Truth is When You Are Done Proving Yourself

You don't have to sacrifice yourself in order to be brilliant, you just have to be willing to do the work.

Be willing to be vulnerable, be willing to let go of being right, or being something to everyone. Be something to yourself. This isn't self-indulgence, it's self-reliance, self awareness, self-fulfillment. It's diving so deep into who you are, that when you come up for air you gasp at what you discovered. You marvel at the idea that you are not the body you are housed in, or the material things you accumulate. You discover that within every experience you've had, there was something greater at work than your own ego, ideas, beliefs or wishes. You discover that your connection with others is a stronger bandwidth than you anticipated.

Your Truth is complete abandonment of your ego and need of having to be right. It’s letting go of the idea that you must be heard, or be proven. What in the world do you have to prove? Stop talking and people will suddenly listen. Stop arguing and people will take notice, stop the riggers of discontent and people will stop feeding that monster. 

When you let go of your need to be right, be heard, or be proven it can be scary. Suddenly you're floating in an ocean of uncharted territory. Instantly you have to tread water where before you swam a strong stroke. You have to float on your back and not foresee where you are going. But in doing that, it begins to create an understanding that what is happening to the world outside of you, isn’t what is happening to the world inside of you. You will discover that you are more than enough.

But, you have to learn how to silence the voice inside your head. You know the one that tells you, “You must fight to be right!”  

Let me clear something up for you, YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIGHT TO BE RIGHT. 

Your Truth, who you are will be revealed the second you stop trying to prove who you are. Truthfully, the mere fact that you were born is proof enough that within you is a power at work greater than anything you feel you need to prove. There is nothing more to prove, nothing more to argue about. How you live your life, how you cooperate, coordinate, facilitate and participate is nothing more than a reflection of what you’ve been taught to expect or believe to be facts. Well, and we all know facts can change.

Your Truth is unchangeable, it’s non-negotiable, it isn’t fiction or woo-woo. Your Truth is irrevocable, it’s dynamic and never stagnant. It is who you are when the world turns away, it’s the Divine spark that never stops burning, it is your creative process, it’s the connection you have with nature. Your Truth is love. Pure, unadulterated, non-sexual, unconditional, irreplaceable, bigger than child/mother connection, LOVE. It’s not explainable, it’s undefinable, it’s limitless in its totality. Your Truth is the omnipotence of God acting through you.  

When we see our Truth for what it is, we begin to understand why we don’t have to waste our breath explaining who we are or feel the need to prove anything to anyone. We don’t need to because the Universe is doing it for us by acting through us.

So today, I stop trying to prove I’m right. I stop arguing for the conditional when the unconditional is at my fingertips. I let go of the idea that limited definitions, or the human condition creates any part of my Truth. I am a child of God, carrying out my life the best way I know how to. I let go of the need to fight to be right. I let go of those people who feel the need to fight to be right. I embrace the Truth of who I AM and I approach everyone, (and I mean EVERYONE) with kindness, compassion, empathy and understanding. How freeing it is to know I don’t have to play in the muck and mire of discontent. That my Truth is ultimately their Truth too.

It’s so empowering to know that there is a greatness in each and every person I come in contact with, and I have the ability to connect with them at that level. Even the people who hate me, even the people who hurt me so deeply. Everyone has this capacity, and it’s in our willingness to discover it, nurture it, come from it, and embrace it that will give us the most freedom. Freedom from the bondage of pain, suffering, hate, anger, jealousy. It is an evolving process, a life’s work that will never be done. It’s a forever process of enlightenment, unfolding discovery, involvement, evolution and continuum of growth.

Today, if I have a millisecond of clarity and experience a sliver of my inner Truth, I know that I have moved closer to the pinnacle of my life’s work. It isn’t the instant we hit the ground that we are searching for, it’s the thrill of flying through the air after we've jumped.  That’s where we find the most growth in our humanity, and our spirituality. It isn’t about sticking the landing, but what we do while we are flying through the air that matters.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Love,

Gretchen

No Matter a Mountain or a Molehill, The Outcome is the Same

When you stand at the base of a mountain and look up, it can appear to be insurmountable. You can feel insignificant and too small to climb the face of something so massive.

