My “Instant Happy” Happiness Tool

How many self-help books have you purchased over the years?  How many audiobooks, meditation CDs and products have you tried to make your life happier, more successful or wise?   How much money have you spent looking for magic dust – that one key to unlock the door to your potential?  If you are like me, you have a whole shelf on your bookcase dedicated to self-help, have spent hours listening to audiobooks in the car or at the gym and still been left empty.  Why?

Your Wisest Guru Is Your Inner You.  I found this quote in Karen Salmonsohn’s Instant Happy book.  I read this quote and pondered it for a few days as I considered whether I truly am wise, a guru or a luminary.  I resisted the thought that I was a guru.  Doesn’t being a guru or expert, etc take special training?  Who am I to think that I have that?  I was told for years that creative pursuits were a waste of time and “not a real job” that added anything of value to the world.  Introspection is scary; sometimes scarier that the monster under the bed.  What is it about looking at ourselves with love and listening to the wizened soul that scares us so much?   So I made a list.

• Do others look up to me?  Yes
• Do others find my story inspiring? Yes
• Do others tell me that my strength gives them strength?  Yes
• Did I believe those things about myself?  The answer at first was no.  I believed that following my inner me meant that I was being arrogant.  It took some time, a deep bout of depression and near mental breakdown for me to decide that I needed to listen to the calling of my inner voice.

I already was a guru.  It was inside all along.  I knew what I needed, what represented the authentic me – I simply needed to do it. I began art journaling, a daily journaling practice, started sharing my work online and made photo walking my daily exercise routine.   I shared my vulnerabilities, doubts and concerns on social media and eventually on my blog.  That little voice keeps me honest.  By being vulnerable, I learned that I wasn’t alone.  What?  You don’t believe it could be that simple?  There is a voice that speaks to each of us.  That voice doesn’t shout – there is no neon sign, no infomercial or money to be made from our doubts and fears.

Want to write, paint, go back to school, start a business or care for you?  Take the first step.  .  . Your Wisest Guru Is Your Inner You.  ~ Karen Salmonsohn

What is your guru telling you?

This post was inspired by Karen Salmansohn’s INSTANT HAPPY book.  You can find more information about the book here:   www.notsalmon.com/instant-happy-book

 

You Don’t Need A Stinking Pedigree!

Fraud.  Merriam Webster dictionary defines fraud as a : a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : impostor; also : one who defrauds : cheat or b : one that is not what it seems or is represented to be.  The word has such negative connotations that most of us wouldn’t dream of being one.  The idea of being fake, putting one over on others or being deceptive is repulsive.

Yet when it comes to being our authentic, creative selves that is often what we think or fear we are.  Our souls burn for us to write the stories that can only be penned by our own hand, to create what only our unique way of seeing can create and for us to give voice to what only we are able to sing.  So what holds us back from changing passion to action?

Often, we feel as though we don’t have what it takes.

• We haven’t spent years and hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars on classes and degrees.
• We don’t have credentials to be a “REAL” artist so how dare we think we can sparkle and share anything of value?
• We listen to the voice that tells us that saying “I AM” is merely an avenue for someone to discover what we DON’T know and reveal us as a fraud.
• We don’t have a large portfolio of work, so we “aren’t there yet” and haven’t earned the right to call ourselves creative, an artist or anything else that our souls call us to be.

Want to know something very powerful?  You don’t need no stinking pedigree to be real!  You are real because you live, dream, breathe and exist.  You don’t need anyone else’s permission to shine.

The biggest truth?  No one is “smarter” than anyone else, we only know different things :~) Remember that every expert was a beginner at one point in time and likely felt exactly what you are feeling.  Brave hearts move and doubt their doubt.  Brave hearts move out of the groove that threatens to keep them paralyzed and comfortable.  Brave hearts learn that by climbing out of the box one leg at a time that the universe holds blessings and they will be richly rewarded.

Being a brave heart is choice, not chance.  It is a conscious act to heed the calling and be who we are.  The most powerful thing we can say is I AM.  Say it, do it and be it.  The universe needs what only you can provide.

 

You Have A Fan!!

Magnificent One,

I’ve been watching you over the past few years and I am enchanted by your beauty, grace under fire, intelligence, kindness and creativity.

Your light shines brighter than the stars and touches everyone you meet.  The way you stand up for what you believe in gives others the permission to do the same.

You are a bright meteor flying through the universe, never to be caught but visible to all, even from behind the clouds.  You are loved and are love.  © 2013 Paulissa Kipp

So I ask you:  What would your fan letter say?

 

The Value of Starting Over

It is the beginning of a new year and often new goals and dreams launched, mistakes assessed and a changing of course often occurs.  Maybe you sit down to write a resolution:  I will leave the carbs alone, I will lose this spare tire, I will learn a new hobby or launch a business or get my life in order.  Maybe you sit in quiet reflection and meditate about the course of your life.

Either way, we often find things that didn’t live up to our hopes or expectations.  Sometimes, we even label those things as “mistakes” or “regrets” and vow never to falter again in the same way.

Why are we so hard on ourselves?  Is there no room for learning?  Is everything an either/or situation in which growth is unvalued?  Joy and confidence stem from deliberate movement.  Any step forward in an effort to learn is a positive one.

And when those steps are tentative and unsteady and we fall, that does not mean that we’ve failed.  It simply means that either we haven’t learned enough to master things in the fashion that we would like or that our choice isn’t right for who we are.

Are you quashing your joy and making yourself a whipping post?  First of all, STOP IT!.  Then take a moment to consider the progress you’ve made and what you’ve learned deep in your heart about the situation.  What is your gut telling you?  It is never too late to start over, to change course if necessary.  There is always more than one approach.  Listen to that brave voice within and move forward gently into the sun.