Our children need us to be present. They need us present for their failures, successes and all of the lessons in between.
As a parent of three, I understand the challenges that come along with providing the best for our children. We want to give them the best home environment, the best meals, clothes, education and love. We want to protect them and keep them safe; but we still want them to grow.
Oftentimes, in our hustle to ‘make it all good,’ we miss the most important thing. PRESENCE… More than anything else our children need us to be present. They need our time, our eyes, our ears, our hands, our arms and most of all our attention. They need us to see them, feel them and to know them. And the only way that we can truly do this is by being present.
Give it a try. See the magic of your presence in their lives today. We often say that our children need us to SHOW UP. But in order to show up you must BE UP. We have to be awake in order to experience what is going on.
Today’s Challenge: Be Present.
See them, hear them, feel them… Pay attention to them… Our Children. They need us.
I’m waiting to hear your answer… What are you waiting for to take the first step?
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
– MARK TWAIN –
Decide today to take just one little step. As your coach I am not asking you to take all of the steps at one time. I realize that would overwhelm anyone. No. What I am asking however, is that you take one tiny step at a time. Just one for today!
I hear you asking me, “Gwen, what does that look like?”
My reply, “I am so glad you asked.” It looks like putting your hands to your purpose for just 10 minutes today. That’s it. That’s all. As your coach I am asking you to set a time for 10 minutes and go to work doing something that fits or aligns with the reason why you are on this earth.
Now that you have a clear picture of what I am asking of you. You may be tempted to question my request. You may even be tempted to doubt me. That’s okay, I anticipated this reaction. So let me share with you what I know. I know that you will resist throwing yourself into purpose 100% if you have been resisting your purpose for any length of time. My goal is for you to take bite sized pieces. As you nibble your appetite for fulfilling your purpose will swell so big that it consumes you. Once you are consumed then Purpose has you. The end goal….
Seems obvious, right? Be you. Like, who else could one be?
I am glad you asked, because I have an answer.
The reality is that YOU are the only person you can BE. Today we are bombarded with images and ideas from television, movies, videos, music, social media and the Jones just to name a few. While images and ideas are great, they can also become a great travesty. The Disaster occurs when great images and ideas overshadow the real person you were intended to be…
Why are we so impressed by others? Is it because they give us hope? Is it because they show us the way? Is it because they have some magic? All of these or none of these could be the truth. But, here is what I know for sure. Many of us are busy admiring others because somehow we have convinced ourselves that who we are, what we have, what we are made of is not enough.
Well! Well now! (Imagine me saying this in my motherly voice; you know the voice when mom has just realized that… “There are going to have to be some changes made around here!”) This could not be further from the truth. The you, you are today is good enough. Could there be a better version of you. Well, of course there could. But that my dear is up to you. You will have to decide the level of work and detail you want to put into developing yourself.
You can try as hard as you can to be someone other than yourself, but it will never happen. It can never be. So in reality you are always YOU. Trying to be something other than yourself only produces a watered down version of you. We all know that watered down is awful. Think about the last drink you had at a restaurant. Once the ice has melted and the drink no longer has its strength what do we do. We ask the server, “Can I get a fresh drink, this is watered down. So if no one wants a watered down drink. Surely, we don’t want watered down people either.
Why not be the best version of YOU that you can be today. Don’t worry about tomorrow or
yesterday, next month, next season, or even the days and months that have
passed. Just BE. Today choose to just be the best YOU, you can be.
Today choose to be present. Today choose to be aware. Today choose to be grateful, thankful. Today choose to be, YOU. Choose today to be the best YOU, you could possibly be.
In 1984, at the age of sixteen-years-old, Mary Lou Retton scored the first perfect ten in the history of the United States Olympic team. After her flawless performance on the vault one reporter asked, “How does it feel to have achieved the first perfect ten for the U.S. team?”
Her answer was, “Like it’s always felt!”
The reporter challenged her stating, “But no one has ever done it before!”
Mary Lou’s response was piercing, “I’ve done it thousands of times in my mind.”
Napoleon Hill said it best, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
Mary Lou understood the power of believing… it is to think a thought, until you feel the thought, and now you believe the thought.
Once you believe it… there is no such thing as it being impossible to achieve it. The only impossibility is that you will not achieve it.
Ask yourself this question:What have I done a thousand times in my mind?
Aim:toFOCUSon your dream. See yourself doing it a thousand times in your mind.
This month’s inspiration is FOCUS. Focus begins with a decision. We either decide to get focused and live the life of our dreams or we choose to meander aimlessly through life.
Pay attention to your thoughts. Thoughts become actions and actions can shape our lives.
Ask yourself this question: What am I giving my attention to?
Note: Whatever has your attention has your focus.
Aim: to focus your thoughts in the direction of your goals.
Gwendolyn Holmes 