Forgive me if I get on my high horse a little. We all need to get things off our chest from time to time...

As Christmas is tomorrow and New Year's soon to follow, I've been thinking about how to end this year and bring in the next. I've gone through a lot of changes this year. I can't help thinking something big is coming. There's a certain excitement in the air. I'm feeling great love for everyone out there. Today I went out to do a few last minute errands and felt as if I was walking on clouds wth a big-ass grin on my face enjoying everything I encountered. I'm sure there were a few looking at me strange but I didn't care. I had my ipod on listening to fun music and almost dancing down the street. It was my own private score to the scenes playing out before me.

I mentioned in the last blog there are no coincidences. I truly believe everything happens for a reason. There are signs everywhere you look to clue you in to what's coming, if you're paying attention. We spend most of our time walking around in a dream world not being present. Most of us drag our butts out of bed in the morning to go to a place we really don't want to be just to bring in a certain income so we can put food on the table, pay bills and hopefully have enough left-over for a little fun. Something's wrong with this picture.

How many people actually love what they do? What are the requirements for loving what you do? I think the answer is freedom. Free to be your true self. We spend so much of our time doing work someone else dictates we do. It's that feeling of being trapped. We are told this is what is expected of us to become grown-ups. How do we find the balance to follow our bliss and still be responsible? I've never been able to figure that one out. We carve out small increments of time to have fun and then go back to the drudgery of our jobs. We're told to "follow your bliss," and "do what you love and the money will follow." For most of us it just doesn't work out that way because we don't know how to do it. The problem is fear. We buy in to the belief system that we must go to work in a traditional job or else we're failures. There it is...we are brainwashed. We are so caught up in what parents, society, friends and teachers tell us that we are unable to think for ourselves. We lose the joy inherent to us as spiritual beings.

Now that's not to say we don't have to earn an income. We still have to put food on the table, take care of our responsiblities and keep a roof over our head. What i'm saying is we have lost our ability to believe in ourselves. This comes out of fear that we will fail. As we continue to follow this negative thought pattern, we bring more of the same in to our lives. It's called the "law of attraction." Like attracts like. The more we believe in something whether it's positive or negative, the more we draw it closer. The more we think about something we don't want in our lives, the more it comes in to being. If we believe we'll never be able to support ourselves unless we have a conventional job, that's exactly what manifests.

I've spent the last few months trying to get rid of the negative mind set telling me I'm not capable of achieveing my dreams. Sometimes it just takes an individual or an event to come along and remind us anything is possible. Then the ball starts rolling. One thing leads to another and soon you find that creative spark ignited again, remembering all the dreams you've buried away. The signs and inspiration were always there, we just ignored them as wishful thinking and fantasy.

This past week, the signs have been everywhere and I have been more in tune to see them. I've been remembering more and more activities I've enjoyed doing but have stopped for one reason or another. Dance, listening to and playing music have always been a huge part of my life growing up. I remember when I was around six, my mother took me to dance lessons a couple times a week. The class time was divided up between ballet and tap. I was always placed as the leader in everything we did in class. That was the teacher's decision. For some reason the routines came very easy to me so the teacher always put me in the front so the other students could follow me. I realize now it was easy because I did not comprehend it was supposed to be difficult.

I remember the antique shop right next to the studio where I took dance lessons. After my dance classes, my mother and I would spend time in the shop talking to the lady who owned the shop. She had an upright piano in the back of the shop and I was immediately drawn to it. I would sit down and play music I had heard...not very well but good enough you knew what it was. I got better at "playing by ear" the more I practiced everytime we went to the shop. Eventually my mother bought that piano and I was able to continue to play it at home. Soon I was given piano lessons and taught to read music but as a result, lost the ability to play by ear. I don't know how it happened. Somehow I learned another lesson you had to be "taught" skills. you couldn't possibly of acquire them on your own. Again, brainwashed!

My point here is that deep down inside, we know what we are here to do but forget or are pushed away from the creative source. We can do anything we put our mind to as long as we believe we can. Unfortunately we do a disservice to ourselves and our children by putting creative limitations on them. Music and art programs have all but disappeared in our schools. Our kids are not learning to use their creative talents and think for themselves but to follow the pack and do as their told. Joy has been taken out of the equation. The more we believe our children are failing, the more it becomes reality.

It's time to turn our way of thinking around. That is my goal for the coming year. Dream that big dream, do the things you enjoy and love. Laugh, laugh and laugh some more! Not only am I working on releasing all the negative thoughts and bringing in the positive but encouraging all those I know and love that anything is possible. As someone very wise said...sometimes we just need to believe!

Merry Christmas!

As always,
TOO