Don't Limit Yourself

That was the advice from a 75-year-old woman who looked 50 and had the energy of a 20-year-old.

She was a volunteer helping out at the agency where I currently work. What she volunteered for included physical labor that a 75-year-old could not “normally” be expected to do.

She not only did it,  but did it with so much spirit and spunk that it was uncanny.

Before she left the site I told her I hoped the question I was going to ask would not offend her, but I wanted to know how old she was.  She told me that she doesn’t tell her age, but that she WOULD tell me.

I told her I’d like to hear her story one day.  I’d like to know how she has managed to take care of herself – her body – her mind – and her spirit – for all these years.

She was the picture of health.

If we could see more people like her we wouldn’t be “afraid” of aging. We wouldn’t be dying our hair every week, getting face lifts, and basically fighting the aging process like it was the enemy.  We would be-friend it and work with it, instead of against it.

The body is dying.  We know this.

It is decaying. It is losing it’s energy.

We don’t have to fight against that.

We can embrace it and look and act like this lady.

We can amaze people at our physical age, by the life that we live.

The next day of this project, the 75-year-old woman came back to the site just to drop-off something.  She came over towards me and I said…”Wait a minute…look who’s here…it’s Foxy”  She just started laughing as she walked over to me and whispered in my ear and said: “Don’t Limit Yourself”.  That was her secret, she didn’t limit herself.  She didn’t allow life, her circumstances or her age to limit her – never had and I could tell that she never would.

Are You Limiting Yourself?

Are you telling yourself that you can’t do it?

Are you telling yourself that you are too old?

Too Fat

The “Wrong” Skin Color

Too Young

The “Wrong” Sex

Not Physically Capable

Don’t Have Enough Money

Staying in a Job You Hate Because You’re Afraid to Quit

Staying in a Relationship That Died Long Ago, but You’re Afraid to Leave

Can’t  Possibly Do This or That Because You Don’t Have a College Degree

Can’t Start Your Own Business

Can’t Go Back to School

Can’t Finish School

Can’t Afford School

Can’t Make Friends

Can’t Get Good Grades

Haven’t Been Able To Find A Job in Over a Year and Think You Never Will

Can’t Sell Your House

Can’t Relocate

Not Pretty Enough

Not Smart Enough

Not Loveable

Take The Advice of the 75-Year-Old Woman –

Just Quit Limiting Yourself…

Just for Today Pretend Those Limits Aren’t  Really There…

Just Pretend…

How Would You Think?

What Would You Do?

Where Would You Go?

What Would You Say?

Who Would You Call?

What Would You Search For On-line?

Who Would You Get Back In Touch With?

Who Would You Call To Set-up A Meeting With?

Now….Do Some of Those Things…

Just See What Happens…Why Not?…Just For Today

(Who knows maybe there really aren’t many limits.  

How will our lives unfold if we just quit limiting ourselves?)

 

The Web Of Life - You Have to Let Go to Understand It

The Circular Spider Web

The above is a picture of a circular spider web that was created outside my kitchen window.  This picture does not do this creation the justice that it deserves. It is TRULY a work of art. A very intricate web, just like the web of life.

How the web of life worked in my “letting go to let come” life today

Reconnecting the Past to the Present

Emailing back a friend that I hadn’t talk to in over 10 years…and I can’t remember exactly why it has been so long…but kind of like the above web, we had ventured away from the center of the web and had to find our way back…updating people who are a part of our past on what matters – friends & family.

Input to Theory U Survey

Completing a survey email link from Otto Scharmer to help select the title for his next book about Theory U.  Using the world-wide-web and network of folks who understand and believe in Theory U to help come up with the best book title and subtitle that will resonate with those who want and need to read his next book – what matters – community.

Madrid

Emailing back a reader of one of the posts on this site who works in Madrid in a job they know they need to resign from.  Taking the time to look up exactly where Madrid was online and just quickly scanned some of the information about it.

For some reason I wanted to turn on the television.  I can’t remember the last time I actually watched TV and had no idea really why I felt the need to turn it on. The only channel that is worth watching to me is CREATE TV.  So, I just turned on the TV and went and sat down at the craft table to start working on a piece.

