Chosing To Live With Purpose & Passion!

For the past 5 days I was blessed to be in the sun & warmth of Scottsdale AZ! It was 5 days of inspiration, growth and the building of friendships both old & new! As I have talked about in my previous blogs ... I have been on a wellness journey over the past several years & it was my privilege to be able to be in a room with 500 people, of all walks of life, who are on this same journey. The stories were amazing & inspirational.

Years ago I heard someone say that it is in our moments of weakness that we connect with others. There is something powerful to know that others understand what it feels like to be sick & not have their health ... then to find wellness again is AMAZING! Every time I hear another story I am moved to tears, because I know what they are experiencing. I think it is only something that you can really understand if you have been through it. To hear stories of children giving thanks because they have been given back their father, or mothers who no longer have to be bed ridden living life from the couch ... they are walking, talking, breathing miracles. Women who have been hiding for years because of skin diseases that cover their face and no longer have a scar! ... These stories lift me up & make me realize I have no excuse not to live MY BEST life! After all I am living ... so why not live? ...

There is no excuse to not live with purpose, passion & movement forward in life. We are our own worst enemy ... we limit ourselves by our own insecurities & fears! Why not step out of the box & see what life has to offer, who we can help? Why focus on all the things in life that aren't working or going right for us? ...That is an all about me mentality! Why not look at the positives & live in that place ... it's a happier place to be, a better use of our energies! There is always going to be things that aren't good or right in our world ... so do we live with that as our focus? What a sad world it would be if everyone chose to stay in that place ... we wouldn't have stories that movies are made of ... of champions & winners stepping out & making different choices, not accepting their circumstances but, pushing on forward toward the goal that they have for themselves. It is those stories that inspire us ... yet so often we chose to sit & do nothing!

I hope you embrace the life you are living with the stories & experiences that are what make you who you are & CHOOSE to live your best life possible with purpose & passion!

Because one person chose to live his best life possible with passion & purpose ... my life has forever been changed ... & so have many others! ... I can't imagine what my life would be like today had he not made that choice!

I was inspired as I watched this video ... I hope you are too!

What Is Wellness???

I recently read that wellness is a process of ongoing growth & development ... that begins in the mind. The statement really got me thinking and asking myself a lot of questions! Since I was diagnoised with MS I guess you could say that I have been on a health journey ... a journey to find wellness. In many ways I feel as though I have found this wellness that I have been seeking, after all I physically feel better then I have in years! Do I have a disease? Yes ... most days however, my reality is that I FEEL pretty good, in fact many days I FEEL pretty great physically! ...

Is wellness more then just physical health? What do I REALLY think about wellness??? Do my actions allign with my thoughts/beliefs? Does what I "think" or "know" to be true agree with how I live? How I go thru my day ... Does it agree with what I make a prioity in my life? Do I band aid my wellness just enough so that I don't have to make the tough choices or, God for bid, CHANGE? Do I make myself just comfortable enough so that I can "lie" to myself & make myself belive that I have done enough or that there is nothing more that I can do?

To me WELLNESS is more then just physical health ... it is health in ALL areas of life ... physical, emotional, financial & spiritual. So, how do I measure up? What are my real answers to those questions? ... I realize it's not about perfection ... after all the statements says that is a process of ongoing growth.

The thing I am learning about myself is that ... I often expect perfection of myself & if I know I am not going to be perfect ... I often don't start or try! It is an area I have grown in, but have I grown just enough to "band aid" it in my mind? As I have gone through these questions I realize that it is how I do things ... I do just enough to make myself FEEL good so that I do not have to make the tough changes!

When it comes to my physical health ... I take my supplements, after all they make me FEEL good! The reality of my disease is that I need to be physically active, I should be exercising ... but I don't! I don't make it a priority ... the sad part is that I have friends who have this same terrible disease who are loosing their abilities to walk, loosing their physical coordination or they just plain don't have the energy to get up & be active ... this could be me! Tomorrow I could wake up & not be able to get out of bed ... this is my reality! Yet day after day I make excuses as to why exercise doesn't fit into my life or my day! ... I justify it with all kinds of excuses!

It's interesting to look at all of these areas of my life & maybe for the first time admit to myself that this is a pattern of behavior ... I am not writing this to beat myself up ... but rather it is more of a moment, where for the first time, I see the pattern of how I am. Like something else I read again today ... "You have got to be where you are to get to where you are going. If you resist or deny where you are & who you are, it is hard to move on to where you want to be."

So for me it's really not about perfection or beating myself up for where I am at. It is about acknowledging where I am & where I want to be & then moving in that direction. It's about the journey ...