Category: Mind

The Gift of Transparency

SuzetteMind

Have you ever noticed how good it makes you feel when a friend allows you to see their imperfections? Suddenly you no longer feel the need to be perfect yourself, or to measure up to what your idea of their perfection is.

This is a concept I have long been aware of but have struggled with personally through much of my life, especially in my younger years. I often felt I had to hide my true self out of fear that others wouldn’t think I was good enough, or may even think I was goofy. This keeps others from really knowing you. It also keeps you from becoming who you were created to be, because you are so busy trying to be the person you think everyone wants you to be that you never get the opportunity to be you.

One of the elements of the wisdom that comes with age is the shedding of this idea that we must be perfect to be loveable. Just 13 months from turning 60, I am finally getting better at losing some of the burden of thinking I have to pretend I am someone I am not. How liberating!

I had the blessing of allowing myself to be seen this week, and the best part of that experience was that I think it blessed someone else in the process. During a conversation with an acquaintance who is a peer in my industry, I let my guard down. This is someone who is highly respected by our peers, someone who seems to have it all together. During our conversation, she allowed the slightest hint that she is feeling disheartened with some things right now, and I decided I’m going in. The door was ajar, and I pushed it wide open, sharing with her how I have been feeling about some things, and she immediately responded in kind.

What a blessing! We both learned we are not alone! Not only are we not alone, but someone we respect and admire is in a similar place. So maybe we’re not so crazy after all! (Or if we are, at least we’re in good company!)

When was the last time you allowed yourself to be truly seen? Is there someone you could bless today by allowing them to see the real, imperfect you? You will find it liberating, and in the process may find a piece of yourself you’ve been missing!

Shalom!

Wayne Dyer’s 10 Secrets for Success & Inner Peace: Secret 1

SuzettePersonal Growth

94857135873008921_cZoVDmYi_cHow do you define success?  In Wayne Dyer’s book, 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace, he talks about “The peace of God that truly defines success.”  Oh, but doesn’t that sound blissful?

Secret 1

Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.

There are so many ways that we learn to attach the idea of success to different expectations.  Expectations of our parents, our teachers, our religion, society and our culture.  How is it that some people have the ability at a young age to ignore those expectations and go forth in the world with the freedom to be who they were created to be, while the rest of us struggle with the need to please in such a way that it exceeds our ability to be true to ourselves?

Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to individual and world peace.

Individual and world peace.  Isn’t that what we all dream of?  Can it really be as simple as Wayne Dyer makes it sound?  So where do we begin?  Wayne instructs us to first release our attachments by changing how we view ourselves.  To be attached to nothing means no longer identifying yourself through your body’s appearance and your possessions.  Being attached to these things allows the ego to be the dominating force in your life.  By letting go of these attachments and taming the ego, your spirit can become the guiding force in your life instead.

Sounds so easy, doesn’t it?  However, like any lifelong habit, this can be a hard one to break.  It doesn’t happen overnight, and some days are better than others.  Meditation and prayer can help get us there and keep us on the right path.  The ego will always try to regain control, so a daily ritual of being still and letting God’s guiding light into your day is an important practice in making and maintaining this transition.

The Scriptures say, “With God all things are possible.”

A mind that’s open to everything means being peaceful, radiating love, practicing forgiveness, being generous, respecting all life, and most important, visualizing yourself as capable of doing anything that you can conceive of in your mind and heart.

If all things are truly possible, then we have nothing to worry about, right?  And yet worry we do.  We worry about everything.  If we can learn to let go of that worry and be patient in knowing that everything will happen at exactly the right time, would that not make it so much easier to be open to everything and attached to nothing?  In the knowing that whatever God has planned for us will happen in exactly His perfect timing, we have no reason to worry about potential lack or loss.  This knowing will truly result in inner peace.

A Course in Miracles states, “Infinite patience produces immediate results.”  It implies that in your patience you know with certainty that what you would like to manifest will show up in perfect order, right on time.

Wayne’s first secret has two parts: (1) a mind that is open to everything, and (2) a mind that is attached to nothing.  Again, he says that our attachments are the source of all of our problems.  “The need to be right, to possess someone or something, to win at all costs, to be viewed by others as superior – these are all attachments.”  Imagine what the world would be like if we could all learn to let go of these attachments!

In all of your relationships, if you can love someone enough to allow them to be exactly what they choose to be – without any expectations or attachments from you – you’ll know true peace in your lifetime.

Now that’s a life I want to be a part of!  Shalom!

 

Marrow: A Love Story by Elizabeth Lesser

SuzetteMind

marrowAs so often happens with me, a recent interview I saw on Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday led me to my next soul-journey book.  This wasn’t the first time I had seen Oprah’s interview with Elizabeth Lesser, but it was the first time that the interview led me to buy and read this book.

Oftentimes I am inspired by a spiritual teacher I see with Oprah, I purchase their book, and about a third of the way through I discover another teacher/book, and I am like a squirrel, not sure which delectable nut to chase first.  The end result is that I start a lot of wonderful books, but finish few.

