Braving the Hot Mess

Today I'll Choose Courage Over Comfort

4/23/2019

Last week's post focused on overcoming the fear of failure, in order to dance with joy and lead our best life. This week, I'd like to explore choosing courage over comfort.

One of my favorite teachers and authors is Brene Brown. Brene is a researcher, professor, and author who has spent a large part of her career researching vulnerability and shame. Brene says that you can't be courageous without also being vulnerable. Vulnerability and shame often weave together to form a tapestry of smallness and regret. It takes courage and the willingness to be vulnerable to lead the life of our dreams and to face the fear of failure.

Brene states that everyday when she wakes up, before her feet hit the floor, she sets her intention by saying, "Today I'll choose courage over comfort." I've added this to my morning intention setting as well. One of the keys to courage is to recognize that vulnerability isn't a weakness, but instead the proper measure of courage. Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging and joy.

It's easy to play it safe, to operate within the comfort zone, to coast through life one day turning into the next, but is that what we're here on this earth to do? Are we supposed to "play it safe", to hide our truth, our voice, our passion? On one hand it's easier, but on the other it eats away at us when we make this choice and typically we end up with regret.

Brene states, "I think the people who wade into discomfort and vulnerability and tell the truth about their stories are the real badasses in this world. This is especially true of people who rumble with failure. These are people who choose courage over comfort, accountability over blame, and are able to embed key learnings from failures into their lives."

Brene urges people not to open their hearts to just anyone. “Don’t grab that hurtful stuff from the cheap seats and pull it close, don’t pull it anywhere near your heart. Just let it fall to the ground. You don’t have to stomp it or kick it, you’ve just got to step over it and keep going. You can’t take criticism and feedback from people who are not being brave with their lives. The deal is that you have to be very specific about people whose opinions of you matter. It’s not that you don’t give a shit what anyone thinks, just don’t give a shit about what some people think. And then really solicit feedback from the people that do give you good feedback. And you know who makes that list? I’ll tell you who should make the list: People who like you, not despite your imperfection and vulnerability, but because of your imperfection and vulnerability.”

Brene has a new offering on Netflix titled, Brene Brown the Call to Courage. Check it out for some great information, stories and a lot of laughter. As Brene says, "Failure can become our most powerful path to learning if we’re willing to choose courage over comfort."

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Flirt With Failure

4/11/2019

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I saw this saying a while ago that I absolutely love, I'm not sure who said it, but I wanted to share it with you. It goes like this, "Be willing to flirt with failure in order to dance with joy. I would rather flirt with failure than never dance with joy." I just love that, it really speaks to me and creates such a great visual. It's something I remind myself of frequently, since my natural tendency is to play it safe, to let fear of failure take over and stop me from trying.

Does fear of failure hold you back too? A lot of us cringe at the thought of failure and avoid it at almost any cost. Causing us to run the risk of having regrets and not following our dreams. Fear of failure is one of the things that keeps us stuck, that keeps us small, that keeps us from enjoying the dance of joy. In the process of avoiding the unpleasant feelings that typically surround failure, we rob ourselves of the pleasant feeling of joy. The sweet taste of success, of accomplishment, of courage, of celebration.

Here's the problem, we think that it's bad if we fail, that it's embarrassing. Failure makes us feel vulnerable like somehow we weren't good enough, smart enough, wise enough, that we wasted time and/or money, that we took an unnecessary or even stupid risk. We often don't look at it as a learning or growing opportunity and we may not view it as courageous.

I work hard to keep in mind my belief that I am here in this lifetime to grow and learn. How can I grow and learn if I don't stretch myself, try new things, explore and take some risks? I also keep in mind my belief in curiosity, viewing things as an experiment, staying light-hearted and playful. We tend to get so serious about things, I don't believe that we are meant to be so serious and to play things so safe, or to judge our so called "failures" as bad. Instead, I work hard to pay attention and listen to my intuition and to let that guide me in my choices.

We often hear that failure builds character. Failure helps us to build character traits of compassion, empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, courage, wisdom, vulnerability, patience and determination. All of these traits are hard to embody until we have experienced them first hand.

As a parent, it can be hard to not try and keep our kids from failing at things in life. It's a natural instinct almost to shelter them and protect them and steer them away from failure.

