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Hey Soul Parent

Daddy and Me
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“The human soul is God’s trea­sury, out of which he coins unspeak­able riches.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Soul.

What is that, anyway?

The dic­tio­nary defines soul as the imma­te­r­ial essence, ani­mat­ing prin­ci­ple, or actu­at­ing cause of an indi­vid­ual life.

Hmmm.…

As I think about this, I’m drawn to a time many years ago.  Just an ordi­nary day, and I was out cut­ting the lawn.  Noth­ing at all spe­cial about this day…and every­thing spe­cial about this day.

And isn’t every day like that.  Days filled with the seem­ingly ordi­nary (…no mat­ter how truly ordi­nary or not we see our lives).  A cup of cof­fee in the morn­ing.  Wear­ing that favorite pair of shoes.  Con­ver­sa­tion with a loved one.  Play­ing with your kids.  Bed­time rit­u­als.  Sleep.

Don’t get me wrong — I am all for new expe­ri­ences, for liv­ing life to its fullest, to feel­ing fully alive.  And much of these “liv­ing life to the fullest” moments might feel any­thing but ordinary.

Within all of that, though, the ordi­nary moments of our day.

…I was just out cut­ting the lawn.  The sun shin­ing, on a typ­i­cal sum­mer day.

And in a moment, I just felt this deep con­nec­tion to the Uni­verse, to God, to some­thing beyond.  It was as if every­thing was brighter, that the sky sur­rounded me with its pres­ence, that the earth was alive with newness. 

It’s a feel­ing that is hard to fully describe.  In that instant, in those moments…I felt that con­nec­tion to a deeper part of me…to a deeper part of this world.

Soul.

This moment, in the seem­ingly very ordi­nary of my day.…  Not some­thing I was see­ing with my eyes, and yet I was.  Not some­thing I was hear­ing with my ears, and yet I was. 

That con­nec­tion to some­thing deeper within you, the voice that speaks if you quiet your­self and listen.

Soul.  It’s within us all.

I’ve just fin­ished read­ing a book — Soul to Soul Par­ent­ing, by Annie Burn­side. 

Annie has writ­ten about her spir­i­tual jour­ney, and how she con­tin­ues that jour­ney today with her hus­band and their three chil­dren.  Just like any other fam­ily — the Burn­side fam­ily has moments where kids argue, where par­ents become stressed, where daily life causes moments that are challenging.

Except.

Except that Annie and her fam­ily have built oppor­tu­ni­ties into their days to more fully con­nect to soul. 

…in the ordi­nary of their days.

This is a won­der­ful book, with prac­ti­cal ideas to more fully reach, teach, and love from a soul level. 

…from that place where we truly DO feel con­nected to a deeper part of our own being…of the world around us.

As I let these words from Annie soak more deeply into my soul, I am drawn to my own fam­ily.  Are there ways that I can be more fully con­nected to my soul?  Are there ways that the ordi­nary of my day can be more fully infused with a deeper sense of my being?  And, how am I help­ing my chil­dren to more fully con­nect to the soul of their being?

Annie’s book will give you action­able ideas on ways to do this, for YOUR fam­ily.  That’s what is so great about this — there are a num­ber of easy to do things that will bring that con­nec­tion more deeply into being. 

If you’re look­ing for ways to more fully con­nect with your chil­dren, or chil­dren that are a part of your life in some way — Soul to Soul Par­ent­ing is so worth reading.

And as you go forth in your day today, may you know that there is extra­or­di­nary in the normal-ness of your day.

Soak it in.  Soak in the beauty of this day, the beauty of being alive, the beauty of get­ting to do all that this day brings!

Filed Under: Books, Life Tagged With: ,
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You’re Beautiful!…Yes, YOU!

Claustrofobia / Claustrophobia
Creative Commons License photo credit: * Cati Kaoe *

“Smile. Life is beau­ti­ful, and so are you.” ~ Unknown

What is beau­ti­ful, anyway?

Really.  What is it?

Think about that.  How would you describe the word beau­ti­ful?  (hint: I believe it’s personal)

Okay.

Now, how about YOU?  Look in the mir­ror.  (I’ll wait)  And while you are there…tell your­self that you ARE beautiful!

Because YOU ARE!

We all shine beauty out into this world…in our own unique ways.  Do you see that when you look into the mir­ror?  Do you?  Or do you see some­thing else?

Because it’s easy to have some dis­torted view of what beau­ti­ful really is…

Have you seen it?  Images that define beauty.  Images…that are not you.

Images in mag­a­zines.  Com­par­isons with others…leading to images in your head.  Words that remind you…you are not good enough, not beau­ti­ful enough…not enough.

