I want to share what I have learned.  Around this time last year, I had a picture of where I thought my life was headed.  There were struggles, sure, but I knew where I was going.  Then, things and people in my life started peeling away to where it seemed that it was just my husband and I–all alone in the world.

As more and more things exited from our lives, my husband and I were looking at each other, wondering what was happening.  Then, some new opportunities opened up, which led to some new friendships and business relationships.  Now my life is going in an entirely different direction and my world is on the increase!

I admit, it got kind of dark for a while and I was starting to wonder if I was doing it all wrong.  I had changed a lot over the last few years so it made sense that my friendships would change, but to have them all go away was a bit daunting.  I am a born again Christian and as things continued to exit from my life, I continued to believe God had his hand on me.  Enter Faith.  Faith that whatever was going on, He had the big picture in mind and I had to trust that this was so.

When I finally let go–took my hands off of everything and just trusted that God truly was manifesting the next part of his plan for my life–it was such a relief not to be trying to do it all myself.  I am grateful for the opportunity to experience this.  It was a lot like bungee jumping–down, down, down wondering if I will be caught up before I splat onto the bottom.

God is my bungee.  He was there all along even when it seemed that I was there by myself–He was there and when it seemed that all was lost, He caught me up and showed me a life more abundant than the one I could create for my self.

For a long time I thought I was the only one in my presentheart.  I visit there from time to time, but God is the permanent resident of my presentheart.

Let God be there for you in your presentheart.  He won’t let you down.  Ever.

What do the words faith and belief mean to you?  Some people feel they mean the same thing.  Maybe they do, but please allow me to show you a different perspective. 

I was on a training call a while back and the speaker told us a story about her son.  They had gone out to eat and while they were there, her son asked for money to play a game so he could win a toy.  The game was one of those machines filled with toys where you position the claw over the toy you want, or think you can get, and push the button.  The claw drops, then lifts up and opens over the chute.  If there is a toy in its grip, you get it; if not you get nothing.  They gave the boy some money and he ran off to play his game.  They child was gone for awhile and came back with three toys!  How very surprising it would have been for a small child to get one toy, let alone three!  This young boy was so excited and confided to his mom that it was extra exciting because he had only thought he could get two toys!

There are many facets of this story.  This is a child who clearly has not been taught what he cannot do.  This is a child who looked at the situation, decided he believed he could get two toys and took action.  This is a child who, upon achieving his goal, kept playing the game to achieve more.  Have you ever stopped your own momentum because you had achieved your goal?  I can tell you for sure I have.  Just like us, he also could have run back to his parents and crowed about his victory.  Instead, he kept at it and achieved more than his original goal.

This is a great example of belief.  This little boy wanted something and it didn’t even occur to him that he couldn’t have it.  He BELIEVED he could take the correct action in order to achieve his goal.  

To me, faith is between me and God.  Whatever higher power you believe in is fine for you, but for me I deliberately choose to acknowledge God as God.   When I set out a goal for myself, with no obvious path to achievement; I am exercising my FAITH that God will prevail for me.  When I think of having faith, it means believing in divine or universal power intervening on my behalf.  Having faith also means knowing God will protect me when I am uncertain of my surroundings so fear and worry have no value. 

There are many things in day to day life where we exercise our faith in something seemingly independent from God.  For myself, I know down inside my present heart, I have faith that the order of life, set out by God, will prevail on my behalf today.

From my perspective, belief is in me and faith is when I must leave the result up to God.

All of us have heard the phrase “be, do, have”.  Have you ever stopped to consider what the phrase really means?  Most people think the “do” or the “have” come first.  Meaning, you cannot “be” anything of value until you “do” or “have” different things. 

Do you know anyone who says, “if I get the promotion, then I will be someone to recon with”?  Maybe you have heard, “If I get the girl, then I’ll be happy” or “if I lose weight, then I will feel better about myself”.  Perhaps you yourself have made similar statements.  If so, you may want to re-think your position.

I believe the reason “be” comes first is because “be” comes first.  What is, is.  Very simple and basic.  In the present moment you can only be who you are and who you are is not dependent on any external factors.  God created you to “be” the person he created you to be.  It isn’t something you must work for and it isn’t something that comes to you.  You were created with the whole package.  It is already there—here and now.  You are who you are.  Rejoice in that because the Creator of all crafted you to be who you are for a specific purpose.

