Don't Let Your Sentences Become Your Sentences

How does it feel to be locked up? Something that you have been saying has you confined in a cell. Which

of your words are holding you back?

Perhaps you say things like "I'll never find a better job." "He or she is the best I can ever get." "I'm too fat." "This just the way it has always been."

Forming these thoughts are the crime. Speaking the words are your sentencing. Everything that follows is you doing time. You are the criminal, the judge and the jury, and now you are living a reality that you have created with your words. This all unfolded clearly for me when I was in my integrity class last week and I heard my friend Michelle say, "Your sentences will become your sentences." What type of time do you want to serve while you are here on this Earth? Do you want to punish yourself with hard time? Or will you speak words that create a life that you love?

This week I encourage you to examine your sentences. What do you want for your life? Are the sentences that you say in alignment with that?

You have the choice between prison or prosperity. Jail or joy. Lock down or love. Confinement or courage. What will you choose?

Freedom lies within your words.

Reside in Right Now

Where are you right now? Literally, you are probably sitting at a desk, looking at your computer or phone, in your home, office or a coffee shop. Even though that is where your physical body is, is the rest of you there too? 

You are probably watching the clock in anticipation of your next break, lunch or the end of the work day. You may be thinking about what happened yesterday, last month or ten years ago. You might be worrying about a bill that is due, an upcoming event, or dreading something that you’ve been putting off and you’re not looking forward to doing. One thing that I can almost guarantee that very few of you are doing right now is being present. 

We are often everywhere but here. The top three places that we tend to live are inside of our head, in the past or in the future.Unfortunately, spending the majority of our time in these places leads to discomfort and a lack of enjoyment which makes us miss out on the true experience and adventure that is life. I read the following quote the other day…

“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future.When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.” ~ Author Unknown

I know firsthand what anxiety and depression feels like and they are NOT fun feelings. So this week I encourage you to move out of those places and take residence in the present. Look around you. Take in what is there right now. If you are outside, look at the sky, the trees and the beautiful spring colors. Take a deep restorative breath. Have an actual conversation with the people around you instead of the people on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram and in your phone.  

We often look to the future for our happiness and blame the past for our lack of it, but the secret is that true joy is only found in the right now.  Move in to this moment and finally find what you’ve been searching for.  Move out of the future and the past so that you can reside in right now.

Your TODAY List

For most of my life I’ve operated from a daily To-Do list.This is generally a long list of tasks that I’m not particularly excited about doing, but I know that these things must get done and I have to write them down to make sure that I don’t forget them.

I rarely get through the entire list in a day and the chores often carry over for days, weeks or even months depending on how unenthusiastic I am about the item to be accomplished. So the other day I thought, wouldn’t it be exciting to put things on the list that were fun and crazy. This led me to thinking about how we are really only promised this moment. We really only have today for sure. What if we lived as if each day was our last? How different would that To-Do list look?

For me, it would become a Today List and it would include adventurous activities such as taking a spontaneous road trip and having dinner in another state or country (Canada is right across the bridge from us here in Detroit), or visiting one of the amazing places right here in my city that I often take for granted, like the Motown Museum because it is so close that I figure I can just go any time…Perhaps making a call to say “I love you” to a Grandparent or someone who you rarely reach out to but you hold dear to your heart.

This week, I encourage you to spice up your regular list and make it a Today List, living each day to the max as if it is your last.

Enjoy!