Take the time to pause and notice life around you. Your eyes are a gift and the world we have to see, somewhere, somehow, holds something beautiful for you to behold every day.
In my time here in the blogging community I have had the sacred opportunity to read people’s stories-and share my own. The stories that come from deep within our hearts…the ones that make you feel..because you know that could be your story too, or someone else’s story has already been part of your own story. There is great power in how our story—the way we make sense of our experience—effects and impacts our healing journey.
I am grateful for the healing power of our stories—by sharing them we have the ability to heal.—Until I was able to admit openly my struggle with depression, healing was pretty much null and void. But when I began to share—which happened because I finally was able to witness my story in my heart—the healing began, and continues…
What is it like for you to feel and know your own story?
I am grateful for the gifts of strength and survival that we were created with, so that even in the midst of suffering, somehow we have the courage to live—it always amazed me in my days as a spiritual counselor in the hospitals, how those who decided they were not going to be defined by their illness and instead continued to be themselves, were the ones who lived life, and those who let their fear consume them, or the disease define them, slowly or quickly withered. Your journey of healing is effected by how you make sense of and share your story of suffering, illness, loss, divorce, etc.
When I was afraid of my depression, it consumed me—I didn’t want to admit it was a part of me so my depression had control, but when I accepted that “My depression is a part of me, but I will not let it define me,” I became in control, and my healing journey continues to happen because this has become the story I now live my life by.
When you are ready, put your own words in place of mine or create your own powerful statement! And if you already have one–congratulations to you!
How has sharing your story lead to healing in your life?
A Healing Blessing from Me to You:
May you be surrounded by healing love, a healing love that comes from all of creation, and gently and powerfully calls your name. And in those moments when you cry out, may the depths of your heart be heard by all the angels who are there to protect you and by the love of the Divine–who is there to carry you when you don’t have the strength to carry yourself. And may all the blessings that are good & pure and full of light & harmony be with you now and always.
I’ve always needed a bit more motivation on Mondays! Like the saying goes,” when you look you shall find!” In my search for healing I came across this article,Lee Rhodes, Glassybaby: A Battle With Cancer Gives Life To A Startup in the Huffington Post. Ms. Rhodes shares how she had an inspiring moment of healing in her life, which lead to her creating art that inspires healing in other individual’s lives. She has created a company out of her healing and inspiration. It is helpful to hear and share other individual’s stories–they affirm your own experiences of healing; and they motivate you to see your potential!
When we allow ourselves to be open to moments of healing, incredible things can happen! Maybe Lee Rhodes’ story will bring inspiration into your creative life as well. I know it has for me.
How has an experience of healing or the process of healing inspired you to share yourself with others? Share your comments!
For me, my healing journey has inspired me to share my passion for writing and photography with others, through my blog and other avenues in my life.
I’d like to make more mistakes next time.
I’d relax.
I would be sillier than I’ve been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.
I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I’m one of those people who lives sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I’ve had my moments,
And if I had it to do over again,
I’d have more of them.
In fact, I’d have nothing else,
Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.
I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute.
If I had it to do over again, I would travel lighter than I have.
If I had my life to live over…
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies…
~ Nadine Stair
85 yrs. old
You are alive right now! So make the most of your life starting today!
Ask yourself this question right now:
What would I wish I had done differently?“—Thinking ahead to your future, knowing what you don’t want to regret/or wish was different about your life will help you know now how to better live your present life:
Write down your answers on paper
Set up your answers like a “Bucket-List”
Hang the paper up somewhere where you will see it so you can be intentional about your goals
Start making the changes you want to see happening in your life immediately! –“You can do anything you put your mind to!”
Change the way you live your life now!
So this becomes your answer when asked,”What would you have done differently?”
” I love the life I’ve lived. I love the life I’m living! There’s not a single moment of my life I’d want to change.”—because you made the effort to work on living fulfilled in your present life!
Give yourself the gift of being fulfilled starting today!
If you like the question/quote from Nadine Stair you might also enjoy the answer of Erma Bombeck,– it may give you some ideas of things you want to work on in your life.
