In the midst of a life passing there can be much joy and understanding
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty © 2009
I am around a lot of men and women whose parents are getting older. Their parents are starting to have health issues and are getting frail. Some of these parents are having mental issues due to disease or too many prescriptions drugs. Some are just plain ill or tired of life in general. The problems are many and the solutions seem out of reach. There is no denying the fact that watching a parent get older and weaker is difficult. No matter what you do you cannot stop a parent from getting old.
Nor can you stop the clock on yourself either.
Caring for an aging or ill parent is something none of us expects to do – we associate life with our parents. But suddenly we are there, taking care of the ones who diapered us and shunted us to school and sports; here we are now, diapering and transporting them to doctors’ appointments or making arrangements at a facility of some kind. It doesn’t seem right and it doesn’t seem fair; it seems impossible. Whether we got along or not, the shock of being responsible for the welfare of a parent is unsettling.
We don’t want to think about our parents getting old and dying because then there’s nothing between us and death. We’re next. And we don’t want to look at the psycho-emotional implications.
The stress of taking care of an aging parent is enormous in terms of emotional and often times financial burden. We don’t want to see our parents as helpless. When we view them that way we feel helpless too! We reverse roles and become the parent to our parents. It is difficult no matter what our relationship with that parent may be. If it was a dysfunctional relationship we see the possibility of any emotional healing taking place slipping away. If it was a good relationship we see all the plans we made of what it would be like to do things with them such as trips and long talks by the fireside go by the wayside also. The biggest hurdle is that we know the torch is being passed to us and that someday we may be in their place. Age, infirmity and eventually death becomes real and not a concept any longer.
Dealing with an aging parent is a rite of passage any way you view it and we will all have to deal with it in one way or another.
It is important that you keep the dialogue open between you and your parent in what is going on. Not discussing certain things because you are uncomfortable with it is exactly what points you to the fact that you need to talk about it. After they are gone, you will play over and over in your head what you should have said when you had the chance. Yes! You will be emotional and may even feel the feeling of grief before they are gone. This grief is for a life that is almost over and for yourself as it is the death of dreams for golden years with your parent that will not be realized.
Spiritually, you must come to an understanding about the subject of death and what it is and what it means. If you thought you were totally in sync that death is not the end and then are surprised at the feelings you are having then you know you have not come to terms with it. God is close and will help you through this tough transition if you just ask for it. You will need guidance and knowledge in how to proceed for the greatest and highest good of all. You will be making big decisions as to nursing homes, finances, doctors, wills, siblings and other family members. The list can be endless and very overwhelming.
When a parent is weak and ailing you can still share with them and the best way to do that is to keep talking and sharing as much as you feel they can understand if they are still cognizant. If they can’t carry on much of a conversation read to them.
Hold their hand and let them know you love them no matter what. Do not allow feelings of guilt over not being able to care for them at home take away from this precious time together. Guilt is a useless emotion. The truth is there are very few people who can care full time for someone. It is physically demanding and emotionally heart wrenching. Full time care may be the most loving thing you can give them in a facility that can give them 24/7 what they need. You are only one person with limited capabilities. If you are working to make a living and most of us are, you have to remember there are only so many hours in a day. You are not a machine.
Put meditation and prayer at the top of your to do list and journaling is a good idea as well. It helps you put everything in perspective. Make sure you get plenty of rest because emotionally you will find you are on a roller coaster and you need to be rested to deal with it. When you get overtired your emotions will be too close to the surface. Cry it out if you need to. It can be a wonderful release. Tears are a good thing. Don’t hold it in.
Remember the good times of laughter and wholeness when your parent was in good spirits and what all their positive traits are. I thought about my mother’s love of gardening and very time I saw a flower I thought of her and how she would be teased by her friends that she could plant a pencil and a tree would grow. I would think about how much she liked to crochet and knit. I still have some of her creations even now. I still think about her pineapple upside down cakes made in a cast iron skillet in the oven that no one since has been able to compete with. Her biscuits would make an angels mouth water if angels ever hungered. Her laughter was contagious and her hands were cool if you were feverish. Her singing may have been off key but she sang from her heart.
Those are the things I concentrated on when she became weak and frail and her mind was not whole. Those are the things I still carry with me today. In her passing I see my own looming ahead someday but I am reminded that now is all we have, this moment is what is real. If you have children they will also have to enter this rite of passage with you someday.
For those of you who are handling this rite of passage, take heart and tell God all about it because God is the parent you need now more than ever. You are not alone.
