Your True Home

I came across this and thought you might like it. Sometimes, it appears to me that people avoid creating and following inspirations because it’s often an individual exploration. But this essay, to me, states what’s on offer by saying YES. I believe creating takes you beyond your current ‘self’ and ‘Inspiration’ is an invitation from the Big Kahuna to grow and expand.
YOUR TRUE HOME
Each one of us is alone in the world. It takes great courage to meet the full force of your aloneness. Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas a Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary. When you face your aloneness, something begins to happen. Gradually, the sense of bleakness changes into a sense of true belonging. This is a slow and open-ended transition but it is utterly vital in order to come into rhythm with your own individuality. In a sense this is the endless task of finding your true home within your life. It is not narcissistic, for as soon as you rest in the house of your own heart, doors and windows begin to open outwards to the world. No longer on the run from your aloneness, your connections with others become real and creative. You no longer need to covertly scrape affirmation from others or from projects outside yourself. This is slow work; it takes years to bring your mind home.
JOHN O’DONOHUE
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Sending smiles,
Cherie

Living Inspired, Naturally!

Here we are at the end of 2019! Can you believe it? I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year! We’re not only starting a new year, we’re beginning a new decade. How exciting is that?
How do you want to live in 2020 and the years that follow? Letting INSPIRATION lead the way has been on the top of my dashboard lately. I’ve noticed that when I follow my natural inspiration the ride of life is expansive and full of aliveness, when I don’t, I feel flat and stuck. It’s helpful for me to understand what gets in the way of me following.
I’m inspired to have a free community webinar on this topic on January 2nd at noon CST. I’d love for you to join me in celebrating the beginning of a new year and exploring INSPIRATION. The information for joining the webinar is below. Please share the webinar information with anyone who might benefit from the conversation.
Thank you for the opportunity to share and grow together.
Wishing you a very happy new year filled with joy, love, and enthusiasm for life!
Cherie

Saying “YES!”

For the last 10 years, I’ve been consistently surprised by what life offers me and what my mind makes of these offers. When I speak of ‘offers’ I’m referring to invitations and inspirations that reach me through other people or fresh ideas that come into my mind. You know the ones that kind of shake your reality? The ones that you immediately say NO to, in your mind but then they don’t leave you alone. Those are the taps on the shoulder from the source of all life saying, want to play a bigger game?

Recently, I’ve received a few of these big-ass taps on the shoulder and watched how my mind quickly determined what was possible for me. And just as quickly, I believed what popped into my mind as a GO/can’t GO. As if the TRUTH police or Judge Judy made a determination. More times than not, my mind says NO, nope, nada, it can’t work, not possible, etc.

I can trace this conditioned NO response to an upbringing that embedded in me the answer to every invitation to do something ‘unnecessary’ came back with a NO. I laugh out loud when I think of my dear father’s response to me asking if I could spend the night with my best friend. His response was, “no, you have a bed”. Seeing the cause of this historical NO habit doesn’t help. It still looks and feels true.
It’s at this point of the self-talk conversation where I would live with the answer NO and move on. Now, after the initial NO response, a whispering curiosity comes on the scene, “Could I do that?”

Recently, I received an invitation to attend an event 2400 miles from home. Immediately my mind said NO!  My internal monologue continued with a litany of, What? Go all that way for one night? Ridiculous! Get a plane ticket, rent a car, secure a hotel room and what to wear? The idea really did look absurd to some part of me but another part was answering, why not?

This time I said YES! With YES, the ball began to roll and the adventure began to unfold. By saying YES, a rich sense filled me! I was delighted and amused by staring absurdity in the face.

Within moments the entire adventure was planned. It was simple and easy. Who knew this was possible? Not me! I marked my calendar and boarded the plane.

The gifts for me in saying YES to the concept of ABSURD:
  1. While deplaning upon arrival, my phone alerted me to check-in for my flight to Houston the following day. LOL!
  2. Participating in an event that was filled with joy and celebration.
  3. Connecting with people that I don’t usually get the chance to have lengthy, rich conversations with.
  4. Experiencing fields of tulips and daffodils! A vision that compares to Holland and Belgium in magnificent beauty, I’m told.
  5. Standing solo in the tulip fields at sunrise. The vibrancy and vitality from Mother Nature was palpable.
  6. Seeing I really do love an idea that engages a, ‘what the hell’ response!
  7. By saying YES, so many concepts of limitation fall away.
  8. Having the opportunity to see that NO is a habit, not life informing me of what’s TRUE.
Looking back with immense gratitude for this learning opportunity, I see how much I would have missed by living in my habitual NO. I see that by following feelings of delight, inspiration follows.
 
I encourage you to face absurdity head-on and to partner with delight. Your experience of life will grow as naturally as the tulips!