Love Inspired, Love Expressed
We’re women bringing our dreams to life and that is epic! Simply being on this path is a gift unto itself but sometimes we can get snagged along the way.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.”
You got this by Binti Malu
We’re women bringing our dreams to life and that is epic! Simply being on this path is a gift unto itself but sometimes we can get snagged along the way. We second-guess or want miraculous signs from the heavens assuring us our ideas will work. We are distracted by thousands of little life things and get disconnected from our vision. We “don’t have time” though we still manage to binge watch an entire season of [insert delightful Netflix series here]. We don't want to fail but more than that, we don't want people to know we failed. We don’t want to endure the side-eyes, the judgment, the criticism, the condescending advice, the gossip…the rejection. So while our blogs, social media pages, or networking endeavors go neglected, we perpetually map out 3 year plans, endlessly update websites, and question whether ‘vision’ or ‘goals’ is a more compelling word for that last line of copy. In short, we pretty much ensure the results we’re trying to avoid.
This is actually normal. I really wish someone had told me that as it might have helped me live with a bit less shame and a bit more grace. As children, rejection could have earned us, at the very least, a frown from the person feeding us and, once upon a time in our biological history, it could have gotten us killed. We can be afraid and move forward anyway. Certainly, we can and should do the internal work to help us move through our fears sustainably; AND we can temper our fear with Love all along the way. It is that focus on Love that will take us on a path of confronting and moving through fears anyway.
This is a path of devotion and commitment. Commitment…eeek! I get it. Before you run, let me just share a few thoughts. First, I have learned commitment in service to Love - to desire, to joy, to something worthwhile and meaningful to us - is legit. It’s not as heavy in that light and shifts the way we feel about it. Second, I prefer to think of commitment not just as an isolated choice, but as a state of being. We become committed as we choose to act in little ways again and again. So don’t worry about making a grandiose declaration that seals your fate forever more. Just deepen in the doing. Finally, commitment is a serious antidote to that fear of rejection thing. Ever notice when you're committed to something, you make mistakes with it ALL THE TIME? You had a kid and while you've become fairly adept at keeping said kid alive, everything short of that is chaos. You bought a house and fight squirrels every year as they dig holes in your yard looking for nut stashes. You told your partner, in a moment of misdirected honesty, you didn't like a particular gift and we all know how that turned out. You're rejected, look like an idiot, and face failure daily…and you're right back at it tomorrow.
While I don’t want any of us to look like idiots as we bring our creations into the world (lol), Love-led commitment is magic and I so want magic for us. I want us to be energized by desire and joy to choose worthy goals and to produce impeccable work and all the good that can come from the full expression of our talents, abilities, gifts, and interests. I want us to be inspired and to learn in community. I want us to show up as creators in Love, as much for the mundane tasks as for the big wins because it matters. It matters. You matter.
Love in all things,
April Eileen
Quotes from the Classics: December
Happy Holidays to you and welcome, Winter! ‘Tis the season of cozy so raise a cup of hot cocoa to sweaters, crackling fires, warm blankets, and snuggles with the ones you Love most. Whatever your traditions and celebrations, I hope your season is full of Love and Light and all that is truly important. Check out the quotes below for inspiration as you navigate seasonal endings and the inevitable beginnings they bring.
Happy Holidays to you and welcome, Winter! ‘Tis the season of cozy so raise a cup of hot cocoa to sweaters, crackling fires, warm blankets, and snuggles with the ones you Love most. Whatever your traditions and celebrations, I hope your season is full of Love and Light and all that is truly important. Check out the quotes below for inspiration as you navigate seasonal endings and the inevitable beginnings they bring.
Winter mug, marshmallows, and twinkle lights by Ylanite Koppens
“Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
“The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.”
“I could leave the world with today in my eyes. ”
“Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more.”
“ Kindness is like snow; it beautifies everything it covers.”
“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.”
“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
“Wisdom comes with winters.”
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.”
Love in all things,
April Eileen
Quotes from the Classics: November
November does not readily lend itself to lines of poetry. Gone are the blue skies and brisk mornings of September and October. There is little hope of one of those unseasonably warm days that surprise and delight everyone. It is not quite…not quite the time of twinkling snow or hot chocolate or fires in the fireplace, not quite the season of holiday cheer (after all, by the time families gather around a turkey and Christmas music is played in earnest, November is all but over), and not quite the coming of new year resolutions. It is even too early to wait for it to be beautiful again. The Light has passed, the skies are grey, and we find ourselves in a strange liminal space of the desolate, the dark, the cold drizzles, the dreariness, with which we must sit. And what is there to say about that? It’s ugly, or so it seems, and most of us have just resigned ourselves to simply wishing it were something else.
November does not readily lend itself to lines of poetry. Gone are the blue skies and brisk mornings of September and October. There is little hope of one of those unseasonably warm days that surprise and delight everyone. It is not quite…not quite the time of twinkling snow or hot chocolate or fires in the fireplace, not quite the season of holiday cheer (after all, by the time families gather around a turkey and Christmas music is played in earnest, November is all but over), and not quite the coming of new year resolutions. It is even too early to wait for it to be beautiful again. The Light has passed, the skies are grey, and we find ourselves in a strange liminal space - of the desolate, the dark, the cold drizzles, the dreariness - with which we must sit. And what is there to say about that? It’s ugly, or so it seems, and most of us have just resigned ourselves to simply wishing it were something else.
Bare trees and Light by Johannes Plenio
So what Love is there to be found in November? I wanted to push myself, as I wrote this post, to feel into this time of year and see what it had to teach me. What happens when I accept that which I do not like? Certainly, I could distract myself with preparing for Black Friday sales, but what happens when I surrender? What happens when I give the worries to the wind, and accept the invitation to rest? What happens when I let go of what I can’t control and trust that what I need, what is mine, will come back to me, a truth the naked trees already seem to possess? Am I so graceful as they?
Definitively no, but I am learning. I am learning that when I accept, space is created where there was only resistance. And when there is space, all kinds of magic can happen. I can see with new eyes, find the Light, and be so very grateful for it precisely because it was hard to find. Inspired now, I can be joyful, I can create, I can be the Light. We surrender because we must, because we will lose ourselves if we don’t. We let go and breathe, dream, slow, pray. And then we offer gratitude for the gift of life, knowing we’ve witnessed magic and more, that we are the magicians. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy these quotes that capture the spirit of November.
A brief but important note: For many years, I’ve been conflicted about our American Thanksgiving tradition. I think it is a beautiful time to elevate gratitude and to spend time with my dear family. AND, I’m not oblivious as to its origins. I have faced this conflict with other traditions and my personal approach is to be honest about it, to work to make beauty of it, and to make it meaningful to me, and in that way, to reclaim it. My daughters and I, with humility and great respect, venture to learn about Native American culture, especially during November. This year, I’m sharing passages from Braiding Sweetgrass - not only a Love letter to the Earth but also a gorgeous glimpse into Native American culture, and possibly my favorite book. I do not claim to know all or even some, and I offer this, not to preach, but maybe to help us both remember all we share. Do with it what you will.
“The leaves believe such letting go is love, such love is faith, such faith is grace, such grace is God. I agree with the leaves.”
“A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think I, too, have known autumn too long. ”
“No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!”
“The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine they tell of. The mite which November contributes becomes equal in value to the bounty of July.”
“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods...for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.”
“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.”
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures.”
“In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a house in the morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog.”
“Peering from some high window, at the gold of November sunset and feeling that if day has to become night, this is a beautiful way.”
“Autumn is the season to find contentment at home by paying attention to what we already have.”
“There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.”
Love in all things,
April Eileen