This is the time not to forget that fact. It is also important to not forget the loved ones who are still in your life and need your love and attention. The ordinary things of life such as a phone call, sharing a meal, hugs and reminders that they are loved cannot be forgotten. Let them know you appreciate their support.
This is just something to think about.
www.makeachoicenow.com website
ladydiannia@makeachoicenow.com e-mail
Some Little Known Rules of the Universe
1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. Don’t worry about what people think; they don’t do it very often.
3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.
4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
5. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
6. A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention! It never fails.)
7. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
8. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
9. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
10. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.
11. Eat well, stay fit, you are going to die anyway.
12. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it. Embrace your differences. Love each other.
13. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
14. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
15. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
16. Opportunities always look bigger after they have passed.
17. Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
18. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
19. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
20. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
21. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
22. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
23. It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat.
24. There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’
25. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
26. You should not confuse your career with your life.
27. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
28. Never lick a steak knife.
29. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
30. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
31. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
32. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
33. Your friends love you anyway.
34. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.
35. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
36. Don’t ever put your tongue on something that is frozen, even on a dare.
37. Keep a flashlight beside your bed. Broken toes are no fun.
38. Good cooks alwasy have friends.
39. Your perfectly housebroken dog will pee in someone elses house five minutes after you arrive.
40. Chores can wait…people can’t.
41. Your car will not make that noise when you take it to be looked at by a mechanic.
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty 2009
I woke into the day and decided that I would stay
and play to the universal chorus of possibilities
and promises and unspoken demands
as my hands
cradled the babies and old people.
I reconsidered the maybes of life and all its
strange complexity.
Hell no, I was not crazy and nowhere near being lazy.
Why were all the answers so illusive and inconclusive?
Heads or tails I was flipped around.
I didn’t bother to look at what hit the ground.
Many times it was my feet running
to a destination unknown.
From child to woman I had grown.
They were there at every turn telling me what I should learn.
They recited my truth to me with desperate mediocrity.
I was told be quiet and to make no waves
from my cradle to my grave.
This didn’t sit too well with me
Where was God in all of this
as I was searching for my bliss?
I wore leather, minks and then some lace.
I fought against being put in my place
Who were they to tell me who I was
and how should I think…
I was even told what I should drink.
Reflected back to me was everyone’s insanity
and the jury said “make your plea.”
I prayed for peace and a life of love.
I asked for the other hand to fit the glove.
I heard that I was all and everything.
I was told by God’s voice that the world was mine.
She said, I was a light and that it should shine,
brightly and brighter still
and that is why I had free will.
I am woman, unbound.
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty
The words were there and I heard them time after time.
Repeated to me and I didn’t understand.
Because I said so…that’s why.
As a child with no power
I accepted
With
Reluctance
I became a young adult and sat in the classroom
I heard the words of rules and math.
I walked single file down the halls
Of academia and learning
I thought I had no power
I accepted
With
Defiance
I went to churches and heard the words
Believe and the truth shall set you free
Minister and pastor said
Do this because it is written.
That God judges you and is vengeful.
I accepted
With
Fear
Then one night with joy in my heart,
There was relief from pain finite and real.
There was peace I had not experienced before.
I mouthed the words…
“Thank you”
And I heard
An answer that was unexpected.
“You’re Welcome.”
I accepted
With
Joy
I heard more with each passing day
The words fed me as I have never been fed before.
God was speaking to me
I was told I was loved
I was told I had never been separated from him.
I accepted
With
Love
Re. Lady Diannia Baty September 13th/2009
It occurred to me this morning after I took my shower and dressed that soon there will be pumpkins for sale and the sweaters will come out of storage. I will have to start wearing socks to keep my precious feet warm.
There Is Beauty Everywhere...Pay Attention
The leaves are already starting to fall off the trees and I am feeling the excitement inside as the season changes. I am in tune with nature and my world and I will change with what is happening all around me. I will take out pots and make soups, chili, and chicken and dumplings. I am unpacking the blankets and afghans that friends have knitted for me and will toss them over furniture. Each thing that is handmade is precious to me.
Soon I will attend an apple festival or two and buy fresh apple cider and enjoy the smell of wood fires that will ascend on my nostrils. I can feel my spirit opening up to the world as she put on her fall dresses. Each season is wonderful to me and I notice the changes that start within me. I also have seasons that I express. I am moving forward to the season of rest.
