Category: change

Posted on

Making A Difference

I wanted to share some thoughts about making a difference. It could be in someone else’s life, but the one that really, truly matters, is making a difference in your own life.

To me the reason for that seems to be because once you find the inner strength to make shifts in your own life, it automatically changes the way you approach life…and everyone you come into contact with benefits from this.

I’m not saying this is easy. I know it’s not, but when you see value and worth in shifting some of your beliefs, everything can change for you in a good way. There might be some discomfort as you adjust, but life can be so much better than we imagine it.

My offering comes by way of a poem I wrote many years ago.

Imagine you had a chance

To make a difference in someone’s life

Would you take it?

(or) would you stand back

At a Distance

And ask yourself questions?

What would you need to know?

Would it matter what they were like?

(or) what they believed in?

If they were nice to their friends?

If they were mean to their enemies?

Would it matter

If they paid you

With money or

With kind words?

Would your eyes ask any questions?

Would your heart move you forward

Or hold you back?

Would you question your skill?

(or) wonder about your motives?

Would you ask yourself

If you were

Good enough?

Or do you know

That you already are?

Do you know how precious,

How priceless you are?

How every good thing is within you already?

How we are meant to be connected

To everyone else

With no lines,

No fences

And no hesitation

We are all a part of the same dream,

The same human form

The same essential heart

Imagine

You gave yourself

The chance to make a difference

In someone’s life

Imagine

That you realize

You always can.

A hope of mine is that you choose to shift and open to a wider world, one where you offer yourself a chance to make a difference in your own life and the lives of others. Bon voyage.

Posted on

Would A Smile Help

I pulled a card from my Four Word Question deck at random and ended up with this card…Would A Smile Help?

My first reaction was, yes, of course a smile would help no matter what was happening. Smiles are awesome.

I wondered why. What is it about them that is so appealing?

My answer is…because they change how I feel inside me. They brighten my day and connect me, to the world, to others and perhaps most importantly, to the divine.

It feels like a smile is an extension of the love that is offered to the world. Smiles feel like they are filled with good intentions.

I don’t think I ever smile and still have negative feeling toward the world. I suppose it’s possible, but not very likely.

Smiles are definite mood shifters. They may be difficult to put on your face during challenging times. When this happens, they prompt a question for me. Given the choice, where would I rather be, in a happy or unhappy state of mind?

The trick might be whether I can answer this simple question while in a bad mood, a sad mood, after a fight with someone, a depressing day or during a sickness.

Sure, when I’m feeling fine, smiling is easy and fun and I think anyone can do it, but what about during the tough times in my life? I wonder, what would it take to remind myself to smile? What trigger would shift me from frowning to smiling? Could I set some kind of internal alarm that would go off, sparking me to remember to smile?

I want that to be the case.

I’m not talking about a Pollyanna approach where I tell myself that all is right with the world even though it’s not. I don’t find lying to myself to ever be the answer.

Recognizing that at any time in my life I have a choice of how I want to live and experience the world opens me and offers me the opportunity to choose. I find I choose much better when there’s a smile on my face. How about you?

I’m not denying that things can feel out of control and sometimes miserable. They can be and at times, they are.

What a smile does is it sends a message to me and to the world that I am exercising my ability to choose how to see and experience the world. It’s an opportunity to shift my consciousness.

This is an incredibly easy solution for me. Afterall, how many simple, easily controllable things can any one of us do? One answer is that every one of us can smile.

I also think to myself, I am not alone in this world. I ask what sort of message do I want to send out? If given the choice, what do I want to offer others?

My answer is often the same. I want to channel the love I feel running through me from my divine source.

It is such a simple thing to do. All I have to do is…smile.

It feels good and connects me to others. And it’s also great when you receive a smile in return. It’s actually life giving and life affirming and one of my most treasured things.

I invite you to test this out for yourself if it intrigues you. See what happens when you smile, even during your most difficult experiences. I bet you’ll find it lifts you up and brightens your day. I ask you, who couldn’t use that in their life?

Posted on

What’s Your Mission

Something happened the other day and it really shocked me.

