Lamisha Serf-Walls

November Theme: Gratitude & Giving

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Happy Friday you Darling Dreamers!

It’s the end of another week and the start of a new month!  I can’t believe in 2 months we will be moving into yet another year of wonderful goodness.  Can you feel the energy speeding up with the holidays quickly approaching?  I sure can!

I have been thinking about 2014 a lot over the last few weeks.  While each year feels like an opportunity to start anew, 2014 seems even more like a clean slate.  Maybe it has to do with my current job coming to an end and the options for the future still to be determined.

Every year around this time, I get excited for the newness and a fresh opportunity to make huge strides in my life and to make it an even better year than the one before.  I tend to do a bit of reflection on the past year to identify the growth, evolution, and lessons learned as well as figure out what I still want to work on.  Then, I might sit down to write a letter to myself for the year ahead or create a vision board of what I want to achieve (depending on how I am feeling).

Do you do any type of reflection before you set your intentions for the coming year?  I asked around to some of my friends and many of them said they haven’t even begun to think of what they want in 2014.  Have you?

If you haven’t, I encourage you to take some time to do just that.  Ask yourself the following questions:

What did I accomplish in 2013?

What lessons did I learn?

What didn’t I accomplish that I wanted to?

What was holding me back?

That last question is a big one and it may not be something you can readily identify.  Many people would answer that with a simple word : Life.

When it comes to resolutions, intentions, goals, and big dreams there are a number of things that can hold a person back.  Maybe you are fearful of failure (who isn’t?).  Maybe you have a fear of the unknown.  Some people fear success.  Others say that lack of motivation, inspiration, and a plan to do what they love is the issue.  Maybe it’s time, resources, money, connections, confidence, that is keeping you where you are.  Or maybe you have no clue what it is.

Identifying what has held you back from achieving your deepest desires is a step in the right direction.  Knowledge is power, so knowing what it is is half the battle.  The other half is knowing what to do to get through it.

As we move swiftly into the November and the holiday season, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on 2013 so far.  Don’t just identify the marks you missed, but make sure to identify the things you did well.  The good, great, and amazing moments of 2013 should be celebrated!

With that said, I wanted to let you know that I have created a theme for November and that theme is Gratitude & Giving.  With the holiday season upon us and a new year just around the corner, I wanted to extend some amazing (and FREE) opportunities/gifts for you lovely readers.  While I am planning for 2014 to be an incredible-blow-my-mind-adventure, I also want to place my focus on the abundance and beauty that is in my life in this very moment.

So, for your first gift, you can download your copy of my article : 20 Ways To Keep Your Dream Alive!  All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter and I promise NOT to send you unnecessary, boring, emails just to send them.  This list is truly my VIP list, so you are going to want to take full advantage of the awesome gifts that are coming this month.

I hope you have a magnificent weekend and as always, thanks for reading!

Love

Vacation Reflections

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I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July holiday and could enjoy family, friends, and a lot of fun.  I haven’t posted in several days because we went on a little vacation to visit family last week and while I had every intention to prepare a few posts for last week, it didn’t happen.  I am however, back in action this week!

Before I post the Dreamer Highlight for this week (tomorrow), I thought I would share a few things I realized during the course of my vacation.  I tend to be so immersed in how many days I have left in my time off that I miss some precious moments, insights, and experiences, however this time was different.  With over 21 hours in the car and many more relaxing, I had some interesting thoughts and inspirations to share with you.