As I burrow under the covers when the chill is on the house I will remember my blessings to be alive to enjoy yet another reminder of the perfection of it all. I feel the presence of spirit and the love of God.
There is beauty everywhere...pay attention
Would you buy a ticket?
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty © 2008
Yes, folks there is going to be a seminar and the speaker will be God. You don’t need a ticket. it is free. Even the atheists are going to this seminar.
Even though they don’t believe in God they want to come nevertheless so they can heckle and talk about what they don’t believe in. They think this is going to be a day of high entertainment. Some goofy person is going to get up on the stage and claim they are God. This is going to be a real hoot.
For months there have been posters everywhere about the seminar.
There have been full-page ads in the newspapers around the world.
When the people in the ad departments tried to check on who placed the ads, they can’t trace the source. The posters advertising the huge event seem to have come out of nowhere. Store owners don’t remember how they got there. The question has been raised, “How can a seminar be everywhere at once? This must be some kind of hype? It will build everyone up. It won’t really be God. The atheists say, “Of course, it won’t be God because there is no God.”
Out of curiosity and as a direct result of all the advertising…millions of people around the world are talking about it. Every hall, auditorium, stadium and theater has been booked. The tickets cost absolutely nothing. The announcement says all everyone on the earth is invited to attend.
Very few people are staying home because of all the media coverage about the expected event that no one seems to know much about. All anyone knows is that God is the one and only speaker at this seminar.
Would you go?
The flyers don’t say anything except that God is holding a seminar…time and date to be announced. People are getting a ticket for an event not knowing where and when it will be held. Every evening on the newscasts the talk is always mentioned about the event. The newspapers around the world herald the event. What is this all about and who planned this? It is a mystery. It has been praised as an exceptional advertising campaign. Corporations all over the world are trying to find out which advertising firm handled this. Finally another flyer starts appearing. It simply says “Come when you can.” This announcement really gets tongues wagging. How can you have a seminar like that…no time and no date?
Yet, people start talking about how they attended the seminar and have been transformed by the event. This prompts others to start going to the various halls and auditoriums around the world. They in turn tell others and so on. Pretty soon most of the world’s population has been to the event.
People are asked what happened. What did you see and what did you hear and the answer everyone gets is “God.” There was just one word, just one simple but beautiful word.
Those people who have not attended yet ask, “What did God look like?” The answer is the same as it was for every question asked, “God.”
Reporters from news stations and newspapers are frustrated that they can’t get any more information than a one-word answer.
Finally, in a fit of frustration one reporter decides to do as everyone else who has attended the event. He goes to the local stadium at 3am on a dark night. There was only a bare slice of a moon. There were no lights on. He was alone. He located himself a seat and sat down on the hard bench and waited. He felt silly at first when he asked himself how he was going to flesh out this story, as it seemed there would be nothing to write about. He sat in the dark for about 15 minutes and while he sat there in the dark, he asked himself what he believed about God. He realized his belief about God was very shaky. Was God a what or a who? Was God just a fairy tale that people invented long ago to put some hope into their empty lives? He knew with that thought that if the fairy tale theory was true then he was just an accident and that his life had no meaning and never would. That would mean that he would live and die and that would pretty much wrap up what life was.
That would mean that his life meant nothing. He thought about the theory of evolution. We evolved from one cell out of primordial ooze.
The world came about from some big bang said all the scientists. He sat there in silence mulling over these thoughts. He was losing his reporters objectivity. He suddenly felt very sad and lost at these thoughts.
He wanted his life to have some kind of purpose…some kind of meaning. He wanted to feel real, validated and special… not just some quirk of scientific theory. He looked up at the night sky and was startled at all the stars that filled the sky. It was as if he were seeing them for the first time. He thought about what he did as a reporter. His life revolved around all the ugliness and darkness in the world. His camera and audio equipment recorded murders, rapes, genocide, road-rage, children going to school with guns killing other children and fires burning out of control. He reported only all the negative bad stuff of this world. He knew that he had only added to what the world was becoming. His responsibility was clear for the first time in his life. He felt ashamed. He wanted to apologize to someone for it but you can’t say “I’m sorry” to the whole world could you? He remembered interviewing an avowed atheist not that long ago and his editor saying “good article” and it was printed and put in the next day’s edition. He was so proud at the time and now he wanted to cringe at the thought of it. He believed in free speech but he had given power to the atheists with his gift of free will. He saw a hot story and just went for it with no thought to the consequences of his actions.
