Today I am grateful for belief and alignment, specifically the feeling that happens when fostered by belief and alignment.  I’ve recently made some decisions that involved taking control of my life at a new level.  Something finally clicked where I understood the magnitude of taking action.  Yes, I’ve always known this, yes I still have old habits and fears, but making a choice that simultaneously feels good, brings results, and feels natural is unlike anything else.  I too often vacillated between this feeling and feeling like crap or like I was obligated to feel differently.  Like there would be some reward at the end for feeling miserable.  While waiting for some answers at my 9-5, it hit me: I’m waiting for someone to make a decision about my life for me and that is the furthest thing from what I want to do.  Knowing what I want to do and believing that I’m able to take action—and then taking action—changed that.  We have one life and I do not want to wait for someone to make a choice for me in what I’m doing.  I want to be in this alignment all the time.  I believe that it is possible to feel this good when we remove ourselves from the negativity and when we are doing what we know we are meant to do.  I choose to follow that path even if it takes some time to walk that path.   

Today I am grateful for the creative surge.  I have come to understand that I am an incredibly creative individual and that involves getting away from the standard or accepted way of doing things.  I was trying for a long time to keep a foot planted in the world I was in because it pays the bills as well as moving toward something more fulfilling.  Accepting myself for who I am and being honest about what I enjoy shifted me toward more possibilities and has opened the door to new ways of doing things.  My brain goes a million miles an hour but it used to be negative, fearful thoughts.  Now those thoughts trend toward creation.  It can be overwhelming because I’m trying to capture each of the creative ideas, but it’s an overwhelm of love. It’s an overwhelm of joy at the possibilities of expression in what I’m doing.  I love being in that flow, in that energy where anything can happen.  The goal isn’t always notoriety or getting something out of it, the creative process is there for its own merit.

Today I am grateful for time.  Our family has a ton of October birthdays so we are in the thick of many celebrations.  The age range is vast (spanning over 75 years in some cases) so it’s fascinating to see how people feel and what their lives/emotions look like at different stages of the game.  We are never promised anything (even more reason to do the things that make sense for us and feel aligned with our purpose/who we are) and understanding how valuable life is, is key.  If we are gifted with the privilege of life, it is our responsibility to fill that life with love, joy, connection, and purpose.  It is our responsibility to put aside the distraction and block out the messages of fear and hurt others spread thinking they are being helpful or realistic.  There are absolutely moments of reality that we need to contend with and make amends with, but what they don’t’ tell us is that this world is also of a different reality: the reality that we are meant to live in expansiveness, creating joy and flow and building new ways.  Use time well, create time by doing things you love. 

Today I am grateful for friends that care.  These last few months have been incredibly busy.  It got to the point where I wasn’t sure how much more we could fit in and we were still being asked to participate and do things—the weekends were full and weeknights were becoming a tight squeeze as well.  I have been working with my family on saying yes more because I know we need to get ourselves out there into new experiences and I don’t want our lives to become all work and no play.  With that being said, we’ve had many nights where we were consecutively booked with multiple things, yesterday was one of them.  The first event we went to went a bit longer than we thought and I didn’t make the best choices as far as self-care goes.  When we got to the second event for the evening, my friends knew I wasn’t feeling the greatest and instead of encouraging more bad choices they offered food.  I told them I was ok and didn’t want to impose.  When I went upstairs, my friend had already prepared a plate for me.  I didn’t know it at first, but that simple act was exactly what I needed.  It was so sweet—and that is real caring.  Friends who do things that make you healthy, not tear you down.

Today I am grateful for opportunity.  Do you ever notice how sometimes when we think things are falling apart, if we get over our fear and really break it down, it isn’t that bad—not only is it better than we thought, but perhaps we’re totally off base and the issue is completely solvable with a simple action.  I’ve always been one of those people who was afraid to look at the reality of a situation if I thought it got too bad.  Just as an example, money.  If I overspent or if things were legitimately tight, I’d be terrified to check my bank account, but when I finally did, I’d see that I was always perfectly fine.  My husband and I have been working our business for several years and we are in the weeds of it now.  I had been so overwhelmed with how to move forward and I didn’t want to look at any of the data because I was afraid that it would be so bad that it would show what we’ve/I’ve been doing for the last several years was all for nothing.  Instead, I just found out that there is a new opportunity for me and I am closer to where I want to be—like months closer.  We just need to finish a few more things and I can’t believe how much life is going to change.  Never be afraid—go for it.  We may be surprised how close we actually are and that the situation isn’t as overwhelming/scary as we made it out to be.  Take the deep breath, tear off the band-aid, and take some action.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.