I recently found myself on the USA/Canadian border where northern Maine meets the province of New Brunswick. The funny thing about the border in this area is that there is no actual physical border. No wall, no river, no razor wire. There are small markers indicating where the two nations come together, but for the most part the border is nothing but a line drawn on a map. With this line comes an understanding of it’s boundaries and limitations, agreed to and respected.

Standing on this borderless border, it would be very easy to cross over to the other side. But we don’t, because we accept the limitations placed before us.

Sometimes in our own lives we come face to face with our own personal boundaries and limitations. These are boundaries and limitations that we accept and respect even though there is nothing physically restraining us from moving beyond these self-inflicted limitations. How often do we stand on the threshold of our dreams only to stop ourselves from crossing over the border?

HOLDING YOU BACK In the geopolitical world we do need to know where one nation ends and the other begins. But our soulful existence knows no physical boundaries. Instead we are bound only by any psychological barriers we erect for ourselves. When we honor and respect our own personal limitations, we separate ourselves from our divine purpose. Our dreams become surrounded by emotional barbed wire, perfectly within our sight but never within our grasp.

Are you standing on the threshold of your own greatness? Can you see what it is you want to become yet find yourself restrained from moving forward?

What holds us back is what always holds us back. Doubt. Doubt prevents us from giving ourselves permission to be great. It leaves us standing on the perimeter of our own greatest possibility.

Doubt fuels our fears, reminds us of our unworthiness, rationalizes our inferiority, and justifies our weakness. It is psychological cholesterol, gradually and invisibly restricting our ability to fulfill our dreams.

SEE, I TOLD YOU SO Doubt is a voice we’ve listened to for a very long time. It’s not a loud voice; rather, it’s a soft-spoken seemingly intelligent voice patiently reminding us at every possible opportunity that we’re just not good enough. It’s the subtle “see, I told you so” comments whispered into our ears that take root in our psyche, inevitably leading us to question who it is we really are.

Our immediate environment is a perfect breeding ground for doubt. Well-intentioned yet tragically misguided words unsuspectingly delivered by the ones we love and look up to create small fractures in our self confidence. When those we admire and respect express their doubts about what we are capable of, who are we to question their “wisdom”? Their tainted expectations cause us to taint our own expectations of ourself as well.

Our culture exposes us all to messages that can cause us to question our own worth and value. There is always something new to live up to, and if we don’t the voice of “see, I told you so” is right there to remind us of our own alleged shortcomings. Once again the voice tells us that it’s not that we’re not good, we’re just not good enough.

But it’s not about blaming society or anyone else. The goal is fulfilling your divine possibility.

EMBRACING YOUR PERFECTION What’s needed to silence the voice of doubt is an opposing view. A counterbalance in the form of the voice of possibility, the voice of divine truth. A voice to remind us of the perfection in which we were created.

When we were born there was nothing to doubt. Here we were, growing and evolving, the first stage in becoming what we were created to become. We were unlimited, surrounded by abundance, everything was possible. When we stumbled as we learned how to walk we simply got back up and tried again, never contemplating the possibility that maybe we just weren’t good enough to walk. We didn’t subject ourselves to the concept of comparison, nor did we view what we did in terms of success or failure. All we were was growing and evolving, becoming who it was we were created to become.

We’ve all been given everything we need to become who it is we were created to become. As in nature, that is inherent in our very design. Our purpose comes complete with the talents, gifts, and abilities needed to fulfill our purpose. The counterbalance to doubt is to reframe ourselves in the love in which we were created, to reconnect with our own original divine nature, to rediscover who we already really are.

MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH Moving beyond doubt is critical if we ever hope to fulfill our purpose and dreams. No matter how close you get, doubt will always keep you short of your goal. Moving beyond doubt is listening to the wiser voice, the voice that says “yes, you’re more than good enough”, the voice of your Creator.

