Oasis For Change

11/10/2020

11/08/2014

Even when it seems like nothing is going right... You can turn around and see the most beautiful achievement in the world.

11/08/2014

All you can ask of yourself is to do your best.

"What I will try to bring to the stage today (beneath my words) is an awareness of this truth — that it is not always easy, that sometimes we let ourselves down, that our humanity can sometimes feel cracked and heavy and deeply flawed...and we might not be where or who we want to be yet...and still: we are all doing our best. We rise and do our best. That's the heroic part."

READY AS I'LL EVER BE...

Dear Ones -

I took this photo at 6am this morning in Seattle, getting ready (in the green dress you all kindly selected!) for the 7th stop of Oprah's The Life You Want Tour.

Let me tell you something about life on the road. Some days you are more confident than others. Some days it flows out so certain, so easy. But other days, you have to dig a bit deeper, to find your power.

I've been distracted over the last few days by myself, in a way that isn't necessarily helpful. (My friend Rayya and I call this state of mind "feeling our humanity," and it usually means: processing some pretty hard stuff.) Not to go into great detail, but twice in the last few weeks, I have lost my temper in ways that took me by surprise, and humbled me. Both times, it was in professional settings, and both times I felt like I was defending myself or holding vital boundaries, but I lost control of my emotions, and I lost my perspective, and certainly went blind to the holiness of the other people in the room. I didn't start screaming or throwing things, but I didn't love the way I acted — this is not at all the person I strive to be — and I have been processing some serious shame this week over having failed to rise to my highest self. I certainly did not BRING THE LIGHT, as I always strive to.

So when you're in that place, feeling that you have let yourself down, and then you have to go on stage (as I've had to do three times this week) to dispel life advice to others....well, sometimes you can feel a little shaky on your feet.

And yet, and yet...that "humanity" I've been feeling so hard this week is also the humanity of connection, of honesty, of the reality of life in a human experience. We've all been there. We are all working through our stuff, fighting our way to the light, trying to move on past our shortcomings. So I try to bring that truth to the stage, too. Like: We are all in this hard but magnificent game together.

I read a lovely quote recently from the actor John Cleese. He was asked who his hero was, and he said, "Most people. Because everyone is doing their best."

What I will try to bring to the stage today (beneath my words) is an awareness of this truth — that it is not always easy, that sometimes we let ourselves down, that our humanity can sometimes feel cracked and heavy and deeply flawed...and we might not be where or who we want to be yet...and still: we are all doing our best. We rise and do our best. That's the heroic part.

So now I'm gonna dry my hair and put on my SPANX and stand tall in my own boots and my own truth, and go speak the best and highest love I can to a giant room full of beautiful beings. All of us, feeling our humanity.

It's not perfect...but it's so, so perfect.

ONWARD!
LG

10/08/2014

My friend Keysa Hale, Health Coach has done what the majority of us are too scared to do. She was unhappy in her job, was not feeling healthy- physically or mentally- and realized that she had to make a change. She did not win the lottery. She did not receive an inheritance from some mysterious uncle she never knew she had. She did not find herself a sugar daddy. She followed her intuition and made a leap of faith. All of those excuses you have about "if I only had more money" or "if I only could catch a lucky break" are invalid. Success doesn't happen overnight, it does take some planning, some practice following your intuition so you know you're on the right track, but it also takes courage. The "comfort" of the steady pay and PTO of our dysfunctional jobs are not worth our health.

10/07/2014

Still dreading your work week? Maybe it's time to think about changing it.

When does it start for you? Is it on Monday morning, when your alarm first goes off and you press the snooze button? Is it over night, as your busy mind plays over and over for you all of the thi...

09/29/2014

Ooh, goosebumps. Take the leap!

09/25/2014

When its rainy or gloomy scroll through old photos that make you smile. Then hold on to that feeling for the rest of the day! -Anna

Dolphins and the Morris Island Lighthouse to help on this rainy Tuesday! Thanks for the perfect shot on a recent dolphin excursion!

www.charlestonoutdooradventures.com

09/14/2014

Your value doesn't decrease based on someone's inability to see your worth.

09/11/2014

Great group for teachers experiencing burnout.

