What a wonderful ride I am on….. Life is good!
At 69, as I look back over my life at what my key lessons have been, I share that for much of my life, I have been getting in my own way to find love and that I held myself back from achieving what I wanted to achieve in business. I have always had a big support system, friends that were there for me through thick and thin, but I had some hard knocks getting to where I am today.
Today I am happily married to a wonderful man who is my ideal soul mate and who supports me to be everything I want to be. I am the sole proprietor of a jewelry business that continues to thrive. I have overcome the worst of inflammation and autoimmune disease. I have become a health coach so that I can help others. I am happy and grateful.
In the years leading up to my 60s, I wasn’t unhappy but I would have told you that I was sort of happy, and kind of discontent. Now, I will share that I am not only happy, but I am content and at peace. Life is wonderful just the way it is.
I didn’t get here easily. It has been a process. My life has had plenty of joy, from friends and family, but the things I really wanted seemed elusive and out of reach.
These years were not mistakes, the lessons I learned are invaluable, and I want to share them with you. These challenges are why I am where I am today.

What a wonderful ride I am on….. Life is good!
At 69, as I look back over my life at what my key lessons have been, I share that for much of my life, I have been getting in my own way to find love and that I held myself back from achieving what I wanted to achieve in business. I have always had a big support system, friends that were there for me through thick and thin, but I had some hard knocks getting to where I am today.
Today I am happily married to a wonderful man who is my ideal soul mate and who supports me to be everything I want to be. I am the sole proprietor of a jewelry business that continues to thrive. I have overcome the worst of inflammation and autoimmune disease. I have become a health coach so that I can help others. I am happy and grateful.
In the years leading up to my 60s, I wasn’t unhappy but I would have told you that I was sort of happy, and kind of discontent. Now, I will share that I am not only happy, but I am content and at peace. Life is wonderful just the way it is.
I didn’t get here easily. It has been a process. My life has had plenty of joy, from friends and family, but the things I really wanted seemed elusive and out of reach.
These years were not mistakes, the lessons I learned are invaluable, and I want to share them with you. These challenges are why I am where I am today.
These are the 6 life lessons I have learned.
1. Don’t let fear stand in your way to have the life you want
FEAR
The most important thing I have learned in life is that I was the only person that got in my way. I was the person that blocked the things I wanted, that always seemed out of reach. I was stuck in the land that when this, blah, blah, blah, happens, then I can blah, blah, blah. I was never going to be enough.
I allowed fear to build a barrier and everything I wanted was on the other side.
I spent much of my life being unhealthy. I lived in fear. I blocked my own happiness. I worked too much. I couldn’t find love. All of this was fear based. I couldn’t fail if I didn’t walk off the cliff. I also couldn’t fly.
Relax and believe that everything is occurring as it should. Even negative events in our lives open doors to a positive new tomorrow.
I kicked fear out the door, and when it rears its ugly little head now, I do what I want to achieve anyway.
2. Own your own life.
You are responsible for your own success and your own happiness. You and only you. No one does anything to you that you don’t allow in your mind. It may happen, but what you do with it is what makes all the difference in the world. Once you start to own your own life, nothing can stop you, whether it is business, relationship or health success.
Be your own “who said of the greatest magnitude.” This is a phrase I learned years ago in a management seminar. It means that if you have the mindset to succeed, don’t listen to other “authorities” in your life. You do not need to accept defeat because someone else says so; not from your doctor, not from your family, not from your significant other when he breaks your heart and certainly not from a business partner. You are in control, and you can leap over any obstacle placed in front of you. You just have to have a mindset change to reframe whatever is happening so that it becomes a lesson leading to a road to success.
3. Note to yourself. You ARE enough
I don’t know what happens to us as little girls, no matter how much love we are brought up with, there seems to be a pervading issue in our minds that we are not enough. Self-love seems to be absent in so many of the women that I have met in my life. It’s almost a universal sadness. No matter, as women, how much we have created, how beautiful our families are, how successful we are in business, how much we contribute to the world around us, we seem to struggle with self-worth. We give ourselves no credit, we are not loving enough, pretty enough, smart enough, thin enough, caring enough, active enough, organized enough, not enough whatever. These are anxious thoughts in our minds and they haunt us daily.
