“Don’t fall for the spell. You are free.”

I borrowed that from a wise woman I’ve lost track of over the years. I tacked her words on my bulletin board for a long while and appreciate them deeply.

They came to mind again this week as I watched news coverage of recent events. The tragedies with which we’re faced seem relentless and incomprehensible. I noticed a definite ratcheting up of the fear factor. That’s the spell, you know. Fear. It’s a trap. Don’t go there.

If you notice it luring you in, or if you find yourself up to your knees in it all of a sudden, I heard a great way to set yourself free of it so you can function sanely. These days, knowing how to avoid or escape from the clutches of fear is a handy skill to have.

So the only way this guy said that he could come up with for dealing with the cascade of unsettling events is to be the best possible you.

Think about that for a minute. “Be the best possible you.”

If you hold your focus on that, you automatically take control of your fear; you overpower it. What’s the very best way I can be, right here, right now. You ask yourself that, sincerely wanting an honest answer.

Your best you doesn’t necessarily mean your ideal you, the strong, composed and centered one. It means the very best you can manage in this moment that you’re standing in. It means just be as top notch as you can.

The New Gold Standard? Really?

A while back I heard somebody say “Good enough is the new gold standard.” I revolted at that, to tell you the truth. I want to aim higher than that.

Sure, often it’s the case that good enough is good enough, and you can walk away satisfied. Maybe it wasn’t the best that could be done, but considering all the factors, it was good enough. It would do its intended job. You got ‘er done.

But to say good enough should be the highest you aim for isn’t good enough for me. Always settling for good enough is paving the way to mediocrity.

It makes you stand straighter when you know you reached a bit higher than good enough, that you gave it one more twist toward better, just because you could. It’s satisfying to know you put a little extra spit and polish on something, left it shining a little more brightly.

I think the world smiles more when we take those extra little steps, when we go beyond what’s required and leave things improved somehow in our wake. What’s the old vaudeville saying? “Leave ‘em laughing, kid.” Good enough doesn’t pack much joy. Spice it up a bit. Give it a jolt of the best you can muster.

See, if you’re thinking about that, about how you be your best possible you as you do whatever you’re doing, you don’t have a any space for fear of the what-if’s to wrap you up in their stories.

If it’s not happening within shouting distance, it’s likely not something that requires your response beyond, perhaps, a few prayers.

Instead, you focus on being the best possible you right now. Because it feels good. Empowering somehow. And in however small a way, it makes the world a nicer place. All because you got such a kick out of reaching past mere good enough.

Now, imagine what would happen if you went for spectacular! Just kidding. Reaching for your best is spectacular. Comes with built in rewards. Go for it.

Warmly,
Susan

^{Image by Micha from Pixabay}

One of the things I like best about the beginning of the year is that it’s sort of like holding a freshly purchased Power Ball ticket in your hands. Oh, the possibilities!

Whether resolutions hold any stock for you or not, January slips you a moment where you slide into dreams of your new and improved life, all polished and shining in the sun. All the flaws of the person you were yesterday disappear, and all that’s left are your finest attributes, waiting for you to put them to work.

Your inner curmudgeon–the part of you that says, “Yeah, sure, kid. Now back to work,”–steps aside for a couple minutes, lets you dream, lets you wish.

Well, what if you grabbed that moment, the one where everything was possible, and lived it? What if you could say that the unworthy parts of you were too yesterday to bother with? What if you stepped into Living in Magic, in a space where you assumed the power to be and do all the things that you dreamed?

What would that look like? What if you played a movie of it in your head every morning when you woke up, every night as you drifted off to sleep? What if you loved who you were in the movie? What if the soundtrack made you laugh, inspired and empowered you?

What if the index finger of your dominant hand became a light sabre, and any time a thought-monster appeared to growl, “You can’t!” you zapped it to oblivion?

What if it took you until, say, mid-April to really start getting the hang of it? What if you kept playing the movie anyway?

What if little possibilities started taking shape in your imagination? What if interesting coincidences started to appear? What if you began to find that clues were everywhere?

Who would you want to be? What would you want to have? What would your life be like? What would you accomplish?

You know, there’s this old saying, attributed to Henry Ford: “If you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.”

A couple weeks ago, anticipating the New Year’s arrival, its baskets of magic in hand, I started a “what-if” list for myself, writing down things it might be fun or interesting to do or to master in the coming year.

I wrote the words, “What If I …” at the top the page and started listing things, like “read at least 2 books a month?” and “always kept fresh flowers in the house?” and “practiced until I could make it to the top of Seneca Trail without stopping?” I’m getting a kick out the list. It’s a playful way for me to draw from the Cosmic Soup of Infinite Possibilities some of the little things I’d like to have and do in my life. If you want to try Living in Magic, that’s one way to begin.

I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be chatting more about Living in Magic in the coming year. For now, just savor that January moment where you let yourself imagine what might go into a good “My Best Self” movie. Then let it sparkle in your mind over and over, as if you just couldn’t get enough of it.

