It’s Monday y’all and I’m feeling really excited! I have been this way all weekend. I feel such an energy in the atmosphere! It feels like restlessness or the feeling that something big is getting ready to happen! Do you feel it? I know you do!! With this energy surrounding us and with today being Monday, I felt like this was the perfect time to encourage you to look within and see what areas of your life need your attention and begin the journey of transformation. There is no better time than now, so don’t let another day go by before you decide to begin your journey!

One of the hardest things for us to do in life is to take a look at the woman or man in the mirror and take responsibility for the circumstances of our life. It is so much easier to place blame on those around us who have caused us pain in some way rather than accept the choices we have made that play a part in creating our circumstances. Oh, this is not going to be a pleasant one today but it is NECESSARY if you are ever going to start living the life that you so desire. So sit back, open your mind and heart and prepare to begin the first day of the rest of your life.

First, let me make one thing clear: What’s happening around us on the outside is a direct reflection of what is going on with us on the inside! This may be a foreign concept to you, but it is one that you must grasp if you are going to move forward. Your life-your situation, your circumstances, your state of being- is a direct reflection of the state of your mind! If you are experiencing disorder within, your life will reflect disorder without! Sit with that one for a while and let it sink in. What you are experiencing on the outside if reflective of what and how you think and feel on the inside!

It is tempting when we have experienced emotional pain in some form, to hold on to that pain and make it our story. It’s the story that we tell over and over to ourselves and to everyone else. It’s the story that we use to gain pity from others and to wallow in self-pity ourselves. We begin to believe in the story, which starts to define us and becomes who we think we are. The boyfriend or girlfriend who did you wrong!  The parents who didn’t listen to you when you were growing up! The person who violated you as a child! Oh, I’m going deep today!! I’m getting all in your business! Why? Because it’s time you get off the ride of self-pity which does not serve you in any way and start being the person you were created to be!! Yeah, I know it was painful but is over! It has no effect on you anymore!  And the sooner you let go of the story, the sooner you can begin to LIVE!

The first step is to understand who you! You are an extension of the Divine! You are not your story! You are powerful, creative, magnificent, beautiful, loved, worthy, and good enough! Some of us have believed in the story of who we have told ourselves we are for so long that we actually begin to live the story. YOU ARE NOT YOUR STORY!

The second step is to open your mind. I recently wrote that the hardest thing to open is a closed mind, and I find it to be so true! Once we begin to believe in something, it is almost impossible to open our minds to the possibility of something else! But IT IS possible, so open your mind and be willing to learn and try something new.

Next, be willing to take responsibility for your life! See! Right there, some of you are ready to stop reading and go back to telling yourself your story. But if you are going to grow, then you must take responsibility for your life and the choices you have made that have contributed to your circumstances. It’s tempting to go back to the familiar because it’s often what is comfortable. Growth is never comfortable, and the pain of facing ourselves and the choices we have made can hurt like nothing we have ever experienced before. But again, it’s necessary!

Taking responsibility does not mean blaming yourself!! It does not mean judging yourself! It simply means that you acknowledge the choices that you have made in your life. If we sit and honestly look at our life, we will see that our circumstances are related to the choices we have made, but again, that doesn’t mean we go into judgment or blame mode.

Once you have opened yourself up and are willing to go within and acknowledge your hurts and how they contribute to the story you tell, and how it is holding you back, transformation will begin to occur. This is not an overnight process, so be patient with yourself. And don’t think for a minute that this is going to be an easy process, either! It’s not! It will be ugly and painful! The hardest thing to do in life is to look at ourselves in the mirror and acknowledge that we, not everyone else, are the problem! To acknowledge that subconsciously we create the circumstances or the drama in our life that we say we don’t want!

Well, those circumstances are just that! Circumstances!! They are not your life so stop believing in them and begin to believe in the power of your creation! Believe in who you are! Believe that you are worthy of the life that you dream about! Believe that the story you have been telling yourself and others no longer serves you, and be willing to let it go!

This is a good time to begin a meditation practice if you haven’t already done so. I encourage you to make time for yourself on this journey by getting up half an hour earlier than you normally do. Create a practice of prayer and meditation for yourself that works for you. Please don’t get spooked out by the fact that I said prayer and meditation. This is not a religious thing. Whatever your beliefs are, whatever your spiritual practices are, I encourage you to build a prayer and meditation practice around those beliefs. There are many books and other resources on meditation, and I encourage you to find one that works for you.

Whatever method you choose to aid you on your journey of transformation is fine. Just get started! Make a decision today to let go of the story you have held onto for so long! Make a decision to work through any issues or past hurts you are holding on to. Make a decision to transform yourself from the inside out and start living the life you dream of! It begins with YOU, and it begins today! Have a magnificent Monday!!

In luv and Dessert,

Leisa Monique