I was recently watching an interview done by Marie Forleo of Abby Wambach, an American retired soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA Women's World Cup champion and a recent author. During the interview, Abby said, "As a parent, what do we want our kids to be? Wise, brave and kind. Failure makes you wise, brave and kind. We need to recognize that failure is not going to kill us, it will send us on a different path, a different trajectory. Failures are an opportunity to reflect, to reassess, and to begin again and again and again."

Spiritual teacher Wayne Dyer said, "Everything is either an an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose." Fear of failure robs us from experiencing our best life. Every moment of every day we get to choose, we get to make a choice as to whether we're going to grow or remain the same. I invite you to set aside your fear of failure, and instead flirt with failure in order to dance with joy.

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All Of The Children Of God Are Special, And None Of The Children Of God Are Special

4/9/2019

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Author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson routinely refers to this quote from A Course in Miracles, "All of the children of God are special, and none of the children of God are special." I love the duality, the paradox, of this statement.

The statement speaks to our perfect equality, that everyone and everything is perfectly equal. We are all special, and yet no one is more special than anyone else. We are all children of God. All of us are unique, but none more deserving than another. We are all special, yet we are all the same. We are One. We are all special, but not special from each other. We are all equal in the eyes of God and we are all reflections of Divine oneness.

Our ego wants us to believe that some people are more special than others. It likes to determine who is special and who isn't. It works hard to convince us, and others, that we are special. Yet, at the same time, we feel inferior constantly judging and comparing ourselves to others, as well as comparing others to others.

Spiritually, ego means considering oneself to be distinct, or separate from others and from God. It's the opposite of identifying with the Soul, or the God within us, and living our daily life with this consciousness. Our egos are powerful, they can make us believe that everything is about us. Ego is that fear-based voice that shows up and keeps us small and keeps us stuck. Fear is synonymous with ego.

The ego fools us into becoming overly identified with our bodies, our thoughts and emotions. I've often heard the acronym for ego to be Edge God Out. I really like this description of ego.

God's love shines equally onto those who commit the unthinkable just as much as it does onto those who are loving and kind. God's love makes no exceptions or precludes anyone. No one is any more loved than the next, regardless of actions. It's only the ego that would seek and cause us to believe otherwise. As A Course in Miracles states, “God is not partial. All His children have His total Love, and all His gifts are freely given to everyone alike.”

God's love, Devine love, is unconditional love. Some would say that our purpose on earth is to love the way God loves. To recognize our oneness, to love our neighbor as we love ourself. Recognizing that all of us are special and none of us are special.

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Happiness And Well-Being Decreases In The United States

3/20/2019

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The 2019 World Happiness Report was recently released and the United States (U.S.) again dropped in its ranking falling to 19th, down from 18th in 2018 and 14th in 2017. In the U.S., income per capita has increased in the past decade and yet happiness has declined.

Finland takes the number one spot for the happiest country in the world. The top 10 happiest countries are, as in previous years, dominated by the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Sweden, as well as Finland. All but two of the top 10 countries, New Zealand and Canada, are in Europe.

Not only is our happiness suffering, but so is our health (partially due to the critical link between happiness and health). Life expectancy in the U.S. has declined for the first time in decades. The average life expectancy for Americans is 78.7 years, which puts the U.S. behind other developed nations and 1.5 years lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average life expectancy of 80.3. Not only is it decreasing, but it’s consistently behind other developed countries. Addiction and emotional well-being are considered two key reasons.

Why is it that these countries consistently rank high in happiness? Why is it that the U.S. is dropping in the happiness ratings? What do the Nordic countries do differently that causes them to consistently rank happier? What can we learn from them?

According to an article in the HuffPost, "It’s not hard to understand why Finland is doing so well. The northern European country has a strong social safety net, including a progressive, successful approach to ending homelessness. It also has a high-quality education system, and its commitment to closing the gender gap is paying off. With a population of just over 5.5 million people, it’s the only country in the developed world where fathers spend more time with school-aged children than mothers."

Finnish society has been built in such a way that people are supported but still feel like they have control over their lives, said Anu Partanen, the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything. Partanen recently moved back to her native Finland after a decade in New York, along with her American husband and one year-old daughter.

According to Partanen, “Most people would like a life where they can get health care if they get sick, where their children get a good education, where they can work and hopefully feel fulfilled in that work, while still being able to spend time with loved ones. It’s not that Finns are necessarily looking to become immensely rich. I think Finland just does a pretty good job of helping people achieve this lovely, ordinary life.”

