Co-dependence

Challenge #59

We can tend to mistake a desire to feel like we belong to someone in a relationship as having actual co-dependency upon them. When we stop exercising independence within our relationships, we are exerting dependence on the partner resulting in an imbalanced and ultimately disintegrating and dissatisfying situation. In an energetic sense, if we are overly giving of our energy to our partner, they may reject it feeling as though it is either too overwhelming, stifling, or feel as though they don't need it. We not only exhaust our supply on them, usually with an attachment or expectation of the outcome in either praise or reward, and then feel bad because we didn't get what we wanted.
 
I challenge you to look at your relationship and see where your energy is going. See the pattern that your energy has taken in the relationship. Is it time to not be so giving, and allow your partner to give to you? Are you really happy in the way your relationship is, what can you do to become less co-dependent on them and to become more of yourself so that you have more to give, share and cherish?

Intervention

Challenge #58

Do you need an intervention? Do you know of others that you think are in need of an intervention? That is, the support of a number of people to help from an addiction of substance abuse? Interventions are typically designed for someone who is unable to stop abuse on their own. Sometimes we don't realize when we do need an intervention from something addictive that others may see as harmful or destructive to us. This can go from drugs and alcohol to addictive behavior in relationships leading to physical harm and domestic abuse. Some people will shy away from speaking their mind and taking action in such a situation, not wanting to get too involved or may think that it could make matters worse.

I challenge you to be proactive and step up to the plate if there is a situation in which you feel and think an intervention would help. It can be done gently or aggressively, depending on the severity of the situation. Also realize that you aren't alone, that you can do this with a group of others that share in the desire to help another. One intervention could save a life...ask yourself which you choose to do...

A Diamond in the Rough

Challenge #57

Sometimes we cannot see the brilliance of others or ourselves because of exterior cloudiness in the cuts, scratches, and scrapes that show... but everyone of us has the potential to be a gleaming radiant "gem" of a person. Perfection in every facet of ourselves is not only achievable but easy to attain.
 
I challenge you to seek out to polish the diamond in the rough that you are and to ease up and see the potential in others. It won't happen over night, but in time, as you chisel away the imperfections, smooth out the scrapes and continue working on yourself to clear up the wounds and work towards purity, you will begin to radiate the perfection that you always were on the inside outwards.....

Adoption

Challenge #56
Adoption in the most recognized public form is the legal acceptance of the responsibilities for a child or pet and that includes providing a home and incorporating them into their families.
As a child of adoption, I can say that it is not always a perfect picture. It can be a wonderful thing, provided that the motives of the parents adopting are really doing it for the child's best interest. It depends on whether or not the focus is truly on the child's best interest or on the selfishness of the parent's desire to have a family, no matter what, or to look good in the eyes of society as having taken in a disadvantaged child. Sometimes people think that what they have to offer, materially or emotionally is for the child's good, when in fact it can be just the opposite. The child is coming from a place of true pure innocence, the adults are the one's that for whatever reasons, create the problems.

Here is a quote from Abraham-Hicks to take into consideration when adopting or raising any child:
"The child is thinking, and receiving vibrational thought from you on the day that he enters your environment. That is the reason that beliefs are transmitted so easily from parent to child, from parent to child, from parent to child. The child is vibrationally receiving your fears, your beliefs, even without your spoken word... If you want to do that which is of greatest value for your child, give thought only to that which you want, and your child will receive only those wanted thoughts."

--- Abraham
Excerpted from "The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham" # 179

A child will remember 1 negative thought and action regardless of the hundreds of positive ones from their childhood, so always be willing to be positive with your children.

Fear based forms of discipline such as control and guilt only serve to shut the child down....do you really want to treat the child like an animal?