"In the quiet acceptance of 'enoughness now' lies our inner power to choose to be responsible and responsive to life. We put ourselves in the forefront in that way and stop giving our power away to someone or something else that we may consider more enough than us.” -Margaret Stortz
Well guess what, you are enough just the way you are. And you need to start telling yourself that, or your mind will use is as a block to hinder you from living a life of happiness and joy. My dread of not being enough was hidden deep down inside of me, not out there for the world to see, but I knew that was one of the reasons that things I really wanted were elusive.
When I was in my early 40’s I read a book by SARK, and in that book, she unabashedly declared that she was “ripe, succulent and juicy.” The words made me giggle, but I also loved the visual of the words. Every morning for months, I would call a girlfriend to remind her that she was ripe, succulent and juicy and she would have me also repeat the words. Something in me began to change, I began to see myself differently, and I suddenly began to be “enough.”
You deserve to love yourself. You are unique and wonderful just the way you are.
4. Get past your “already always.”
Some years ago, I had a business partner who had been through Landmark Forum. It was human potential training, somewhat like EST, that was a bit abusive but inspired change. It was NOT my thing. But she had a couple of phrases that she used from her training that I really loved, and one was to get past your “already always”.*
So what is “already always?” We think we are open-minded, but the reality is everything we hear and everything we believe, is filtered through previous experience and through what we have been told about ourselves. We now reinforce that in our minds. “Already always” is our known truth, especially about ourselves. Unless we can break through that and look at the world through new eyes, nothing changes; we go back to our “already always.” Before we can begin, the blinders must come off.
As a start, don’t listen to everything your mind tells you; it is not the truth. It’s just some idle chatter to keep you in your “already always.” It tears you down, so that you stay in your known truth, which has become your comfort zone.
According to Sean Croxton,” The ideas and concepts we accept, either consciously or with no thought at all, are passed on to the subconscious mind which is responsible for the overwhelming majority of our feelings and behaviors.” These are often formed at childhood.
So are you ready for change? Are you ready for transformation? Are you ready to change your “already always?”
You have to believe that you have the power to change your life if you could just see that path. You need to clear away your false image and believe that you do have the power to do anything you set your mind to do.
5. Fill your own cup
If you don’t take the time for self-care, you won’t have anything to give to your loved ones. I have learned to take care of me, added simple exercise into my routine, added meditation early every morning (it’s much easier than I was making it out to be). I am enjoying morning papers, a 30-minute writing exercise before meditation. I have learned how to breathe. Self-care isn’t selfish, it’s incredibly important to your long term health and stress and to you being the best that you can be.
“Taking care of you” demands that you find ways to release your stress. Stress accumulates in your body. It makes you ill. Learn to do the Dr. Andrew Weil 4-7-8 breathing exercise twice a day. (Look it up on the internet) Do something lovely just for you every day. It might be as simple are arranging flowers, or taking a quiet hot bath with time that is just for you. Laugh often. Learn to say no to others, if it’s not really something that you want to do. Practice gratefulness.

“Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” Rumi

6. You can do anything that you set your mind to.
Know that if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything that you want to accomplish. What does it matter if you fail the first time out? What you will learn from your mistakes is priceless. A mistake is an opportunity to refine it for a better next time. Mistakes are not bad; they teach us to be the best we can be.
Train your mind to never see obstacles. See them as opportunities to rethink your approach and leap over.

Which of these things are holding you back from living the life that you are meant to live? Fear? Not owning your own life? Believing that you ARE enough? Getting past false truths about yourself that are in your head? Taking the time for self care and filling your own cup? Or is it recognizing that you can do anything that you set your mind to? Please get out of your own way, and live fully. It will bring you great satisfaction in a life well lived.

YOU ARE INDESCRIBABLY DELICIOUS. LIVE WITH INTENT. LIVE LIFE WITH PLEASURE AND GUSTO. BE HEALTHY.

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