STOP!

You ARE beau­ti­ful, amaz­ing, spec­tac­u­lar, and filled with your own won­der­ful wisdom!

You really are!

I AM BEAUTIFUL!  <– say that…right now…to YOU.

Each one of us has, within us, our very own beau­ti­ful gift of love and light. 

You are beautiful.

Note: This post was inspired, after read­ing the book “Oper­a­tion Beau­ti­ful”, by Caitlin Boyle.  Caitlin, who also runs the web­site Oper­a­tion Beau­ti­ful, writes about how she began a move­ment that started by sim­ply writ­ing the words “You are beau­ti­ful” on a piece of scrap paper in a pub­lic bath­room, and then hang­ing that note on the mir­ror.  In doing this, two things hap­pened.  She left a won­der­ful mes­sage for some­one else to read (an anony­mous act of car­ing), and she her­self felt uplifted just in doing this.

Three words.

You are beautiful.

Three words that touched two lives (at least) that day…and count­less oth­ers as this move­ment has gained momen­tum (and car­ing love) since then!

Three words.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Feel that.  Feel that…deep within you.

What are your three words?  Your five words?  Your sen­tence?  What words can you share — words that will touch both the per­son receiv­ing them…and you?

Go forth!

Be sneaky.  Be obvi­ous.  Have fun.  Laugh.  Shed a few tears. Touch an emo­tion within you.…

My words to you (and to me):

YOU ARE AMAZING!

“When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that hap­pi­ness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t under­stand the assign­ment and I told them they didn’t under­stand life.” ~ Unknown

Filed Under: Books, Inspiration Tagged With: ,
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What Is Awesome?

Note:  If you are hav­ing trou­ble view­ing this, please click here.

“The but­ter­fly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore

A W E S O M E !!

Rain hair.

Get­ting grass stains.

The smell of crayons.

Pick­ing up a q and u at the same time when play­ing Scrabble.

A W E S O M E !!

Those lit­tle things in life that hap­pen and we don’t even really think about all that much.  You know what I mean?  Like dan­gling your feet in the water.  Or maybe…jumping in and doing a per­fect can­non­ball!  In the grand scheme of things, these are really pretty small moments in our life.  Still, are they not what makes this life we are liv­ing grand?

I’ve been read­ing a book that is filled with all sorts of these exam­ples!!  And what a FUN book to read! 

The Book of Awe­some.

And read­ing this book is all sorts of AWESOME!

It all had its sim­ple begin­nings as a web­site — cre­ated by a super great guy, Neil Pas­richa.  His web­site, 1000 Awe­some Things, begin as this list of those moments we have in life that really are awesome…and at the same time, they are just sim­ple things that could hap­pen any day. 

Sim­ple things, small moments…that are sim­ply AWESOME!

And today he is releas­ing a book  that chron­i­cles these and more!

The Book of Awe­some.

As I paged through this book, I just couldn’t put it down!  Read­ing it brought up all sorts of great mem­o­ries, and found me shak­ing my head in agree­ment!  AWESOME is all around us!  And there are all sorts of moments we all have that really are all of that — AWESOME!

This book is such a feel-good read!  And even more than that — it’s a reminder to me of just how cool those lit­tle things are that we some­times just take for granted…

Like pop­ping bub­ble wrap!!!!!

A W E S O M E !!

Filed Under: Books, Inspiration Tagged With: ,
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There Is Greatness Within

 clouds
Creative Commons License photo credit: Andy­Fitz

 “Never under­es­ti­mate the power of dreams and the influ­ence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The poten­tial for great­ness lives within each of us.” ~ Wilma Rudolph

 Great­ness.  It’s in all of us.

Have you ever observed some­one doing some­thing that truly seems beyond great­ness?  Some­one who inspires you by their actions. 

What comes to mind here?

  • Res­cu­ing a child from a burn­ing building
  • Free­ing some­one from a major car accident
  • Going up into the fail­ing World Trade Cen­ter on 9/11 to res­cue oth­ers, know­ing it was on the verge of collapse
  • Search­ing day and night for a lost child in the woods
  • And many, many more

Those big, one time events — the ones that can bring out the best in oth­ers.  What is it that com­pels some peo­ple to act in these moments of decision? 

The premise for this post today is related to a book I’ve recently read:

“Some­thing Beyond Great­ness” ~ by Judy Rodgers and Gay­a­tri Naraine

SBG

In this book the authors dig much deeper into what it is that leads some down these paths of great­ness and beyond.  And what that means for us, each one of us, in our daily lives.  What is it, that draws some­one to act?  And is that some­thing we all have?  The book explores this topic in depth, with a focus on what it is that leads some to “be the hero”.  There were three ele­ments identified: 

  • See­ing with love
  • Act­ing from the heart
  • Being in the right place at the right time

Much is dis­cussed on really what this means, with exam­ples of those who have acted in just such a way.

