Where are you?
Are you contemplating why your ex cheated on you? Are you wondering why you got laid off last year? Are you questioning why you are still single, why your dad got cancer, why your sister is in rehab? Well guess what… your desire for answers just keeps you stuck in the past and missing life as it passes by you now. The answers are not in the “why” but rather the”how“. Ask yourself, “How can I let this experience help better me. What are the lessons to be gained and how can I learn and grow?”
Sometimes there are no answers and sometimes the answers show up when you are ready to receive them. All we can do is accept what happened yesterday with FAITH that it was meant to be that way and pay attention to right now and what we can make happen in this moment so we can create what we want for tomorrow. The key to moving on is faith and acceptance and learning what you needed to in order to grow!
I am an Artist…What are you?
I bet most of you who know me didn’t know I am an artist.Well I am and last night I had my first show! Most of the paintings I had, I did in the last couple months just for fun without any real purpose at all, just felt the desire to paint and so well… I painted. Then I found outabout a group show being held by some fellow students from USM. I asked if I could also participate and it was on baby!
A little background story…Growing up I was artistic, or rather creative, but drawing wasn’t an obvious gift…yet. My teachers in elementary school told my parents to put me in art classes since they saw my creativity. I began numerous drawing classes so I could learn how to draw, but it wasn’t natural for me like some people who are just talented at recapturing exactly what they see. I found the whole process taxing and not fun at all, but I did enjoy putting the colors down after the drawings were finished.
As I got older and saw this was now a talent of mine I was unsure how to really make the most of it since I didn’t believe it was a “natural” talent but rather something I learned how to do. I compared myself to natural artists and thought I can’t compete so why try. I stifled it for many years even though others kept telling me I was really good at it.
Another irrational belief I held was that artist don’t make money and I didn’t want to spend my life poor so I would try and pick other things that could be a “successful career” I ended up majoring in business management in college, graduated with good grades and found the whole thing terribly boring!
I hadn’t done much art since graduatig high school then this year in my grad program at USM decided to incorporate painting as part of my project as a way to be therapeutic and healing. I ended up really enjoying it since I was no longer forcing myself to draw and “get it right” just having fun doing what I wanted to do with the colors. It felt only natural and free. Every painting was an experiment and that’s how I approached it, no right or wrong just an experiment.
This is how I viewed the art show as well. I didn’t feel any nerves or fear, I was just curious to see what others thought about what I already liked and that I had fun doing. I was really curious to see if anyone liked them enough to actually take it home with them.
I got all sorts of rave and compliments from people; they were intrigued and wanted to know how I did it. All I got was love and appreciation and there was no doubt in my mind it was authentic. I felt grateful to hear this, yet in my mind I have done many things up to this point in my life that have been “talented” but haven’t produced much financial compensation in return.
Then at the end of the night someone bought two of my paintings. I ended up making more from those two paintings than any other single day or work in my life. I totally blew open my irrational belief that artists can’t make money, or that my talents are financially useless!
The way everything worked out was so graceful and easy and I can’t deny it felt like it was all meant to be, even the paintings, they also felt like they were meant to exist and have sort of always existed, and I just finally brought it into the physical world to be seen.
I know that money is not everything but I finally in a way feel validated, differently than I ever have before. The lesson I am taking away from this experience is this…when you feel the desire or curiosity to pursue something do it! If it is divine and part of your life path, doors will open and you follow those opportunities! The whole thing seemed effortless once I let my mind get out of the way and I just did what I enjoyed and shared that with other! So what have you been pushing away because you think it is a waste of time or no good? DO IT ANYWAY and then let me know how it goes!
Getting what you need at the right time
I read this at the bottom of an email I got this morning….
“There comes a time in life when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy!”
Choose What Is
Life is one big surprise, and as much as I like to plan and organize, plot out and set goals, things don’t necessarily turn out as I planned them to. So in this new reality I have two choices I can get upset things didn’t turn out as I expected and judge myself as a failure of some sort, or I can look at what is and see the blessings in it.
The reason we get upset in life is due to some sort of resistance to reality. The key then to happiness and peace is to differentiate between what we have control over and what we do not. When you run into something that you can’t change then choose to accept it as it is. For instance today it is raining like crazy in LA and rather than get upset that I can’t go outside and enjoy my day off with a hike like I had planned on doing, I am painting and listening to the rain pour on down and enjoying the sound of it. Life is full of choices and maybe the most important choice we will ever make is to choose to accept what we can’t change and be grateful for it anyway!
Don’t Wait to Live
All I can say is don’t take anything for granted. Too many things have happened to people I love in the last month and as I have held a space for them to mourn and sent them love, the big lesson I see is to live life to the fullest. To make the most of every moment that we share, to push fear aside and take a chance on your dream, to let go of the petty stupid little things that don’t matter, and to take hold of the one you love and simply share the way you feel. There is no guarantee of tomorrow, not for you or me or the person you hold in your heart. Make the most of it now so you never look back with regrets.
The truth of the matter is we are all going to die. The more we prolong the denial that it will happen the more we deny living! The sooner we accept death and its surety, the sooner we began to live this life to the fullest. Wake up and live, live a full life knowing each day is a gift. I love this life, and I love helping others live to the fullest! Please know I am sending you love on this journey we share together. What we share is special… if you think about it, we here (Earth) at this moment are the few who are actually alive and soon we will join the billions of others that have come and gone before us. Our time is short but it can be so sweet, it is up to you and what you make of this time we have together!
You Are My Teacher
The relationships that come in and out of our lives have purpose. No matter how awesome or annoying that certain someone is in your life, whether it be your mother or your next door neighbor we are all here as teachers for each other. Through our relationships is how we learn best; we each act as a mirror for one another to see both the positive and negative projections. Through relationships we learn to set up healthy boundaries, to work out agreements, to share, listen and love and when the time comes, how to let go and move on without them anymore.
Take a look at your life and see the people you have chosen to associate with, even down to your family…you chose them for a reason, now take what you can and see the lesson involved. No relationship is just chance or coincidence; everyone can be an opportunity for growth, if you so chose.
Don’t take your relationships for granted, look at each one of them as your teacher…now go and learn like good students!
Win in your Fantasies
Its funny how often we let our thoughts get the better of us. One second we are watching some random couple at a table near us and thinking they are so cute and in love, then the next second depressed that we are alone and never going to find it and then thinking how unfair life is! There is a difference between thinking and having thoughts. Thoughts just happen, triggered by something we see or hear, but thinking that is an active process we now are engaged in and choosing. The trick is to become conscious when we have let a simple thought take over and we go on thinking down that path of negativity. We want to win in our fantasies…seems obvious right? Yet so often we let ourselves go down the “worst case scenario” road and end up feeling sad, angry or stressed!
My invitation to you is to start to become aware of your thought processes and when you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts say “STOP! I win in my fantasies!” Then re-imagine whatever you were thinking in a positive way, rather than it being a bad outcome, imagine what you want…always imagine what you want to happen rather than give into the fear of what you don’t want to happen! Get creative and have fun with it, let yourself open up to how awesome life could be…who knows if you focus on it enough it just might turn out to be your reality!
Dance!
My friend Angela, is having a good time in an unlikely place…just goes to show how fun life can be regardless of where you are at! Hahah I love this, makes me smile and I bet you will too! Enjoy 🙂
