Walking the Path Less Traveled
It’s early morning as I venture onto the bike path for my daily walking meditation. The birds are chirping and the ray of light from the bright sun guides me. With each step I take, I internally say my mantra: thank you, but when the negative chatter intervenes. I immediately have one of my regular pep talks: all is well; all is as it should be; don’t give up; keep going; let go and let God. As the clear blue skies disappear in the background and the trees with their outstretched branches welcome me into the forest, I exhale. Finally, some peace and quiet, I think. My well-worn running shoes begin to pick up the pace, I pull my shoulders back and when I arrive at my destination my child-like curiosity wonders where the continuing path...
Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Change your thoughts and you change your world. Simple, right? I will be the first person to raise my hand in a crowded room and disagree. It’s really not that easy. It takes a lot of practice to master your thoughts. In the past, I used to focus on what I didn’t want. Guess what? I kept attracting exactly that—the people, places and things that I did not want. Instead of realizing that I was creating my own reality, I kept playing the blaming game. Then I read The Secret and learned about the Law of Attraction. It was like a light bulb went on, again. I already believed in the Buddhist philosophy that “like attracts like” and in the Chinese medicine that the mind-body-spirit are connected. Yet, I never implemented this knowledge. I somehow never...
When All Else Fails, Surrender!
Didn’t Albert Einstein say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results? Well, I guess that would make me insane then. Because, I found myself in a situation where I was doing exactly the opposite of what I’ve learned. But reality can sometimes be a harsh pill to swallow, don’t you think? The relationship I was in was unfortunately short-lived. Though I learned a lot in that time, there is a part of me that is still hanging on. Hello FEAR! False Evidence Appearing Real, I know. One of my many greatest lessons is learning to let go and surrender. Ha! I talk about it and write about it so much; you would think I’ve got it down pat by now. Nope! I’m stubborn and I got caught up in the illusion because I was...
Whatever You Resist Persists
I believe the tough lessons that we need to learn in life starts with our family members. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I learned all families are dysfunctional. At the time, it was reassuring, I was not alone, but in hindsight, does that mean I had to accept that this was the way my family was? After many years of pretending to accept that dysfunction was normal. I painstaking took extreme measures and detached from my family. However, the deeply engrained domestic laws are still prevalent in my life. Not even my countless therapy sessions or memoir writing have completely released all of the psychological damage from my past. Some core issues still showed up in my recent relationship. Admittedly, I went into denial. I wondered why the issues...
If We Lived in a Perfect World, Difficult People Wouldn’t Exist
We all encounter them—difficult people. Ideally, we’d prefer if they didn’t exist. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world and we must learn to deal with them. No matter how much inner work I’ve done, I still find it challenging to deal with difficult people. They’re negative, ignorant, closed-minded, and childish. They really seem to get great satisfaction in pushing my buttons. I recently had a dinner date with a guy that fit the above character traits. Yet, instead of running in the opposite direction, I immediately got on the defense, put my guard up and yep you guessed it, reacted to almost everything he said. Why oh why did I not leave? You might wonder and even though his behavior was slowly but surely bringing out the worst in me. I...
A Memoir Writer’s Reflection on Resiliency and Renewal
The following is a guest post by Kathleen Pooler. *** “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”~John Muir As I work on my memoir-in-progress about how a young woman finds her way through many obstacles and challenges, I found myself thinking about the whole idea of resiliency the other day; about how important it is to be able to bounce back from whatever life throws at us. I thought about how, if we look around us, we can find so many examples of resiliency in our surroundings. Then I thought about the scripture reading from Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, verses 1-8: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…” So I looked around the front yard and I gazed...
Forgiveness is the F Word du Jour
Whenever I felt that someone had done an injustice to me, I expected the person to apologize. But when they didn’t, I would hang on to the story long after the event occurred. I would replay the past over and over like a broken record because I was waiting for them to seek forgiveness. Except, they refused to acknowledge their wrongs, carrying on as if nothing happened. While I suffered from migraines, sinus headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia and mysterious stomach pains. My emotional baggage kept weighing me down as I lugged it around from relationship to relationship. Until one day I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”~Lewis B. Smedes Adjust your thought...
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Andrea Lewis is the founder of Independently Fine, a website offering motivational quotes geared to empowering women and for men who embrace them. Read MoreSocial MEDIA
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