credo

credo  /ˈkriːdəʊ; ˈkreɪ-/
noun (pl) -dos
1.  any formal or authorized statement of beliefs, principles, or opinions

I have been slightly obsessed with Danielle Laporte since I stumbled upon her flipping through Instagram.  I immediately bought her book and read it, thinking I hadn't read anything like that in a long time.  Its just different and makes so much sense.

I follow her Facebook, IG, and Twitter.  And by follow, I mean stalk :)

And the reason I do is because of gems like this.  I have watched it easily fifteen times today.  It just speaks to me, and I hope you find something in there too.  Otherwise, I'm just a loon.

Enjoy...

Gracie's Wisdom

How many of you look at this picture and think "Yes!"

You can feel your stomach near you heart, which but the way, is beating madly.  You can feel the wind in your hair and hear the screams of your friends cheering you on.

Can you feel it?

And when you're done, you swim back to shore, probably a little sore in places, but you can't wipe the smile off your face.  You did something crazy and incredible, and now you carry that memory with you for the rest of your life.

How often does this happen in our lives?

Probably once if we're lucky, but more often than not, it's never.

And that's okay, really.  I'm not here to make you feel bad that you don't have million dollar dreams and goals that are unattainable.

But as I was working on my next project, I did realize that the advice one of my characters is giving might be beneficial to you as well.  I know most of us are still just going through the days trying to get to the next one, or the next weekend.  Always something to look forward to, but never focused on the now.  It's time to start living and giving our own lives the attention they've been so patiently waiting for.

Gracie’s Steps to Reinvention

1. Take care of your health.  This is non-negotiable.
2. Find your hobby.  Not a job.  Not a kid.  Something that you can lose yourself in even for a small amount of time each day.
3. Take 24 hours before making any decisions.  Any. Decision. At. All.
4. Journal every day.  Have a place to dump all the thoughts that you can’t say out loud.  It doesn't have to be long or well written.  Just get the thoughts out of your head.
5. Have a connection… a touchstone, a theme song, a prayer that will bring you back to this place of knowing what is most important to you.

No, these are life changing, and they seem so simple, but how many of us are doing these everyday?  I'm here to tell you that numbers 1 and 3 are kicking my ass, while the others are okay for me.  I would love to tell a co-worker that I needed to check with someone before taking their Sunday morning shift.  My initial instinct is always to make someone else feel better, even at my own expense.

Sometimes Usually I regret this quick decision.

Life is a work in progress, a journey, and it's not meant to be mastered by the age of thirty-five.  I actually think that's when it really begins.

So take a moment today and think about what you could (reasonably) change in your life to make it better?  Is there a hobby calling your name... photography, maybe?  Can you fit in a walk, even if it's a short one?  What song would be playing if you were walking down a runway?

Today is about inspiring yourself.  Take the time to do one thing on the list today... two if you're feeling adventurous.  Start somewhere, anywhere, and see what you can do.

Happy Wednesday!!

Winter

I am freezing today.

It could be the fact that I work in an ice rink.

Or the fact that I couldn't warm up since I've been home.

I'm.  Just.  Sick.  Of.  Winter.

But this blog is about inspiration, not hatred, right?

So I'll take the polar plunge into finding good things about Winter, and while I can't guarantee you will all agree with me (except for the whole I hate winter part), you might at least see some good in this dreadful wonderful season.

1. Winter means reading books by the fire.  Writing by the fire.  Eating breakfast by the fire.  You get the picture.  
2. Winter = Award Season.  I'm watching the red carpet for the Oscars as we speak.
3. It's a scientific fact we burn more calories during winter.  Granted it's our bodies desperate way to try and stay warm, but I'm okay with that.
4. Winter is the perfect season for my favorite food group:  Soup.  I love pinning soups... cooking soups.... eating soup.  It's a food group and an activity now.  
5. Scarves.  Not a secret that I have a small, okay big, scarf collection.  I love them, and almost always have them on... even around the house.  
6. Winter leads to Spring.  This one needs no explanation.  “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley

Thats it.  That's all I can drum up for this season that is kicking my butt.  I know you're feeling my pain too, but have no doubt we will be complaining about the heat in no time :)

Until then, stay warm... 

Happy Sunday!

Throwback Thursday

I remember when the words snow day would cause me to panic a bit.  The thought of not sending them to school and to find things for them to do all day would have me mentally exhausted by 9 am.

Now, I'm the one praying for one just to keep them around the house a bit more.  It's crazy what ten years will do to your outlook.

I love a lazy day when there are no scheduled plans.  It's that rare day when only Mother Nature can predict what you'll be doing, or not in this case.  I have learned to find that magic when nothing goes according to plan, but it's still okay.  Even better, really.

When the kids get older, it's a gift to have them around the house even for a little bit.  Between school, practices, social events, school events, and work life isn't the same as when we would wish them to school even on the gift of a snow day.

So, as this wicked winter continues to kick our butts, I hope you have a warm place to be today.  Find a snowy throwback Thursday picture of your own and post it somewhere.

Make hot chocolate.
Pancakes for breakfast!
Read by a fire.
Curl up and watch a movie.

In my case, I'll have two space heaters going in my office :) But that's okay... I had the time this morning to at least write about the snow day.

That's something, right?

Happy Thursday!

