Category: Roadsigns

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Upstream- Downstream

After a busy weekend of couples coaching followed by an equally busy Monday, Jim and I arrived in our office to find that our internet system had died. Living rurally, access to internet is not what you might imagine when you live in the city. Our reality is that there are places much more remote than us who have better internet access than we do. That said, running a business from your home means, especially in 2012, staying connected with your clients. We were not happy campers.

Of course I was oblivious to the situation initially as I was engaged in other aspects of what we do every day. It was only when I saw Jim’s dismay that I became fully aware. His aura, shall we say, was rather dark, his demeanor abrupt, and his patience non-existent. He was going UPSTREAM and for all the right reasons. It’s just that going upstream does not serve you at all, even when things are frustrating and apparently not going your way.

Jim and I have this agreement that when either of us is going upstream we ask what will it take to go downstream? I know you are wondering what the heck I am talking about so let me explain. When you go upstream you are going against the current which means of course that you consume much more energy and effort. To turn downstream is to go with the flow and to allow yourself to be carried along easily and effortlessly. Upstream also means you are in resistance and when in that state you are focused on what you DO NOT want. And guess what, you just keep getting more of the same. To go downstream is to relax, become conscious of what you want and ask for it, and let the Universe take care of the rest.

As you can imagine, Jim wasn’t immediately open to my downstream suggestion, yet he heard me. I suggested we set some intentions. “Such as?” he quipped.

Here is what I came up with:

~ we are attracting the perfect internet system to support our expanding business
~the installation of the new service will be easy and effortless
~ the new system will be easily maintained and supported by incredible technical assistance.

At this point Jim placed a call to our current provider where upon he learned that they no longer had any technical support available to us and confirmed that indeed our system was no longer operating. Great! Actually this confirmed what we already knew. We could have been angry or simply accept this as an invitation to move on.

The second call was made to a new provider who had informed us several months ago that they would soon have service available in our area. This call proved productive – exactly 6 days earlier the new system had become available and in fact they were just about to contact us as we had been on their waiting list. Two days later their technician arrived and within three hours we were up and running once again – yes, easy and effortless. Finally they have a package specifically for business owners assuring us that they will be here to provide service within 24 hours of a problem. Cool!

DOWNSTREAM!!!!!

What can I tell you – it works. So the next time you feel like you are fighting an uphill battle against someone or something, STOP! It doesn’t work. You need to come up for air, breathe, and change directions. Take a moment to clear the space in your head and replace resistance with what it is you really want. Then simply allow it to unfold and relax, go with the flow, watch what shows up. Jim and I are still learning and the Internet Incident is proof! Ah, an opportunity to practice what we teach. You have to love that!

Paddling downstream….

 

Betty

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Spring Cleaning

I just read an article in the March issue of O magazine called De-clutter Your Life. Specifically the article described Adam Glassman’s challenges in de-cluttering the closets of Gayle King, editor at large for ‘O’. Despite resistance on her part, he helped her purge, (you better sit down for this one) 152 dresses, 77 sweaters, 17 skirts, 12 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of pants, 13 belts, 62 pairs of shoes, and 67 handbags. I found the sheer number of purged items unimaginable as I am pretty sure that I have not owned that number of dresses, etc. over an entire lifetime. De-clutter indeed – and I am left wondering how much still remains in her closets and how much space was created.

In a recent roadSIGNS TV Show, one of our audience members confided that she could not seem to de-clutter her desk because if she did, she feared that her life would no longer have a purpose. The papers, journals, and books piled on her desk and jamming walls of bookcases represented the accumulation of her wisdom and knowledge over a lifetime. Ah! the real issues emerge. You begin to understand that to accumulate ‘stuff’ is more than jamming your physical space full of cloths, boxes, furniture and more, it is about the emotional attachment associated with them and the fear of letting these go. It is as if each item becomes a part of you, and if purged, is like amputating a limb.

Clutter occurs in all domains: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. To de-clutter implies releasing what no longer serves you, that is, what no longer fits, is out of date or is fear based. In releasing you have the opportunity to open space around you filling it with all that is in your highest good. You may not know the specifics of what you want to fill the space with right now. Just be clear that you do not want any backwash from what you have let go of and fill it with what is perfect for you.

Imagine for a moment your spiritual-emotional space and a desire to de-clutter. You might examine the following: the 13 old hurts, 23 resentments, 14 unforgivens (including yourself), 5 fears and the 72 voices that make up the choir – your self-critic’s voice. Man that is a lot to release and were you to decide to work on this de-cluttering initiative, where would you start? At the beginning!

