Well I had one of those days today! I don’t know what it was meant to teach me, I don’t know, yet, what I’m meant to do with the lesson, but I know in the days to come the Universe will very faithfully let me know what today was all about and how it is I am to move forward with this new knowledge and these new emotions. Life I have learned over the last few years, very clearly, is a journey, not a precise destination…oh and I am thoroughly enjoying the drive, the ride, the flight…headwinds and tailwinds, the smooth parts of the road and the bumps, the curved tracks and the straight ones. Every day I am learning something new about myself or the people around me, but I now put that lesson into practice. It is no more passive learning, it is practical.

Once I learned about grace, I also learned to carry it in my heart at all times. Once I learned about trust, I learned to share it wisely and not loosely give it away. Once I learned about unconditional love I learned that you must always extend love to that person for it is not conditioned upon anything, not even upon the fact that they must love you back. Once I learned about inspiration, I knew life would just never be the same.

The lessons of grace allow me to extend compassion to the girl who once attempted to malign my character. The lessons of love allow me to inspire a man who once had broken me at my core. Along the same lines, the lessons of grace allow me to love so many more people in such a more complete manner than I had ever imagined possible and the lessons of inspiration only continue to bring into my life one amazing soul after another.

Every day, regardless of what happens, I know is a fantastic one. Every day, I am joyful for I know that in each moment that I act from the clearest space within me, that I am on the road that I have been asked to travel and there is no greater joy than waking up to see in which direction the road will turn today!

It is my sincerest hope that you are moving along your destined road, and just in case you’re not and you are hoping to find your way there then I say start by listening to that little voice within you, and follow it blindly…don’t think through it flow with it. Mend what’s broken, heal what’s hurt, and if ever you’re not sure which way to turn…close your eyes, fold your hands and just ask!

Until next time, I wish you travels filled with joy in abundance!

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When I say rural United States, rural South Dakota, for those of you from here, what comes to your mind? Rolling hills, windy plains, and frozen fields? Gravel roads and wild horses? But that’s not my life. I live in Spearfish, the second largest city on our side of the state. With that in mind, we like to think that we’re an urban community. My class—the biggest in a while—has one hundred and seventy eight students. We have four coffee shops, including Starbucks, three grocery stores, including a Super Wal-Mart, restaurants with prices ranging from five dollars per person to forty per person, and too many fast food joints to count on two hands. Because of this, we admit to having a little bit of an attitude. We are called the Queen City, after all.

Despite our high self-esteem, we are an island of culture in a sea of wheat and cattle. A large number of the students in our district, about six hundred and fifty out of almost two thousand, ride the bus to school. Some ride for over an hour before arriving, and our nine busses travel over seven hundred miles total daily.

So, what’s the solution? Giving fourteen-year-olds control of giant metal speed demons, of course. Picture an eighth grader, with their “advanced” maturity levels, “calculating” the safety of traveling sixty miles an hour down an icy gravel road, elementary siblings in the backseat making noise and causing distractions… Our high school parking lot is a scary place.

Added to this is the fact that not all of our streets have sidewalks. So when kids that don’t drive, or maybe try to cure their boredom through outdoor activity, walk in the roads filled with inexperienced drivers, accidents happen. For instance, my brother was out for a walk and was hit by a car. He was thrown a hundred feet in the air and survived because—thank goodness—our town does have a legitimate hospital with forty beds.

Besides seasonal outdoor activity—and we do have a very long winter—we basically have an overpriced movie theatre to entertain us. So kids make their own fun. Currently, in my grade alone, there are four pregnant girls. South Dakota itself has a higher than average teen pregnancy rate. Also, our YouthWise organizations show that only 20% of our teenagers use illegal drugs or alcohol, but from what I can see that isn’t true. If a single a party gets busted just outside of town with over a hundred of our four hundred Spearfish high schoolers drinking inside, isn’t that over 20%?

