Seize openness

Posted by random olio

Yesterday morning I had this strong intuition to be open. I went to bed late and set my alarm to wake up early so I could go for a run. When my alarm went off the last thing I wanted to do was to strap on my running shoes. When 6 am rolled around somehow I was awake enough for my brain to start to think about things. When the brain starts going through items of the day it is hard to stop it, and hard to then roll over and go back for a small snooze.

So I got up.

As I slowly dressed for my run, I kept trying to talk myself out of it. “Don’t go. You will be too tired later. You did not get much sleep last night. Stay here, get some work done. Be slow.” The thing is I was mostly dressed and by then when you basically only have to put on your running shoes, why turn back? I went and it felt great. As I was running I had such a strong sense of urgency that I needed to be “open.” While I have hindsight to look back on, there was not some amazing revelation from my day, but there was a freeness I felt. Uninhibited.

I tried some new foods today. I got to know some work colleagues more. I did not go about my normal routine. I was open for what happened, and I seized the opportunities. I still have no idea why I had that strong intuition, but know that it will stay strong with me. I will think about it so that whatever opportunity comes before me today I will look at it differently. It is freeing really. Say yes to life. Be open to the opportunities. Jump on the adventures. In tiny, small, and big ways.

Hopefully you and I can both be more open today, tomorrow, and the day after that.

Your Intuition. Your Inner Voice.

Posted by random olio

I subscribe to Oprah’s emails. Sometimes I like what I read, other times I could care less. One of the quotes I read in a recent Oprah email lead me to make a post-it of the quote and I even wrote the date of when it was included in her email:

August 22, 2012

“Somewhere in there, among the worries, questions, advice and advertising jingles, lives your intuition, your true ‘inner voice.’ You can hear it to the extent that you give it your attention.”

— Martha Beck

I love this. So often we become caught up in life’s responsibilities that we forget to listen. We get so caught up in hearing all the other voices, that we do not listen to the voice we should be attuned to hearing. Our own voice. The better we get at shutting the door to all the crap, the voices that tell us we are not good enough, not strong enough, not smart enough, the better we get at hearing the calm. The confidence that says you are doing a good job. You are enough. You matter. You got to where you are today for a reason. You impressed someone. Maybe that was by your true employable skills, or maybe it was your attitude. Be it confident, or cocky, or energetic, or positive… Someone saw something in you that made them want you to stick around.

Are you listening to your inner voice? Is it telling you that you are in the very right place this moment? Does it tell you that you are happy? That you have all you need right now? Most likely you do have everything you need. Often it seems that in keeping up with the Jones’, we push so hard to be and have something we are not or do not need. We accumulate clutter and crap that only adds to our worries. Do we need it? Were we fine without it?

How much do you give your inner voice attention? How often do you listen to that voice? The one that tells you that you are full, but you still proceed to eat and stuff yourself (because it is so good, right)? Do you often sway to the side of what you want, when that voice inside tells you otherwise?

I am a big proponent of listening to intuition. If I cannot feel clear about an answer, or I do not hear my inner voice speaking to me, then I wait. Yes. I wait. It probably drives my husband bonkers, but it is what I have to do to be me. I have learned that if I wait when I am not clear, something usually happens that makes my decision for me. Sometimes it is more information than I had in the beginning, or other times a situation happens that sheds light (some might call it a sign) on what steps I need to take.

How do you know if you are listening to your inner voice?

A Different Route, or the One you are On?

Posted by random olio

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Hope you had a relaxing, sun-filled weekend. We had some sun and some rain. The rainy day was good as it meant I got caught up on other things.

I was thinking this weekend about how we often do not know what is happening next. We patiently wait for things to shift, to progress and move forward, but it usually never happens on our own timeframe. Maybe it is because the person we are supposed to meet has to be in a specific place in their life, or we cannot move to our next job until the person in that position moves on to their next role. We do not see this until we are able to look back. Hindsight.

Last week I mentioned the book: “Bright Side Up: 100 Ways to Be Happier Right Now” by Amy Spencer in the blog post: Make Room for Change. Amy says:

“When life sends you on a different route, it’s natural to wish things had happened as you planned. But maybe the route you’re on now is even better. Maybe the scenery is prettier on a side road, or you’ll learn things you couldn’t have on the busy highway. Maybe who you’re meeting and what you’re experiencing will ultimately bring you closer to true happiness.” Page 54

Sometimes we do not always know what good can come from following our intuition. Or, we do not completely understand why we have made the decisions we have, but as we move forward we see more clearly that it was the right decision. Over time, good things show up to us and we see more clearly the intuition we heard was directing us to take the right steps.

Have a good week!

Listening to Self + Words

Posted by random olio

I had a rough weekend, spent mostly in bed or on the couch. Starting to feel a bit better, but still snuggled on the couch. So rather than share a recap of my not so great weekend, and since it is Monday, I thought I would share two Daily Om’s from last week hopefully as inspiration for your week.

As you might be able to tell from past blog posts, I am a strong supporter of women’s issues. I love finding ideas that promote the strength, poise, and talent of women. So when I came across this Daily Om from Monday, March 19, 2012 a smile grew on my face. In the past I have mentioned the Daily Om that I subscribe to daily (Here are two of my past Daily Om posts). Like any newsletter, there are days that it resonates with me more than others. This is the part of this Daily Om that I love:

“Even though we might want to think of a strong woman as being defined in this way, what really makes a woman confident is her capacity for listening to her true self and being able to call upon her feminine wisdom to any situation that may arise. A woman does not need to step into an assertive role or act like a man in order to be effective at what she does—she simply needs to get in touch with her insight and sense of compassion to truly demonstrate the depth of her strength.”

This is a great reminder for all women. Rock on feminine wisdom and intuition!

The second Daily Om I wanted to share is from March 22, 2012, called: “The Music of Language.” I love the following idea from this Daily Om:

“When we speak or write, we use the vehicles of words to carry meaning, as well as energy, from ourselves to another person or group of people. We may be speaking to our baby, our boss, or to an audience of 500 people. We may be writing a love letter, a work-related memo, or an entry in our own diary. Whatever the case, each word we speak or write has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves in the same way that a note of music creates waves. And like musical notes, our words live in communities of other words and change in relation to the words that surround them.”

We often forget that our words have energy and lives of their own. Our tone and how we deliver and communicate each word has an impact on those listening to us. Are we creating a story of positive, helpful, and uplifting communication? Or do our words bring others down?

I have a print idea (on my husband’s honey-do list) that I want to put in the entry way of our home: “You are responsible for the energy you bring into this home.”

So this week, women: listen to your true self. Women and all: watch for the energy behind the words you use!

Happy Monday!