I’ve always been intrigued by my own personal dealings with doubt. I’ve always wondered exactly what happened, how doubt could have entered my psychological blood stream. For some there are clearly defined moments in their lives that lead to the birth of their uncertainty. For others, me included, it was more of a subtle undetected infiltration slowly transforming possibility into improbability. 

As curious as I was about my past, I am far more concerned with today, with this moment. I get to choose what I am going to bring with me into all my next moments, this moment included. I need not bring with me what held me back in the past. My intention is to create a new future, to move closer to all I was created to become.

Yes, seeing yourself as you were originally created is nothing more than a choice. Your choice.

A BETTER CHOICE Doubt lives in the gap between who we are and who it is we think we are. And while this space isn’t very big, it’s just big enough to cause us to question our worth, our value, and our own possibility. Doubt has no place to lurk when there is no gap, and that gap is closed when we once again rediscover our own divinity, when we hear the True voice reminding us of who it is we really are.

We are not here to merely contemplate our own greatness. We are here to achieve it. We’ve all been given everything we need to cross over any self-limiting borders and barricades standing in front of us. Especially the ones we may have built on our own.

So, how do you see you? Is there a gap between who you think you are and who you really are? Which version of you do you accept as your truth?

As you stand on the threshold of your own greatness, move confidently ahead. There really is nothing between who you are and who it is you were created to become.

No doubt about it.

It’s a great day to be you!

I heard these two words quite often during the recent Easter holiday. As I pause and think about Easter’s significance, I find myself asking if Easter is really a holiday. I mean, how can the magnitude of Easter’s message and promise be relegated to just one day of the year?

My conclusion? Easter can’t be confined to just one day. Every day is Easter.

Now I’m not trying to re-write any religious teachings or modify any religious calendars. My point is the opportunity for our own individual rebirth and renewal is available to us every day of the year.

Sometimes we get to a place where we decide to hit the reset button on our lives, when we get to that point when it’s time to get up off the floor or it’s time to start walking in a different direction. This is when we’ve finally embraced the decision to begin a personal journey to becoming who it is we want to become.

DON’T WAIT On many occasions, our new journey coincides with important days of the year such as New Year’s Day or our next birthday, the two classic life reset dates. New Year’s Day and birthdays are great starting lines to begin any journey we feel we’d like to begin. But we don’t need to wait for a certain date in order to begin moving ahead towards where it is we’d like to be in our lives.

While waiting implies that we’ve committed to the process, waiting allows us to continue standing in the shadows of who it is we wish to become. Even with our commitment, without movement we’re still standing in the exact spot we’ve decided to move away from. We are no closer to becoming that which we hope to become.

Why would we want to put off becoming all it is we’d like to become?

NO BETTER TIME Our own rebirth and renewal are available to us whenever we’d like. Regardless of circumstance, every day can be a reset day, your fresh start, your new beginning. Every day presents the opportunity to return again to who you already are.

So where are you in your own life? What is it you wish to overcome and rise above? Who is it you’ve always wanted to become? Are you ready to be guided by those mysterious soulful voices tugging at your heart as they whisper in your ear?

Is there a better time than now to embrace your own renewal, to rediscover your own true divinity?

This is your moment.

It’s a great day to be you!

The good news is God would never call us aside and tell us any of this.

Yet how often do we have this very conversation with ourselves?

THREE VOICES There are worldly voices surrounding us which quite often influence our own opinion of who it is we think we are. These voices come in several dialects, but usually all they do is work against us. Of all the voices, these three are the most influential and are potentially the most detrimental to the vision we have of our own self.

THE VOICE OF POP CULTURE I’ve always found pop culture to be exciting and annoying at the same time. Pop culture has been empowered to elevate and anoint the “next big thing”. I’m not sure how it happens, all I know is it does. With it comes the new definition of cool, the trends you need to follow, the ever-changing expectations you need to live up to. Pop culture sets the rules by which you’ll be judged. It will never tell you that you suck. That’s what your peers are for.