If you can see yourself in this article and you are thinking that perhaps it is time to de-clutter, it may be time for ‘a “Radical Spring Cleaning Fest”. You begin by making a list: Name the old hurts, resentments and unforgivens. Chances are they are intertwined in some way. Imagine how much space they are occupying right now in your emotional-spiritual field. Wow! No wonder life never changes; there is no room for new things to come in as the closet is too full.

I encourage you to consider the following: as much as you want your life to change, very little can shift until you release and de-clutter your emotional-spiritual field. Just as in de-cluttering a closet, it takes time and patience and a strong will to let go. As you do this however, realize that you are creating new space for you to grow and expand, to attract a life which is much more perfect for you.

Once you reach this realization and make the commitment to de-clutter, begin with chewable chunks. Create a ritual. Take two or three of those hurts, resentments and unforgivens and shake hands with them. Bless them as they have offered you important opportunities to learn. Understand that hanging on to them harms no one but you and that you are ready to move forward. Attach them to a helium balloon and lovingly release them to the Universe. See yourself replacing these hurts with beauty, light and healing.

Notice how good this feels. Repeat this process again and again until all those hurts, resentments and unforgivens have been released. Note that some hurts are bigger than others and may need to be released more than once. That’s okay!

Are you ready? Radical Spring Cleaning it is! Watch out for the dust bunnies.

Until next time…

Betty

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What House Will YOU Live In?

“If you don’t look after your body, what house are you going to live in?” I am coiled up in a pretzel like yoga pose as our instructor cites this quote from some unknown author. At that moment it wasn’t clear to me if I was actually being kind and taking care of my body – my hamstrings were screaming too loud! Despite this, and five yoga classes later, I am appreciating the slight advance in my flexibility and a greater sense of well-being.

Back to the quote – it keeps rolling around in my head and I have found myself musing more and more about ‘my house’. Mostly I have been realizing how, over the last 60 years, I have really not appreciated my body, and have certainly not treated it like my house. If my body could only talk, what stories it would tell! I have abused it with unhealthy choices. I have criticized it for not being perfect – too fat, too round, too flat chested, too….

Rarely have I stopped to appreciate the appendages that fall from my pelvis nor have I thanked these sturdy legs of mine for standing with me through thick and thin, for walking me through difficulties and triumphs, and for supporting me wherever I go. Rarely have I acknowledged my arms and hands for giving and receiving hugs, for assisting me as I reach for what I want and pushing away what I don’t, or for simply allowing me to wash my face, brush my teeth and comb my hair.

I have not consciously thanked my heart for pumping life giving blood through my arteries and veins every moment of every day. Nor have I expressed gratitude to my lungs for ‘prana’, the breath of life. Then there is my brain which serves as computer central for everything I do, feel and think – how neglectful have I been of her as she helps me navigate the complexity of everyday living?

Isn’t it time to step up and to become consciously aware of the gift our bodies are? Although your body, like mine, may not be absolutely ‘perfect’ (at least in our eyes), it is still pretty darn amazing.

The day I turned 60, I stood in front of a full length mirror and spoke to the reflection, “This is what 60 looks like”. After years of war with my physical form I had finally made peace. My only regret is that it took me 6 decades to get there. How much time I had wasted trying to be more perfect in one way or another? What a waste of time and energy this was.

I like the peaceful place I have now landed in. I am filled with gratitude for my skin, bones, flesh and fat and every molecule that completes my physical form.

Thanks to my yoga instructor, I was pulled back and offered yet again another reminder to love, honor and cherish me and in doing so, to take care of my body. Yoga is new to me and I think it will be staying around for a while as it is teaching me a new relationship with my house.

What about you – will you join me and identify one thing you can do for you that honors the house you live in. It doesn’t have to be yoga; it can be as simple as stopping from time to time, taking a deep breath and on the exhale expressing appreciation to your body. It is really not a stretch. It starts with closing your eyes and saying to your body “Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for your endurance, for your support and for housing my spirit”.

By the way, if you do not appreciate you and if you do not look after YOU, who will?

Until next time…

Betty

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Are YOU saying YES to YOU

I have noticed that there are things I really want to attract in life that simply don’t happen and I find myself wondering why? As I pondered this question the other day, a roadSIGN appeared in the form of a question. The question: Am I saying YES to me?

