Masterful Mindsets

"The journey to joy begins with acceptance." ~ Margaret Feinberg

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? Kinda makes you cranky, doesn't it? But what if you just accepted it and laughed it off? Could it be possible to find joy even when life seems to be unraveling?

Let’s get one thing straight about this week’s quote, it does not mean that you should settle for whatever or wherever you are in life. But rather, I believe it means that once you face where you are with acceptance of the situation – whether good or bad – you can put your energy into adapting and advancing. In other words, instead of wasting time and energy staying stuck in the problem, you just acknowledge it and then you can begin to shift your focus to the solution and moving forward into a more joyful life.

Let’s face it, life does not always turn out exactly as we’d like. There are plenty of mistakes, disappointments and failures all along the way....

“Just imagine becoming the way you used to be as a very young child, before you understood the meaning of any word, before opinions took over your mind. The real you is loving, joyful, and free. The real you is just like a flower, just like the wind, just like the ocean, just like the sun.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

We all grow up learning certain “agreements” through our family of origin. Don’t get me wrong, some are good virtues and values. But some, are not so good. They are the messages that create the limiting beliefs which can hold you captive from being your best true you.

Sadly, some people spend their entire lifetime trying to break free of them. As a matter of fact, I often spend quite a lot of time with my clients, helping them overcome and rewrite their old life story into something new and freeing. It's in rewriting that story and no longer allowing the agreements of your past to control you, that you are free to create a new future. Otherwise,...

"Our character isn't defined by the battles we win or lose, but by the battles we dare to fight."  ~ Robert Beatty

What battles are you fighting in your life right now? Are you still fighting old battles from the past? Fighting with others? Or fighting an internal battle?

We all have battles we fight in our lives. Some are external - with other people. For example, a power struggle at work or a court battle with a spouse, over a divorce. (Even holding a grudge over a fight between siblings from the past can stir up new battles every time you interact with each other.)  

Some battles are not of our choosing - the battle for your life when facing a life threatening disease like cancer or maybe having to battle back from an injury, after having an accident. Sure we can choose whether or not to fight them. But we don't necessarily choose them to be in our lives.  

And then of course, there are the internal battles we fight. The battles with our ego and our self limiting...

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.” - Mother Teresa

I’ve been a bit nostalgic lately for some reason, revisiting many relics from my childhood. First, telling you about the book, “Love Is” and now, I want to share another memory…

I had a little plastic figurine, that had a sickly-looking person on it with the caption that read, “I love you so much it hurts.” Truth be known, I think it belonged to my big brother or sister and they probably got it from a high school sweetheart, but none the less, for some reason, I really liked that little figurine. It was meant to be funny, whimsical, and cute. (Which it was!) And although I didn’t understand that feeling then, I have to say that in my lifetime, I’ve actually experienced that feeling on many occasions...

With my husband, when I’m away from him. With my girls, when I watch every...

“Being able to selectively forget about the things in your life that don’t serve you might just be the most freeing feeling in the world.”

I was recently coaching a client through a session on defining her ideal identity and it reminded me of an old show I watched years ago. It was about a woman who had amnesia and was trying to figure out who she really was. As she began to rediscover herself, what she found was that she didn’t really like who she had been. So, she decided that if she was going to have to relearn who she was, she might as well learn to be who she really wanted to be. She chose to redefine herself, create new beliefs and make some changes that of course, lead to her becoming a better, happier and more successful person then she had ever been.    

I still remember thinking, as I sat there watching the show, that in a way she was kind of lucky. Don’t get me wrong, there would be many downfalls to having amnesia, like not...