One of my intentions this year I’d set back in December: connect with more amazing and supportive people that stretch me.
I’ve been very wonderfully (and continue to be) provided with opportunities to develop and deepen relationships with friends that do that: support me greater than I’ve really ever experienced, and push me to be the better and best version of me that I envision. (I always want to be growing). Amidst great joy in traveling, I’ve also experienced great challenges that would be tougher, way tougher without the support and Love I’ve received in messages and gestures from these amazing people.
Always being “others focused” with a heart for helping others along their life journeys, I’d never really developed the skill of asking for help when I needed it. Even when I’ve truly, desperately needed it.
However, that is the past; that is an old me. That is a smaller me. We were never meant to be islands, and just because I feel like I had to grow myself up from a child when I was younger all on my own, the reality and raw truth is that I’ve never been alone: I’ve always had support that has helped me immensely along the way.
Don’t rob others from giving to you. There is great joy in giving. And if you allow yourself to, there is also great joy in receiving. Press in and ask questions if it is uncomfortable to you. Maybe you, too could use some support from time to time? From the largest to the smaller things, you don’t have to go life alone. It’s really nice to go it with company. 🤗
The GRAND Canyon was literally just that - grand! I’d not yet seen a piece of Mother Nature that made me feel so small and that I really couldn’t even begin to grasp the magnificence of. I must go back to see more of it. It’d be lovely to hike it more.
As a child, I hadn’t imagined seeing these things, but I always imagined traveling. I always imagined bigger than anything that I’d seen. This trip makes me weep with gratitude to have been able to do it and see so much, and I look forward to more. There’s so much out there to see and experience, and I love expanding my understanding of the world, of getting out of my own box and my own routines and putting myself in new places that spur new thoughts and ideas.
Gratitude for the past, gratitude for today, gratitude for tomorrow. 🙏🏼♥️
This weekend I took the opportunity to go and visit my mom in Western Pennsylvania. I spent many of my childhood years there.
Unfortunately, my hometown areas have deteriorated significantly since I’ve moved away and grown older. It can be downright depressing to go back and see it.
Instead of focusing on how much I don’t enjoy going back and what I don’t like about it, I’m changing the conversation in my mind to one of gratitude of many things: my childhood experiences, the woods and the creeks, the corner candy store that’s been closed for years now, moving away when I was younger and therefore having the opportunity to see a greater picture of possibility in the world, as well as getting around more diversity of people and experiences.
From gratitude, I get reenergized to set my focus on the here and now as well as the future and the things I am working toward. All of the good things.
The things we focus on are what will continue to develop and expand in our lives. We get the gift and the power to choose what to focus on. Focus on things that empower you. You get the opportunity to create your story.
We cannot control many of the circumstances nor situations that come our way. However, we CAN control our reaction/response to them.
One of the ways we can do this is by paying attention to the words that come out of our mouths.
The other day I was running late to a yoga class I was taking. As I pulled into the parking lot with just barely a minute to spare, I said to myself, “I’m always doing this.” As in, always racing from one thing to the next, either barely making it on time or being a few minutes late.
It’s actually an accurate statement, because I jam pack my days to see just how much I can get done within them. I like to maximize my time.
However, the statement I said to myself was not helpful in ever changing that pattern. In fact, I caught myself and had a full mini-conversation about how it’s not true, that I’m not always doing that (which is actually true) and how I’m changing it and creating more space within my days and between my tasks (which I’m also working on). The latter conversation empowers me to remember that priority of mine - to be on time, to be relaxed, to not try to cram everything in or take on too many scheduled items at once.
Our words have immense power. They impact our inner dialogues. I challenge you to pay attention to yours today.