I had to take a step back as I considered my answer. Here I am a coach for others, reminding my clients to be clear on their boundaries, both personal and professional and the importance of saying NO when NO is the right answer. I often use my favorite Jack Canfield quote to facilitate this, “I am not saying NO to you, I am saying YES to me.” There it is, saying YES to me, but am I ?.

Here is what I have noticed. I don’t give myself permission to do lots of things, partly because I am a bit of a ‘doing’ addict and I like to keep busy and partly because, like everyone else, I still get caught up in what needs to be done. I also have an extraordinary sense of urgency meaning that things generally need to be done NOW. I get in my own way and my desire to go to the new Yoga classes, or to make time for a daily workout, or to simply go to the meditation room to relax or read, often goes by the way. I have not learned to say YES to the ‘being’ side of me nor have I learned to say NO to the ‘doing’ me. What a complicated paradox this poses!

I know I am not alone in this situation, that those of you who are reading this are probably nodding your heads as you share my conundrum. After considerable reflection, I have decided that this is what we need to learn. Not only do we need to be clear on our boundaries with others we need to also set some boundaries with ourselves. You can’t have work-life balance, which seems to be the catch phrase recently, without reigning ourselves in. Only then can we understand what we want to say YES to and then creating space for those important YES’s to actually happen.

For me this means stepping away from the office by 5:30 p.m. at the latest so I can head to my workout area or putting those Yoga classes right in my schedule so that the time is reserved. It means saying YES to the trips I want to make or dedicating time to the other items on my ‘bucket list’, knowing that without the YES it surely won’t happen. It means that when I simply want to sit down, catch my breath and read for a few minutes, I simply allow myself to do so.

Here was my other wake-up call and roadSIGN – a good friend of mine was recently diagnosed with ALS. This is a progressive illness commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which slowly and insidiously steals your life from you. I am thinking, there but for the grace of God go I. I received an e-mail from her the other day as she and her husband have decided to travel for the next three months before the time comes when she will not be able to do so. I asked myself, “what am I waiting for?”

What are you waiting for? What is it you really want? Are you ready to say YES to yourself and give yourself permission to do and be the things you most want in your life? If not now, when? Only YOU can make it happen. It is your life and whether you believe it or not, you are the boss of you.

Okay, I hear you, I am also guilty. Here is my pledge: I intend to start today by honoring my need for ME FIRST time. I am putting at least 2 yoga classes in my schedule for next week. I am reviewing my ‘bucket list’ this weekend and determining which of the items are my first priority. I am putting my trip to Baffin Island into the calendar. And I am dedicating at least fifteen minutes everyday to read. It may not be everything I want to say YES to and it is the first chewable chunk.

What are you saying YES to? Times a wastin’ as we say – no more hesitating.

Until next time…

 

Betty

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I have noticed that there are things I really want to attract in life that simply don’t happen and I find myself wondering why? As I pondered this question the other day, a roadSIGN appeared in the form of a question. The question: Am I saying YES to me?

I had to take a step back as I considered my answer. Here I am a coach for others, reminding my clients to be clear on their boundaries, both personal and professional and the importance of saying NO when NO is the right answer. I often use my favorite Jack Canfield quote to facilitate this, “I am not saying NO to you, I am saying YES to me.” There it is, saying YES to me, but am I ?

Here is what I have noticed. I don’t give myself permission to do lots of things, partly because I am a bit of a ‘doing’ addict and I like to keep busy and partly because, like everyone else, I still get caught up in what needs to be done. I also have an extraordinary sense of urgency meaning that things generally need to be done NOW. I get in my own way and my desire to go to the new Yoga classes, or to make time for a daily workout, or to simply go to the meditation room to relax or read, often goes by the way. I have not learned to say YES to the ‘being’ side of me nor have I learned to say NO to the ‘doing’ me. What a complicated paradox this poses!

I know I am not alone in this situation, that those of you who are reading this are probably nodding your heads as you share my conundrum. After considerable reflection, I have decided that this is what we need to learn. Not only do we need to be clear on our boundaries with others we need to also set some boundaries with ourselves. You can’t have work-life balance, which seems to be the catch phrase recently, without reigning ourselves in. Only then can we understand what we want to say YES to and then creating space for those important YES’s to actually happen.

For me this means stepping away from the office by 5:30 p.m. at the latest so I can head to my workout area or putting those Yoga classes right in my schedule so that the time is reserved. It means saying YES to the trips I want to make or dedicating time to the other items on my ‘bucket list’, knowing that without the YES it surely won’t happen. It means that when I simply want to sit down, catch my breath and read for a few minutes, I simply allow myself to do so.

