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Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #43

-by Jaime Willis


I read a post the other day in which the writer sets a word or phrase intention for the entire year. Not as specific as resolutions or goals, but just a state of being that they want to engender in everything they do that year. Matt's recent New Year's Post follows this thinking with his mantra to "Love More. Fear Less."

I sort of love the idea of this year being the year that I am stronger, braver, kinder, and more unstoppable. 2012 -- the year I will "Be Fierce."

By Kal Barteski

What about you? If you had to pick a word or phrase to embody in 2012, what would it be?

One Small Step for Humankind

-by Matt Leedham

We’ve all heard about Thomas Edison and his 10,000 failed attempts at making the light bulb sustainable and affordable for all people to use.

We’ve all heard about the work ethic of a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan or a Michael Phelps.

There are countless other stories out there that demonstrate persistence, perseverance, and good old hard work.

But we don’t always recognize the small things. We don’t always see the tiny actions that so many of us take on a daily, and sometimes hourly basis, to make progress.

I’ve come to realize that movement is essential to progress. Every great achiever has something in common. They tried.

That’s it.

They tried. And then tried again. And again. And again. They tried over and over again until they started to get better and people started to recognize their “talent.” Over time, people start talking about the work ethic, the effort, the focus.

But it all starts with that first moment. That first attempt to do something.

Think about it. How can you improve upon something you’ve never done before? You can’t. You can only mull it over in your head for so long.

Take that first step, friends. Get out there and give it a try.

What’s the first step, you ask? You could click on the video below…

Tell us how you will take action today and try something new, or something you’ve always wanted to try. Leave a comment below.

The Beach Boys in the Winter

-by Scott Sullivan

This time of year I always listen to The Beach Boys. Their music exudes a warmth and youthfulness that is especially appreciated on cold winter nights.

My favorite is God Only Knows because it highlights the critical anabolic connection between the self and those in our community . . . our “life-team.”

I often think about the possibility that connection and positive relationships are a universal human value.

How about we all pledge in 2012 and beyond to spend more time showing gratitude to those people in our lives who help us to maintain, and even enhance, our sense of well-being and self-esteem?

Let’s get specific here: Who are the people in your life who build you up, who help you see possibilities where before you only saw obstacles, who challenge and engage you from a posture of mutual respect and love?

Here are mine:

Will
Never have I met a person with a more robust personal constitution, yet who is still curious about the world around him and those who live in it.

Neila
She has a reservoir of empathy so deep it sometimes overwhelms her, but no one on this planet gets me the way she does. Ours is a cosmic connection.

Tess
Her smile warms my heart and her voice makes it skip a beat. She cares about her family like no one I have ever known.

Larson
A person of deep passion and great gifts who is not afraid to speak his mind and to speak from the heart. I would not change one thing about him; he is a treasure.

These four people are my nieces and nephews. The youngest is 10 and the oldest almost 13! I was blessed with the opportunity to help raise each and every one of them .

So that leads me to four more people to acknowledge . . .

Their parents: John, Jill, JC and Stephanie. They are all related to me by common experience and challenges, and some by blood as well.

Finally I am grateful for Randa. She has all of the gifts of the eight mentioned above, and she is my best friend! Lucky ME!

My self esteem is inextricably linked to my community’s esteem and these eight people are one heck of a team to have on my side…THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Who would you like to thank for being a part of your community?

Do not be shy, post it here for all to read, you will feel amazing once you do…

Are You Improving Your Who or Trying to Be Who You Aren't?

By Jaime Willis

Like many of you, I really enjoy the New Year. I love reflecting on everything I've been able to accomplish in the previous year, thinking about the stuff that didn't work out as planned, and mapping out my vision for the upcoming year.

I enjoy goals -- the bigger, the loftier the better.

This year's New Year's Resolutions started out simply and tritely enough. Lose weight. Exercise More. Same old, same old, right? My cousin is getting married in June and has asked me to be in her wedding, which was a great (additional) motivation for my health goals.

As I started thinking about how I would incorporate health into my life, I was strongly considering signing up for bootcamp classes. Bootcamps are typically women-only, group "personal" training that focus on both cardio and strength training. Lots of great things about bootcamps -- camaraderie & accountability, someone pressing you beyond your physical comfort zone, less expensive than a personal trainer, etc.

Why was I hesitating? The 6:00 am start. Which means a 5:00am wake up call, 3 days a week. Anyone who knows me well knows that the only time I am up at 5:00am is when I'm still awake from the night before. I am NOT a morning person.

