“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Charles Dickens wrote these words during the French Revolution in 1859, A Tale of Two Cities.

He continues:

"It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us …”

How timely are his words.

We are living in challenging times.  It feels like everything is collapsing around us which creates tremendous overwhelm and fear.  Uncertainty and concern for our future based on an assault on our health, economy and our values.  So how do we find calm, peace and love.  

I love this definition and hope it will guide your week as it has mine.

 e·qua·nim·i·ty
/ˌekwəˈnimədē/
noun

1. mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper,...

Sadness for our planet that is on fire.  Scorching our trees that bring us oxygen.  Damaging and poisoning the air we breathe.  Fueled by our disregard and lack of care for everything she does to sustain us. No longer thinking of the legacy we leave for our children and future generations as we steal from her resources for financial gain.

I am saddened by our government that chooses to fuel division.  Flamed by the internet and false claims targeted to build communities against each other.  Feeding us the diet of disinformation that achieves their aim.

Once divided, easily conquered. We have lost our compass with the possibility of losing our democracy and freedom.  It was hard fought for by those who had experienced tyranny and wanted to live in a more just and kinder world.  They traveled from afar to build their dream on this soil.  Will we descend to a civil war or will we find our hearts, our compassion and loving kindness to restore this...

Why is this so incredibly important…..

Because your relationship with you colors how you see the world.  Your beliefs  become the movies in your mind and what you expect to happen in the world.  How you believe people are and how you will be treated.  

Understanding and becoming my own life architect was a decision.  I was tired of the patterns that repeated every day.  I wanted better relationships personally, professionally and with myself and my own state of joy and love

You control the patterns that serve you as well as your ability to replace these patterns with new ideas and behaviors.  The truth is most of the time, our day and life is lived on autopilot without a clear plan, purpose or vision for what our life and legacy will be

So let’s create some simple steps to shifting your relationship with you

1. Set your intention.

Someone asked me at the beginning of a session yesterday what my intention was. And I realized how...

I am grateful for the incredible depth of love that relationships bring into my life, as well as the reflection and opportunity they bring to learn more about who I am.

Becoming more conscious of how I react and show up in my personal and professional relationships has helped me grow to become kinder, gentler, more conscious and loving. To others as well as myself.

Being an entrepreneur has connected me with people all over the globe, which has changed how I see the world.

The value and gift, of extending our reach and connection of love and community more broadly.  These relationships have helped me grow as a human being and to be more aware of all the ways we are capable of nurturing and caring for our shared humanity.

Which is why this week I want to talk about our most important relationship. 

Which is our relationship with ourself.

How do you honor you?  

Do you celebrate and recognize you every day?

Or are you guided by that monkey mind that chooses to...

Choosing joy daily is my numero uno

Since every moment is a choice 

I remind myself of this fact

Whenever I find myself spinning off course

Worrying about something or comparing myself to someone

Living in the land of regrets for what I wish I would have said or done

Pushing myself to do more instead of crawling into bed and feeling more happy

Which is where I am right now!  With a smile on my face

I love writing in bed 

Secret time downloading my day in a quiet space

Giving myself an “Atta girl!” for the little accomplishments of the day

So I can go to sleep with a win instead of a list of to do’s 

Wake up feeling ready to conquer the day instead of overwhelmed

So what makes you happy

What brings joy and into your heart

Let’s make a list together and choose one thing every day

Because dang we deserve it

5 Top Happiness Hacks

1. Laugh a lot - especially at yourself, because I like cracking myself up 
2. Grow a garden...

My heart is full of happiness

It is my theme this week

Finding ways to share more joy and love

Starting with myself because it’s always an inside job

We believe that something in the world will make us happy 

But the problem is when we get it 

We just want more of something else

Never satisfied and always searching for next

Instead of valuing all we are 

Our ability to give freely

The little acts of kindness

The simple smile or thank you

The patience we show when we are annoyed

These are really gifts to you

Because they remind you of the power you have 

To bring more joy into the world….

So let’s cultivate a garden of goofy playful fun

What should we plant

Rich soil of love

Fertilized with a generous dose of caring

Deep seedlings of kindness

And a crop of giving...

So we nourish the world

With food from our heart

And the planet with our love

What lights you up

Starts a fire in your heart

Take time today and write down 5 things that make you happy

I have a way to make your wish list come true

You have to bring the desire 

The spark of belief, faith and will to make it real

I have the how, the way to build the spark into a fire 

That burns in your heart because it lights up your dreams

These are your dreams we are talking about….

Pull them out of the dark and let’s sing

My song for today is a touch of Springsteen and some good old fashioned dancing ….

“I’m just tired and bored with myself

You can’t start a fire 

Can’t start a fire without a spark

This guns for hire

Even if we’re just dancing in the dark”

I get it!  Change is scary and the unknown is even scarier.  

This is what I hear all the time when people first consider becoming a social entrepreneur

“I want another stream of income but don’t know what that means or where to start.”

“I’m not you and can’t do what you do”

“I don’t know what to do and am too overwhelmed to do anything right now”

“Or I’m so busy and just couldn’t handle one more thing”

“I don’t have any  money”

My heart breaks open because I understand.  I felt the same way.  

I had all of these concerns as well

I didn’t have any experience and at the time, I didn’t have a mentor to help me.

I was afraid of asking for help and so I stayed stuck and struggled

I didn’t know where to start, did it on my own,  and was leading...

Our world today is changing so rapidly and finding our way through uncertainty is essential.  Waiting for the world to get back to normal is a remote possibility but I believe in our heart of hearts we all realize that it is time for change.  

We are called to create a kinder, better, more loving, consciously connected world.  Working together globally to solve the problems we have created on this one planet we spin through space on.  Our world cannot survive our consumption of it and if we do not change, our survival is also in question.  ReThinking our future is rethinking our present.  What can we each do differently in this globally connected world is our opportunity.  This is the time of the entrepreneur so moving from coin operated, job paying me, to purpose minded can begin as a side hustle with the potential to grow into your main purpose and reward.

Let’s look at 5 ways to create other streams of income in this...

Isn’t that what we do every week

Go to work, do our job, go home

Repeat the next day until Friday

Do you love what you do?

I loved my clients but was not as crazy about my bosses

My team and I were the ones producing the revenues

Building the relationships and delivering the results

And they were the ones trying to manage us

Figuring that cracking a whip was motivation 

Or calling a friday afternoon meeting was the smart way

To make sure we were still working till 5 pm

So what would we all love…

Doing what we lights us up and being our own boss

Creating something of value that people need

An opportunity to be one of the first

Knowing and being part of creating the future

Where the world is going

Like owning a piece of Apple, Google, Amazon

Timing is everything

It is why I said yes to network marketing

Because I believed so much in the company

That I got over my obstacles and fears

Become my own boss, set my own hours

Built an asset that...