Tag Archives: life

Making a Living or a Life?

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As we close out February and enter into a new month, I wonder how much of what I’m doing is leading me towards continuing to make a living or continuing to make a life?

We can all make a living. In fact many of us do have a job or a career that pays the bills, affords us many of life’s luxuries, and allows us to grow; however, when we set out to make a life…we are no longer making a living, we are living our calling and all of those details take care of themselves.

Living with intention we can make a life for ourselves.

So go on…live with intention. Take decisive action and even though there’s uncertainty, and you may fail many times over, you were called to do this. You got this. Now go. Live with intention every day, begin your hero’s journey, and together we’ll make a life.

How would your life be different?

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To be seen for who you really are is one of the most courageous things any of us can do.

Not only is it the most courageous thing to do, it’s critical if we are to connect and grow.

How would your life be different, if during those crucial conversations you let yourself be seen? Leaning into that space of uncertainty, possible judgement, and discomfort. Speaking your truth. Letting your light shine. Being 100% you. Where  would you be?

How would your life be different?

Why Not Now?

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At midnight tonight people all around the world will resolve to change their life for the better. My question is, why wait until tomorrow. Why not start now?

What’s stopping you?

It has been my observation that those who are successful in achieving their dreams and goals are committed. They don’t need a new year to start, they start where they are with what they have. Day by day and moment to moment they chip away at the slab of marble that will eventually reveal their most beautiful and inspiring work of art…their life.

Why not start chipping away now? The world needs your art now more than ever.

It’s time.

What feels natural

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We spend a good portion of our lives fitting in. While this may seem natural since we all fall into it…it’s not. It’s unnatural.

We’re inundated with expectations and highly influenced by not just our family and friends but the media. For some of us we live our entire lives this way doing things we’ve always done because that’s how they’ve always been done; or following the crowd, because that’s what society says you have to do in order to be successful or get a mate or retire rich and happy. The reality is…this is unnatural and often the reason why so many people wander around unfulfilled: feeling like something is missing or even worse, not knowing who they are, what talents and gifts they possess or what makes them come alive. They know something isn’t exactly right but can’t see or even feel past the stories they’ve been sold about their own reality and their future.

What feels natural?

Being in a state of flow with yourself and your work. Being in alignment and living out your deepest truths. Charting your own course. Writing your own story. Allowing yourself to be free.

While this is difficult, it does get easier, and in the end it’s much less expensive.

I’m experimenting with what feels natural to me in many areas of my life:

  • No longer relaxing my hair — I’m going natural (My hair has been chemically straightened for over 20 years! and I’m not even 30 yet) I have no idea what a full head of my own natural hair feels like, but it’s coming in now and I’m excited)
  • Saying “Yes!” to things that align with my purpose and “no thank you” to things that don’t
  • Taking care of my mind, body and soul first and foremost everyday before anything else
  • Having meaningful, deeper than surface level conversations
  • Helping people discover their truth

The list goes on…

While embracing our natural self may be uncomfortable at first, I can assure you…it’s the key to unspeakable success and fulfillment. So go on…do what feels natural to you. They call it a gut feeling for a reason…you should trust it and go with that flow.

 

Deconstructing

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While my actions would say quite the opposite, I find myself struggling with being patient. It’s like I can’t wait for “it” to happen, yet I can’t even clearly articulate what “it” is. Don’t get me wrong, I have visions of what I want. I know what I want my life to look like, and what changes (internally) must be made so I can live as my most authentic self. But have I  really sketched out the long-term vision of my life? Not fully. There are things that I know that I want to have in my life, like four seasons, children, love and laughter, but can I describe my life 30 years from now? Not yet.

I’ve started this process many times. Got the great idea in a leadership or personal development book to really get clear on what I wanted my future to look like, and immediately took action describing it. Whether it was a vision board or filling in answers to questions in a hardcover book…I took action. However, I took action, describing my short-term future of the next 1-5 years. I took action, having only a fuzzy image of what I wanted my long-term future to look like.  Even worse, I took action having not studied myself long and hard enough to articulate my values. How could I create a future without knowing what I stood for and what values I embodied at my core so that I could live my truth?

I think the reason many people (experts included) skip the step of discovering our values is because it requires a shit ton of  hard work.  Plus we have to ask ourselves some really scary questions.  So now I find myself (after having answered the tough questions and crystallizing my values) moving slowly and cautiously though life, clinging to people and ideas that in my gut I know can only move me closer to the work that I have been called to do.

When did I get so structured? So regimented? Is this one of my strengths: taking action and committing? Yes.

But the more important question is: what is my long-term vision for my life?

Not only do I want to be inspired. I want to be an inspiration to others. Perhaps that’s where my little patience problem kicks in. Still unclear on this, but open to exploring.

One thing’s for sure…I’m relieved to know that inspiration and patience don’t have to be opposing forces. As I recently learned, when you inhale (inspire) you have to exhale (patience). So long as we take the baby steps and use our heart as our compass we’ll be well on our way… even if our patience could use a little work.

 

Is Your Life Your Message?

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Every life has a story and in every story there is a message. Every day, whether we realize it or not, we’re continuing our life’s story. Every day we are each granted a pen and a fresh sheet of paper. Each page contributes to the chapters of our lives and  when our lives conclude…all of the pages combined end up telling our story.

My question for you today is, “is your life your message?”

What do you believe? Seriously. We are each storytellers in the sense that we have beliefs about life, love, happiness, wealth, negative circumstances, and those things that are sacred and spiritual.  So when I ask, “is your life your message?” I’m just curious about your life’s story thus far…I want to know that when your book is finished…will you have lived your message? Is the story you have preached, on that you honestly practiced?

Don’t tell me. Show me.

Regardless of if you realize it or not, it’s your story. It’s your life. It’s your message.

Don’t forget…you have the pen.

“Make Today Count” – Rick Bommelje

Take Time & Reflect

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Today I realized I don’t get enough “T” time.  Not saying I need to hop in the car and spend the day at the beach, but days like today should be planned and put on my calendar going forward. What’s a day like today you ask? Well…I took the day off. Shut everything down and spent a great amount of time reflecting on my life.

Biggest conclusion of the day…not enough moments of peace.

When is the last time you took the time to reflect on your life?

How do you know what’s missing if anything at all unless you stop and reflect?

 

Switch it Up

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It’s great to change it up every now and then. Take a different route to work, incorporate new exercises into your workout routine, and even change your diet. Change often leads us to have a better appreciation for that which could become mundane and routine; and often change accelerates us towards our goals. However, it’s important to note that we we institute a change, we must first and foremost ask ourselves if this change aligns with our objective? Depending upon what you’re trying to achieve…in my case, with this blog, I wish to be “the first thing people do when they start their day.” If that’s truly my objective, then today I have missed it.

Keeping our objective top of mind will help us to better navigate the changes we incorporate in our lives. That’s the great thing about life…it’s one big experiment, and for me, tomorrow, I get to test hypothesis #2.

Go on…switch it up a little.