After asking a bunch of friends, I still was having trouble making the decision -- I really wanted to commit to the bootcamp, but I really didn't want to get up at 6:00am. I decided to pose the question to my coach - what should I do?

What happened next is probably one of the most profound insights of my life.

My coach very quickly helped me identify that the 6am wake-up call was not aligned with WHO I am and so I shouldn't sign up.

Then she asked, "doesn't it feel great to make a decision that honors your true Who?"

"No!" I quickly retorted.

It didn't feel great. It felt lame, like I was this defective person that had a get-up early handicap. Just like I can't keep my house clean. Just like I can't seem to grocery shop & cook on a regular basis. Just like I have trouble figuring out what to wear every morning. The next words out of my mouth shocked even me.

"I feel like I would make an excellent man, but I am a crappy woman." (And no, this isn't some big reveal about how I need a sex change operation -- I'm talking about the "roles" of women and men have in our culture.)

By Mary Engelbreit

You see, growing up, all my female role models -- my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my friend's moms, the ladies at church, etc., were all of a type. And, because many of these women read this blog, I want to be clear -- I am not trying to judge these women, or say one is better than the other. I love these women dearly and think they are phenomenal.

The type of women I grew up with as role models were so amazingly domestic. My mother is probably the best hostess on the planet. Seriously! She gives coupons for visits to her home as gifts and people practically punch each other to get the coupon. She's that good.

No one is asking for a coupon to come to my house. I'm either deflecting visitors from coming over to view my piles of "to be sorted" this or that, or begging a friend to come "work" on decluttering my house -- a far cry from my mom's hostessing prowess.

In the "womenly arts," my family of women have collected all the merit badges. They are awesome.
And next to them, I truly can't compare.

Albert Einstein probably said it best: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

Here's the thing though -- sometimes it isn't *other* people judging us that hurts us. It's us judging ourselves! I may not be the hostess my mother is, but I can talk to a room of 1,000 people with no planning. I may not being the snappy dresser my best friends and aunts are, but I can fix almost any computer problem you have. I may never cook an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, but I can organize a week of travel for 20 people.

Rather than focus on what I am *not*, I want to focus on WHO I really am. I'm not going beat myself up for not being a tree-climber. I'm going to be excited to be the best darn fish I can be.

I won't be signing up for the 6am bootcamp. But I know that I will find a "Jaime" way to get more fit this year. Awesomely, I have a much better chance of being successful at my goals when they are aligned to my true self.

I want 2012 to be the year that I honor my true Who in all that I do.


How are you honoring your true Who?

Now you can hear more about this post from my on YouTube!  Check out my video below.

Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #42

By Jaime Willis

Happy New Year!

A lot of you are probably spending some time thinking about resolutions for the New Year. I'll be back on Friday to talk to you more about setting intentions for 2012, but I thought I'd give you a few inspirational hints to whet your appetite.

Palliative care nurse reveals the top five regrets from her patients:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish I had let myself be happier.

There's a lot more insight, so click the link above to read the whole article.

Love More, Fear Less

-by Matt Leedham

My New Year’s resolution is simple. It’s not a goal. It’s not a metric to hit. It’s not entirely measurable or specific.

But it is inspiring. And it challenges me to grow.

Love more. Fear less.

That’s it. It’s more of a mantra than anything else. Yet it speaks volumes to me. In fact, the depth of its meaning for me is immeasurable.

You see, I’ve been living for many years at the whim of circumstance. I’ve tried to project, outwardly, an image of success, confidence, and perfection. While digging deep into who I am this year, I’ve discovered that I was living in a cycle of fraudulent fakery.

To me, love more has many meanings. Not only does it mean to have and express gratitude for all of the wonderful people and experiences in my life, but it goes one step deeper. It means having an unconditional love for myself, something I had never experienced before.

Which leads me to fear less. I have never allowed myself to live fully, in great appreciation of who I was. I was always not something. I was always not someone. I was always so busy projecting out a confidence that was inauthentic, that I found myself trying to protect the image that I wanted others to see. An image of perfection.

This inauthentic image prevented me from taking risks. It prevented me from going 110% in life to explore my full potential. It prevented me from living fully. And for what? To maintain an undefined image of success that I wanted others to see?

This year, I choose to live differently.

This year, I choose to express my gifts and talents freely, without the pressure to impress anyone. This year, I choose to understand my own ideal image of success, and not try to live up to an imaginary one I’ve created that I think will please others.

This year I choose to love more and fear less.

If this resonates with you, leave a comment and us know what you’re thinking.