Queen of Swords

The SparkPeople "Healthy Reflections" email once again provides great inspiration:


It is better to live one day as a lion than one thousand days as a lamb.

How will your life be remembered? Will your story be lost among the millions who were afraid to take a chance? Or will you leave something noble behind? There's nothing to gain by following the crowd or doing what you've always done. You may as well put yourself out to pasture. But there's everything to gain by believing that you're king or queen of the jungle, even if just for a day. (Go ahead and roar if you want to.) Each of us has an amazing opportunity to live large if we allow it. It takes leaving the comfort of our familiar meadows and walking into the unknown. Once you take that chance, you've made your days worthwhile. Even if you have few resources, adventure is around every corner, and life is waiting to be devoured. If you were to write the book of your life, would you want to read it?

Another SparkPeople inspirational email:

Sometimes it seems like we're always putting off our goals until some vague time in the future called "Once". "Once the New Year rolls around...", "Once I have my new job...", "Once I retire...", "Once the kids are in school...", "Once the kids are OUT of school..." Sound familiar? By waiting for Once to get here, we waste time and frustrate our desire to do what we really want. It's a fact of life that every time one potential distraction disappears, it's quickly replaced with a new one. There will always be something that can stand in your way - if you let it. Ask yourself: are these distractions real reasons, or just good excuses for putting something off? Goals cannot be started in the future. The laws of time and nature dictate that you can only act in the present. You are here, today. So are your goals. The only good time to start is right now.


After making my day job the #1 reason for not fulfilling my dreams, I can not allow other excuses to get in my way now.

It's been months, literally, since I checked my Yahoo email account -- and when I logged in a couple of days ago I found months worth of "Thoughts from the Universe" messages. I'd forgotten all about these little gems, and have been going through the backlog transferring the best to my quote file for future reference.

I wanted to save/share a few here:

Live your dreams now, QoS, to any degree that you can. With every purchase. Every decision. Every hello and goodbye. Every assignment. Every conversation. Every meal. Every morning, afternoon and evening. And never, ever, ever look back.

Reframe every thought, word, and deed from the perspective of the person you've always dreamed you'd be, as if your life was already as you've always dreamed it would be. Die to yesterday's illusions and be reborn to the truth of your vision.

And let's just see if you can handle the onslaught of treasures I send your way.

Your greatest admirer, biggest fan, and truest friend -
The Universe


QoS, I have it on good account that you will soon be called a number of unsavory names....

Lucky, blessed, chosen, gifted, destined, privileged, guarded, favored, special, and perhaps, most outrageously, "not like the rest of us."

I say we really give them something to talk about.

The Universe


There's a name for the magic, QoS, that transforms lives, connects dots, moves mountains, and orchestrates coincidences that shock and astound... Imagination.

And there's a name for all that stops you in your tracks, stirs fear, spins wheels, and leaves one wondering, "Hey, what's up with that?"... Imagination.

Careful where you point that thing,
The Universe

A month or more ago I was listening to one of my long-time favorite inspirational songs, "Pressure" by Billy Joel.

Hmmm. . . as I type this, I realize that it's kind of strange that it's an "inspirational" song, since it's cynical and derrogatory, but I guess that it's always inspired me to plunge in and handle pressure. (Plus I associated it with situations, mythical and real, in which I faced challenges and rose above the kind of sheltered background he mocks in the song.)

And that's not really a digression, because the whole point of this post was my realization that I have always expected that what I wanted and dared to reach for in this world would be challenging, that there would be opposition to overcome. I scrolled through my playlist, and was suddenly struck by how many of my favorite inspirational songs are about overcoming active opposition, including, for example, "Defying Gravity"

And nobody in all of Oz
no wizard that there is or was
is ever gonna bring me down!

But as I look back in my own life, no one has ever tried to bring me down.
Some situations have been challenging, sure.
But I personally have never had to face active opposition of what I really want.
(Which I realize is an amazing blessing.)

So why is it that when I imagine moving out into the world to pursue my vocation that I expect opposition?

Okay, I represent a minority spiritual perspective.
And people can get very, very touchy on the matter of spirituality and orthodoxy.
But really. . . given the audience to whom I will be presenting my message and offering my services, what are the odds of active, meaningful opposition?

So instead of listening to my favorite "rising above the challenges" songs, I'm going to make a playlist of "I'm Great and There's Nothing in My Way" songs, like Streisand singing "I'm Gonna Shine," or the Carpenters' "When You've Got What It Takes"

When you've got what it takes
you've got nothing to hide.
You've got miles of feelings and acres of pride.
You've got it.
You've really got it.

When you know who you are
then you live what you feel.
You give what you can and it's good
when you've really got it,
and when you've got it ---

Let it out
Let it show
Let 'em know inside you've got it
Let it shine like a bright tomorrow
For when you do
the feeling comes back to you

What a difference it makes
when you've got what it takes.

It's time to take another look at Rob Brezsny's Pronoia, and let him convince me that "the world is conspiring to shower you with blessings." I had put the book down shortly after I got it because I was put off by his assumption that everyone reading it was healthy, clothed, warm, fed, and etc. Positive thinking and assuming the universe is on your side is a lot easier when your basic physical needs are being met. I couldn't stop thinking about all the people who might pick up his book for a lift and be put off by the fact that his gratitude meditations assume such a level of prosperity to begin with. (Anyone who has read more and has a counter perspective is encouraged to chime in. There's a lot of neat stuff in the book, I know. Paging through it was dizzying and wonderful. I just couldn't take it systematically.)

Anyway. . . The bottom line this morning is this: no steeling myself for battle or worrying about opposition until such challenges actually appear. No victimizing myself!