August is birthday month for me and that means I have spent the month leading up to my birthday re-evaluating my life and looking at the balance of what I bring in to my days and what I return to the universe. I like to think of this as my own sense of being sustainable. For me to take and take and take without giving back would not be a life well-lived.
I am a counselor and coach by profession and I spend my days supporting, advocating, hugging, challenging and considering the people who walk into my office or into my life. I choose to do this as my career because I find joy in helping people uncover their skills, dreams, greatest gifts, values and callings.
Sometimes the journey is hard for the both of us and sometimes I must challenge long held assumptions on the part of my client; and mine as well. The wonder in what I do has often become evident in just how much a particular person will give back to me at my roughest moments, and they may never even know they have done so. We seem to cross one another’s paths at the moment we both need renewal.
As the world turns another revolution for me on my grand adventure, I am setting a slightly shifted course with deeper conviction. I will say what needs to be said when it must be said. I will show those I love just how much I care, I will laugh more (yes, imagine that all of you who see me giggle quite a bit already), I will be honest with myself, I will make my health central to all I do, I will listen with more intention and I will let go of the past petty feelings of hurt. I will try to remember the four agreements:
Be Impeccable with Your Word:
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Don't Take Anything Personally:
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.
Don't Make Assumptions:
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Always Do Your Best:
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
~ Don Miguel Ruiz
So, what needs to be said right now?
~ I am sorry for hurting your feelings.
~ I should have been more patient this morning.
~ You look beautiful in that color.
~ I am proud you are my daughter.
~ You are the best son a mom could ever imagine.
~ I love you Mark.
~ Health care IS a right. We do not have to have written that in the Constitution for it to be true.
~ Get over it already!
~ Tolerance is not enough, inclusion is the goal.
~ We must reach across our differences and find the points of intersection that make us “family”.
~ Time IS running out.
~ Shirley, I miss you.
~ Anne, would you like to “do coffee”?
~ I have some of the most amazing co-workers in the world!
~ I hate filing but have learned that color coding can make it bearable.
~ I am a fan of Gumby.
~ The glass is half full and there must be a pony in here somewhere!
~ I am following a dream, living my reality, striving for better, remaining grateful for what I have, thanking my ancestors; I am feeling rich.
~ I miss my grandparents.
~ I believe rape and domestic violence ARE hate crimes.
~ FOX News should be ashamed.
~ Dick Cheney scares me, like the devil when I was a child.
~ John Stewart deserves a medal.
~ We do ration health care, by wealth. Did you see the line in LA today for people trying to access basic care? Did you see the research that shows that rich people live significantly longer than the poor in this country. Did you see Glenn Beck bitch and rage about how US health care sucks right after his last surgery but apparently now he feels we have the greatest system on earth? Earth to Glenn?
~ Why is it socialist to provide health care but not to access Medicare or go to public school?
~ Why are you un-American when you stand up to protest an unjust war in meetings run by Republicans but you are a loyal American when you stand up to shout out a Democrat trying to gather input in a town hall meeting?
All heat, no light.
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