Living Out Loud

Be True to Yourself

A Thought for the Week

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." ~ William Shakespeare

"Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will." ~ John McDonald 

 

"Never follow somebody else's path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone...the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way." ~ J. Michael Straczynski

 

"Unless your heart, your soul, and your whole being are behind every decision you make, the words from your mouth will be empty, and each action will be meaningless. Truth and confidence are the roots of happiness." ~ Unknown

Self-Exposure

I came across this project the day after I'd posted "As within, so without" as my thought for the week, and in the midst of a kidney infection.  Due to a manic couple of months past, I haven't been blogging, and was promising myself I'd get back to it this week.  The topic started by Mish drew me in...

I know this is true of everyone, but I HATE being sick.  Apart from a cough/cold each winter I'm rarely sick.  And when something else comes along it really pisses me off.  I don't feel like I deserve it because for the most part I look after my health.

But reading other blogger's 'Exposed' posts about why they love their bodies has helped me shift back to an attitude of gratitude for my own body.  I'm appreciating that it always serves me well.  Always!  Even if I'm feeling like it's letting me down, that isn't the case.

I do believe that every illness of the body has a metaphysical cause, and according to Louise Hay kidney problems can be caused by refusing to grow up.

Now two weeks ago I turned 40.  And I didn't have a problem with it, really.  I embraced it and celebrated it.  Or at least that's what I thought I was doing!! 

But I also joked with everyone that I wasn't really 40, I was going along with it for the craic (that's Irish for fun), but that somebody had made a big mistake.  Definitely a bit of a conflict going on...

And so my body, that is usually healthy, is actually serving me well by manifesting a kidney infection.  It has drawn my awareness to an inner conflict I need to resolve.

Divine right action is always taking place in my life.  Only good comes from each experience.  It is safe to grow up. ~ Louise Hay affirmation for my condition (in case you share it!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I wrote the above a week ago.  I was pretty much inspired to do it after reading Lance's post.  But it's taken me a week to get the courage to finish it, because to post I had to include the pic.

Eventhough I admired others the courage to post their semi-naked pics, when it came to doing the same myself, it felt a little indecent.  Why is it that I could admire an action in others and criticise myself for contemplating the same?  I detect a little double-standards in my consciosness...

And so, I'm taking a deep breath and posting.  I still feel very uncomfortable doing so, but I also know that the discomfort comes from the need for approval, or to be more accurate in this case, the fear of disapproval.  But I've let fear hold me back so often in my life, and these days I do my best not to let that happen anymore.  I make a big effort to feel the fear and do it anyway. 

So I've joined the ranks.  Here is my body, exposed, as it looks today.

  
 

Right now, I'm ok with how it looks.  But the problem is, I tend to appreciate it more when it looks what I consider to be good, and not so much when I feel like I need to lose a few pounds or tone up. 

And that's not good enough really.  My body deserves my respect and appreciation at all times.  Because at all times it is working for me.  Everything I experience in life is made possible by my perfect body.  And therefore it is always worthy of my unconditional love, be it sick or healthy, thin or not-so-thin.

I'm grateful for that reminder.  I'm also grateful that I'm nearly over my kidney infection ;-) 

And even if I have some more work to do before I'm fully in the 'loving it' space, I'm definitely feeling ALOT more appreciation for my body!

What about you?  What do you appreciate about your body?

Play hard!

A Thought for the Week

 

 photo by Mike Baird

"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play." ~ Heraclitus   "We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." ~ George Bernard Shaw   "Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold." ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce   "When we come together to play and be, we are truly ourselves. When we are truly ourselves it is wonderful, and when we act collectively in that wonder we do transformative work for our community and our world." ~ Brad Colby

As within, so without

A Thought for the Week

"Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Take care of your inner world and plant the seeds of goodness & love. All other things will fall into place." ~ Unknown

"As we understand that the outer world is merely a reflection of our inner world we realize that people and events do not happen to us, they happen for us. We drew them to us for our higher good, for our understanding, for the evolution of our consciousness." ~ Lucille Anne Meltz

"It does not matter one iota what we change on the outside, if we haven't done the work to change on the inside. Our reality will continue to evolve so that it is a reflection of our inner beliefs and world." ~ Tony Davies

Count your blessings

(A Thought for the Week)

"Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play." ~ Og Mandino
 
"When a person thinks about the things, people and experiences that they're grateful for, their awareness of the good in their life increases, and they start to feel good. What you focus on increases, so the more you feel good about all there is to be grateful for, the more will show up." ~Jamie Smart

"When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." ~ Gilbert Keith Chesteron

photo by Live from Amsterdam

Don't worry, be happy

(A Thought for the Week)

"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

"Worry is like a rocking chair - it gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere." ~ Unknown

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy." ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

 

"Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway." ~ Mary C Crowley

Follow your heart

A Thought for the Week

"Most people think the heart is mushy and sentimental. But it's not. The heart is intuitve, it's holistic, it's contextual, it's relational. It doesn't have a win-lose orientation. . . At times it may not even seem rational, but the heart has a computing ability that is far more accurate and far more precise than anything within the limits of rational thought." ~ Deepak Chopra

 

"No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

"Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart." ~ Unknown

 

photo by Geishaboy500

Focus on the journey

A Thought for the Week

photo by Mckaysavage

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination."  ~  Don Williams Jr   "It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." ~  Ursula K LeGuin   "Success is not a place at which one arrives but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey."   ~ Alex Noble

Be still

(a Thought for the Week)

photo by Irargerich

"If water derives clarity from stillness, how much more so does the mind."  ~  Chuang Tzu   "In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you."  ~  Deepak Chopra   "In the place of stillness, rises potential. From the place of potential, emerges possibility. Where there is possibility, there is choice. And where there is choice, there is freedom!"  ~  Gabrielle Goddard

All coincidence is meaningful!

A Thought for the Week

photo by celebdu

"In mathematics, two angles that are said to coincide fit together perfectly. The word coincidence does not describe luck or mistakes. It describes that which fits together perfectly." ~ Wayne Dyer   "Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it's a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite sublime plan." ~ Unknown   "I do not believe in meaningless coincidences.  I believe every coincidence is a message, a clue about a particular facet of our lives that requires our attention." ~ Deepak Chopra