Are you willing to stop resisting and just accept you are special and handcrafted by the God of the universe?  Don’t feel you are anything special?  Again, rethink your position.  You are the one and only person crafted to be who you are so that you can do what you are here to do.   When God created you, He did so with a special purpose in mind.  There isn’t another living being that is capable of being you.  No one else is like you and the more you begin to understand the self you are, the more influence you will have.  The more power you will have.

Once you are able to accept who you are and the value you have, the resistance goes away.  When the resistance goes away you become very present and things begin to happen.  You become much more creative and you start to believe you can do whatever is there for you to do.  And, as you stop focusing on yourself and you start to use your abilities and gifts, you will begin to “do” and “have” the stuff of your dreams.

Take time in your present heart to sit back and just be.  To see yourself as you really are and allow yourself to understand you have everything you require to accomplish your life’s purpose.

There is a lesson to be found in how trees grow.  Plant the typical tree out in the wide open spaces and it will grow wide as well; but what happens if you plant a tree in a narrow confined space?

Several years ago I had a tree expert come in to do some work on our trees.   At the time, we had a beautiful mountain ash tree in our back yard that was tall and straight; a really beautiful tree.  Upon seeing the Mountain Ash, the tree man’s first comment was “My goodness, that is a tall, skinny Ash tree”.  His comment made my tree seem less than desirable so I asked him what he meant.

He told me that a typical Mountain Ash tree usually spreads wider and wider as it grows each year, but my tree was indeed tall and skinny, like an arrow.  Thinking about it, I realized the first Mountain Ash tree I fell in love with was pretty much as wide as it was tall; quite unlike my Mountain Ash tree.

He went on to tell me that trees planted in narrow areas tend to stay very narrow.  Actually, they can usually grow wider than they do, meaning they don’t even fill up all the space they have.  There are, of course, varieties of trees that are destined to grow a certain way regardless of their surroundings.

The lesson, of course, is about the limitations we choose to accept in our lives.  We all know people who think we should be different than we are.  Almost everyone, at times, wishes they were smarter, stronger, quicker, or whatever.  When we look at ourselves, those things we see as being “less than” are the limitations we choose.  Do you ever feel if you were smarter, you would be better?  If you were stronger, would that make you better?  Or, if someone else was smarter or stronger, would they be better?

It is the same thing as the elephant with the string on his foot.  When an elephant is a baby, a chain is placed in his foot and the baby elephant is raised with the limitation created by the chain.  He cannot go anywhere, so he eventually stops trying.   When he has stopped testing the chain, a string can be used to remind the elephant he cannot go anywhere.  Is that really true?  Of course not.  The elephant could snap that string in a second if, for a second, he believed he could.  The trouble is that he believes the limitation is real so he never tries to go anywhere at all.

How often have you wanted to have or do something and found yourself thinking, “I can’t have that because I’m not smart enough” or “I can’t do that because I’m not strong enough”?  Isn’t it time you decided you can have or do the desires of your heart?  Isn’t it time you discover for yourself what you can do instead of deciding what you can’t do?

Look inside your present heart and find your abilities, strengths and gifts.  You are smart enough. You are strong enough.  You are quick enough.  You were created with a complete set of whatever you require to attain the God given desires of your heart.

Oh, and those other trees, the ones that grow the way they are supposed to regardless of their surroundings?  Those are the people around you who already know what their limitations are not. 

Letting go is a concept that, to a lot of people, is about losing something.  Perhaps you have had a dream of owning your own business to enable you to own your time.  You have given all the blood, sweat and tears you have to give.  You hate to let go, but you must because you are out of money, out of friends, getting no where.  Letting go means the end of your dream to build that business.  You let go and you watch everything fall away.  Wow.  That feels like such a big loss!  You did not get what you wanted, and now not only do you not have a way that doesn’t work, you don’t have a way that does work either. 

Okay, now for the other side of letting go.  Think about your dream of owning your own business to enable you to own your time.  You have given all the blood, sweat and tears you have to give.  You accept that it wasn’t the right time, the right place, the right vehicle, or whatever.  Picture yourself in a boat on a river, holding onto the rope that keeps your boat at the pier.  The pier is your past; it is everything you have gone through to bring you to the point where you choose to let go.  You let go of the rope and see, not the pier moving away; but you moving away from the pier in the current—this is you being present.  Hanging onto the pier was the same as hanging onto an anchor.  It was keeping you from moving on.  It was keeping you stuck being stuck.  As you drift away from the pier, you naturally turn your eyes forward toward where you are going and you realize where you have been doesn’t matter nearly so much as where you are going.

