Celebration of Self
December 2003



GROWTH: BREAK THROUGH TO YOUR POTENTIAL
Growth
Reaching down to the depths of the soul, growth challenges us to expand. Perhaps it is the leap of faith for a new career opportunity, home, city or relationship. Perhaps it is the closing of one door and the opening of another. Growth stretches us to our limits, at times more than we feel capable. Growth can be exciting, scary, painful, uplifting or sad. It can appear as loss or as a powerful addition to your life.
Spring is a natural time for growth for obvious reasons. There is something to be said for increased light prompting new blossoms and a desire to come forth more fully into one’s life. We, like strong little plants, find our way toward the sun, beginning a new growth cycle that may bring us closer to reaching our fullest, brightest potential.
Resistance
There is a funny thing about growth, especially the “challenging” kind. Resistance tends to want “in” on the action; meaning we create lots of reasons not to do the thing we know we need to do. We have lots of reasons to stay where we are, be it a comfortable routine, not wanting to complicate life, being too busy to make the effort, not wanting to feel the accompanying emotion be it fear, discomfort, sadness or huge happiness for that matter. (Ever actually been afraid of success?)
Listening to Yourself
Likely, we all are facing opportunities to grow in one way or another—professionally, personally, spiritually. Chances are that on occasion you get an “inside tip” from yourself- your gut, your heart. This tip is real. You may choose to ignore it, in which case I promise it will recycle, larger, until you acknowledge it, or it forces change or growth (i.e. you stay in a job you are miserable at and one day you are fired. Oops. Growth finds a way- initially we have choice, if ignored, in comes “force”.)
There is no one who can give you the advice you need like you can. No one knows you better. Learn to listen to you. See what happens when you begin to listen to and follow your inside tips rather than postponing.The Right Way to Grow
Ha! If only. You may feel your path has more twists & turns than you’d choose, and is taking too long to get to where you want to be. This path is thick with lessons. Rather than labeling these lessons as failures, wasted time, mistakes or poor decisions, embrace the lessons. Like in college, you learn the lesson, take the test, complete the class, and move on to the next level until you graduate. Keep learning, keep growing, do the homework, don’t procrastinate. Just like college, you either eventually have to take the test or remain a freshman.
Trust
Ahh, this is a tough one, especially in our culture where we have learned to be suspicious of others, and to independently handle everything ourselves. However, do you think the strong little plant hems and haws, “Should I come up this year? This was a nice, quiet winter, I am comfortable down here. And what if there’s a drought again and I shrivel up? That would be terrible!”
Nature just is. Growth happens. It grows because that is what it is meant to do. It must burst up through the ground, despite great risk.
We too must allow ourselves to burst through barriers and allow ourselves to grow. We must trust the process, knowing that growth is part of breaking through to our potential.
With Enthusiasm
Although we may have learned to look at potential risk and the possible things that “could go wrong”, I encourage you to dream big. Reclaim your thoughts and choose to focus on those which inspire you. Imagine your growth bringing you into new, amazing situations. Picture yourself completing the task with ease and relishing in the long-term benefits of the comparatively short-term challenge. Imagine yourself in the job you love, enjoying the comforts of a new home, or feeling peace within a fabulous relationship. Not to say it will all be smooth sailing, but the more positive your frame of mind, the less fear, and the more likely a positive outcome.
Allow yourself to dwell in possibilities with enthusiasm.
Trust that with growth, the best is yet to come.Access Your Power Within‘---rockin’ and rollin’
A quick celebration at the great response for the current AYPW Foundation class that began last night. It is a wonderful group of vivacious women ready to create even more powerful lives. There will be another Foundation class beginning in June, so contact me if you are interested in more info!
Thanks for growing Dynamic Living!
Many thanks to all you new subscribers as well as those of you who have shared Dynamic Living with friends or family. It is with great pleasure that I see the recipients list growing. It is my hope that you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing! Please keep sharing!

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Holidays provide a natural time and opportunity to celebrate one another and life, to give thanks for what we have and maybe even experience some bonus joy!

This we know.

What about all the other days? In what way could you bring a little holiday to your daily life? When was the last time you celebrated yourself for completing a project, or for taking initiative to solve a problem, or for packing your lunch, cooking a meal, opening a door for someone? I am not saying to walk around gloating about what a saint you are, over-pumping your ego. I am saying, notice what you are already doing well, and acknowledge yourself for it.

My point is, why wait? Why not celebrate life, others and especially yourself everyday?

Unplugging the Habit
Many of us have this peculiar little habit of noticing our faults and failures more than our wins and accomplishments. We notice the “dumb mistake” that we made or the silly comment that we said out loud or beat ourselves up for being or doing things wrong. Why exactly that is I don’t know. America, Land of Opportunity and Perfection? Perhaps.
Lighten up folks, life was not meant to be about judging ourselves and others. It is meant to see how well you survive, how brightly you can shine your light to illuminate your life and that of others. Choose celebration.

I Challenge You
What would happen if you spent the day going over-the-top with celebration? What would it be like to notice all the little things you are doing well — the perfect cup of tea, doing the dishes in an efficient way, your excellent parking job, the smile that you passed on in the hall, the apple that you ate instead of the fruit cake and Lamar’s donuts on the conference room table, the work you did complete on time, your well selected outfit that makes you feel confident?

Might your head explode from all the self-recognition? Would you die of positive self-esteem — putting you into such a high that you could no longer function in the real world? Unlikely.

You might just have an incredible day though-which could turn into an incredible week, month, year, LIFE!

In the end, it truly is a choice where to focus your attention. If you want to really compare the effects, also try an “I Suck Day” and see how long it takes to feel absolutely miserable about yourself as you degrade your efforts in an anti-celebration all day. Maybe for the first 10 minutes it could be funny and perhaps even feel oddly comfortable, being easier than celebrating for those of us with self-image challenges. Perhaps after about an hour you start to feel numb or immobile, and eventually you may have pain in your body as well as a heaviness that might even make you weigh more (really!).

I don’t actually recommend an “I Suck Day” but you could try it for an hour then move to a “Celebrate Self Day” and feel the difference. Worlds apart. And the byproduct of a Celebrate Self Day is that you might be optimistically contagious to others — the best kind of virus this time of year is a Celebration mindset.

In Simple Terms
As always I say, start small. It may feel silly but who cares — most of this is internal dialogue- no one has to know you are saying “Yay me! Great job for being so decisive and doing what is best for me!” Find whatever you can to celebrate during the day. Then if you want to, celebrate others — acknowledge their efforts, tell them what is great about them (this is similar to gratitude but a bigger voltage-more energy behind it — it’s a party vs. a prayer mode).

So get out there and try it on. Who knows it might even make you laugh, and as far as I know, no one has come to harm by being too happy or having too much positive self-esteem.

Why wait for the holidays. Let everyday be a holiday.

This one life I’ve been given is a precious gift. A gift truly meant for me to use as I choose. “So what do I wish to do with it?” I ask myself one day. “I wish to use it like a favorite toy, playing with it daily and never putting it upon the shelf to forget about. Then when it wears out, I know I could not have loved it more.

Celebrate.

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