Do what you must....

As things speed up and opportunities come quickly, be sure to take care of all the things that must get done.  Tasks, bills, to-dos, follow-up phone calls - it's all necessary for building the environment and structure around you that you need to build.  As simple or as complex as these tasks may be, they are all of equal importance.  They are all cogs in the machine that is your accelerating - and ascending - journey in life.  Be sure it is in tip-top shape so that it can carry you forward in this rapidly changing world.

The things you must do may seem optional or like they are just thorns in your side but they are all important building blocks that together, build the solid foundation you need to grow and prepare for what is next. Make a list, put it in your phone or on pretty paper and feel good each time you cross one item off.  They are each as relevant as the breath you took a moment ago and the one you will take next.  You don't count the little things you must do as the big accomplishments you make but together, they build to those exact accomplishments.  And there is so much you must - and will - accomplish.

So do what you must do.  Call who you must call.  Write what what you must write.  Read what you must read. Repair what needs fixing.  Organize what is a mess.  Clean what is dirty and unearth those things that need your focus and the light of day.

This is your journey.  Your chosen path.  Only you can walk it so do what you must to put things in their place and clear the way - and the rest will come.

How ready is your path?  

Don't get distracted...

Pause, breathe and listen.

There are so many things surrounding us right now that are designed to distract us from what matters.  So much simply does not matter and adds nothing to life or the world.

You know what matters.  If you don't think you do, take a moment, close your eyes and listen to your heart.  Pause.  Take a deep breath.  Exhale and listen. What is your heart telling you to focus on?  What deserves your attention?  What needs your effort?  Who are the people you should be spending time with?

Get rid of all the things that are not worthy of your precious time and energy.  Now, more than ever, it is important to focus, get grounded and do what you are here to do.  There will always be distractions - that's the world we live in.  But we don't need to multitask at every moment and we don't need to do everything that calls upon us.

Own your space in the world.
Embrace your role in the world.
Empower yourself to give your unique gifts to the world.

Don't get distracted.
Don't be distracted.
Go, change the world!

Your best interest at heart...

A dear friend, mentor, colleague and protector of mine, "D," died just over one year ago.  When I learned that she was dying - from a terribly painful battle with pancreatic cancer - I was in a state of shock.  She was in her early 40's and she was someone I looked up to and who, to me, was the closest thing I would ever have to a big sister.  As the oldest sister myself, I spent my life worried about and on the lookout for my little sister but spent much of life without much protection for myself.  I never really learned - despite the many, many challenges in my life as a child - to be careful about who I trusted.  I was given a kind of innate naivete that has been a gift in life because I find myself in states of awe and wonder often, but at times it has also caused me to trust and believe some people who did not wish the best for me.

While my journey with this particular karma has become a great learning lesson, it has also caused me a fair bit of pain.  I am someone who still believes the best in people until they prove me wrong - but sometimes at the expense of something dear to me, like my heart or my trust.

I am reminded today of the guiding words my dear friend D. said to me often.  I spoke them just over a year ago at an event I hosted for 120 people.  She had passed away the night before and I woke the next morning with a heavy heart and I held her with me throughout my day and during my morning speech.  D. said to me years earlier and on quite a few occasions something along the lines of, "Amy, not everyone has your best interest at heart.  You have to find the people who do and be aware of those who don't."  It was not until the first time she said this to me that I was ever really consciously aware that people could be careless about the way they would treat me - or worse, be out to hurt me.  Yes, I had been hurt before but I had spent my life operating from a place of love for others and I assumed that everyone else did as well.  I was wrong.  And I was grateful that she cared enough to help me navigate some situations where people did not have my best interest at heart.

So I choose tonight to share her advice with you.  Be sure to always take care of yourself and look for the individuals in your life who do truly have your best interest at heart. If you can't tell, check your gut.  Pay attention to your dreams.  Ask those you trust for what they see.  There may be only a very few who have your best interest at heart.  Or there may be many.  But until we heal the pain and fear that exits in humanity, you must protect yourself from those whose intentions are not what is best for you.  And when you figure out that someone is betraying you, my advice is to send them loving kindness and wish for them that no one does them harm because they are coming from a place of being hurt.  ...But their hurt should not become yours.  So please, as My friend D's words and her face and her mannerisms linger in my mind right now, let me give this energy to you to use and stay safe along your journey in life.

Look for those who have your best interest at heart 

and let go of those who do not...

Thank you for watching over me and may you be at peace wherever you are, dear D.

It takes Courage...

Courage is found deep within us, in a place we can't name or recognize - nor do we even believe it exists sometimes.  It can sometimes be seen by others but rarely do we see it in ourselves.  How do we find it then when we need it most?  How do we gather it up and put it to work lifting us up, moving us forward or getting us out?  Not a simple question to answer and not an easy thing to do.

