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Taylor Swift said, "it's never too late to be brand new". 2022 is the year of big pivots, big changes, and a bold, brand-new way of doing things. Let's get started!

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying that we should “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  Too often we heart of people being told to live each day as if it were their last day on earth, the very last day of their entire life. Personally, I’ve never liked that suggestion, to live as if the end is waiting just beyond the horizon, waiting to trip me up just as I’m hitting my stride.  The idea of living with the end in mind strikes me as a little manic as I see myself chasing one thing after another. During all of the manic living, are we really taking time to surround ourselves with the joy felt or the pleasure of living?   

Being comfortable in our Status Quo is a myth.  We may feel that we are just fine because the status quo remains the status quo. We can just stay in this place, in this way and nothing will ever change.  But change comes, even touching the walls of our comfort zones and try as we might to keep it out, it will prevail.    As human beings, we were made for more. We were not meant to remain the same. We were made to be more, do more, move, live, thrive, grow. It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Disrupters, let me ask you this question: What is the Call for Action on your life that is so large that it would force you to get up, stand up and be counted? What is the thing you are most willing to fight for no matter what the cost, a reason for being so large, so all-consuming that it is causing you to say enough!   I cannot do this any longer! I have to make a change now! What are you willing to fight for, to be a bold and confident warrior for during these crazy and exciting times.   As Disrupters, we stand on the frontline of history.  It is time to pick up your Sword and Shield and do the work that we were sent here to do.

Nelson Mandela is quoted as saying that to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. Oprah Winfrey has said that the right to vote is like the crown that we get to wear as citizens in this country.  During this election cycle, we’ve heard a lot about rights, we talked about rights and everything that goes with it.  As we make the time to observe our right to vote on Election Day, I ask that we take care to both protect and express our other inalienable rights, not just when we choose our next representatives, but how we live our lives every day. It's time to disrupt the status quo!

Self-care is not selfish even though at times it might seem that way. When your calendar is full, when your life is going in a dozen directions, you might find yourself sliding self-care further down on your own to-do list. It’s been said that you cannot pour from an empty cup. We overdo, we overbook and we run out of steam until all we are left with is an empty vessel, our cup has become empty. It's time to disrupt the Status Quo!

The question for this month was Is Life Transformation possible?  . Life transformation is absolutely possible, but it must begin with a shift in our mindset. We create our own futures and oftentimes if not every time, this shift will require that we disrupt of our limiting beliefs – those things that have held us hostage until the moment that we decide that these beliefs no longer work for us. We have to want this transformation badly enough to both identify these beliefs that have held us back and understand that we must break through these.  The beauty is that we get to choose how things will be for ourselves. We are not obligated to maintain the status quo in any situation, everything changes when we decide to change ourselves, for ourselves. Transformation takes a whole lot of work and a whole lot of bravery and it may be uncomfortable at times, but it is so worth it.

BUSYNESS fills mental space until we feel ready to deal with whatever it is that we are “running away” from. And when we are done running around, there it is again, staring us in the face until we deal with it. And there we go again. Filling space with Busyness.  Staying busy allows us to avoid the work of exercising command over our own lives. We are so busy taking care of Busyness that we forget to take care of business. The personal things that we want to do, be or accomplish. Not just being the best mother, friend, spouse, etc., but being a friend to yourself. Being good, doing good, being kind and compassionate to ourselves, and eventually knowing ourselves. Whatever compels us to keep moving, the truth remains that we have to give ourselves permission to slow down, permission to breathe. It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Eckhart Tolle says saying yes means surrendering to what is, saying yes to life and watching how it starts working for you rather than against you.  Surrendering to What Is… Your Life that is happening right now.  We get no replays, no repeats.  If we don’t surrender to What Is Right Now, well, the chances are good that we will never pass this way in the exact same way or time ever again.  Unfortunately, we cannot put an incredible sunset on an extended loop nor can we record it to watch at a time when we are not so busy. What Is is enjoying the moment at the moment. Simple enough.  Being there in the moment.

What do you think about when you think about your Arena - your life?  The arena is where we go every day to be made or unmade every day. There will be daily jousts, some successful, some not so much.  Foes will be faced, and battles will be won or lost. Any situation that causes a disruption or seeks answers for this situation, any unresolved issues will affect and change everything in your Arena, intentionally or not.  It is time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Have you ever had those days when nothing seems to go your way like you’re barreling through your life with no brakes and you seem to have very little control of where things are going in your life?  I hear you, we’ve all been there at one time or another. Carl Jung, Psychologist and Psychiatrist best known for advancing the idea of introvert and extrovert personalities said, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

Who do you think you are:  six words with the power to bring you to your knees or to cause you to soar to heights unknown. Six words that will in one moment bring you immense joy as you consider the possibilities and in the next moment causes you to hide all that you are, all that you’ve accomplished. Others may ask but, do they really want to know? Mary Manin Morrissey said that “Often we lose our identity trying to please or placate others.”  We try so hard to be so many things to so many people that we lose sight of ourselves, we forget our stories. It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Some might say that one of the hardest feats that any of us could attempt is to believe in ourselves. Some might say that believing in yourself is purely a spiritual thing, that those who are truly enlightened have the market cornered in the act of believing in yourself. Whatever you’ve been through, it is entirely up to you and entirely within your power to believe in yourself. Cancel out the noise. Believe in yourself. Give yourself grace, you are enough, you have always been enough, and you will always be enough.  

