My personal challenges offered to me by me…..and, I’d love to read yours to you:

• Resist the urge to know, teach, correct, and walk into circumstances you think familiar but perhaps are not. Your belief that someone or something or some circumstance is familiar is the very belief that renders you at least an arm’s length (maybe much more) from learning anything new or loving in helpful ways.

• Welcome the inevitable necessity of death preceding new life as in “a seed must die before it can produce fruit” and therefore cast off familiar labels and that which demands connection to the life you wish to leave and therefore holds you back from the life you desire to embrace. 

• Trust in new ways while resisting the urge to trust in old ways which proved unworthy. It’s ok to question motive, your own and the motives of others. It’s ok to withhold hospitality and generosity as you conduct possible due diligence. Trust is not diluted because it takes time.

• Declare with gentleness ways in which you want to be loved without apology. Love demands nothing of another but gentle declarations of what’s wanted and needed can assist love to flourish.

“Yes” is a powerful word if it comes from the power center of your life, which, of course, not every “yes” does. 

If your “yes”  comes from the power others have over you – by your complicity or their seductive complexity into which you may have surrendered, your “yes” may land you in hot water. 

Let your “yes” to opportunities come from the unique you, a person who is  not pushed or pulled to please or appease but speaks from a solid sense of who you are and what you want and who also tabulates your history of good and not too wise choices into your deeply considered “yes.”

“No” is a powerful choice, a definer of limits and setter of boundaries, but it too can emanate from fear of displeasing others or fear of imagined dangers from sources known or unknown.

“No” is a door closer and often on doors best left shut while “no” can also block possibilities of life-giving and new adventures. 

“Let me think about it” is also a powerful response to the invitations life offers. It gives space and time to weigh variables and assess assets and revisit goals. 

“Yes” or “no” or “let me think about it” are all gateways to greater emotional health when they come from your solid, healthy self.