Here was my other wake-up call and roadSIGN – a good friend of mine was recently diagnosed with ALS. This is a progressive illness commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which slowly and insidiously steals your life from you. I am thinking, there but for the grace of God go I. I received an e-mail from her the other day as she and her husband have decided to travel for the next three months before the time comes when she will not be able to do so. I asked myself, “what am I waiting for?”

What are you waiting for? What is it you really want? Are you ready to say YES to yourself and give yourself permission to do and be the things you most want in your life? If not now, when? Only YOU can make it happen. It is your life and whether you believe it or not, you are the boss of you.

Okay, I hear you, I am also guilty. Here is my pledge: I intend to start today by honoring my need for ME FIRST time. I am putting at least 2 yoga classes in my schedule for next week. I am reviewing my ‘bucket list’ this weekend and determining which of the items are my first priority. I am putting my trip to Baffin Island into the calendar. And I am dedicating at least fifteen minutes everyday to read. It may not be everything I want to say YES to and it is the first chewable chunk.

What are you saying YES to? Times a wastin’ as we say – no more hesitating.

Until Next time…

Betty

 

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Lessons from the Road

As I mentioned in my previous roadSIGNS Column, I have had the opportunity over the last six weeks to travel across Canada. I have learned that it takes a certain discipline to get up each morning, check-in at the airport, travel to a new city, arrive at a new hotel each night and remember what room I have been assigned and finally, show up every evening with and enthusiastic and engaging presentation. As a result of my
observations of myself and others, I have learned many lessons which of course, not only apply to travelling but to life in general. It’s just that travelling puts everything under a microscope.

Lesson Number One: Stay in the Moment.

As someone who is notorious for thinking about what’s next, or what is happening next week, I have learned that this is not an effective strategy when I am travelling. Staying grounded and living in the moment however, is. The routine of changing locations everyday has forced me to wake up, ask what city and hotel I am in, assess where I am travelling to that day and upon arrival, focus on that evening’s program. Thinking ahead too far only creates confusion and distraction.

Lesson Number Two: Be Patient and Smile a Lot

When you have to go through airline security for several days in a row, it is very easy to become annoyed. I have never taken jackets, boots and belts off so many times in my life and I feel constantly embarrassed about undressing in public. The key to surviving this daily assault is to be patient, to joke with the security guards (imagine having their job!) and to smile a lot. That smile changes everything and lights people up along the way. I have learned that airport security is simply a job that has to be done and not to take it personally.

Lesson Number Three: Inspire Others

As I travel through these airports, I hand out attractionCARDS, inspiring messages which we produce here at roadSIGNS. This may be the agent at the check-in desk, the server at Starbucks, the occasional flight attendant, waiters and waitresses or shop keepers. What I have noticed is how a small thing like offering someone a message for their day makes a difference. One server at the airport in Halifax shared with me that travelers
are not nice people. They are always in a hurry and chronically grumpy. After offering her and her colleague an attractionCARD they lit up and stated that I had “made their day!” It’s not difficult to inspire others.

Lesson Number Four: When I Inspire Others I am Inspired

I have also noticed that when I take a moment to be pleasant, to smile, or tooffer a message, the same energy returns to me. As I leave an interaction with anotherperson, I frequently see them smiling and sharing the message I offered themwith someone else. And that lights me up. I realize that if I stay lit up and inspired it has an impact on my being, my work and my relationships. Energy given; energy received.

Lesson Number Five: Stay Rested

A constant change in time zones, a new hotel bed every night and evening programs which keep me awake thinking, make staying rested a real challenge. I developed the habit of meditating before each event, 15 to 30 minutes, of quiet reflection and breathing. It is interesting that I don’t afford myself that luxury when I am not travelling even though I know the benefits and how it allows me to be ‘on’ during my evening workshops. It is important ME FIRST time, that opportunity to serve myself first so that I can serve others well.

I am sure there have been other lessons as well – these are the principle ones. They apply to all of our days not just the travelling ones. And so I invite you to join with me and practice being present, being patient and smiling a lot, inspiring others and as a result, being inspired and staying
rested with a daily dose of ME FIRST time. These simple lessons can change your life in so many ways.

 

Until next time…

Betty

Betty Healey is the roadSIGNS Coach, coaching people back to life! Her new book, The ME FIRST Playbook, is now available at
the roadSIGNS website, www.roadSIGNS.ca

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The Dance

CBC is definitely my preference for radio listening. I especially enjoy the morning show with Jian Ghomeshi, although I don’t always appreciate his taste in music. In listening to radio shows like Jian’s Q, I frequently hear something that is a roadSIGN for me or something that triggers a train of thought or a new understanding. I love that roadSIGNS come in so many different forms.

