The Original You

THE ORIGINAL YOU You are an original. You have never existed in this form before. You will never exist in this exact same form again. How do you feel about that? Does it bring you a feeling of joy, or do you feel a sense of shame? Being an original has at various times caused me to feel fearful. I wanted to fit in, although I thought I never would. There was something different about me. I used to shy away from taking risks, because I knew I was different. What was different about me was my sensitivity. I was prone to doing what other people wanted me to do, rather than follow my heart. This got me into all kinds of relationship and career situations that didn't work for me. You could call it people pleasing. I call it not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I was under the impression that being different meant something was wrong with me. A CHANGE I feel differently about all of this today. I revel in the truth that I am different. I am learning t

THE OCEAN I spend a lot of time in and on the ocean. I love it. When I look upon the great expanse , I am reminded of how big it is. It is seemingly endless. Most of it has not been explored. It is mysterious. The ocean is a great analogy for life. Life is big. In the spiritual realm it is endless. Most of life has not been explored. And, it is most certainly mysterious. WHERE IS THE HOPE? This is where I encounter hope. Hope is that concept that gives my life energy. It is that longing for a better existence. It is what we all crave and need. In our world, there are so many people that are experiencing a real sense of hopelessness. Hope is a far away and impossible dream. For lots of people, they are hoping they can just stay alive until the end of the day. And, there are some who don’t want to make it to the end of the day. This is the reality of many. WHERE I FOUND HOPE I relate to some of this. There was a time in my life when I had no hope. I moved to Florida in 1

The idea is percolating in your mind. You want to let it out. Then, your mind says, “Is it good enough?” Then what do you do? Do you ignore it? Do you shame it? Do you pretend it doesn’t matter? What happens to those beautiful thoughts that are rolling around in your mind right now? What if you were to let them out? When I let them out, something amazing happens. Flow. Amazing flow. One thought after another comes out in perfect order. I don’t fully understand it. The thought comes. I give it permission. The next thing you know I am feeling really good about it. It feels likes a miracle. I believe that the greatest authors have conquered the fear of letting their ideas out. They somehow are able to allow those beautiful ideas to flow. When I started writing again last year, I was fearful that I would not have anything important to express. What I have learned is that expressing my thoughts has become very important to me. It is cathartic. It is healing. I invite you tod

MY ELEVATOR SPEECH Someone asked me last week what my upcoming book was about. Fortunately, I had practiced an elevator speech. For those who may not be familiar, an elevator speech is a way of describing something very quickly when you don't have much time.   It is the time you would have until you arrived at your requested floor. I told my friend that my book was a book of short essays that describe my vision of hope that I have for the world. They are examples of how we can help each other get along better, and how we can heal each other by connecting. It was a good moment. I felt confident. This had been rehearsed. I knew what I was going to say. YOUR ELEVATOR SPEECH Could you state your mission in life is in 30 seconds or less? I'm not referring to finding out what you want to do in life. I'm referring to knowing how you want to show up in the world. In a world where results are what matter to many, it can be challenging to describe   who we are,