Be Blessed: & Begin Again... Today!!

I haven't posted a Be Blessed entry in a while, I know. I've mentioned a bit that I've been going through a few challenges these past few months that have prevented from feeling inspired. In fact, I've hardly felt blessed.. though I know (in retrospect) that truly I am.

I've reached a breakthrough and the storm clouds that have been rumbling through my mind has started to clear with the help of my friends, family, and from the daily emails I receive from Iyanla Vanzant. I've shared excerpts of her works in past blogs, but I really wanted to share one that truly excited me and filled me with possibility.

I will realize my own worth when I accept . . .
certain conditions in my life are like shoes;
at some point they just don't fit me.

How long are you going to hold on to the things that are not working in your best interests? Things that are not fulfilling? Things that are no longer productive? How long are you going to deny yourself, your feelings and your power in order to live up to the demands and expectations of others? How long are you going to over do, over give, over indulge, trying to convince yourself and others that you are worthy? Perhaps today is as good a day as any other to let go of them and grab onto your Self. Perhaps today is the day that you will find the courage and the strength to stop doing worthwhile things and start being worthy.

Life is not about holding on. Nor is it about pleasing others in order to get by. Life is not about doing what will make others believe you are worthy. Nor is it about denying yourself to make others feel better. Isn't it obvious that life is moving on while you seem to be stuck in a holding pattern? Can you not see that you are carrying so much "stuff", perhaps so many people that you can hardly move, let alone make any progress. In fact, doesn't it seem at times as if you are being left behind, by the very ones you stayed behind to help?

Life is about moving through, moving on, growing up, and growing through each and every experience. Life is about examination, elimination and re-creation. Perhaps today is the only day you have to examine your life, to make some adjustments and changes, so that you can take full advantage of the opportunities this day offers. Today sure seems like a good day! If it's not today, what will it take?

Until today, you may not have realized that you can do in one day, what you have avoided doing for so many other days. Just for today, take every opportunity you have to let go of thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, ideas and, people that stand in the way of your desire to stand squarely in your worthiness.

Today I am devoted to re-creating my life
and re-claiming my self-worth!

Excerpt from
Until Today!
by Iyanla Vanzant

Be Blessed: Spring Renewal

"An optimist is the human personification of spring."
-- Susan J. Bissonette

What is it about Spring that suddenly reminds us that everything wonderful in life is possible? Looking at the trees in Brooklyn, which were bare all Winter, suddenly becoming green and full again, I see that life too can feel stark and stripped bare at times, and lush and full again.

It's comforting to think that when life seems bleak and without hope, as Spring returns, so can opportunity and good fortune. Everything has a season, and without the winter months, we could never truly appreciate the blossoming the blooming of spring.


Photo of Brooklyn during Spring

From The Daily Om:

An Astounding Affirmation
Springtime

Spring comes when the earth, coaxed by lengthening days and warmer temperatures, begins to awaken from her winter slumber. She stretches open to receive the rain that gives drink to flower buds and seedlings. She takes a deep breath, and on her exhale the leaves on trees unfurl like tiny flags heralding her revival as baby animals tumble forth, trumpeting the good news to all who will listen. Rebirth and repopulation fill the void of winter with flurry and fury as what appeared to be gone forever comes into being once again. Even though it happens this way every year, we stand in awe, our insides trembling sweetly like the legs of a new foal as we too are reborn.

This is when we fall in love, again, speak without thinking, say yes to things we would normally refuse. It becomes more difficult to say no when the whole world around us appears to be an astounding affirmation of the resilience, richness, and plain, perfect beauty of life. We may find ourselves feeling several years younger and 10 pounds lighter without changing a thing. We may feel the urge to cleanse our bodies with a new pattern of eating, clearing our kitchens of cold-weather comfort foods and filling them instead with lighter fare and fresh fruits and vegetables. We may clear our closets of old clothes or cut our hair to express a new facet of who we are, and who we might become.

Springtime inspires us to believe that, along with the earth, we too might change, release the past, and give birth to new ideas, new relationships, and new perspectives. In honor of spring, we could make a list of the many possibilities we envision for the future and bury it in the earth, surrendering the fertile seeds of our imaginations to the nurturing soil. In tune with the season, we can then watch in wonder as the last of the snow dissolves into the rich brown earth, and stark winter gives way to green possibility.

This week, I will bask in all the traces of Spring around me and within me!

Peace from Brooklyn!


Brooklyn During Spring