Partanen, said her time in the U.S. was defined by anxiety. “It takes immense energy to find the right day care, find the right school, find the right doctor, then figure out the right insurance plan and how you’re going to pay for everything, as it’s so expensive.”

High economic growth and increased income per capita does not necessarily translate into increased happiness. In reality it can come at the expense of our social connections and happiness in our daily lives. The U.S. would do well to take this message on board, said co-editor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. “We keep chasing economic growth as the holy grail, but it’s not bringing well-being for our country. We should stop our addiction to GDP growth as our sole or primary indicator of how we’re doing.”

Besides advocating and voting for change, what can we personally do to bring more happiness and well-being into our lives? Join me for my next workshop, Living A High Vibration Life, to learn how to bring health and happiness into your life. This 3 part workshop is on April 7th, 14th and 28th from 3:00-5:30 pm. Learn more and register at https://perennial-yoga.com/living-a-high-vibration-life. Let's do what we can to right the trend of happiness and overall well-being in our lives!

Here is a look at well-being index (includes happiness) by state:

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Put A Spring In Your Step

3/19/2019

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Tomorrow, March 20th, is the spring equinox. This is a time in the spring where the amount of light and darkness is equal. A re-emergence of the light after a long winter of darkness. Spring is a time for the planting of seeds, a time of renewal and rebirth. The spring flowers begin to surface and bloom, the trees begin budding, the grass turns green, farmers plant their fields, and the robins return.

Here in Wisconsin we are experiencing the return of the robins. Have you seen them? Have you heard them singing? In a state that experiences a long winter (and this year was especially brutal), the return of the robin signifies the beginning of spring. It’s typically a time where we have a spring in our step, coming out from the dark cold winter months feeling hopeful and reenergized to see the reemergence of green, of light and of life.

Some of us mark spring by engaging in spring housecleaning. Decluttering our homes and renewing them for the year. It can be a time for the attitude of "out with the old and in with the new". Spring can also be a great time to declutter our minds, our mental energy, our emotional energy, and our spiritual energy. An "out with the old and in with the new" so to speak. A planting of a new energetic seed.

It's a great time to check in and take a look at what we want to clear out and let go of and what it is that we want to plant. It's a time for transference and manifesting. A time to reflect on what it is that you want to draw into your life.

A time to remember that what you water, what you give energy to, what you give your attention to...grows.

What is it that you would like to energetically clear out to make space for planting some new seeds to grow? What old story are you willing to let go of, so you can energize a new story, a new way of being, a new mindset, a new experience? What are those seeds that you would like to plant this spring?

Take a few moments this week to be still and check in with where you are at. What's going well and what isn't? What would you like to clear out to make room for something different? Step off that hamster wheel of life and reflect, reevaluate, renew, reenergize and rejuvenate. Don't get sucked into the belief that you don't have time.

This week, I invite you to be still, to be intentional, to remember that what you water, what you give energy to, grows. Whatever it might me for you, let the site and sound of the robins serve as an invitation to put a spring in your step. Shake off the winter blues and get into the action. During the winter I would typically hibernate starting at 5 pm, now that we are moving into spring it's lighter out later, the days feel longer and full of energy. It's time to put a spring in your step!

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Choose Your Words Wisely

3/12/2019

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I have working at giving even more consideration to the energy and the intention behind my thoughts, words and beliefs. Remember the rice experiment (January 27, 2015 blog post)? Our thoughts, words and beliefs have an energetic impact on us and on the world around us.

Words are important, thoughts are important, beliefs are important. They not only hold meaning, but vibration and energy. It's not only in how they are spoken, or how they are written, it’s also in how we give them to one another. Words and thoughts carry energy. The intention and the feeling behind the word or thought conveys the vibration. The energy you put behind a word will carry the meaning more deeply. The more power and intensity of the intention and the feeling behind the thought, word or belief, the more energy it will carry. Words and thought systems are important to choose wisely.

It's common to hear words used in the news and in conversations that people are intending to put out there as a way to bring more peace, more love, light and good into the world. Words such as fight are being used. Daily I hear people choosing to view and think and speak about the “fight”. They're intending it to be the "good fight”, however stop for a moment if you would and consider the energy that the word fight is putting out into the universe. What vibration do you think the word fight carries?