Recently, my husband and I have re-evaluated the quality of our lives and we have chosen to let go of a number of things.  Artemis Limpert, who is one of our favorite trainers, talks about “DOR” which means “dropped on request”.  This concept is from the military and basically addresses quitting because things are too hard.  Our choice to let go of some things isn’t about letting go of our dreams because things got challenging, it is about finding the best direction to point ourselves toward in order to achieve our dreams.  We finally got to the point where we realized changing direction isn’t quitting.  It is simply choosing the next step on our path. 

One by one we have made decisions of what to release our hold on.  As we let go of the first couple of things we definitely felt the loss and wondered if we were out of our minds for letting go.  The change came when we began to realize the abundance of opportunity available to us once we moved our focus off that which we felt we must let go of and moved it onto how to spend our future.

A few years ago an email made the rounds and it included a poem called simply “The Dash”.   It was about the dash on a tombstone in between the year of birth and the year of death.  That dash represents how you have spent your life.  Do you want to spend your dash hanging on to things you fear letting go of?  Or, do you want to spend your dash choosing where you are going by letting go of things that won’t take you there?

Spend some time in your present heart, decide where your boat is going, let go of the rope tied to the pier, and move out into the current toward your future.

Your life thus far is the perfect reflection of everything you truly want.  Surprising?  Absolutely disagree?  Take a minute to consider the reality.

You say you want to build a big organization in Network Marketing, or you want the promotion at work with the corner office, or maybe you just want a great relationship.  A lot of people would say you haven’t done what it takes to get those things.  While I agree with that, I would mix it up a bit and say you have gotten exactly what you wanted.

Let me explain.  In your network marketing business, do you schedule your time and use it for income producing activities?  Do you consistently strive toward personal excellence?  Do you have an absolute belief in your industry, company and products?  Do you ask for referrals?  Do you take risks?  Do you follow ALL the instructions given to you by your Upline Leader?

In your job, do you do more than is asked of you?  Are you a team player?  In your relationships are you open and honest?  Are you willing to work for your relationship? 

These may seem to be easy questions and most of you will say, “yes, of course I do”.  But, if you truly want these things, but don’t yet have them, you have to get real.  You must want things to be different more than you want them to be the same. 

If you do schedule your time, do you break your schedule?  If you don’t schedule your time, why not?  Be honest, are your activities truly income producing activities, or are they just what you are willing to do during the time you schedule to work your business?  Do you truly strive toward personal excellence or do you work toward bolstering up your comfort zone?  Do you absolutely believe in your industry, company and products, or do you just really, really want to believe in your industry, company and products?  How much time do you spend making excuses—that would be your reasons why you didn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t, can’t…you get the picture.

The same thing with your job and relationships—do you play full out?  Or do you cop out and wallow in your excuses? Are you a victim or a victor?

But wait…here is the great part.  None of this matters now.  What matters now is where you are and whatever it takes to get you from where you are to where you want to be.  

You are perfectly fine right where you are.  Really.  As long as you resist that idea, it isn’t going to change.  So accept it.  You are perfectly fine, right where you are with everything just the way it is.  Accepting this is key.  The next step is to decide where you want to be in your life.  Once you have decided that, the next decision is which do you want more; for your life to be the same or for your life to be different.  If you truly want different, you will have to let go of your grip on your comfort zone, which is where you are right now; and move toward the life your want more.  

Yes, it may be uncomfortable; but maybe it won’t be as uncomfortable as you think.  Yes, you will probably make some mistakes; but maybe you won’t make mistakes or if you do maybe you will learn from them.  Yes, you will start to get the things you really want; isn’t it about time?

Spend some time in your present heart and decide what you want most in the whole, wide world.  If you truly want it most, it will come to pass.

I was cleaning out my pond today, getting ready for spring.  As I cleared some of the dead plants away, I saw all my fish down in the bottom; having survived another winter.  How much they have grown!  Each year they are a little bit bigger or they are a little bit missing.  It happens!

Typically the fish in my pond live through several seasons and each year they grow larger.  Some even have baby fish.  I have had many fish that started their lives in my pond and spent their entire lifespan there.  I have had fish live long enough in my pond to grow to 19 inches in length and I have had many fish taken by predators. 

I also have had other creatures that live in my pond or visit my pond.  Some of my residents have been water skippers, dragonflies, tadpoles and frogs.  Also, a large variety of birds and squirrels visit my pond daily.

Time goes by and as it passes there is always opportunity for a new experience, and therefore an opportunity to learn.  I have had my pond many years now and something new occurred to me today.

