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Keep your eye on the ball!

This past weekend I played softball for the first time in 45 years! What’s really amazing about that is: after my hubby found me a glove and played catch to warm me up, I proceeded to go to right field and … get this … CATCH the only two fly balls that came my way! Really, I did! I also made contact with the ball at the plate – twice! While the team would have been better off if I’d let myself get walked, I actually hit the ball and ran! Crazy amazing!

And … like most everything in life, a lesson can be found. Here’s today’s lesson:

Keep your eye on the ball!

Whether the ball is a softball, a hardball, a task, a goal, a dream … focus is important. On the softball diamond, looking at the ground while in pursuit of the ball or looking ahead to where you’ll throw it before securing that fly ball in the glove is a recipe for failure.

Our dreams, especially the big ones, may not be in our mind 100% of the time, with every daily task and interaction. Yet, daily reminders, daily visioning, daily focus on the dream in order to discern today’s step forward will help insure the dream’s unfolding.

What dream are you moving toward?
What helps you “keep your eye on the ball”?
What step will you take today?

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If Nothing Changes …

… nothing changes, right? Right! Yet so often, we human beings, creatures of habit, continue the routine, day after day, month after month, year after year. We dream of the day when:

  • we’ll have time to exercise
  • we’ll start that diet
  • we’ll look for a new job
  • start painting again
  • take a sewing class

The list is different for every one of us but, unfortunately, many of us have the list. What prevents us from taking action on our desires? Where is the will power to “Just do it!”? Why is change so hard?

Let’s examine Webster’s definition of “adult”:

“having arrived at maturity, or to full size and strength; matured; as an adult person”

And “maturity”:

“the quality or state of being mature; especially full development”

And “mature”:

“having completed natural growth and development; having attained a final or desired state; having achieved a low but stable growth rate”

Perhaps we’ve been brainwashed into a belief that stability is good, change is bad? And mistakes, those that naturally accompany the learning process, are simply NOT adult? These thoughts, along with: “No, I couldn’t try that … I’d look silly.” or “I can’t start the diet because I have way too far to go and I’ll never get there!” or “Piano lessons are for kids; I can’t learn at my age!” are likely swimming in our mind. Each thought of change is immediately countered with thoughts of why that change is not an option.

Well, keep it up, and the Law of Attraction:

You attract into your life whatever you think about. Your dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest.

also stated as:

Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind.

will be alive and well in your life!

From an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rhonda Byrne describes the Law of Attraction as “the most powerful law in the universe” (*). She goes on to say that we “create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts – which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth.”

Are you ready to live your dreams? Are you ready to make the “impossible” life changes?

Start with your thoughts. Begin by becoming aware of them. Fair warning: it is said that we think between 12000 and 50000 thoughts per day! Be gentle. Use your journal to transfer your thoughts to the page where they can be “seen”.

Beyond awareness, consider using the Law of Attraction with your thoughts. Become intentional about the thoughts you *choose* to hold in mind. Take time each day to become still and to bring to mind one positive idea, one goal, one dream. Focus on this “one”. Hold it in mind as you purposefully think thoughts in support of it. Yes, the mind will wander. But, YES, you can redirect it and bring your thoughts back to the “one”, back to your dream – over and over and over again!

The Law of Attraction can then draw to you ideas which support your dream. This powerful law will also bring situations, opportunities, and people into your life which make your dream come alive. How? As you move through each day conscious of your dreams and goals, you will become more observant. All that has always been there, but which you’ve never noticed, will suddenly appear bold, vivid, and real. Aware of your dream, you will become aware of the ways in which the universe is there to support you in making your dream a reality.

So dream! Thoughts held in mind, produce after their kind. Thoughts are powerful. Our thoughts shape the world we live in. Change your world by changing your thoughts.

If thought changes, everything changes!