Not so with Marrow.  This book met me right where I live.  When Elizabeth shared with Oprah that her sister Maggie told her the last year of her illness, the year before her death when she was in emotional and physical pain beyond our understanding, was the best year of her life, I knew I had to know more.  What could have led Maggie to feel this way?  What can we learn from Maggie so that we can live the best year of our life every year without having to endure a life-ending illness to get there?

Continue reading “Marrow: A Love Story by Elizabeth Lesser” →

Let the Universe Rise Up to Meet You

SuzettePersonal Growth

india arie

Oprah’s interview with India Arie is a beautiful lesson in having the confidence to follow your own God-given instincts.  Of the many lessons in this interview well worth watching, one valuable take away that India shares is this:  When you follow your instincts for God’s plan on your life, the Universe will rise up to meet you where you are.

My reading this morning from Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love:  Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, continued this theme for me.  Marianne’s book carries the blessings of a daily devotional.  I relate to her teachings because she is preaching what I believe: God Is Love.  Jesus Is Love.  If we all conducted ourselves from this foundation, I believe the travesties of today’s society would cease.

This morning’s reading resonated with me not because of its impact on a global level but because it hits me where I am today.  A creative with an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong desire to help others, I am as far removed from a “salesperson” as you could be.  My “anti-sales” attitude causes me to stand in my own way in my desire to help others, however.  I am so strongly opposed to “selling” someone that I sometimes prevent myself from doing what I really want to do:  help them.

“When we are motivated by the desire to sell, we are only looking out for ourselves.  When we are motivated by the desire to serve, we are looking out for others.”  Marianne Williamson

The Universe is truly meeting me where I am this morning, leading me to read this chapter at a time when I needed it most.  Mary Ann talks about the concept of refusing to do what you feel called to do because you “can’t make a living doing it.”  In the interview I watched last night between Oprah and India, they talked about the “walking dead,” people who are just existing in the world, not doing what they were sent here to do because they don’t see how they could support themselves doing it, or they lack the confidence to follow their instincts and just do it. They end up just going through the motions of life, not truly living.  Even worse, the failure to do what you were created to do causes depression, irritability, and physical disease.

“Whatever it is you want to do, give it away to your community.”  Marianne Williamson

This is so in keeping with where I am today.  In a conference call with my Wildtree director last week, I told her I just don’t want to be a salesperson.  I cannot approach my business that way.  It is the total antithesis of who I am.  I have to work in service to others, and if God wants me to make a living doing it, that’s great, but that cannot be my reason for doing it.  I am doing it for the shear pleasure of helping others, and I am letting God decide what that will look like.

Thank you, Universe, for rising up to meet me where I am with these messages from my Sisters in Christ.

Shalom!

April 28: The Intuitive Sense

SuzettePersonal Growth

pinkpalmtreesIntuition is a spiritual faculty, and does not explain, but simply points the way.  Florence Scovel Shinn

Sarah refers to intuition as “the subliminal sense Spirit endowed us with to maneuver safely through the maze that is real life.”  We have all experienced the positive results of listening to our intuition, as well as the negative results that come when we ignore it.

When I decided to move to Florida from upstate New York in 2005, I knew, deep down in my gut, that it was a move I was supposed to be making.  Intellectually, it made no sense.  I had a great job.  I had just bought the house I was in and renovated it barely a year before.  I was a single mother.  I had no idea how I would find the energy or wherewithal to do everything it would take to sell my home, find a job a three-hour flight away, find a new home, and have all of the pieces of the puzzle work in such a way that I could make it all happen.  I couldn’t imagine how it would all come together, I just knew deep down in my spirit that I had to do it.  I forged forward in a total leap of faith, and the entire process went off without a hitch.  My house sold the day I flew to Florida for job interviews.  I had a job offer before returning to New York at the end of that weekend.  My new employer was willing to wait three months for me to start so that my son could finish the school year.  I somehow found the energy and strength to pack up the house, find a new house, and get everything moved 1300 miles away. During that period, I heard a sermon at church that couldn’t have rung more true:  When you listen to where you are being led, and you follow, you will find yourself in the zone. Continue reading “April 28: The Intuitive Sense” →

What a Wonderful World It Would Be …

SuzetteCreativity / Art / Design

ep431-own-sss-steven-pressfield-3-320x180I pulled up an old Super Soul Sunday episode last night.  It was Oprah interviewing Steven Pressfield.  A prolific writer, he was exactly who I was needing to hear from as I work at getting myself in my studio to write on a more regular basis.

Steven talked about what keeps us from doing whatever it is we are meant to do – whether you are a writer, an artist, or an entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter.  When there is something that you know that you know you were put on this earth to do, why don’t you do it? Why are there so many miserable people out there, working in jobs that they know they don’t belong in?  Steven calls it Resistance.  I call it the enemy.  The closer we get to being in the zone of where God put us here to be, the harder the enemy works to keep us from it. Continue reading “What a Wonderful World It Would Be …” →

April 18: “The Face in the Looking Glass”

SuzetteBeauty

Helpful-Hints-165x200-Play-Experiment-Have-Fun“One of the ways that we can begin to love our faces is to enhance them with makeup.” Sarah Ban Breathnach

Sarah has captured so beautifully in today’s reading how I feel about makeup. Like Sarah, I have had different phases in my life when I questioned the authenticity of plying myself with “war paint,” but I finally came to the same conclusions that she did:

“I began to become aware of the fact that looking your best, working with what you have, and bringing out your natural beauty with makeup was not as superficial a goal as I had originally thought. Makeup was simply a tool to help me look my best. When I looked my best, I felt better. When I felt better, I had more energy and accomplished more and was more outgoing.”

