Self Love is Empowering

If you wouldn't say it about someone you love, then don't say it about yourself. There is power behind your thoughts and words, use them wisely when you self talk, in your head or out loud!

We are bombarded with words, thoughts, pictures, videos, books and images of an unrealistic idea of who we are told we should be, or look like. No matter what words are heard, no matter what pictures you ache to be like, or what belief system you subscribe to, you must not forget that you are beautiful just the way you are.

YOU ARE the miracle that life is made from. YOU ARE so important in someone's life. YOU ARE love in action. YOU ARE the expression of life dancing on the edge of new discoveries. YOU ARE brilliant. YOU ARE beautiful. YOU ARE smart. YOU ARE perfect just the way YOU ARE.

YES, you lady, YOU---> the one who feels ugly, stupid, less than, unloved, unimportant, and worthless. I am talking to the people who have been battered down by a belief that they are anything less than perfect. Victims of pain, suffering of the body and soul. I am talking to you.

YOU are the most important thing in your world. Without you, who would experience life for you? Through you? As you?  You have a purpose, if you didn't you wouldn't be here. I'm not saying life is easy all the time, or telling you to ramble off a couple affirmations and everything will be peachy. That's not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is when you decide to discover the spark of greatness that resides within you, I want you to foster it instead of trying to blow it out. I want you to know that whatever is occurring in your life can be over come or can be made peace with.

It may seem difficult at first, finding that inner spark, that deep desire to be at peace, that source of greatness that resides hidden within your soul. But, if you take a moment to celebrate the smallest of accomplishments, the tinniest of moments you felt good, you will begin to feed that energy within you that knows what to do and how to do it. You need to trust in yourself, trust in the love that bubbles deep down. Believe in the miracle you are. Have faith in the beauty that is pushing to come out.

We have become prisoners to the ideology that beauty rests in the epidermis of what others see. We've continuously drank from the cup of being unworthy for too long. We've clung to the belief that our words are inadequate and our opinion is of no value. And for what you feel it's worth, I'm here to say, that simply isn't true! The truth is, you are just as important as any other person in this world. From the president to the crazy cat lady down the street. No one is more important to experiencing your life than YOU! PERIOD. You are so amazingly awesome, just the way you are!

So, here's the thing. I have this quote I go to, whenever I am feeling inadequate. It is very powerful to me. It reminds me that we are all made from the same stuff. It motivates me to find that inner spark and nurture it to a burning inferno. So here it is, I leave you with Marianne Williamson's quote she first published in a book, RETURN TO LOVE. (Disclosure:I never finished reading it. A convo for another post someday) But when words you need to embody speak to you, maybe that was the only part of her book I was supposed to read. ;)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~Return to Love by Marianne Williamson.

There really aren't any more words needed by me on this post once you read the quote above. So, thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings.

LOVE,
Gretchen

Even The Dalai Lama Gets the Hiccups!

As we wake up and brush shoulders with the morning and smile at the thought of a new day, or even as we breathe in the aroma of infinite possibilities while counting the tally marks of a life we've been so gloriously given, let us remember that even the Dalai Lama gets the hiccups.

Nothing is perfect all the time. Well, wait, I take that back, everything is perfectly imperfect. We all have moments where we come upon those type of people who rattle our cages. We watch them systematically create chaos in a peaceful moment, or stir the big vat of hate and anger when others have already decided to overcome it. We've all experienced those types of people that pummel the wasps nest with the biggest wooden stick they can find and walk away unscathed while the others get stung repeatedly. It is nothing new in a world where we praise the sarcastic and cuddle with the hardhearted. We celebrate the combative and get in bed with the wicked, and we do this so we can feel important; like we are part of the “team”. We will quietly stand on the sidelines while the asshole coach berates another player, because deep in our hearts we are relieved it isn't our face he’s yelling in. Hey, we all have done it, nobody is immune to life. If we were, we wouldn't be living it.

We are all born with instinct. When we come into this world we sleep when we are tired, we eat when we are hungry and we cry when we are in need. Blessed are the children, for they see with a pure heart. It isn't until the world lays at our infantile feet the life lessons learned by those who came before us. It is when the good-intentioned unconsciously impress upon us the limits we must believe we have. It is the beginning to where we see the world in a different light. We become the imprints of conditional thinking and shackled by what’s been done before. You see it in kids who don’t see color, race, sex or creed. They exist to experience life and that is it. They don’t worry about the future and they don’t live in the past. They wear their emotions on their sleeve and just as the river flows forward so does their ability to move on. It is at our most impressionable time of our lives and happens to be when we are taught what it means to limit ourselves and bend to what society expects from us. It is at that point we become conditional thinkers.

We live in a world ruled by the limited thinking of what has come before us. We live by man made laws designed to dictate what we must do to live systematically in a society with others. We all understand that most of these man made laws are in place to keep us safe. But we also live in a world dictated by something bigger than man made laws or the ticking of a clock or even the degrading judgment of others. There is a place within us that isn't affected by what we see or hear, but is ruled by what we innately know. There is a power greater than us, greater than any condition, experience, man made law or limited thought. It is our intuition, that power that swirls in your gut, that Infinite Source that we connected to and bonded with when we are born. Once we become conditioned by the world, we are taught to stifle that instinct, crush that power that surges within the deepest part of who we are.

But I am telling you, to let it out! It’s okay to feel love, peace, joy, happiness, harmony, light and abundance. You are beautiful, you are smart, you are free, you are peace and harmony. Just because someone, so long ago told you something, doesn't make it true! Did you read that? Let me write it again… JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TOLD YOU SOMETHING, IT DOESN'T MAKE IT TRUE. We have got to stop looking outside of ourselves for validation, for peace, for love, for wholeness or joy. It is time to remove those shackles of our limited, impressions people so thoughtlessly pressed into our skin and start to reach deep within ourselves for the Truth of Who We Are. You are a light designed to dissipate the dark, you are a life, meant to live the most beautiful moments you can. You are life living consciously. Take today in your heart, and wear it there, that it is the best day ever. Today is your day and you are a miracle waiting for a place to show up. So, just show up! Show up today, live in the moment, let go of what you can’t control and embrace what you can. Be the best you, you know how to be right now, and I promise, as you do that every day, as you be the best you, you can be, each day will become new, each moment will be another opportunity to be the best you, you know how to be! Don’t forget, you only have to be stronger than your weakest thought, then eventually, your weakest thought will be replaced by your strongest intention.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Taken in Lafayette, CA. on my iPhone