If you have thoughts of adopting a child, or even in raising your living children now, I challenge you to really ask yourself what is your true belief and reason to adopt a child or pet in this world into your own? Take a look down the road 10, 15, 20, 15 years down the road and see that child in it's adult form. How have you helped them? What are you doing to do your part to make them a better person, to help them learn and grow? Are you really willing to invest the time and yourself to do this? Look at your personality types, are you really the type of person who can selflessly give to help another? Does your ego allow you to be wrong at times or do you always have to be right and in control? Do you think you are so right you have to make others decisions for them? Do you think you have to tell them what to think, dress and act like to make them better and to be a better reflection of you? Are you able to provide the college education you swore that you would when you filled out the initial adoption paperwork? Do you really have the financial means to take care of the child in a suitable way that you swore to? What are your thoughts surrounding discipline and how do you discipline? Is it through fear based models such as control or guilt to get others to do what you want them to? Will you allow that child to embrace and develop a relationship with their culture if they are from another country, and their own personality? Or, would you force them to live with your beliefs, your way of thinking only? Is your life really about you and how they fit in? Or, can you be open to really allow them to fit in and provide all the nurturing and caring without passing it off to the babysitters? Can you let go when you need to? Can you support them in finding their birth parents should they desire so? Are you open or closed? Giving or selfish? Fearless or fearful?

Solar System

Challenge #55

Seeing yourself as the sun and the center of your world, and the planets as the varying orbiting entities in your life can shift your thinking from feeling that you are stuck, as planets are always moving, and you are always changing. Notice if it makes you uneasy to think that you are the center of your world, as opposed to others being the center.  

I challenge you to look at your world as a solar system, your own galaxy, complete with planets, stars and black holes. See the planets as the fixed entities in your life that are elemental to the existence within your galaxy, Mars as money, children, spouse as your Earth, Mercury as work and career, Venus as love, relationships, Saturn as spirituality, and so forth, etc. See vortexes, meteor showers and black holes as occurrences. Draw it out, put names into your planets, create your own galaxy as noone else can.

Eye of the Hurricane

Challenge #54

Tropical storms are no stranger to residents of the Eastern US Seaboard. In recent years there has been much material and emotional devastation due to them, what with Katrina, Andrew, Hugo and others. People have lost their history, biography and biology and some risked their lives to help save others. The safest calmest element within a tropical cyclone storm or hurricane is the Eye. The eye can span as little at 2 miles to 200 miles, varying on the speed and temperatures of the winds that govern the storm. While it is impossible and not suggestible to ever try to be in the "eye of the hurricane" during a live tropical storm event, it is a metaphor to follow the path of least resistance in the face of tumultuous times around you, maintaining calm in the swirl of high pressure.
 
I challenge you to not get caught up in what is going around you for the day and to see yourself in remaining calm and within the eye of the storm. If you are in an area today that could be affected by Hurricane Irene, think wisely, safely and calmly. Do what you need to do while keeping a sense of peace about you.

Popping the Question

Challenge #53
In light of two states allowing gay marriages to come forth on the legal front and be realized, what are your feelings towards them? I challenge you to look inside yourself and see what it is that you feel. What you really feel, not what society tells you that you should be feeling. Anger, doubt, agreement, resentment, unfairness, peace, fear, love? Write these feelings and thoughts out on paper and then ask yourself why and how you might be able to change them if they are not positive. This doesn't mean that you have to agree or be positive about it, but to find you own inner resolution that brings peace to you as to why you have these thoughts and feelings about this topic.

Legacy

Challenge #52
Have you taken the time lately to look at what you will leave behind for your loved ones? What is it that you want to be remembered by and as. Are there possessions that personify you that you desire others to have? How do you desire others to cherish thoughts of you? I challenge you to take a look at what you want to leave behind when you leave this earth plane. Make a list of what you want to give to others, how you want to give it to them, and when you desire the tasks be done. Create a folder and begin to collect the necessary documents in preparation to carry out your desires properly. Write out your legacy, your history. Make it humorous, or serious, heavy or light. What are the things that you have done to contribute to society in a positive light? Think of how you want others to carry on memories of you and your life. If anything, this will help you to realize that you have a place on this earth and that you have the right to be remembered as you wish, you just have to create it...

