The Life You Want Tour Nuggets

Our team was blessed to participate in the DC Oprah’s the Life You Want tour which had so many aha moments. 

Here are some amazing quotable nuggets. The first section is from Oprah and then we share some nuggets from Mark Nepo, Rob Bell and  Iyanla Vanzant.

You must have sunrise faith. The sun will always rise no matter how dark it gets.- Oprah

With the rising of the sun, you ask, “What will make of this NEW day?”

I want us all to fulfill our greatest potential. To find one calling, and summon the courage to live it.

Turn up the volume on your life, you are co-creating it.

What have you been called to do?

Your job, if you are here is to honor your calling.

Create the highest, grandest vision for your life. Then let every step move you in that direction.

Your life is constantly speaking to you.  It always comes in a whisper. Pay attention to the whispers.

The ordinary moments of your life are creating the extraordinary of your life.

With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas — thought by thought, choice by choice.

Nothing you were meant to have was meant to stay with you.

The only courage you ever need is the courage to live the life of your dreams.

Ask yourself what does YES feel like. Energy is everything. Be responsible for the energy you bring into this room. 

Together, we rise. After you’ve done all you can do surrender. Whatever you are going through is to get you through. Make a shift and be grateful for it instead of complaining about it.  You are living the reality if your beliefs right now.

Every one of us is looking for the same thing — we want to know we matter. We want to know we were heard.

Strive to be full of yourself, a cup running over so you can give to others.

With the setting of the sun, my heart I filled with gratitude for yet another day to live on purpose.

The longest journey of your life is from your head to your heart. – Mark Nepo

Two key lessons:  No one can live your life for you. No one can do it alone.

Our light is revealed as our gift strikes against the needs of the world.

The life you want begins by embracing the life you have. -Rob Bell

Excessive pain will render you unconscious. – Iyanla Vanzant

Life is really on your side.  Life talks you must learn to listen. If you made it through you past, you passed. Life always tells you the truth your job is to recognize and accept it.

This is It! Don't Rehearse

Have you heard the saying, how you do one thing is how you do everything? A friend of mine shared it with me this past week and then it popped up in O magazine. Serendipity! The phrase also reminds me of what my high school tennis coach used to say to me. How you practice is how you play.  During my two year career on the tennis court, this saying made me realize when I wasn’t practicing with my all. I would run slower if I was tired or stopped short on a swing instead of carrying it through and sure enough I would do the same thing when it came to a game. I finally got tired of losing and I knew I need to do something different. 

Either I wasn’t good enough or I wasn’t giving it my all. How often do we decide that “this” doesn’t work only to realize that it would if we did it to the best of our ability? I decided to practice with my all.  It was brutal. Nothing about playing tennis or any sport came easy to me. However, that final year, all my sweat equity paid off. I earned a gold medal in Doubles and bronze in Singles. Not bad for a girl who almost failed gym. I just remember thinking, “this is it”. What made the difference wasn’t just how I played the game, but how I practiced for each game. Fast forward a decade, quickly becoming two but who’s counting, and I’m witnessing the lesson come to life again.

What would happen if every day you showed up as if This Is It? 

Michael Jackson is one of the greatest entertainers of the last century.  This would be difficult for anyone to dispute.  Recently, I was watching a clip of Judith Hill and Michael Jackson from his This is It tour which we know never saw one concert performance due to Michael’s passing. Okay, so I wasn’t actually watching the clip at first. I was at my computer working on this newsletter as a matter of fact and the song “I can’t Stop Loving You” began after I listened to another of Hill’s songs on YouTube. I’m thinking that sounds like Michael Jackson, totally forgetting about the duet she was schedule to perform with the King of Pop. I looked at the video and it was at the moment when the camera panned the audience of about oh… 13 people.  The clip is from a rehearsal for the This Is It tour. In the large stadium to witness the magic was only the band, backup dancers and critical staff, but they’re performance was worth of a sold out show to thousands. It wasn’t perfect but seriously it was darn good. You could see Michael giving Judith instructions and even singing out instructions to the band. Uhm… could you have someone recorded your practice and it be nearly as perfect as the live show? I mean seriously, what would happen if we showed up each day as if this is the show not a dress rehearsal?

We have to live life one day at a time. We don’t have any other choice. And factually nothing is guaranteed. Michael didn’t know that we’d never see the live concert but his dedication to his craft showed u,p even in during practice time. The day before your life changes is like any other day.

So whether we’re working to start a business, play an instrument, perform in an arena, jump start a career or even a build a family, every day we should work to build our lives. You’re the boss. You are the Chief Experience Officer (hey I kinda like that) of your existence and we have to show up knowing that this is it. It won’t always be easy. Yet, shoot for the stars. Repeat what works until you get it perfect. Ask for what you need, when you need help (even Michael had a coach). Reinvent yourself when necessary. However, whatever you focus your life on.   

Don’t rehearse! Always show up and play full out! This is it. 

About the author: Sister Mothyna James-Brightful is a self-proclaimed “Self Love Revolutionary”. She has spent the last decade empowering women and girls to live authentic lives as the Visionary Director and Co-founder of Heal a Woman to Heal a Nation. Sister Mothyna is co-author of Because I am a Queen...100 Affirmations for Daily Living and is currently working on her forth coming book Engage.Inspire. Prevent: Tips to Educating Teens on Sexual Violence. Stay connected www.hwhn.org: Twitter @mothyna

9 Rules Happy Women Make (and Follow)

This one is way to awesome to not share.*

When you only have two options, find a third.

You were offered a job in Mexico, por ejemplo, but you do not want to move to Mexico, you want to stay in Montana. Do you uproot your entire life? Or turn down the job? Both are unappealing choices, and the minute you begin to fret about which one of them you should pick, you must stop—and turn to someone outside the situation (anyone, really) for a third idea. This is the person—as wise or as ordinary as the rest of us—who will shrug and say, "Why not ask to telecommute?" There are always more than two options. Sometimes, you just need two brains to remember that.

Originally posted on oprah.com*. 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Rules-for-Happiness-Secrets-of-Happy-Women#ixzz2sNnhCZO3