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Tag: dreams

Choose your new year

Of course resolutions don’t need to happen only once a year, but the turn of a new year provides prime opportunity for reflection. Are you where you want to be? Are you who you want to be?
Do you want to become more generous? Click here for a 52-week challenge.
Do you want to become more thoughtful? Click here for a step-by-step guide to meditation.
Do you want to become more informed? Sign up for an online course.
Do you want to become more creative? Find a copy of The Artist’s Way in your local bookstore.
Do you want to become more adventurous? Click here to get out of your daily rut.
Do you want to become more kind? Click here to find volunteer opportunities near you.
Do you want to write a novel? Click here to get started.
Do you want to get healthy? Tackle daily challenges.
Do you want to be a better cook? Consider a meal plan to get started.
Do you want to meet someone new? Attend a dinner (or host one of your own).
Do you want more variety in life? Try these 30 challenges.
How lucky we are to be able to reassess, recreate, and redefine our goals! How lucky we are to have the choice to change! Here’s to a fantastic 2017. Tell me what you choose.

Why we must never give up hope

There is always someone to fight for.

There is always a reason to move forward.

There is always a voice that needs to be heard.

There is always a cause that demands attention.

There is always work to be done.

Give someone who needs it extra support today: a hug, a hello, a coffee, a flower, a smile, a listening ear, a word of encouragement, a kind hand. We are all neighbors in this life. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

Choose love even when you think you can’t afford to, when you can’t see light, when you feel the shadows have won. For that’s when you must fight. Fight to love. Fight to hope.

The danger of waiting for miracles

What if the miracle never happens?

What if while you’re waiting, something better comes along but you miss it because you’re too focused on waiting for the first miracle to happen?

What if instead of waiting for the miracle, you took concrete steps towards making a dream come true?

What if the miracle isn’t what you need in the first place?

If you are counting on a miracle for your plan to work, chances are you should focus your energy elsewhere.

How to write an article that goes viral

Quitting everything to go to Nepal is one of the scariest pieces I have published. I felt like a gutted fish, open and raw, when I wrote it. I had just come back from my first trip to Nepal, and I had so many thoughts swirling in my mind. I didn’t know how to share them and no one wanted to hear ALL of my stories, so I started to write. And write. And write. Writing has now become a daily compulsion.

I didn’t set out to write a viral article. I wanted to talk about what was trapped inside of me, experiences I wanted to let go of. I was a shaken can of soda and decided it was time to rip the lid off. The more I wrote, the easier it was for me to see common themes in my writings: family (lack of), love (searching for), work (wanting to do something meaningful), fear (of everything), risk (daily choices and big, lifetime decisions). I know I’m not the only one whose dreams have suffered because of one or all of these issues.

I remember counting to three before I clicked “publish.” My stomach was in knots, I had read and reread and rewritten and read again, over and over and over. I thought the post was going to ruin me. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I knew deep in my bones that I had to write. Fear wasn’t going to stop me. Intimidation wasn’t going to stop me. Lack of confidence in myself and my choices wasn’t going to stop me.

As a writer, that’s what you need to do. Tell the story that hurts, the ones that make your skin prickle. Write the lessons you’ve learned that caused you pain and made you stronger. Ignore that obnoxious voice that whispers you’re not good enough, experienced enough, smart enough, important enough. Tell that voice to go to hell and write. Rip the lid off and write. Readers don’t want prefabricated lines. Give them YOU — your honest, messy, unrefined self.

A recipe for finding answers

Go someplace quiet
Where you are truly alone
Turn off everything
Your phone, especially
And sit
Listen to your thoughts
Five minutes
Where does your mind take you
Ten minutes
Where does your heart take you
Fifteen minutes
What do you really, really want?
Be still
Be quiet
Repeat once a week (at least!)
And watch your life unfold

Priorities

Without a clear list of priorities, you will be sidetracked. Fixed, clear goals help you say yes when it supports you and no when it derails you. Priorities steer your ship in the direction you want to go as oppose to being blown around by life’s unavoidable forces.

Commit to at least three areas in your life and move them to the top of your “to do” list. Once you have these goals identified, you can work backwards to set monthly, weekly and daily actions. After all, one hour each day adds up.