Tag: Life

How To Let Your Brilliant Being Shine

I recently came across one of my favorite poems, My Brilliant Image, by the fourteenth century Persian Poet, Hafiz: One day the sun admitted, I am just a shadow. I wish I could show you The Infinite Incandescence That has cast my brilliant image! I wish I could show you, When you are lonely or in darkness, The astonishing Light Of your own Being! Hafiz is telling us that the astonishing light, the brilliance of our own being, is already with us.  We are filled with great light that permeates everything.    Brian Swimme, Evolutionary Philosopher and Co-Collaborator of the documentary…

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Golf as a Metaphor for Life

Golf is first and foremost one of my paths to self- mastery. I don’t mean mastery as in being the best in the world or striving to be perfect, I mean mastery by being my best each shot and each moment. I know I am completely capable of shooting under par every time I step onto the golf course. When I don’t, I have the opportunity to look more closely at myself. Was it fear, underlying emotions, mental blocks, lack of presence or something to do with my body that stopped me? How can I improve next time? Each new round…

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‘Lost’ Loved Ones

During the holidays, many of us become acutely aware of “lost” loved ones — family members, friends and colleagues who are no longer with us in physical form. So, instead of experiencing the holidays as a fun and festive time of year, we wind up feeling sad, lonely or even overwhelmed by a sense of grief and loss. I understand. And yet, I know with every fiber of my being that life is eternal. Those loved ones who are no longer in their physical bodies are not gone. They are simply not here in the same way that they were…

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Scars, Love, and a Bit of Pride

By B. Lynn Goodwin. I have three scars on the inside edge of my left forearm. Two look like fading purple blotches, like sun-faded paint or the ancient scrawls of a fierce toddler armed with crayons. The fierce toddler who put the pair of scars on my forearm was my sweet little Mikko McPuppers. He’s an eighteen-pound senior shih tzu. Usually he’s mellow. On the night he bit me though, he was disoriented. He didn’t know where we were going or how to get back, and I think an old fear of losing his home and family may have resurfaced.…

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Happy Birthday Mom

My mother would have been 78 years old today, had she not passed away from a very unexpected, very sudden stroke nearly 6 months ago. She went from a healthy, vibrant, active senior, still working out daily and riding her bicycle many miles each week, to comatose within 15 minutes and passing away within a day. There was no warning and no time to say “Goodbye for now”. We all know that  our parents will pass away. It’s all part of the circle of life and is nothing surprising- until it happens to us. Then, life as we know it…

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If You Could Know The Date of Your Death, Would You Want To Know?

When I first read Michael Bungay Stanier's Today's Brilliance, I was surprised to see the date of his death included. "September 15, 2043 is the big date", according to Michael and his statistical analysis, predicting the exact date of his death. Seeing it in writing stopped me in my tracks. If we could know the exact day of our demise... would you want to know? While it might be great for financial planning, how would knowing the date affect the quality of the days we have here to LIVE? I have friends that have gone to Nadi astrological readers in…

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Life Below the Surface

Being in a sailboat in the middle of a stormy sea isn't my favorite thing to do. Last week I was sailing in the British Virgin Islands during a very windy day at sea. We had to cover nearly 15 miles, with the seas averaging 8-11' swells, complete with huge crashing-rocking-and-rolling waves and high winds. We had our friends Arielle and Brian with us on the boat and although they were great troopers, there came a point when it wasn't as fun as the first 15 minutes in rough seas. At some point the waves were bigger than the boat.…

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Playing for the Yahtzee in Life!

Yesterday we had very strong winds that kept us boat bound in the evening. It was almost like curling up by the fireplace on a cold winter night. Almost. Except for the continual rocking of the boat. We spent the evening playing cards and Power Yahtzee on board the boat with the family. I've played Yahtzee before, but not Power Yatzee. My son-in-law, Josh, who brought the game explained the rules to us throughout the game, as it required more strategy then just plain Yahtzee. He said, "Remember the name of the game is Yahtzee, so that's the goal each…

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The Waves of Life

Yesterday we visited the Bubbling Pool on the windward side of Jost Van Dyke, in the BVI. The Bubbling Pool is a natural rock formation along the coastline that creates the best Jacuzzi one could ever imagine. Add winter weather with northern swells and high tide, and we were set for an amazing experience. The coastline breaks just enough to allow the full force of the water to come in through a sluice-like opening, that creates a very concentrated, very powerful blast of water.  The resulting effect is like being a t-shirt inside of a washing machine; constantly pounded with…

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Get Out of the Book!

This weekend I had the pleasure of speaking on the topic of success at the Thin Air Summit in Denver. Part of the experience was a Q&A session where my friend Brian asked, "What do you do when you have a bad day? How do you get out of it?" Well, today is one of those times so I thought I'd answer the question best by sharing the process with you. Most mornings I wake up and write. This morning I woke up to an early telephone call and felt like someone not only threw the book at me, but…

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Inspired by a Dog

We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place. Most days I take Koda, our year-old Samoyed pup for a long walk in the mountains and truly enjoy the beauty of Colorado. Yesterday I was too busy with commitments and only had time to visit the dog park in North Boulder. Koda was excited to be there to play with the other dogs. I was struck by the simplicity of life at the dog park. Each time we enter, no matter if there are two dogs or twenty, Koda happily bounds up to each one, tail flying, nose sniffing,…

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Celebrate Life by Living it to the Fullest!

Today would have been Randy Pausch's 48th birthday. We were fortunate enough to have Randy Pausch as one of our Inspirational Luminaries on InspireMeToday.com.  Randy, known for his "Last Lecture", passed away in July from cancer. I know how special birthdays are, for I just celebrated my 50th three days ago, surrounded by family and friends. On my birthday, one of my good friends, who is only in her early 40's, had surgery for cancer. All three of these things are reminders for me of just how short life really is. I think we all live our lives just assuming…

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The River of My Life

Recently a friend of mine told me that I have an interesting mind: one that can see anything physical and through metaphor, relate it to my life. Lately, just to see if she's right, I've been paying attention to things around me, choosing an object and seeing how I can relate it to my life. Yesterday as I flew from Philadelphia to Seattle, via Dallas, I decided to see if she was right. As we were nearing Dallas, a river intrigued me, bending and winding through a very dry area. From 30,000 feet it looked like a cinnamon pretzel, twisty,…

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What Are Your Jellyfish?

We're spending this week with a friend, sailing the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest. We've never been here before and the scenery is stunningly beautiful. My husband and I are enjoying a great week. One of our intentions for this week was to do some brainstorming for InspireMeToday.com, but very little of that has happened so far. Just before I left to come up here I was interviewing one of our Inspirational Luminaries. I asked them to discuss change and how that can affect our lives. This Luminary shared that one thing they've learned is that if you…

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