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#energygoals

girl running on the beach

If you were to describe the energy you DESIRE to bring to the world, how would you describe it? If using your senses, what would you say?

I had a clear vision for mine today.

My energy is “bright” and >>>>>LIGHT<<<<

It’s a 75 degree day at the beach. And in my magical energy place, the beach is on one end and I turn to see the Rocky mountains on the other. My energy flows and shifts from full-on “sun of the day” to the painted sunset “sky over the snow-capped peaks” kind of glow.  (This is my dream, so I’m going with it).

My energy is a fast moving sky. Electric…always interesting. It feels like warmth, like skin to skin touch with someone you love. Gentle. Assuring, but inviting you to get up and run along the ocean shore like a child in abandonment to the present moment. 🌻☀️✨

This energy is like a wave in the wind, dangling like a dream catcher or a diamond-studded kite string, begging you to believe. 💎

It’s powerful like an ocean wave but then softens to the faint sound of shells colliding as they collect on shore. ⛱ In the distance a wind chime sings and everyone is playing on the shore or rocking in rocking chairs on the back porch having a meaningful chat while taking in the beauty of the sea in one direction and sunset mountains in the other.

This energy is coconut water with a hint of lime. It’s exotic fruit followed by an evening fire and warm drinks.

This energy invites every heart to burst with hope and wholeness with knowledge of being so very loved! 💞

This energy is the scent of “stress away”.  We close our eyes and exhale deeply. Salty air mixed with freshness. It soothes and awakens simultaneously. Then this energy morphs into the “fun” and “family” blend. We take it in as the evening falls.🍈🌴🌈🦋💃💕

…But most of all, this energy welcomes you in a hug and make you smile. 😋

⭐️🔥💡🌊💎 💚

What does your energy look like? Feel like? smell like? Taste like?sound like?

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To what am I giving consent?

Every Wednesday morning I have a guitar lesson. Throughout our lesson and practice, my teacher and I have the best conversations. (My teacher also happens to be my oldest son Jordan) Today we talked a lot about our personal responsibility in our relationships and what part we bring to the “relationship table”. How does our mindset color the interaction?
I think I’m finally *beginning* to understand Eleanor Roosevelt’s statement

“no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

😲 
What we BELIEVE, we focus on. What we FOCUS on, we FIND.
In business, we understand goals, focus and mindsets and how it impacts outcomes, but sometimes relationships are the last frontier of our mindset implementations.
If I enter interactions with others with the mindset that I am not good enough, not loved, not appreciated, chances are, something will be said to validate that belief. It’s as if I’ve set up everything in advance. I’ve set the table. I’ve prepared the dinner. Why am I surprised at what I see before me?
BUT…
If I enter interactions with others with a mindset of receiving and reciprocating wholeness and generosity, acceptance and love, chances are the interaction will validate that belief. I’m thinking it’s some kind of law of expectation, like sowing and reaping. This one rings out “believing leads to seeing”.
It seems we could become addicted to self-deprecating thoughts, or at least accustomed to this common exchange. Consistently needing someone else to rescue us out of our negative mantras is a sad kind of relationship, but a common one.  Outside influences are not meant to shape us. Brene Brown says,

         “Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.” 
~Brene Brown, Braving the Wilderness

When I have thoughts that deter me from thinking the best of someone (including myself), I immediately bring a picture to my mind- it’s meditation, visualization and prayer.
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I imagine I’m high on a precipice. The expanse is alone impressive but mixed with an evening glow of sunset, I’m in silent reverence.  The clouds are moving quickly and I instantly feel more alive. A burst of joy and gratitude falls down my cheeks. The wind is whipping strong and I smile at the invisible force dancing in patterns around me. Previous thought-weights dissipate like smoke. It’s magic here. My arms are outstretched in acceptance and also in surrender. I appear to be standing alone, but I feel the opposite of lonely. I am present to all that I am meant to be.
Here, there are no teeth behind the lion’s roar, only God’s light and presence traveling in and through, out and in with the wind. A faint sprinkle falls from the sky and in the distance the sound of a storm approaches. Cool air rushes by reminding me of life. Change. Color.

Everything is forever yet fleeting.

The world of paradox makes sense in this place. I feel like a sponge newly soaked in truth.
Yes, I will be called away from this precipice to the valley below. My body will walk the path back down; my bare feet on soil mirroring heaven and earth. But something remains. A hint of the wind lingers in my hair. And when I see another soul, my eyes believe that they can see it, hear it, smell it. I look for the whole in them, not the part. This is the power of belief. I bring —this—into every interaction that follows.
I’m thinking about Eleanor’s quote.
To what am I giving consent?
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Black and White

Have you ever looked at a picture in color and then looked at it in black and white? It’s startling. It’s almost as if you’re looking at a different place and time. There are contrasts in the black and white that I miss while looking at the beautiful color.

