Spiritual Journey

For some reason I am gravitating toward the path of Spirituality.  I have been reading about it wanting to educate myself and fully understand what it's all about.  Basically I have started at Spirituality 101.   I admit I did not know much but it intrigued me.

What I am finding as I envelope myself in all it's wonder, it is where I want to be.  The book I am reading is called Spirituality for Dummies by Sharon Janis. One of my many highlights within this book explains that "The process of spiritual evolution is not about trying to become something other than who you are; rather, your spiritual journey ultimately brings you back in tune with the great soul that you always have been and will always be."   She continues to say "With a higher spiritual awareness, you can take your rightful place as a conscious co-creator of your world, and discover how to use your words and thoughts to create a happy, healthy and spiritually enlightened life."

I absolutely LOVE it.  I feel like the book is speaking to me and pulling me in telling me I need to trust myself.   It is my thoughts and actions that mold my journey.  And most importantly to trust God.  She points out that when you put your trust in God you move happily and spontaneously through life.  It gives you the courage to try things you would not have necessarily known how to do.  That is so amazing true for me.  I see myself taking leaps by writing and sharing my innermost thoughts and feelings.  Reading and soaking in as much as I possibly can.  Wanting to do and try different things.  Things that I would have never had the desire nor the courage to do before.

This book talks about the divine light that exists inside of us.  Spirituality says you are greater and more powerful that you have ever imagined.  We all have a spiritual soul.  I just feel I have never come across anything that has really ever touched me as this has.  I feel so welcomed and accepted into this spiritual view of life.  It is about following your heart.  As anyone who knows me real well, that is what I am all about.  There is a quote within this book that states "Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.  Who looks outside, dreams.  Who looks inside, awakens. ~Carl Jung


I have really never been so moved before.  Here is just another example of me finding my way and my life taking a little bit of a different direction all for the the sole purpose of ME.  It is because I had so desperately wanted to make some changes in my life, I never knew or even realized the power of our universe and of God.  Once I allowed myself to be open to change, it is amazing and mind-blowing that I can actually see what I am capable of.

The author says, "The challenge of spirituality is to see all these qualities and colors of who you are, while also realizing that you are a unique expression of pure spirit, revealing itself as you."  I love that taking the spiritual path makes you question who you are as a person and makes you dig deep to find your inner self.  That knowledge of yourself brings power.  It makes you more conscious and aware of how you think, speak and act.

All I can say to anyone who has read this particular blog, I am venturing on my SPIRITUAL JOURNEY!  And I am totally enjoying it.   There is so much to learn and become and I am up for that challenge whole heartedly.  

LOVE yourself and find you absolutely LOVE life!

This was my status today on Facebook. This is what came to me earlier in the day.  I have been thinking about so many things that are happening in my life.  The changes in my attitude toward so many different aspects of life in general.  It has taken me so so long to get to this point where I can actually say I am loving myself.  I never thought I would ever see that day..  I had been stuck in a rut for such a long period of time.

The realizations of myself and of life have really opened up so many wonderous and magnificent doors for me.  I am seeing that I love to do certain things I really never had any interest of doing before.  For example, reading books and writing my blogs or just writing in general.  The thought of reading had always seemed to be a torture for me.  I find that my interest in reading is bringing me to new heights.  All for the purpose of self improvement.  Writing was never even an idea that I had even considered.  I think a big part of that was lack of self confidence.  What a great way to start thinking of what to write about, all your thoughts and feelings.  There is plenty right there to share.  I think the huge difference now is that I am doing this all for ME.  I am doing it because I am my first priority.  I am not putting myself  last on the list anymore.  This drastic change in me can only mean one thing.  I LOVE MYSELF!!! There I said it.  I actually love myself.  Enough to realize that I deserve to be the best I can be and at the top of my game.

With all this said, I am absolutely loving life.  It is really amazing how life works and that everything happens for a reason.  The people you meet, the experiences you have.  It is all in the GREAT plan that God has for us.  I understand now why certain things happened to me in the past and that it all boils down to being a learning process.  It is what I needed to go through in order to really be able to appreciate all that I have now in my life.  God works in mysterious ways and it all is to help us be the most loving human beings we can be toward ourselves and others.