On Tuesday of this past week, as I started the five hour drive to Toronto, Jian was interviewing well known Canadian dancer Margie Gillis. Many of you may not be familiar with her work – I was not until living in Montreal. She is not only a talented dancer – she choreographs dance works around the world and she is also a recipient of the Order of Canada. All that to say, she is an impressive figure.

At the age of 58 she continues to dance and perform. It was this aspect of the interview that intrigued me as I realized that, despite her age, despite having arthritis in her knees and the limitations this could bring to her dance, she continues. Certainly she has modified her approach and she admitted that she did not dance with the same vigor or style as she did in her twenties. What she does is she listens to her body, and the spirit housed within that body, and adapts her choreography accordingly. To quote Margie, “ Our bodies are a wonderful metaphor for our souls”.

This was the part that intrigued me. It was perfect contrast to a comment which arrived the other day on my blog  from someone who had just turned sixty. To quote her, “I just turned 60 too. It’s so horrible because I am over the hill. I don’t enjoyed the stuff I used to …” You can see where this was going. Obviously it is a point of view to which I do not subscribe, as I believe age is largely based on attitude and the choice you make every day for living your life. Hence my attraction to Margie Gillis’ vitality.

Through these two sources what has become clear to me is that I do not want to make age an excuse for not doing things. I want to listen to my 61 year old body, ask what it is telling me and be guided by its wisdom. I want to be grateful for the road this body has travelled, the places it has taken me, and for standing up with me through all types of weather. I want to adapt my dancing, as Margie is doing, and learn the steps that serve me well at this point in my life. I want to refute the limitations and use them simply as a guide for moving forward and choosing a new choreography.

The ME FIRST message that I embrace and teach specifies that whatever it is you want to change out there, in your life, begins on the inside, with ME first. As you read this, I encourage you to check in with yourself and wonder about your approach to life. Do you embrace everyday as a new opportunity or do you moan about growing older? Are you curious about life and what lies before you or do you focus on the things you can no longer do? Are you learning new dance steps or feeling badly that you can’t jive the way you did in your twenties?

Here is where I want to play and I am inviting you to join me. I plan to start playing my music again. My choices these days are different – I love the uplifting words of Karen Drucker and the jazzy tones of Diana Krall. I can dance to these songs, slow fluid steps around my living room. They are different from the upbeat choreography of the aerobic dance I once did, but they are in tune with my body, my spirit and my soul.

Will you dance with me?

Until next time…

Betty

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From Comfort to Courage

During the taping of the roadSIGNS TV Show for Cogeco Cornwall yesterday, a wonderful question arrived. Here it is:

What would it take for you to step out of your Comfort Zone and into your Courage Zone?

I love it when one of my clients, or in this case a member of our studio audience, asks one of those great questions. This is what keeps me on my toes and keeps me learning as well.

Yesterday we were filming a series of shows called Living in GRACE, GRACE being an acronym for Gratitude, Respect, Acknowledgment, Courage and Enthusiasm. As you can imagine this specific question came up during the conversation on Courage.

Courage shows up in so many ways everyday. Example:

  • the courage to choose something different or new , something outside your comfort zone
  • the courage to be curiosity and play in the land of what if…
  • the courage to set boundaries for yourself and say NO to others when you need to say YES to you
  • the courage to confront fears you have or those limiting beliefs that hold you in your comfort zone
  • the courage to stay the course once you have stepped onto it.

The great opportunity before each of us is to step out in courage and see what the world look like on the other side of our comfort zone. I had no idea what it would be like to have a TV Show. My curiosity went to the what if… and the rest is history. Do I get nervous. Darn right! It feels a little scary to be putting yourself out there, whether that is writing a new book, speaking to an audience or hosting a TV Show. Courage is required every time you make a new choice and that’s where excitement, enthusiasm and enjoyment live as well.

Are you ready to leave comfort behind for courage?

Let me know.

We will be launching the ME FIRST Playbook later this month, a fun and funky companion book to ME FIRST – If I Should Wake before I Die. You can pre-order at http://www.roadsigns.ca/products.html   or join us on Sunday, October 16th at the Cornwall Public Library, 1 PM for the official book launch.

Until next time…

Betty

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Notty or Nice

Every once in a while I receive something through e-mail that really resonates with me or makes me think a little deeper about a specific subject. These are of course one form of the many roadSIGNS which I attract.

