How Far Have You Come?

I look back and don't even recognize the person I was a year ago.  The change on the outside is obvious, but the change on the inside is what has truly transformed me.  In the past year, I have learned and grown in so many ways.  Mistakes were lessons, proof that I was trying. 

Approach everything with a positive mindset and good intentions.  Every day is an opportunity to learn, grow, and become better.  There is no destination.  Life is a beautiful journey.  Look back to see how far you have come, look forward to the possibilities, but live and love in the present.

Crystal Kali - Let it Go

There will come a moment in your life where everything makes sense.  Where all the hurt, pain, and suffering just goes away because you understand it all.  You understand why it all happened and how it all fits into the bigger picture of your purpose here on Earth.  In that moment, all the dots of your life will connect together and you will understand why you are here.  When you realize that we are all connected, that we can are all one with the wind and sky...

Help Yourself

Who else is so guilty of getting pulled down when trying to help someone?  It's in our nature to want to help, but we must first help ourselves and not get pulled down.  In our efforts to help others, we sometimes end up with great losses or get burned by the other person, but the most important things are to have pure intentions in helping and learning the lessons that come from the experience.  Letting go does not mean you are giving up on the person, it means that you realize that they gave up on themselves.  You cannot want more for a person than they want for themselves.  Help yourself by forgiving and letting go.

Embrace Change

Change is a good thing.  We all wish our lives could be better in some way yet we don't make the changes for it to be so.  Change is fundamental to growth and development.  There is something so refreshing about clearing out the old and re-building the new.  You have the power to change yourself, change your life, and change the world.

Where to begin

Start with you.  Do something every day that makes you better.  Do something every day that makes you happy.  Feed your soul, not your ego.

Moving On Forward

So shit happens, and you move on.  BUT HOW?

There is a lot to consider when taking the next step forward.  I would say one of the most important things is to take some time and heal before running full speed ahead.  Most people skip this step and find themselves in the same situation over and over again wondering why the same thing keeps happening to them.  It is because they did not take the time to heal, learn, and grow from the experience.

 If you don't have the luxury of being able to take a small vacation or take time off work, just set aside a couple hours each day to really work on active healing.  It may be the gym, yoga, mediation, a spa treatment, singing, painting, writing in a journal, blogging, or a combination of all of the above.  Take some time to reflect on the situation and learn from it so that you really understand why it happened, what it means, how it helped in your life, and how to prevent it from happening again.  Don't look back with regrets or a sense of failure, but know that you gave your best and that it may have not been the right situation or the right time.  Everything happens for a reason and everything happens when it is supposed to happen.  Falling is part of life, but getting back up is living.  As my favorite author Paulo Coelho says, "The secret to life is to fall seven times and get up eight times."

Take the time to work on yourself, learn, grow, and be better.  The only reason you should ever look back is to see how far you have come. And then, when you are ready.... Pack your shit and move on!

Shit Happens

The reality is - shit happens.  It happens to everyone.  It happens in different ways, but everyone has some shit happen, some trauma or difficult situation to overcome.  Some people have financial issues, some have family issues, personal issues, weight issues, self esteem issues, incidents or violence or abuse, a combination of everything on this list, or a completely separate list.  Be what it may, no one's shit is better, worse, more important, or more compelling than anyone else's.  It's all just shit.  You may relate to someone's shit more because you have experienced similar shit. 

When shit happens, you have a moment to discover who you really are. It's an opportune time to make a life defining choice.  You can either spend all your time taking shit, making friends that have similar shit so you can talk shit, or you can wipe your ass and move on.  Are you a victim that will be taking shit all your life or are you a survivor that sees your potential to grow and move forward?

For the majority of people, they become "victims" when shit happens to them and they dwell on that.  They spend all their time talking shit and this just brings more shit into their lives.  They feel as though everything happens "to them" and that they are not at all responsible for the shit that is happening in their lives.  

But for the elite few of us that know shit is going to happen no matter what, we buy that triple ply charmin ultra soft and look forward to it.  We are prepared for anything and everything.  We are not victims, we are survivors.  We know that the challenges we face only make us stronger.  We overcome obstacles and move forward without looking back.  

If you want to change your life for the better, stop seeing yourself as a victim of shit that happens to you and take control of what happens in your life.  If you have these type of people in your life, re-evaluate your relationships with them.  My life definitely changed for the better after I started cutting these people out.  They are exhausting and draining, constantly taking as much as they can from everyone and complaining about everything.  I have so much more time and energy now, just from a shift in relationships.  Surround yourself with survivors that see the good and potential in themselves and in you.