Posts Tagged ‘Celebrate’
What Opens You to a Change of Heart?
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
After listening to a Holly Near song at a recent Celebration of Life Show in Provincetown, I was reminded how much we can make the changes we want in our lives just by changing our hearts.
As Holly Near sings:
“Something changes in me anytime there’s someone singing
All the songs I’ve never forgotten, let our voices sing them strong
Something changes in me anytime there’s someone standing
For the right to be completely all the good things that we are
There’s a change of heart
Anytime there’s someone counting
All the lives that won’t be thrown away
There’s a change of heart
Anytime you join the choir, be a voice up on the mountain
Or see a fire…in the rain
Something changes in me when my arms are held wide open
Fear and hate are set aside and only love remains
Something changes in me and I feel a deep emotion
While the ones who offer help replace the ones that just complain”
Where am I offering help rather than just complaining? It’s time to stand up more each day for the right to be completely all the good things that we are!
Mary Anne
What Is Blossoming in Your Life?
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
“And the day came when the risk to remain in a tight bud was more painful than the risk that it took to blossom.”
~Anais Nin
As we celebrate the month of May, let us open ourselves up to all that is blossoming around us and inside us. Is it time for you to open the bud inside and allow yourself to shine?
There are times when hiding our gifts is more painful than sharing them with others. What will it take for you to open up and risk sharing the blossom of you?
Let’s celebrate “blossoming” in the month of May!
“Blossoms are scattered by the wind and the wind cares nothing, but the blossoms of the heart no wind can touch.” Yoshida KenkoHappy Blossoming ~ Mary Anne
Did You Do Your Best?
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
There was a time growing up when I didn’t doing well in school and my mom asked me, “Did you do your best?” I told her I did and she said that was all I needed to give others – my best. My mom told me I could be anything I wanted and believed in me at times when I didn’t believe in myself.
This past week I completed my certification as a Life/Executive Coach from New York University. It was a big undertaking as I work full-time and run my own company as well as had major family health issues come up while taking classes. There were times I thought I was going to give up. Keeping up with all the courses, homework assignments, readings, completing forms, and coaching clients became all consuming. Yet, through it all, I have met some of the most amazing individuals (some of whom have become my closest friends). I have come across men and women from ages 25 – 65 that see potential and possibility in the individuals, business executives, and organizations they partner with. This exceptional group of coaches is all about life-long learning and developing their own sense of self-mastery. They are vulnerable, generous, and supportive.
After completing the last course, I celebrated with my fellow coaches and then went home and celebrated with my partner, Lorene (who has encouraged me every step of the way). I told her I wish I could have picked up the phone to tell my mom that I finished the coaching program. I still miss hearing her voice. Instead, I opened a box that has photos and other memorabilia and pulled out a photo of the two of us. I looked at a photo of my mom and I, cried, and said, “I did my best.”
Special thanks to all of my family, friends, and coaches for being so supportive on my journey.
Mary Anne
This is dedicated with gratitude & love to my teacher, my coach, my mentor, and my good friend, Paulette Rao.
A Coming Out Party!
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
A coming out party is in order! The recent buzz of Ricky Martin didn’t feel like the usual announcement — “Yep, I’m gay.” Rather his announcement was more like, “Yep, we know you are gay.” From Adam Lambert to Sean Hayes to Ricky Martin, more and more people are coming out of the closet. By the time they publically announce their sexual orientation, there have already been rumors flying around. After coming out, people want to know what took them so long.
Every “coming out” is personal and courageous. As my friend Joe Monkman shared in his blog, Fishing for Soul, “Denying who we are and living an inauthentic life can sometimes (maybe all the time) create suffering.” Living authentically means embracing who we are and allowing our full light to shine.
I think back to high school when I realized I was gay and was hoping and praying no one in my Catholic High School knew. I thought I did a pretty good job hiding it and paid the price by withdrawing, suffering from depression, and emotionally shutting down. I carried a story about high school up until this year when finding friends on Facebook gave me the opportunity to reconnect with so many alumni. I actually thought my high school friends would not even remember me and even blew off my 20 year reunion a few years ago as a way to keep the story alive about feeling so disconnected in high school.