Everything Sarah says here rings true for me. It is why I love being a Mary Kay beauty consultant. Giving women makeovers, taking before and after photos, and seeing their faces light up at the transformation is so rewarding for me. Likewise, teaching teenage girls the proper way to wear makeup so that they don’t hide their true beauty is equally as rewarding. There is something so gratifying in helping people to feel good about themselves, whether it is the application of makeup or helping them to earn some beautiful free jewelry. It all makes them smile, and making people smile is who I am.

Shalom!

April 12: “Learning to Love and Honor Your Body”

SuzetteBeauty

beauty-1“The body is a sacred garment. It’s your first and last garment, it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.” Martha Graham

We women have such a love hate relationship with our bodies, don’t we? We envy the best features of another while discounting our own positive attributes. We wish we had Sally’s eyes or Megan’s legs, and we fail to appreciate and be grateful for our own unique qualities.

We all have them. Each and every one of us has been blessed with gifts that make us who we are. If you look critically at some who you find especially attractive, you may be surprised to realize that there really isn’t anything particularly outstanding about them compared to someone else – what makes them appear so spectacular is the fact that they feel spectacular, from the inside out. Continue reading “April 12: “Learning to Love and Honor Your Body”” →

February 25: Reordering Your Priorities

SuzettePersonal Growth

boyCAYJN0F7

“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.”  Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

How have you been doing at taking your quiet meditation time each day? I hope you have been doing better than I have recently.  I am sorry to admit that these last few weeks, I have not spent enough time in silence.  I am living at this harried, frenetic pace, so much to do and so little time.  But then, once again, I hear the now familiar voice coming from within … “Relax.  Enjoy the moment.  All will be done as it is supposed to be.”  I smile to myself during those moments, recognizing the progress that I am making on this journey of transformation.

I took one of those moments last night, enjoying my grandsons for a few hours and ignoring the work I had planned for the evening.  I have been working so much I have barely seen them in recent weeks, and they were so excited to see me (and I them!) that I couldn’t leave them.  So I stayed.  I stayed and let my heart fill with the joy of listening to one after the other say, “Nana, watch this!”, so excited were they to have my attention.  They have no sense of time.  These beautiful little spirits live in the moment and enjoy it to the fullest, with no thoughts about needing to hurry up and finish what they are doing because it will be bath time soon.  They don’t worry about that.  They don’t worry about what is waiting for them.  They are completely, wholly in the present and loving every minute of it.  Oh what we can learn from them, and what a gift it was to myself to allow myself time to be still and enjoy their presence without thinking about the work that was waiting for me.

“Today make getting in touch with the Silence within your first priority.  As you do, you will be amazed at how everything else seems to find its own order.”  Sarah Ban Breathnach

I didn’t get here overnight, and the transformation isn’t going to happen overnight either, but as long as I am moving in the direction of positive change, I can be satisfied.  I will try harder to learn the lessons my grandsons teach me about enjoying the moment without worrying about what is next.  And I will work harder to get my butt in that meditation chair every day.  Maybe if I write it on my schedule that will help …

Shalom!

February 24: “Now That I’ve Gotten Your Attention”

SuzettePersonal Growth

“Sometime in your life you will go on a journey.  It will be the longest journey you have ever taken.  It is the journey to find yourself.”  Katherine Sharp

Hopefully everyone will take this journey at some point in their life, before it is too late for them to do so.  I wish I had done so earlier, but I am glad that at least I am doing it now.  Some days it is easier than others.

“I know how easy it is to find heartfelt excuses for why you can’t begin something new even if you yearn to, desperately.”  Sarah Ban Breathnach

There have been many days in these past two months were I have spent time searching my soul, searching my memories, and listening to my heart and Divine guidance in this quest to become the person that I was put on this earth to become.  There have also been many days when I’m just tired.  My real estate business is important to me, and I am committed to making it a success.  I’m busy with my mind going in multiple directions, and sometimes I find it hard to remove that distraction long enough to be still and do the soul work that is so important to me right now.  But at least I am moving in the right direction.

“How many times in the past have we chosen not to change our lives for the better simply by not choosing?”  SBB

I have chosen.  I have chosen to become the very best version of my authentic self possible.  It is a commitment that I have made to myself, and I am sticking to it.  I may have days of lapse, but they are only temporary, and I know that the next day I will be back in my chair, meditating and listening to the voice of God whispering in my ear, leading me in the right direction.

“Keep your eyes on the horizon.  Or stay on shore.  But choose.”  SBB

I pray that you are keeping your eyes on the horizon with me.

Shalom!