Hear Me Universe #82. Celebrates Life

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” --Oprah WinfreyWhen my children were growing up and we’d have family dinner at the end of a school day, I’d ask, “what’s one thing about your day that you loved.” Some days, it took a little while for one of them to respond, yet there was eventually something shared that was to be celebrated.It’s the spirit of celebrating this very life this very day that, in writing this characteristic on my love list, I desired in the partner I was to attract. And, it’s not rose-colored glasses to find something, even just one something, to celebrate absolutely every day we are alive on this planet. In my deepest, darkest days, I still was able to see beauty,  and it was in looking for it that, day by day, I found more & more & more to celebrate.In celebrating, we tap into feeling gratitude, and gratitude is the most powerful emotion to express in our darkness, as it lets in just a little light.Today, search for just a little light, let it glow and maybe expand, and celebrate.

Hear Me Universe #83. Finds Happiness

Finds a way to be happy. There no more powerful, internal work we can do for our own life and for the world. Period.In creating my love list, I didn’t prioritize any of the 100 items; the order of the items flowed from my heart’s desires as I answered the question, “what’s my ideal?”And yet, in the writing I’ve done for 82 days now, taking each item on my love list and expanding from the few words to a more full explanation of each description, I know that this two-word phrase—FINDS HAPPINESS— is all that really matters: confront what’s unhappy in your reality and shift to an existence that feels better.Happiness has been well-researched, written and spoken about by experts all over the world—experts in fields such as neuroscience, psychology, theology, spirituality, business, and self-help. To distill all the research to one element would be absurd, yet I’ll risk it and offer this: the most significant shift you can make right now is to believe that only right now matters.Our power to choose happiness is in the present moment. Our human, creative ability exists is right now. We are not limited by our past and to stay stuck in what has passed leaves this moment diminished in its own potential to create a better feeling.

Hear Me Universe #81. Loves Weekends

When I wrote this item on my list, I desired to attract a partner who saw weekends as summer vacation. Remember, summers off from school as kids? We got up early and played all day, exhausting ourselves in the sunshine. We didn’t have a plan. Our only goal was fun. We were active and creative and filled with the enthusiastic pursuit of happiness.I also love how now, where I am in my life, this desire isn’t reserved for weekends. I see the world differently now, in my post-corporate career—in this life I’ve created that beckons each day to surprise me and fill me with delight.What would it take for you to live each day with unbridled passion for what you do? How would it change the way you feel about your life? How would it impact your own love list?What could you do, today, to step toward feeling like you did as a kid on summer vacation? How could you begin to live fully, with gusto and joy?

Hear Me Universe #80. Follows Through on Plans

Step 1: Making a plan.Step 2: Executing the planLet’s face it, making a plan is the beginning, but without follow through, who cares? Blogger James Clear contrasts the difference in planning and taking action like this: “If I outline 20 ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually write and publish an article, that’s action.”It’s in the action that we can often become riddled with fears and, without pushing forward, adjusting the sails as needed, those fears feel real because there’s no evidence to disprove them as the monsters we’ve made them to be.Calling in a partner who understood the vital activation energy that is unleashed by doing is the energy behind this item on my love list. Something that was important enough to warrant a plan deserves an investment of time and energy.

Hear Me Universe #79. Plans

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” –Alan Lakein
 Plans, as in sets in motion steps to create an outcome.Plans, as in creates his experience.Plans, as in co-creates with me.Now, I fully value spontaneity. And. I fully value our ability to define a desire, see it, construct steps to it, and stay in the game until the result is achieved.In calling in a planner, I wanted a match to the part of my energy that moves fluidly and methodically toward something defined. Not overly rigid, but knowing that with a plan, compensating the unforeseen turns just makes life more fun.A relationship calls forth sharing—sharing ideas, time, energy, resources, skills. Sharing my life with another who creates a plan is an energy I love, as we set all sights toward the horizon and all the possibility it holds.

Hear Me Universe #78. Likes Museums

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” ~ Auguste RodinElegance. Architecture. History. Story. Museums draw me in to experience all of these.I value the collecting of culture that museums construct. No matter the time nor place, count me in for a museum visit. In museums, I’ve transported to Egyptian tombs, Greek temples, Renaissance masterpieces, futuristic cultures, and fell into the Birth of Venus. The lives that I don’t remember living are all there, on display in neatly corded galleries, preserved in timelessness.I wrote this item on my love list to connect with the heart of another with a healthy respect for art, culture, history, because it’s through these glimpses, artifacts, and curated relics that we can better understand the human experience as a way of better knowing who we are.What are the deeper qualities I wanted to attract in this simple item on my list? For sure, a respect for humanity; a belief in dreams; a surrendering of today in exchange for another era. Ah, to be in a great museum, lost in its richness. My list invited my love to, “come with me and see, and in seeing--love, hope, tremble, live.”