The end of the year is a great time to to take a look at where you are in life — to pay attention to what asks to stay and what begs to go.

The beginning of the year is also a great time to do this.

And so is today.

We don’t need a special occasion or holiday to look at where we are in life and decide if it’s where we want to be.

Today is as good a time as any to take a look — maybe the very best time — since it means we are paying attention to our life and listening to what it has to say to us.

My life is speaking LOUDLY to me right now. It is not using its inside voice.

On Monday morning, I found this image, from Patti Digh, waiting on my Facebook page:

 

 

 

 

 

STOP DOING THINGS? WHAT????????

And I stopped to breathe that in for a moment, to just be with it.

Something inside me lit up. Like fireworks. Like spotlights on a stage. Like fierce lightning that rips open the night sky as a storm approaches.

So difficult it seems but  is really so. damn. simple.

STOP.

Whose life is this anyway?

STOP.

There are no shoulda-woulda-coulda’s.

STOP.

There is no cosmic measuring stick.

STOP.

There is no switch to swat my bare legs all the way home.

There is only my heart. and my soul. and my deep inner sense of being that is tired, oh SO tired, of dancing to drums and dreams and rhythms that are not my own, that are not of my own choosing (and yet, who chooses them but me?)

Eight words to FREEDOM.
STOP DOING THINGS
you don’t want to do.

Honor my Self.
Honor my desires.
Honor my life.

And so I have begun to STOP DOING THINGS I don’t want to do.

It feels wonderful. delightful. delicious. and kind. So very kind.

Thank you, Patti Digh, for your ever-illuminating insights and your willingness to open our eyes as you keep yours open.

Love you, mean it!
Steph