He remembered interviewing a scientist who talked about his theory of how the world evolved and how God didn’t enter into the equation at all. He never questioned this but he was questioning it now.
As he sat there and felt all the questions and emotions that were welling up inside him, he felt a presence. He knew he wasn’t alone and it made the hair rise up on the back of his neck. It wasn’t a feeling of being frightened but rather a feeling of anticipation and excitement. He looked around and could see no one else but as he scanned the night sky he noticed a star that was starting to glow brighter and become larger. It slowly started to descend toward the middle of the arena. He blinked his eyes and shook his head to hopefully clear his vision. The star glowing very bright with an indigo light continued to descend and finally came to rest about 30 feet in front of him. It was about 2 stories tall and 20 feet wide more or less.
It sat there and seemed to pulse with life. He stood up and walked slowly toward it. He could feel some sort of power and energy as he moved closer. When he was directly in front of it bathed in this incredible light he asked the question “are you God?” He heard a voice say “yes.”
He was told to walk into the light and he did, no questions asked. His experience that night changed him. He was no longer a man who lived his life in an unconscious way. He quit his job and became the editor of a spiritual magazine. He was spreading the light, truth and the beauty and wonder of God. When he was asked what he had seen and experienced that night, he told anyone that would listen that it was the most intense powerful experience of his life. When he was asked what God looked like and what did he see and hear, his answer was always the same. GOD, Just one simple but beautiful word, GOD.
He told everyone what it was clear what we are all supposed to do.
We are to spread the light of God’s love. We have to undo all the evil of this world before we destroy our earth home. We have to honor our divinity and never to forget that we are all one.
Experiencing God is a highly personal road of truth for every one of us. We should never have to defend our position as believers to anyone. The next time someone asks you how you know that God exists, ask him or her a question. “How do you know that God doesn’t exist?”
Ask them to pretend for a moment that God is and has always been and always will be and then to tell you how the feeling of that vibrates with them. Does it feel good? Does it feel positive? Do they for just a moment feel what hope is? Then tell them that God loves them and is there for them and always will be. God is love. God is hope. God just is.
Tags: atheist, empty life, God Speaks, God's seminar, life changing, live and die, spiritual
Every Day brings a new message
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty 2009
On the day of my mother’s funeral, it rained so hard it was difficult to drive to the funeral home. During the gathering inside you could hear the thunder and the rain pounding on the roof. It was a torrential down pour that had started that morning. The streets were flooded and the water was puddling quickly. I had to take off my shoes to get out of the car. The day before and the day after was beautiful but this day was what is called in Texas, a gulley washer. Lightning was lighting up the darkened sky and striking very close and when it did you could not hear what my mother’s pastor was saying. It made people very jumpy and some were muttering to themselves about the condition of the streets and their safety driving home.
There would be no graveside service that day. We all said our goodbyes inside. My mother would be interred later. The service was held inside. Today is very cloudy and the sky is dark and it brought me back to that day. You never know what will trigger a memory. With my mother’s passing came the end of an era. A lot of my family had died in the years before her death. As I stood in the funeral home I had the thought that I was an orphan and that I was the oldest of her children and the torch had been passed to me. Her later years had been very difficult. She had been depressed and addicted to prescription drugs and subsequently physically and mentally impaired because of it. She had become mean spirited and infantile. She passed on a legacy of pain, confusion and hurt.
She also passed on a legacy of creativity, love and light heartedness. In her younger years before the addiction took over she was funny and very loving. She would color with us and play board games. She talked about how important it was to put aside chores and play when the mood struck. I remembered a day when the two of us played and danced around during a rain storm. It was a sacred day for me. In all of my memories of her this day stood out. We were soaked by the rain that day and stood in the garage and stripped off our wet clothes. In our underwear we went into the house and wrapped ourselves in towels. I can still hear her laughter. She sounded like a young girl without a care in the world. It was a rare day when just the two of us were alone for the entire day. My father had taken my brothers fishing
early that morning and my sister was at a sleep over.
We baked cookies and sang songs very off key. We sketched for a while and compared drawings. Then later on she talked about God. This time was different as she shared with me the first time she heard Gods voice and felt the presence of something she called beyond holy.
She was sixteen and was praying to God. She felt there was no God and in her own way was asking if God was real why was she suffering so much? She had gone into the woods to pray because she felt the house with her abuser inside was not the place to contact God. It was dark and she said she could hear all the night sounds of crickets and a bird calling out. She was crying during her prayer. It was a still night with very little light from the moon. Suddenly there was a cooling breeze and she said it was like the moon suddenly lit up where she was and then she felt a presence.