Vacation Reflections:

  • No matter how much you love your work, everyone needs and deserves a break so don’t skimp on your vacation time.  This past week off was wonderful for so many reasons, but one was the fact that even though we had planned something to do with family each day, it amounted to much-needed down time.
  • Time away from anything provides time and space for growth. My phone is full of notes, ideas, phrases, and other inspirational material that simply came to me while I was in the moment.  Instead of “trying” so hard to come up with a blog post idea or what I might offer in my coaching business, I found they floated into my consciousness effortlessly when I allowed myself some down time.  It was wonderful.
  • Seeing the bigger picture in many cases is far more beneficial than agonizing over the minor details.  With traffic delays, detours, and a multitude of other things that could send you (read me) into a tailspin during a road trip, they are all quite minor when you look at the whole trip.  Looking back I can see how the slight delays and hiccups we experienced during our trip were fleeting when compared to the big picture of our overall experience.  Overall, we had a lovely time despite the seemingly annoying details.
  • Time off allows for you to see things with fresh eyes.  Similar to my second point, there is something about taking time away from everyday life that provides a new way of seeing things.  While the Monday after a vacation isn’t my most favorite day, I realized that I had a renewed sense of purpose and drive for the things that needed to get done.  And since I am so much a “doer” I didn’t feel nearly as overwhelmed or frustrated with my “to-do’s” as I might have before our vacation.
  • Sometimes doing nothing is just as important as doing something.  Looking back at the last week, I realize that much of the time I was doing nothing in particular.  My plan was to read a lot (to get caught up on some reviews), brainstorm, research, and enjoy family.  As it turned out, we only did what we wanted to do i.e. spent time with family at the zoo, the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, and we went skating.  All-in-all, it was a wonderful trip full of quality time with family and time spent doing nothing in particular.

I hope you returned to this week with fresh eyes and a renewed energy for the month ahead.  If you took time off last week I would love to hear about your own vacation reflections.

Taking My Own Advice With Tiny Steps or Big Leaps

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Have you ever found yourself giving advice to someone else and seeing the picture so clearly, only to realize the very advice you are giving is advice you can/should implement in your own life?  That happened to me today and while the advice was far from prophetic it hit me like a ton of bricks just a few hours ago…I should be listening to myself!

A co-worker had recently mentioned feeling stuck in life, wanting to change multiple areas of her life at once.  With so much to do it seemed overwhelming, yet the yearning, the need, and the desire to change each area was still there, but the time to do it all wasn’t.  In that moment the solution seemed so clear.  It was as if I was looking straight through a clear glass of water and the solution was on the other side staring back at me.  It was simple or so it seemed.

The first piece of advice is nothing we haven’t heard before.  When you feel overwhelmed, break the big stuff down into little pieces and do it one step at a time.  My particular advice was this.  Find something you can do each week no matter how small or insignificant it seems and do at least one thing each week that will move you closer to your dreams.  Set it on your calendar, make a date with yourself, schedule it in your phone if you have to.  It doesn’t matter how you do it, just do it.

Time seems to be a hot commodity in our world.  There never seems to be enough for what we want and need to do but if you are always looking for free time you won’t find it, you have to make time for things that are important.  Sometimes that means getting rid of other things, or moving things around a bit so they fit, but however you choose to do it, you must make the time.  Once you have set this date with yourself to work on your dreams/goals/aspirations etc. keep it.  The momentum will build one step at a time and you will find yourself inspired, motivated and full of passion to continue to make tiny steps or big leaps toward your dreams.

My second piece of advice was to be kind to yourself.  When it comes to goals and dreams, things rarely go exactly as planned and mistakes happen.  In fact they have to happen in order for us to learn.  So when you make a mistake or choose something over your weekly task, it’s ok.  See it, accept it, and do better next time.  You won’t get any closer to your dreams by rehashing your mistakes over and over again.  Know that wherever you are headed takes time and many lessons and accept the lessons with open arms.

Sound like good advice?  I thought it was.  🙂  A few hours later I was wondering how I will ever find the time to write this children’s book I want to work on this year and almost immediately my advice played back in my head.  “You have to make time for what you want…”

This time I am listening and whether my tasks each week are tiny steps or big leaps one thing is for sure, I am making moves to make my dreams my reality and that is what this journey is all about.

What will your tiny step be this week?

