Greetings Dear Readers,
What a year January has been! Did you all feel that too? It seems 2019 wasn’t finished with us yet and has finally agreed to let us go.
After a therapeutic coffee catch up and subsequent lunch I had with one of my favorite people, we both concurred that 2020 has given us some themes to look out for—at least these things have been popping up for us. The first one is boundaries.
I’ve been doing a great program called “The Best Decade Ever” by Mel Robbins (she’s such an inspirational teacher and speaker) and it’s been nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend it if you’re willing to do the work to change your momentum in the new year (or whenever you happen to be reading this—there’s no wrong time to change your life). It lasts about 4 weeks and isn’t incredibly intensive—and it’s free. (BTW—if you’re waiting for your invitation, this is it.^^)
Anyway—one of the lessons she talks about is boundaries—and I’d be lying if I said that she’s the first person who has brought up the topic. A few weeks earlier I bought Dr. Henry Cloud’s & John Townsend’s book Boundaries, and have been listening to the audio file from Audible. A fair warning—Dr. Henry Cloud is a Christian Psychologist and he references scripture a lot, so if you’re not open to that kind of teaching then you may not enjoy the book as much. Much of the criticism I’ve read on the book has been about the fact that they both use the Bible to make their case for the need of boundaries in your life; however to be fair, if you’re reading a self-help book, you may want to do a little research on the authors to make sure it’s someone you’d trust. Dr. Cloud and Townsend’s book has been eye opening to a lot of misconceptions I had about establishing boundaries—especially the idea of a boundary being a fence with a gate and not just a wall. When it’s a wall, you don’t let people in, but you also can’t let yourself out. But when it’s a fence with a gate, you have the ability to allow the right people in, the wrong people out, and to release yourself from a self-made prison. So yeah~ boundaries keep popping up a lot.
The other theme we’ve seen thus far is life is short and time is not guaranteed. We’ve seen this already from the passing of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, Alyssa Altobelli, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Payton Chaser, Sarah Chester, and Ara Zobayan. This terrible tragedy that took nine lives has left a lot of people shocked, devastated, and reeling with emotions. And yes, people do die every day—and their deaths aren’t any less important, but it’s a strong reminder that life is a vapor—here today and gone tomorrow. The hope is to leave a legacy that you can be proud of, but no one ever knows when your time is up. So live life to the fullest—dream big—love hard. Find gratitude in each day—even on the days when you can’t seem to find anything to be thankful for—because it you never know when it’s all going to be over. Make amends, and try to find a little bit of happiness each day. Hold fast hope.
There’s a lot of things out there that will try to rob you of your joy—some are people, some are situations. But by implementing those boundaries, you’ll be better equipped to continue your journey, for as long as you’re on your journey.
Love & Light,
CM
Books I’m reading:
Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & John Townsend
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Songs I’m listening to:
Beggars by Thrice
Koop Island Blues by Koop
Jealous by Labrinth