My pond is a lot like life.  Some of the fish in my pond started in one place and ended up in my pond.  Others were born in my pond and spend their entire lives there.  I have had water skippers just show up and disappear on a regular basis.  I have purchased plants that came with dragonfly larvae and I have also had them choose my pond to live in as well.  I can purchase tadpoles, place them in my pond and when they grow up into frogs, sometimes they leave my pond and move on; sometimes they stay. 

Some people, like my fish, explore their environment, accept the limitations they see and create a life for themselves within the boundaries they perceive.  They believe this is what life has to offer and they don’t believe there is anything they can do about it. 

Do you know anyone like the water skippers who flit from place to place on a whim, without a care?  We all know at least one of those free spirits.

The frogs are near and dear to my heart.  Even though all they know is the pond, when they grow up, they eventually all climb out of the pond.  Now some of them will find a lovely spot nearby where they can choose to be in the pond or out, according to their own choice.  And then there are the frogs that climb out of the pond and head for parts unknown.

Like the frogs, there are those people out there who have a knowing that there is more available to them and the choice is theirs.  There is more out there than is evidenced by their surroundings.    There are also people all around us who will, with the best of intentions, tell us to get back into the pond so we can stay safe.  Maybe the fish even tell the frogs that.   

I also have to admit that the fish in my pond are no more safe than the frogs who leave.  For ourselves, we don’t know the number of our days.

The lesson from the pond is this.  If you are happy in your pond and feel safe and peaceful, stay there and love the life you create for yourself.  If you feel there is more out there for you, by all means, climb out of the pond; and go after it.  We all have a different vision of what we want our lives to look like and everyone’s vision is perfect for them.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Spend some time in your present heart and see if you want to live life in your pond, or if you want to go search for greener pastures.

Today I went to a movie called, “The Bucket List”.  The bucket list is all the things you want to do before you kick the bucket.  It sounds a little maudlin, however I think the concept has great value.  The first thing that went on the bucket list was to “witness something majestic”.  As the movie continued on there were many things crossed off as they were accomplished.  Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman played the two main characters and they went to the Himalayas to witness something majestic.  When they got there, they discovered they were too late in the season, the storms had moved in and there was nothing to see until spring.  They left without ever seeing what they came for.

Having gotten drawn into the movie I felt sadness that they didn’t witness something majestic.  I really wanted them to see the mountain in all its glory.    However, when I began to think about it, there was majesty all around them.  Indeed, there is majesty everywhere.

They went to the Himalayas to find something majestic.  They flew over the polar ice cap to get there and never noticed its majesty.  They visited the pyramids to mark that off their list, however never noticed the majesty of the pyramids.  They went on a safari where there were plains and animals stretched out as far as they could see and while they marked that off their list, they never saw the majesty. 

They talked about the Buddhists; that they believe when they get to heaven, they are asked two questions.  “Have you found your joy?” and “Have you brought joy to others?”  While my beliefs are different than those of the Buddhists, I feel those are extremely important questions.  What would the world be like if those two things were on all of our bucket lists? 

Have I found my joy?  I believe I have and simply understanding that joy is available was a big step to finding it.  I have a background of abuse and although it took many years, I have found my way home.  Home is where my joy is.  It isn’t my physical home; but it is home in my heart where I love myself unconditionally, regardless of what other people think.  In my heart where I have contentment with how far I have come and excitement for how far I still have to go.  My heart is where my happiness comes from as I go through my day creating the life I choose.  My heart is where I truly know I am okay.

Have I brought joy to others?  Absolutely I have!  I have my family, which includes my husband and our dogs, and they love and appreciate me.  I do many things for them as I go through my day.  I have friends I spend precious time with who are as grateful for me as I am for them.  We share our thoughts, ideas and dreams.  I have my clients who find their purpose in life and that brings them great joy.  I participate in Pet Therapy; my volunteer opportunity of choice.   There is healing for people we spend time with and their happiness is expressed time and time again.  We create smiles everywhere we go, whether it is for patients, visiting family or staff members.  I evaluate handler teams and am a member of the board of directors for our registry so other people can bring joy to others; as well as themselves.

How about you?  Have you found your joy?  Have you brought joy to others?

If you have, congratulations.  If you are still looking for your joy, or how to bring joy to others, look into your present heart, you’ll find it there! 

