Daily Gratitude: If you’re a cautious person, you’ve probably already “stepped back” (so to speak) from this idea. “Not me” you might be saying as you begin to rattle off reasons this quote certainly doesn’t apply to you! But that’s all they are – reasons. And in this instance that’s just a polite way of saying excuses. No matter what’s happened in your past, you do have the power to take your life in a new direction. You just have to decide what direction that is and why you want to go there. Sometimes, though, you’re lucky and the universe is the one who decides for you. It may be tired of waiting for you to make the move or make up your mind and it’s going to take the bull by the horns. I’ve had that happen to (actually it’s “for”) me. Here’s an example of how it might work and how you just need to eliminate as much resistance as possible. I am an author (that sounds so pretentious to write) and I like one woman’s work a lot. She has a newsletter. I opened one od them one day and because she put this item in the first paragraph, I saw it. It was something about death and San Antonio. I followed the link and became interested in what she had been talking about. I began to donate to this organization and this established some sort of relationship. Then I learned more and decided to take the death doula class. I took that and began to volunteer at the home for the dying the class was associated with. Oh and I had been assigned a mentor for the class and was intrigued by her and her humor. We developed a friendship. I did vol state. These people whom I have really only known since January followed my progress during the race. They were so supportive they gave me a little celebratory party. At the party one woman asked about my writing. I blurted out (which is not like me) that we could be accountability partners and get together and brainstorm our ideas so we could better support each other. See how that came totally full circle. It started with writing and is now going to flourish even more in the writing aspect. It’s uncanny to me and I wouldn’t believe or even recognize it if I didn’t know how the universe works. It’s almost as if the death doula stuff was just a vehicle. If you just drop all the resistance and obstinance you have, and let things flow, so many wondrous events will show up in your life.

Daily Gratitude: If you can let people in to see what’s deep within you, especially the things you feel are weaknesses, you are not only vulnerable but also extremely strong. You’re willing to risk being laughed at, criticized, and called all sorts of things. To do this means you care more about helping people (you think if you’re upfront about who you are, it might give others the courage to do so or at least inspire them not to give up). You care enough to brush off the bad mojo from others. You understand what’s important. Being superficial does not help anyone. Let people see your “weaknesses”, your faults, your errors and regrets. If it helps one person, it’s worth it!

Daily Gratitude: This is an interesting concept depending on how you look at it. You may wonder why you’d have to fight a battle more than once. That’s a logical question. But, it is only logical when we think we know all the answers. By that I mean that we may think we know what the lesson is (so “why do I have to keep repeating it” you wonder in frustration). In actuality, though, if you’re continuing to face the same issue, you might do better to sit back and say “ok universe…obviously I’ve been misinterpreting what I’m supposed to learn here. This time I’ll be more open so I can really see what it is I’m supposed to learn.” The universe is sneaky sometimes and it may be trying to get you to think about something from a completely different angle than you’ve ever thought about. It also may have given you tons of messages about this same thing and you haven’t listened before so now it’s got that big ole cast iron skillet and it’s going to bang you over the head with it so you get the message finally. This is what happened to me in 2017. I had been so so stubborn for so many years and never listened to any of the messages. So Mama Universe said “ok Terrie…you’re finally going to listen to your mama” and it sent me a message I couldn’t ignore. I’ve written about this before so I won’t bore hog again but needless to say I got the message then. It was painful though and had I just paid more attention in the previous years (and decades), and changed my ways, I could have ignored that battle. Thus, if you find yourself in the same situation over and over again, stop and say “what the heck am I missing”. Then sit back and listen for the answer. At that point and with that message you should be able to discern the truth. If not, go deeper next time.