Live…Learn…Lead

I am normally not a fan of the cold at all, but come November, I love the cool nip in the air back home, in America.  School begins to wrap up for the holiday, the smell of warm apple cider or fresh pumpkin pie seems to greet you as soon as you walk into the mall, the music on the radio reflects the beginnings of the “festive” season and there are always an abundance of smiles to go around.  The fourth Thursday in November brings with it Thanksgiving Day, my most favorite holiday in the world.

The history of this holiday goes something like this, the pilgrims escaping religious persecution from countries in Europe landed at Plymouth Rock (Massachusetts) in 1620.  The first winter there was devastating.  However, in 1621 the farmers reaped a great harvest, due in large portion to the help they had received from the Native Americans, who gave the pilgrims seeds and taught them how to fish.  The Pilgrims and the Native Americans celebrated this abundant harvest with a great feast of thanksgiving.  This feast of thanksgiving was not repeated again until 1676.  By 1777 all 13 U.S. colonies began participating in some sort of thanksgiving feast to celebrate the harvest and in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln officially commemorated this gesture of togetherness and gratitude by officially declaring it the thanksgiving holiday.

Today, centuries later, the holiday is celebrated in many countries, across the world.  It has become a day where families come together and those without families are welcomed graciously into homes as though they really are family.  The spirit of generosity lives large as soup kitchens and homeless shelters are flooded with volunteers, food, warm clothing and blankets.  It is a time where children spend time with the elders in their family, cooking meals from scratch in the kitchen and hear stories of what life was like for the generations before them.  Most importantly family and friends sit around the table for a meal together.  As tradition has it, in many homes, including mine, we go around the table and say what we are most thankful for during the past year.

The attitude of gratitude was inculcated in my sister and me from a very early age, but I suppose as children it was hard to understand the magnitude and the power of gratitude.  Today I understand that living in a space of constant thankfulness only brings my way more things to be thankful about.  Living in a space of thankfulness creates a momentum of energy that brings forth joy, patience, and kindness unlike most anything else.  After all, appreciation, gratitude and love are the three highest forms of vibration we can offer the universe.

Thanksgiving, to me, signifies so much of what is good, pure, kind and loving in this world.  I will miss my family on November 24^th, but I will be so very thankful for all my sweet friends who will help me pull my own version of Thanksgiving together, in what has now become my home away from home.

I encourage you to bring your friends and family together for a meal on Thursday and as “uncomfortable” as it may seem initially, trying sharing with one other the things you are most thankful for in this world.  Send me your thanksgiving stories or how you have started to add the attitude of gratitude into your life, I would love to read them.

Wishing for you a long list of things to be thankful for today, tomorrow and always!

I am a huge believer in the universe and listening to what it is asking us to do and how it is asking us to move forward on our most divine journeys. However a particular conversation a few weeks ago, with someone I care for very dearly, got me questioning so much of what I have believed for so long. He made a choice, which I could clearly see as destructive not only for himself, but also for all those who would be affected by this one choice, of his. He very seriously, looked straight at me and said, “Freyaz, if it wasn’t meant for me, the universe would not have led me to it.” Somewhere I knew he was saying what I believed, but I wasn’t able to reconcile his words within my spirit. Needless to say it was not a conversation that left me very easily.

After much reflection, here is what came to me. Before I explain though, I should mention, I am no religious expert and so what I offer here is simply my humble understanding of the universe and how in my very personal opinion, it functions. The way I understand it forces for good and forces for evil function as “equal” forces in this universe, so just as the forces of good create opportunities for us to rise higher and move forward on our divine paths, the forces of evil too create opportunities for us to fall and move further away from our divine destination.

The beauty of it all is that you can’t always tell at first blush whether it is an opportunity brought your way by the forces of good or a pebble put in your path by the forces of evil. It has been my experience that the way to decide which opportunity to accept and which to move away from is by looking within. If it is “right” for you it will be founded in love, in other words the opportunity will build, unite, or strengthen both you and those around you bringing more opportunities of joy and success for all those affected by the situation. If it is “wrong” for you, then this opportunity will be founded in fear, in other words the opportunity will, if not immediately, then in time, destroy, divide, or weaken you and/or those around you leading to lower self-respect, broken relationships and emotions such as hatred, revenge and insurmountable amounts of pain.

Here’s the other thing about a universe of equal forces. One side will bring you to follow your passion and start building a business you have wanted your whole life, at the same time the other side will bring you a job which will offer you more money than you have ever earned before. What a dilemma? Which force brought which opportunity your way? Which do you give up and which do you choose? My answer is look within. Are you choosing the job because of insurmountable financial fear or greed? Or Are you choosing the job because you have responsibilities to family, and to creditors which must be met? Are you choosing the business because now your ego is involved and you can’t let it go? Or Are you choosing it because, in time, it will leave a legacy of financial success for your children?

The universe talks to us every day. It brings our way everything we need to succeed and fail. It brings to us people who will walk with us to our most divinest of destinies and it will bring our way people who will gently hold our hands and lead us as far away as possible from where we are meant to be. It is up to each of us to understand what is being said and then to choose accordingly.

As you journey forward towards your best life I wish you courage to look within yourself, wisdom to make the right choices for yourself and patience, in abundance, as you fall and rise on this journey!

As I understand it, each spirit is blessed with two gifts: the good mind and free will. The very epitome of free will suggests that we each have choice, it is our choices which then determine the quality of our lives and in turn our destinies. As I look around the world today I am amazed at how lightly many of us take these gifts. Choices many of us make seem to be repetitive, almost like an old familiar drive home from the office, where the route is known so well that no matter where our thoughts may be, we make it home anyway. Many of us seem to be moving through life making choices on autopilot. Choosing options that are familiar or make us feel comfortable. For example, an abused woman who chooses to stay with her abuser may be comfortable with her choice, to stay, because she knows how to handle her partner’s moods or how to nurse her wounds back to health. She stays probably because it is more “uncomfortable” figuring out where to live, what to do with the kids or how to survive on her own.

Every day, we choose to stay in jobs that are no longer fulfilling, we choose relationships that no longer require us to live with self-respect, we choose to ignore the voice within us that tells us to tap into the best that resides within us. It seems many of us these days are making the same choices over and over again, then we are wondering why the same circumstances are showing up again and again and then wondering why nothing is changing. The universe if very clear, do the same thing the same way and you will get the same result!

Every day we can choose to live a life that is familiar and comfortable or a life that is bodacious and out of this world magnificent, where our feet are flying just a little bit above ground.

I am learning that magnificent lives come from exploring what is uncomfortable and that discomfort is actually fear. Fear of being left alone or not feeling loved, causes so many to live with relationships which destroy their self-respect. Fear of being frowned upon keeps us from approaching bosses with ideas we know will help make our jobs easier. Fear of rejection keeps us from approaching an investor with a new business idea. Fear does not allow us to lead magnificent lives. Instead choose Faith! Believe you deserve the best partner, believe your idea is exactly what the company needs, believe in the best, the voice within you tells you, about yourself.

Release with grace all the people who don’t see the best in you, with love in your heart part company with people who do not honor your self-respect and patiently release all thoughts that hold the words can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t or any variation of them.

Fall in love with yourself! Believe you deserve the best and then make the choices that support that belief! Trust your inner voice and be at peace with the consequences of your brilliantly, well-thought out choices.

I wish for you big, beautiful, bodacious choices which force you to risk everything you know and feel so that you may live your most magnificent life ever!