I listened to what I was saying and heard it in an entirely new way, and it made me wonder whether you’ve ever heard these words coming out of your own mouth…”I’m not doing this for the money.”

Or perhaps you may have said, “I didn’t take this job to become rich.”

Or maybe, “Somebody has to do this, so it might as well be me.”

It made me very curious, and I wanted to know what perspective would account for any one of these statements.

I repeated, “I’m not doing this for the money,” again and couldn’t help asking myself, “then why are you doing it?”

This seemed like an important question for me to answer. After all, isn’t it essential to know why you and I do things? What value is there in making a statement about why you or I are NOT doing something?

Isn’t it much better to spend our time exploring the reasons for our actions?

So, I shifted my mindset, and embraced the idea of affirming my positive reason(s) for taking specific actions in my life.

My statement, “I’m not doing this for the money”, in this case referred to my writing. I just finished my seventh book (Little Buddha Book Five), a feat I never in my wildest imagination thought was possible and felt I needed to declare what my motives were for these acts of creation.

I thought about this and focused my attention on what I WAS trying to accomplish and answered the following: ‘writing brings me alive, and through this process I give birth to characters and situations that inspires readers and invites them to explore and transform their lives.’

So, I ask you, if you’ve allowed yourself to focus on any statements that center on the negative, like the ones that began this post, is there a way for you to reframe them? Can you find a way to shift and discover or reveal the affirmative reason(s) why you ARE doing them?

I believe there are clear benefits to doing this.

For me, I could instantly feel a sense of power and connection arrive inside of me.

I believe each of us have many purposes for being here on earth. I guess I could even call them ‘missions’. And I don’t mean SOME of us do, I mean ALL of us. I believe you have specific talents that make you and your contributions unique in this world. And from where I sit, the world needs you and all of what you have to offer.

Imagine for a moment what wonderful things could happen in your life if you spent even a small amount of time dedicated to unveiling the reason(s) why you are here. And once they’re uncovered, you embrace them and show them off to your family, friends, coworkers…to the world.

Imagine how much this one act of revelation could change the direction of your life. My hope is that you feel drawn to this exploration.

Need a little nudge?

If so, sit back and relax. Breathe in and out slowly, extending the length of each breath. Intentionally open your mind and heart and ask for some inner guidance to show you a direction to travel. Ask to have an image displayed that feels like a part of your mission here. And once something comes into view, accept it, and embrace it. It doesn’t have to be extraordinary; it could be one small step in an important direction. If it calls to you, give yourself permission to follow and see what happens. It may just be exactly why you came here.

May it be so.

Posted on

Write Your Own Story

Do you like to read stories? Do you have a favorite subject or style? Is there an author you’re especially fond of?

If you wrote your own story, what would the title be? And just for fun…what movie star would play your role?

I love to write. Even as a child I loved to write, as long as it was my own idea. I remember sitting in a small room at the front of our house that my mom used as a sewing room. When my grandmother came for a visit, I’d sleep in this room. It had the most comfortable bed in the world (what our family referred to as the ‘slab lounge’).

It was the site of my first story. I was perhaps 9 or 10 years old, and I was infatuated with the FBI, so of course my story was about them going after a bad guy by the name of Shootist Mc Rowan. It was about ten pages long, but it pleased me to be able to say I’d written something, even if the only person that knew about it was me.

Fast forward over fifty years, one wife, two children, two careers, three grandchildren and the freedom of retirement. If you’d asked me if I’d ever thought I would be a published author, I would have said it was ‘highly unlikely’.

But life has a way of contradicting us.

Currently I’m writing the fifth book in a spiritual fiction series titled. Little Buddha (Books One-Four). It may seem boastful, but I can’t help it, I am in love with the characters, each of whom ‘speak to me’. They guide the series wherever it goes, and I follow along. I get to be a contributor, but am mostly the scribe, enjoying the cast and learning from them. It’s an incredible dance and I couldn’t be happier that they’ve invited me into their world.

What if you could write your own story, not the kind I’m writing, but a story about you.

I suspect you already are. I suspect you’ve been writing it for a long time and that parts of it may feel like they are cast in stone, unmovable, unchangeable.