This has all been such a process of growing as I take this journey of self discovery.  My life has forever changed and I am so thankful for this new found LOVE of myself.  It could not have come at a better time.  My main goal when I turned 40 was to make sure that the next 40 some odd years were going to the best I could possibly make it within my power.  I know I am on the right path and God only knows what is in store for me.

DARE TO BE GREAT!!!!

What a powerful statement this is to me.  When I first saw it, it just stayed with me.  I found it through my travels on Facebook where I seem to find myself a lot lately.  I thought about what am I capable of doing in my life that would make this pertain to me.

So what I did was google this and was anxious to see what I would find.  What I discovered were many wonderfully motivating quotes that I wanted to share with everyone. Especially on Facebook.  In addition, I found a site with a gentleman who is the author of a book called "Dare to be Great" by Gerald P Tchir.  The site is about self help and personal empowerment.  The book is an attempt to change the basic way of thinking.  He explains that the basic principle is to " Believe and Succeed".

He states "Believe in yourself; believe that you were born with the seeds of greatness; believe that you are fortunate to live in the greatest country ever known to mankind, filled with unlimited opportunities; and believe in the power of almighty God".   As I keep reading I am in moved by everything he says.   I feel myself saying that is me.  That is what I want to become.  I believe in me and that I was born with the seeds of  greatness.  I know I believe and can succeed.  This is all so motivating and my energy is rising.  I wish I could just leap into the computer and show up at one of his personal growth seminars and be right there in the moment.  Tchir says, anyone with courage and a burning desire to "DARE TO BE GREAT" will be met with a rich, rewarding life, full of abundance beyond any dreams. 


Gerald P Tchir in closing says, I leave you with the words "Think- Believe -Dream -Dare." You can be anything you want to be! My dream and my challenge to you is:

DARE TO BEGIN-DARE TO BECOME EVERYTHING YOU THINK, CAN, AND WANT TO BE. DARE TO BE GREAT!

All I have to say is WOW!!!  

LOVE and FRIENDSHIP

I am sitting here while I am on my laptop just thinking about how lucky I am to be surrounded by such special people in my life.  People who I hold so close to my heart.  Not many people are so fortunate as I to be blessed with the LOVE I feel.  My dear family who are so supportive of me and my cherished friends who just make me strive to be a better person. Who give me the fuel to add to my fire and the energy like no other.

I may not have many friends in my life and that is okay.  My most treasured friends are ones of Spirit, LOVE and FRIENDSHIP.  The quality and sincerity of these wonderful individuals are like no other and I would not change that for the world.  When these people come to me and our paths cross it is God's message telling me that he has blessed me with a magical gift.  A gift that makes my heart fill up with the warmth and LOVE that just grows ever deeper.

It really is so important to take the time and just thank my lucky stars that I have been given this most treasured gift of all.  I give to you all my most deepest appreciation and love.  My life has forever changed because of you. THANK YOU!!!

Realizing I want to be more

I am constantly thinking to myself that there is so much more for me out there.  I have allowed myself to be open to all that is good and positive.  Giving me the powerful energy that I feel today.  I have been sharing my blog entries with many wonderful people on Facebook in hopes that I can pass along my positivity. To be able to express myself in this way has been such an awesome and eye opening experience.

I love not being afraid to allow myself to be open, honest and truthful with my feelings and innermost thoughts.  My blogs have become such a therapeutic way of expression. I never really realized how many people I would touch with my personal experiences and thoughts about life.  At times you may feel you are the only one experiencing what you may be going through.  But once it has been put out there for people to see you then realize you are not alone.  

I stand here today finding this strength within that I never knew was in me.  How empowering it is to know that you can do, say and achieve anything you put your mind and heart to.  The possibilities are endless. I am so thankful for finally realizing that I am ME, Laura.  A beautiful and loving woman with many wonderful qualities.  With so much to share and love to give.  To be a positive light and hopefully an inspiration to many  women.

Childhood Obesity-NOT SIMPLY called BABY FAT!

I wanted to talk about this topic because I have lived it since I was a child.  I was just googling this and found some scary facts that need to be brought to the table.  First of all, it states that "Some experts believe that if obesity among children continues to increase, our current generation of children will become the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents."  That is just so frightening to hear.  Also, "today, nearly 25 million children are overweight or obese."

