Thursday, October 23, 2014

embrace kindness.

“kindness is the root of all good things”

The yoga studio I’m involved with has a wonderful monthly program called Random Kind Act Pals. This is the first time that I have participated. You sign up and are paired with your kindness pal for the month. The two of you exchange addresses and any other relevant information you want to offer. By the end of the month, you send the other a small gift to brighten their day and spread kindness! 

I had only briefly met my partner once before, several months ago at a studio event. I did not know a whole lot about her and I pride myself on giving meaningful gifts so this was a challenge for me! I wanted to make sure she would like what I sent her and I wanted her to feel inspired. While I took time to figure out the right thing to send, I was also anticipating the snail mail she would send me. Something in the mailbox that isn’t a bill!?! I was so excited!!

The only clue I gave my partner was that I love arrows. It doesn’t matter what it is, if there’s an arrow involved, I will love it. I happened to mention that I’m a sucker for inspirational quotes and shared with her my favorite quote as it illustrates exactly why I love arrows  <<An arrow can only be shot forward by being pulled back so when life is dragging you back with difficulties it is getting ready to launch you into something great>> 

The UPS man brought my gift today [ in a FedEx envelope, the irony of which made me smile (: ] One would never have guessed that she doesn’t know me! There was a Quotable Quotes magnet -- I already have a collection of these so it’s great to add to it -- and it said:

“live with intention. walk to the edge. listen hard. practice wellness. play with abandon. laugh. choose with no regret. continue to learn. appreciate your friends. do what you love. live life as if this is all there is.”
- Mary Anne Radmacher

These words took my breath away for a minute. These are amazing, encouraging words to live by. I can’t wait to add this to my inspiration board so I can remind myself every morning of each day’s purpose. 

She also included a gift box with RGD stamped on the outside — Red Giraffe Designs, my favorite local jewelry maker. I already knew I would love whatever was inside. And did I ever! Inside was a long brass necklace with an arrow pendant. What’s especially fantastic is that Kate, of RGD, made me a custom arrow necklace when I started my company {called Launch} a year ago. I had been searching for a layering necklace to pair with my original and these two will go together perfectly.

This was such a fun activity to be involved with. It made me feel good to send some joy to, essentially, a stranger. My day was brightened when I received something so meaningful as well. It was a valuable reminder of how much impact a little act of kindness can have. She included a card that said “You are pure potential.” Talk about an impact. I have a lot of transitions personally and professionally going on in my life right now and whenever that happens, moments of self-doubt are bound to creep in, and they have. I’m keeping this card on my dresser for a while to remind myself -- I am pure potential. I have the potential to impact someone’s day by spreading a little kindness, and more joy. 



Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Chasing the dream

I've always been a dreamer, maybe to a fault..if that's a thing. {I would rather dream too much than not enough!} I can get caught up in my own daydreams of how I want things to be, how I envision my future to be. I try to stay grounded and realistic but I dream big. My dreams inspire my goals. My goals get me excited. When I really think about how amazing it will feel to achieve my goals, I can barely stand it. I get this feeling in my stomach. I feel a rush of adrenaline. I can't sleep at night.

I like living in that space, it makes me feel good, hopeful, optimistic. The other night in a Power Yoga practice, the instructor spoke about preparation. She mentioned that we tend to see people who have it all [or at least appear to] and think that things just fall perfectly into place for them. But in most situations it's not that they're lucky at all. It's that they prepare. They work everyday on bettering themselves, bettering their circumstance, working towards their goal. They set up their life so that when the next big thing happens, they're ready.

It's amazing how the universe puts you right where you need to be, when you need to be there. That message was incredible. I was meant to hear it. It spoke to my soul, spoke to where I am in life. This reminder was a necessary one. Daydreams are awesome, but they need an action plan. There's a journey to be had before we arrive at that destination. A scary journey. A challenging journey.

If you don't prepare, if you don't persevere, it's going to be a long, long path. And it probably won't lead you to where you want to go. It's easy to get anxious awaiting that extraordinary end goal. Some days I just don't feel motivated. Sometimes the task at hand is hard, it's overwhelming. Or it's just plain boring. There are times when it would be so incredibly easy to give up, to be complacent, to settle for the status quo, for the average, for the comfort zone. There are times when I feel discouraged or experience doubt. Some days it's just really hard to persevere.

It's these times where I realize that I'm spending too much time focusing on the action plan and living in reality and not enough time remembering the dream. When I reset and focus on the end goal, I get excited again. It's like a burst of energy. A renewed sense of purpose. Remembering the reasons why I'm doing what I'm doing, remembering where this journey is taking me..that's what keeps me moving forward. My dream is what gives value to the hard work and preparation. My dream is what gives me the courage to recommit to the process every day.

At that same yoga practice, during shavasana, our instructor played Wild Horses {Wild horses I wanna be like you...throwing caution to the wind...} and I'm pretty sure both my best friend and I had tears streaming down our faces. We dream big. And then we're left to face fear and chase our dreams. We throw caution to the wind and hope we fly.
 
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