Forty Lessons

In the spirit of turning 40 years old I compiled a list of forty lessons I have learned along the way.

Which ones ring true to you?

1. Listen to that faint voice inside that is telling you there is another way when all the other voices tell you it’s too difficult.
2. Put down all of your defenses and learn to love yourself wholeheartedly and realize that there was never anything to defend in the first place.
3. Have the courage to turn towards the parts of you that you may fear and open yourself up to the depth of unconditional love.
4. Believe in your wholeness and ability to connect with it in any given moment.
5. Allow yourself to be brave in the face of uncertainty and to humbly not always know the answers yet always believe in your ability to discover them in time.
6. Surrender to where you are on your journey and know that it is exactly where you need to be. To think you need to be anywhere else, is denying you the gift of this present moment.
7. Be the one who believes in your dreams more than your fears and who takes steps (even the smallest at times) in the direction of your dreams.
8. Have courage to leave behind everything that no longer serves our true essence- relationships, food, career, beliefs.
9. Commit to your own evolution. Be the one who gets up after being knocked down and who continues to never gives up even when it’s hard.
10. Dare to follow your heart instead of the herd.
11. Love yourself so fiercely that you create field of love around you and vibrate at a higher frequency so you no longer attract negativity.
12. Create internal and external boundaries that serve your highest self.
13. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and open up to the full spectrum of emotions- to know sadness is to know joy and to hold the two with equanimity is freedom.
14. Learn how to know what you need and how to meet your own needs.
15. Stop searching for someone or something to fulfill you and realize true fulfillment is an inside job.
16. Live in the present moment – it’s the only moment we have.
17. Be strong enough to know when you need help and even stronger to ask for it.
18. Live each moment with gratitude and open heartedness. You never know when your time’s up.
19. When intuition is clear, don’t miss the chance- take the leap and trust even when it doesn’t make logical sense.
20. Teach what you have learned and empower others to discover who they are.
21. Make friends with yourself, at times you may find yourself alone in your journey to self-discovery.
22. Be gentle with yourself, self-compassion is the fertile soil for awakening to your truth.
23. Fuel your body with food that nourishes. Your body is a gift.
24. Exchange worry for wonder and embrace the present moment.
25. Respect other’s journey and know that to try to change another is a futile effort. We can only grow ourselves.
26. Each moment is crafted perfectly for our own evolution. Don’t miss the opportunity.
27. In order to love another unconditionally, we must love ourselves unconditionally.
28. Our external world always mirrors our internal. Work on the side and your outside will naturally reflect. If you want to manifest on the external, you must match it internally.
29. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, the only moment is now.
30. Perfectionism is just a guise to mask the brokenness felt on the inside. Let your real self be seen and love all the “broken” parts.
31. Spend time connecting with those you love and love you and your flaws.
32. Connect with the beauty of nature and remember that you are part of its natural beauty.
33. Don’t waste time on what could have been, accept what is and change what you can.
34. Sometimes the long route is the shortest way in the end.
35. Believe in the goodness of others, even when they show you their worst.
36. Lead by example and expect nothing.
37. Recognize when you have an agenda and are imposing it on another. Be willing to drop your agenda at any and all moments.
38. Create space to choose the thoughts that support your essence and recognize those that are based in lack.
39. There is no one “out there” – it is all inside of us. We are creating our reality moment by moment.
40. Be the one you have been searching for.

With the deepest gratitude for all of us on this journey together,