Morning Inspiration

I love watching Super Soul Sunday, because I usually don't know much about the guests backstory, which makes it even more interesting. 

India Arie was amazing to listen to. Of course I knew she was a musician, but I didn't know much about her life. She's a prayerful and meditative person which resonated with me, and she shared a personal, human experience so many of us can identify with~especially as women.

How we focus on what we think others want for us, and maybe live our lives out if alignment with what possibilities are really there waiting for us to fully realize.

To bring herself out of the spiral of living the life others had projected onto her, India asked herself a question:

"If I knew I was 100% worthy of _______, what would I do?"

Great question. One that could give some clarity during those times when our minds are racing. When we feel stuck. When nothing is feeling "right".

So, is unworthiness a part of you? Do you have that inner voice that asks constantly, "Are you good enough for this? You have never done this before, why are you even going to try?". I know I have a voice that sometimes plays on an endless loop. That voice really needs to shut up.

Asking the question might do just that. 

I ask myself constantly, how can I ensure that my three daughters don't grow up developing that voice in their heads that speaks nothing but bullshit? 

Allow yourself to value yourself over what other people say/feel about you. Maybe that's the biggest piece to remember. Maybe that's what happens the older we get...because at this point, I really don't care who likes me and who doesn't. It's okay. I don't need to please everyone all the time anymore, and I am a better person for it.

If I can teach my girls that part, the voice will hopefully just say, "Go for it. Try it. Paint it. Run it. Climb it. Sing it. Learn it...because you ARE worthy of everything that follows". 

Boom. 

The three of them will be Mommies someday, and pass that new recording along to their own children. It's my job to make sure I set the tape straight. Right now. 

No pressure, right?

Surrender. Unblock yourself. Go with the flow. You're worth it. 

Have a great day!

{Jenn}

Maya

I have been wanting to write lately, but my computer has been painfully slow...the kind of slow where you want to lose your mind a little bit.  But I was willing to sit through the slow to post a quick one this morning.  The kids will be getting up any minute for school.

I get up at least an hour before the kids everyday~it's the only time where the silence is only pierced with the sounds of the birds from out in the backyard, or the perk of the coffee pot.  It is a little piece of heaven before the machine of the day starts cranking.

You can bet if I put on the TV, it's not to watch the news....who wants to start their day with the stabbings from overnight?  I don't.  So I dvr Oprah's Super Soul Sunday, where she talks with spiritual teachers from various backgrounds, and start my day with something positive.
I haven't gotten through the entire episode with Dr. Maya Angelou yet, but just the mention of her name lets you know it was amazing.  What an incredible woman.  It's worth watching~and if you're like me, you'll have a notebook in hand.  She gives the best tidbits of advice, especially to moms. I will take all that I can get.

When you get, give.

When you learn, teach.

Have a great morning!

{Jenn}

Insight

I'm an "energy" kind of person. 

Like many people, if I walk into a place where people are positive, and have good energy, I feel it.  If I walk into a room with people who have crummy energy, I feel that too, on a physical level.  It's almost like bumping into a bubble that pushes you right back, and keeps you at a distance. 

I've always been this way, and it's probably why I'm not a fan of big crowds.  So many people, so much conflicting energy, and my insides get what feels like tangled-up.  I think I'm just so open to others energy, that in the past, I have allowed it all in.  I'm learning how to keep that from happening so easily through meditation.

But people don't really don't talk about this kind of stuff.  We may know those gut-level feelings, but you rarely hear people talking about "energy", or at least I didn't growing up.  As a right-brained person, who sits mostly in the creative side of my brain, I have enough of a left-brain twitch that makes me want concrete proof for what I have always experienced.  You know, so you don't make yourself an appointment with the doctor for all the "fru-fru" talk.

Thanks to Oprah, I have been introduced to Caroline Myss, Dr.Deepak Chopra, Dr.Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup.....I could go on and on.  All of these people are well respected, and all of them think in a way that I understand.  They all have found a way to match their spirit up with the hard facts that science can offer.  That makes me happy.

