Are you willing to soar, expand, reach out, fly, and spread your wings?

Notice the small moments that bring you great joy. Share them.

What small moments bring you great joy? Post them here.

Let’s celebrate the small moments. Let’s celebrate joy!

What I had not expected after publishing the post was the outpouring of love and support from friends and complete strangers who not only thanked me for sharing about my personal experiences, but took time to send me their vulnerable stories as well. People from various countries revealed their personal struggles going on in their life. This connection gave me the opportunity to have a real dialog about what scares us, frees us, and what gives us hope. Even the word “struggle” began to turn into something a bit more kinder and gentler.

As I continue to embrace uncertainty (with open arms), I have learned that many of my friends and readers of my blog are embracing uncertainty as well. I have discovered that many folks are dealing with their own personal journeys and have been inspired to reach out and ask for help.

As we reach out, we invite others to do the same. When we extend a hand, we show that support is always available.

I invite anyone who is holding in a difficult issue to reach out. Ask. Receive. Allow yourself to be embraced by unconditional support and love. I know how difficult vulnerability is. What I have realized is that vulnerability, however scary, is less terrifying than invisibility.

Thank you to all who have extended their hand to me. I continue to be touched by all the tremendous generosity of support and kindness.

We really are on this road together – hand in hand.

What if we realized that in order to achieve success, we will sometimes have to start something stupid? After reading Richie Norton’s new book, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, I learned that the smartest people in the world don’t run from stupid; they lean into it. What if we let go of excuses and gave into our dreams?

If anyone has ever told you that your idea was crazy, then you would be in good company.  Richie Norton reminds us that many brilliant minds before us were labeled as crazy: Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Sara Blakeley, Ben Horowitz, Walt Disney and William Shakespeare.

In The Power of Starting Something Stupid, Richie Norton redefines stupid as the new smart and explaining that life-changing ideas are often mislabeled stupid. What if the key to success, creativity, and joy in your life lives in the potential of your stupid ideas?

As Norton says, “Projects allow us to experiment and determine what works and what doesn’t. They allow us room to fail and modify our ideas to achieve eventual success.” The important thing is to make room for the experiment – the stupid idea.

Isn’t it better to look back years from now and not have regret for what we didn’t do? There will always be an excuse of why we didn’t start something. Norton points out the three most common excuses: the lack of time, the lack of education or experience and the lack of money. Even if we had all of these, there is still no guarantee that our idea will work. How liberating to just go ahead and live out our stupid idea!

This book is rich and inspiring. Norton shares a very personal story about how he came to live his stupid ideas. After great losses in his life, he learned from grief what he calls Gavin’s Law: Live to Start. Start to Live.

No more excuses. Start something stupid — the smartest thing you can do.

During the month of March, I taught a teleseminar on Cultivating Joy. During the course I shared with participants, “How wonderful to know that we cultivate joy moment by moment. Breath by breath.”

Leaning into joy means recognizing the gifts of ordinary moments. It means accepting joy when it comes. If you can experience a little joy, then you can experience a lot of joy. It means seeing joy in ordinary moments.

As the course emerged, I heard folks share their “fear of joy” or foreboding joy – the feelings that joy will go away and something worse is just lurking around the corner. I name it the voice in our head that says, “This is too good to be true.” Yet, when I asked participants to share about their experiences of joy, here is some of what people shared.

Sitting down with my family for dinner. Taking long walks. Hearing laughter from my children. Having my Starbucks coffee in the morning. Watching a movie with my husband and dogs. Falling in love. Spending time with my parents. Shopping with my friends.

Joy comes in ordinary moments. Joy means being willing to be vulnerable. Rather than crave more joy, perhaps we can recognize when we are feeling joy.

How can we cultivate joy more? We can stay in the present moment. We can breathe in joy and exhale joy. We can be grateful and celebrate what we have – everyday.

Yes, joy will shift in moments of sorrow and loss. We can lean into joy and learn from our heartbreak and build resilience and hope and more joy. When we appreciate the ordinary moments then joy becomes part of who we are.

GLP is a movement. A set of shared values. A community. A creed, bundled with a voracious commitment to move beyond words and act. First, as a manifestation of your soul. And then as a quest to have the adventure of a lifetime, and to leave the world around you changed.

As soon as I read that description, I applied to be a part of the project. I made it to the interviewing round and had an amazing conversation with Jonathan Fields about bringing Toning the OM™ to the next level. I shared how I wanted to create more triZENbe communities (Zen Tribes). My goal was to create meaningful connections through inspiring (meditation) videos and global heart-centered workshops and conversations. After my interview, I received an acceptance email from Jonathan to participate in an intense 10-month program. I was one of 100 people who were accepted into GLP, but due to the financial cost, I wasn’t able to join the project, and had to decline.

After I let go of my deep disappointment of not being able to afford enrolling in the project, I celebrated the fact that I was part of a very small group of people that was accepted. And for a year, I have followed the Good Life Project™.

Another aspect of GLP is a weekly web-show hosted by Jonathan with “acclaimed entrepreneurs, artists, authors and thought leaders.” At the end of each interview, Jonathan asks, “What do you think makes a good life?”

As I still ponder my answer about what makes a good life, what has emerged for me is: love, connection, and service.

For me, a good life is all about having heart centered connections rooted in love and service. My good life focus is about co-creating experiences to slow down, opening my heart, remembering my true self, and living from that space.

Connections, love, and service are my way of living aware, awake, and alive. That is my good life-long project.

How about you? What is your good life maifesto?

What is your good life manifesto?

What happens when we look at the world through the lens of another person? Would we show more empathy, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, and love for one another?

What are we seeing and being that influences our actions in our daily lives? Everything starts with stillness. We thrive and become alive when we can sit, listen, be, and then act from that place and space – our heart. It’s more than taking actions; it is accepting ourselves for who we are deep inside.

Can we look through the lens of each other with more mindfulness?

Can I/we see what you are seeing through your lens?

Many people wonder what they’d do if they won the lottery and didn’t have to commute every day to a job that is barely keeping them going. What if living your dream was possible and you could do what really brings you meaning? Cantwell’s book gives you some practical knowledge and tips of living a “free range life.”

For Marianne Cantwell, “Be Free Range Human is not a regular business or careers book. This isn’t just about making a living without a job… it’s about discovering a world where daring to be yourself, throwing out the old rules, doing things your way (no one else’s) and creating a life that suits you down to the ground is not only encouraged but essential to make this work.” Cantwell writes about people that have figured out what they want to do with their lives and are doing living it, right now.

This book is a great introduction for people who are considering moving away from the corporate world, the traditional career ladder and aiming to make a living doing something they love. It is written in a lighthearted in style with practical exercise to guide the reader. Be a Free Range Human is for those new to personal growth and struggling with work-life balance.

The book is encouraging and useful as a way to consider your next steps towards your future.