The Undiscovered Country - REDUX

Quote:  Never limit yourself because of others' limited imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination. - Mae Jemison 

Waikiki Beach (Hawaii) at sunset

Perspective:  I have a fear of airplane travel.  I do travel.  I’ve been to 16 states in the US (including Hawaii; see pix above), Canada, and the Caribbean.  All via airplane.  My mother is even more fearful of flying than me.  She hasn’t traveled by plane since the 1970s.  When I travel, she prays for me – constantly.  Yes, I’m grateful.  Unfortunately, she panics until I call her when I de-plane. 

My grandmother’s phobia was more acute!!  She was born in the West Indies.  When she was a toddler, she witnessed a volcanic eruption.  Even though the family was able to flee to a nearby island, she never forgot the smell and the horror.  This scarred her.  She often spoke of air travel negatively and rarely traveled. 

When I was a teenager, I didn’t want to be ANYTHING like either one of them. 

My grandmother moved from the West Indies to NYC in the 1910s.  Newly married and pregnant, she was able to run a house, a farm, and few of my grandfather’s businesses.  Over the course of the next 55 years, she was able to raise 7 children and one grandchild in the suburbs of NYC.  No small feat!!!  I can imagine how my mother and her siblings (my aunts and uncles) may have given her challenges.  She was a lovely, quiet, dynamic woman.  She passed away in 1969.

My mother was the first girl in the family to graduate from high school AND attend a higher institution (secretary school).  My mother worked as a secretary in several jobs from the 1950s until she retired in the 1990s.  She raised two crazy children (my brother and I), kept 3 different homes afloat, volunteered in church, and nursed my father until he died in 2005.  My mother is 86 years old. 

I’ve changed my mind; I want to be JUST LIKE THEM!!! 

Call to Action:  You’re standing on a precipice of the Grand Canyon.  Take a deep deep breath.  What is possible now?  

(happy birthday grandma!!)   

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Fly like An Eagle - Let My Spirit Carry Me - REDUX

Quote:  As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down. So it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might. – Marian Anderson

Perspective:  I’ve had a few romantic relationships end bitterly.  It was easy to be acrimonious to ALL men, to blame him, to castigate him.  It was easy to live my life in his hands.  When I do that, I place responsibility AND control for my life with him.  Then (in my mind) he dictates what I eat, what films I watch, what work I do, how I connect with my friends, and how I treat myself!  Now my life was easy, right?  Do I really want that??!?! 

I don’t want anyone to be responsible for me (like a child/parent situation) or be in control of my life.  I want to control my own life.   

I realize control is impossible the moment it’s suggested.  I have power – not control.  I have power over my reactions to situations NOT the situation.  Now I ask myself – what part do I play in this situation?  What was my role in the relationship with him?  What is my role in my relationship with myself?  Now I can turn it over.  Then the solution becomes apparent.

Call to Action:   Write down 136 of your own attributes.  What are the top 10?  What are the last 10? 

Want to have Spirit with a Bite in paperback?  Click here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/crystal-williamson/one-month-of-spirituality-with-a-bite/paperback/product-21488633.html

You Can't Go Wrong! -- REDUX

Quote:   Just don’t give up what you’re trying to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong. – Ella Fitzgerald  

Perspective:  I define a hobby as something I would do for $0.  With that said, I have several hobbies.  I sometimes think, “What would it be like if I got paid to cook or salsa dance or do yoga.”  The truth is I do!!  Not a salary but I get many benefits – both spiritual and physical.  

When I cook, I increase my creativity and resourcefulness.  I look in my pantry and refrigerator and make an amazing dish.  When I salsa dance, it helps me to be interdependent with others.  How can you coach (individuals or groups) and NOT get feedback and grow?  By listening, learning, and interacting.  When I practice yoga, it brings all my other hobbies together!  When I connect with my breath and my Higher Power before (and after) a yoga class, it magnifies and strengthens all areas of my life.  

I can only imagine a day where I dance, practice yoga, AND cook??!!?  Amazing!!!

Giving up and quitting is easy.  Love and inspiration are easy.  I choose the latter pair every time. 

Call to Action:  What would job (skill) would you do for $0?  You’re a famous performer (musician, singer, poet, rapper, spoken word).  Write lyrics to a song about it.

Want to have Spirit with a Bite in paperback?  Click here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/crystal-williamson/one-month-of-spirituality-with-a-bite/paperback/product-21488633.html



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