Karen Salmonsohn, a woman who I’ve learned to love through the magic of Facebook, has recently released a new book called INSTANT HAPPY and created a little contest for bloggers. We have to choose a quote from her new book and write about it. Just like any good miracle, there’s a quote I love that perfectly meshes with what I planned to write about tonight anyway!
Everything you’ve ever done, every person you’ve ever met, every experience you’ve ever had is a part of who you are today. Everything needed to be as it was, otherwise you wouldn’t have grown into you.
(from Karen Salmonsohn’s Instant Happy book)
I’ve mentioned the book proposal I’m working on several times recently.
I initially thought it was going to be a compilation of previous posts and life lessons from The Miracle Journal. But as I’ve worked on it, the concept has grown and changed quite a bit. I’ve discovered that it actually encompasses the learning and teaching that I’ve been doing for the last TEN years!
The moment that got clear to me I started to cry – honest to goodness, it was that profound.
For so long, I felt completely unfocused – I’d pick up a project and throw my everything into it, and then six months later I’d put it down and choose a new toy to play with. I moved from project to idea to project with manic abandon. I accomplished a lot of things that I set out to do…but I never felt like I was making headway toward my larger life goals.
This has been going on for the last 10 years. In fact, it’s been an exquisite relief to actually STICK WITH this journal for more than two years!
One of my favorite pieces of Karen Salmonsohn’s inspirational art
Imagine my surprise when I realized that all of those experiences actually had one common thread – a learning and a teaching that I was completely unaware stood under everything I’ve done!
Time after time, my workshops, writing and coaching have all come back to the same fundamentals: naming our experiences, taking a step back from the experience to look at the lesson, and then sharing our experiences in a way that fosters community.
I haven’t been working on hundreds of unconnected projects. I’ve been working on one larger vision…but I was too close to see it.
The learning feels deep and profound. I finally feel connected. I feel ready to move forward, knowing that I have a decade worth of work providing a solid foundation…no matter where I go next!
Every single one of those experiences has brought me to this exact moment. The moment where I’m getting ready to spread my wings and fly. The moment where I choose to see myself as ready. The moment where the only thing to do is close my eyes…and jump.
Thanks for the reminder, Karen!
Today’s miracle:
I am who I am because I’ve been where I’ve been.
(click to tweet)
Note: I’ll be on eFitFamily radio talking about The Miracle Journal tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4 p.m. EST. Join us at www.blogtalkradio.com/efitfamily!
4 comments
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Lisa LaPlante
February 25, 2013 at 10:20 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Your journey has been and continues to be such a beautiful one . . . and one I am SO grateful to have been a reader of. The world is a more amazing and miraculous place because you have chosen to share these lessons.
I can’t WAIT to read your book!
Leah
February 26, 2013 at 6:46 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thank you SO much, Lisa!!! Sending you a big hug. 🙂
Amy
February 26, 2013 at 10:19 AM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks for this. Your tendency to attack a project with “manic abandon” and then leave it behind to move quickly to something else resonates with me wholeheartedly. I’ve often worried that I am a “quitter” because I like to move on quickly. I am learning now that there is merit in the way I operate, and that all of this craziness is part of the larger scheme.
Thanks for doing what you do and supporting those of us out there that can only hope to achieve as much as you have and will continue to.
Love & Light,
-Amy
Leah
February 26, 2013 at 9:56 PM (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh Amy! Yes! We’re taught in school to sit still and learn the lesson, and we have to do everything at the same time as all of our classmates. And then we go out into the world and everyone is supposed to show up at 9 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. And apparently that works for a lot of people. But there are SOOOO many of us who don’t flow to that rhythm…AT ALL! And yes, there IS merit in the way we operate. In fact, I think the world would be poorer without us.
Of course, some days it’s hard to remember that when I’m in the middle of feeling like I’m a crazy person. 🙂
Thanks for letting me know this landed with you.
With a hug,
Leah