Inside of 30 minutes  I heard this travel show come on called  “Smart Travels” and they started talking about going to Madrid – Goya Art Galleries, the night life, Hotel Ritz, Royal Tapestry Factory, Retiro Park and From Madrid to Heaven being a slogan you’ll hear when you go there.   What are the chances of that just happening?

Letting Go to Let Come

These things are not coincidences,  it’s called synchronicity…the web…

Just being where you’re suppose to be.

Being in Alignment.

Being in Sync.

Doing what matters.

Doing what you’re suppose to be doing – even if it makes no sense to you at the time.

Just let things happen.

Let come what needs to happen.

It will make sense when you look back and see all the connections of the web.

Every single day confirms, that letting go and just going with the flow,

is so much better than holding on to the past

or how you THINK things are supposed to go.

Let Come what the web of life wants to weave into your life.  

It’s not only in my life or your life that this web weaves, but in all living sentient beings.  

Look at the intricate web of life and know that everything is connected.  

What you think and do impacts everyone and everything else.  

Just be aware and conscious of that…

and smile no matter what is going in your life right now…

just smile because you have the opportunity to be a part of the web of life.

Just Quit Thinking Your Ideas Won't Work

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

I’ve been drawn to focusing on “ideas” and dreams that people tell me about.  As we go through this recession I realize that it’s so important for people to believe in their ideas.

The Creative Class

When I look at the stats for this blog, there are about 20 people EVERYDAY that do a google search “quit my job without another one”, or some variation of that search term, and end up on this blog.  Even at a time when so many people are looking for jobs, many more are miserable in the ones that they have.

I’m beginning to really think that it’s not about the lower class, middle class and upper class – it’s all about the Creative Class –  that is wanting to emerge and is tired of being stifled in a boxed-in type of “job”.  I’m thinking that people are going to have to discover their passions, pursue their ideas in order to survive in the new world economy.

You might have to “create” your own job.  Create a service or product people need and want that you produce…from consumer to producer.

I’ve been thinking of what I can do to help people believe in their ideas, do something towards making them a reality and decided I wanted to make something – a product.

IDEA Jar ™

My crafts are typically all very unique quotations or encouraging words burned onto wood, but I went looking for something I could make that would be one product about ideas.

I ran across light bulb bottles.  I brought a couple of them to play with.  I just looked at them for a couple of days, just wondering what I would do with them.  The below is my latest design, still working on it, but I’m close to something that might actually be practical and artistic:

 

We all have ideas

We need to encourage ourselves &

each other to pursue them.

Today while still focused on ideas I ran across the below video.

It’s  Mr. Rogers re-mix: “You can Grow Ideas in the Garden of Your Mind”…the Lyrics are below

[Intro – spoken]

Hey Neighbor, welcome again to this neighborhood. I’d like to show you something. Do you know what this is? Well, maybe if I push this button. This is a cassette player with a little cassette in here. And there’s nothing written on it so we’ll have to play it to see what’s on it

[Verse 1]
Did you ever imagine things?
Are they scary things?
Did you ever imagine things
Things you’d like to have?
Did you ever see a cat’s eyes in the dark
And wonder what they are?
Did you ever pretend about things like that before?

[Hook]
Did ever grow anything in the Garden of your Mind?
You can grow ideas
In the Garden of your mind

It’s good to be curious about many things
You can think about things and make believe
All you have to do is think
And they’ll grow

[Verse 2]
Imagine every person that you see
Is someone different
From every other person in the world
Some can do things
Some can do others
Did you ever think about the many things you’ve learned to do?

[Hook]
Did ever grow anything in the Garden of your Mind?
You can grow ideas
In the Garden of your mind

It’s good to be curious about many things
You can think about things and make believe
All you have to do is think
And they’ll grow

[Bridge]
Did you feel like going like that? (hand snap)
Let’s give the fish some food
Mr McFeely, I didn’t order any whistles
(music break)
That’s what they call these slide things
Did you feel like going like that? (hand snap)
There are so many things to learn about in this world
And so many people who can help us learn

[Hook]
Did ever grow anything in the Garden of your mind?
You can grow ideas
In the Garden of your mind

It’s good to be curious about many things
You can think about things and make believe
All you have to do is think

You can think about things and make believe
All you have to do is think

And they’ll grow
Do you ever imagine

It Is What It Is...This Is The Way It Is

The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow.