Inner Child

Challenge #51
Alot has been written about the inner child. We all have unhealed wounds from our pasts that we have quieted down, made disappear or neglected from our childhood days. Inner child work can be very profound, healing and cathartic. I challenge you to go inside and look for your inner child. If that isn't a very easy process, take a look at how you react to things, make choices and live your life. Or, draw out your inner child and write about him or her. What do they look like, what memories are coming back that reflect the old hurts? Have they ever been able to heal? Who is your inner child?

Color

Challenge #50

What is your color? We all vibrate to a special individual color. Now that particular color can be a blend, but whatever it is, it is unique to anyone else. How do you react to color? Do you have a favorite, do you dislike a certain one? What emotions come up when you are see a particular color? Joy, bliss, calmness, love, coldness? Or, do you gravitate towards buying or wearing clothes that are a certain color. What colors do your furnish your home with? Are you comfortable in the colors present at your workplace?  

I challenge you to find your own individual color. Go to a paint store or a store that has a large paint department with several brands and look at the color chips. Take a little time to just stand there, breathe deeply and relax. Repeat the deep breaths for about a minute or two, slowly without getting dizzy. Gaze a bit on all the different colors, close your eyes and then allow your mind's eye to form the color that will begin to appear. Slowly open your eyes, find the one that closely matches what you saw in your mind's eye and pull that chip/s. If you don't find the color that formed in your minds eye, then gravitate towards what closely matched. When you get home take notes on how the color you saw varies from what you are able to find. Carry the chip/s around with you. Hold it up to the walls at home, your possessions, your clothes, your skin and your face. Notice how you will begin to feel once you find your own individual color....

Nourish

Challenge #49

While we spend time nourishing others growth, worth and sustenance, we often forget to do the same for ourselves.  

I challenge you to find something that nourishes your soul, whether it be something as simple as watering the flowers, trees and grass in your garden, feeding ducks in a beautiful lake, riding your bike, or creating a gourmet meal for others...if it feeds and nourishes your soul, then do it. Sometimes we get nourished by helping or doing for others, and other times, we have an inner craving that feeds just ourselves. Find your source of what nourishes your soul and feed it....

Prism

Challenge #48

Prisms can be used to break up pure singular white light into their spectral colors, such as the colors in the rainbow, and those that govern the 7 main chakras that run through the core of our bodies. Take a clear crystal that is multi-faceted with smooth surfaces and hold it up to the light, watch as the colors begin to separate through each surface as rays of colors.

I challenge you to take this a step further and look at one element in your life and put it through that prism in your mind's eye and see it coming out in different "colors" or perspectives, each one having a different quality, a different layer of view. Do this to help change your beliefs on issues that you may question, want to let go of, alter or change. Notice how things begin to look different through the perspective of a prism....

circuitry

Challenge #47

Circuitry typically refers to electronics and the connection of systems that perform a particular function. Our bodies also have an inner system of circuitry that runs along the same electrical principal of negative and positive. In fact, our bodies are our own electrical systems, and we can therefore generate energy. To be at our optimum and generate the best positive energy however we need to be in pretty good running condition for overall superior performance and to feel better.

I challenge you to examine your inner human circuitry and do a maintenance check on yourself. Evaluate the differences between the left and right sides of all of you, your eyes, your facial muscles, your arms, your legs, your feet . Are they each in working order and functioning properly, are you balanced out at this level? Do you need to seek out a professional diagnostic with a doctor or physical therapist? Ask the same of your family, your partner, children and relatives, have them do checks on themselves as well. Get your inner human circuitry in great shape to begin to prepare for fabulous new beginnings....

Survival

Challenge #46

Living in survival mode is what most of us are living in and have been for a very long time without fully realizing it. I know, as I have been doing the same. We move along in life with a deep down part in us that is numb, not only to others, but most importantly, to ourselves.  

I challenge you to look at your life and see if you have been living in survival mode, what part of you is shut down, closed off. It isn't so important to figure out the why's yet, just for today, begin to go inside and recognize any emotional numbness....

Barter

Challenge #45

In tough economic times, having the ability to creatively utilize your skills in exchange for someone's else's as a service can truly come in handy. Opening up to the thought that bartering is actually more welcome these days helps to ease up on the wallet when trying to make the monthly bills, and also realizing that you are not the only one out there with these thoughts.
 
