2012 is here, are you?

It is a new year, my friends, and I'm sure that with all of the new years resolutions we have made or have thought about making or have contemplated and then decided to not risk failing and so have not made that we can agree that with every new years mark we are hopeful for a better year in the future. But along with that hope and excitement we all have some decisions to make. First of all, and I'm sure many of you have heard a version of this before, but the only way to see  change happen in our world is to start by changing ourselves. A little less global version of that idea reminds us that it is the crazy person who would repeat the same action and hope for a different result. I would like to think that I'm not crazy but I have to ask myself....how many times, seasons, periods of my life have I been miserable or discontent with my situation but have allowed myself to keep wallowing in the vacillation of depression and blame? More simply put, why have I allowed myself to ever blame other people for my current state of affairs? If when I look at my life I don't like what I see I really have no right to accuse other people for putting me there. I am so blessed at this point in my life and am truly able to say that I am in a state of abundance but you know what?, I don't know how long this season will last. It may last a year, ten years, ten days, ten more minutes, but I had better be ready for the winds to change (because they will) and I had better be ready to approach life,myself, and others with the same gratitude and compassion and energy that comes so easily today. Because in a new year we start out with high hopes. But those high hopes are only valuable if they are accompanied with a high output of directed energy and passion as well. Don't just hope for change. That's what victims do. Make the changes in your life, however small or big, that you know are necessary for you to experience the changes and growth that you are desperate and eager for. Take the time. Look within. Then look around. And take a chance. Risk big. We are never promised more than today. So give this day everything within you. And don't hold back from seizing opportunities, challenging yourself, putting yourself in awkward situations that demand that you expand and redefine the lines that confine you. Life is short and we all will come to our own finish line. When you look back, its not about how long it took you get there but its how you ran the race that will bring you peace or discontent. And here's the thing, we get a new chance ever 24 hours, every 7 days, every month, every year, even every minute and second to make another decision about how we will approach our lives. Passion. Love. Compassion. Grace. Kindness. Patience. Diligence. Vision. Lets open our eyes to the areas in our lives in which we desire change and growth and lets attack 2012 with action and passion together. Happy New Year, everyone. Lets do this.

CREATIVITY AND PLAY, gratitude, day 27

I am not a robot. I am not my social security number. I am not a statistic. I am not the composite of my facebook profile. I am not what you see. I am more then what I  knew yesterday and more than what I will know tomorrow. For now what I know is that in the moments when I color outside of the lines, when I de-thrown ego and logic from their thrown, and when I act from a place unplanned and unconscious I discover such moments of bubbling bliss that I am once again convinced that it is by playfully tapping into our inner lives that we realize our true potentials. Creative outlets provide potentials a stomping ground for exploration and discovery. Creativity facilitates the discovery of passion and purpose. Without creativity we fall prey to cookie cutter thinking and complacently become grunt workers on whatever ships society and government dictate we set sail. Creative outlets remind us that we are more then our paychecks, our jobs, our cars, our genders, our clothes, our houses, our ethicitiy. Each of us is a unique tapestry full of vibrant colors and textures with the capacity to continually expand. And to suppose that we all could possibly shine the same way in the same light is ridiculous.  So why do we fool ourselves into thinking that everyone is best suited to the same path lived the same way? Even treadmills at the gym offer options for how you would like to spend the next thirty minutes of your life. Resturants realize that not everyone enjoys the same main course. And churches realize that not everyone wants to worship the same way. So why would you allow something as precious as the decisions of your life to be relegated to somebody else's idea of what looks good to them??? Your life, your choice. We know this in our heads but we somehow allow other peoples' voices to carry more weight then our own.  By refusing to give up on creative outlets we help ourselves to keep our own sense of identity alive in a world eager to blanch you of any color that clashes with its wallpaper. Sing, dance, paint, act, play an instrument, join a sporting team, become an expert at quilting....I dont know what your fancy is but find it and play with it and don't let anyone take it away from you.

We glisten in the sun and shine in the void to the extent that we dive within and answer the call of our own wild horses. You can call these inner voices the call of the wild, or the passions of your heart, or the will of God, but they all refer to the same truth. And that truth is the reality that abundant life is within everyone's grasp and that we must reach above, within, and beyond ourselves in order to receive that abundance. The courage necessary to exchange the shackles of convention for the purity of a life lived in authenticity and honest response does not always come naturally or easily. But by adopting a habit of creativity courage becomes easier to muster. Creativity brings equality to the playing field because at the end of the day we are all kids who want our turn in the sandbox, our time on the swing set, our chance to soar down the slide. Whether its on a tuba, on a theatre stage, with a paintbrush, maybe a fashion design, perhaps its in a cooking class, could be with a clay oven,  just as well might be in computer code, and likely is something you already do in your spare time....whatever it is, whatever your passion or creative outlet....hold onto it tight and celebrate it daily. The instincts of children are to play every day. We should  learn from their wisdom.