Life can feel that same way at times. But if you lower your head and face forward, you will see the ledges, roots, rocks and crevices you can use to pull yourself up. When we give our attention to that which is right in front of us, the mountain that towers above us, doesn't seem so huge.

Every once in a while, you can look up and see the magnitude of work ahead of you, and in the same token you can look down and see how far you've come. But your resiliency isn't measured in where you came from or how much further you have to climb. Your resiliency and strength is measured by how you move forward from where you are.

You can't look up or down the face mountain and at the same time be successful in placing your hands and feet in the best positions to climb. You must focus, be aware of the moment and make the choices that will keep you clinging and climbing that mountain!

In other words, you must be consciously aware of what you're doing. It's a matter of life and death, success and failure, and eventually reaching the crest of that mountain.

If you are too busy worrying about what's to come or what you've already been through, the significance of the moment you have right now will be lost on your past and what hasn't happened yet. You have an opportunity right now, to either reach for that ledge and pull yourself to the next phase of your climb, or keep clinging to the edge until your hands and feet become tired. You know what to do and how to do it. It's time to start trusting your intuition and let go of the needling fear that's like weights around your ankles.

You have been given the best climbing equipment, ever, it's state of the art and it costs you nothing! You have been trained and equipped for climbing those proverbial mountains your whole life.

You've always possess the ability to think, reason, deduce, and understand. You've always have had the ability to choose, to love, to forgive and to forget! You have everything you need right where you are to reach up and pull yourself to the next section of your climb.

YES, sometimes you'll lose your footing, or grab a rock that's loose, you'll slide and have set backs, but guess what? That's part of being alive. Who doesn't have experiences that seem to kick you when you're down? But it's important to remember that you have a safety rope, a lead rope, and that rope is the one thing that's strong enough to keep you from falling to your death. That lead rope is called faith. It's that faith, in which you have for yourself and others. Faith allows you to start again, keep going and reach for your potential that resides within you. Faith's that still small voice inside of you, faint as a whisper which tells you, that you're worth it, that you can do it, and that love, compassion, peace and strength resides right where you are.

You're a child of God, a reason why life is happening. You are the most valuable person who's climbing the massive mountain called, Your Life! Don't you think it's time to start embracing your strengths and finding the strongest rocks and roots to grab?

Listen, it's not what you were, or what you can be that defines who you are in this moment, you are not yesterday's news and or tomorrows headlines; you are the decisions you make right now, at this moment of your life. Empower yourself and know that you are love, life, joy, peace, compassion, harmony, light and abundance. Know that you are the perfect expression of life, living life to the best of your ability, right where you are.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!

Love,

Gretchen

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

What is YOUR Truth?

What is YOUR Truth?

When we push past our fear we see Truth. Truth is the root of what you are. Just as LOVE is our fuel, our essence in which we exist, so is Truth. Do you know your Truth? Have you ever felt what your Truth feels like? How will you know your “Truth” when it shows up? Well, let me tell you, if you’ve ever smiled so wide you face hurts, or laughed so hard your belly muscles burned and you couldn’t catch your breath? Have you ever loved someone or something so much you ached when they were gone? Have you ever wanted to exist in a single moment for the rest of your life, or looked at something and marveled at its perfection? If you can say yes to my questions or have embodied any of these emotions, then you, my lovie, have experienced your Truth!

Truth is the perfection that dwells within you. Your Truth is that intuition that never steers you wrong. Your Truth exists within you and is always available to you 24/7. You are a Mighty Moving Force in this world. --->Yeah, I said it, and I will say it again, YOU ARE GREATNESS just waiting for a place to show up! So, isn’t it time to show up? Isn’t it time we gave Greatness a shot?