I challenge you to barter with someone. Be creative with your bartering, your crafts and skills may be of interest of someone that may not have an artistic side to them. Your personal time alone can mean so much to someone who hasn't the time to put into something. And then when you do find that you have something to offer that someone else can use and need, you can offer to volunteer your skill later down the road...

Go Fish!

Challenge #44

Way beyond the childhood card game, to go fish, can be a wonderful way to relax, enjoy nature's serene tranquility and indulge in the game of the hunt as well as the catch of the day.

In metaphoric terms, I challenge you to go Fish! cast your net upon your desires and reel it in....

How big is your Window?

Challenge #43

When you take a look outside a window, what is your perspective? Do you see the same as everyone else? Or, do you see a bigger picture? Perhaps the opposite, maybe you see less than others.

I challenge you during today to take a look and see just how big your window is. What is it that you see, want to see, or, see more clearly? Take it a step further and make your window bigger to include more...whatever more means for you.....

Framing

Challenge #42

A powerful visual tool that I use for my clients when utilizing guided imagery or hypnosis is what I call "framing". Where you visualize a picture frame in your mind's eye and put what you want to be when you have reached your desired goal. Not the images leading up to it, but the finished product. It can be of whatever you want as long as the positive desired image of you also emotionally resonates positively so that you can have a deeper, richer experience. Similar to a treasure map, but faster.
 
I challenge you to "Frame" your desired image of something you want. Sometimes to actually create it as a cut out of a picture frame over pictures or of something you have drawn helps to make a clearer picture in your mind and memory. You can decorate the frame as well and make it your own unique work of art, putting in your time, energy and love. Hang it up in a place where you can focus and meditate upon it. Place it under your pillow as you sleep at night. The point is to have a direct image of exactly what the end result is of what you want and then focus on it as a desired intention...and watch how quickly it will manifest for you....(Please remember, only intentions that are positive, filled with love and good for all are recommended, as what goes around comes around...)

Breaking down the Walls

Challenge #41

Today in history marks the 50th anniversary of the Berlin wall in Germany which divided the country from within that city until 1989 when the East and Western governments re-united. Blessings and light to the people of Germany~!
Let's take a closer look at breaking down barriers within our personal lives. Why do we guard ourselves so much? Is it insecurity that drives us, protection, of what? Trust? What is it in particular that we can't trust? Why do we not allow ourselves to see other points of views?
 
I challenge you to ask yourself what it is that you put up a barrier for. And then, how to begin to break it down, or at least chip away at it until it is gone....

Dance

Challenge #40

The movement of dance is so beneficial to us all. The interpretation of dance is very subjective to each of us, as it can come in so many variations and play upon our emotions.

Whatever appeals to you most should be the one you choose for this challenge, so I challenge you to get up off your chair or sofa and DANCE, Dance, dance. Dance by yourself, dance with your partner or friend, dance with your kid/s, dance with a neighbor! Now if you are movement challenged and cannot, then I challenge you to tune into a tv, online or live show and watch so me dance, any kind of dance and become aware of your feelings afterwards. Most likely you will be uplifted not only from the visual aspect but also from the music used with the dance....

Skeletons in Your Closet

Challenge #39

What makes this so....daunting? Skeleton bones themselves can be frightening to view, especially when there is familiarity to them, any relatability to ourselves. The phrase came from seeming one way on the outside to others and holding secrets or of having things you would prefer not to be known to others. "Skeletons in the closet" are embarrassing things which we would like to put away so other people cannot see them.

I challenge you to address the skeletons in your closet and begin to work them out so they are not so embarrassing to you anymore. This doesn't mean that you need to be so open as to tell everyone your secrets, but allowing yourself to be free of the guilt or shame of them one by one will allow you to become stronger and lighter. Support is all around you if you look. Living a shame, doubt and guilt free life is your right....