The whole area was infused with a brilliant light and a voice told her that she was a child of God and not to lose faith. She felt like she had been transported to another place. The love that she felt was unalike anything she had ever felt.
I was transfixed as she told her story and I asked her if she thought I would ever hear God that way. She replied if I wanted to then someday I would. I never doubted what she told me and I knew that night gave her the courage to go on during the trails she would endure during the rest of her life.
Sharing this story with me lit a fire within me that would grow to an intensity that consumed me in later years in a very good way. I also grew to understand that play,
lightheartedness and joy are the hallmarks of expressing our true nature. When our hearts are opened with expressing joy we are closer to our creator. I have learned the importance of laughter.
I knew that my mother had dreams and hopes for a life that was far different than what she got.
There were so many aspirations that she had that died long before her physical body passed on. Her spirit lives on in my memories. I am reminded not to be judgmental of something or someone I don’t understand. Many times I was angry with her and expressed it openly hoping it would shock her out of what she had become. Many times I had the thought of the wasteland she had created with her life choices. Then later I knew that she had fulfilled what she was supposed to do. The good and the not so good examples of her life were powerful teaching tools for me. Who was I to judge her? I was not in the center of her heart and soul. I knew not what inner demons she battled until she was much older. Even if I never knew the secrets of her soul it was not my place to ever judge another. She lived in a different time and era of secrecy and shame. Her life mattered beyond what I perceived earlier on in my spiritual journey. As my knowledge grew, so did my understanding.
I was finally able to clearly see the perfection in the imperfection in our lives. I was finally able to forgive her and myself for previously judging her so harshly.
It is vital that we remember to be joyous in expressing ourselves in whatever way lifts us up. If we love plants and want to talk to them it is expressing joy. If we want to get on the floor and play with the dog it is good. If you want to bake cookies instead of cleaning the house, bake away. If you want to put on some music and dance then dance on. If you want to sing songs with your children at the top of your lungs…go for it.
Have you been called a stick in the mud lately? Has someone told you that they never see you smiling? Has a frown become frozen on your face? Are you taking things a little bit too seriously? Are you having a hard time remembering when you last felt happy? Be happy for no reason at all other than you can make the choice to be happy despite anything that may be going on. You just might find things turning around with every smile you give to the world.
There may come a day when you cannot play in the rain anymore but the memory of it will live on. When you laugh, God laughs with you and brings you more to laugh and smile about. Remember it is only water.
If you see a woman in the parking lot walking with no umbrella during the pouring rain to her car with a smile on her face, it just may be me. Maybe I will see you there getting soaked right along beside me. This is just something to think about.
Tags: addiction, aspirations, choice, death, hearing God, joy, judgment, legacy of pain, love, memories, secrecy, teaching tools
Rev. Lady Diannia Baty
Dear Creator,
I am feeling the prompting and your desire to have me scribe your words. Changes are in the air just as you have said over and over. I am weathering these changes in a more powerful way. My fears are few and I work hard at dispelling them. I do not wish to live with any fear in my heart. I am blessed and grateful for your guidance.
My Dear Ones,
I will speak today of mastery. Through trial and error and repeating a thing you can become the master of it. My blessed ones and you all are blessed,
just as you get to a point of turning something into a success that is when many of you quit instead of persevering. In the mastery process of life you will hit a plateau when everything seems to stop but it is brewing even though you do not see the growth. This is when you need to push a little more and trust that something is happening even though you do not see it or feel it. This is where faith comes in. Just a little faith in the process and in self will produce magnificent results. Forward motion produces forward motion every time. Have you watched a huge ship being docked? If the captain did not reverse the engines it would keep going forward for a long time even if the engines are shut down. An oven that is shut off does not immediately become cool.
Keep going forward with those things you wish to master and the conclusion of that is always success.
If you become frustrated in your efforts, take a cooling off period and come back to it. This is spirit telling you to rest and wait to renew. The manifestation that you wish to come to pass is waiting and brewing and becoming stronger waiting for you to put your attention and awareness to it. It has not gone away. All progress is real. What has been created cannot become uncreated.
If you decide to do something over then that is what you should do but use the essence of the original idea for there is always some good in it that must be saved and used. If you paint something for example and want to create something then do not judge it half way through. Keep going until you reach a point of saturation. Step back and behold what you see but do not throw it away. It will still be created within your mind. There will come a day later when you wish to view it to see what it is again and the next time you may call it beautiful and good. Another pair of eyes has been born in the time you put it down and came back to it. That is when you will hear it said, “it is as if I was seeing or understanding it for the first time.”
