A safe harbor where beliefs are respected and kindness prevails.

How Do You Get Back Up When You’ve Been Knocked Down?

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Lessons in courage from an Olympian.

Short Track Speed Skating - Winter Olympics Day 8How many times have you found yourself starting again?  Have  you been knocked down by others, by circumstances, or perhaps even by your own choices?  And when you’re down do you get back up and keep going or do you wonder why even try?

Let’s admit it… it’s hard to get back up.  Especially if your life has been a struggle.  That’s the case with Olympic Short Track Speed Skater Emily Scott.  She was 7 years old when she won her first roller skating title in China.  The following year her mother went to prison for methamphetamine use.  Emily was raised by her dad and her mother is still in prison.

Despite her family life Emily was described as a determined child.  She switched from roller skating to ice skating dedicating hours to perfecting her abilities while working at night.  As she trained for the Sochi Olympics her funding was cut by 75% yet she persevered and raised over $50,000 to continue her training and send herself and her dad to Russia.

Emily failed to qualify in the 500 meter event and in the 1,500 meter a crash knocked her down and eliminated any hopes she has for a medal.  Our heart breaks for every athlete who tries so hard and still comes up short.  Emily however showed us courage in the face of defeat when she got back up after this crash and continued to skate even though she knew she couldn’t win.  She placed 5th.  The other two skaters involved in the accident didn’t even try.

We’re all going to have our “failures” in life… but as the song goes you have to “You’ve gotta get up and try try try.” Emily Scott did just that and I’m inspired by her courage against all odds.  When you think your life is hard and you want to throw in the towel think about Emily and know that you too can “get up and try try try.”  It isn’t the end of the world… it’s a lesson about your resilience.

Message from the Cards

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FlowerBulbCardFor this weeks column, I decided to do what I have been doing for my blog for a couple of years, which is to draw a card from the Voice of the Soul deck for all of us, not for just my personal message.  So I drew “The Flower Bulb” card, with the meaning: Faith in Manifestation

Flower bulbs absolutely fascinate me. They are this living bit of matter that lays dormant most of the year, then when they get the right signals, BOOM they put forth beautiful flowers…again and again, year after year after year! So what does the drawing of this card, this symbol, mean to you this week?

The card itself reads: “If you have faith no greater than a mustard seed all your dreams will manifest in your life.  Observe the powerful ability within a flower bulb to produce incredible beauty, year after year without doubting that it can.  Ask, trust, receive.”

This card, The Flower Bulb, reminds me that it is a natural act of nature to grow and bloom. Life wants to be beautiful. For me, many people in our lives discourage our growth, all for their own reasons. So what this card COULD mean is that it is a good idea to look for signals and people in our life that support our blossoming. If you ponder this, you may come up with a different meaning.  That is your gift to yourself, taking the time to ponder the meaning to you personally.

This is a perfect time of year to watch this “symbol” come to life as it is time to plant Spring bulbs, in the yard (unless your yard is covered with snow) or inside your home.  If you plant them in the yard, they will likely come back year after year, and every year when they do, you will be reminded that you supported a blossoming!  Perhaps it will assist you in your own blossoming.

What else could this mean to you?  I could mean that there is an idea that has been germinating inside you for a while and it is time for it to come forth. It could mean that your efforts to nurture someone in your life will be rewarded with a beautiful experience.  Do you see how this works?  The meaning FOR you can only be determined BY you. So give it some thought and see what you come up with.  And be sure to share it with me if you are so inspired!  Write to me at voiceofyoursoul@gmail.com.  I’d love to hear from you!

Lessons on kindness from a nanny or Becoming Soul-cial Part III

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cloudcanyon jawdroppingphotography kindness gathers loveWhen my kids were in elementary school I began sitting for a neighbor’s (friends) son on a regular basis. He became an extension of our family and his parents are two of my dearest friends.  I took him with me wherever we went; visiting my grandmother, sporting events, even to the grocery store.

One day my neighbor called me to share a story.  One evening, after picking up her son, they stopped at the grocery store to grab a few things.  You know how it goes, those few things soon turned into a cart full.  As they were waiting in line a young woman came up behind them with only one item.  Her son looked at the woman and said, “You can go ahead of us, we have a lot and you only have one thing.  We’ll probably be here a while.”  Shocked, my friend looked down at her son, telling him how nice that was.  She asked where on Earth he learned to be so nice.  He said, “Oh, it’s nothing, Mom, Teri does it all the time”.

You can imagine the tears of joy that were running down my face.  Kids pay attention.  They are the future.  For me, that future is now.  We make a difference whether we are nice or not.  Doesn’t it make more sense to show up with loving kindness than anger and frustration?

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. Saint Basil

Gather love. Turn your kindness switch on.  Here are 14 ways to get started:

  1. Say thank you for everything
  2. Tell someone they’re doing a great job
  3. Pay someone’s overdue book bill at the library
  4. Leave encouraging post it notes wherever you happen to be sitting/waiting
  5. Plan a special day with your child
  6. Submit positive feedback to a business you like
  7. Donate blood
  8. Adopt an animal
  9. Write a thank you card to the postal carrier
  10. Give food to a homeless person
  11. Take your pet to a nursing or children’s home
  12. Buy a star for someone
  13. Make cookies for someone who least expects it
  14. Say please

You Can Change Your Mind

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Fotolia_30758739_Subscription_XXLDo you hesitate to make a decision because you don’t want to make a mistake?  Have you decided that the next job, the next relationship or your next home is going to be the last one so you want it to be perfect?  When we place such high expectations on ourselves we end up being stuck… and that doesn’t make us happy, satisfied or remotely fulfilled.

You can take the pressure off yourself with one Simple Step … a shift in your perspective.  Rather than thinking in absolutes decide to make your choices based on where you are in life right now.  You don’t know where you’ll be a year from now let alone five or ten years down the line so why feel you have to make a decision now for what might happen in the future?

Think of it this way.  You wouldn’t make the same decisions now that you did when you were a teenager, right?  So why think you have to make a decision now that will work for the rest of your life? Instead think of your decision as making the best choice you can based on what you know or believe right now.  Allow yourself the freedom to make a different decision when it’s appropriate for you to do so.  And that feels so much better than setting an unrealistic expectation.

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