When you come from that place within you that is born and created through Truth, you can’t help but experience the amazing life you were born to have. Even in the darkest of places, when light is introduced, the darkness simply vanishes. It doesn’t argue, dark doesn’t fight with the light, it simply fades away. Isn’t it time to align your self-belief in Truth, Love, Peace, Harmony, and Abundance? Isn’t it time to let go of the dark and embrace the light? There is a place within you that knows your Truth and when you learn to find it and embrace it nothing will stop the Universe from giving you exactly what you ask for! Stop reaching outside of yourself for acceptance, for your Truth, and Love, know that it resides within the wellspring of your heart, soul and mind. Go out and celebrate your Truth!!

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings! 

Gretchen

 

Unfortunate Thoughts of Writers

Everyone has been let down by circumstances. We’ve all paid for the moment that turns into nothing more than a memory hanging on the hooks of hollow smiles and bloated opportunities. Thrown into the ring, heart bleeding, ripped from our cavernous chest, expected to fight for a strong finish only to be splayed on the canvass face down. Knocked out by self deprecation and fueled by the maddening ideas that everything is somehow built perfectly somewhere just outside our reach. Displayed just far enough away to make us ache and dream for the day we too will feel the eyes of acceptance, the warm touch of approval and credence ribboned throughout the words of our heroes.

Instead, we find ourselves tangled in the thick ropes of our own fears. Judged by fleeting utterances, that relentlessly keep feeding our doubts. Tied up and tortured by the few envious words infused with jealousy and fear from others. When did we stop caring? When did the fascination with people’s follies or their belligerent tirades become more important or meaningful than an offered hand or a string of encouraging words?

Bloodied and weakened by the constant pummeling of who we are expected to be and how we are supposed to act, time won’t stop marching across our battered bones and ripped skin until every last word of our lives shows up on the parchment of our soul. Only then will the fighter within us rage against the constant malevolence of few and change the heart beat of the discontented. Then we can rise to the occasion and script our pen to paper and pour the blood of our soul across the pages in a purge so magnificent, the world will have to wake up and listen.

It is time to reach for the bones of our predecessors and sculpt the stepping stones of greatness within the rooms of our own minds. It’s time to close the doors riddled and shaped with contempt and criticism and open the door infused with intuition and honor. We must rise above the fray of pugnacious hostility, fear, guilt, and jealousy, purge them from our veins, drain them from our hearts, and uproot them from our minds.

True Power occurs when recognized and harnessed for a purpose. When searching outside the walls of our own souls, we may stumble; even misplace the only key that unlocks the secrets to embodying our permanent balance. But never will we lose the ability to look beyond the limited idea of who we think we are, and be reminded that what we are searching for, we are searching with. We are the key to our own happiness; we are the key to our own success. We are the only keeper of thoughts that reside in our own minds. It is what we do with those thoughts and ideas that shape our experience and in turn shape the world around us that counts. Make your decisions count, without being smug. Let your voice be heard, without shouting. And let your love be felt, without limits. And always be grateful for the journey!

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!  

Wha' You Lookin' at?

If you could take a weekend and look at everything that means anything to you…what do you think you’d find? Do you think you’d learn who you truly are? Would you listen to that inner doubting voice that tells you to let the world dictate your experience? Or would you try and find your peace? Would you let other people define who you are? Or would you discover for yourself? If I could tell you the answer to these questions…people would be lining up in droves, throwing Benjamins my way, while waiting for some magical answer to the problems that keep plaguing all of our lives.

I am a writer, and in being a writer; I thoughtfully and methodically pour over words for months, even years sculpturing fantasies for my readers. I pray for the slight chance that I’ve created a world that they can’t wait to escape into. However; making readers fall in love with characters that only exist in my head produces a very delicate vulnerability within me.

I’ll be the first to admit, as I let the hammer of insecurity slam against the thin bones of my self-doubt, I can feel them begin to shatter in the moments of real desperation as I dance on the thin line of who I think I should be and who I truly am.

When did I, as a writer, decide to pander to the dispassionate and unbelievers? Was it the instant I decided to believe in a reality that exists only outside of myself? 

I totally get it….I totally understand you wanna get yours, just as I wanna get mine. But if getting mine inhibits you from getting yours; would the empty trophies of triumph I collect really be worth it? Or would the sting of words, not meant to be uttered, taint the well of harmony within the writing community I so dearly love?