As I began to reestablish connections with high school friends, I saw how all of our lives held many versions of “coming out in the world” – whether it was getting married, finding a life partner, having children, moving away from family, getting a divorce, having to deal with children who have special needs, or being courageous in our careers. Every day we have the chance to come out. Over the last 20 years, I have come out as a gay woman to my family, my friends and my co-workers (that’s a story all unto itself). I have come out in many other areas of my life as well. I have had to accept myself as an entrepreneur and small business owner. I have declared myself to be a writer. I am out in the world as a Life Coach. Each one of these parts of my life is a chance to shine my light – to play bigger – and to stop hiding who I am.
How do you come out in the world? How do you want to come out fully and shine your light for the entire world to see? Let’s all have a coming out party!
Thanks!
Mary Anne
This is dedicated to all my family and friends—especially to my friends from Paramus Catholic High School for accepting me after 20+ years (despite my blowing off the reunion).
How Will You Celebrate Spring?
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
~Margaret Atwood
The seeds planted in the dark days and nights of the Winter season are now bursting through the earth. Do you see them?
The hope and trust we placed in the cold earth is showing us the miracle of life in fruits and flowers. What does the season of Spring mean to you?
As we celebrate a new season of longer daylight, blooming buds, birds singing, and warmer days, may we honor the seeds within that are pushing through. What seeds are you watering?
How will you celebrate Spring?
Let’s all put our hands in the dirt!
Mary Anne
Peace – There’s an App for That
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Peace - There's An App for That
“Do you want to identify a bird? There’s an app for that.” “Do you need to find a pizza place in Brooklyn? There’s an app for that.” “Do you want to find the place with the best surfing conditions? There’s an app for that.”After watching so many commercials about the iPhone, I have come to realize that they have over 35,000 applications (app). There’s an app for almost anything right at your finger tips.
This started my thinking about what other kind of apps could be added. What about having a peace app? What would a peace app look and feel like? What if just by hitting the peace app button, a whole screen opened up for us to fully experience peace? Perhaps that app already exists inside each of us and it is just a matter of accessing it.
There is an incredible CD, Celebrate Peace, by Snatam Kaur. This CD is about spreading hopeful messages about practicing and cultivating peace. Kaur talks about all of us sharing in the vision of witnessing peace everyday all around us. Kaur says, “Peace begins with choice, develops through practice, and spreads by example.” The question then becomes, are we willing to practice and share peace with one another? It starts with each person being peace. We can then see peace in each other.
Each of us can be the peace story. On a cold day in January 2003, an “old man” stands by the side of the road in upstate New York holding up a sign. The United States had just declared that we would go to war. And one man stood in bitter cold temperatures wrapped in a flannel shirt and wearing a winter cap with a sign that simply read – PEACE. That man was Pete Seeger. He has spent his lifetime teaching and living peace by cleaning up the Hudson River and singing songs of hope and peace. He just turned 90 years old this year and is still gathering folks to joyfully sing together. Seeger’s songs are about spreading peace and harmony throughout the world.
We can celebrate peace each and every day in small and big ways. We can speak kinder words – and listen to one another. We can practice peace in our everyday lives in how we spend time with one another, how we support one another, and how we collaborate with one another. Let’s celebrate every moment of peace. As Kaur says, “By celebrating peace, we acknowledge that it exists, call attention to it, unite around it, and inspire others to embrace it.”
Inside of us lives peace. Be peace. Live peace. Love peace. Give peace. Peace be with you – my peace I offer you. Offer each person you meet today your peace.
We are so much more than our technology – we are the human spirit.
Peace – There’s an app for that. Humanity.
This blog is dedicated to Pete Seeger for all his work and music that creates peaceful connections throughout the world.
Peace!
Mary Anne