Last evening I received the Knots Prayer from one of my neighbors. It sets a great tone for this week’s column:

Dear God:

Please untie the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life.

Remove the have nots, the can nots and the do nots that I have in my mind.

Erase all the will nots, may nots, might nots that find a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots, would nots and should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all Dear God,

I ask you to remove from my mind, my heart and my life

all the ‘am nots’ that I have allowed to hold me back,

especially the thought that I am not good enough.

Amen

Author known to God

What a wonderful reminder of all the ‘nots’ that show up in your life on a daily basis. It does make you notice them. I like the prayer and part of me also wants to modify it. I am not big on the word ‘not’ and so I propose a second prayer build around the same idea, with slightly different wording. I call this the NICE Prayer, NICE standing for Now I Can Everyday.

The NICE Prayer

Dear God:

I untie all the knots that are in my mind, my heart and my life.

I release myself from what no longer serves me and attract all that is in my highest good.

I see what I have, that I can and what I do in all parts of my life.

I release myself from the could’s, would’s and should’s imposed on me by others.

And Dear God,

I choose to live in the ‘I AM’,

 understanding that who I am is perfect and definitely good enough,

and that I am powerful just as I am.

Amen

Both, by the way are great prayers and you can judge for yourself the one you prefer. I love the Knots Prayer yet felt myself feeling tangled up in all those nots. Since I understand how the Law of Attraction works, and how the Law does not recognize ‘not’ my preference was to remove them. Try it for yourself.

Most importantly, and here is the real message for today, notice where in your live your ‘nots’ live. Imagine if for every time you said ‘I can’t’ , you said ‘I can’. I imagine if for every time you said ‘I have not’, you said ‘I have’. Apply this rule to all the other ‘nots’ that have been showing up in your life, and change your vocabulary. I can assure you of this, ‘not’ is a word that limits you, holds you back, and diminishes you. The moment you enter the NO’NOT” ZONE, and remove the dastardly word from you vocabulary, you give yourself permission to dream, to grow, to expand, and most importantly, to step into your own power.

How simple is that?

Until next time….

Betty

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Growing Pains

There are moments in your life when it feels like something is shifting. If you are asked to pinpoint exactly what it is, you hesitate because it is difficult to name. You have a sense that you are approaching a new junction in your life, perhaps related to career, relationships, or simply how you are choosing to live every day. It is almost like holding your breath.

I refer to these moments as growing pains. You may be thinking, “I haven’t had growing pains since I was a teenager.” Well look again. Take a glance back over your life and ask yourself, when has my life changed directions in some way or another. I sincerely hope your response is not “NEVER’.

In my baby boomer generation there was a notion which I really never understood and that was one job, one set of lifelong friends, perhaps even one home. Is it only me or was that the ultimate fallacy. And it has not been my experience.

I am not judging you if it was yours but you have to admit that somewhere along the way your life changed course with or without you and you were forced to look at life differently than what was once promised to you. Certainly as time goes on, and each subsequent generation enters the workforce, these promises have changed significantly. Now we prepare young adults for the possibility of 3-4 careers over a lifetime, frequent changes in geographical location, and virtual relationships through social networking. It is rapidly becoming a different world. Growing pains.

These describe the external variables. The landscape within you is another world of shifts and changes. Who among you would say that you are the same person you were ten years ago or even yesterday. Every moment of every day adds a new experience to your life. It would be foolish for us to think that we are not changed by life’s events. And why would we want to be static anyway when life is a dynamic process. Changes can be trying and change can be exciting and for some reason all change is perfect. It may not feel so at the time, but let me assure you that everything within your life occurs for a reason. Growing pains.

But what do you do with all this growth, with this sense that something inside you is changing. Do you have control over it? Can you give this change within you direction? Absolutely. The first step is to choose to be conscious, to be aware that you sense a change occurring. Secondly be curious and ask yourself, and your higher power if you ascribe to the idea of the Universe, what it all means. Third, watch for the roadSIGNS that are appearing all around you. This is where being aware and paying attention becomes very important. Forth, relax, be in the energy of change; embrace it and go with the flow.

Growing pains – this is what makes life an interesting journey. Be honest – would you have it any other way? Welcome aboard the change train. You might as well come along for the ride ‘cause with or without you the train is pulling out of the station. It is time to change, time to stretch and yes, time to grow in ways you had not even considered. WeHoo!

Until Next Time…

Betty