I can't tell you how difficult it has been for me over the past 35 plus years being overweight and not feeling good about myself.  You must be wondering what this would have to do with the goal and focus of my blog and why I would want to talk about it.  Honestly, this is quite an important detail of my life and which brings me to where I am today as an adult still struggling with my weight issues.  What a long road I have been on trying to get to that healthy weight that I know is best for me.

It seems that families today are constantly on the move and in a lot of the family units both parents are working to make ends meet.  Because of all the hustle and bustle of today's world it is very easy to do things that are "FAST".  Specifically when needing to feed our children.  The quickest way to do this is with FAST FOOD! One of the leading causes of childhood obesity.  In addition, it is the lack of physical activity and genetics that also plays a big role.  Obesity can cause so many health issues that rear their ugly heads such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep problems and heart disease.  This is bad enough in adults but can you imagine children having to deal with this.

If this isn't a sign for us as parents to make sure we keep an eye on our children to make sure they do not become part of a statistic.  It is so important to do all that we can to give our kids the healthiest diet and surroundings they can possibly have.  This will then be instilled in them and will hopefully be carried out into their adulthood.  

To have to struggle with ones weight, a lot of other issues come into play. For example, low self esteem and teasing by their peers along with lack of acceptance.  They need love, encouragement and emotional support.  It seems no matter what age you are these are vitally important in any aspect of life.

I am an example at age 40 of what it is like to struggle with obesity all my life.  I felt that I needed to share this with all of you reading my blogs.  I know what it has been like for me and would not wish this upon anyone.  I have experienced so much sadness, low self esteem, lack of confidence and acceptance along with depression thinking I would never get to a point in my life where I would ever feel good about myself.   To have to see the sadness in a child's eyes knowing of what they will have to deal with as they get older just breaks my heart.  That is why I stress the importance of taking charge of our children's well being.  Their health mentally, physically and emotionally.  To give all the tools necessary for our children to be the healthiest, happiest and most successful they can be.  Once developed,  these habits will help our children to maintain good health throughout their lifetime.

Soul Energie

Soul Energie

Beauty of a Woman

"The beauty of a woman isn't in the clothes she wears.  The figure that she carries or the way she combs her hair.  The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that's the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.  The true beauty in a woman, is reflected by her soul.  It's the caring that she gives and the passion that she shows.  And the beauty of a woman, with passing years, only grows."

I found this fantastic saying before while I was on Facebook.  I have been in search of these great pages that talk about Spirituality.  A few being, Spirituality-A New Consciousness, The Turning Point, Spiritual Bliss. The I stumbled upon one called " Wake up Women".  The title is quite catchy and I guess that is what caught my eye.  It is a community all about women.  The sayings, quotes and imagery is awe inspiring.

I came across this saying above which I feel says it all.  We are such  phenomenal beings with so much depth and diversity yet we are all the same.  We are worthy of all the wonderous things in the universe.  Our light shines so brightly.  We care so deeply, share so willingly and love so passionately.  We are all so special in our own indiviual ways.  I felt I needed to bring attention to this topic of beauty. It goes so way beyond skin deep.

We as women tend to be distracted by all that we see on TV and in the movies giving woman a certain image of what we should look like in order to be accepted, to make us feel worthy of someone's love.  It is all a bunch of useless and unrealistic bull.  No matter what you look like, what size you are or what color your skin is.  It does not matter.  WE are all women.  Love your life and be happy that you are the person that you are. Be humble, be sincere, be truthful and most of all be YOU~

BE A TRUE FRIEND TO YOURSELF

I have been doing a lot of reading lately and the same message keeps coming through to me.  Be a true friend to yourself.  Treat yourself as you would treat your friends and loved ones.  What we as women tend to do is be our own worst enemy.  We have those dear and special people in our lives and give them the loving care we feel they deserve yet we cannot give ourselves that same expression.

What these books explain is that we tend to be to critical of ourselves not allowing for that gentleness and unconditional love we need to find deeply within.  What ends up happening is a continuous cycle of self sabotage and self infliction.  This can do such extreme harm to our self esteem and self worth.  So, I guess the question remains how do we change this?  What changes can we make to stop this from taking over our lives and leading to self destruction?

