Gratitude Challenge

This is the week of one of my favorite holidays!

I love to celebrate so I actually like all holidays to some extent.

However, this one is awesome celebrating traditions born in our country rich in history, setting aside time to be with family , friends and say thank you for all that we have.  I think of the original meal shared by diverse people of vastly different culture and belief. One can imagine language and customs that were very different coming together despite differences to share a meal and appreciate the bounty of harvest and new beginnings.

I am sharing today a worksheet I did with my Women Wine and Wisdom Group recently about gratitude. It has some things for you to consider as well as a challenge.
I would love to hear back form you.

 

As for me I am grateful for;

A healthy strong body and mind

3 healthy happy children each making me so proud as they pursue their greatness and passion all making a positive imapct in hte world.

Open honest clients who do me the honor of sharing a bit of themselves and their lives with me with such trust and grace

Wonderful friends that accept and love me as I am and share so much of themselves with me.

Creative business partners and connections that help me grow and develop

Patient, kind and generous coworkers who put up with me day after day

Music and sunshine, art and literature all which reminds me moment to moment of the beauty both around us and within us.

Have a wonderful holiday!

An attitude of gratitude is powerful.

But it requires a choice and some discipline.

At times we can easily become overwhelmed with challenges or just comfortable and complacent; taking things for granted.

 

Catalog a list of things in your life that you are thankful for.

Start with the obvious and large and round it out with the small things you may take for granted.

Go a step further to list the positive things you can be thankful for that are a product of difficulties or things you do not like. For instance a woman that may dislike her figure can also be thankful for a strong body that allows her to enjoy the world.

When we really look at things anew we discover the blessings in the burdens and trials or if not we can at least be thankful things are not worse.

 

Write this list out and use it this week. Read, reflect, revise.

It is powerful to be grateful in fact, it is impossible to be negative and truly grateful at the same time.

Use genuine gratitude to balance stress and unhappiness effectively. It is a natural mood booster!

 

 

 

 

 

Retreat

I had the privilege this weekend to facilitate a Women's Renewal Retreat as many of you know.

I have facilitated many events the past couple years but this was a bit different.

We stayed in the Homestead BNB which I am increasingly convinced is a magical place not only because each time I am there I find it serenely peaceful and relaxing but every event I have had there draws in the most amazing participants that seem to all fit together as if they are dear old friends. People just connect well in this space. Business groups and personal growth groups I have hosted here take on more intimate, nurturing aspects than you normally see with amazing speed.

It is a special place and such a gift to work with the owner, now good friend MaryKay. We have a partnership that just works, is fun and natural.

I also partnered with my daughter Rachel on the retreat which offers such a rare and wonderful opportunity to be inspired and proud at the same time. Wow! Hard to describe that...it truly was a magical weekend on so many levels.

It takes some courage to break away from normal routines, give up a whole precious weekend not fully knowing what to expect.

It takes some courage to share your thoughts and dreams, play full out, try new things, be open to new people, ideas, foods and experiences.

The group we had did all of that and more embracing all that we offered and each other to a level I could not have anticipated and am forever grateful to have been a part of. Thank you!

For me this is what it is all about, connecting people more fully to themselves and to each other so they can have more full and rich experiences and more satisfying, successful and happy lives.

Can't wait for the next one!

 

 

Coloring Outside the Lines

I have lived a rather varied life; at different times very regimented and conservative at others very free and fearless.

I have moved through being immobilized by weakness,limited thinking and insecurity as well as emboldened by  abundant courage, solid confidence and strength.

There have been times I have diligently followed all the "rules", the guidelines for a good life, to be a good wife, Mom, employee, friend, human. At other times I flexed my freedom being true to myself, making my own rules, living true true to my own values.

I have always been quite solitary and have learned to trust my own counsel regardless of how many times it has led me astray.

I also later in life have learned to trust that whatever the outcome it is ultimately good for me and  I am capable of not only handling it but possibly even enjoying it or at the least growing as a result. Admittedly, I am a slow learner, a late bloomer in some respects. And yet I believe to step forward is the only way for me even when I do not know where it leads. I have no reason to be like this, I just am.

It comes down to coloring inside or outside of the lines in a sense: Following the rules and formulas, the advice of others sometimes at a cost to your own creativity or coloring outside the lines going your own way and making your own picture even if no one else get's it.

It is pretty clear that the latter can get a bit messy, maybe in the end you will not have much on paper to show for it; but will it be more satisfying?

The romantic and optimistic part of me that has always won out says yes. That it is worth it.

Nonetheless, it is a struggle. With freedom comes responsibility, with independence accountability, with solitude loneliness.

Not following some structure leads to difficult stations, it often does not work well.

There is no one else to blame when you invariable screw up, no one there to share the credit with when you shine.

Honestly , I do not know which life is better or even if there is a better.

To live within the lines may provide safety, security, comfort, stability, ease and if you are lucky a neat little picture to hang on the wall in the end.

Life outside the lines may be risky, adventurous, lonely, passionate, difficult and may end up to be a big mess or just might turn out to be a one of a kind masterpiece.

In truth, whichever way you choose can be pretty messy and frankly you never know what you will end up with.

Like anything else we have to choose our methods or maybe ideally blend the two techniques to come up with a real piece of art.