And so it is with me in my “black and white” days. These days are punctuated with great truths; exaggerated even. But they hold such a weight. Deep down, if I’m prodded and poked, I must admit, I find great value here. It’s like the “aha” moment my soul longs for, but can’t quite grasp in color.

If I’m commentating on these days, I might use words like “blah” and “bland”, “raw” and “colorless”, “overcast” and “bleak” . But then I take a look at the photo. My breath catches at the clarity that the harshness highlights. Even the grayness soothes like a cool drink to a parched soul. Comfort and proaction is here in the bright and dark.

Social injustices become startlingly clear in black and white. Someone (in full color) asks me, “What do you think about refugees?” Hmmm, so many colors and opinions  are zigzagging in and out of so many worlds and then wrapped in this colorful question.

What do I think? What do I think? I take a minute to shift from color and examine the black and white photo…and I know.

The person in front of me is the one that matters. Refugee or not, I know exactly what to do; how to love; when to take action. There are NO polarizing mantras that will sway my focus from that face; those eyes; this heart. This is what the sad gray can do.

To be honest, I wish I didn’t need it now and again to remind me of something I knew but have forgotten. But…

It reminds me that light is strong and steady.  It has power. I have power. WE have power.  Our light (and love) pierces and highlights and has a place in this world. It can be trusted. It silhouettes and focuses like none other.

It reminds me that my mundane feelings of gray (inadequate as they feel) are the backdrop to most of my life. It’s as if the sooner I appreciate gray, the more it freely gives to me. I suddenly see the grandeur in the slightest of these “shades”.

Yes, pain is evident here in the black and white, but so is the honest and brutal truth. What a gift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sea Urchin Shells

Sea Urchin Shells remind me of springtime and sunshine. Their pastel color and intricacy resemble painted rocks. If you look from a distance, you might think someone painted the dots on a beautiful mandala. The dots indicate where the spines were previously attached. They wash on shore circular and empty, ready to be adored.

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Cayo Coasta Beach Camping Adventure

 

 

David and I packed some coolers and a tent. We parked the truck at a marina on Pine Island and took the Tropic Star Ferry over to Cayo Costa State Park.

Upon arrival, a manatee was in the water near the dock. I felt like he came by to welcome us to our adventure. The first night we heard rustling of an animal. Either a raccoon or rat managed to get into a food wrapper we obviously did not secure. We also heard an owl, saw a snake, watched the birds feed at dusk.

When the sun went down, it became cold fast! It was colder than I anticipated. Our air mattress deflated in the night. (which made us even colder). But then the sun came up and warmed us up. By mid day, it was hot and probably 70+ degrees. Thankfully, it never rained. There is no hot water for showers. BUT there are flush toilets.

We spent three days being connected to beauty, nature, simplicity and each other. I thoroughly enjoyed being remote and having miles of beaches to ourselves. We frolicked like teenagers during the day and the hobbled like grandparents at night 😉 LOL

What an adventure. Hiking trails and miles of beaches kept us busy. We calculated that in 3 days we walked over 25 miles. I have my little stash of shells. I found a sand dollar with lace-like edges.  It’s amazing.

If you’re ok with remote simplicity, this barrier island might need to make it onto your must-see list. There’s also an option to boat over for the day to enjoy shelling if you’re not into rustic camping.

 

 

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Living Your Ecstasy

 

What inspires you? What makes you lose track of time? What makes the demands of life fade and the passion for life and love rush your soul in ecstasy?

A moment in dialogue with a child? A gaze upward on a starry night? A horseback ride at sunset? A hike along the forest trail? Faith-filled knowledge of your unity with God? An idea and creative inspiration in the space between waking and sleeping? Intimacy? These small snippets are the essence of what we really value, right? Is there is a discipline that allows these minuscule seconds to grow? Can we experience life more fully by experiencing more of these moments?

I think so. The discipline seems to begin with acknowledgement and giving TIME to experience glory moments. We have to come to expect them. Our busy, overwhelmed lives don’t facilitate soul food. Haven’t we given homage to drudgery long enough? It isn’t the path for wholeness.

There is another way.

While our logical mind tells us we have to worry to be productive, (and logic has it’s place in helping us survive in this body,) it’s not equipped for the survival of our spirit.  Is it possible to be living in effortlessness productivity? I desire more of that life.

This may explain why vacations and trips planned away from the routines of life fill our souls so differently. Those unique moments rise to the surface when we speak of the highlights of life. When we take time to be affected by the people we are with and the sights we see, reading books and taking long meandering walks,  intentionally letting our mind rest, we find that we became fueled and focused in profound, unexpected ways. We’re “more” of something, not less.

It’s as if life *rewards* and *responds* and *gives* based on something very different than our consumerist mindset. Maybe the mindset of passion + surrender = the inspired, purposeful, ecstatic life. Spirit living.

I’ve heard that we ARE what we LOVE, NOT what loves us. This makes me ponder.