#DailyInspiration

Yesterday I found all my writings from Pen on Fire and my original blog.  As I sat there reading through them, over and over again, I realized that I was smiling through most of them.

Are they works of art?  Not really, but they are clearly written with love and honesty, and for the sole purpose to grow as a writer.  I read them and realized that somewhere along the line I stopped trying to improve my writing, and just tried to figure out what you, the reader, would need.

It was so much different when all I had was 15 Minutes and a topic to write about.  The message was loud and clear to me:  Go back to writing for yourself.  The rest will fall into place.

Write about what is going on... or not.

Write about the crazy transition many of us seem to be going through.

Write about anything and everything that inspires me.

So I am going back to the beginning of why I started this in the first place.  I just felt like I had something to say, and hoped you would come back every day to read this.

I'm calling it Daily Inspiration because that's what I hope it brings all of us.

Have a happy Wednesday :)

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from anywhere at any time.  You just have to be open to it, and expect that it will find you.  When we are at our lowest and most overwhelmed state, rarely are we seeking to be inspired... It's more like seeking another glass of wine... seeking an early bedtime.... seeking a Housewives of Beverly Hills marathon.  

No inspiration found there, that's for sure.  

Usually it's a simple text or email that reminds you that life is a journey...a marathon.  The low times are just a bad patch of highway, and if you keep driving or running (or writing!), you will get through it.  And yes, it's always worth it.

So thank you for the inspiration today.  I hope I was able to give it back to you as well :)

Happy Tuesday!

What I know for sure...

I was given this book at Christmas... Oprah's "What I Know For Sure" and loved every word of it.  That was my favorite part of her magazine, her wisdom at the end, and I would always feel like I had learned something from reading them.  Many times it felt like she was reading my mind.

And today I got the nudge to write again, and while it's been a lot of time away, I feel like it was a necessary break.  Sometimes we have to find new things to talk about or we run the risk of falling into the endless black hole of redundancy.

I know I'm getting older, but repeating myself isn't a road I want to go down anytime soon.

So I thought I'd start off this year with my own list of things I know for sure.  It's a work in progress, and I know it might be different next year, but that is how life works... which leads me to my first thing.

1.  The only thing we can count on is nothing stays the same.  Nothing.  If there is anything I've learned lately is that what we have right here - right now, could all be changed tomorrow.  Sometimes they're good changes, and sometimes they're bad.  Rarely is it in our control.  Best to learn to go with the flow.

2.  Friends make the world go 'round.  I think my friends are the reason I can stay sane in a crazy world.  We joke.  We cry.  We bitch.  We protect.  We love.  We listen.  We advise.  It doesn't matter what it is, my friends are there for me.  I am beyond blessed to have the best of them too.  Friends that would bail me out of jail.  Friends that understand I'm not perfect.  Friends that laugh at with me.  Friends that read my blog :) and ask for more.

3.  Creativity > Laziness.  Even the greatest day-long-Scandal-binge-watching-marathon isn't as good as writing one really good paragraph/scene/chapter.  It just doesn't.  Doing something productive always wins.  But if you can learn to be productive/creative while watching Scandal...  Well shut the front door.  You got yourself perfection.

4. You will never be prepared for bad news.   How could you?  We can't be those kinds of people who walk around expecting the worst all the time.  We believe, we hope, we dream.  So when the bad news comes, it usually sneaks up on you flips your world upside down.  It changes us and our reality, giving us a different perspective than we had before.  We will learn to believe, hope, and dream again, but it will always be different than before.  It just takes time.

5.  Resentment will eat you alive.  Raise your hand if you cling to resentment like a fuzzy warm blanket.  Yeah, me too.  I'm learning though, that life is too short, and eventually all that resentment is just hurting yourself.  Like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick.  Let it go....

6.  What someone thinks of you is only their business.  This one is a work in progress for me, for sure.  I am the ultimate people pleaser.  If it were and Olympic sport, I'd be a multiple gold medalist.  Constant worrying about what others think is the quickest way to resentment.  See what I just did there?  It boggles the mind!  Anyways, start listening to your self about what you want... or who to be with... or what to write about.  At the end of the day, you are the only one you have to please.  People will naturally come and go in your life... Pretending to be something or someone else is just making you miserable.  Miserable = resentment.

7.  Giving is better than receiving.  Once a month I pay for the person behind me at Starbucks.  It's never a big amount, but the joy I get from doing that one thing lasts me the whole day.  I have never regretted doing or giving something to someone, and I truly believe your heart grows when you do.

8.  There really are some words to live by.  Here are just a few:  Joy.  Calm.  Strength.  Peace.  Courage.  Love.  Laughter.  Gratitude.  Find one word to guide you each day.  It will change the way you think and live.

9.  Being kind is better than being right.  Anyone who's been married longer than a year knows this.  #word

10.  No matter how old you get you will always need your mom.  It's been 11 1/2 years since I've seen my mom.  I know she's there, watching over me, but sometimes that's not good enough.  I need parenting advice in the worst way right now, and relying on myself isn't cutting it.  I know I don't have a choice, and muddling through it is all I've got, but a sign would be really good, Mom.  Just a little sign.

Well that's it.  What I know for sure.  Is it the same as what you know?  Probably not.  But I hope you will take the time to at least think about what your list would be.

That's all I really want... to get you thinking.

I hope you have a great 2015...