Thursday, June 2, 2016

Let iT gO!

Here is an awesomely inspired video by 
SoulPancake
of OprahWinfreyNetwork
about ForGIVEness, letting go, and
Popping Your Problems

gReEtInGs fun & free people!
. . . a note about the whole name thing, specifically about the word free today. The word free has so many different meanings, doesn't it? . . .
  • free to choose
  • free to speak
  • free to be YOU
  • free to express yourself
  • free to create
  • free to choose your own path
  • free from living from the OUT:side IN
  • free from regret
  • free from the past
Free basically means, unattached from expectations--like, what others think of us (but, like, not to mean you can just do whatever you want, like be cruel or do anything against the law...)
Sometimes, freedom means freely forGIVING people who have hurt us (whether they meant to or not, cuz we can never really know the TRUTH about that; sometimes it's stuff we make up in our head, in our STORIES).

It also means forgiving YOUrs(elf) (like, as in, your mean inner (s)Elf) . . .

When we carry resentment, it actually hurts US (not the person we are mad at . . .). I heard once that holding resentment is like holding a piece of really hot burning coal . . . and expecting the person we are mad at to get burned! Kind of crazy, but true! 

Think about it like this
re-sent-ment is like getting 
                     crappy energy 
                               re-sent (back to) me(nt). 
So LET IT GO! 
You'll feel much lighter (money back, guaranteed!)
More later about some ways to do this . . .

Breathe in the light and love!

;) Dana

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Love Be-ing A TeacHer!



I'm so lucky to be a teacher!
hEy tHeRe!

Many teachers and kids do the countdown to summer toward the end of the school year--so excited for summer, right? Well;, I'm at work this morning as an 8th grade English teacher at Valley Middle School and guess what?

I LOVE IT!
I mean, what could be better than 
hanging out with kids all day?
(the groWn-Ups are okay, too, I guess . . . LOL!)
Honestly, I feel super lucky and blessed to have a job I love, and to tell the truth, teaching actually found mE. Here's the super no-coincidence story:

Once upon a time in my twenties after college, I was in my room late at night reading a college course catalog (yes, I was working at a department store in the mall with a 4-year degree, living at home with my parents . . . and that's okay . . . I just didn't have a direction, or a focus, and I wasn't sure what to do with my life, hence the college course catalog). I turned a page open and vwah-lah (is that how you spell it?), out popped a section in the catalog for a teaching license program for English (which was my degree in college).

I was like WHOA! COOL! I could be a teacher! and looked farther down the page. I needed two letters on reference from college professors, a copy of my college transcript, an essay explaining my interest in the program, and a filled-out application form. Not a problem, really . . . but then I looked at the deadline: 
iT was 
DuE the
vEry nExT dAy at 5:00 p.m.
I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of the very first times I felt the Universe leveraging itself for me. I knew I was going to be a teacher after I saw this program, and I knew I was going to meet the deadline.  

So, I stayed up all might long writing my essay and filling out the application, and in the morning right away, I called two of my favorite professors the and asked for references THE VERY SAME DAY. They agreed! (of course) . . . 

That very same day (fewer than 24 hours since I had read about the program), I headed down to the University of Minnesota with my application; I picked up the references from my two professors; I went to the transcript office and got an authorized copy of my college grades; AND, I hand-delivered my entire application at (you guessed it!) around 4:55 p.m.

I made the deadline!

Anyway, that is the story of the beginning of my love affair with teaching. I feel so blessed to be a teacher and to have a job that I absolutely adore. Deepak Chopra, in his Seven Laws of Spiritual Success describes The Law of Dharma in this way:

"Everyone has a purpose in life . . . a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals."

Do you think your work is connected to your dharma?

Let's continue tomorrow!
Blessings!
Dana