I invite you to consider pausing and contemplating a different word choice. It may be subtle, but for me it is in important distinction. Not only is there potentially a different energy and vibration going out with a different word choice, I also believe that it conjures up a different visual and intention. Can we use the word activate or activation? A calling to action. Activate for peace, activate for love, activate for freedom, activate for good. Do you feel the difference? Fight feels negative to me and activate feels positive.

I also hear the word resist used quite frequently in regard to this so-called "fight ". The phrase “keep resisting”. I would also like you to consider the vibration and energy associated with the word resist. Sit with it for a minute, how does it make you feel? It’s my understanding that the word resist and resistance would be lower vibrating words. What we resist, exists/persists.

Our words contain power. Let's not forget the power that they carry and be purposeful, intentional and wise in our choice. Other word choices we might want to consider include…freedom, inspire, persistence, spirit, resourcefulness, harmony, action.

It feels like there is a lot of time and energy being put into hating this or hating that. I hear words like hopeless and powerless being used. These are fear-based words, these are low vibrational words. I don’t believe that these words are going to positively affect or inspire the kind of change that the people using them are desiring that they will.

Words that signify spiritual qualities carry a high vibration. Words like love, peace, life, joy, patience, health, wealth and truth. Words that oppose these qualities hold lower vibrations. These would include fear, discord, sad, depression, hate, anger, pain, poverty, blame, shame and distrust. Low vibrational words are words that carry with it fear or anger or both. High vibrational energy feels good. Lower vibrations feel bad.

How do you feel if you quietly or silently recite a word to yourself? Try it for a minute or two and see how it feels. Give yourself time to tune in and sense its subtle energy.

Consider asking yourself, "What do I want?” Whatever you think about, put energy toward, will expand. If you want to see love and peace in the world, then intend love and peace for everyone and everything. You can't pick who gets the love and peace and not offer it to everyone. I invite you to focus your attention and energy on what you do want and not on what you don't want.

This concept applies to all areas of our life. What result are you wanting to manifest? Is it a fight or is it peace? This is not an attempt to ignore the negative, but rather to put energy toward moving in the desired direction rather than getting stuck in a negative energy spiral. It's a subtle, yet powerful energetic shift.

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Pray Hard, Love Deep, Kickass

2/28/2019

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I was listening to a video series by Marianne Williamson called Powerful Beyond Measure, her message and invitation in the video was to "Pray hard, love deep and kickass." Her message and invitation, along with the wisdom she shared in the video series resonated with me.

Marianne's invitation to pray hard, love deep and kickass reminded me of something the Dalai Lama said when he visited Madison 3 years ago. The Dalai Lama believes that praying by itself is not enough, that we need prayer and effort. He believes that we can bring our prayers to Jesus, or to Buddha, or to whomever asking them to solve the world's problems and that they would say...you created them, you fix them. He feels that yes we should pray, but that prayer without action is not enough, we also need to make the effort ourselves to do what it takes to fix the problems that humankind has made.

In A Course in Miracles, Principle #11 says, "Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed." As Marianne states, "The only way to be a miracle worker is to ground yourself in a spiritual practice." The foundation of which is supported in prayer, love, compassion and giving.

Marianne believes that a lot of people ask themselves... "Do I do the inner work or the outer work?" her answer is "both and." As the Dalai Lama stated, taking action, making the effort to do what it takes to create change. Working on both the inner and the outer at the same time. Inner work of prayer and self-love, outer work of love and kickass action.

The challenge to us is to set aside our ego, our fear, our conditional love, and to love deeply from a place of oneness. Marianne believes that, "Devine love is unconditional love. Our purpose on earth is to love the way God loves." Loving deeply, unconditionally as though we are one.

Marianne Williamson is campaigning to be President of the United States. Her campaign slogan is...Think. Love. Participate. I personally really resonate with her message. If you are interested check out her website at www.marianne2020.com.

Regardless of who you support or what your beliefs are, I think it's important for each of us to think long and hard, to bring more depth of love and compassion to the table, and to participate in the process.

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How To Be Mindful Of Difficult Emotions

2/26/2019

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Our minds are always thinking, we are a thought factory. We have between 67,000 and 120,000 thoughts per day and most of them are re-runs. Our thoughts create our reality more than anything else. We can't control what thoughts arise, but we can choose how we react. It's our conditioned reactions to our thoughts that quickly influence us. We think we are our thoughts, our sense of self is created by the stories in our minds and we are very selective about the stories that we choose to play. Making stories up about ourselves and others that we tend not to question, but rather believe. Our thoughts are light and changeable they don't really have substance unless we given them substance.

