Before you take even one more step forward, Dear One, forgive yourself; for whatever it is that you did yesterday that you regret, that you wish you had not done, that you wish you had done better, that you wish you could take back, change, erase or undo.

Forgive yourself – no questions asked, without judgment, without condition, without threat of punishment or fear of condemnation.

Just forgive yourself.

Give yourself this gift today.

You deserve it.

And those around you deserve it too.

All of your thoughts, words, actions, and connections will be all the more powerful, genuine, authentic and meaningful, Dear One, when you are fully present in the here and now, when you are no longer holding yourself hostage in your past.

There are two ways that you can choose to respond to any situation, Dear One:

• Like the victim of your circumstance
• Like the creator of your circumstance

One defines you as powerless and the other as powerful.

Which are you going to choose to be today?

If you want to start feeling better about the decisions that you are making in your life, Dear One, we have a suggestion for you:

Only make decisions that you feel good about, and stop asking other people what they think about them.

Learning how to be brave, Dear One, is not about learning how to ignore your fears.  It is not about learning how to summon up the courage to push, force, or convince yourself to do something that you are afraid to do, that you don’t think you are capable of doing.

Learning how to be brave is about learning how to listen to and trust that part of yourself that knows exactly what it is that you are capable of, that knows exactly how much you can endure, that knows exactly just how powerful, clever, resilient, valuable, and strong you are, and prioritizing that voice above every other one that is telling you otherwise.

[NOTE: A recent repeat but this is the reminder that I needed most today.  Breathe with me, won’t you?]

• Choose what comes in
• Choose what goes out

• Choose to hold on
• Choose to let go

• Choose what you want more of
• Choose what you want less of

• Choose what is worthy of your attention
• Choose what to ignore

• Choose what matters
• Choose what does not

Your choices are the breathe of your life, Dear One.

They sustain you. They nourish you.  They replenish or deplete.

They determine the pace, quality and depth of the days, months and years of your life.

Like your breath, Dear One, your choices are more powerful when given the benefit of your full attention.

Don’t give up now, Dear One.

You’re so close.

Right this minute, right where you are, you are only one thought away from feeling so much better.

If you want to know what freedom feels like, Dear One, if you want to know what it feels like to be free, to fly — you’ve got to be willing to jump.

There is no other way.

Wonder. Wonder. Wonder. Wonder. Wonder. Wonder.

You can wonder “What will happen if…..” from now until forever.  But you’ll never know for sure until you try.

What are you waiting for?

So many of you keep asking us and yourselves “What went wrong?”

When things don’t go according to plan, when things don’t turn out as expected, when things don’t go as desired, as you hoped they would, as you wanted them to, as you needed them to, the first thing you very often ask when the dust begins to settle is “What did I do wrong?”

And we can tell you, Dear One.  We have the answer to that question.

Here it is:  You did absolutely nothing wrong.

How do we know?  How can we say for sure?

Because there is no such thing as right or wrong. Right or wrong are judgments.  There is only connection or disconnection, allowing or resistance, living your life with an open heart or a closed one.

That is all.

So the next time that things go awry, in a very small inconsequential way, or in a very large and significant way, instead asking yourself “What did I do wrong?”, trying asking yourself this:

• Did I choose connection or disconnection?
• Did I choose allowing or resistance?
• Did I choose with an open heart or a closed one?

Do that, Dear One, and what you will end up with will not be a list of judgements against yourself, a list of your faults, mistakes, bad decisions, or weakness.  But you will end up with a list of useful, hopeful and actionable insights instead.

You know that you have reached your edge, Dear One, when the place that you are standing feels new, foreign, or unfamiliar to you (and maybe even just a little bit scary).

When you get there, when you reach that place, that edge, there are a number of choices available to you.  You can…..

• Stop and turn around
• Rest yourself comfortably upon it
• Slowly inch yourself over it
• Confidently walk through it
• Break it down with thunderous applause

There is no right answer, only a choice to be made.  And the choice of course, is entirely yours.

But we are here to tell you that thunderous applause is a whole lot more fun then advancing with quite confidence – Although both are preferential to standing still or moving backwards.

Do it your way, Dear One, not anyone else’s.

Don’t look around to others for answers or for acceptable protocols or codes of behavior for how you should proceed.  Because the truth is that you are never going to find any that will ever serve you better than the ones that you create for yourself.