This!

I am always in awe of the deep sense of responsibility & spirituality that often find their way into the most unlikely places with our farm guests. We had two groups of teens out on Monday. I knew that taking and posting photos from this event wasn't possible as it often is with schools, due to privacy policies. This sums up our day with such volume. This is the single photo from the day. It wasn't taken until feeding time Tuesday night as darkness crept in; yet it moves my soul to know that in the midst of a field trip 3 special young guests took the time to create this space. What is it you might wonder? I probably might not have even noticed it, had it not been for one of the girls who had told me she and her two friends had found a dead sparrow while interacting with our other animals. They had been so engaged with our livestock their hearts were heavy at the thought of this tiny bird just laying in the dirt. She told me they had “created a resting place" for it under one of our pear trees while indicating which one. I thanked her and mentioned how sweet of them to do this. I had no idea the time and care that had been taken. There are a lot of twigs on our property but not many where this occurred. The girls had to have really looked or created the materials to provide this. This...Seemingly a small pile of inconspicuous twigs, in actuality it is a tiny, very lovingly made tomb for a bird that most likely these particular girls might have just ignored at other times. This! This is why I coach. This is why we open our farm to guests. Get outside and breathe a bit today. Pause for just five

minutes and engage in the space you are in. Empty your mind of your troubles and allow life to climb into your soul. Copyright 2017 Micheline Edwards #comeplay #imaginethepossibilities #ridiculouslyamazinglife

Gotta Believe to Achieve but Acknowledgement Comes First...

A few nights ago a friend shared with me an indiscretion that was made during a recent encounter. A young lady shared her dream which was to someday marry and have children. My friend’s response was something to the effect of “then why did you bother with getting an education”. Wow! Now my friend has recoiled over this action and apologized profusely. We had some lengthy discussion over this (and damage control). I had some more intense thoughts about this response being so typical of the way we fail to acknowledge each other’s unique desires. What we do, achieve, have, aspire for and even convey to others is so often in conflict. Our actions and our desires do not always align. Even when we may appear to be very much on our game things are often capsized. The key is, “Are we playing OUR game? or are we sitting on the sidelines or playing for someone else?” When my husband and I first started dating I was on the career path. I even told him I didn’t want to get married for a quite a while. Having emerged from a “learning relationship” (that’s what they really are right?) I had a beautiful child I adored. My agenda now was to go back to my original blueprint & to wait to have others. Of course you know where this went since I already identified “him” as “my husband”. Soon we had other children. Our logic was well we already had one and we didn’t want huge gaps in spacing. While all of this is going along I keep telling myself and others that this is a logical plan. I have a great spouse, beautiful children and the pretty basic middle class dream. I struggled to maintain my career and education. I was frustrated because I felt like I was always robbing someone of time to build something. One day I blurted out in a moment of frustration “All I really ever wanted was to have a family”. Whoa….whoa…whoa…. brakes came screeching and my mind was blown. Seriously this was a mic drop moment. My husband began to utter to me, “So why have you bothered to ….” He stopped himself but I could have finished it for him. I’d been lying to even myself all these years. I was miserable. Now here is the catch for those of us lying to ourselves we are each avid story tellers creating our own lie or fairy tale. Don’t take the face value of kids’ vs a career or other things as the topic at hand. The topic is why do we lie to even ourselves about our hopes and dreams? When the fairy tales we create in our heads take twisted turns we limit our ability to find peace and happiness. Notice I stated what we create in our mind not our actual physical circumstances. We manifest what our mind conjures up and if our mind is playing a hard core game of “one of these things just doesn’t belong here” then no matter what we aspire for, have or achieve, will actually make us happy. Don’t think I am suggesting we sell ourselves short or that we can’t be “multi achievers”. What I am saying is that you need to be honest with yourself before you can be honest with others or even be able to manifest things in a joyful and fulfilling manner. You cannot live your dream whatever it is. If you can’t be honest about what you want for yourself then bottom line is you won’t have it.Being honest and owning what I desired at that time created a balance where everything even my bussiness flourished.

I am not going to pretend to know what this course of action should look like for each person; our journeys are different. But if you are searching for inner peace and even success in your endeavors; start by being honest about your vision especially with yourself. Now back to my friend it is probably safe to let you know that my friend is a young man with a keen interest in this lovely young woman. I saved this tidbit so you would not judge him as some sort of chauvinistic monster. His comment was not about her gender. To him, her actions in life didn’t match her ambitions. Now he did comment that he was “being an ass”. He was baiting her to find out what her dreams for the future really were. People intentionally mislead others all the time. My friend was going to hollow out that apple right in the beginning. Leave no margin for error in understanding about what she wanted. While he might have offered a softer approach he was wanting truth for himself and clarity for her, should their relationship continue. He let me know that he was fine with whatever her answer was but…… He couldn’t understand why someone would spend so much time pursuing one thing when in fact they dreamed of something else (not a male, female thing but about choices). We spoke awhile. I told him my story and told him if he was truly interested in her to contact her (maybe sprint) and apologize, apologize, apologize. You see he may have found a rare gem. It is so hard to find someone who actually knows what they want. Even rarer is someone who will openly share their dreams (especially when they may know they might be judged for them). Treasure those that simply answer honestly and we say that is amazing! Own your truth with honor. Recognizing & acknowledging your dreams can create self-actualization and abundance in our lives. We were created to not merely exist but to thrive. It doesn’t matter our age, our gender, our family path, our past or our present. If we are honest about searching inside our soul for what we desire and then believe it we can achieve it!.Copyright © 2017 Micheline Edwards

The "real" old new post....