Well for starters we need to do some self reflection and realize that we are worth so much more than we give ourselves credit for.  It helps to surround yourself with people who love you and support you and give you that encouragement and care you need.  Whether it be your family, friends or any outside sources including therapy.   You will be amazed that it is actually possible to find that unconditional love for yourself.  It just may take sometime.  With anything you decide to change within yourself, you need to realize it does not happen overnight.

When we learn that we are the creators of our destiny and we have the ability and control to make these changes happen, we begin to understand that any outside negativity and bad energy will not effect us the way it may have in the past.  We are strong, beautiful, loving women with unimaginable capabilities.  We need to be able to tap into the extraordinary powers we possess and make sure we take care of ourselves knowing we are our own best friend.  With that positive mindset and true love for ourselves, anything is possible.

ASPIRE TO INSPIRE

I wanted to share one of my mottos which I believe is so very important.  Aspire to Inspire is a very powerful statement.  I want to be able to inspire women to let them know that anything is possible but it takes lots of hard work,dedication,determination, will power and a positive mindset.   I feel that we need to stand together and encourage one another to be the best we can be.  We need to be positive role models to eachother to help us on our quest. What I hope is that once we find our way that we can pass it along to someone else and so on.

Before you know it, the inspiration to motivate someone else has been passed along to so many. We need to "Pay it Foward"  What a huge chain reaction this would cause.  The possibilities are limitless.

I can't tell you how important it is that we support eachother in anyway possible.  Our inner strength as women is quite extraordinary.  Can u imagine how powerful we could be if we stood together as a unit in love, kindness and true sisterhood.

I ask anyone who reads this to please pass this along to the women who mean the most to you in your life and let us begin to realize that when we Aspire to Inspire, we have the ability to make our lives so enriched and fulfilled.

IGNITE YOUR SPARK

I can't tell you how wonderul the past months have been for me.  I have been on this awesome journey of self discovery and let me tell you it has been quite a ride.  The inspirational people I met along the way has been more than anyone could ever have hoped for. 

What I have realized is how beautiful life is.  Life is what you make of it.  If you choose to take the path that will lead you to a happy, healthy and truly fulfilling life,  you will reap the rewards more than you could ever imagine. 

The direction I am taking at this point in my life has only made me realize that I need to be completely open and honest with myself, my feelings and the love I always knew I had for myself.  I just didn't realize it was there all along.

With this new found feeling of inner strength and renewal,  I am walking tall and keeping my head up.  I always had a habit of putting my head down when I walked.  Body language speaks quite loudly and I am sure anyone could see the sadness in me.  I had a habit of not making eye contact with people because of my feeling of inadequacy. 

What I am trying to get at with this particular blog is that when you are feeling like you are in top of the world you radiate a light that shines so brightly.  You know you have that spark inside.  IGNITE IT!!   For everyone to see.  You just may encourage someone to ignite theirs. Before you know it may cause a chain reaction so beautiful and bright that will just light up the sky.

Suffering in Silence

I must admit this topic was one that I have been thinking long and hard about.  Three words that have such depth to them.  I was kind of hesitant about bringing this to the table.  But was asked by a very dear friend to write about it here in my blog.

I always want to discuss the real emotions that I have personally experienced.  It is a great release.  I guess in someways I had been suffering in silence for a sometime.  Dealing with low self esteem, lack of self worth, periods of depression and behind all that was a sad overweight woman with no desire to live life to it's fullest.  What was there to look foward to? It was just easier to be miserable.

My dear friend had been suffering in silence for many many years.  The pain and anguish of just living was torture for her.  She had been going through so much and felt completely unable to find her voice.  The true and desperate need to be heard went unnoticed.  Her family life had worsened. Her relationships with those closest to her had become so distant.  She was truly alone.  To go through that type of pain for so long must have been excruciatingly painful for her.

We all have our own personal demons.  Sometimes we are able to come face to face with them and take charge not letting them take over completely.  Some of us are not so fortunate.  To live with a sickness which lives and breathes within and takes complete control can sometimes become your death sentence.  The magnitudes of depression in it's worst state can be the End.

