It’s in the name. Right there. Inviting our generosity. Reminding us what a gift GIVING is! Luring us out of our shells of familiarity and calling us to e x t e n d ourselves to people and the world around us. And to feel welled-up with gratitude for having opportunities to BE our generous, loving selves.

That’s how we could choose to approach this time of Thanksgiving – to see it as an opportunity to open our hearts to life. And life is certainly profoundly generous with each of us. The heaps of blessings that pour into our lives every day is practically beyond the scope of comprehension. So how beautiful that we have a particular day to honor this divine abundance that we get to call life.

I’m all for the receiving the nourishment of life through the pleasure of eating, but I think the direction we’re being guided to move in is to open our hearts to life, and not just to gorge ourselves silly;)

But sometimes we’re hesitant to be as generous and giving as we truly want to be. We fear that the person we’re extending ourselves to won’t reciprocate or recognize our action so we hold back.

But the point of giving isn’t to get a response that validates our power and goodness. The point is that through the very act of giving we validate ourselves through generating and living the positive energies that express our true nature – love, generosity, joy, etc.

Whether you get a response from your giving or not, people ARE picking up on what you generate. They can feel you, even if they can’t quite put words to it. I mean, just think of how many times a 5 minute or less interaction with a positive person has literally turned your entire day around for the better? And then how many people you affected because of your brightened energy?

The positive ripple effect is so great, you’ll likely never know the full impact your generous spirit has on the world. And that’s completely ok because the reward has already come to you through getting to have the opportunity to be the generous, giving, wildly loving being you are.

So take a risk this week and be unusually generous in a way that helps you grow your heart a bit more open. You know what you already feel comfortable doing – what’s beyond that? Perhaps…

Tell someone you know how much they mean to you and why. Have a nature ceremony in the woods or on the beach giving thanks to the Earth for all Her abundant care. Spend time with someone who would find it sweetly meaningful to be with you. Go to you local bus stop, grocery store, seniors home, or public transit station and make music, art, or share your creative spirit in some way that gives people a boost. Wrap your arms around yourself and tell yourself how much you love yourself as you look in the mirror!

There is no greater gift you can give than that of your shining spirit… and there is nothing that will make you feel better than to give this.

So much love to each of you this ThanksGIVING!!

Heard any of these?

I can’t handle it if s/he leaves me. I earn __ amount of money which sucks because it’s not enough to live on, but I can’t earn any more. I can’t do __ – I’m too old/short/heavy/etc. I can’t go up to her, I don’t have a chance! I want to sing/dance/paint/etc., but I can’t and since I’m not an artist, I can’t try. I can’t change careers now, I’m in too deep with what I have going on… even though it’s not satisfying or not paying me well. I don’t like where I live or don’t like the relationship I’m in but I just can’t move on. I just can’t (adjoined with frozen deer in headlights look). I don’t know how. It’s. too. much.

OMG, even just READING this paragraph I feel like a doomed wooly mammoth being sucked DOWN into into the La Brea tar pits. It’s soooo dense and heavy.

But sadly, crazily, BIZARRELY, I hear people say this sort of thing ALL THE TIME. Sometimes it’s this direct and sometimes their ego tries to hide what it’s up to by saying it a bit more indirectly or being “reasonable”. But at the end of the day it’s the same thing: The Poison of I Can’t.

This poison has been dripped into humanity for ages and it runs in each of our psychological blood streams. It has soaked itself into the fabric of who we each think we are and has woven itself into how we view what possibilities are available in life. It works on each of us to close the door on our light, to shackle who we know ourselves to be and keep us feeling small… and miserably helpless.

But it’s a lie. The BIGGEST LIE. The most wildly ridiculous and fantastic tall-tale that’s ever been spun.

I mean, really – just look around at the people in your life. When you really LOOK and see who they truly are, don’t you just revel in how extraordinarily fabulous they are? Aren’t you dazzled by how uniquely talented, gloriously intelligent, insatiably lovable, and profoundly capable they each are in their own eccentric and wild way?

