the island is alive with a familiar roar!

What a wonderful sound!!!  Come on down and visit the Harley's Angels' booth and get your 2010 calendar at the Lone Star Rally this weekend.  We're on the corner of 24th and the Strand.  I can't wait to see ya'll here!  :)

how to get what you want

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."

~Margaret Young

YOU must be who *you* really are FIRST. 

I so believe this!  For many years I tried to be what someone else wanted me to be and it just doesn't work ya'll.  Be who *you* are at your core.  Figure out what you believe, why you feel the way you feel, how you really see yourself ~ then live your life in forward motion.

Once you admit in your head who you are and what you will and won't accept in your life, the rest is easy.  Do what you need to do to get where you need to go.  Understand that not everyone will be able to stay in your life once you know where you need to go.  Comprehend that you may have to give up a lot, sometimes everything, to save yourself.  Realize that even though that first step off of the cliff to who you were and who you actually are at your core is a bitch (excuse the expression!  lol) ~

BUT ~~~once you take it, you are going to fly!  w00t!!!  :)

In order to have what you want, you have to be truthful with yourself and with those in your world.  You have to stop living lies and accepting less than what's meant for you.  You have to acknowledge the fact that *you* have allowed others to control who you are, how you act and what you believe about yourself. 

Acceptance.  The keymaster...

The last step to moving into a space and time that feels unreal.  Like the Matrix, you finally *get it*.  You finally know what it was all about...  what you were supposed to learn.  The anguish and pain dissipate and in it's place you find an awesome peace in your soul that is indescribable.  You can't know how it feels until you get there.

Know this if nothing else:

You can have all that you want in life.  The only factors that may change are the where, what, who, when and how.  You have to give up those and your need to control in order to find your heart's desire.  You can do it.  It's simply a matter of letting go...  so very simple...  yet hard to do.

This morning, like every morning it seems lately, I woke up with a song playing in my head and the smile formed first thing.  My heart is filled with joy overflowing.  The sun was shining inside my core.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am living a life of truth finally.  My core holds no lies to who I am or what I need.  The song that plays is home to me... and there is peace.

Let me tell you, it's a wonderful way to live.  
I wish it for all of my friends...  
I wish it for you...  every day.

I love waking up happy ya'll!!!  :)

http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Wake-Up-Happy-Every-Day/147907

promise yourself

Thank you for sharing this creed today on FB, Raul ~
YOU have inspired me... *s*

~Glad I could come off grounds to read it and respond!  LOL!!!  ;)

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The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself ~
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

http://www.optimist.org/

Fearless Living ~ Trust

October's Focus - Trust 

When we trust, the burdens of the past no longer haunt us. We relax into the present moment knowing all is well. We are willing to follow where life leads us knowing we can trust the process of life. When we trust, our higher self is in charge. Our need to control falls away and creativity comes streaming in. Answers that were once blocked are now available to us. Life is good.

~Rhonda Britten

choose life

"I love living life. I am happy. We are put into situations to build our character. Not to destroy us. The challenges in our lives are there to strengthen us."
~Nick Vujicic

I met an amazing man today on a friend's Facebook wall. His name is Nick Vujicic and he teaches every one he meets the meaning of living life to the fullest and how it doesn't matter how many times you fall or try to get up, only that you choose to keep trying to get up until you do. There are no words so I will let his story speak for itself in the videos at his website linked below.

When you are at your lowest, when life has knocked you to the ground so devastatingly hard that you are unable to move, when you can't breathe or think or feel anything but the intense pain inside that is so searing you think you're going to die from it, when you think you want to die to end the pain ~

YOU have TWO choices:

You can lay there and feel sorry for yourself or you can get up.
Laying there doesn't get you anywhere. Self-pity is useless.
Choosing to die is not the answer my friend... you WILL be missed.
Trust me on this.

Choose to get up.
Again and again and again.
Choose to be happy. Just choose happiness.
Every second of every day, when the down comes ~ choose up.

Choose to be thankful for what you do have.
Choose to enjoy what your day does bring.
Choose to accept what and who is in your life.

Forget the rest my friend. Forget it. Forget what. Forget them. Forget all the disappointments that you harbor in your core. They are in the past. They are over and done with and until you can forget, you will never choose what's best for you.

Choose to love yourself because when you TRY getting up over and over again for the 100th time that is what you are doing. Loving yourself. It's only failure when you stop trying. Don't stop trying! Ever. Don't give in. Don't give up. Don't lose yourself to the pain. Don't live your life in vain.

You matter.
You count.
You are valuable.
You are special.
You are unique and wonderful and a beautiful soul.

You are loved.
I love you.

Choose to get up.
Choose to love you.
Choose living.
Choose life.
Choose *you*.

http://lifewithoutlimbs.org/

"Everything nourishes what is strong already." ~Jane Austen

a tap at the door to my heart

The "tap" at my slider was loud enough to make me look up from my morning cup of coffee at the break of dawn. It wasn't a bird, I thought... too small. It wasn't a butterfly... too solid of a hit. I watched as 'whatever it was' flitted away and then glanced back down to the business at hand, not curious to think of the incident any further. An hour or so later a walk through the backyard to put out the garbage for today's pickup brought me face to face with what *it* was... a dragonfly.