You deserve to be fulfilled in your life every moment!
When we seek healing and inspiration from deep within ourselves, it often helps to be touched by light. Nature provides us with the gift of the sun. The sun illuminates the plants of the earth and gives them depth. When you let the sun shine upon you, you also can let the depths of yourself shine; revealing from deep within you, your dreams, your hopes, your goals, your aspirations, your beauty, your integrity, and so much more!
These recent days of 80+ degree weather and long days of sunlight in the Northeast have been bringing people out of their homes, and neighbors are meeting one another. The weather and the changes in nature are causing people to connect to one another, and share their joy for the weather with each other. This is causing inspiration to be communal rather than the experience of just one person. As nature is providing itself as the source of inspiration, people are becoming aware of themselves and others as they are inspired by nature, and thus there is not only a joy from the weather, but also a feeling of a great healing happening between people, within people and all of creation.
Man is not himself only…He is all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources…He is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys. Mary Austin
Woman is not herself only…She is all that she sees; all that flows to her from a thousand sources…She is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys. –Mary Austin (rewritten)
Light Shines as Nature Springs Forth!
Healing has great power when it is a shared goal among many. Trusting in your own inspiration, can be enhanced when others are also affirming the inspiration you feel. The presence of healing through nature in tune with healing among people…pretty powerful stuff!
Healing is a daily journey. If you have experienced dark places in your life, you know how challenging it can be to try to climb out of these holes. And after you’ve been there, you know how hard it is to feel love, receive love, and give love again….not only involving loving others, but most importantly involving loving yourself.
Because you are alive, and living be kind to yourself and bless yourself with these gifts:
Be ever so gentle with yourself today. Be kind to yourself and say, “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel, even when feeling hurts. I can breathe. I am alive. I’m real. I am enough right now in this very moment. I am me. I am a gift unto the world. My life matters! And what I feel matters. And, now I’m just going to be, right here, right now, in this very moment.” -Bella Bleue
*Love/Light will always find you and carry you out of your darkness, if you allow yourself to be found. Love/Light is always there waiting for you even when you aren’t ready to see it or know it, but the moment you do want to know it, Love/Light is there to embrace you.
When I was looking around YouTube last week, I came across this video by chance; and both during and after the clip I felt very moved! Take a look and note what you feel, from Britain’s Got Talent
Sometimes we need to experience something rather than just read about it. Your feelings evoked through your senses can bring forth deep knowings of your own humanity.
But the deeper message here seems to be what the title of this blog is, and what Susan Boyle states, “I’d never been given the chance before.” Life is about taking chances, chances with sharing yourself-your gifts. When I worked with patients in the hospital who were near the end of their life, I would listen to their stories, their life-reviews. Often they would share with me, what had meant the most to them about their life journey: usually they talked about their relationships, or about their days as a dancer, pianist, artist, basketball player, boxer, etc. Sometimes they would tell me about a broken relationship they wished could have been fixed; or they would talk about gifts they never used–“I was a marvelous dancer but never did anything more with it when I got married;” “I always wanted to paint a mural but never offered my talents;” “I always wanted to restore vintage cars but never had the time,” and so on. I listened and talked with them, accompanying each of them so that they could find healing, and die without regret.
Something else one of my fellow bloggers mentioned to me, that I wanted share with you; he writes at http://thechangeyourlifeblog.wordpress.com; (see comments). The courage found in Susan Boyle to take her chance at sharing herself was not the moment she went up on the stage, but the moment in her life that she decided to make the journey to the show. We have to make choices to get up and make our life change. What is the moment in your life that you are going to make the change to move towards bigger and better things in your life?
You are living right now! Instead of missing out on your life and wishing it could have been different, live your best life with the belief that
Last week I posted a question, “What gives you inspiration in your life?” I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that no one had anything to share. The one comment I did get suggested that we miss inspiration in our life due to disillusionment, and often turn to something besides ourselves to find inspiration and more precisely fulfillment because we don’t trust enough in ourselves to be the amazing, wonderful, awesome persons we are.