In seventh grade, my Girl Scout Troop began volunteering with the Teen Court program. This program gives juvenile offenders the opportunity to be held accountable for their actions, but keep their records clean. While serving as jurors we noticed a trend.

Teens with nothing to do get into trouble. If I could, I’d tell you story upon story about how a group of teens were bored and drove around and ended the night by breaking the law… but it’s against our court oath. So when our council gave my Girl Scout troop the opportunity to do a Challenge and Change Project, we decided to create a safe place for Spearfish teens to gather and have fun. We were able to work with our local community coalition and recreational center to set up Teen Nights.

Every month we hosted an event, such as swim nights, movie nights, dances, and indoor roller-skating—all for free. Although turnout for high school students wasn’t as high as we’d hoped, the middle schoolers were very receptive. We do feel, though, that we brought focus and attention to this issue and changed attitudes. For example, at one of our dances, a high school couple came because they were tired of going to parties. Students from Wyoming came to our events for something to do.

Although we’re no longer in control of the Teen Nights, the Rec Center and Community Coalition have taken over and continue to host events based on our original format. They have also set up a Youth Leadership Board, which we had suggested and a Girl Scout still holds a position in.

Overall, the project was a success. Our local teens still get excited when they hear about events happening in the future, and when I went to the space to see what had become of it there were several groups gathered and doing their own things. Whether “their own things” be homework, board games, or videogames, the best part is knowing that even with rowdy, partying teenagers in a small town, a few girls can still make a big difference.

Hello, I’m Lorisa Schoenbeck. I am a 16 year-old from South Dakota. To put this in perspective take the population of New York City divided by 10 that is the population of our whole state! I live in the northeast corner in Webster, a  town of about 2,000 people. We live about an hour drive from a major store. Our town has one grocery store, a few restaurants, banks and a gas station. My whole life I’ve lived in a rural community. Throughout Elementary School, there were only 30-36 kids in my grade. Everyone grew up knowing each other, knowing everyone’s families, and where they lived. I believe the best thing about growing up in a rural community is everyone looks out for each other. It’s like our community is all one big family. Rural girls are expected to pitch in and help the family work together as one. People in rural areas are very independent and self sufficient. Alomost everyone has a garden and grows some of their own food. Growing up in a rural community has also taught me not to rely on anybody else and take the initiative upon myself. Many girls are assigned chores, expected to take care of siblings, or do farm work.

In 2010, our community was selected to receive a Challenge and Change Grant through the Department of Agriculture. The grant is designed to improve communities while encouraging the Girl Scout leadership skills. The Webster Girl Scouts met and completed the training that goes along with the grant. Our group decided to spice up and improve a local park. The twenty-five local girls and I worked with adults and our city council and renamed the park to “Webster Girl Scout Park”. Many troops since have added to the park. The first troop worked to put together a sign with the name of the park on it. Another group just recently added a picnic shelter along with picnic tables. The kindergarten and first grade girls are working on adding a Daisy garden. I earned my Girl Scout Gold award by improving the park through the Challenge and Change Grant. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest award a girl scout can earn. The project takes much dedication and is suggested to take 80 hours total.  My project focused on making the park more user friendly. I added many trees, bushes and two benches to the park. I worked along with the local Conservation District to select and order the proper trees and bushes. Members of the community and business donated a total of $2,000 to my project. One local man gave money in honor of his premature grandchildren and there is a memorial sign in the park in honor of them. My aunts and uncles also donated a bench in honor of my grandparents. This project became even more dear to my heart when my grandmother passed away the week before the dedication of the park. She would have loved to been at the dedication.

My project addressed the need for shade in the park, and provided a safety barrier to the railroad tracks. This project helped me develop better leadership skills, and a greater relationship with the leaders in my community. It has made people recognize me as a person of change. My project has made me develop better knowledge of plants, trees and gained me better business skills. I learned that with drive and desire I can do anything I set my mind too. By improving the park I hope the members of my community will use the park more, making them more physically active.

The outcome of completing my project has inspired me to be more active in my community and do more projects like my gold.