If I’d only take a splinter of time to recognize the grandeur of moments shared between a smile and a look…even the words I’ve shared across a table…maybe, just maybe my life would be different. Is it fair of me to take the life changing moment from someone simply because they don’t understand what I do? Is it inconsequential to share that sacred place within me as I peel back the scars from words so thoughtlessly thrown against my thin skin? Maybe.

But what if…just what if, I took all those moments of weakness, and the vulnerable split second decisions that thunder so violently through my thoughts and shift the burden of misunderstanding to the weight of having faith in something greater?

It isn’t the thoughts that sail in and out of my intellect that power my experience, it’s the ones that decided to set up neighborhoods in my mind that begin to take hold and shape my life.

I think it is time to become aware of my thinking, because what I think becomes what I experience (no matter what). So maybe it’s time to check out what neighborhoods I keep building and rebuilding in my mind.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings! 

Give back....Pay it forward....help someone discover their true power. Be a listener, and talk when inspiration speaks to you! 

 

What Are We Afraid Of?

How many of us have been living in a world of what if’s and how can I’s…If we believe we must struggle to have success or suffer to be noble, we will walk around reaching for empty opportunities and cling to other people’s ideas of who we are.

Too often I find myself trying to make my life into something someone else thinks it should be. I stretch myself to create something wonderful only to realize I was putting my power into empty shells of truth and vacant moments created by fear.

We all know how paralyzing fear can be. It can ruin nations, kill millions, and bring the most powerful people to their knees. Fear is insidious. It can creep into our consciousness even when we think we’ve beaten it back. It has a way lurking in the shadows of amazing moments, waiting for the perfect time to rear its impervious head and tear our lives to shreds. But what most people haven’t realized is that LOVE can penetrate the fear, dissolve it, obliterate it, and stuff it back into the vast nothingness from which it came.

All you need is love…love is all you need. Who would have thought the Beatles were so enlightened by singing a simple tune that carried so much influence? But it’s true. Love is the most powerful thing in the world! It can heal nations, give life to millions and has the ability to enlighten the most powerful person in your life…YOU! That’s right, when you come from that place within that’s filled with Love, Harmony, and Peace; suddenly other people’s definitions of who you are…don’t matter, you find it’s much easier to be happy, and you notice fear loses the hold it had on your heart. 

Have you ever met someone who was super happy and wondered, “What did they put into their Post Toasties this morning to make them so happy?” Or you’re in a pissed off mood and someone smiles at you and it makes you stop in your tracks. We are so conditioned in this culture to live in that space between miserable and complacency that we’ve been blinded to what our true potential and life should be.

We are supposed to live a life blanketed in Love, Joy, Peace, Service, Prosperity, and Harmony. Think about it…If we weren’t we wouldn’t long to have it. We wouldn’t cry when children hug their parent returning from war, we wouldn’t have the butterflies in our gut when we fall in love with someone, and we would have the desire to protect the innocent. We wouldn’t experience the goose bumps that ripple across our skin when we see something magnificent.

Life is the biggest miracle ever…period. It doesn’t take someone to walk on water or feed the masses to realize what a miracle is.

What we need to do…and yes, I’m gonna tell you what to do. We need to take a moment and think about how phenomenal our lives really are. Every day we breathe, our heart beats, we think, and have thoughts, we talk, and swallow, blink, and our blood flows through our veins...most of us can taste, see, hear, and have the sense of touch. Miracles that occur every second of our lives and yet we all tend to take for granted. So if there is a power that can create such perfection (even when it’s perfectly imperfect) then we need to, in the very least, acknowledge there is a power greater than us and we have a right to use it.

It doesn’t take much more than a shift in our thinking; a different perspective to the same situation. “You can’t change a problem with the same mind that created it.” (One of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein). It’s time to wake up, take our lives in our own consciousness, and decide to be the change we want to see in the world. It’ s time for us to change our consciousness…so we can change our lives.

Thanks for hanging out and reading my ramblings!