? 

Well, one of the best ways I know is for us to look. Especially us white folk. What do we take for granted? How can we take responsibility (not blame - responsibility is empowering, blame and shame are disempowering) for the fact that our fellow Americans are NOT afforded the same rights as we are? How can we take responsibility for this, on a personal level? A friend of mine realized today that she speaks softly and gently to Black people when she speaks to them. This really floored her, but this realization gives her access to noticing and altering her speaking and listening. How did she come to this? She asked her Black neighbor what it was like in her skin. THAT'S being responsible. 

How do you begin to take responsibility? 

Being curious is a great first step, Curiosity is a powerful tool. I DON'T know what it's like to be Black. I do know what it's like to be a minority because I grew up overseas. My experience as a White child living in a local neighborhood in Togo was more like I was an anomaly. I was a blond girl with straight hair that everyone wanted to touch. I created a new language with the neighbor girl since we didn't speak the same language. We were treated as honored guests at ceremonies we were invited to.... That is NOTHING like the experience of daily being treated differently in your own country. I'm really present to how damn lucky I am to be White. It makes me feel incredibly sad for our neighbors with darker skin. In addition to sadness, I'm SO present to their power and strength. I'm moved by the worldwide peaceful protests and the solidarity they are creating. It is time for a transformation, a metamorphosis. The time is now. 

So, what can you do? 

It doesn't have to be big. Be open that YOUR view of the world isn't THE view of the world for everyone. Ask questions. Speak up when someone says something you wouldn't want to hear (even if it's meant well, have a conversation about how it might sound). Get curious. Educate yourself on Black history and how America's past created what we are experiencing today. Clean up what you discover about yourself, apologize where you see you need to. Taking responsibility is a sign of strength, not weakness. 

How do we move forward as a country?

The only way we move beyond our past is to take responsibility. As a nation. As the Australians recently did with the aboriginals. As the Germans and South Africans did. Taking responsibility starts the healing of the deep wounds of the past. Pretending it's all ok doesn't.

Congratulations, you made it! Thanks for bearing with me and not getting upset -- or, if you are upset, I hope it's the stirring of taking responsibility for the injustice in our country. Take that and use it as fuel. Get curious, be engaged, discover your role in creating a new future for our country. You can start by reading the articles above. Or maybe you can ask a Black person to touch their hair? Be willing to ask and be surprised by the answer. A curious heart is a loving one.

Photo by JoelValve on Unsplash 

Being Love

I sit here watching the anger and frustration overflow in Minneapolis. We are in the middle of a pandemic, one that many feel is being mismanaged and causing more suffering and pain for the millions of Americans who are affected, either directly or indirectly. To be clear, this is NOT a political post. This is a post in support of humanity and love.

I say that my purpose on the planet is love. It took me a long time to feel that this wasn't hokey. Sometimes I still grapple with that. But then I look at what is happening in our country and I'm clear it's sometimes VERY HARD to be love. How do you come from love when someone shoots a McDonald's employee for telling them the dining room is closed? How do you come from love when people say that 100,000+ dead is a hoax and that it's all an elaborate con? How do you come from love when you watch the police, who are there to protect and serve, gang up on a man and kneel on him until he dies?

That's the question on my mind tonight. I am SO angry, scared and heartbroken for our country tonight. So I rely on what I know, what I believe in. Love. I love myself and all of my feels -- I call it having grace for myself. I feel free to limit my exposure to the news right now, because of how much I feel the feels. I try not to limit such that I stay in a bubble, but enough that I can function in an empowered way (vs curled up under the covers, crying for all the pain and suffering out there). And I reach out to those I love and tell them. When I was a teacher I would tell my students that love creates more love, and hate creates more hate. Think about it...it really is that simple. If you're angry and someone you're angry with reacts with love and understanding, your anger abates (unless you REALLY want them pissed off). If you're angry and they act defensively, it confirms your anger and it grows.

So, being love, I've come to realize, is WAAAYYYY harder than reacting the way I want to. I want to blame, fault, accuse...I want to be righteous and call people idiots. But I don't really. Because when I come from love, it honors ME. It's like forgiveness, you don't forgive people for them, often they aren't even aware of your upset. You forgive people for YOUR peace and happiness. Choosing to BE love is the same. I sleep well at night knowing I've added joy and happiness, even just a little, into a tumultuous world. My life is fun when I choose love, because then I'm looking for who I can make smile and how. We find what we look for in the world, and when I look for love, I see it. When I look for hate, I see it. That's easy, love is sometimes Waldo.

