Your challenges in life are an opportunity for your body, mind and spirit to explore new horizons.

For the last couple of months, I’ve been experiencing a good bit of pain in my upper back and shoulder – intense enough that it has put a major damper on my Ironman training. What a beautiful gift!

Since early in this year of new beginnings, I have been in a new relationship with a beautiful, special woman. My past relationships haven’t been all that great, so entering a new one dredged up a few old fears and insecurities. The pain that I’m feeling is a physical manifestation of those fears and insecurities. The great thing is that, by listening to the pain, I have become aware of things within myself that I need to clear. Had my fears continued simmering away beneath the surface, they may have caused me to unconsciously sabotage this beautiful new relationship. Instead, I have been doing deep inner work that is allowing me to become a more caring partner for the special woman in my life, and a better person all around.

Another benefit of the pain is that it has turned me inward on my quest to becoming an Ironman. Since I’m pretty much unable to swim, bike or run, I have started using my training time to visualize my successful completion of the race. Completing an Ironman is as much mental as physical, so my visualizations are good training in and of themselves – and important training that I have been neglecting up until now.

Don’t fight your challenges; learn from them. They are a gift – an opportunity to creatively expand into a new, fuller life.

There is no Higher Power. But there is a Greater Power

The power that created the Universe is something we cannot even begin to comprehend yet we all have the power to manifest it. I choose not to describe it as “higher” because that connotes something superior and separate; something we cannot reach; a place we cannot go.

There is a Greater Power and that power is you! You hold the same power that created the heavens. Within you is the artist that painted the aurora borealis and sculpted the Grand Canyon, and the genius that invented honey bees and solar systems. Human beings just like you and I gave us the great pyramids, space shuttles and post-it notes, as well as the Constitution of the United States, the civil rights movement and the Sunday comics.

We each represent an inextricable part of the Universal Intelligence that created us. The Divine is not Him or IT; the Divine is you.

IT!

IT is you!

There is only one health problem it this world.

IT!

We are totally preoccupied with IT.

Fighting IT.
Finding a cure for IT.
Losing IT and keeping IT off.
“Let me kiss IT and make IT feel better.”
IT cetera, IT cetera, IT cetera…

Stop worrying so much about IT. Start taking care of you!

What's Happening?

What you do makes things happen…
But who you are decides what happens.

Do you want to know what you need to do to achieve optimal health and whatever else you want in life?

Well, I'm not going to tell you.

To get the most out of life you must follow the wisdom of be-ing rather than do-ing.

We constantly hear of easy, step-by-step programs or two (or three, or four...) week plans for achieving anything we want. But they all fail to deliver because they neglect what is inside of us – they ingore our essence. Certainly any successful enterprise requires effort. But your doing must be built upon a foundation of being. Where you go as you journey through life is determined more by who you are than by what you do. As you engage in your chosen spiritual practice, eat fresh, natural foods, enjoy physical activities that enliven you, have fun, and follow your passion, the things you need to do will reveal themselves.

Being will tell you what to do.

And remember: you are a being of beauty and perfection.

Empower Your Potential!

Empower your potential, not your problems!

Last Thursday evening at my Toaastmasters meeting, one of our officers passed around a get well card for all of us to sign for a club member who will be undergoing surgery soon. I almost couldn't bring myself to sign it.

Inside the card, in big black type, were the words: "You're sick!" I didn't want to affix my signature to such a disempowering declaration. But the woman the card was for is a very special person to all of us in the club. She is a loving grandmotherly type, is a wonderful speaker and storyteller, and always has a big smile and heartfelt kind words for all of us. So I really wanted to wish her well. What I wrote in the card was:
"You are a beautiful and perfect being!
-- Not sick --
Beautiful and perfect."

While it is true that she has a very serious diagnosis, it is even more true that she has some serious human potential. We all do!

Remember the law of attraction -- what we say and think is what we attract into our lives. Do we want to be laying "sick" on those close to us, and ourselves...or beauty and perfection?

You are Uniquely Beautiful and Perfect!

The most beautiful person you can be is you.

You are a uniquely beautiful and perfect expression of the Divine!

As you follow a spiritual path through life, you reveal more and more of your beauty and perfection to the world and to yourself. Each adventure on your journey reconnects you with the Divine and brings more of you to light. The most beautiful person you can be is you, expressing your beauty and perfection, and offering yourself and humanity the divine gifts that have been entrusted to you to share.

Are You Living an Inspired Life?

Life is an art,
not an act.

There are a couple of ways you can live your life.

The way that most people choose -- usually by default -- is to go through life as though it were an act in a play, written by someone else, reading lines and following the choreography from a script not of their own design, and often not even a script they particularly like.

Or

You can be the artist that creates a life that is your own magnificent work of art. Even if you've been following someone else's script for many years, you can start on your own creation whenever you want. You may have a clear vision or just a vague sense of what you want to create. Either way, the most important thing is to get started. Now!

When an artist first begins a new creation, the final product -- whether it be a painting, a poem or a play -- is always an unknown. Of course the artist will have a concept...a starting point...then as it unfolds, inspiration flows from the great wellspring of creativity that has given birth to every masterpeice ever created.

Following somebody else's script...or...creating your own inspired work of art.
The choice is yours.