As for my dear friend, she has been able to find her voice.  Her inner strength and determination to live life was much stronger than her illness.  She is a caring and loving mother, daughter, sister and friend with so much to give to herself, her family and this beautiful world.  There was period of time where we had lost contact and all I could think about was if she was okay. Was she alive? How were her kids?  I am happy to say that she is doing well.  She is managing the best she can with her illness and making the best of life for her beautiful children and her family.  She was blessed with three handsome boys. And I have been blessed to have her as a friend again.  We picked up where we left off after so many years.

I love you my sweet friend and am grateful that you are in my life.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

For some reason this came to me this morning as I was driving to work.  I wanted to concentrate on what we see when we look in the mirror at ourselves.  Some days are better than others.  Women tend to be quite harsh on themselves nit-picking at every little imperfection.  Instead of looking at the beauty that lies within.  I can tell you that is me completely.

I have lived my life for so many years looking in the mirror totally disgusted at times.  I always had this view of not being pretty or good enough.  So needless to say, my self esteem was pretty low.  The sadness within me was so obvious on my face.  So who would want to bother talking to me if we would be in a room filled with people.  I felt so unattractive.  I thought that is the reason why no one would even strike up a conversation because they would not want to be seen talking to this ugly duckling.  Never did I give myself enough credit.   It was like I was punishing myself for my existence.  It was all so exhausting and totally self inflicted. 

As I am talking about this it upsets me to realize that this is how I truly felt.  I would live life constantly worrying about what people thought of me on the outside.  It really makes me sick that I could be so superficial or put that label upon others.  Yes, it could be that some people like that do exist.  But for the most part I was the one with the issues. 

What I am realizing at this point in my life is that I need to be truly and honestly happy with myself.  The only thing that matters is how I see myself as a person when I look in that mirror.  I cannot continue to scrutinize all that is not "PERFECT" in my eyes.  None of us are perfect but we always wished somehow it could be.  But that is not reality.

I am just one of many women out there who have been caught up in this whirlwind of low self esteem.   Some cases are worse than others but somehow the impact of that in our lives can lead to quite a miserable one.  In my case, I am so lucky that I am surrounded by such wonderful human beings who continue to give me the emotional and loving support that I so desperately needed for so long.  I have now learned to accept it and take it all in knowing that I am truly deserving of it.  It has given me such unbelievable strength.  I feel that what I have now no one can take away fom me. 

WHERE DID THIS ALL COME FROM?

Some people have been asking me, "Where did this all come from?"  Meaning, all these blogs that I have been creating.  It actually surprises me too.  I feel that as my ideas develop throughout the day whether it be in a conversation I had with someone or something I read, it just comes to me.  I can only explain it as a light bulb popping up above my head.  Like something you would see in a cartoon.

As I express myself while typing on my laptop, these thoughts and feelings come to life. Sometimes I am unable to type quick enough to get it all down.  It has been such a cleansing experience for me.  Being able to speak freely and become so open and honest with myself and others.  It is like a breath of fresh air.  Letting my vulnerability and my imperfections be shown.  This is where true beauty lies within me.

I don't pretend to be something I am not.  Although, in the past I may have tried unsuccessfully.  I have been through somethings things my life and at times it hasn't been easy.  I have handled certain situations in a manner I am not proud of.  But life goes on.  Live life with no regrets.  Just make sure you learn from your mistakes and move on.

I am very blessed to have come from a loving family.  I realize now more than ever how lucky I have been.  I feel that being able to say to my loved ones that " I LOVE YOU" means so much.  For some reason in the past it was difficult.  I guess I am not afraid anymore to be me, LAURA.  The caring, loving and vibrantly expressive person I always knew I was.  But I was so unsure and unhappy with myself.

This beautiful metamorphosis for which I am engrossed in, has been an experience like no other.  If I could inspire one person while on this journey of renewal, transformation or even empowerment as a woman, then it will have been more than I could have ever had hoped for.

LACK OF SELF WORTH

I really wanted to talk about this topic because it hits so close to home for me.  I really feel that a majority of women live life with such a lack of self worth.  Myself included.  I wonder where this all stems from.  How far back in our lives did we begin to think so little of ourselves?

As I write this blog it saddens me that we don't give ourselves the credit we so truly deserve.  When others see us they think we are strong, beautiful, intelligent and wonderful human beings.  But our distorted views of ourselves get in the way of seeing this.  So much so that it affects our everyday lives and our relationships with others.