It goes among things that change.

But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.

Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.

You don’t ever let go of the thread.

by William Stafford (1914–1993)

 This is how I have felt all my life…

pulled here and there by some invisible hand that moves me

From assignment to assignment.

From person to person.

From place to place.

From relationship to relationship.

From job to job.

From activity to activity.

From idea to idea.

From house to house.

From book to book.

From state to state.

From situation to situation.

Not really knowing…just going…trusting the path as it unfolds…just trusting the flow…

I don’t think it really ever will “end” though…I just don’t think that’s how it works

I think once you learn the process and recognize endings,

it just keeps on moving you on to another beginning

Maybe this is why Letting Go to Let Come makes so much sense to me

Opening/Closing 

Being/Becoming

Having/Losing

Losing/Finding

It’s How My Life Has Been Lived

It Is What It Is…This Is The Way It Is

by Ridea Richardson (1963 – I Wonder When)

Let Go of Being Angry When Others Hurt You

 

Relationships are like glass.

Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken

than try to hurt yourself

putting them back together.

~Author Unknown

Looking at that broken glass and broken heart…hurts…doesn’t it?  But this is how it is in love and in relationships…sometimes it hurts.  Sometimes you will get hurt and it’s  painful.

When we are in pain we start to blame others for “hurting us”.  Just like we have to let go of some relationships we have to let go of the anger we may feel towards the people who hurt us in those relationships.  Remember people don’t hurt you without hurting themselves too. Sometimes the way they treat you is more about how they feel about themselves then how they feel about you.

Still… it’s difficult to let go of anger once you’ve been hurt, because sometimes you just WANT to be angry… because you’re hurting…because someone…

~Said something to hurt you

~Did something to hurt you

~Didn’t do or didn’t say something and THAT hurt you

~Let you down

~Wasn’t there for you when you needed them

~Disappointed you

There are many ways that we can be hurt by others, and yes, it is painful.  But let that go for just a minute.

Let go of what they said, what they did, how they let you down, how they disappointed you and how you feel, just for a minute.

When you look behind the pain you feel, you begin to realize that pain (like love) is just a part of life.

Feeling this pain might be what allows you to move on – realizing that it’s a part of life and life is about growth.

This maybe when you’re suppose to move on – when you are in so much pain and the pain you feel is so intense that it cuts you open.

They may have done you a favor by showing you how they feel about you.  Maybe they spared you from YEARS of more pain. The universe may have supplied the answer that you have been seeking, by allowing this to happen, and helping you to let go of them and not trying to “fix it”.

Just be grateful for your life, your experiences, even the pain, and the hurt, and the anger that you might feel.

Everything will be alright — if you can let go –of trying to fix it — of trying to make it work out — maybe letting go of them and the anger you feel towards them is the way it is supposed to work out.

Ladies...Let Go of Any Love Relationship That Doesn't Make You Feel Like This!

 

At the end of the day, the type of connection that has to be apart of any lasting love relationship has to include someone who knows your heart…and is not trying to break it.

A man who makes you feel like you’re the only girl in the world.

This song when sang by Lianne La Havas is just so AMAZING because you can actually hear and “feel” the words the way she sings it.

 Does the below depict your love life?  If not, rethink it, rekindle it, rework it, or let go of what you have and let come a love life…that makes you feel like you’re the only girl in the world…

"Get Busy Living (Letting Go) or Get Busy Dying (Not Letting Go)"

 

Looking Up in Charlotte, NC

 

On my daily walk around the school building today

I happened to look up in the sky.

I saw an airplane so high up above the clouds.

I looked at the trail that it had made in the sky.

I didn’t have my phone on me and had to walk back to the car to get it to take the above picture, but the plane was long gone by the time I got back to that spot.

This made me think that we can get STUCK in our daily lives…daily problems…daily jobs…daily folks we talk to…daily stuff and

drift through life

– OR –

we can LOOK UP…

look beyond our daily lives, problems, jobs, folks, stuff and

REALLY live the life that we’ve imagined.

Really let go of what is …to allow what could be… to come into your life.

It’s a simple choice really…get busy living or get busy dying…