Our blessed comfort zone is where we know how things are supposed to be, where every space is filled to the brim with the familiar, the predictable, the unchallenging and well…the comfortable. Until it isn’t. Within our Comfort Zones, we do not question anything outside of this zone, until something from our Arena dares to sneak past our borders, crawling through the windows or just plain beating our door down. Life will find a way and change… the one true constant inconsistent variable…makes it impossible to continue to go through the motions of the same old same old, bringing to the front all manners of questions. Why is this happening, why has my comfort zone become uncomfortable? It's time to Disrupt your Status Quo!

There is a Latin Proverb that reads “He who is silent when he ought to have spoken and was able to is taken to agree”. Silence is not consent. When we remain silent, perhaps as a means of getting along or keeping the peace, we give our power away by self-silencing.  More importantly, remaining silent allows others to imply what our stories are or what they mean and until we provide clarification – using our voices – this implication will stand as our story as we’ve allowed others to write our story. We are our stories and we must tell them now. Our voices are essential, necessary and sharing our voice is valued and valuable. We must share then no matter who tells you to sit and wait your turn.  Stand up.  Say them out loud. It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

A very wise woman once said, “At first, I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side, But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong and I grew strong, and I learned how to get along…”   When life throws you a curveball – or worse yet, hits you right between the eyes with the ball, I wanted to think that I would do a little more than just survive to trudge from one situation to the next. I didn’t want to simply survive to fight another day.   Life as a disrupter is more than getting along, it is both surviving and thriving. You are so much stronger than that!  You are no mere survivor, Disrupter.   It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of Eat Pray Love and one of my personal favorites, said that perfection and our need to be perfect is "just fear in really good shoes.  But it's still fear".   Too often, fear masquerades as procrastination as our inner perfectionist, in her quest to do everything perfectly, gets nothing done.  We spend far too much time doing and redoing even the simplest tasks trying to make things "perfect".   What if I told you that I discovered the cure for perfectionism and when applied daily and liberally could treat both perfectionism and procrastination? It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said that “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with”.  When it comes to our relationships, we are influenced, like it or not, by the people we surround ourselves with.  And this is everything, our thinking, the decisions that we make, even the way that we feel about ourselves.   But, I’ve also learned that this average should include the people who spend time in our mind whether it is the coworker who steals our ideas during every single team meeting or the ex who just doesn’t seem to understand what “it’s over” means.  All of these people, like it or not, influence us in one way or another.   But wait, there’s more!   It doesn’t stop there, social media has opened this influence on a whole new level as we are influenced by people we’ve never even met – entertainers, politicians, podcasters and the like – and their influence changes our perception and our stories.   These people, in one form or another, become a part of our “stories” and while it is ideal to be surrounded by positive people who bring you up and have your back, there will be detractors and distractors.  The key is knowing where to put them.  As Research Professor and Ted Talk Phenomenon Brene Brown says “we share with people who’ve earned the right to hear our stories”. We get to decide!  These detractors and distractors haven’t earned the right to take up this space, to be a part of our stories so we must feel free to revoke their privilege.  So, who is in your “ride or die” community? 

Pulitzer Prize Winner Mary Oliver said “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”   What we carry around in our boxes affects every part of your life. Unresolved issues affect and change everything in your Arena, my Self, my Heart, my Consciousness, intentionally or not. Things get knocked over, they spill over.  Things fall out and maybe even start to smell.  This stuff, this cosmic junk takes up space turning your metaphorical box into a junk drawer instead of a vessel that can better be used to store other more pleasant memories.  And another thing, how on earth was I supposed to view this as a gift?    As a Life Coach, I work with my Clients to confront these situations and the experiences that are associated with these so that we can start to let go of attachments to these situations.  In order to confront these, you have to call it what it is.  Uncover its truth, whatever it is. So… just a quick question:  what’s in your box? 

English actress, model, and activist Emma Watson said “I don’t want other people to decide who I am. I want to decide that for myself."  She doesn’t allow others to “insert here” whatever their description would be for her life. When you think about filling in your own blanks, what comes to mind?  Who are you?  Who have you decided to be?  And who’s choosing your descriptions or filling in your blanks? Is it you?  I mean really? What if I told you that I had a tool that has the potential to change the way you label yourself, a tool that would allow you to fill in your own blanks? What if I told you that this tool could be yours just for the asking?  That you could use this tool all day every day and never use it up, break it or dull its edge?  It's time to disrupt your Status Quo!