Finally Loving Life

Alright beautiful people,

You know that voice, that voice in your head thats like your GPS system. It can guide you through your day, week, month, and year. It is the quiet knowing you feel in your inner being before any other inner dialogue shows up with opinions formed from the outside in through various experiences, good and bad. What you decide to keep and value as true are the voices that show up later, either agreeing with or challenging that initial authentic voice that is true to yourself. It’s the one that tells you to turn right when you usually turn left, and the outside voices challenge it with questions about why you should change or evidence of why you shouldn’t listen to it.

Normally, when your apps get out of whack, you have to “resync” them or update them so they start acting right again. The thing is, when you do this internally, you calibrate to whatever voice you have decided is the most valuable and true. So what is your GPS saying? Does it align with what speaks to you and guide you in a positive manner? Did you resync and now everything that comes up leans toward the negative? Or did you resync everything so that you are guided by your original voice, the one that is in alignment with the greatest part of your being?

We have all been there. We are there. And from time to time, we go there again. It’s so important to watch your inner dialogue and how you speak to yourself, because that is the beginning of the path you will go down. Start sitting back and observing your inner dialogue. Is it always positive, negative, or a mix of both? Discern how you would realistically like it to be. Of course, there must always be grace for those days when you feel a little lost. But when you have a spiritual system in place, it will always reroute you back to your true guided path.

THIS WEEKS CHALLENGE

Your challenge for the week is to observe your inner dialogue. Whenever a negative voice presents itself, don’t argue with it, reset it. Think of 10 things, big or small, that you are grateful for. I know, I know. We’ve worn out the word gratitude and unfortunately created a bit of a mental block around it. But it truly is one of the simplest ways to guide yourself back to your grounded self. So whenever a negative thought presents itself, start listing your top 10 gratitudes for the week. This helps direct you back to your mental space of peace. This doesn’t mean all problems disappear. Life is life, and it is full of ups and downs, no one is exempt. Living a life of peace comes when you simplify what living in abundance and gratitude really means. It’s creating a space where peace and abundance, by your own definition, are not only obtainable, but something you are already living in. Sometimes you just need the reminder. From there, you’ll realize that everything else in life is either an amazing perk or a small roadblock you simply have to navigate.

I’ll go first to give you an example.

Sacred’s Top 10

My Home
I am grateful for my home. In a world where many people don’t have a place to call their own, I’m grateful that I have a space that I can call home.

Access to Water
I am grateful for access to water, knowing there are people in this very moment who don’t have water to bathe, cook, clean, or drink. For this, I am deeply grateful. Even being able to enjoy the healing side of water through beaches, rivers, and streams. To sit beside it and shift into a grounded state or to sink into a large body of it, which leads me to my next one.

Nature
This is where my crunchy granola side comes out. There is something incredibly peaceful to me about hearing birds chirping, rain pouring against the sides of my home, sunlight shining through my windows, seeing trees full of green foliage, flowers in bloom, listening to crashing yet calming waves, or floating in a lake while releasing it all. It is all magical to me.

Food to Eat
I’m grateful to have access to food resources and the ability to get food, whether it’s from the grocery store, farmers market, seafood market, butcher shop, bakery, or even a food pantry in times of need.

Movement of My Body
To be able to get out of bed, walk around, see, hear, taste, touch, think, and form sentences. To have control over my body and the ability to move through the world and experience it as I choose.

A Way to Earn Income
Love it or hate it, I’m grateful. I’m grateful that I have the ability to earn income to take care of myself. Whether it’s through a full-time job, entrepreneurship, creating something, serving tables, or working in corporate, I’m grateful for the opportunity to find work, whether it brings a high income or just enough.

Comforts of Life
Transportation (car, bus, train), the ability to travel sometimes, a comfortable bed with my many pillows and blankets, clothes and shoes to wear. We sometimes forget that these are comforts that many people consider abundance.

Central Air and Heat
Two things to note here. If you’ve ever lived in California, where many places refuse to install these regardless of global warming, and you’ve experienced a hot summer night or cold winter day in the Bay Area, PLUS the joys of menopause (insert sarcasm), you understand this one without further explanation.

Positive, Deep, Meaningful Relationships
Both platonic and romantic. There is nothing like being in relationships where you can truly be yourself and be accepted for who you are, flaws and all, without fear of abandonment. When that love and acceptance are mutual, it’s one of the most beautiful experiences on earth.

Freedom
This one is tricky because I don’t define freedom completely in the traditional sense. I’m grateful for the freedom of free will, the freedom to choose. The freedom to stay or leave. To do or not do. To decide and change my mind. The freedom to recognize when something is not for me and give myself permission to let it go before everything falls apart. The freedom to put my happiness first and understand that this shouldn’t trigger someone who wants me to be happy as well. The freedom to define happiness as a state of being rather than just an emotion. The freedom to enforce my boundaries without always having to explain or justify them. If something doesn’t feel right, why continue?

And one that took me some time to understand: there are many good people, jobs, situations, and opportunities in the world. But just because something or someone is good doesn’t mean it’s meant for you. Every good thing is not necessarily your thing. Sometimes we hold on to something simply because it’s good, even when it’s no longer aligned with us, and that can rob us of years of our lives.

Which leads to the last part of this: the freedom of detachment. Understanding that everything truly does have a time and season. Often we hold on far longer than something was meant to stay. I have experienced many beautiful moments in life. The ones I allowed to drift away naturally remain beautiful memories. The ones I fought to keep… let’s just say lessons were learned, and thankfully, I still made it to today.

I often remind myself that even life in its simplest form is a blessing of abundance. We get so focused on wanting more that we forget we could have, or experience, less. Whenever that negative voice pops up (because it will), reroute yourself with your own personal Top 10 to get back on track. Sometimes the simplest reset is the one that brings us back home to ourselves.

Being grateful for what is, even while we are actively creating what is to come, is how we live life in its simplest and most abundant form.

Until next time, love you lots. -Sacred