What if we were, for a few seconds now, able to imagine our hearts as without shape, without form or without size?  Each person, each circumstance and each experience finding its own special place within our heartspace for eternity.  What if we thought of our hearts more like a painting in progress as opposed to a puzzle.  The puzzle has a predefined picture, or outcome, the painting is only an idea of the outcome and can be adapted, added to, and developed into the image that reflects our lives.  This would then mean that once someone is painted onto our canvas, they stay there for eternity and as they or experiences related to them enter and exit our lives we develop that end of the painting adding more color, more detail and in essence giving our “picture” more character.  This then allows innumerable number of people to enter our spaces of reference and an equal number of experiences to influence us.  For those of you wondering how you cut someone out of your painting, put that big black X over them? My answer is you don’t…you can’t paint over anything or anyone.  Let’s face it if an experience has hurt you that badly you’re never going to forget it, that hurt will stay within you until you are ready to let it go with grace, and when you do let it go with grace, it becomes nothing more than an element that adds depth to your painting.

I walked around for so many years using my heart as a jigsaw puzzle, until I realized how many more people I could love, how many more experiences good and hurtful I could welcome, and how much deeper my emotion could be if I sat patiently and painted on my canvas as opposed to constantly trying to strategize how to make my puzzle fit together.  There is no more pressure to find that specific someone, there is no more fear that an adequate replacement will not be found, there is no urgency for filling a void, for there are no voids any more.  Just an open canvas, lots of colors, and an imagination ready to give, receive and create.

Love, I know, is not limiting.  It doesn’t fill up pockets or spaces in your heart so that when someone or something leaves or doesn’t work out as we envisioned it leaves a hole, which requires to be filled, it is instead infused with the essence or the spirit of the being so that even when someone leaves there is no void, instead the essence of the spirit still resides and there is abundant room for more.

Wishing you love in absolute and plentiful abundance!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Intention is Key: Whether it is as simple as a facebook post or as large as the terms of a multi-million dollar contract you are negotiating, the intention with which you take an action will determine not only the base of your character, but also the successful outcome of your action.

Say Thank You: Saying “thank you” is just good manners, but when we start to see that every success, be it a promotion or the birth of a child, and every challenge, be it a non-passing grade or a failed relationship, brings with it an opportunity to be thankful then all of a sudden we start seeing more of the things that are good instead of bad, so when gratitude lives at your core, life just becomes easier to embrace.

Embrace the new: We are designed for routine and take comfort in following patterns that are familiar to us, and although the change that has happened may not always be what you planned, if you welcome it with open arms, you will be pleasantly surprised to see it lead you forward in some of the most unexpected ways.

No matter how deep the hurt, it will heal: Find friends who will remind you to be grateful for the pain and all it is teaching you, find friends who will let you cry anywhere, anytime, find friends who know that a chocolate overload brownie from Theobroma can work wonders for the soul. No matter how bad you think it is today, I promise you it will be better tomorrow!

Support another’s dreams: Invest your faith and time in someone else’s success, personal or professional. Help that person get a job contract they want, step in and heal a broken friendship, put your hand on his shoulder just because that’s what he needs. Let them know you believe in the best that resides within them. Magic will begin to happen in their lives and in yours.

The only person you can change is yourself: You can guide a person to the path of success, but whether or not they choose to walk on that path is a personal choice they have to make. Instead of forcing another onto a path you want them to walk, focus on your own. Change your beliefs; change your reaction to the person or situation. Leave them to their journey, you focus on yours!

When someone shows you who they are believe them: This was a lesson I learned as I heard Oprah talk about what Maya Angelou had taught her. If someone tells you they are selfish, or arrogant or rude believe them they know themselves better than you do. If they behaved badly with someone else, know this, they will do the same with you. Choose wisely whose company you keep.

The company you keep will determine the future you have: Surround yourself with thieves and you will become a thief, at the least you will be perceived as one. The company you keep will demand a certain work ethic, a particular value system and a distinct level of success. Do the people in your inner circle reflect the person you want to be?