THE VOICE OF PEERS Peers are the enforcers of the Code of Cool, the Expectation Police. These are the label makers, the ones who will define us for others and even for ourselves if we empower them to do so. Their interest is their own self interest of superiority and position. Peers will be more than happy to let you know you suck. It just makes them feel like they are better than you. It makes perfect sense in a mindset based upon fear and scarcity. We’ve all been on both sides of this table. There is, after all, a reason why it’s called peer pressure.

THE VOICE OF FAMILY Of the three voices this one is the most important. Simply because these are the voices that matter most.  The opinions of family carry with them a disproportionate significance because these are the voices we empower to validate the choices we’ve made. Perhaps the greatest influence this voice has on us comes from subtle, well-intentioned-but-damaging comments which come our way. No malicious intent, but damage is done as their words play upon our psyche.

Of all the voices we are exposed to in the world, though, the only one that really matters is your own. Ultimately, your image of you is up to you. Certainly there are powerful influences outside of us with the ability to reshape the very image we have of who it is we are. But that can only happen if we allow that to happen. With the world whispering words of doubt into your ear, it all comes down to one question:

What are you whispering into your own ear?

You’ll never be in a position where you’ll have to respond to God telling you that you suck. Because you don’t. Never have and never will. And He should know, shouldn’t He? God does have an excellent track record of creating nothing but greatness. Our challenge is to see the same greatness within us which God sees within us.

HIGHEST AUTHORITY When we hear the voices around us we always need to consider the source. Better yet, consider your Source, the Source of your own creation. Listen and you’ll hear the voice of the Highest Authority. Perhaps this voice gets lost in the background as the “Next Big Thing” screams onto the scene. God’s voice is His artistry, magnificently expressed in the perfection residing within each and every one of us. Including you. A perfection that peacefully transcends any worldly opinion.

In our perfection nothing is missing. We are already complete, equipped with our own unique collection of talents, gifts, and abilities which will enable us to fulfill our divine promise. When was the last time anyone said you were perfect exactly the way you were created?

Now that is something to whisper into your own ear, isn’t it?

It’s a great day to be you!

Certain things make us happy. That usually happens when the outside world meets or exceeds our expectations. Then we allow ourselves to be happy. Happiness becomes the result when our terms and conditions are met.

But what happens when the world around us lets us down?

Think about how a rainy day off from work makes you feel. We establish our expectations for what a “perfect” day off should be, and then the rain ruins everything. Our expectations are not met and our disappointment undermines our ability to be happy.

Why do we place so much of our capacity for happiness into the hands of the outside world of which we have zero control over?

Happiness shouldn’t be a result contingent upon the outside world acting in accordance with how we think it should be acting. Happiness is a decision, a foundation to build all the moments of your life upon, independent of the uncontrollable outside forces around you.

THE GIFT OF YOU Happiness as a decision may seem like a radical concept. After all, our entire culture has created a correlation between what you have and what makes you happy. But true happiness is never something you have. It’s something that you are.

The idea of unconditional happiness is anything but radical. It’s simply about looking inside yourself and appreciating all that you already are. With that comes a quiet contentment, a humbling reverence for all the great things already around you and within you. It’s the foundation for loving and accepting yourself unconditionally, the cornerstone of human happiness.

Where does your happiness come from?

Look at yourself, the real version of you. Take inventory of all the greatness within you…your talents, gifts, and abilities. Rediscovering and accepting the Gift of You reframes happiness as something which already resides within you and not something waiting to happen to you. Real happiness is always found within.

Don’t wait for the world to make you happy.

It’s a great day to be you!

What would you do if you had your own National Park?

My travels this week brought me to the the coastal region of Maine, not too far from the Bar Harbor area. The Bar Harbor area is home to the stunningly beautiful Acadia National Park. Acadia was a place I had often talked about going to but actually visiting the park was one of those things that I had never done. A last minute change in my schedule gave the window of time I needed and off to Acadia I went.

Acadia is located on Mount Desert Island, sitting right on the jagged Maine coast, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It is a majestic place filled with glacier rock formations and old growth timber very much left untouched. The views are spectacular. Almost spiritual.

