In every mistake and struggle there is a message. 

Some people miss the message 

because they’re too busy berating themselves for the mistake, 

or fretting over the problem. 

To be upset about what you don’t have

is always a waste of what you do have. 

The happiest of people aren’t the luckiest, 

and they usually don’t have the best of everything; 

they just make the most of everything that comes their way. 

The reason so many people give up 

is because they tend to look at what’s missing 

and how far they still have to go, 

instead of what’s present, 

and how far they have come.

Always respond to life from a place of trust, gentleness and never out of fear. No matter what happens in this world, remember one thing. You are always sculpting your experience with the thoughts you are choosing to focus on. Just like an artist sculpts a masterpiece out of a chunk of stone, you are forming the world around you with how you define what you see, feel and experience. The thoughts you are choosing to entertain and focus on are molding your reality each moment of your life. You already have the manifesting power, you are already always forming your own experience of reality. You simply need to be aware of what you are spending your time focusing on. Are you thinking about what you want, or what you don’t want? When you become acutely aware of where you are directing your attention, you can instantly shape shift your entire life in an empowered new direction. 

You were born with the innate ability to focus your mind in any direction you choose. You can decide to focus your thoughts onto thoughts that give you strength, trust and courage just by pure choice alone. This simple choice will empower, improve and expand your experience of life. You need to use your mind, instead of being used by it. This means that you are in charge of how you’re feeling right now! It may seem impossible to feel strong when all you see is lack, challenge and struggle around you, yet to hold your mind in the most positive direction you can imagine. If you cannot see anything, then simply imagine the gold warm sunshine is touching your heart and caressing your face. Empowerment all comes down to how peaceful you are within.

~ Journey To Balance

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. 

It turns what we have into enough, and more. 

It turns denial into acceptance, 

chaos to order, 

confusion to clarity. 

It can turn a meal into a feast, 

a house into a home, 

a stranger into a friend. 

Gratitude makes sense of our past, 

brings peace for today, 

and creates a vision for tomorrow. 

~Melody Beattie 

- THE BEAUTY OF THE ROSE -

Think of the stem as the road of life.. ever bending, turning and changing, as we walk along life's road.

Think of the rose, as our hearts.. delicate and fragile, slowly healing, and slowly opening, as time heals our wounds.

Think of the broken petals.. as the broken dreams, broken hearts, and wounded spirits, that have filled our lives.

Think of the growth of the rose, and the opening of the petals.. as time that passes, as we forget our pains, and as we grow, and as we experience new joys, new dreams, new hope, new love, and new friendships.

Think of the fallen petals as growth.. as we learn to let go of the burdens we need not carry along the way, as we allow our hearts to open again, our hearts will heal, we will learn to love again, we will become stronger. Time is a healer.

When we can see the beauty of the rose.. we learn to see the beauties of life.. that's when we'll know, we've healed and we've become as beautiful as the ROSE.

~ M. Fortney

When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, 

we are not listening to the soul. 

We are listening to our fear of life and death, 

our lack of faith, 

our smaller ego’s will to prevail. 

To listen to your soul is to stop fighting with life ~ 

to stop fighting when things fall apart; 

when they don’t go our away,

when we get sick, 

when we are betrayed or mistreated or misunderstood.

To listen to the soul is to slow down, 

to feel deeply,

 to see ourselves clearly,

to surrender to discomfort and uncertainty 

and to wait.

~Journey To Balance

"Wisdom is often born in the shadows, 

frequently more visible in the darkness than the light. 

The stadium lights of knowledge 

that seek to eliminate natural cycles of night and day, 

death and rebirth, sorrow and joy do not cast shadows- 

there is only the steady glare of illumination. 

We must move into darker places 

if we are to find the wisdom we so desperately need. . . . 

To meet wisdom in these places 

we must be willing and able to hold all of what life gives us, 

to exclude nothing of ourselves or the world, 

to tell ourselves the truth. 

Wisdom will stretch us far beyond 

where we thought we could or wanted to go. 

She will show us what we cannot change or control, 

reveal what is hard to know about ourselves and the world, 

and tear at the illusions of what we think we know, 

until we are surrounded by the vastness of the mystery. 

And all the while wisdom asks us to choose life. 

She does not want us to just continue, 

to hang on, to survive. 

She asks us to experience life actively, fully, every day- 

to show up for all of it." 

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer from THE INVITATION

To Believe...

To believe is to know that every day

is a new beginning.

It is to trust that miracles happen,

and dreams really do come true.

To believe is to see angels dancing among the clouds,

To know the wonder of a stardust sky

and the wisdom of the man in the moon.

To believe is to know the value of a nurturing heart,

The innocence of a child's eyes

and the beauty of an aging hand,

for it is through their teachings we learn to love.

To believe is to find the strength

and courage that lies within us.

When it is time to pick up the pieces and begin again.

To believe is to know we are not alone,

That life is a gift and this is our time to cherish it.

To believe is to know that wonderful surprises

are just waiting to happen,

And all our hopes and dreams are within reach.

If only we believe.

~Author Unknown

I always took things personally. 

If someone looked at me the wrong way, 

it was about me. 

If someone rejected me, it was about me. 

If someone cut me off on the highway, it was about me. 

This is not unusual for people who grow up in violent, invasive homes.

 With no boundary to protect us, 

with so much relational trauma, 

we cannot distinguish between what is ours, and what is theirs. 

I remember the first time a therapist said the word ‘boundaries’ to me. 

I looked at her puzzled and baffled, 

while the word began to sink into my consciousness. 

It was a startling depth charge to my habitual ways of being. 

And now, after 25 years of healing and solidifying, 

I can finally say that I don’t take things personally very often.

 I know where I end, and the other begins. 

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries…

don’t leave home without them.

~ Jeff Brown

LOVE IS...

LOVE IS... appreciating and being thankful everyday for the person you have, and treating them with care and thoughtfulness. Love is not waiting until you lose that person to know this.

Love is remembering the power of those three words, I love you, I love you, I love you.

Love is making decisions for “we”. It’s having the forethought and consideration to know that anything that is going on withyou, any problem, any success – is also happening to your partner.

Love is nourishing your body and making your health a priority. Because when you’re sick, it’s the people around you that suffer the most. Because you want to be able to maximize your time on earth being a partner, a parent and a friend.

Love is being the best person you can be, every day. It is waking up and making the choice to act with integrity, honesty, loyalty, and commitment.

It is choosing to act with love over fear, even when you are in pain.It is acting with dignity and grace regardless of how angry or upset you may be.

Love is forgiving.

Love is wanting the best for your partner, even if that sometimes means to let them go…

Love is commitment. Love is a verb, not a noun.

Love is not fleeting; it does not come and go with the feelings and emotions of the day.

Love is not dictated by lust, rather, lust is just one of its many forms. And while love may not look like how it was portrayed in fairytales, IT IS magical.

Because for love you will make sacrifices, you will be selfless and you will say sorry even when you know you are right. And when you hit a roadblock where the odds seem stacked against the survival of your relationship, you will fight for it with everything you’ve got. Because love IS worth it. Because the person you have chosen to commit to IS worth it.

Sometimes you will do things for love without rhyme or reason. And sometimes LOVE is the only reason you need.

- BELIEVE IN YOURSELF -

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren't the way you had hoped they would be.

That’s when you have to tell yourself that things 

will get better. There are times when people 

disappoint you and let you down.

But those are the times when you must remind 

yourself to trust your own judgments and 

opinions, to keep your life focused on believing 

in 

yourself.

There will be challenges to face and changes to 

make in your life, and it is up to you to accept 

them.

Constantly keep yourself headed in the right 

direction for you. It may not be easy at times, but 

in those times of struggle you will find a stronger 

sense of who you are.

So when the days come that are filled with 

frustration and unexpected responsibilities, 

remember to believe in yourself and all you want 

your life to be.

Because the challenges and changes will only 

help you to find the goals that you know are 

meant to come true for you.

Keep Believing in Yourself! 

Within the sorrow there is grace. 

When we come close 

to those things that break us down, 

we touch things that also break us open. 

~ Wayne Muller 

“There will be times when all seems lost.”
At one time or another it’s likely you will feel that your life has hit a brick wall. You may feel there are no solutions to your problems and your life will never change for the better. This time may even be now.

During such times, you must look back and remember the past obstacles you faced and conquered. Remind yourself of how you confronted and overcame them. Those challenges seemed as difficult as the ones you may be facing now.
Use your memories to reassure yourself that things will change, that you will get through these hopeless feelings.
You did it before and you’ll do it, again! Success is just around the corner.

©Jane Powell

“We have to allow ourselves to be loved 

by the people who really love us, 

the people who really matter. 

Too much of the time, 

we are blinded by our own pursuits 

of people to love us, 

people that don't even matter, 

while all that time we waste 

and the people who do love us 

have to stand on the sidewalk 

and watch us beg in the streets! 

It's time to put an end to this. 

It's time for us to let ourselves be loved.” 

~C. JoyBell C.

Every day we experience things that cannot be explained. 

Some refer to these experiences as coincidences, 

accidents, or sheer luck. 

There is no such thing!

When we are true to ourselves 

and send out thoughts of our needs and desires, 

often what we persist in thinking comes into our lives. 

We bring those experiences that help us to learn and grow. 

Please don’t shut yourself off from seeking out 

whatever it is you are searching for. 

It is wise to release all preconceived ideas 

or expectations about what you’ll find. 

In that way, 

you will be ready to absorb all the possibilities.

With an open mind, 

we can gain insight into ideas and expressions 

that we may have overlooked 

or not noticed at all. 

~Journey To Balance

“Sometimes you just don't know what's going to happen, exactly. 

And that's because sometimes 

you just don't have control over circumstances in your life. 

The amazing thing is that— 

it is during these times that we free-fall through the sky! 

All we have is the breath in our lungs 

right here and right now and it's just exhilarating! 

And it takes humility to accept 

that we might not have everything we want 

in our hands at the moment—

but that what we do have is good, 

is worth keeping. 

Even if something isn't everything, 

yet, it can be worth everything, right now!

 You just have to spread your arms in the air 

and start gliding!” 

~C. JoyBell C. 

There are times 

when I would turn back the clock 

and play all the sadness away, 

but I feel that if I did, 

the joy will be gone too. 

So I accepted the memories 

when they arrive, 

accept all, 

letting them guide me 

whenever I can.

~ Nicholas Sparks

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, 

and that's what everyone wants. 

But a true soul mate is a mirror,

the person who shows you everything 

that is holding you back, 

the person who brings you 

to your own attention so you can change your life."

~ Elizabeth Gilbert

May I learn from my sorrows. 

May my heart open in greater love and forgiveness. 

May I find peace, joy and happiness 

in my present life. 

May I let go of fear and come to see the gifts of wisdom 

and compassion that can be found in all suffering. 

And although I cannot change others, 

may those who hold to fear and anger 

eventually find these gifts as well. 

The separation we see in the world is but an illusion, 

a global dream we are dreaming together. 

May all our hearts and minds 

eventually awaken. 

Let it Be.