Do You Recognize Yourself As A Beautiful Person?

 “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering,

known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.

These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life

that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.

Beautiful people do not just happen.”

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (Death: The Final Stage of Growth, 1975)

When we  look at our struggles, our scars and all that we have endured in our lifetimes, we have a choice.  We can allow them to define us and stay in the victim mentality or we can allow them to exalt us into a place of victory.  The hard part is letting go of the poor me attitude and embracing the triumphant attitude of I can, I did and I am able.

Getting stuck in the limelight of defeat is something that happens over time, sometimes suddenly and sometimes gradually.  The best part is when we can acknowledge that this is where we are and then find the strength to observe, to plan and to move on with our lives.  I think that’s the tricky part ~ to change the way you see things in order to make them better.  To let go of the defeat and allow the healing of our heart, mind and soul to begin.  To move on from it, to forgive and to begin again ~ just like how the dawn comes each and every day.  We can begin to see the light at any given moment or we can continue to squint in the cloak of darkness until it becomes too unbearable to us.  And that’s when we change.

I see the beauty in people.  I have always had that inner wisdom.  My compassion for others who are hurting sometimes is like a beacon and people are drawn to me and I to them.  It happens a lot lately for it seems we all have a story of struggles to tell and many times I am both the receiver and giver of such stories.  I think it’s much like an energetic connection of sorts that through the Divine, reaches out to connect people in the most unusual ways.

It’s a gift that I relish when I realize that we’ve connected and that perhaps by our meeting, has left us both with present of a moment of precious presence and understanding spirit to spirit, soul to soul.  Perhaps a fleeting moment in universal time, but important all the same.  To acknowledge the gift of presence, even for a brief time, is priceless.  Changing the way we look at the world, is a shift that benefits all of us.  To see that we are not cloaked in misery, but instead have the capacity to change our thinking to better ourselves and the world is The Presents of Presence.

I see the beauty in you when you allow your heartlights to shine and you are not hiding them behind closed doors in the dark.  Shining our heartlights helps ourselves and others to heal, to expand and to explore all the beauty life has to offer.  Do not hide dear friends.  You are worthy.  You have inner power.  You are loved.  You are beautiful to me.  I see you. ♥

Shine On!

xo

 

 

 

 

People Are Like Stained-Glass Windows

“People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed

only if there is a light from within.”

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Sweet friends, Friday has arrived!  May the weekend allow you to shine your heartlight through sunlight and storms.  Freely radiate your heartlight so that all who meet you will feel its loving warmth.  May your inner light never dim!

Shine On!

xo

Live Each Day To The Fullest

“It’s only when we truly know

and understand

that we have a limited time on earth

and that we have no way of knowing

when our time is up

that we will begin to live each day to the fullest,

as if it was the only one we had.”

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

 

Just a little precious reminder from one of my favorites.  A woman who helped me to heal by her knowledge and her ability to share it with the world when we are grieving any type of loss.  Although I never knew her personally, sometimes in reading what she wrote, I felt like she knew us all.

Shine On!

xo

Need Help When You’re Grieving?

I’m sharing snippets from here  in hopes that what I have learned from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD, will help you along the way.  Please note that her intention was to apply her 5 stages of grief to the survivors of a loved one’s death or to people who are facing their own impending death.

For me, I think the stages can be applied to any sense of loss be it financial, health, relationship, etc.  Please note that italicized words are directly from her website listed above.

A little background:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. ~ A pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying(1969), where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model. In this work she proposed the now famous Five Stages of Grief as a pattern of adjustment. These five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In general, individuals experience most of these stages, though in no defined sequence, after being faced with the reality of their impending death. The five stages have since been adopted by many as applying to the survivors of a loved one’s death, as well.

Here, I found a simple way to look at…

The Five Stages of Grief

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

Have you ever heard of them?  When you think about your life right now, do any of these feel familiar?  At times, I think we can stagnate in the stages of grief, burying ourselves in them like an old comfy blanket.  It’s not even that we flow through the stages in a predictable way.  Sometimes, we dance through them like an untrained cha-cha, forward and backwards with no sense of timing.  It helps when a friend can reach out to share the journey with you and recognize if you cannot, the stages you’ve endured and where you are right now.

Many times in my life, I have flowed through the stages, in varying degrees for various experiences which I’ve endured.  The bottom line is that through grief, we are searching for a new normal because the ‘normal’ that we knew, no longer applies to the present reality in our lives.  It’s in this way that the stages are good for us all.

It’s not an easy path to a ‘new normal’ when we must accept change.  But it is something we are all capable of learning, growing and flowing through with help.  I encourage you to reach out, to read and to ask for help.  We are here, those of us who have endured all different aspects of life’s journey.  You are not alone.

Shine On!

xo

P.S.  Have you ever heard of the 5 stages of grief before?  Have you any experience with them?  Please share below! xo