The most beautiful book I read {that verifies the whole energy experience for me} after seeing the author interviewed by Oprah, was "My Stroke Of Insight" by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.  She is  Harvard-trained neuroanatomist who experienced a stroke, and because of her training and extensive knowledge of the brain, she was extremely aware of the processes she was experiencing during the hemorrhage that took her by surprise.  The beauty of her story is that while she was in a coma-like state in the hospital, where she was unable to verbally communicate, she experienced everything and everyone as energy.  I do not have the book in front of me, but I am recalling the pages where she describes the doctors and nurses who entered the room to care for her.  Because of the area of her stroke, Dr. Taylor no longer had the ability to perceive boundaries, as in where she physically began, and ended.  Her body, and the bodies of those around her no longer were "contained" in physical forms.  She described in detail the amount of her own energy it took to even keep her eyes open.  If the hospital worker came in calmly, in a caring manner, the energy was beautiful, and welcoming.  She wanted to try to follow the persons instructions, and fight her physical body which wanted to remain 'asleep'.  But when a person came into the room who had too much on their mind, was in a bad mood, or was just aggravated in general, she felt that too~and it was uncomfortable, repelled her and made her physically cringe.
Hearing from a neuroanatomist that she perceived those energies so distinctly made me realize that I haven't been completely been nuts all of my life.  When science backs up the fru-fru talk, I listen.

So when my sister Jessica became a nurse {which we were all so proud of her for achieving} recently, I told her about this book, and shared Dr.Taylor's experience with her.  {Let me just say I bow to nurses, because if an injury requires more than a band-aid, I can't handle it}   Many of her patients in the ICU aren't there because they are doing great, and are responding.  I could imagine that most of them are in a state like what Dr.Taylor describes experiencing in her book.  A physical body in a bed, reliant on others and machines for every function.  They are still there.  There is a soul locked in there.  Maybe they are perceiving everything around them, or maybe they are not.  I think this applies to anyone who we think is not able to understand us because they can't communicate.  After reading that book, I have only one suggestion...

Pretend that they are. 

Whether you are a medical professional, or just a regular person in your everyday life, do what Dr.Taylor says, and "be responsible for the energy you bring into a space".  I'm sure if the person in that hospital bed could thank you, they would...

Have a great day!

{Jenn}

Noise

Last night I came into our office {wait that sounds too fancy...it's a room where all our office-related stuff is...} to get some work done, and maybe do some writing here.  But that clearly was not in the cards for me.  My oldest came into the room and sat just behind the computer monitor, turned on her ipod and started playing some live John Mayer music {which is a favorite in our house}.  I tried to focus on what I was doing, but between the music playing, and her singing along, there was no way I could get any solid work done.
And then I remembered a lesson I learned from my dog. 

Yes, I know, I sound like a crazy person now {and that may be true} but, yes, a lesson from my dog.
We had him for almost 14 years, and he passed away almost 2 weeks ago now.  That day was more emotional than I could have ever imagined, and on that afternoon, when my husband and I came back from the vet without him, I was slapped in the face with something~silence. 
And I didn't like it.
Even after the kids got back to their new normal without our dog, that's all they kept talking about...it's too quiet in the house now.  It's not the same.  His absence is felt in so many ways.
It's kind of like when one of my three girls goes off on a sleep-over.  To be honest, I don't like it~the house feels different.  It's too quiet.  I feel off-kilter, and catch myself wondering when they are coming back. 
Funny how I often think I just want a break, then when I get it {like all the kids sleeping over my parents house or something} I just want them back...why?  Because the house is too quiet. 

Apparently I love the noise.

So, I scrapped my plans to 'get something done', and I hung out with my 10 year old.  She asked to read the first blog entry {her take on it was that it was 'very intense'...lol... I explained I wrote it for grown ups, you know....} and asked if I had gone 'viral' yet.  Cracked me up.  I tried to explain that I only wrote 1 post so far, and that if Ellen or Oprah reads your blog, then I think maybe you can 'go viral'.
Then she promptly asked when she could write a guest column.  She wrote a list of column ideas when I mentioned I may start a blog, and actually keep up with it.  I had no idea she was serious. 

She has the list.

You already know that she is 10, but in reality, she is about 35...maybe 40.  She was the baby I always said was 'born older'.
And it is not lost on me how quickly she, and her little sisters are growing up.
So, thank you, Augen {the dog} for reminding me how fleeting life's moments are...and reminding me to enjoy the noise while I am still surrounded by it. 

Have a great day,

{Jenn}