Harvest

Challenge #38
Autumn festivals have just begun all over the world, calling forth a change in season, an early reaping of what so far has been sown from the spring. A seemingly impatient eagerness to enjoy the fruits of labor that we put into what was created. I challenge you to exercise patience in the harvest of your efforts for this season. See the transition as an inevitable flowing wave of abundance to you, rather than demanding it to come forth. The universe has its own natural rhythm in which the seasons come and go. Allow yourself to begin to tap into that universal ebb and flow and watch how your bounty will astound you....

Security

Challenge #37
When we think of security, it is typically in the form of financial. Having a home, owning property, valuable possessions and having others in our lives to provide or share in that security. Or, we think of the risk of losing it, in the form of identity theft. And, sometimes we think of our families, spouses or children that provide emotional security for us. Rarely do we look at our individual emotional security, with the meaning of the word security being relative to the things outside of us. The opposite of security is insecurity. So much of insecurity is a result of deep down fear. Fear that we will get rejected, fear that we are not good enough, fear that we will not have the security that we want and think we need or deserve. This fear acts out in strong ways. It can act out in anger, control and criticism of others. It can also act out in ways that make you cower to those you feel are more powerful than you, not speak your truth at times and, enable others in unhealthy ways. I Challenge you to find inner emotional security and realize how the opposite - insecurity or fears - has sprung out an affected others. Not that you need to immediately take action once you realize, just begin to notice, understand and digest....

Lollapalooza

challenge #36
Chicago is celebrating this weekend, most cities do classify their celebrations as "lollapaloozas", or outstanding examples of how they should and will be done. I challenge you to throw yourself a lollapalooza of a bash before the end of the year! We are coming in to a new season and a new you, celebrate yourself and the end of summer or the beginning of fall. Transition abounds and you can revel in the fact that it is all positive. The changes you have been making thus far from all the "challenges" are proving that you are and can be one lollapalooza of a human~! So, go to it and make me proud!!

Gilding The Lily

Challenge #35
"Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may."
-Plato,
In other words...Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
Sometimes we want to take things a step further, to create or take what we think is something beautiful and make it more beautiful. Take a look at how this can make us feel better, and why. A heavenly chocolate icing for an already scrumptious cake, make-up over a gorgeous face, a sharper riff for an already genius pattern, one more accessory for a stunning Lamborghini or Maserati. What is it that drives up to want to take it up a notch, how does that truly improve us or our lives. Is it ego? Ask yourself. I challenge you to Gild The Lily in one aspect of your life today and see how it makes you feel, better or the same....

Negotiation

Challenge #34
At some point in our lives there is a need for negotiating, or having the ability to come to an agreement between ourselves and another party for what both wants that doesn't lesser either of the values of each desires. Whether between siblings, parents and children, relatives, friends, and in business. I challenge you to learn the art of negotiation in your life. Sometimes the road to coming up with successful agreements begins with learning how to control your emotions, other times it is understanding the other person's side of the matter, but most often than not, if you come up with an objective that both sides are able to see fairly, negotiation is easy and natural.

Trading Places

Challenge #33
We are not all born alike. We vary by color, origin, beliefs and actions. Take a good look at yourself. Take a good look at someone else. Try to imagine yourself walking in their shoes, living their life. I challenge you to trade places with someone unlike yourself for just one day. Maybe what looks golden on the outside is not so bright on the inside. Perhaps what you think is a better life than yours may just be the opposite. Perhaps it is an understanding that you need to realize, of how another person is treated in society that is different from you. And, perhaps it is simply a much needed break to get away from the routine...

Exploration

Challenge #32.
Welcome to August 1st! It is the 213th day in our year, we have 152 more days until 2012. Today in history in 1498 Christopher Columbus reached our mainland. You don't have to charter a ship and set out to discover a new territory but you can venture out and just explore the neighborhood, your town, other towns and more. A great way is to just start taking a little walk down your street, get to know your neighbors on a first name basis while getting some exercise, just on your own. Try setting journey markers for yourself by picking certain homes or buildings. You can also drive to a safe area that you are not familiar with but have always wanted to see and start walking, take your pet if you like. I challenge you to bring out the inner explorer in you. Take the little steps to begin a new journey for yourself...