YOUR LIFE A-Z:DECORATE

Be Festive and Exotic as you Decorate this Year

DECORATE

To DECORATE or not DECORATE is really not the question. The question is, how much should you DECORATE?   The answer to that question is, DECORATE as much or as little as you want.  Which parts of the holiday DECORATIONS do you enjoy the most?  Perhaps you only want to drink out of holiday coffee mugs and let the rest go.  Or perhaps you feel like it won’t be the holiday with out a Christmas tree.  Maybe you want to go all out with the DECORATION spirit and have the house lit up with outdoor lights and outdoor yard festivities, while making every room in your home a holiday wonderland.  People who live to DECORATE for the holiday season may find that the desire diminishes over time and there is nothing wrong with that. To everything there is a season and as our lives change so do our desires and goals.  It is important to stay aware of your holiday stress and DECORATE according to your stress level.  If you are becoming grumpy and agitated about DECORATING then you have taken on too much.  Back off a bit and ask yourself, “Which DECORATIONS are really necessary this year?”  You are not a holiday scrooge if you don’t DECORATE like your neighbors do.  You are only a holiday scrooge if you don’t choose to participate in any of the festivities of the season.  It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs are, holidays are for celebrating the festival of life. DECORATING is just one way of doing just exactly that.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: IGNITE

IGNITE

IGNITE YOUR SOUL FOR LIFE

IGNITE means to render luminous by heat , which is a perfect command for your life.  IGNITE your life to become full by heating it up to make it luminous in every way.  You are not alone if the spark has gone out or diminished in your life.  The inner spark often fades when it becomes ignored by the drudgery of daily life.  Think about a campfire.  It does not last all night and has to re-lit every evening to continue to provide the mystery and magic of camping.  IGNITE your daily life as if it is an amazing campfire waiting for you to show up and tell your story to your fireside community.  The dimness of natural light and the brightness of the campfire makes everyone’s face luminous sitting around the fire.  The atmosphere becomes magical and stories are shared that have been kept secret in the daylight.  Something shifts and changes as the light is IGNITED and the flame begins to develop a life of its own.  Nurture the IGNITED flame within your heart, prod it and provide it with the necessary wood and kindling to develop into the amazing gift you have been waiting for.  IGNITE the stories, dreams and desires within you. Choose a space, a time, and the resources you need to IGNITE what you love just as if you are preparing a campfire.  A campfire for one has a particular meditative feel to it.  A campfire IGNITED for the community builds a resource that grows beyond it.   IGNITE something within and watch what happens.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: UNBLOCK

UNBLOCK 

GET A CLEAR VIEW

UNBLOCK and make free, release your inner potential.  Most of us have had an experience of feeling blocked.  Writers experience it so often that they have a name for it: writer’s block.  In order to UNBLOCK your energy you must move.  Yes move your body.  Get up and stretch for ten minutes or walk outside and around the block.  Observe your environment.  Notice what you usually don’t bother to see.  UNBLOCK your attention and allow it to wander around and explore what is right there in front of you.  UNBLOCK you positive voice. Let it out and express your thoughts and dreams.  Put fear in a box, while you move forward UNBLOCKING the energy that you need to accomplish all that you want to experience in your life today and tomorrow.  Fear blocks us from accomplishing that which we desire.  Fear fills us with what if.   UNBLOCK the voice that is waiting to say,  “You can do this.”  “It is okay.”  UNBLOCKING your potential requires that you take positive action.  It requires that you move toward, around, under, through, or over the obstacle that is keeping you stuck.  When you are on a drive going to a destination and you come to road- block, you can’t just sit there neither is it appropriate for you to turn around and go home.  You have a destination that you are headed toward.  There are many ways to get to the same destination.  It may be a detour, but UNBLOCK your resistance and move toward your destination today. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z ZIP

GET CLEAR WITH YOURSELF

ZIP

Perhaps the first image that comes to mind when you see the word ZIP is that of you or someone else dangling from a cable in the middle of Costa Rica’s rain forest.  Or maybe the word ZIP made you check your zipper to make sure it was closed.   Whatever the image the word ZIP produced, it is packed full of various definitions that are useful.  Even though snail mail is almost a thing of the past, your mail will not get delivered unless the ZIP code is correct.  Then there are ZIP files that contain multiple pieces of information compacted into one file.   Does the step of your foot to the music of your soul have ZIP in it today?  Is there a sense of direction, purpose and conviction in your life today?  What do you need to ZIP open to enjoy today a bit more?  What do you need to ZIP closed to have more time to do what brings you pleasure?  What do you need to address in your life that allows you to be direct and clear? Maybe you are giving yourself mixed messages about your hearts desire and are staying stuck in the harness on the ZIP line platform rather than taking a deep breath and jumping off to make it to the next platform.  In order to get what you want, you have to a clear ZIP; an adventurous attitude; and the ability to handle multiple issues at one time.  Now, go get your ZIP on. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z NEED