Aside from a friendly park ranger who waved as he drove by, I didn’t see any other human life. No one else. Just me.

The place was all mine. My own National Park.

 ”How cool is this?”

QUITE SURREAL Certainly my timing played a role in the reason why the park was virtually empty. An early weekday morning in the middle of March with a 32-degree temperature usually keeps people away. But it was quite an amazing feeling having the place to myself.

During the hour I spent meandering through the park I stumbled across a sign for a beach. I drove into the empty parking area and parked. As I got out of the car I could hear the sound of crashing waves on the beach which I still could not yet see. The anticipation was building as I made my way down some stairs and on to the beach.

As I stood on the beach I was amazed with what I was experiencing and equally humbled that I was the only person in the world experiencing it.

It is emotionally surreal standing alone on a quiet beach.

Now I’m used to beaches being on the loud side, full of the human sounds of summer. Anything but tranquil. But on this day the quiet was magical, even transformative.

SOOTHING RHYTHMS Without the usual ambient noise and human distraction I could fully experience the beach and its surroundings as they actually were. Nothing other than it actually was. Sort of like listening to the acoustic version of song, unplugged to reveal the purity of it’s soul. I could fully appreciate the magnificence and beauty of what was encompassed me, like the soothing rhythm of the crashing waves, the gentle abrasiveness of the grains of sand, and the asymmetrical nature of the jagged walls of rock serving as bookends to this majestically perfect space.

Sometimes all you need is some quiet moments to once again see the magnificence of what surrounds you.

Life is noisy. Life is full of distractions. The pace and the pulse of life seldom give us the time for those quiet moments we need to rediscover the very magnificence that surrounds us in our own lives. But behind all the noise and all the distractions is the acoustic version of your life. You, unplugged. It is in these moments where you again see all the greatness that surrounds you, as well as the greatness within you.

HONOR YOURSELF For me standing alone on a freezing beach in the middle of winter was a great blessing. It gave me the opportunity to reflect upon the reactionary nature of the noises and distractions in my own life and how they at times distort my view of all the greatness that surrounds me. But you need not stand alone on a beach to gain this new perspective. No matter where you stand, all it takes is a few reflective moments to recalibrate your reality, to synchronize your spirit, to once again see the greatness that surrounds you.

You honor yourself when you allow yourself to again see the magnificence in your midst. Perhaps now is the time for a few moments of quiet reflection?

It’s a great day to be you!

It’s time to burn the books.

Don’t get me wrong. I love books. Sometimes I think I love them too much. I like non-fiction books that tell me how to do things. Things like building a deck, using my crock pot, or finding Jesus.

Not surprisingly, in a book store you’ll usually find me in the personal development section, scanning through the inspirational, self-improvement, motivational, and self-actualization material. I always find new ways to look at old issues while browsing through these books. New theories, tactics and strategies. The wheel, reinvented yet again.

But there is only one problem with all these personal transformation books. 

They don’t work.

To be fair to the authors, it’s not their fault. Their job is to gather information on their subject of choice and present their findings to the world. The information contained in their books has the power to potentially change the world.

Potentially.

YOU GOTTA MOVE With an unlimited supply of information, today we have our greatest opportunity to become all that we were created to become. Yet, even though we have all this access to such life-changing information, so many still never rise up to the level of greatness that lies within them.

Why?

The old adage that knowledge is power is flawed. What makes knowledge powerful is determined by what you do with it. Knowledge is useless if you decide to do nothing with it, especially when it pertains to areas of your life you’d like to improve.

Knowledge can’t move you until you decide to move.

With such easy access to information, sometimes we prefer to gather more information than to move forward with the information that we already have. Our ability to become more knowledgeable can become the perfect justification (excuse) as to why we’re still standing in the exact same place we were standing in yesterday. And the day before that.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? This is exactly what happened to me on the road to my own personal transformation. I was quite good gathering more information to the point where it became a predictable distraction. A crutch, of sorts. Easier than stepping off the curb.