So it is with your communion with me when you understand and know me on a different level than before…after you have set it aside and come back to it. I am still the same yet you have grown a new spiritual awareness. Your presence is more powerful and matches up in a new way with me. When we are in closer alignment many doors will open. And so it is…
I Am I Am I Am
A few weeks ago I was getting ready for an interview for TV and I noticed that I was a little nervous. For me that’s’ normal so I kind of brush it to the side and went on to do the segment.
After the interview was complete, my mind was going faster than a NASCAR at the weekend race. I couldn’t stop my brain from spinning about what had just happened.
All of sudden I could hear the critical voice in my head,
“But My God, how did it really go.”
My husband called me immediately and said “ honey you are really good, you really should consider doing something on TV” then a colleague called and said, “Wow. You were really good. I watched it three times to make sure. You really were.”
Why couldn’t I hear my husband and colleague clearly? The most dominating voice was mine still,
Jesus how many people’ watched it? Was my hair in place? Had I said the right thing? Did the message come across? What will people think? Did I have an impact?”
That voice was clear so I stopped for a minute to listen more carefully.
I recognized it because I’d heard it before. And while it initially sounded like mine, it was that of an old teacher when I was younger who marked my paper with red ink. I don’t remember her name, but I do remember having to go to a special class because she said I needed additional assistance in school. She gave me a pretty extensive lesson in doing things the “right way.”
What an impact I could’ve allowed that past moment to make………
The funny thing about the voice is it was clear and it seemed very real, but there wasn’t a physical being there talking with or to me. No one was with me at the time.
Most of us think what we say about ourselves is the truth and particularly the negative things.
The moment of power was when I could choose how to relate to the thoughts and opinions. I first recognized and acknowledged, it was a past moment speaking as if it was relevant to the present moment. The voice was not mine nor was there any truth to the opinions being shared in the moment.
Where the power lies is in how you react or relate to your negatives thoughts about yourself or life in general.
I then chose a different path of thinking. I chose to embrace my own power, my ability to share passionately and give a message that people can embrace on or off TV.
I could then really “hear” and enjoy the raving fans and the accolades being given for such a wonderful interview.
How many of you having an internal critical voice that shares opinionated views about your life whether solicited or unsolicited?
How do you choose to react or relate to those thoughts?
Powerfully or Helplessly?
You do have a choice! What IS your choice?
This month’s issues brings many precious gems, please enjoy each and every one of them and Remember “The Power, Lives Within You and It’s Always Been There!”
Lisa Thomas
Visionary For Women
www.TheP3Group.com
A moment of power!!!
Gosh how often do we as women say “yes”, when we really mean “NO”?
Or we say “NO” when we really want to say “YES”? Oprah Winfrey once said in one of her seminars that if it’s not a resounding “YES”, then perhaps there’s need for question.
For the last 3 months or so, I’ve been noticing and fully engaging myself in this dialogue. I used to be a “yes” woman to a lot of things, but not lately. I’ve “powerfully” chosen “not” to participate in certain things AND I’ve powerfully chosen to participate in certain things.
Case in point, there was an opportunity to become a facilitator for an organization committed to making a difference in the African American Community. A wonderful, powerful opportunity, I must say. When the moment presented itself for me to choose what I wanted to do, I became nervous. Why was I nervous, I thought?
There I was in on the spot to choose with all the other former and future facilitators there, and I just felt the need to say yes because “they” wanted me to or they would be disappointed if I said “NO”.
I noticed in that moment of choice that “I” couldn’t give a resounding melodic “YEAH” to the question, “are you in?” At least not in that moment, so I proudly with power said, “NO”. For me, this was a monumental moment.
Many moments like these have come my way and I have a wonderful experience of power every time. I kinna like the sound of that resounding melodic “NO”. Wow. What a breath of fresh air!!!
What’s in it for you in saying “yes” when you mean yes, and “no” when you mean no?
I’m the one, the one that’s always been there, that’s all of sudden here, I’ve always been there. Here I am right here now! I’m YOU!!!
Lisa Thomas, President/CEO
Life Coach and Sr. Facilitator
The Power, Passion and Purpose Group
www.TheP3Group.com
Tags: Effective Communication, Inspiring Women, Learning to say No, Lisa Thomas, Passion and Purpose, Power, The P3 Group