Monday MOETivation: Celebrate Life

Monday MOETivation: Celebrate Life

As I write this blog, it's thundering outside, there is heavy downpour, and I am preparing for 2 days of hell. We lost my great aunt Dolores this weekend. She was a beautiful woman; kind, caring, selfless, young at heart, with the warmest smile you could ever imagine. You'd never know anything was wrong, but I knew she didn't have an easy life. Nothing was handed to her, she had her share of problems, yet you'd never know. Her bright eyes and her beautiful spirit revealed nothing but happiness, appreciation for life, and beauty.

Funerals are never easy. I have an incredibly hard time grasping death. No matter how spiritual I am, there is just something so unreal about it to me. No matter the age of the person, how sick they were, whatever the case may be - you are never prepared to say goodbye. There's no doubt today and tomorrow will be brutal, but I am choosing to try my hardest to view these two days as a celebration of Dolores' life...of all our lives.

I find that the happiest people are those who have been through the most. When you experience a loss, or even come close to it, it really puts things in perspective. You realize that nothing is guaranteed, and every peaceful moment is a gift.

So no matter what you're going through right now, take a few moments to celebrate the good stuff. Celebrate your health, your family, your home, your friends, your love, your career, your children - whatever it is, embrace it, appreciate it and know that it is meant for you to enjoy and to cherish. This life is short, it is unpredictable, and it is precious. My mantra is to celebrate each day, and although I remind myself of that daily, it really hits home at times like these.

Monday MOETivation: The Spiritual Bitch

Monday MOETivation: The Spiritual Bitch

I started reading Deepak Chopra's "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" this morning. Now, before you go rolling your eyes and handing me a yoga mat, please understand this: I am not one of those hoity toity crazy meditating bitches. I do not set aside two hours a day to silence, and I sure as hell am not calm. But I'm working on it.

What inspired me to read this book was the fact that I could relate to it. I've been struggling lately with the word "success," and anything you read about success has to do with money and business 99% of the time. So when I saw that there was a spiritual take on it, I was in.

The word "success" can have many definitions. According to the dictionary, success is "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose." But what does that really mean? Are you successful when you are doing what you love? Do you have to be making money at what you love to really be successful? Are you successful because you have a big title at your job? Are you successful because you raised your child to be a law abiding citizen as opposed to a serial killer? Or is success just being able to pay your rent and bills?

Chopra has a really interesting point of view on spiritual success and it's something we should all pay attention to. In short, he wants us to look beyond the material wealth of success. He wants us to view success as the "experience of the miraculous." That means putting aside all the big houses, fancy cars, and shallow aspects of success, and finding the creativity and divinity within us. Success is about creating and cultivating fulfilling relationships, maintaining good health, and having energy and enthusiasm for life. DING DING DING! 

I literally felt as if a giant weight was lifted off my shoulders as I read that. I think we get so caught up in defining ourselves, our careers, and our passions by tangible items that we often lose sight of what really matters. I have definitely gotten caught in that vicious cycle more times than I can count. I do not make a living off The Champagne Diet, yet I continue to work hard by using this blog as an expression of myself and my creativity in order to connect with everyone who reads it. That is what matters to me. Would it be lovely to give up my day job and have a stream of income to do this all the time? Absolutely. But that is not the driving force behind it. And it never will be.

So I encourage you to really think about what success means to you today. If you can let go of all the BS and really get in tune with the creativity and passion deep inside of you, I guarantee you will uncover something amazing.

Cheers!