Ready to sign up? Click here to get started? Join our Facebook Group Are you a teacher experiencing burnout? You are not alone! (Not sure? Check out this article to read through the signs and sym...

09/09/2014

Teacher Burnout Is Real -- 4 Ways to Avoid It | Franchesca Warren

Determined to finish out the school year strong, you continue to teach until the last day of school. Despite your optimism you still cannot "shake" the feeling that maybe teaching is not the career you...

09/09/2014

RT Tracey Suits: The Educator's Room: Initially a teacher suffers emotionally, but it becomes physical, too. http://buff.ly/1w9bUcr

Results from a study show that among teachers,the mortality rate from autoimmune diseases is twice that for people in other professional occupations.

08/24/2014

"People will love you, people will hate you -- and none of it will have anything to do with you."

08/22/2014

Timeline Photos - Live More Awesome

Found at http://buff.ly/1nhBQdo

08/21/2014

...

08/18/2014

"It just blooms."

08/17/2014

Read this. It is wonderful. Brilliant. A perfect answer to an everyday question. When and where will you be taking your next journey?

Dear Ones — I wanted to repost this essay I wrote from last year, because the question came up again (as it always will) just the other day...hope it's helpful!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: IS IT SELFISH TO GO ON A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY?

Somebody asked me this the other day and it made me smile, because it reminded me of the years between 2006 and 2010 (what I call "The Eat Pray Love Years") when somebody (often a reporter or interviewer) would ask me this question EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It's been a while since I've had to answer it, so I will take a trip down memory lane here, and answer it once more.

The answer is: No.

No, it is not selfish to go on a spiritual journey. For that matter, it is not selfish to go a vision quest, or to embark on therapeutic/psychological self-examination, or to go on a pilgrimage, or to devote yourself to prayer and meditation, or to take any sort of creative or healing or investigative voyage into the self whatsoever.

Because:

1) It is your divine and intrinsic right as a human being to discover who you are, and who God is, and what your purpose is, and what your talents are, and where your joy is to be found, and how to ease your own suffering and the suffering of others. (In fact, seriously: What else are you going to spend your life doing, if not, at some point, taking a bit of time to try answering even one of those questions?)

2) Going on a true journey of self-exploration should not be confused with going to a spa for a weekend. It is not a way of spoiling yourself. It is not a luxury. It is not a mani-pedi for the soul. Nor is it a relaxing endeavor — as anyone who has gone deep into meditation or self-examination can attest. We don't necessarily take on the central questions of self and divinity (Who am I? Who is God?) because it's FUN. Often we are driven toward those questions by great suffering, and can only work our way through those hard questions with tremendous courage. Sometimes we don't even want to ask those questions, but simply must. What's more, these questions can be asked at any moment, from any place in the world, in the midst of any situation. These are not questions for the rich or the privileged only. You don't need a plane ticket anywhere to explore this stuff. I have a friend who is investigating these questions from within a prison cell right now — and trust me, even from within his seven-by-ten-foot cage, he is ON A JOURNEY.

3) Going on a journey toward the self is actually a public service. You know why? Because until you get to the bottom of yourself — until you humbly investigate the roots of your own suffering and nonsense and misery and destructive patterns — you will just keep causing mayhem, misery and trouble...not only for yourself, but for others. A friend of mine who has been savagely unhappy for years finally started therapy a few months ago, and he said to me, "It's super helpful, but I just feel so selfish, spending this much time and money on myself..." To which I replied, "Trust me, dude. It is benefiting ALL OF US." (His wife and children most of all. But seriously — all of us win whenever a loved one gets helped or healed.)

4) I was once told that in Mandarin there are two words that both translate into "SELFISH" in English. One means "Doing something that benefits you." The other means, "Doing something that benefits you at the expense of others." In English, we don't have this distinction. But there is a recognition in Chinese that these are two different notions — that it is not necessarily true that anything you do for yourself harms others. Sometimes you can do wonderful and important things for yourself without taking a thing away from another human being. This is the difference between self-care and greed. Self-care = GOOD. Greed = BAD. They are critically different. Never forget it.

5) THE END.

Have a nice day/quest,
Liz

08/13/2014

Found at http://buff.ly/1lTqIDb