Sure, at first glance it would seem these two women have very little in common, but let’s look again: both were too young when one afternoon their lives changed forever; both were strong & independent; and both were fiercely loyal. 

Scarlett was my first hero.  I read Gone With the Wind probably six times before I was eighteen.  I loved that Scarlett was tough as nails all the while looking gorgeous and batting her eyelashes.  I instantly connected to her love of the land – her red earth…Obviously the Irish thing was a huge pull, but I loved that Scarlett grew-up too.  Her heart and its wantings changed with time and age.

Like Scarlett, I didn’t appreciate the value of female friendships until after I had had children – women were always competition before. Take Melanie – she was no simpering fool although she often appeared helpless due to her poor health, but time and time again she supported Scarlett when no other would.  In contrast Ashley appeared to be noble, forthright and strong, but really he was just an anchor to the past instead of the rock Scarlett first perceived him to be.  Melanie was the rock…and Scarlett.

Scarlett would do anything, say anything to protect her beloved Tara and what was hers.  Of course there were costs in this.  Things were sticky – to save Tara and give her family a home, she married her sister’s fiancée.  She stole him really, all while penniless and gorgeous in her new green, velvet dress, a.k.a. the parlor drapes.  How could you not love her???

Mother Mary wasn’t so easy for me to attach to initially.  First off – the story of a virgin birth, can we say tramp?  Cover-up?  It took me years to allow the possibility of this story – the leap of faith.  I had to come to understand the teachings and environment of these stories.  I discovered there was much more space in the details of the events. 

As you may know Jesus was a Jew and his story was originally told by spoken word through his disciples – something akin to a Rabbi.  Well, one forgets that the Rabbi told stories and allegories to teach their followers – the details were shifted a bit to keep the story interesting and connect to audience they spoke before.  They were, in many cases, the entertainment of the day.

For example, Jesus was forever going off for 40 days – to the desert, in isolation, whatever, but did he go off for forty days?  Back then, when someone said, “forty days,” it just meant a long time.  The audience then knew this; however it is us, the exact interpreters that need things to be black and white.  This taught me about flexible thinking…but I digress, back to Mary. 

Mary has always challenged me not only by the virgin birth, but also, how could she just stand there during the crucifixion of Jesus?  How could she not shout out, “Stop, stop, take me.  Take me, please, please, take me…”  What kind of mother was she???

It took me years to discover she was exactly the kind of mother I strive to be everyday.  She supported her son and the decisions he made for his life because she trusted him…and God.  This was Jesus’ life and she stood by, faithfully until the end. 

How could she deny the truth of what Jesus predicted to unfold?  Hadn’t she also heard Gabriel announce her own difficult path?  How many called her a tramp as she walked by? Perhaps her village shunned her…but she accepted her path and held fast to her own truth.  How could her child do less when so called?  And again, where else would Mary be, but at Jesus’ feet as he shouted out his last? 

I believe, Mary knew the glory to be on the other side for Jesus.  You see, Mary knew magic and miracles every day – every time she saw Jesus’ smile she was reminded how real they truly are…

There you have it – Scarlett and Mary, my two heroines of tales gone by, who guide me each day to a brand new tomorrow, where possibilities unfold and magic is surely lurking just beyond…

Who are your heroes???

You want to transform your life?  Try guided meditation.  Why?  To transform your life, you must first change your thoughts and that’s the rub – how to change your thoughts from what is not working to what is…and again I answer with guided meditation.

Guided meditation helps create the space within yourself to identify thoughts that are not working and replacing them with new thought patterns that enhance your life.  Meditation isn’t a quick fix, but a foundation for real transformation

Several years ago I went to a lecture by Marianne Williamson.  A person in the audience wanted her guidance on why her life wasn’t getting any better.  This person had struggled with eating disorders and depression in the past, but she just couldn’t quite find her way out.  Williamson asked her what she was doing to help herself.  The woman responded with, “I go to therapy and have asked God to help me.” 

Williamson responded, “Not enough.”  I was stunned.  Then Williamson continued, “If you had a failing liver, you would be taking medicines every day, where is your medicine for your ailment today?  Not a once a week plan, but every day?  Changing your life isn’t something you do a couple times a week, but every day.”  Williamson suggested specific prayer (she’s a proponent of A Course In Miracles) and meditation as a place to start.

I absolutely and whole-hearted agree with Williamson – transformation doesn’t happen overnight, but as a result of many steps.  This is not to say transformation is difficult as much as it is a habit – some habits are easier than others to change.  To change a habit,  first identify something to replace it with.  For instance, you’ll see a lot of quitting smokers chewing gum.

