To Grow Is To Change

“Deep within every life, no matter how dull or ineffectual it may seem from the outside, there is something eternal happening.  This is the secret way that change and possibility conspire with growth.  John Henry Newman summed this up beautifully when he said, “To grow is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Change, therefore, need not be threatening; it can in fact bring our lives to perfection.  Perfection is not cold completion.  Neither is it avoidance of risk and danger in order to keep the soul pure or the conscience unclouded.  When you are faithful to the risk and ambivalence of growth, you are engaging your life.”

                                                                        John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

Take a look at your life and notice where you could grow or change at this time.  Where can you begin to see areas of stagnation or stuckness as opportunities for growth and the expression of your full potential.  It is important not to avoid risk but to be faithful to ambivalence and growth.  For it is in these areas of our lives that we become fully expressed and alive.

                                                                        Maureen Simon

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Love Gives Joy

“The satisfaction of love is not in the feeling itself, but in the joy that feeling brings. Love gives joy” Paramahasa Yogananda

We yearn for love, we search for love, and when a relationship ends we feel we have lost our joy, our love, our everything forgetting that joy is around us and in us.  Too often we confuse passion with love.  We may have passion with another without love and love without passion and when we combine the two it is like fireworks.  When real fireworks end we will remember them as spectacular.  We will recall and recount the event to others with joy and awe. However, when the fireworks from a relationship dwindle and die we often become bitter and angry; we choose not to remember what was spectacular, what filled us with joy. We will tell others how awful the person was, what they did, we will dwell in our intense dislike for them.  Does this serve us well?  No.  We do it because the hurt is overwhelming and we do not see how living the pain over and over again continues to hurt us.  

What happens when instead we make a choice to hold on to the memories that made us smile, remembering why we once loved them and choose to continue to love them as a fellow human being, a soul we connected with; we then open ourselves to receive new love.  We open ourselves to feel joy.  There were traits we liked about the other person. If there were not, then we must ask ourselves, what was it that drew us to them?  This introspection allows us to grow and then, if nothing else, we can appreciate the relationship for the growth it provided.

I am not saying that you still spend time with that person, unless that is what you choose.  However as Buddha said; “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intention of throwing it at someone else.  You are the one who gets hurt.”  Anger, bitterness, and revenge will not serve you, nor will it hurt them.  Our relationships mirror our lives.  When we look into our soul, what do we see?  What do we feel?  What is your relationship with you?  Start caring about you.  Give yourself love, find joy in the simple things; flowers, music.  Connect with your Spirit and you will connect with you.  Then you will be open to receive and give love.  Then you will find joy and love in your heart, your soul, and your life.

Carolyn Brown

Website www.youcelebrateyou.com

FaceBook http://bit.ly/JNz2p4   http://bit.ly/uRcWhG

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Carolyn Brown is a certified hypnotherapist and life coach whose mission is to help others create a life of joy.  Carolyn discovered after 27 years of marriage that her husband was gay and turned this despair into inspiration and healing. Carolyn teaches how to refrain from dwelling on our own hurt, to turn the focus from our broken relationships to ourselves, and thus to a new future.

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Spring Into Change

Spring is almost here; a time for new growth, new beginnings.  This is a time when creativity stirs within us.  Can we bring forth our own growth and the expression of it and live our destiny? This weekend we will set our clocks forward.  Will we set our lives forward? 

Remembering your destiny is so much more than simply recalling some ephemeral past memories.  It is actually returning to, and rediscovering your whole self.  It is a full realization of your extraordinary place in the tapestry of life. 

In order to live a fully expressed and alive life, it is essential to stretch beyond your normal comfort zone.  Take some time to explore your inner self. Let yourself have the freedom to imagine new possibilities in the areas of career, finances, fitness, well-being, friendship and love.  Say “yes” to new opportunities and practice being fascinated with your own answers to these questions.

• What innate talents do I possess:
• What are my greatest gifts?
• What do I enjoy doing so much that I lose track of time while I’m doing it?
• What are the guiding principles of my life – what is my polestar?
• What do I love the most about life?

This year it is a time for restoring the “feminine” in us all and for emerging leadership for women.  Take a moment to gain the powerful and on-going support of other women on the journey towards becoming themselves and join us in The Essential Feminine Company™ “Living Room” for an hour’s conversation on “Inviting The New, The Different and The Good Into Our Lives” which will take place on March 24, at noon PST.  This is a free event which will happen on the fourth Wednesday of the month, with a new topic each month.   You will need to register for this month’s event at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/448858688 

I hope to see you there.

Maureen Simon
415-381-5115
maureen@theessentialfeminine.com
www.theessentialfeminine.com
http://globaldialoguecenter.blogs.com/women/
www.facebook.com/maureensimon
Join our Facebook Group ” Women Influencing Now”
twitter@maureensimon

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