I recently purchased a used book.  I prefer new books, however this book is out of print and used was my only option. As I began reading this book, I found myself really warming up to the style of the author and felt he had much to offer me.  This book provided other ways to look at things I had already considered, as well as perspectives I had not yet even thought about.   Some things I had been resisting became very clear to me.   I began to read, I noticed the previous reader had underlined passages here and there throughout the pages.   I found myself paying attention to the passages the previous owner underlined, and I was amazed how much I agreed with those passages in particular.  It was very easy to agree with every single underlined passage. Reading along, I noticed the underlined passages dwindled and eventually disappeared altogether.   Initially, I wondered if I would lose interest in the book as the previous reader evidently had.  I continued to read and found myself feeling more and more grateful for the opportunity to read this author’s thoughts.  I felt as if he understood the path I am on and was providing me with very helpful assistance.   Throughout the book, I found myself wondering why the previous reader lost interest.  There were no more underlines.  I went back through the marked passages and reread them.  Not the whole book, just the marked passages.  I have seen many books with markings toward the beginning that did not continue throughout the entire book.  I always wondered if the person who marked the book ever finished it. Then, I remembered a speaker who spoke at a seminar and what I learned from her that day.  She spoke eloquently about growth and change, and about moving forward out of our comfort zones.  She commented that moving forward through that process could be accompanied by discomfort and resistance.  Many people get so uncomfortable, they retreat from change.   Part way through her comments, she asked us to look at the notes we had been taking.  Her theory was that every note we had written down was confirmation of what we already understood and agreed with.  So we were spending our time writing confirmation of our current mindset in order to remain exactly where we already were.   And, while we were writing down what we already agreed with, we were missing the information that we came to hear.   I believe what I observed in my book was a similar scenario to what I learned in the seminar.  The underlined passages were general information that would be very easy to agree with.  Is it possible that the previous reader didn’t finish the book because they already agreed with the message?  Or, they may have loved it because they found it so agreeable.  Or, perhaps they finished the book and benefited greatly.   We will never know. In any case, here is what I do know.  I used to be at the head of the class for taking notes that confirmed what I already agreed with.  The same goes for reading books and marking passages that I already agreed with.  I was well on my way to staying exactly where I already was.  I wanted to change how I think, without changing what I thought at all. Now when I read a book, I highlight the passages I have difficulty accepting.  When I go to a seminar I generally don’t take notes because I want to be present enough to hear everything.  There are times when I will write down things I don’t agree with.  When I feel resistance, I may write down what is being said so that I may receive an opportunity to explore my current mindset on the matter at a later time. Next time you pick up a great book, try marking the passages you have difficulty agreeing with.   If you feel resistance, read the chapter another time or two.  Pay attention when you feel resistance while attending a seminar.  Choose to be in your present heart and be open when you don’t agree.   

I have spent some time recently considering the idea of being present.  I have defined for myself what that means and wonder, what does it mean to you?  A few years ago I got in touch with the idea after speaking on a conference call where my topic was “Fear and Regret”. 

When you feel fear, you are undeniably projecting into the future what you believe could happen.  Think about any time where you have experienced fear.  Fear of not having the money to pay the mortgage, fear that a relationship will end, or even fear you won’t get home before your dog needs to go outside.  Fear is not based in actual reality; there is only potential that what you fear may happen, because either it hasn’t happened yet or you do not have knowledge that it has happened.  Take a minute and consider those times where you feared something that never actually happened.  Whether whatever you feared happens or not, the fear disappears.

Now, regret is all about wishing you could undo something.  Regret that you didn’t plan a few more days into your vacation?  Wish that you had bought a different car or that you hadn’t gotten a tattoo?  This is the stuff regret is made of.  It has already marked a place in time and is part of your history.

Your present portal is where you are in this current moment in time.  What is past is done and you have moved on; what is future is yet to be.  You know that moment when you smell a wisp of perfume and then it’s gone?  That was present.  What is so very important about being present is the very next thing you do, your next decision, the next step you take. 

Your present is a portal to the rest of your life.  It is a real time snapshot of where you were when you took your next step.  To be present is to be totally aware.  It is the moment you notice you are cold, the moment you smell the coffee, that first sound you hear upon waking.  It is here and now, up close and personal; it is what is.

Your present portal closes the door on your past mistakes and poor judgments; they no longer matter.  You are who you are in this moment in time, all that matters is just being.  Your present portal is the door where you are standing right now with the promise of your future offering nothing but opportunity to live your present in peace.

Consult your present heart and just be here, now.  Being present means there is no fear or regret so be aware and accept that you are you and what is, is.