I AM. I look at the people in my life and am blown away by each of them… and they’re each so different, but each such precious gems of power, beauty, creativity, wisdom, and love. I am inspired beyond belief by each of them. Their mere presence ignites me to expand who I think myself to be and approach life with more boldness and heart.

And guess what? This ISN’T a “guess which one is not like the other” situation. You’re that too. You are every bit as talented, powerful, and delicious as the people in your life. Whatever crappy actions and story that may’ve been dumped on you up to this point is no more powerful than dust on your mirror. It’s nothing. Not worth a second thought. Sure, it happened. But it doesn’t define who you are for the rest of your life. Geez! So, wipe if off, see who you are, and move forward!!!

Do you know about John of God? His story is fascinating so, if not, read about him here. But, to say it shortly: he’s a healer in Brazil people travel to from all over the world. Although it’s not always the case, he’s known for miraculous healings where people who have been afflicted with life-long or terminal ailments experience spontaneous and complete healing. Far out, right? Well, one of the rooms of his building is filled with crutches and wheelchairs people no longer need… because they leave there just fine and able to walk on their own.

I Can’t is like that. It’s a crutch ego’s been using on you forever to convince you something’s wrong with you when there isn’t. So if this is a message who’s time has come in your life, then puh-lease take it in.In.IN. to the very core of who you are and toss your old I Can’t story in the dumpster where it belongs!

And whatever you’ve been dreaming of or considering, do it. Even if it’s not something you do forever, do it as an act of showing yourself you can. Because, you CAN. Now’s the time, baby, to be and live you – loud and proud:)

This weekend I was speaking with a woman who had come to the realization that she has lived the vast majority of her life living in fear, preparing for the next imagined disaster, and feeling paralyzed to take action in her life. I think this is true for a lot of us. I mean, how many of your hopes and dreams are still sitting on the shelf? Anyhow, she’s been waking up to the fear spell and sees it’s a huge lie designed to restrict her expression and aliveness. She’s OVER IT but being sick of it isn’t enough to change it and she felt stuck on what else she could do to move things forward and posed the question almost everyone poses at this fork in the road….

If I’m not focusing on what’s wrong and getting caught up in the drama and stress of that, what else would I be doing?

Considering how much time we all spend consciously and unconsciously focusing on what’s wrong, you’d think this was one of life’s great mysteries… but it’s not.

It’s could be as simple as this -

Focus on creating beauty.

Take your attention so far off of “what’s wrong” that you choose to show up as a blessing in whatever small or grand way you are moved to. Let each moment be a prayerful offering of your creative energy to the space around you, to the muse that inspires you, to who you’re becoming, to those in your life, to the collective.

I often say the best cure for depression is to be creative. 20 minutes into virtually any creative activity and whatever bad mood or feeling of stuckness I had been feeling begins to shift. It never ceases to amaze me and every time I re-remember this “magic” trick I can’t believe I ever let a day go by without showing up for my creative practices.

And as amazing as it is, creating beauty takes this magic a step further.

In the face of beauty serious alchemy happens. Contractions expand, hardness softens, individuation connects. The world isn’t filled with pictures and calendars of sunsets, ocean views, and mountain ranges by coincidence! We all crave the elevating power of beauty. We want to experience the unmistakable way it opens our heart and brings us into graceful harmony with earth and spirit but we forget that we can be the creators of beauty, not just its recipients.

Life is such a precious gift. And you are so amazing! So puh-lease don’t waste one more of your glorious moments fretting about what’s wrong, holding yourself back with doubt, or feeling insecure. The irrational fear of survival that’s cloaked in a wet wool blanket of what’s wrong that we’ve all been conditioned to live by is ready to be released.

And we are the ones who are here to do it through how we each choose (and it is a choice) to show up in our every day life. Fear and preoccupation with what’s wrong won’t go running just because you’re sick of it and dream of feeling free. It requires us to see it for what it is and choose a new, generous, creative, and beauty-filled way of living. Here, now, in this moment.