LIFE NEEDS LIGHT TO GROW

NEED

Before we start down this road of exploration, it is important to pay attention to what your body experiences when you read this "N" word.  Do you experience a negative sensation in your body?  Do judgements rush to the foreground of your mind?  It is important to explore your judgements, ideas, and feeling about the word NEED.  What are your needs?  Can you say them out loud?  List three really specific needs. For instance, say "I need to feel loved."  What does that look like, feel like, and what actions are required for you to know you are loved?  Is it financial security?  Think about that. If financial security is a necessity for you to experience feeling loved, then what happens to your feeling of love if circumstances drastically change and your partner can no longer provide for you?  Or what happens to your self-love if your financial situation changes?  Do you trash yourself or do you just flat-out pretend you don't need anything?  How does that work for you?  To not admit that you need anything is a very sad position to live in because it essentially means you are not willing to risk anything.  In one sense it is such a guarded position that is a very selfish position. One of the roots of selfishness is protection or defence, and to not acknowledge your needs.  If you are thirsty and need water what do you do?  Do you go get a drink of water or do you expect someone else to bring you water?  The answer to that question tells you a lot about yourself.  Learn to be bold with what you need?

YOUR LIFE A-Z: YEARN

YEARN

ACHE TO FIND THE CENTER

What is your heart yearning for?  When you took time to take a X-RAY of your feelings yesterday what did you discover about your emotional health?  What is missing in your life that you have always wanted?  This is a tough but very honest question because it means opening up to hurt and sadness.  Perhaps you have lost a loved one this year and your heart yearns for that connection to her/him again.  Perhaps you believe that you have never experienced love, real heart soul love to another and that you YEARN for that connection.  Sometimes our YEARNINGS are not within our ability to change immediately.  But sometimes our YEARNINGS can make us into a victim if we put a negative spin on them, such as, “Everyone else has a partner, why can’t I?”  It is important to explore our heart YEARNINGS and ask if they are helping or hurting us?  If you are not doing anything about your YEARNING then that is not helpful.  If you are going to grief groups and reading how to let go materials, you will get there.  Some days will be better than others.  If you don’t put yourself out there to meet other people you will stay alone.  Learning that you have choices even in the most difficult situations is a part of growing up and being a healthy adult.  It is hard and often lonely, but doable. Don’t ignore your YEARNINGS.  Sketch them out and do something about them or replace them with real possibilities.  I can YEARN for my youth, but it is not returning.  I can do youthful activities and feel young and that is a reality.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z: RESIST

KEEP WALKING, KEEP GOING, FOLLOW THE PATH

RESIST

RESIST the temptation to stop or slow down. Scream NO at any hint of quitting your project or goal you are working on.  RESIST those internal messages that say, “This is too hard.”  “What was I thinking, I can’t do this.”  Those voices and thoughts are like an infection in your soul and you must enhance your internal immune system to fight off the infection.  Perhaps you do need a three- day break.  Take it, but have a plan for returning to the direction you are headed in three days.  Perhaps you need to fortify your goal or dream with special knowledge from someone else or employ a resource to help you decide how to best proceed.  Whatever the case, get what you need to help your soul to be happy and healthy and RESIST the temptation to quit.  You can do this.  This is a dream that you started and have always wanted, whethera new home, a new car, a new career, or a new geographical location. Whatever it is that you wrote down at the beginning of this process that you wanted to pay attention to and change this year, you can accomplish it and you certainly can be closer to your goal than you were when you started.  RESIST whatever it is in your way.  Fight back offensively by making a strategic move that will change the energy of what is pulling down. If you can’t make a touchdown, score a field goal and move on into what it is that you are wanting.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: HABIT

SOMETIMES HABITS ARE INCONVENIENT TO ESTABLISH, BUT THEY ARE NECESSARY

HABIT

Habits are hard to break and they are equally hard to establish.  In order to break or establish a habit, and be successful, there must be a complete buy-in by you.  First of all you must have interest and then you must develop that interest by building steps toward your new habit.  For instance, I have never established a habit of flossing because I have no interest.  Instead, I get my teeth cleaned more often.  

The last “H” word in the TWENTY MINUTE COACH was the word “HEATLHY.”  If you have no interest in your health you are not going to do the things necessary to eat and be healthy.  If you decide to diet, you will cheat, lie, sabotage, and go back to the crap that made you heavy as soon as the scale gets to your magical number.  And,each time you promise yourself it will be different, it isn’t.  You have no buy-in of interest, excitement, or heart.  They are not aligned.  

How do you align them?  What do you want?  Establish what you want first. What are the benefits of attaining your want?  What is it about those benefits that bring you joy?  Ah yes, if I lose 15 pounds I go down two sizes in my pants!  Won’t that be awesome? And my knees won’t hurt when I run.  What picture does that create in your brain?   Find a symbol of that picture that makes you smile every time you look at it and place that symbol where you look at it daily.  Now you are building momentum toward a new habit.  When you arrive, keep doing what worked.  That is what makes it a habit and not just a “program.”