The gift of community.

This past Saturday was my birthday.  As with every other day there is always something to learn or relearn. My dear friend Anne Garland was hosting her annual conference at the Griswold Inn in Essex that day and we had decided that after her event a few of us would have a drink in the bar to celebrate my day.

Anne being Anne instead decided to go all out. She bought me a lighted crown that flashed all afternoon, had the large group of 80+ women at her event sing me Happy Birthday and then continued to celebrate my day throughout her afternoon. After an initial embarrassment, I realized that it would be hard for most of us to take in all that well wishing, coming from women I knew as well as others I didn’t know yet so many of each honestly wished me well as they were leaving at the end of the day.

I was touched to see the kindness and community that Anne developed and saw how readily we all joined in to celebrate others as they won gifts as well. When we choose to open our hearts it is so easy to feel warmth and best wishes for another. A day of giving and receiving reminded me of how important it is for each of us to take in that we matter and make a difference in the lives of others. We are all part of community, and we each impact it, let that impact be from your heart; it makes such a difference since we all need each other for laughter, comfort, and support while we take the needed risks to truly live this life and not survive it.

The Adventure of the Journey

As with all of us, I am so aware that when I am focused on where I want to go in my life, and how I want to get there, amazing things happen.  It is when I sort of know, and/or I am sort of focused, that it seems everything gets stuck and it takes forever.  

Life is so different when we see it through the eyes of faith or spirituality, possibility, and the awareness that life is an adventure to be lived not a hell to be survived.  Our journey can take us to any number of places yet it is still an adventure to be enjoyed. I like it so much better that way because there is always room for passion, vibrancy, and a new perspective. Things which to me make any life, or adventure, well worth living. I wish that for each of you.

Opening up to bigger and better things.

Over the years I have been interviewed by numerous magazines and newspapers as well as various TV and radio hosts in several countries. Nonetheless, being a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Network a short while ago felt as if I was moving to a whole other level. Then, two weeks ago, I received a call from a woman at Huffington Post asking if she could interview me about my life. When we finished she said that having researched me she also discovered my work in Energy Medicine and wanted to know if we could do a second interview on that topic which of course I consented to.

Although I have been looking for opportunities to get my message out to larger audiences, I have discovered it requires that I open up to receiving the opportunities provided. My first thought was, "My life, it’s just a life." yet when I think of what I would tell others who may say the same thing I heard my own words saying that the greatest gift we bring to another is ourselves, it is who we are, who we have chosen to become. Accepting that each of us is a gift, and each of us has a story to tell, means that as the world is ready, our story can now support another in taking risks, in learning, and in coming alive, so as to open up to all the opportunities and adventures that our lives can provide. I wish that for all of us.
http://work.lifegoesstrong.com/article/life-change-reinvent-yourself-year

The first was released yesterday. Here it is.