As the year draws to a close, do take a minute to look back at all you have been asked to learn. Do share, with me, some of your year’s greatest milestones. I would love to read them.

Until we meet next, I wish for you lessons taught with kindness, received with grace, and practiced with gratitude!

Happiest New Year!

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!

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!

Let me see if I can explain.  Here’s an example, if losing weight is truly a priority then the person will make an effort to eat better and exercise regularly; thereby, having their actions express their priority to get healthier.  However, if it is not a priority they will just continue to talk about why it should be a priority or they will think of all the reasons losing weight cannot be a priority right now.  When either of the latter two is chosen, there is clearly no change in the person’s weight.  Do what you always did and you will get what you always got!

Every day, it seems, people are making choices which show us their priorities.  It seems to have become very easy these days for folks to say, “Yes of course I’ll take care of that,” “I’m sorry,” “See you soon,” or even “I love you.”  I wonder though how much of it some of them, truly mean, because it seems the next day they are apologizing for the same thing they did the day before.  Someone saying I love you, but then not being present when you need them the most.  I will suggest to you today, take a close look at the people in your life.  Let their actions show you what they believe and where you fall on their priority list.  Then with an abundance of grace make your choices about how you will invest in the ones who show you that you matter to them.

Every day we too are making choices which show the people around us how much or how little we value them.  Are you a person who has become used to talking the talk or do you truly walk your talk?  Are you the person who has become a pro at apologizing, a whiz at talking your way into and out of situations or are you a person of character who steps up to mean your apology, own your affection and meet your verbal obligations? What are your actions saying about you?

None of us are perfect and we each fall short on many occasions.  I know I do, but I do feel it prudent to ask ourselves, if our actions were to tell the world who we really are, what would they say?

As I journey to the center of myself, I am learning much.  From my lessons I share with you…Be honest with yourself.  Be so at peace with the belief that you deserve all that is good and loving and blessed in this life. Find the courage to release with kindness those things and people in your life which sap your energy or make you feel like less than who you are divinely meant to be. Above all let your actions speak every day of love, compassion, and grace in abundance.

I wish for you, courage in abundance, as you choose each day to let your actions speak of love, both for yourself & others!

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!

So last Tuesday as we wrapped up a meeting I had at home, and one of the young girls mentioned that on Christmas day she was planning on distributing small bags of food to the poor in her area and was talking to me about the best possible way to go about the distribution, I was elated. This is when; another lady there chimed in and asked how she could get involved. Before we knew it, we had formed this tee-tiny group of us who wanted to make this a joint project. I loved the thought. I loved that I had this amazing group of people in my life who shared a common base of values. I loved that I would get to end the year doing something that mattered. I loved that although I would be spending Christmas away from my family this year, I had another family, of sorts, to share it with.

Christmas and the Christmas Spirit is not about one day, it is called the Holiday Season, which doesn’t end until well after New Year begins. So if you missed capturing the spirit on the 25th of December itself, no worries, see what you can do to imbibe it within you before ringing in the New Year.

Ways to Capture & Share the Christmas Spirit!
1. Spend time with your loved ones
2. Go to your place of worship to say a prayer of thanks for all you have
3. Visit the less fortunate in Nursing homes or orphanages
4. Go to a Christmas concert
5. Learn a new Christmas Carol
6. Sing
7. Reach out to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while
8. Hug…remember to use both your hands
9. Look people in the eye and give them a warm smile
10. Feed the poor
11. Wear red and green
12. Buy a Santa hat, (preferably from the kids at the traffic signal, if in India)
13. Wear that Santa hat, at least once…remember to take a picture
14. Be someone’s secret Santa…drop off something meaningful at their doorstep, no need to sign your name
15. Share your love, your gratitude, your smile with all whom you meet

Merry Christmas Everyone!
I wish you plenty of time with family & friends, joy, laughter & eggnog!