I can say this statement with honesty on my back: During my year-and-a-half long battle with postpartum depression, there was frankly nothing in my life that could inspire me nor really fulfill me. I wanted to be inspired, I wanted to be the best mom and wife I could, but I didn’t trust that I was and instead of being inspired, and joyful, I was left empty and angry. I was angry with myself that I couldn’t be there for the ones I loved most, especially my husband and best friend, the ways they needed me to be. And for a long time I didn’t understand why I didn’t have the energy to be there for them. The only one I kept my spirits up for was my baby boy, but after I’d say good-night to him, I’d go to my room and cry. The never-ending sea of tears. I could have filled all of Lake Michigan with my tears. But I needed to cry, and I needed to be gentle with myself, gentle enough to finally say, yes I do need help.
We all need help in life. We need the encouragement of the ones we love to say to us, “You are an inspiration in my life.” You inspire me with your kindness, with your smile, with your touch, with your laughter, with your wonderful meals, your hospitality, your listening ear, your voice, your music, your dedication, your ability to say no, and so much more! Sometimes we just can’t get on the right road. We need our friends, and family to be our GPS. We need them to reveal to us the inspiration inside us, so we can trust more in the wonder we are and begin to heal ourselves.
You are amazing, wonderful and an inspiration to others! Don’t forget it! Make this belief a part of your day every day, and you will begin to feel inspired, and thus begin to heal. By healing you will be ‘inspired’ to share yourself, and others will learn from you and heal too!
You can strain every fiber of your being, trying to be flawless, only to face inevitable failureor you can stop worrying about perfection which instantly makes everything Feel Great—Martha Beck from her Oprah article, “Take a Load Off”
It certainly can be challenging to see yourself as the incredibly wonderful person you are, when you are always trying to be perfect. You are already fabulous with out being perfect. And Life is a gift,so why not enjoy it? And to enjoy it you need to let go of all the expectations you put on yourself, and just do the best you can and then move on.Letting go of your worries really will Free you!
People won’t remember how perfect you are, they will remember what kind of person you are! Your love, your laughter, your kindness, your sympathy, your empathy, your words, and your actions are more defining of who you are than how perfect you are.
Be Intentional About Change in Your Life:
Leave work at a reasonable hour and do something good for yourself—it will actually improve your performance!
Do something fun with your spouse, significant other, or friend on the spur of the moment instead of having to have all the laundry done, etc.—creating memories and celebrating just being with the ones in life who mean the most to you, will be what you remember when you begin to review your life.
There’s no way to be the perfect parent: You will make mistakes, but being loved is what matters most to your little one…so love with the depths of your heart, and you have succeeded!
Feel free to add in other things that YOU need to work on.
Create Goals: to make a significant change in your life, that will free you from your NEED to be perfect. Once you get at the root of why you have this NEED to be PERFECT, you will begin to be free of allowing worries and fears to drive your life, and instead begin to fully live a wonderful, meaningful Life, that is FREE!
I wanted to share some Irish music with you today. The music is from the beautiful Uilleann Pipes, performed by Davey Spillane called, Journeys of a Dreamer. Music has the ability to flow deep inside us, and inspire and heal us in ways that words cannot. Feel free to enjoy the images. I also invite you to put the music on in the background as you read my message to you today. Blessings!
I don’t usually say much about my husband, but since it is St. Patrick’s Day, and he is right from the Isle of Eire, aka, Ireland, I had to mention him today! He also is a fabulous source of inspiration and motivation in my life. He has taught me to see the world through eyes of hope: That when we dream and make an effort to really try, somehow, a door will open. It might not always be the one we expected, but somehow a new beginning is always there for us…we just have to look. The door that opened to me today is one of Blessing. I have so enjoyed taking my photos and sharing messages of others, blessings and some of my own poems, and prayers with all of you. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IS A BLESSING! I am thankful for all of you! I know somehow the spirit of life has brought us together. I am eternally grateful to share in this journey with you. My blessing for you today, of course, is an Irish Blessing.
This is what I see…
bellableue.com 