 (*) Rhonda Byrne, is creator of the movie, “The Secret”. Learn more about “The Secret” at www.thesecret.tv. Join a local spiritual community where the principles of the law of attraction are taught and practiced: Unity of Appleton: www.UnityOfAppleton.com

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Shadow Power

Shadow

What? Isn’t a shadow a dark cloud? Doesn’t the shadow mean we are blocking the light?

Well, here’s the metaphor of the day. Today, I was doing my first thing in the morning visioning in my sacred space. It was early and still dark outside. The only light in the space (outside of the light in me, that is) was the candle. I inadvertently stood in front of the candle and noticed my HUGE shadow on the opposite wall and ceiling. Then, I began to walk toward that shadow. What happened? If you don’t know, try it.

Now, of course it shrunk!

I offer you two ways to interpret this. Choose whichever works for you in this moment – or – create your own powerful interpretation and share it as a comment! Here goes:

  1. When we stand nearest the Light, the Source of strength, Truth, Power, Integrity — pick your definition — our impact on the world is HUGE! When we abandon or move away from the true Source of our inner strength, our being, we shrink.
  2. When we are faced with a challenge – a big, dark, fearsome shadow on the path of life – if we move toward it, embrace the opportunity to grow and face it head on, it shrinks!

What is the Source of your inner strength?
What will move you closer to that Source?
What is your impact when you are centered in that Source?
What challenge awaits your head-on, Source-infused courage?

 

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At Choice

Have you ever started your morning after a series of wild, vivid, scary, challenging dreams? I have. Now I am not a dream analyst, though have at times found meaning in them. Regardless, my recent scary dreams left me in a state of uncertainty, not feeling particularly rested or, for that matter, myself. Moving into my morning sacred space, I was led to this card for exploration:

 

Go Get It Coaching Prompts
Click the card for questions to ponder.

Its questions are powerful. In particular, What am I willing to risk? and What assumptions hold me back and limit me? hit me with the realization that I have choice. Nothing new! Yet, the reminder that I am always at choice. How I bring myself to this day, what I make of it … I choose. And I chose to read a short section from Divine Intuition by Lynn A. Robinson, M.Ed. The quotation is by Charles Swindoll:

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. The remarkable thing is, we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that is our attitude.

When I waken from scary dreams, I choose to remember who I am and what gifts are mine to offer. I choose to release the crazy thought path of my dream world.  Today, I choose to invite you into choosing!

What attitude will you bring to this day?
What choices empower you?
What are you willing to risk?

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What don’t I know?

I-dont-know

Today’s thoughts come from ideas I am exploring in the book, The Zen Leader by Ginny Whitelaw. Before you stop reading because you don’t see yourself as a leader, wait! Everyone is a leader and that includes you! (More on this another day…)

Now that you’re with me, the simple idea for today is this:

What don’t I know?
What would be different in my life experience if I kept this question constantly at the ready?

If you are like me, you are an expert at approaching situations and trying to figure out what you know, what is familiar, the answer. From here, of course, you know what to do and how to handle yourself! But if we remain focused on what we already know, how does anything new come into being? How do we expand? How does humanity move forward if we only act based on yesterday’s knowledge?

Great leaders explore the unknown and vision what’s possible. How could this leadership trait impact our day-to-day lives? Imagine waking up to another day filled with family commitments, work, personal self-care, volunteer opportunities, … all the usual activities on the calendar. Now:

  • What if you open your eyes in the morning and ask, “What don’t I know about the possibilities for my physical body today?”
  • What if your child or significant other comes to ask a favor and you think, “What don’t I know about his or her inspirations, dreams, desires?”
  • What if you go to your job and ask, “What don’t I know about my coworkers? What don’t I know that might make my efforts more efficient or easier?”
  • What if you pause to think about your future and ask, “What don’t I know?”

What is the power of “What don’t I know?”? I think it is an opening, a crack in limited thinking, a ray of hope and expansion and possibility in a world that sometimes feels small and hopeless. I believe it is also an opportunity to open ourselves to others, to collaboration, to the awareness that we are not alone and that we have much to learn and many ways to work and grow together.

Care to play this game with me today?
What don’t YOU know?