It feels to me that we all do this every day of our lives. We tell ourselves what we need, have to, or should do. We may alter our supporting cast by discontinuing some characters or search for new ones we believe will be better for us.

But the central core of the story is ours. What are you telling yourself? Are the words harsh, judgmental, untrue, indifferent? Or do you offer yourself congratulations, give yourself freedom to make mistakes, learn, grow, love?

What if you could re-write your story?

What would you change? If you took a few moments to consider this, what would you write down? If you’re feeling courageous, you could even do that right now.

I know it might be difficult but imagine the rewards you could reap.

When I turned seventy (still hard to believe I’m that old, since I still feel mentally like I’m 24) I had some intense feelings about my story. I’d been telling myself for years that my physical health was sliding. I couldn’t do all the things I’d been able to do, or at least not easily, and I worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my ‘golden years’.

So, I decided it was time to change my story and tell myself a new one. I focused a tremendous amount of energy on my physical being. I changed several eating habits, increased my exercising and walking, altered my vitamin regime, began a weigh weights program, increased my chiropractor, massage and energy work therapies, and added a whole new element to my routine- cold water therapy, which if you’ve been with me, you read about recently.

What this tells me is that I am in charge of my own story. I don’t have to believe what others say about ‘older people’ nor what the news tells us.

I can believe what I tell me. I can write my own story.

And so can you. And you can do it about anything if you really want to. There is no shortage of folks who will help you if you need assistance. You just need to ask. I hope you do.

Posted on

How It Can Be

I have to admit it. I’m sad about a lot of things happening in the world right now. I suspect you are too.

Do you wonder what can be done? Does it seem that one person’s actions are lost in the shuffle and that change is unlikely to ever happen?

I’m certainly catching that sense.

The magnitude of events feels overwhelming, and I need to find some balance. I need to catch my breath. I wonder, where am I going to go for some answers and direction?

I put myself on pause, to give myself time to consider.

My answer becomes obvious.

Inward.

Inward into my spiritual home, to a place of divine connection.

I ask, “Where has it all gone wrong and how is it ever going to change?”

The answer I receive astounds me.

“It starts at the beginning.”

I don’t know what this means, so I ask for more details.

What I receive takes four whole pages to write, more than I think you might want to read at this time. I need to summarize it, for you and for me.

I hear words that make me think about how our lives are not the same, from one person to another, from one place to another.

There are disparities in justice, opportunities, resources, and all of the basics in life. How can there be peace when this is the case?

Since we are each given free will, we are offered the choice to map our own direction, regardless of how it impacts others. So, the strong are able to take advantage of the weak, those with money and power are allowed to decide for those with little or none. Those in command are able to set up all the rules, most of which favor themselves.

My head shakes at all of this. I am only one person, what can I do about any of this?

The divine pulls me back to the present from the faraway place in my head.

“Start with you.”

“What do you mean?”, I ask.

“You cannot solve the problems of the entire world. What you can do is be your best self. You can do what you think the world ought to do. You can shift your mindset, your heart-set and your actions.”

I need to know what this really means and ask for more.

“You know the ‘answer’ is always ‘love’.”

I know I’m supposed to understand this. To know exactly what that means I ought to do, but I don’t. I find it challenging to apply the concept of love to practical things.

“You are making this too complicated. The answers you seek are always simple, even this, especially this. Ask yourself one question.”

“And what would that be?”, I respond, desperately wanting to know.

“What would serve all equally?”, was the response.

Wow, I wasn’t prepared for that.

I am struck by the idea of equality and how much of it is missing in this world. I wonder, how much of it happens because of me. And for a moment, I imagine the radical changes in the world if equality existed for everyone.

And I see within this, the heart of ‘love’, that the divine brought into focus. It makes something real that was cloudy.

Every day I can choose to use my voice, my words, my actions to speak for me. I can use my heart as my guide. I can give freely, vote for ideas that create sharing opportunities, support those who propose changes to make all lives better. And hundreds of other real, tangible ways I haven’t even thought of yet. And I can choose to encourage others to do the same.

How can it be?

Any way we all choose.