The soul always knows what to do to heal itself.  The challenge is to silence the mind.  Caroline Myss The biggest obstacle to our healing from emotional wounds, etc is to keep our minds from engaging in that healing.  Our minds are wonderful and helpful when it comes to pretty much everything but healing.  Then our minds turn on us.  They replay the lies that hold us in bondage, they keep the shame we might feel at the front of our efforts, they whisper things to us that keep us in victim mode, they convince us that we are right and "the world" is wrong and against us.  The mind becomes our enemy of sorts when we need to heal. I know this first hand.  I've been there.  I've been in a battle with my mind and my soul. Our souls always know what to do to heal.  They are reliable in leading the way to wholeness.  They point north and lead the way but only if the mind gets out of the way.  And that is a choice each of us have ...

Shame erases hope.   Unknown We are held captive and in an unseen bondage when we allow shame to speak over and into our lives.  Shame is made of a "material" that is hard to break.  And when we apply it to ourselves or to others we are placing a sentence on us or them.  Shame keeps the poverty stricken in poverty, even if their material wealth rebounds.  Shame keeps the abused in victim mode, even if healing has presented itself.  Shame keeps the insecure timid, even if strength has been demonstrated   Shame keeps the young girl with babies from her family, even if they have reached out.  Shame keeps *you* silent, even when it is right that you speak.  Shame keeps *you* believing the lies, even when the truth is so evident.  Hope is the freedom and shame is the bondage.  To choose freedom is to choose hope and we are the only ones who can choose it for ourselves.  Other people may try to hand us hope,...

We're so focused on getting kids ready for college, but we're not preparing them for life.    Dowdle, Hillari. "Bring Back Home Ec!."  Cooking Light . 2012: n. page. Print. Boy did this quote strike a chord with me the second I read it.  Everything in me resonated a loud "yes!"  We have done, are doing, our kids a great disservice   We have focused too much on intellectual education and neglected life education.  It doesn't matter how much education one has if they cannot perform the basic functions of life such as: laundry, cooking a few simple meals, knowing how to pay bills, cleaning a toilet, just to name a few.  Our kids deserve more and better than handing them the pressure of a 4.0 GPA and all the electronics they want. There's nothing wrong with the 4.0 GPA but if it means they have no idea how to function in the practicals of life then we haven't done them any favors.  There's nothing wrong with electr...

The past is never where you think you left it.   Katherine Anne Porter Life has a funny way of catching up to us doesn't it?  Those old hurts, people, thoughts, actions, etc that we think we left behind us have a funny way of reappearing at, usually, the most inopportune times.  One thing I have learned about leaving the past behind is it doesn't stay there unless we have gone through the process of closure.  If we can find ways to close out our past in healthy ways then the chance that it won't pop back up at those inopportune times is better and if it does pop up the chance that we respond to it in healthy ways is better as well.  But don't think you have left it beh ind in a p lace it cannot be fo un d or for good. The past can always be found, it is not lost forever.  If we can learn to close out our past in a heal thy way then we won't despise it, fear it, or run from it when i t reappears.  We will instead welcome it and the lessons we learne...

Where there's life, there's hope.   Terence I've been hovering over this quote for months and months.  I suppose it is time.  :) I found today's quote on a Celestial Seasonings tea bag at work one day and it literally struck me the moment I read it.  What came to my mind immediately was my beloved Kenya and its slums.  I have walked through two of Kenya's worst slums, indeed one of them is the oldest and worst slum in all of East Africa - Mathare Valley .  Before walking through it a friend who had previously done so told me how deplorable the slum was.  All one has to do is look at pictures to see that.  Lifelong residents of Nairobi refuse to go near Mathare, as they may have to drive by it they turn the other way and pretend they don't see it.  Upon finding out that we were willingly and even eagerly going into Mathare and purposely spending time there the local people are confused and frightened.  Mathare is no walk in the park my...

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.   E.L. Doctorow Ha!  I love this.  It gives me permission to be other people.  *grin*  Writing allows me to express my ideas, thoughts, emotions, etc in ways that are more comfortable to me than verbal expression.  I read a book by Stephen King called "On Writing" and he gave great advice in it for writers.  One thing that he said which has stuck with me is to be true to your characters.  If they have a different lifestyle than mine be true to it.  If they use language I don't be true to that.  Doing this would be what I would consider schizophrenia, for me at least!  :)  If you write, do you see ways in which you are schizophrenic?  

Don't wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.   Unknown Only you have a choice about your moments.  You know which ones I'm talking about.  The ones that are standing on the edge and have the potential to fall forward into greatness or crumble in defeat from fear and hesitations.  Only you have the choice to decide what those moments will look like and become.  There are no perfect moments, each one is presented to us for our choice so it is up to you to make it be what you want.   And moments cannot be repeated.  Oh we may come across moments that look similar or feel similar to the one we crumbled on but the moment that we perhaps let get away from us will never be repeated exactly.  So take advantage of moments presented.  Don't let fear keep you on the edge of greatness crumbled in defeat, fall forward in the moment and see what greatness will come from it.