So — these three ele­ments — they can lead us to great things.

Where does this put us, though, in our daily lives?

Love and Great­ness

The con­clu­sion arrived at in this book is that love is what leads to some­thing beyond great­ness.  And love is there, within all of us. That love does get buried, though, some­times.  Buried to our own agen­das.  And with that, our great­ness gets buried also. 

The good news is that even if this true and self­less love has become buried, it is pos­si­ble to find that love in all of us, and to let our great­ness shine.  Time spent con­nect­ing deeply with self, time to reflect on what our heart is say­ing — this is what leads us to that inner con­nec­tion with our soul.  This is what leads us to see­ing the world through a lens of love.

This whole thought is such a pow­er­ful one!  And it is there in all of us.  Love is part of our being.  And with love, comes great­ness.  Maybe not great­ness in the sense of sav­ing someone’s life in a split sec­ond deci­sion (although it could be).  Great­ness, though, through liv­ing our daily lives in sync with our deep being.  Isn’t that a won­der­ful thought! 

“Love is the great­est refresh­ment in life.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Go Forth In Love

Every one of us has love within us.  We just have to allow that love to shine.  And in doing this, we let a deep car­ing and respect develop.  With love as its base, great­ness is also within each of us.  And that shines through, not just in big one-time moments to do some­thing great.  It really shines through in our daily lives, in how we live with a lov­ing heart to those all around us. 

Get­ting to this point is really get­ting in touch with our soul.  Just think about that.  If we are con­nect­ing deeply with our soul, we are reach­ing a spot within each of us that has love as the foun­da­tion.  If we are truly there, then love becomes the lan­guage we speak.  And our great­ness shines — the great­ness that resides in each and every one of us!  All through the daily acts of love we display. 

How can you con­nect more deeply with your soul?  How can you let your great­ness shine — through daily acts of self­less love?

 

Filed Under: Books, Inspiration Tagged With: ,
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Think And Grow Rich

I'm thinking of...
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“What­ever the mind can con­ceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” ~ Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich

His­tory has pro­vided us with many great resources upon which we can use to improve our­selves and our lives.  One such resource is a book writ­ten by Napoleon Hill in 1937 — Think and Grow Rich.  This book is truly a clas­sic, and one that shares prin­ci­ples that are easy to under­stand, yet too often over­looked.  Like the title, what we think about, along with actions put to our thoughts, will lead us to the many riches of life (what­ever “rich” is for you) — mon­e­tary, phys­i­cal well-being, men­tal well-being, and so on.

Think about this — in your life.  When have you been most suc­cess­ful?  Truly suc­cess­ful, on some­thing that mat­ters dearly to you.  It prob­a­bly didn’t hap­pen per chance — instead it involved some­thing you cared deeply for (and had thought about) — com­bined with some sort of plan of action on your part.  You CAN have this in your life, today!  And the teach­ings of Napoleon Hill can help to cat­a­pult you into these suc­cesses that are wait­ing for you.

Jour­ney to Success

Today, with my col­league, Jen­nifer Abbott, of Prin­ci­ples for Peace — we are rolling out a forum to dis­cuss this book.  Have you thought about read­ing “Think and Grow Rich”?  Are you look­ing for some­thing moti­va­tional to read as we start the new year?  Do you have a burn­ing desire to take your life to greater lev­els of purpose?

Con­sider join­ing us over at Jour­ney to Suc­cess, where we will have an open dis­cus­sion on “Think and Grow Rich”, by Napoleon Hill.  There are no com­mit­ments, no costs, no adver­tise­ments.  This is solely a way to help you take your life to new and great heights!  This forum is for you, my friends.  This forum is for any­one desir­ing to live their life with intention!

May the new year take you in all the direc­tions you desire!

Filed Under: Books, Personal Growth Tagged With: ,
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I’m a Winner

Thanks to a con­test going on recently over at the Clever Dude Blog , I am now the proud owner of a new book on America’s health­care sys­tem.  The book is Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely , By Davis Liu, MD.  I’ll be read­ing it soon, and then get a review of the book posted here.

Per­sonal health and well-being is a par­tic­u­lar area of inter­est for me, so I’m look­ing for­ward to this book!  Ever since I began my own per­sonal jour­ney toward improv­ing my health four years ago , this area of my life has really been an area of growth and learn­ing for me.  I’m look­ing for­ward to gain­ing more infor­ma­tion through this book

Filed Under: Books, Health & Fitness Tagged With: