I love words that encourage, cause me to think, and are food for the soul. 




 Quick to post them on facebook, or write them on my mirror in lipstick, I now wonder; do I practice them?  Do I really mean what they try to communicate?



About five years ago I went through an all time low in my life.  You know, the hit rock bottom sort of low. 

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly."





 I remember my little sister telling me that when she went through a similar time of despair, it was like a gift to her that changed her whole perspective of life, caused her to go further into the depths of her soul. 

"Let the world kiss you. 

Let the moment kiss the most raw and tender spot in your heart 

until you cannot help but surrender, open."

Chameli Ardagh

 I also remember me thinking, "I sure don't want that sort of 'gift'..." Alas!  I was given that gift by the powers that be.  



"Pain is your friend; it is your ally. Pain reminds you to finish the job and get the hell home. Pain tells you when you have been seriously wounded. And you what the best thing about pain is? It tells you you're not dead yet!"



I knew something had to change and I figured it was me. At least that's the revelation that I had over the course of many years working on myself. 

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
― Albert Einstein



That same sister turned me on to Louise Hay, an inspirational speaker and writer whose voice sounds uncannily like my mother's . I would listen to her cd's and cling to her words like a thirsty person in the desert who is handed a glass of ice water. Every time she would finish her talks, she would say to the audience, "I love you!"  By the tone of her voice and the her previous words, you can't help but believe her.  



Louise is a firm believer in affirmations. 

 I had nothing else to hold on to, everything was slipping away day by day and the depression was kicking in like a vengeance.  

“Oh darkness, I feel like letting go.” 

― Sarah McLachlan 

So , one of the affirmations she suggested to readers was , "I am willing to change."  And another that I clung to and repeated time and again was, "All is working out for my highest good.  All is well. I am safe." 
 

I repeated the "I am willing to change" affirmation at least 25 times a day, sometimes more.  I would play her cd's at night before I went to bed, and before long, people close to me were saying, "You've really changed." Mostly they said I seemed more at peace with myself.  Of course, they were right.  

Now, I don't say those particular ones that much anymore, but I love inspirational quotes.  There are so many that ring true with me, and at times, cause me think and ask myself if I really am just being in the moment, if I really am forgiving, if I really am loving the love that I preach.
  

And then there are other times that I get lackadaisical and don't even care about the fact that my life is like a ship at sea and I actually am able to control certain factors. 

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."

~ Aldous Huxley

  

Well, that's it for now....make the choice to enjoy your life.....right now.....just as it is.