Wishing you magical dreams and a 2025 that surpasses your expectations in every possible way.

Warmly,
Susan

^{Image by Ennaej from Pixabay}

I ran across a quote this week that I want to share with you It’s from Kent Nerburn, an Native American author who has been called “one of America’s Living Spiritual Teachers,” and I think the quote will show you why.

Before you read it, take a moment to breathe slowly a few times with your eyes closed, to relax and to open yourself to receive these words as a gift of wisdom.

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun.

“Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made.

“And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you possess. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither.

“Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

Let me invite you to dwell on those thoughts a bit, to let them settle in your heart. Then imagine how your world—our world—might be transformed if each of us let them be a guiding light for us as we went through our days.

If we truly look past our differences and recognize our shared humanity, if we could extend to each other the respect and kindness we want so deeply to receive, perhaps we would meet each other with a new gentleness, with compassion, with a willingness to let there be understanding between us.

It’s a long quote to remember. But you can remember the feeling it creates in you and take that with you into your world in the coming week. You can remember to give of whatever you possess—even if it’s no more than a smile, or a decision not to complain or blame. You can start your day with the conscious intention to be generous of spirit to others, even with those who push your buttons, or whose differences are outrageous and glaring.

Care for those around you. Ask, “What can I give here? What can I share?”

It’s a worthy experiment. And as Nerburn says, the rewards are a life of meaning and a heart at peace.

And that, my friend, is what I wish for you this week.

Warmly,
Susan

^{Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay}

I looked at the list I compiled yesterday of events that have transpired since the beginning of the year. I was trying to sort out why I felt so overwhelmed.

It revealed a lot.

Just think, a week and a half ago we were all checking out the skies for drones and orbs as we bid 2024 farewell. Then, the next day, we were hit with the news of a man driving an electric truck into the New Orleans crowd, killing 15, wounding more, and the news of the electric Tesla truck exploding in Las Vegas in front of the Trump Towers.

Seem like that was a long time ago now?

Well, as we tried to learn more about that, a mysterious fog veiled large swaths of the planet, giving off a chemical smell, making some people sick.

That was followed by the first human bird flu death and the reemergence of Drs Burke and Fauci, promoting testing of every chicken and pig and cow in the nation. Well, maybe just the chickens and cows, I forget.

China reported a massive outbreak of a viral disease, respiratory if I recall correctly; attacks children hard.

Former President Jimmy Carter passed away at age 100 and was given a State funeral, which all the living former Presidents attended.

President Elect Trump was sentenced to nothing but having to carry a conviction on his record.

And then the fires broke out.

And nothing else mattered. They eclipsed everything.

Well, unless you lived in the wide swath of southern states from Arkansas to Virginia that were hit with a major winter storm. 55+ million affected.

And all this, in a little over a week and a half!

Didn’t I tell you it looked like this year was going to be a humdinger? That pronouncement still stands.

Close to Home

Because so many people have migrated to southern California from all over the United States and all over the world in the last few decades, a lot of us have connections to someone who lives there. The impact of the fires will be felt across the globe.

Personally, I have an 87 year old friend who lives in Santa Monica. Her apartment building is only two blocks away from an Evacuation Warning zone. A warning means to get your things together and be ready to go. It’s the step before a Mandatory Evacuation order. I haven’t been able to find out if she’s okay. The winds are supposed to pick up again tonight.

I think about all the people trying to find out if loved ones are okay.

A friend of mine got a call from his brother who lives in southern California, a good distance from the fires. His daughter, her hubby and three small kids lived in the Palisades, and lost everything they couldn’t pack into their car. Burned to ashes. Gone.

I multiply what they’re facing by the thousands of destroyed homes.

And we’re just at the beginning.

If you know anyone who’s been affected by the fire – or by loss or tragedy of any kind – let them talk with you about what happened and how they’re experiencing it. Listening is more helpful that you might guess. It lets people sort out their thoughts and put an explosion of pieces into some kind of picture. It helps them process their forever-altered reality.

“What must it be like,” my friend asked me, “to be going through this as a kid! Imagine being seven or five and suddenly everything you ever knew of home disappears. You wouldn’t have any way to understand.”

I reminded him of the studies of children who had come through World War II’s bombings and disruptions. As long as they felt cared for and loved, they grew up pretty much unscathed by the horrors they had witnessed. Children are remarkably resilient. Their forming minds don’t yet make the judgments ours do.

You do the same with kids as you do with adults. Listen. Let them know you care enough to sit with them and share the moment together.

Life can be scary, and hard. But we can be courageous and open to the possibility that, in the end, everything will turn out fine. Life goes on. Even when we sometimes wish it wouldn’t. And it always comes with it a choice to decide what you’re going to make of it.

Make of it the best you can.

Remember to ask how easy you can let it be. Remember to breathe and to look around now and then. Be an encourager in the world. We all need that.

And hey, smile!

Warmly,
Susan

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