Inspiration Archives

Yesterday we arrived at the Bight, a cove off Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands. We took the dinghy into the beautiful beach just in front of Pirates Bar, which happened to be closed for the upcoming hurricane season. The beach was still beautiful and we were looking forward to enjoying some R&R in the sunshine and playing in the warm waters. The only thing that gives me concern in the waters of the BVI is jellyfish. This trip, it seems they decided to come to the BVI during the same time that we did. We saw them on…

I live a very blessed life. I’m still unplugged in the British Virgin Islands, relaxing, writing and getting perspective on my life. We come down here several times each year to think and just be. Funny thing is, I almost wrote that I come here to get away from the self-imposed busy-ness of life. But, how do you spell busy-ness? Would that be business? Interesting, isn’t it? The biggest change in my life when I’m down here is that I don’t use my cell phone. When I’m home it is attached to me. Here, it’s only used if we care…

Experience has shown me that everything in my life is a metaphor FOR my life. If I pay attention and just ask myself the question, “What is this trying to teach me”, I find myself learning from the situation. Yesterday I was walking on my favorite beach on the island of Anagada, in the British Virgin Islands. This particular beach is on the windward side of the island and therefore, gets many of the treasures of the sea washed upon it’s shores, from beautiful sea shells and sea fans, to sneakers and beer bottles. I went for a walk, in…

Maybe I’m just stuck on this title because I’m going on vacation in the morning. Maybe it’s because I’m going sailing in the Caribbean and I’m just getting into the attitude of the islands. Or, maybe it’s just what I need to hear right now too. Just a few days ago, I was walking on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, CO. There’s a section of sidewalk in front of the courthouse with “jumping water”. This is where water jumps out of holes in the sidewalk and shoots into the air. The atmosphere was quite festive with a lot of little…

POP QUIZ I had an experience several years ago that highlighted every major principle I talk about in my work. My husband Gay and I were about to go on tour for our new relationship book, The Conscious Heart. In it we explore the primary commitment to learn from every relationship interaction, no matter how seemingly trivial or huge. We wrote at some length about choosing to see who people really are, their essence, rather than making ourselves right, avoiding learning and repeating old patterns. We'd noticed that living this commitment created magic and turned potential power struggles into exciting…

Often we have a special occasion coming up and want to look fabulous. Then the panic of “What do I wear?” begins. For my special occasion I want a new outfit that fits me perfectly and when I put it on, I feel beautiful! I went to Bonnie, a talented wardrobe consultant at Tres Bon, in Boulder, and hired her to help me find just the right thing. She asked questions about the look I was trying to create. She also asked what was already in my closet and I told her she didn’t want to know. Bonnie was trying…

I have a friend named Jamie who lives in a medium sized city where she doesn’t feel like she belongs, but she can’t relocate yet because of her husband’s work. For the last two years she’s tried to meet people but is convinced that there are no “cool people like her” in the entire city. My good friend Tom, who is really great, lives in the same area so yesterday I introduced them on the telephone and they set up a time to meet for coffee. Jamie agreed to meet with Tom because she really wants to meet new friends,…

What's in your someday basket? Today I talked with several different people who all talked about what they were going to do "someday". By the fourth person, it hit me. I know when today is. I know when yesterday was. I even know when tomorrow will be. But, when is someday? According to the dictionary, someday is "at an indefinite future time." For far too many, it is an elusive day that may never come. Could someday be the day after my funeral? Could someday be today? I have things that I want to do… someday. Someday I'm going to…

Did you ever watch a child put a jigsaw puzzle together? What’s the first thing that they do after dumping the pieces from the box? Come on, you remember don’t you? They’ll look at the picture on the front of the box so they know what the finished product will look like, right? We’ve all heard about the importance of focus and keeping our eye on the end goal in order to get there. But how many times do we focus on just the piece that we happened to pick up that day rather than focusing on the photo on…

Have you ever noticed that everything in life is a matter of perspective and eventually judgment? Imagine you arrive late to your office, complaining because your car broke down, only to find the person in the next cubicle had their car repossessed the previous day. It kind of makes your repair look minor because of perspective. You no longer judge your luck to be “bad”. Recently I was talking with a girlfriend who shared that she’d been raised on a farm in Ohio. Her parents were poor so her mother made homemade bread each day. Not wanting to be different,…

I’m sure you’ve heard how our thoughts become things? We’re taught we should not only think happy thoughts, but also FEEL the joy from our thoughts, and that’s how they manifest in our life. Since thoughts, in an untrained mind, can often appear random, sometimes it seems we don’t have any control over them. I’ve often thought how cool it would be to wear a “thought monitor” that would buzz when I’m thinking thoughts that are less than optimal, to gently remind me to change that thought and return to the greatness that I am. Why not? If we can…

What do you do when your mind is so full of stuff that you find it just zipping from one “to do” to another? Occasionally, I do something mindless, like play the game Bejeweled. In flying to my son’s college graduation on Friday, I had some time on the airplane and thought I’d get lost into a game. For those of you that don’t know the game, there are a series of 8 columns of colored gems, with about 8 gems in each column. You exchange the position of two different colored gems to make sets of 3 matching gems,…