For many people, their bad habit is how they are thinking about themselves or life, i.e. I’m unlovable or life is unfair, there’s never enough money.  Both these thoughts cripple the individual and manifest incident after incident in their own lives to valid these negative beliefs.  So like the smoker that quits cigarettes, one must quit negative thinking, but what to replace it with?  Guided meditation allows you to replace negative thought patterns with ones of success and peace. 

Try falling asleep to guided meditation and discover for yourself how these new ideas slip into your dreams and your language easily and effortlessly.  Whenever I am needing a little extra support I listen to I Meet Success or I am Safe.  Guided Meditation has transformed my life, how ‘bout you?

For many folks, happiness feels like some far off place, for someone else, but it waits for you.  If you are struggling to connect to deep happiness from within, I invite you to examine five different areas in your life today.  Maybe you will discover where you stumble and possibly block happiness unwittingly…

1.      Inner dialog

2.      Faith

3.      Intuition

4.      Support

5.      Drive

1.  Inner dialog, or more specifically, what you say to yourself all day long.  Do you encourage yourself or tear yourself down?  Here’s the rub, you are interpreting your life every moment.  What you focus on becomes your life.  If you have a negative attitude, it frames all your beliefs.  Hence if you think life is hard, guess what?  Life is going to be hard. 

So first, examine your inner dialog.  Do you point out faults in others or yourself?  Do you look for solutions?  Do you learn from your mistakes or do you keep repeating them?  Do you ask anyone repeatedly if you look fat and/or attractive?  Any bells ringing?

If so, you are looking on the outside for a better way, instead of within.  Our life is created by our thoughts; how we think about people, places, our childhoods, ourselves, our families, our success…If you change your thoughts, things change. 

Instead of thinking you are trapped in a pattern, a relationship, a job, a car, debt, whatever…I encourage you to look again and ask yourself, What For?  What do I need to do today to move into balance?  How can I follow my dream?  What one step can I make today?

Tomorrow we shall look at 2. Faith.

When you change the way you look at things, things change.

These past months I feel a bit like I’m in the boat, sails up yet no rudder – the wind is sporadic.  Sometimes I seem to be spinning in the same circles around and around.  Other times – I feel dead in the water yet still other days, I find myself zooming off into directions unknown.  Interestingly I know I am not alone.

 I hear it over and over from my friends, from people I haven’t spoken to in months and from many of my clients – I just don’t know which way to turn, but something’s gotta give.  I’ve questioned myself – is this how it has always been?  Are we always on the edge in some way or is this something bigger?

 I am relentlessly optimistic.  I always, always, always believe there is a brighter day.  The darkest part of the night only emboldens me to hold on tighter and wait for dawn, as I know it comes.  Unfortunately it doesn’t always come in my timing however…Gratefully one of the gifts in being almost forty years old is I’ve known miracles.  I have seen amazing things come to pass out of nowhere, hence I know dawn comes…eventually. 

 I have learned that sometimes wandering the desert or in a rudderless boat can carry you to places unexpected and magical.  Somehow I had forgotten this – I had become one of the adults in The Little Prince…

 A few weeks ago, I decided to enjoy the boat again, even if the rudder seems to be missing for awhile.  I know my compass is true, the people I love are abroad and the adventure is now…

Lately I have been focused on the word surrender.  I can frankly say surrender is in exact opposition of my personality – I’m a doer.  In the beginning of the week a friend said to me, “Sounds like you have to surrender.” 

 What the hell kind of comment is that?  Can we say “useless?”  Imagine that I could surrender?  Me, the girl who’s name means “warrior?”  No, no there has to be something more I can do???  I think, think, think, twisting and turning the issues in my mind looking for anything not thought of – hopeful to see the puzzle finally set right, but no there are no new angles.  It is just beyond my control.  I can only see in part while so much has yet to be revealed…

 I tell myself the tricks – focus on manifesting, see the picture you desire, light candles, pray…yet still I am left in the dark.  I vacillate between shaking my fist at God and fear of what will be.  I feel myself on this hinge point between what was and what will be. 

 What I do know is life has changed forever – and amusingly, it was nothing I did or expected.  Life bumped into me – not tragically, but a powerful, unexpected awakening that blew apart long held beliefs of right or wrong.  A door I chose to close years ago burst open and I am grateful, even as I hear a chuckling God. 

 And I also see, surrender is my only path to peace.  I have done all I can do, said all the words that need to be said, I must wait for heaven to act.  So I light candles, say prayers, see the picture I desire in my mind and I comfort myself with the firm truth – I will not be in limbo forever, just awhile…Therefore I savor this life right now because it is shifting beneath my feet forever.  Things will be lost just as assuredly as new things will be found. I wait on the will of heaven to be revealed, confident I am protected and thrilled at what is to be…