Our conditioned mind tends to be unstable and reactive. Conditioned to our habitual ways of perceiving reality. The intention is to free the mind from the habits of conditioning in order to perceive reality clearly and realize our True Nature. Our True Nature (the unconditioned mind) is vast, luminous, open, stable, kind, loving, compassionate, wise, joyful with an inherent basic goodness and intelligence. Mindfulness techniques allow us more access to who we really are.

Mindfulness focuses on the present moment...the here and now, not the past or the future. This is the only moment where we're actually alive, the only moment where we can choose, it's the power moment. Our thoughts abduct us from the present moment. We tend to ruminate and fantasize or anticipate and set expectations. Our habit is to lay over the top of the present moment our past experience.

The key is to create an open mind. Judging closes the mind, curiosity opens it. The difficult emotion is the obstacle and mindfulness is the path. The way through it is to go into it. There are 6 steps for working mindfully with our difficult emotions:

Breathing: As soon as you realize that you're upset, pause and breathe mindfully for several breaths This brings you into the present moment, helps you ground and gather your wits about you.
Recognizing: Be aware of the emotions as it's happening and remember it's a temporary mind state passing through you. Softly note it..."Here's anger" or "Here's feeling upset."
Accepting: Instead of judging yourself for the feeling, open to it and welcome it. Something important is going on with you right now. Through this acceptance we are able to move through with more ease.
Investigating: Bring curiosity and interest to the table. Ask yourself, "How am I actually experiencing this right now? What am I thinking? Imagining? What's the story my mind's created?" Next go under the storyline to the sensations in your body. Ask, "Where do I feel this in my body? What are the sensations actually like? Are there other emotions here?"
Not Identifying: This difficult emotion is not a reflection of who you are. It's unpleasant "weather", created by certain conditions coming together, so it's wise not to take it personally. By softly noting it as, "Here's fear", rather than "I'm afraid", it's possible to remain open and stable with it while it's temporarily here. We habitually identify with our experience: "This is me! This is who I am!" And we suffer.
Searching: Next inquire more deeply into the root cause. Gently ask questions like, "When have I felt this before? How old do I feel right now as I'm with this? What is this really about for me? What belief is operating here? And, does this belief serve me now?" Open to whatever occurs with acceptance and kindness. When you sense that you understand this more, ask, "Given this, what's the wisest and kindest way to respond to myself right now?"

We are not trying to change it, we are just trying to relate to it. Changing it is fighting against it, resisting it. We are letting it be and companioning it, giving it spaciousness and remembering impermanence. Discovering the concept of impermanence was a game changer for me. Most everything in life is impermanent, things shift and change regularly. Just knowing this and flowing with it makes a huge difference.

A shortened version of the above technique is called the Drop In Mindfulness Technique.

Drop In Mindfulness Technique...ask yourself 3 core questions:

What am I actually experiencing right now? (thinking, feeling, sensations)
How am I relating to that? (curious and accepting or resisting and judging/caught in it/stuck)
Given this, what's a wise and kind way to respond to myself right now? What do I need in this moment?

How to practice this on a daily basis:

Drop In as many times as you can throughout the day...breathe 3 breaths, ask the 3 core questions, and follow your advice.
Unitask...concentrate on one task at a time versus multitasking.
When you feel stressed, use the Drop In technique.

Mindfulness develops vital mental muscles and it's a key component to navigating difficult emotions. Mindfulness can teach us that we don't need to be afraid of our thoughts, that they are not me, that I have a choice, but it takes regular practice.

This type of meditation is called Insight Meditation. It was taken from materials in a class I took taught by Mare Chapman, M.A. at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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How To Navigate Negative Emotions

2/19/2019

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In my post two weeks ago, Being Fully Human, I shared some thoughts about how it's not realistic, or even healthy, to try to be happy 100% of the time and that the key is to be resilient, to have grit, to bounce back, to not get stuck in the muck, to have stickiness, to move through the challenge and its array of emotions and feelings and thoughts without getting stuck. This week, I want to share with you a technique called self-distancing that I've found to be very useful in helping navigate negative emotions.