But nothing changed within me until I began moving forward with the knowledge I had already gathered.

Knowledge in action is transformational.

You will never know it all, but don’t let that stop you. You already know more than enough to begin moving forward on the journey to becoming all that you were created to become.

It’s all about moving forward.

What are you waiting for?

It’s a great day to be you!

photo: john sullivan

“Wait! Don’t answer yet!”

I enjoy watching infomercials. I really do. It’s not about buying anything that they’re selling. For me the joy comes from the showmanship, the performance of the presenter. We’ve seen some iconic pitchmen on late night TV over the years. Ron Popeil and Billy Mays alone have sold tens of millions of dollars of merchandise to a public ready to spend money on products that they never even thought they needed.

How do they manage to sell steak knives to people who already have a drawer full of steak knives?

They make the ordinary extraordinary.

RESHAPING PERCEPTIONS When I listen to Ron Popeil, I feel the passion for what it is he is presenting. He creates an excitement rooted in a deep conviction that his product is significant, meaningful, and purposeful. His conviction creates the energy that motivates us to want what it is that he represents. What we thought to be ordinary suddenly appears to be extraordinary.

It’s amazing what passion and conviction can do to reshape our perceptions of a steak knife.

I works the same way with life, too.

Sometimes we stop being excited about our life, about who we really are. Some have never allowed themselves to see anything worth getting excited about. We unknowingly allow ourselves to see ourselves as ordinary, and we live with as much enthusiasm and passion as we’d expect living such a so-called ordinary life. All because we’ve simply forgotten what makes us all extraordinary in the first place.

DIVINE PARADOX Extraordinary can be a frightening word, especially when you’re challenged to use that word to describe yourself. Extraordinary implies that some things must be simply ordinary. Through comparison and judgment we allow both to exist. We set parameters and establishing a hierarchy.

But when it comes to humanity, there is no such hierarchy. We are all extraordinary. 

Paradoxically, the only thing that could be considered ordinary is the fact that all of us by our very nature are extraordinary.

Imagine for a moment that Ron Popeil had to present you to the world. Yes, you, the infomercial. What would he have to say? More importantly, what would you have to say about you, the most important person you will ever know?

AWE & REVERENCE We all have been given an extraordinary and unique set of talents, gifts, and abilities which only we can bring to life and offer to the world. “But wait, there’s more!” Our very creation is divine evidence of our significance and magnificence. Our sanctified lives are meaningful and purposeful, or we simply wouldn’t be here, would we?

The key to it all is reminding yourself of your own inherent significance, and to develop a humble awe and reverence for your very being. With this conviction a new energy is created which transcends the feeble idea that you are ordinary.

It allows the ordinary to become extraordinary once again.

The moments of your life are far too precious to be spent thinking of yourself as anything less than what you really are.

Extraordinary.

Embrace your magnificence.

It’s a great day to be you!

photo: Lynn Cummings

Getting to the bright side is one thing, but staying there is another. Eventually, the glossy shimmer of bright side thinking slowly fades, usually no match for the pressures and intensity of a world that can be very unforgiving.

Bright side thinking is a veneer of sorts. New wallpaper covering the same old cracks in the wall. As well intended as it is, it’s a thought process that usually lacks depth and substance. There is no root system to hold it in place during the storms of uncertainty, doubt, and fear. Bright side thinking is a product of the same mind that just yesterday convinced you of how unhappy you were.

There is a way to get to the bright side and actually stay there. That requires moving beyond simple optimism and uncovering the reasons why you deserve to be living on the bright side in the first place.

A TRUER VISION There is nothing on anyone’s birth certificate that makes reference to a person’s predisposition on how they will view the world. No one is ever born a pessimist, destined to live on the dark side. Pessimism, like optimism, is something that we unknowingly learn. How we’ve dealt with previous life challenges greatly determines how we’ll deal with future ones. Experiences shape expectations.

