inner strength
Is It Love, Or Just Infatuation?
There is a difference between love, lust, and infatuation. Infatuation is so powerful, it can make you think that you are in love, but they cannot co-exist.
There are so many people that feel that they are in love with someone just because they are so amazing, and they cannot stop thinking about them, but truthfully most of the time the intense feeling that comes with really liking someone is not love, it is infatuation. How does one tell the difference?
First and foremost, when you are infatuated it happens very quickly, love is a slow process – love needs a deeper connection. Infatuation can make you feel irrational, love calms you. Infatuation can feel very intense, love is grounded, and generous, and solid. Continue reading
Lessons From The Wisdom Of Children
We can learn a lot from children, when we look at things from their perspective. There are five special little ones in my life: three granddaughters and two grandsons, who range in ages from 6 years to 1 month.
Many women in my age group, known as the Baby Boomers, were so busy trying to get a career going, as well as have a family. We thought we could do it all, but we missed many of the little things that our children had to teach us. I was not immune to this.
Now that I have grandchildren in my life, and I have the ability to take the time to see things differently, I have learned many life lessons.
Lesson 1 – Count Your Blessings
This past weekend, I had my two year old granddaughter here for the weekend. She has been diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis and has a variety of medicines that she is taking. I am so sad when I watch this young child suffer needlessly, because of a disease that she should never have had in her life. She can be happy and running one minute, and then stopped in her tracks and unable to get up the next. Continue reading
How Tough People Handle Stress
Stress confronts us around every corner. Sometimes it’s all we can do to just to get through each day. How we deal with stress says a lot about us, and there are many proactive, healthy ways to do this.
The Serenity Prayer states, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” That is a wise prayer! Stress is unavoidable, so don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Acknowledging that it is there and having tools to fight stress is half the battle. Using multiple tools such as meditations, problem solving strategies, and time management can be much more helpful than only having one ‘go-to’ strategy. Continue reading
Always Be True To Who You Really Are
We should all take the time to visit a nursing home or a senior’s retirement village, and speak to the residents. It can be a life-changing experience. Recently, I have had the opportunity to speak to several seniors and one of the questions I asked them was, “If you had your life to live again, what would you do differently?”
Some said they would change nothing, as they had family, friends and lots of love in their lives. They also knew the true joy of being in the moment, and how laughter was the healer of most wounds in relationships, and otherwise. However, the vast majority responded that they would have been more true to themselves. These seniors told me they would have followed the original path placed in their soul, instead of living for what someone else wanted, or what someone else thought they should be. Continue reading
You Are Enough
You are enough. If only, as we grew up, we had heard more such words, even if there was an additional “… and yet strive for more”. The fact is we were raised in a world where competition is prevalent; where our insecurities are often emphasized to us, or used as leverage (intentionally or otherwise); where our personal beliefs about ourselves potentially delays our soul evolution.
As partners in the Universe we say to ourselves, “Everything has a reason, we each have a soul purpose, all is in Divine Order.” Yet, when a tragedy or life shattering moment hits, we are so intimately impacted that we have to dig deep to console ourselves and try to reframe that that tragedy has a Divine purpose, and that you have enough and are enough in that moment. Continue reading
Pushing Energy To The Extreme
A mother’s precious child becomes trapped under a car. There is no one in close enough proximity to come to her assistance and as she becomes frantic with the awful possibilities of the potential outcome. Then some unknown force seems to take over her body…
With no conscious thought as to how she will rescue her offspring, the anxious mother lets herself become guided by some unknown force and begins to lift the car in order to release the child. She has not thought about the why, or the how, she only knows she must act swiftly, before there is too much damage inflicted on her little one. The car is then miraculously raised, the child is free and mom is now breathing an immense sigh of relief. Continue reading
False Education Appearing Real
I love the acronym F.E.A.R. (False Education Appearing Real) since we all have people, circumstances, phobias and so forth, that can put us into that space. Fear is an instance of emotion that is triggered by the awareness, or anticipation of danger. It can also become a state of being. Excluding clinical fears, needing professional help, there are many fears we simply impose upon ourselves as a result of life experiences.
One of my fears is acrophobia, the fear of heights. When I get within five feet from the edge of a rooftop, I begin to shake. Climbing 30 foot ladders has me nervous and when I hiked to the pinnacle of the mountain of Macchu Picchu in 2004, I could not take those last six nervous steps onto the plateau pinnacle rock. This was partly being due to a few other tourists already sharing the rock… and I am a little “accident prone.” Continue reading