I feel that it is crucial that we as females stand by eachother's side giving encouragement and love along with support and understanding.  A shoulder to cry on along with positive reinforcement to help get us out of this funk.  We need to stand strong together.

The abilities we have as women are endless. We are able to move mountains. We need to find that inner strength and know we are ALL worthy of being loved.  Most importantly, we need to be able to love ourselves as the wonderous and dynamic women that we are.  Our beauty is extraordinary.  We just have to believe it.

I am inspired to be more!

I had some wonderful conversations with friends of mine today.  These awesome individuals have given me such love and encouragement.  Their endearing words have given me so much inspiration to be more.  More than what I could have ever imagined for myself.

I am finding this ZEST for life that I guess was put on the back burner for so long.  It is such a great feeling to know that my life as I stand here today is filled with so much endless possibilities.  Once I set my mind to something I know in my heart I CAN achieve it.  No one is going to stop me.  The only one who has that ability is ME.

I feel like I am coming out of hiding like a bear coming out of hybernation after such a long period of time.  There were these feelings of insecurity and lack of self confidence that I guess held me back from opening up to people, sharing my thoughts, feelings and ideas.  I still have my insecurities but now they are not completely taking over me.

I have this tattoo on my back right shoulder of a fairy with wings holding a flower.  I had gotten in back in early 2007.  My purpose in getting it was to represent and woman spreading her wings and flying.  I had lost  a tremendous amount of weight back then and this was my gift to myself.  I had felt that I had turned into this person who finally felt free and beautiful and I was just going to soar.  Like a butterfly that emerges from it's cocoon.

Well, this tattoo holds the real meaning more so for me today as I am spreading my wings and flying.  I am soaring above anything that once held me back.  That kept me down from really living life to it's fullest.  This is only the beginning for me.  Life's journey will always be a learning process which I am ready to take on.

I AM INSPIRED TO BE MORE!!!!!!!

How do you handle stress?

This is a question that has many answers depending what type of person you are.  I know that stress, personally speaking, can really take you down if you let it.   It is so powerfully negative.  The question is, How do you not let it get the best of you?  How do you figure out how to get in control of it?

This is something I am learning about everyday.  While on my journey of renewal,  I find at times that stress can still get me but my ways of dealing with it are somewhat different.  I used to find myself running to the nearest cabinet or the refrigerator where the food was.  It was like I was unconsciously shoving anything quick I could get my hands on in my mouth.  To feel that comfort to calm me down.  Before I knew it I must have taken in a million calories.  Then once I was out of state of whatever I was in I would then be ready for my meal of the day. Usually it was dinnertime.

I try so hard now to be extremely conscious of everything I eat.  Those terrible habits I am trying very hard to be rid of.  Don't get me wrong sometimes I get weak and eat something I should not but I think one of the important details is that I don't focus on it so much. And I realize that this too shall pass.  It is not a every day occurence like it used to be.

Another way I handled stress was to have my alcoholic fruity drinks that kind of helped me forget how sad I was. It made me temporarily happy for that while that I was loopy.  Of course after the alcohol wore off there I was back to reality.

I had stopped drinking alcohol at Lent time.  And I still have not drank.  I think the reason why I am sticking to my guns is because I don't want to be drinking for the wrong reasons.  I am afraid if I do, alcohol will just be another crutch for me.  I am trying so hard to make my life better.  It can be quite an effort sometimes.

At this point in my life I have taken out many things from my diet knowing that I need to be healthy physically and mentally.   I don't eat many things that everyone could not do without on a daily basis.  Some people may think I am a crazy woman for doing so.  But my thing is I want to eat to live not live to eat.   So, eating the healthiest I can only sets me up for a long and happy life without sickness or at least as much as I can prevent.    In addition, making sure my son has a good example to follow.  Childhood obesity is a whole other topic I could get into also but that will be for another blog entry of mine.  I have a lot to say about that too.

So, getting back to my original topic of how do you handle stress.  The bottom line is getting in control of it and not letting it rule your life.  Once your stress levels are in control,  the way you handle any challenges that come your way, you'll think twice about letting your old habits rule you.  Believe me I know.  This is all from personal experience.