But what if we were to base our expectations not upon any worldly experiences but upon a truer vision consistent with who it is we really are?

How much time does the world spend each day reminding us of our magnificence, our greatness, and our divinity? More importantly, how much time do we spend reminding ourselves of these very things? The world is far too busy, and sadly, so are we. But even if we don’t take the time to notice, our magnificence, greatness, and divinity are still there. Always have been. Always will be.

OUR OWN PERFECTION When we take a few moments to remind ourselves of who it is we really are, the vision changes. It is restored to it’s original perfection. We move beyond pessimism, beyond optimism and to a place where our own significance transcends any superficial thought process. Our happiness is rooted not in a decision to see the world a certain way; rather, our happiness is rooted in our divine nature, an extension of our own perfection.

Life will still send us the storms that will bend us. Some may shake us to our core. But our true resilience lies within us, empowering us to move forward with the positive expectations consistent with our own creation.

Welcome to the bright side.

It’s a great day to be you!

photo: Matthew Bowden

No, I didn’t ask if you liked you.

Do you appreciate you?

Do you appreciate all that you already are and all that you were created to become? Do you appreciate all the talents, gifts, and abilities that reside within you? Do you appreciate your voice, your vision, your passion? Do you appreciate the importance of the contribution that only you can make in this world?

Do you appreciate your significance?

Growing up no one ever told me I should appreciate myself.  To be fair, no one ever told me I shouldn’t appreciate myself, either. Appreciation was only a topic of conversation when I would complain about all the stuff I didn’t have. That made me ungrateful and unappreciative. That’s as close as I ever got to discussing appreciation.

WORTHINESS The world has a word for people who consider themselves to be significant. Arrogant. Significance, in order to exist relies on a comparison to insignificance. But the significance I speak of is not an arrogant, ego-based proclamation of superiority over the inferiority of others. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement of one’s own purpose and worth.

My journey to a place called happiness has taken me in many directions as I took who I thought I was and meandered through life looking for who I thought I was supposed to be. Immediately the conflict is evident. Who I thought I was wasn’t good enough, because if I felt that I was, why would I have ever been searching for the person I thought I was supposed to be?

For me, happiness came down to a matter of worthiness. Was I really only supposed to live within the limitations I somehow established for myself?

When we question our worthiness, we question everything about our capacity for greatness. We deny our own divinity. Questioning our own worthiness undercuts our very being, leads us to doubt our very essence. Doubting ourselves divides us against our self, preventing us from ever becoming all that we were created to become.

It was a life-changing moment was when I realized that when I looked at me, I didn’t see the same person that God sees.

A UNIVERSAL VISION When I looked at me what I did see was a good person with some talents and abilities who thought he wanted success in life but had always played it safe, who viewed the world through eyes of scarcity and limitation. A person who got excited by drafting big dreams but silently knew that none of them would ever come true.

When God looks at me He sees a person who’s been given a unique combination of talents, gifts, and abilities who is here to fulfill a divine purpose within an environment of unlimited opportunity and abundance.

Certainly we had dramatically different views of me. But God’s view of me wasn’t exclusive to me. That is God’s view of everyone. A Universal vision, and since I was here, by default I was included in such a Universal vision.

That understanding dramatically changed everything.

It’s a tall order to see yourself as significant in the eyes of God when you don’t even see it yourself. But it is so much easier to accept God’s vision of you when you understand that God’s vision of you is the same vision He has for everyone else. You don’t feel the burden of accepting your own specialness, your individual worthiness when you understand that collectively we are all worthy of our own divinity, of our own purpose, of our own path. I don’t have to look at my significance as something that makes me special, simply because we all share in the same Universal significance.

That’s when I began to allow myself to see in me what God sees in me.

DIVINE CONTEMPLATION Accepting God’s vision of you can be quite daunting. But if accepting the idea of your own significance is difficult, try looking at it from a different angle. Contemplate the idea of your own insignificance. Contemplate the idea that you were created to be “not as good as”, comparatively defective, nothing more than slightly irregular merchandise on the shelf at God’s Factory Outlet of Humanity.

