Hear Me Universe #37. Donates Excess

When too many “nice things” are crowding our energy—when we’ve accumulated stuff that no longer is needed—it’s smart to sort and discard. My writing “donates excess,” acknowledges both abundance and generosity as ways to experience life. In the process of ending my 22-year marriage and dividing up stuff, I arrived at a point of yearning to be past the score card of who-gets-what and, when the feeling of loss turned to the feeling of lightness, I knew I had emerged into a new energetic space and I liked it.

Marie Kondo writes in her bestselling book, “The Magical Art of Tidying Up,” that, “The place we live should be for the person we are becoming now—not for the person we have been in the past.” My desire was to attract a partner who sheds the past easily and joyously, and in doing so, creates space for simplicity and openness and novelty.

Hear Me Universe #36. Likes Nice Things

It’s the appreciation of nice things that is the full intention of #36. Growing up, there were only a few occasions when my family took shelter from threatening weather, which is why the memory is clear. These few times, the severe weather kept us below ground for a few hours, and my parents allowed my brother and me to have a small box of our most precious items with us. We both chose very carefully and my few treasures stayed close tome during the storm. I appreciated the comfort that my small doll and other trinkets offered.

Appreciation is an energy that feels close to the energy of loving. Because I accessed appreciation on those dark & stormy nights, I felt lighter. Even though my circumstances in that moment were unusual and even scary, my lighter emotion of appreciation, then, allow me to actually recall those times we weathered a storm with fondness, now. It’s a happy childhood memory.

Yes, nice things are, well, nice to have, but to me, it’s not about possessions. It’s really just focusing on the good qualities of someone or something.

Hear Me Universe #35. Ambitious

My definition of ambitious = someone who has dreams, crushes them, sets more challenging goals, learns from them, gets up the next day and finds new ways to be fully alive in this world.

Ambitious people know their strengths, call in support, set the long-term vision, establish clear plans, and keep moving forward. I wrote #35 to invite in someone who would live this life with gusto—ever mindful of what’s possible.

Hear Me Universe #34. Successful

When I wrote “successful,” on my love list, my intention was to attract someone who had written a story of accomplishments in life. I was calling in someone who had demonstrated an ability to do important and inherent in that is understanding that life’s path twists and winds and bumps and is sometimes hard.

I’ve come to believe that success is also embracing everything that happens along the way. Yes, success is a personal standard, and we are drawn to reach for the highest that is in us.

I believe we ALL have, within us, the power to create exactly what we want this life to be. All of the desires of our heart are possible—we’d never desire something for ourselves that was impossibly out of reach.

Hear Me Universe #33. Puts Me First

Yeah. First.

Not all the time, but from time to time, I want my needs, wants, and desires to be put first, with a spirit of excitement and kindness.

Claiming this desire can still feel uncomfortable at times for me. This item on my list is similar to #10 (willing to make it all about me), and as I wrote then, I’ve shifted some deep energy that places a priority on sacrifice, so extremely that it becomes martyrdom. Playing the martyr is the fastest path of feeling powerless. And, it's the fastest way to resent the people in your life that you love.

I’ll say it again: “Don't confuse a focus on SELF as being SELFISH and don't fall into the scarcity mindset that says, ‘if I feel awesome, someone else must feel less than awesome.’ That's false and limiting and minimizing.”

Hear Me Universe #32. Is Community-Minded

One fundamental reason that I believe we are all here is to connect with others, to learn, to share, to be helpful to someone along their journey, and #32 speaks to the connectedness that “community” offers. I wrote this love list item to attract a match to my desire to be a part of something greater than myself.

As a participant in community—whether it be local or virtual (I belong to both sorts)—I benefit when I give to others, and I benefit when I receive others’ gifts. And, in our ever-connected world, I feel “community” gets bigger & bigger, making the world smaller & smaller.

How do you connect with “community?” How does “community” nurture you?