We usually deal with negative emotions in three ways...we either try to suppress them, express them, or escape them, all three of which are typically not a healthy approach. Research suggests that instead, it can be beneficial to process and reflect on our negative feelings. When most of us try to do this, it can be easy to start ruminating and get caught in the loop of repetitive, detrimental thoughts. We spin the story over and over in our heads. We tell ourselves things like, "I will never be good at this."

Gaining perspective on negative events, or “self-distancing,” is a practice that allows us to view our feelings and experiences from an outsider’s perspective. This can be accomplished with language...saying “you” or “she” rather than “I". Using phrases like “Tracy is feeling frustrated right now" or referring to yourself in the third person. The most important thing is to not use the term “I” or "I am" (there is a lot of energetic power in whatever words we put behind the statement "I am").

In everyday life, we typically think and talk about ourselves using first-person pronouns like “I” and “me.” Using self-distanced language...like “you” or “he"...means that we’re referring to ourselves the way we usually refer to others. This linguistic shift seems to create a cognitive shift, allowing us to gain perspective on whatever is going on.

Self-distancing can also be accomplished by visually imagining your own experience from a distance like you are watching a movie rather than reliving it through your own eyes, to take the perspective of an outside viewer, seeing yourself from afar. Mentally removing yourself form the situation is a helpful trick. To try it, you can imagine that you’re a fly on the wall, observing your situation, or you can imagine you are standing on top of a mountain looking down over the events. How do you see the situation? How do both people look...you and the other person? By cultivating a broader perspective, you’ll often discover that the situation is not as bad as you thought it was.

Research has shown that taking this perspective reduces the intensity and duration of negative emotional experiences. Reducing anger, sadness and other negative emotions around a distressing event, as well as minimizing negative unproductive recurring thoughts.

Studies also suggests that self-distancing encourages us to think in more abstract terms rather than focusing on the details and feelings. When doing this, we are more likely to have realizations, deeper understanding and closure. This allows us to manage difficult feelings without getting swept up in them.

I invite you to try the technique of self-distancing next time you become aware of a negative emotion. Be mindful of the language and thoughts you are creating around the emotion and visualize it from a different broader perspective. Next week I'll share an additional technique that has also been very useful to me in handling negative emotions, feelings and sensations.

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Love Is Easy To Profess And A Shit Ton Of Work To Practice

2/11/2019

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In a few days it's Valentine's Day. Some love it, others hate it. Valentine's Day is typically a day where we profess our love. It's a time where we glamorize love, especially romantic love, into roses, hearts and candy. For me, it can serve as a time to examine love and relationships.

I recently saw a post by Brene Brown and felt the truth in it. Love can be messy, it's not always roses, hearts and candy. Whether it be romantic love, or love for a child, sibling, parent, or friend it can be messy and a shit ton of work to practice. Here is what Brene wrote:

Love is easy to profess and a shit ton of work to practice. Stay brave, awkward, and kind this week.

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.

Love is messy, it's both easy and hard. It can bring out the best in us and the worst. I know that I mess it up a lot. I lose my cool and say something hurtful, I get self-absorbed, I get impatient, I make assumptions and judgments, I do unwanted favors and then attach expectations. The list goes on and on.

It's hard work and takes practice, lots and lots of practice. Sometimes we mess it up and we don't get it right. Love is messy, It's not always roses, hearts and candy, but the best things in life are often messy. There can be magic in the mess.

Yes, there is magic in the mess. There's magic in being vulnerable, to letting others in and in putting yourself out there, in the discovery and progression. Magic in experiencing life with all of its beauty and struggle.

This Valentine's Day may you open your heart wider to love. May you be brave and pull down the walls, be vulnerable and live and love wholeheartedly. May you open your heart wider today to Divine love. May you feel it, embrace it and be inspired by it today. Wishing you love beyond measure this Valentine's Day and everyday.

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<<Previous

Today I'll Choose Courage Over Comfort

Flirt With Failure

All Of The Children Of God Are Special, And None Of The Children Of God Are Special

Happiness And Well-Being Decreases In The United States

Put A Spring In Your Step

Choose Your Words Wisely

Pray Hard, Love Deep, Kickass

How To Be Mindful Of Difficult Emotions

How To Navigate Negative Emotions

Love Is Easy To Profess And A Shit Ton Of Work To Practice

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