Why would the Universe waste it’s time?

The Universe has never created a insignificant person. Insignificant is a judgmental label created, affirmed, and allowed to be accepted as the truth. Even if it isn’t. Even if we are the ones who label ourselves as such.

When you discover your divinity you discover the real you, the one you were created to become. Doubt and uncertainty are replaced with a calm sense of knowing. Unworthiness, until this point for me a spiritual monkey wrench, replaced with an understanding of significance and purpose.

When you look at you, do you see what God sees?

Seeing what God sees, life takes on a new significance. You are no longer just you. You are a part of something greater with a purpose to fulfill. You develop a humble reverence for who it is you really are, and everyone and everything around you. You move far beyond simple appreciation. You embrace your significance.

When you look at you, do you see what God sees?

We all share the same Source. We all share the same Light that shines within every one of us.

That includes you, too.

Remind yourself. Often.

It’s a great day to be you!

photo: David Niblack

For some reason I was thinking about a tragic event that occurred during my senior year in high school. I don’t know what it was that took me back. Sometimes my thoughts take me to places I never expect to go.

His name was Andrea McCoy. He was a member of the 1980 US Olympic boxing team. The US boxing team was heading to an exhibition in Poland when their plane crashed as it approached Warsaw. On March 14, 1980, 22 members of the team perished, including Andrea.

Andrea and I weren’t that close. We shared home room together, a few laughs, and a few classes. I remember his huge smile and his kind spirit.

I remember his empty seat.

Andrea was given an incredible talent, and for reasons well beyond my understanding, was given only 20 short years on this earth. On the edge of such promise it was all just taken away. Not just Andrea the boxer, but Andrea the person, all that he was and all he could have become.

THE SILVER SCREEN I was never given Andrea’s talents. But what I was given was more time. As we approach the 32nd anniversary of this horrific event, the reflective me has to ask if I’ve made the most of the precious gift of the time I’ve been given. My gut is telling me probably not.

Reflection can be dangerous. It presents a great opportunity for kicking yourself in the head. A video montage of all the so-called mistakes and lost opportunities of your life begins playing on the silver screen of your mind. Suddenly you’re slow dancing with the Three Sisters of Regret…Woulda, Coulda, and Shoulda. “If I had it to do over again, I’d….”

Shhhh. Stop. It doesn’t work that way.

Regret can be a powerful weapon of self-destruction or regret can be a powerful tool of self-fulfillment. It can nail you to the floor or fuel your present moments. The choice is yours.

I’ve nailed myself to the floor on occasion. I’ve let the toxicity of regret poison the pristine beauty of my own present moments. There was no forward motion, the Three Sisters whispering their venomous music in my ear.

FUEL For me today, regret is a reminder of the fragility of life’s moments. Time isn’t waiting for me or anyone. The voice of regret is a painful souvenir of the times of my own stagnation, of being stuck in the past trying to change that which can never be changed. When regret tries to whisper in my ear, her words now become the fuel which inspires me to keep moving forward. Her words no longer nail me to the floor. Life and time are simply far too precious to be spent living in the past.

The lessons I’ve learned from the past help me fully respect the present moment, and I honor that moment by living fully in it.

A moment that Andrea was never given.

Life, the part that has gone by, can never be lived over again. What’s already happened has already happened. But our past, regrets and all, has brought us to where we are today, on the threshold of our own greatness. Our past has made us stronger, teaching us the lessons we’ve needed to learn in order to move forward. 

Life, the right-now, is a blank canvas of incredible possibility, waiting for us to color it as only we can. And since doing it over isn’t an option, all we are left with is doing it better.

Don’t let your past derail your future. Your time here is too short to focus on what could have been. It prevents you from appreciating what already is.

And there is so much to appreciate!

It’s a great day to be you!

clock photo: David Niblack