 

 

Reflection: Surviving to Thriving

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I often find myself sitting in contemplation, reflecting on a certain situation, thought, or book I have read recently.  It isn’t abnormal for me to turn inward for a few days as I think about whatever it is that has given me reason to reflect, and a few weeks ago someone said something to me that got me thinking.  In a conversation I was having about a particular challenge I was dealing with someone said “No matter what you have encountered in your life, no matter how hard it may have seemed, you have always survived.”  In the moment that comment didn’t seem like much, but in the last few weeks I have been reminded of that comment over and over again.

Many times when we are stuck in a rut or dealing with a particular challenge, it is easy to feel like our world is crumbling and everything is falling down on us.  The negative aspects of life seem to be highlighted and we can easily be convinced that we are failing at whatever it is we are attempting to do.  We may think we aren’t good enough, smart enough, attractive enough, and simply don’t measure up to whatever standards we are measuring ourselves by.  It is during those times we believe the illusion that we are destined to fail when the truth is we have made it this far and have been through far worse things in life than this very moment.  And as I have pondered that comment, I realized that yes I have survived every challenge I have encountered and I am better for it.  Of course you couldn’t tell me that in the moment of a complete meltdown, but it is true.

The more I contemplate that thought, the stronger I feel.  I know that I have seen, experienced, felt, and lived some terrible things in life and the “challenges” I experience now are nothing compared to them.  And beyond all that I am here.  I am stronger, wiser, and honestly more creative than ever because of my past and the challenges I have faced.  So yes, I have always survived.  Yes, I will make it through the next proverbial storm. And yes, I am still growing, but I am moving into a phase of my life that is more than just surviving.  I am moving into a phase of life where I thrive.

A phase of life where my dreams transform my reality faster than I can dream it, and my life is wonderful.  Not wonderful because everything is fine and dandy, but wonderful because I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am strong enough to handle whatever comes my way.  I am learning life lessons and embracing change more than I have ever before and if you know me ( and many of you do), you know this is no small feat.  And as I write this I know I may need to be reminded of my strength and my ability to thrive when life throws me a particularly difficult situation and during those moments I will read this post and remember the strength that lies within.

 

Gratitude: Reflection and New Beginnings

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This week I spent a lot of time in a hotel room with a rambunctious 2-year-old and in between chasing him around and trying to keep him entertained, I spent some time reflecting on this past year and thinking of the new year ahead.  This week I am grateful for reflection and new beginnings.

At the end of each year I tend to think back to the past 12 months and reflect on how far I have come.  I like to think about the challenges I have made it through and my accomplishments.  This past year has been one of many ups and downs, yet as the year is coming to a close I have found most of my growth has occurred in the last 2 months or so.  I don’t know exactly why that is, but I am glad that I have grown and changed this past year the way I have.  I have found that I am more patient with changes in everyday life and am more open to the flow of life, both very important areas of growth for me personally.  All in all it has made for a more peaceful end to the year and takes me to my next gratitude item.

At the end of each year after I reflect on the past year, I also look forward to the year ahead.  I like to think about the things I want to change and new goals for the year ahead.  I like to dream and dream big.  Last year I decided to put together a dream board for 2012.  I put together pictures and words that I looked at everyday in an attempt to fit my year together like a puzzle.  Things I wanted more of in my life, accomplishments I wanted to achieve, and even more general items were depicted on my dream board and I can honestly say it gave me a lot of motivation for the year ahead.  I haven’t decided how I will dream big for 2013 and whether I will make another dream board or not, but I will definitely spend some time as this year comes to a close thinking of the newness that lies ahead.

Some believe that today was to be the end of the world and while I never believed that to be true, I do believe we are at a point in history that is important for all of us.  We are at a point of transition.  A transition from fear, hate, and separation to love and co-creation.  I hope that each and every one of us will take some time to reflect on what we can do to work together to make this world a better place, to reach out and co-create a world of peace and love together as one.  I read a quote today that I love so much and thought I would share it here.

“The lamps are different, But the light is the same.” Rumi  May we move into 2013 with a sense of knowing that we hold within us the same light and love to change the world.  What will you do to change the world?