Too often there are situations, adversaries or individuals who would like for us to stay precisely where we are, keeping us from growing or living our truth.  We've all experienced it.  All the "isms" in society, all the ways people are discouraged, all the moments we didn't stand up when we felt we should have - they are all part of a system of oppression that exists in so many shapes and forms around us all.  That these systems exist at all calls us all to stand up and overcome them as individuals and members of the greater human family.  So many people throughout history have lacked the courage and turned a blind eye or participated in the oppression themselves out of fear of becoming oppressed themselves.

Individuals throughout our human story have subscribed to the notion of "if you can't fight 'em, join 'em" and it has caused so much suffering in the world and delayed so much healing.  When an individual acts from a place of fear, he strengthens the oppressive systems that must be challenged and overcome.  When an individual acts from love, employing courage from his own heart, then the world can be changed and humanity can begin to heal.  Because these acts of courage are often taken by individuals, they can feel quite lonely and isolated but rest assured, so many are watching.  So many are aware and so many are looking for those who can lead the way.  This solitude in courage makes having it all the harder to muster but all the more important to find, employ and act from.

Courage is living according to your own truth, standing up for what you know is right and staying true to your unique path.  Since we all have different paths in life, only the Self can recognize the need for courage and then have the strength to make the move that must be made.  Others may tell us what needs to be done and their motives can range from pure love and concern to manipulation and power but only the Self can employ true courage and make the change, take the step or leave the situation.

No one else will ever tell you to become who you are.  No one else can help you become who you are meant to be.  Most people won't even bother to help another grow into who she is meant to be.  It's because of all of this that courage is one of those traits we most admire in one another.  We revel in the stories of those who overcame the greatest odds.  The stories that show us examples of humans living to their fullest human potential.  We need these stories so much that they become the lore that propels us to find our own truths and to fight for justice.  If courage weren't hard to gather within ourselves, we wouldn't retell stories of Joan of Arc and Jesus and Ghandi.  We wouldn't read books about heroes and we wouldn't define our history by a series of wrongs that have been righted and individuals who have done the impossible.

What is quite possibly the greatest thing in the story of Courage in our world is that once one person has found the courage to do what is best, right, good and honorable, we realize that we all benefit from that one individual's inner strength.  The story of human courage is as permeating as stories of long-lost loves found and deserving people who win in the end.  The difference is that while we all may not have long-lost loves to find or babies to save, we all have a truth to live and doing so takes courage - courage that is within us at all times.

Getting to that courage is something only some people do, but I believe we can all find it.  It's just a matter of believing in ourselves, digging deep and then standing up for something true in ourselves.  That truth, as long as it is based in love, is greatly needed in the world.

Stand - and act - from your courage.  Become who you are truly meant to be.  We all need each others' greatest Selves in order to heal so much in the world.  It's why we are here.  And we're all here for each other.

Look for what is yours....

Boy, was I right when I last wrote about moving at the speed of life.  Moments for me to sit down and write my inspirations here for you to read have been hard to find - but they fill me with love and they are a gift I have to give so I know the opportunities and inspiration will continue to find time, even as life moves faster and faster.

Everything is speeding up.  Everything is happening so fast.  Whether it feels like things are falling together or falling apart, life is moving so fast - for all of us.  Things are coming into your life that are uniquely yours - be open to them, accept them and most importantly, use them, and use them for Good.

Even the most beautiful things in the world require maintenance, cleaning, airing out, protection and repair.  You are among those most beautiful things in the world and right now, you, too, are experiencing a cleaning out and a rebuilding of old parts that were broken or new parts that have yet to be built.  This will happen in very unexpected ways in unexpected places - or sometimes your growth will happen in the simplest and most mundane of ways - ways you won't even notice until you realize you've grown and released something you used to hold onto so tightly.

Whether you can see your healing, your gift, your challenge or the maintenance you are currently undergoing or not is up to you.  Take a step back.  Breathe.  Meditate.  Pay attention.  What do you feel?  What are you resisting?  What are you ignoring?  What are you fighting doing?  What has God given you that is precisely yours?  Step into it, face it, own it, embrace it, love it.  The journey will carry you along but it will continue to present you with those things of yours that are designed to raise you into your higher and greater self.  Think of this time in life as an opportunity to raise your own inner child into the person he or she is capable of being - into who she is destined and divined to be.  I encourage you to look for the signposts along the way and step fully into your own divine path.  Allow yourself to transform, heal what causes you pain and release the things (and people) that keep you stuck where you no longer belong.

The path is yours, go ahead, embark on it.  It may not be paved, it may be dark and scary at times but it is your path and yours alone.  It is said that a leader walks a narrow path.  No one else will pave your way, save for you.  Go ahead, look for it and then take it where you are meant to go.