There has never been a dragonfly in my backyard. Actually, I don't believe I've ever seen one up close in my whole life. Holding my breath thinking that would stop it from being scared away, my eyes followed it's flight. First rapidly around my small yard it would dart past me over and over again. Then, as I stood as still as one could stand, it stopped racing and hovered within two feet of me. It darted to one side of me, stopped and hovered, and then darted to the other side as if looking me over. What do you want to tell me? I thought. Do you think I really care to hear it? I subconsciously told it.

I stood there wondering why this little one chose my yard to play in this morning and my door to knock on. Out of all the yards in the world, why mine? My arm extended and hand outstretched very slowly, I whispered to it that if it needed to rest, it was welcome to rest with me. Not knowing what to call it, I decided to call it a "he".

He had the brightest blue body I've ever seen in real life on an insect. The same blue from the 8 x 10 photos that Faith captured with her camera for me of the blue butterflies in flight that now sit next to my desk beautifully framed to remind me of happy times when I had Hope in my life. The dragonfly wings were, as best as I could tell, gray in color and he flicked them so rapidly that they were undetectable except for the movement in the air staying his way. He was at least two inches long so the perceivable "POP" of his body hitting my slider time and time again made sense by his size.

After a long while I stopped watching him and went inside to finish more work, not curious to go any further with the encounter. Today was not a day that I wanted to find meaning in anything. No messages were asked for or desired. I didn't want to think, ponder, figure anything out or understand anything. I simply wanted to be... to just breathe. This week I just wanted to breathe.

Funny thing about messages. Even when you don't want to hear them, they are there waiting for you. Even when you want to stop and take nothing more in as you are on overload already, you find that there is more and it comes to you anyway ~ with or without your permission. The simple act of breathing invites them in. Like the song so aptly states, "We are programmed to receive..."

The dragonfly hit my glass slider several more times. What did it want? I began to question it's purpose in my morning. It was a persistent little bug against my stubborn self of ambivalence. Finally, by the third hit well into my day, I caved and went to my computer to look up the symbolism of the flying messenger trying so insistently to get my attention.

I should be shocked by what was discovered, but I am not. Things have always happened in my world that would be considered "strange" for others. Acceptance is key. Messages have always come in many forms and the dragonfly was this morning's messenger.

First, knowing that it's almost one year since Stacy died, it was no surprise to read what Native Americans believe about dragonflies. What you or I do or don't believe doesn't matter to the message. Messages are rarely about our convictions and almost always for our emotional well being and benefit. The perception would be that a message was to be received by me (whether I wanted it or not! lol) and who better to deliver that message than Stacy?

What does a dragonfly symbolize?

Hope
Change
Love

The power of life...

Delivered by a messenger wanting the following message to be heard loud and clear:

Life is short ~ live it to the fullest!

It's not like I haven't heard this before, I preach it to every single person I know every chance I get. But it's the reminder that we all need when life is changing and things are going in a new direction. The message was one of comfort, not education. Affirmation, not declaration. Understanding, not accusation. Acknowledgment... the future is here and we have all the power of life living within our core to embrace it head on to live life to it's fullest!

Whatever your day brings, keep an ear out for your message. Keep an eye out for the messenger. Keep your heart open for the message you are programmed to receive. Sometimes things don't happen in our timing ~ but whatever happens and when it happens ~ it is how it's supposed to be. Don't ever forget that you only have one life. Live it fully every day with no regrets for yesterday and no anxiety for tomorrow. Today is a present... a gift for us to open. What's inside is up to you to find and fill and frame for your memories.

As the dragonfly teaches us, we only have today...
That's all we need to fly free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The meaning of a dragonfly changes with each culture. The main symbolisms of the dragonfly are renewal, positive force and the power of life in general. Dragonflies can also be a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity. Also, as a creature of the wind, the dragonfly frequently represents change. And as a dragonfly lives a short life, it knows it must live its life to the fullest with the short time it has – which is a lesson for all of us.

There are many different representations of the dragonfly; it all comes down to which culture you happen to be in. For instance, if you are in Japan, the dragonfly symbolizes a new light and joy. Some animal symbolism has the dragonfly representing good luck, prosperity, swiftness, purity, harmony and strength. Some Native Americans believe dragonflies are the souls of the dead. There are also many cultures that believe that the meaning of a dragonfly is happiness, courage and subconscious thoughts. It is also believed that if you see two dragonflies paired together that they represent love and maturity.

The dragonfly has been a symbol of happiness, new beginnings and change for many centuries and even though the representation of the dragonfly seems to change throughout the cultures, there are still a few things that are similar; the dragonfly means hope, change and love. Since cultures vary, others may see the dragonfly as a symbol of financial wealth like savings. With the constant changing of the world, it is no wonder that more and more people are adopting the dragonfly as their totem and admiring this beautiful insect."

http://www.dragonfly-site.com/meaning-symbolize.html