We all know we’re in a time of massive change. What’s happening with Occupy Wall Street is amazing. People have HAD IT. And for good reason. This is a great example of a large scale gesture of people harnessing their creative energy to express their desire for collective balance.

But every gesture counts – every smile, every flower put in a vase, every choice of generosity and warmth, every artful touch. They all turn the tide towards elevation in their own way. Just think of how empty it feels when you go into a home you had loved after you packed all your things up. The beauty is gone, the space is only a shell of what it had been. Every moment has that quality… it is as alive as the beauty you bring to it.

So drop any story of what’s wrong that tries to falsely park itself in your attention and weigh you down. If something needs attention in your life, do what you need to do, but please don’t get all concerned, tight, or heavy about it. It’s sometimes easier said than done but truly – you have the power to break up dense fear energies and transmute them to something much lighter and freer when you remember what a rare blessing you are and create beauty in your life.

Start now. It could be as easy as smiling.

“…for the past 33 yrs I’ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today?” And whenever the answer is no too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”? – Steve Jobs

(Hey, that rhymes – we’re off to a good start!)

Here you are – beautiful, wild, passionate, intelligent, a throbbing mass of sensations barely able to contain how much vitality, desire, love, and inspiration is coursing through your being. You’re talented beyond words, with gifts you’ve been mastering for lifetimes. You are simultaneously so completely connected to the collective that within you is the entire universe, and so utterly unique that you are an irreplaceable instrument the greater intelligence is creating through with a purpose nobody but you can do. You are made of stardust, your voice is the voice of The Creator, you are love manifest.

Seeing you like this, I am in awe of the grandeur of life. Aren’t you!? I mean, take a moment to breath IN how completely mind glowingly cosmically exquisite this being human is, this being you is. It’s wild! Profound! The stuff dreams are made of! Only it’s real, everyday, and it’s called life and you get to live it. Right now. In this moment. Here it is – woo-hoo!!!!

So when I see you (or me) hunching your shoulders, looking critically at yourself in the mirror, holding onto a relationship with someone who treats you badly, telling yourself you can’t do it, looking away when you see someone hot instead of looking at them with your winning smile, and the other 10-bazillion actions that express the low self-worth we’ve each been conditioned to identify with, I want to run up to you and tear the victim mummy wrappings of conditioning OFF of you so you can start seeing who you really are – a divine expression of light in form.

The other day this was my status update on Facebook which got just about as many “likes” as anything I’ve ever posted, which is a LOT!

One of the biggest things I’m re-creating in myself is that it’s OK to take up the space I do, in all the ways that is, and to stop apologizing for being me… or my desires, feelings, dreams, and expression. We’re all dynamic, amazing, and unique – and that takes up some space, which, to me, is a GOOD thing.

One of my friends who is beautifully WAY over 6’0″ responded, “great freaking truths of goodness expressed here…here I am large of body and breath and sound and feeling and life, and there is this tension in me for taking up space…make it go away please!”

I think we all feel that. We want the tension of holding ourselves in and back to end, to GO AWAY. We want to feel free, to shine, to express the fullness of the love we are, and live fulfilling, connected lives of purpose.

But it’s not going to happen with us constantly criticizing ourselves into being small, and whipping ourselves into submission when we color outside the (painfully small) lines our egos tell us to stay within.

It’s going to happen when we say ENOUGH to the inner critic, tune into our respective muses for inspiration and guidance, honor our feelings and desires for expression, take what’s given to us and GO WITH IT!

I’ve been experimenting with this for awhile, and while it’s a forever becoming unfolding, I’m finding that as I keep peeling the layers of domesticated human off of me, the introvert I once thought I was is more and more a thing of the past, which is so fantastically freeing, not to mention FUN!

So let’s begin. Wild and free, baby – that’s where we’re going. You in!?