Everyone needs to see we are all human. A few weeks ago I made a post to a group of young moms that were heading to my house later in the evening. I meant to post it the next morning but just now realized I failed, forgot or whatever it was I didn’t do and didn’t turn it into the blog entry I had intended. I was too lazy that particular day to make corrections or for that matter even turn on my laptop and allow it to work its self-checking magic. So here is transparency, honesty, reality, or me just being human. Here my original post minus most of the typos because, well just because… "Greetings lovely ladies part of my job as a coach is to shed light…. "bright, bright sunshiny light" on life! To steer you towards a healthier & more carefree lifestyle so here's the scoop. Transparency is huge & I have had more than one mom talk about stress & meeting expectations. So here it is my floors are dirty, my bed is unmade, I did get my laundry washed but most is not put away (on bedroom floor), I am hoping to vacuum before my guests arrive (hosting a session tonight) and I should probably put something on other than the adult onesie which I am about ready to go feed livestock in (hey why shower to feed the pigs; really! lol). Thank goodness our neighbors’ aren’t close; nobody needs “P.J. retina burn” (hey it could be a thing)! So here's the rest of the scene. I've enjoyed soothing breezes through my sunny open windows today, have had the pleasure of coaching two other beautiful souls this morning, finished some paperwork for an upcoming project & honestly I love to cook and have gotten completely lost for a couple of hours preparing delicious food for some amazing guests tonight". A follow up to this was that I allowed life to unfold and I went with the flow. Our evening turned out great. I shut the bedroom door, served great food, laughed a lot enjoyed the evening and quite frankly I probably could have left my pajamas on to greet guests (yeah, be jealous)..Copyright © 2017 Micheline Edwards #bereal #behappy #lifecoach #ridiculouslyamazinglife

Using All Your Colors

Last night I attended an art exhibition; a mind enlightening experience in itself. The room was filled with many diverse guests from all over the world. I stood at the balcony watching the sunset over the mountains as I sipped a glass of wine. The sun hidden, I slowly made my way back into the gallery; watching the guests as I weaved through the crowd to my table. I am a people watcher. I admit it. I love quiet sparsely populated places most of the time but densely populated spaces often catch my attention; stirring thoughts race though my head. I watched the interactions, choices, facial expressions, words spoken and moods that seeped into the room with the same thought intensity that captured me as I strolled through the gallery earlier in the evening. The room was an array of emotion, all taking in the same experience. I feel that your ability to immerse yourself in a moment often shapes your life more than the event itself. Some like art, some don't, some find mingling intrusive while others thrive on it. The bottom line I observed wasn't whether or not a person actually enjoyed the activity but how they engaged in the particular event. Like art; life is subjective. The experiences a person has prior to viewing a particular work of art can actively change the way they view that piece. Their mood or thoughts can affect their perception of whether a piece brings joy beyond words, is ordinary, repulsive and so on. I watched and noticed that everyone’s experience was a work of art. What they put on their plates, how they engaged in the exhibit and with those around them was all painted by the “colors” they carried around with them. Those who were leaving their "colors" put away, generally ended conversations, made bland choices and overall they didn’t engage. They seemed at best bored with the whole experience. Those that took in the space, selecting “vibrant colors”, engaged, laughed, mingled among the artwork, ate delicious food and enjoyed the evening. We all are handed a new box of colors at different times in life. Like the crayons we used during our school days we wear them out, lose them and forget where we left them. Many of us always wear out the same colors over and over again and sit there wondering why our lives always look the same. In order for the picture to be different you need to use all the crayons in your box all the time. If you don’t like the picture you are creating of your life maybe take out a sharp new color you’ve never used before. More color creates more opportunity for something beautiful. More color invites healthier choices, better moods, more engagement with others and a generally brighter, more cheerful and ridiculously amazing life.Copyright © 2017 Micheline Edwards

Defining Amazing

What is the definition of a Ridiculously Amazing Life…is it the way we perceive ourselves or the manner in which others define us and our achievements or shortcomings? We are human and by the very DNA that created us, we are not capable of perfection. We harbor an inescapable quality to use our very uniquely human abilities to make choices, engage and experience emotion. It is our very “human” qualities that allow us to be alive and function as the beings we are and not just merely navigate blindly through life. We own the gift of free will which allows us to design and deliver our own destinies. In the process of making choices we often succeed wildly. We just as often fall short or even fail completely. We tend to judge ourselves and others according to the ideals we desire. It is by the vice and virtue of free will that we often chose a path that is in conflict with our goals and dreams. So what is it that determines a person’s success or shortcomings? Some of us thoughtfully chose a path that we believe will enable us to reach for the stars. Others often consciously or unconsciously pick self-sabotage. Yet, at the end of the day these very choices no matter how we made them or what the day had to offer; are not always what define our happiness or our success after the dust has settled. Is a person’s success or joy determined then by extraneous sources like net worth, travel, beauty and notoriety? Deeply I know it is not but this is often how we measure our own greatness and that of those around us. Why is it that someone such as Mother Theresa who lived of life of vows to be humble, unassuming, nonjudgmental, chase, poor and to serve others without end; is viewed as having lived a truly amazing life? “I believe it was her ability to engage”. ~mE© Like you and I Mother Theresa most assuredly made her share of imperfect choices and was saddled by those beyond her control. What I feel allowed her to be steadfast, to move forward and stand out was that she allowed herself and choose to engage in the moment, regardless of what it brought and to walk away from it being fully immersed as it occurred. What makes you look back at a moment, an event, a day, a year or a lifetime and allow you to feel it was truly, unarguably & inequitably amazing? I feel; No, I know…. “Living a ridiculously amazing life is choosing to be physically and spiritually engaged in a given moment while being able to find or apply value to the event after it has run its course” ~mE© Copyright © 2017 Micheline Edwards