Happy Father’s Day, Dad! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for teaching me one of my most important life lessons- the importance of celebration. You celebrated EVERYTHING! There was always a reason to throw on Neil Diamond or your most recent 45 and have a spontaneous dance party in our living room. Upon winning my school election, I came home to a celebratory sign on our garage door. Every school success or failure was honored in some way- ranging from a choice of dinner to a silly home-made certificate telling me to get ‘em next time. I was traveling when I received my college acceptance letter, and you even wrote a poem just to tell me the news over the phone. At the Father Daughter dance at my sorority, you surprised me with our sorority letters in glitter on your cummerbund!!! I can’t thank you enough for all of your love and for showing me by example the importance of celebration.
As you can tell, it honestly did not matter how big or small the event, our family celebrated everything.
All of these celebrations were a blast, but more than it just being fun, these celebrations made me feel special and important. This positive reinforcement in our home allowed me to take more risks outside of our house because I knew I could home to a celebration, regardless of the outcome. There is no better way to handle life than through celebration.
It is no wonder then that I have found a way to turn the loss of my parents into an Angel Birthday celebration. It is the only way I can truly honor them. They loved a great party! I feel like it’s why I was supposed to have a childhood of crazy celebrations- it needed to be ingrained in me so I could find a way to bring the love and light of celebration into the darkness of grief.
My Dad was amazing and I want to celebrate him and all of the fathers out there today. None of this would be possible without you. I toast you and hope all of you enjoy your special day. Keep your party shoes on and remember that life is always worth celebrating! Happy Father’s Day!
Working our way up the grief scale
A few weeks ago, I taught a healing class and utilized Esther Hick’s emotional scale. This list is comprised of many different emotions that we feel, beginning with the deepest and darkest emotion we can feel, grief. I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone here that grief is the heaviest and hardest emotion we can endure. Some days, it may be best to sit with this emotion and let it do its work as it allows you to release, detach and remember your loved one and all they brought to your life. But then there are the other...
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A few months ago, I wrote an article on the power of choosing love over fear. It’s a powerful concept rooted in text in A Course in Miracles. I’ve tried to live this practice but, up until this week, I never knew I was approaching it backwards. You see, whenever I would feel afraid of something, I’d try to find a way to love the situation, find love for the person in the situation or find greater love and compassion for myself in the situation, knowing I was the one hurting, in order to reach a level of love that would...
read moreConnection First…Problem Solving Second
This week, I was listening to a talk from Esther Hicks who was talking about how to manifest all the desires of our heart. She said one thing that really caught my attention. She said we must focus on our connection with God, Holy Spirit, the Divine, Higher Self, however you personally call upon your God, FIRST and focus on solving our problem second. Once we are connected, the problem will solve itself. Then I heard the very same message on the Christian radio station I was listening to in the car. Yes, not too much of a stretch there...
read moreLove. Heal. Thrive.
No matter what we are trying to accomplish or heal, we can only give from overflow. We must fill our own hearts first with love, compassion and understanding so we can give from a place that is filled and complete. Otherwise, we take too much from ourselves and end up feeling depleted, exhausted and depressed. Life altering experiences require us to love ourselves in a bigger, greater, stronger way and it is imperative that we give ourselves the support we need. Whether you are struggling with a relationship loss, friendship change, death,...
read moreMaybe we’re not as alone as we feel when we’re grieving.
I attended a family funeral this week. It was beautiful-from the flowers to the words spoken to the hugs shared. This friend of my family was 95 years young and it was a true celebration of life. I felt sad that he would no longer attend our family functions, but that’s not why I cried. I wept for the pain I saw on the face of my closest loved ones who were directly related to this sweet man. The pain on their face is what brought me to tears. I hurt and wept for them. Then it got me thinking, as most things do, maybe we’re not...
read moreComfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable
“The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” ~Mr. Dooley This quote was originally published in the 1902 book, Observations by Mr. Dooley based on a fictional character introduced in the Chicago Evening Post. It has since been used to describe the work of God and the church and how he/they do this very thing…comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. But I also think this is how we heal from grief. It does not matter whether our grief was caused by the loss of a...
read moreTrusting after a loss
How do we trust after we lose someone, or after a friend betrays us or after a relationship ends? It’s tough. It’s especially tough when those things happen simultaneously or “in threes” which happens…often. When my mom and brother died, I “claimed” a celebrity death to be my third loss so that I didn’t have to experience another loss so close to my heart. Superstitious or not, I felt like I needed to complete that group of three. I completed that group of three, but the one thing that...
read moreThe Blessings of Serendipity
There has been so much serendipity in my life these past few days- everything from buying the wrong-sized coat for my husband online to meeting snafus. But they all had a common thread… incredible circumstances producing incredible blessings that ultimately deserved infinite gratitude. Serendipity doesn’t come through with trumpets and signs, it’s nuance and subtleties that we think are coincidences or “luck” but if we can pause and give true gratitude for this direction and blessing, we will attract more of...
read moreHealing our need to withdraw while grieving
So often after we lose a loved one, we withdraw. It feels scary to invest in relationships and friendships. It feels like too much work to give our energy to something that might end too. We have moments of feeling so exhausted that we can’t bear the thought of reaching out or connecting to someone else. This lack of connection or feeling disconnected is a symptom of our energy being blocked in our 2nd chakra or what is also referred to as our sacral chakra. This energy area is located in the space between our tailbone and belly button....
read moreDo you have your accountability partner?
I have an accountability partner for my business. We assign ourselves our own tasks for the week and push ourselves to move forward in whatever area of our business feels like needs the most attention that week. We talk the same time, same day, every week and hold each other accountable for the items we promised ourselves we would do. I credit this system to pushing me to complete things I’m not sure I could have ever completed on my own. It’s been amazing. AND…it got me thinking… Why couldn’t we have...
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