Living Out Loud

What's your favorite comfort food, game, movie or thing to do?

My blog has moved. You'll now find it on http://www.thehappinessbusiness.com/livingoutloud

TypePad Conversations » Answer this question!

I have moved!

You can now find me at http://www.thehappinessbusiness.com/living-out-loud/

Hope to see ya there ;-)

Life is in the being and doing

 

A Thought for the Week

 

 

"Joy is not in things, it is in us." ~ Richard Wagner

 

"Life is contained in the doing not in the having.  The less you have that isn't of the highest importance to you; the more time and space you have to do and be what is important to you." ~ Beverley Rowland

 

"One day your life will flash before your eyes.  Make sure it was worth watching."  ~  Unknown

Feel afraid and act anyway

A Thought for the Week

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." ~ Mark Victor Hansen
 
"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." ~ Helen Keller
 
"You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen." ~ Paulo Coelho

Rambling through life

A comment about rambling on Megan's post about authenticity and redefinition deeply resonated with me.  I realised "rambling" is exactly what I've been doing the last few years.  And it's been an absolute joy! 

I know it's not the modern Western way, but I don't have much of a plan for my life!  When I was a practicing life coach, I was great at setting myself clear goals - and encouraged clients and friends to do likewise!  But whenever I set myself a plan of action, I often found it turning into a mountain of "shoulds".  And "shoulds" drain my energy and create resistance, and usually I would end up abandoning the plan.  And what was worse, the abandonment was often unconscious, and brought a resulting feeling of shame with it. 

But over the last few years I've paid more attention to the fundamental intentions underlying my various goals.  And I've found the specific goals shifting and evolving at such a fast rate, that I just can't take them too seriously anymore.  And since I've stopped tying myself to various targets (and especially conventional goals) I've felt less pressure, stress and anxiety about where it is I'm going.

Instead, I find myself more and more open to allowing things to unfold, and trusting that they're all happening perfectly for me.  That's not to say that I don't still want various outcomes at different times.  I most certainly do!  But somehow I'm managing to not become too attached, or to eventually release my attachments, and allow what I want for myself to evolve. 

It's been a surprising journey to say the least.  But it's been wonderful too.  I'm really enjoying my life.  I don't have alot of the conventional securities that almost everyone I know has, or indeed much of a structure to my life. 

I do still have dreams and desires, and I am pursuing them according to what feels right in the moment, for as long as it feels right to do so.  And when a shift kicks in and it starts to feel like I need to take a detour, I take it.  Sometimes that detour still takes me towards the same destination (just in a more roundabout way), and sometimes it leads me in a whole new direction. 

So what! I've learned to stop worrying about where I'll end up.  Because there's simply no way of knowing!  Even if I had a rigid plan that I sticked to consistently, day in day out, there'd be no guarantee I'd end up in the place where I expected to be.  Our lives can change, beyond complete recognition, in a heartbeat. 

Everytime I catch myself beginning to become embroiled in the whole business of conventional expectations, I remind myself of this irrefutable truth.  And it returns me to a place of peace and restores my ability to trust that where I am is exactly where I'm meant to be.

My over-riding, non-changing desires for my life are based around states of being.  Being happy, being centred in the energy of love, being connected to others, being in abundance, being at peace.  And none of these states require achieving any specific targets.  Having-ness will result in the ways that are best aligned with and best support the states of being I create for myself. 

Some of those outcomes will resemble the people and things I consciously chose, and some of them will be complete surprises.  Some of those outcomes will come easily, and some will come after I let go of suffering of my own creation (from being too attached to how things come about). 

While I hope that for the most part I find the path easy enough, I accept there will be rough patches along the way.  I have no idea where I'm going, or how I'm going to get there.  I'm sticking with my clear intentions of how I want to 'be' in this world, but my only 'plan' (for now!) is to continue rambling my way through life. ;-)

Invent your future

A Thought for the Week

"What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment.  And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new.  Right now." ~ Unknown

 "Decision changes everything." ~ Douglas Verneeren

 

"The best way to predict your future is to invent it.  It's up to you." ~ Frank Maguire

Apologies for being so late this week - I was experiencing severe technical issues!

Be open to magic and miracles

A Thought for the Week

 

 

photo by Sandy Austen

 

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

"You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle." ~ Paolo Coelho

 

"One way can be learned by starting to see the magic in everything.  Sometimes it seems to be hiding but it is always there. The more we can see the magic in one thing, a tiny flower, a mango, someone we love, then the more we are able to see the magic in everything and in everyone."  ~ Joshua Kadison

"That's the thing with magic.  You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you."  ~  Charles de Lint

One Word Intention for 2010: Connection

I'm really not one for new year resolutions, and have written in the past about my preference for intentions over goals - I find them more empowering.

Just before Christmas I read this post by Lance, and immediately loved the concept: a one word intention for the new year.  One word is so much easier to keep your focus on than any well-meaning list.  I also knew instinctively what my word for 2010 would be: connection.

Where and how do I hope to see "connection" manifesting in my life this year?  Quite simply, everywhere, and everyhow!

 
In 2010 I would like to create many new connections, in every aspect of my life, and deepen those that already exist.

How about you?  Have you abandoned your resolutions already?  What single focus could you direct your attention on instead that might make a bigger difference?

Start as you mean to go on

A Thought for the Week

Live with intention
Walk to the edge
Listen hard
Practice wellness
Play with abandon
Laugh
Choose with no regret
Continue to learn
Appreciate your friends
Do what you love
Live as if this is All there is 

~ Mary Anne Radmacher

photo by Sir Merv

Happy New Year!

I stole this off John's blog HiLife2B (but I don't think he'll mind)

“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”

- William Arthur Ward

 

Wishing you much joy and many blessings over the coming year - Hilda.