Forgiving Yourself

Top of the hour!  I pray that everyone is having a great week.  If not, and the week has presented some bumps or challenges remember to pray.  Call on something Higher then yourself, call on your Creator.

A couple of weeks ago, I could not seem to figure out life.  It just seemed as if nothing and everything was going wrong at work.  You ever have one of those days?  I had a big task at work that needed a keen eye and I was on a time crunch.  Well, the work I produced did not turn out to my standards or my boss's standards either.  He did not need to beat me up because I did a great job of that myself.  I was basically in my feelings and I felt bad and embarrassed.  There was noting that my friends and family could have said because I felt like a "fuck-up".  I even asked God, "why?"  What lesson did He want me to  learn?  I could not get pass the embarrassment of messing up to clearly learn anything.  It took me a few days to finally quiet the talk in my head to distinguish between the facts and what seemed to be the truth.  When I was able to quiet down and start the healing process (after beating myself up) I started to learn from my experience.  One particular lesson is that I don't work well under pressure.  I learned that I have to plan ahead.  When I have to do things last minute or rush  I don't produce my best work.  

Second, I am learning that the brain/mind is a muscle.  I have to constantly condition and work with this muscle for it  be strong and healthy.  I am a big believer in positive reinforcement.  Praying, reading positive quotes and articles.  Repeating over and over in the morning, that "today is going to be a good day" or "Greater  is He who is in me then He who is in the world." I was polluting my muscle with negative things after I messed up, so I started to see the world as me being a "fuck up" and all I do is "fuck up some shit up".  That is not true and I am not owning that.  

Third, I am learning that we can not dodge making mistakes.  I read this quote on good old Instagram, "you might never fail on the scale I did, but some failures in life is inevitable.  It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all-in which case, you fail by default".  This blog is about encouraging you to LIVE!  So, living means that you are going to make mistakes.  I was so wrapped up in my mistakes that I did not realize that mistakes are apart of growth.  Evaluated mistakes lead to growth.   

Once I calmed down after the week's events I was able to see and understand what I was suppose to learn.    I read Elizabeth Gilbert's post on Facebook about self-forgiveness which  resonated with me:

"You'll never untangle the circumstances that brought you to this moment. But you are a warrior. Arise now, like a warrior. You are caught up in circumstances that God determined for you. Stand up and do your duty."

Such beautiful words of self-forgiveness!

The truth is that sometimes we find ourselves standing in predicaments that we simply cannot fix or untangle — or even begin to understand.

Sometimes we caused those predicaments; sometimes they were inflicted upon us; sometimes it's a mixture of both.

Sometimes, nothing can be done but to forgive ourselves for our own hopeless predicament (which invariably leads us to forgive others for THEIR hopeless predicaments) and then...arise.

Forgive, arise, and try again — humbled, but wiser.

Onward,
LG

So, my loves, remember to press your feet firmly on the ground and like LG said, it best: "forgive, arise, and try again--humbled, but wiser".  Isn't that what life is about remembering to live, love, and share!

See you next week!  Bigger and better because your are going to arise and try again. 

Love, 

LO--

wants vs.wishes

The journey continues y'all.  I have been off the scene for a minute now and a friend recently reminded me about all the great post I shared.  Plus, she mentioned my journey.  In less then a week we will be half way through the year. Friends and I sat around the grill talking about this year's life

lessons.  This group was not shy of expressing the highs and lows of half the year.  IT's NOT OVER!  That is what we all agreed about.  The best is yet to come.  What I noticed is that all of us had goals and ambitions that we were ready to put to the the test.

So enough catching up and on to the lesson!  Jack Canfield, the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul posted  his 101 Lifetime Goals "list". The list consisted of all the things he wanted to accomplished in his life.    See below are some of what is on his list.  The bold items are things he as already accomplished.

Personal Achievements

51. Appear on the Phil Donahue Show (deleted because it is no longer airing, but I have appeared on the Larry King Show, Fox and Friends, The Today Show and Good Morning America, as well as more than 100 other television shows and more than 700 radio shows)

52. Appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show

53. Write a best selling book (61 best-sellers so far)

54. Make one million dollars in one year ($20 million best year so far, plus $20 million one year when we sold one of my companies)

55. Golf 18 holes under 90 (Deleted due to ruptured disc)

56. Run a 10k race

57. Run 14 miles in less than 3 hours

58. Meet a U.S. president while he/she is still in office (I had lunch at the White House but President Bush was traveling in Texas)

59. Build or buy my dream house

60. Own a vacation home in Hawaii

61. Own my own pool table

His list got me thinking about wants vs. wishes.  Do we really know what we want?  Are we clear that what we want takes persistence?  Our wishes are those things we give little effort to and it would make things a little more comfortable.  Think about it, you say it all the time, "I wish I could afford those Louboutin's in every color". "I wish I could win the Mega Millions,  it would change everything".  Little effort.

I want to start my own list.  Starting your list and writing it down gives it power. The clique saying, "out of sight, out of mind", is so true.  If you don't write it down and see it and review it, and study it, then it just becomes another wish.

Here is the outline to making your wants:

                                                1. you decide what exactly you want 

                                                2. you write it down 

                                                3. make a plan

                                                4. you have to take action on the plan

                                                5. you create benchmarks along the way 

You can wish for a baggin' body and it will only remain a wish until you decided that you want to live a healthy life.  Here is an example: you determined exactly how much you want to lose.  Then, you write it down.  You make plan to start.  You start to workout and eat healthy daily.  You meet with a trainer, you join a gym, and you buy healthy foods.  Along the way you weigh yourself at the 3 week mark of working out, you might even make the workout a little more harder along the way.  Looking at this example also reminds me that your list is a process.

So, I don't want y'all to just read this post, I want you to challenge yourself to think about your own list and create what you want.  Get a journal and start creating your list!  It does not have to be 101, but what every it is let it be your ultimate best and commit to it.  I am working on my list and will share my list with you in the future.  In the meantime, start your list.  We only get better when we remember to live, love and share.  Share your list with me and we can hold each other accountable.

I look forward to seeing you again on Thursday (teaching/sharing with you is on my list).


Lo,
xo