So, right now I choose to believe that everyone is doing their best in this pandemic. It's a new experience for everyone and we're all navigating it our own way. And I also choose to believe that our country is having all weaknesses exposed, the racism that was hidden but not gone is now on the surface, as is corruption and corporations running things. All of that was, but we didn't realize it. Now that we realize it, we can act on it and make the world a better place. I choose the interpretation that empowers me and has me be my best self.

And sometimes being love is damn hard. But it's always worth it.

Vines, Part 2

Now that we've cleared about half of our property, we can really see the results. It's like we've made part of our land turn from a jungle to a forest. One of the things we've noticed is how the trees move. Trees were made to bend in the wind so they don't fall over. With large vines in those trees, not only are they getting valuable nutrients sucked out of them, but it adds to the foliage in the canopy. We've had some fairly strong winds recently, and we've lost branches and even have a tree that's partially out of the ground. We realized that these vines also create more of a sail, so instead of the wind passing THROUGH the trees, it was being caught by the trees. Not good. You've got the wind pushing on the tops of trees that are already weaker. Recipe for downed trees.

One of the vines stretched down our driveway

Battle of strength

A vine that my hubs couldn't pull out of the tree. It's the size of my wrist!

In life we have our own version of vines. Things that suck the life from us. Things that keep us from being able to bend and adapt to what life brings. And, just like our property, there's a neverending supply of things. You pluck one, another shows up. However, also like our property, when you can identify enough of those "sucks" and complete them, then you can manage to easily identify the new ones while they are still weak. Or you start getting curious and go looking for those big ones that slipped by. Curiosity has it be fun, like what we've started feeling as our jungle starts looking more like a state park. As we create walking trails and access to a little stream. As we see wildlife we haven't seen before.

In this time, where everything is different and new and scary and frustrating, it's VERY easy to have those "sucks" show up. The difficulty can sometimes be not letting them consume you like the vines did to so many of our trees. Even for me, with a toolbox full of ways to get and keep myself empowered and lots of people on my team that I can call, I still have moments, half days sometimes, where I'm just so consumed by my thoughts and doubts. I'm practicing not resisting, but to just keep swaying in the breeze.

Find grace for yourself in these uncertain times. 💜

Vines Choking Your Life

I don't even know what day of quarantine I'm on at this point. But recently I spent a few hours on our property, freeing my small patch of blackberry plants along the driveway from the ever-creeping vines. While doing so, I had lots of time with my thoughts. Here are my random thoughts on how what I did in the yard is like what I do professionally.

What you may or may not know about blackberries: They grow long stems, have teeny thorns, have a shallow root system, and create yummy fruit. Those long stems break VERY easily, so many of my plants were broken halfway, still producing flowers and new leaves, even through those broken stems.

The vines: I have found at least three different types of vines in our woods. We've got the dreaded kudzu, but only in one part. Then we have two where I was working - one is spiky and mean looking. The other, the one that likes my blackberries, is a pretty reddish color with lovely delicate green leaves. However, as with all vines, they wrap around plants and choke them out. I have spent many hours over the past weeks carefully unwrapping my blackberries.

Photo by Utsman Media on Unsplash

I took a great picture that day, I thought. When I looked back I realized the background was in crisp detail -- oops. This is almost as good, haha. What I mostly wanted you to see was how they twist together.

So what does all this have to do with me and my profession?

We sometimes are just as fragile as my blackberries. We catch our thorns on items (or use them to keep people away so they don't see how delicate we think we are), break easily, and quickly get pulled out of the ground. We often so quickly give up on those things that give us life and energy and make us feel alive. It can seem like things in life get their roots in us and suck the life out of us. Sometimes people let those things take over and it kills them. And sometimes, hopefully more often than not, we use our community to pull those vines off of us so we can blossom and produce beautiful fruit.

That's what I do...I help people untangle the vines and free themselves so they can blossom. I listen for what really makes them grow and thrive. I support them in growing deeper roots than my blackberries so that they are unshakable and can weather any storm.

Time to pull the vines and grow and thrive. Share your bounty with the world.

The blackberry blossoms I freed that first day