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Day 87 – Word of Wisdom the Day After Thanksgiving

Laura Fenamore — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 04:30:35 +0000

It is the day after Thanksgiving and I feel more grateful than ever.

Hope you all do too.

Since I am away today, wanted to share some comfort stuff that have come into my in box recently.

Sharing this stuff, circulating it out there in the world, makes the world a better place.

At least I think that to be so.

My dear friend Tom Stine writes, “So, if you want the single most practical “personal growth technique” there is, one that works in all areas and in all ways, then I strongly suggest you get serious about awakening. Yes, I’ve written that you have no control over awakening and that it is not something you can make happen, and that is unfortunately true. However, even going down the path and stumbling along is FAR superior to anything else out there. You need very little in the way of techniques, experience, fancy retreats, etc, to bump along the path. And you never know what will happen. I believe it is Ken Wilbur who says:

“Awakening is an accident. But we can make ourselves more accident prone.”

Jerry White, co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in banning landmines, has asked thousands of amputee survivors this exact question. His new book, Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down: 5 Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis, outlines five cycles, or stages, to help survivors overcome their worst nightmares:

1. Face Facts
Breaking through denial can be the hardest step of all. White says it took him two years to reach this phase following the loss of his leg.
2. Choose Life
Despite dark times, hold on to the hope that tomorrow will be better than the pain of today.
3. Reach Out
Resist the temptation to isolate yourself. Seek support from family, peers and other empathetic individuals.
4. Get Moving
Find the emotional determination to get unstuck from the past, get to the next day, get in your wheelchair, get out of the house and so on.
5. Give Back
The “secret sauce” for resilience. When you get out of entitlement mode and give to others, you’ll succeed with style and power.

The secret to happiness:

Make peace with your mind.
Make peace with the person you think you are.
Make peace with the world.
Make peace with life.
Make peace with everything.
Everything.

You, consciousness, make peace.
The mind can’t make peace with itself.
Make peace with all that you are.

The only cause of suffering is your argument with what is.

I suggest you love, today and every day. Just love and love more. Feel and feel more and lean into support through it all.

I love you, XO

Laura

P.S. Leah, enjoy your vacation in surfers paradise and I love your new intentions for weekly blogs…

And I am super duper proud of you for your accomplishments, the trade and all you have changed and moved through over these almost 91 days.

Day 70 – Have you ever had a day?

Laura Fenamore — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:11:41 +0000

Hello World.

Today was one of those days that I experienced more emotions than one can imagine experiencing in a day.

Just picture a roller coaster. I giggle about it now. All good. It is in the staying.

The highs were high and the lows were low. And it is all just perfect. I have emotions, I am not my emotions. I have feelings, I am not my feelings. So freeing. La De Da.

My call with John Gray went great. He is a powerhouse of information.

I suggest everyone go to www.marsvenus.com and read about what great stuff John is up to in the world. His cleansing retreats are fantastic and he offered a discount to those of us on the call. He has one this week for those of us in the Bay Area. Just mention it when you phone his office which is on the website.

John is full of information and he shared material about a liver cleanse, which I am happy to send onto anyone who requests it. Just email me at Laura@OnePinky.com.

I brought up the liver cleanse because of my deep desire to one start another movement called, “Save The Liver.com”. It is coming. Our recycling centers AKA the liver, need tender love and care and John agreed.

To our organs, especially our Livers, Hearts and Minds!

I am blessed, the day in America is almost complete here for me and as my dear friend Tricia Barrett said to me tonight, the sun will rise again tomorrow and it will be a new day Laura…

Thank God for new days and for the learning in them all.

Love, XO

Laura

Day 59 – Lessons We Learn From Spiders…and Joe Tye

Laura Fenamore — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:29:30 +0000

Leah,

I was thinking today that we should publish our back and forth posts, cause there is a lot of insight and meat here. What do you think?

I am really enjoying this ceremony of writing daily. You inspire me to want to do it even when I don’t want to. Thank you for that Sweetheart.

Speaking of Sweet, I hope my mailing resonates with many readers on the dangers of Sugar…and everything in moderation…however, people need to be aware of the impact we are having on our bodies with food, with our thoughts, with our actions.

My dear friend Joe Tye is amazing. He gets it. He gets this mind, body spirit connection and wrote a great piece that he gave me permission to share with you all today…

In honor of Halloween, Joe wrote about his experience getting bit by a spider in the grand canyon and the impact and insight that had on him…Since tomorrow is Halloween and black spiders are part of the Halloween culture, I thought this was a good time to share this with you all. And a little bit of background, Joe goes to the Grand Canyon every year, sole and he also leads hikes there. One of these years I want to go with him and I will.

Joe, in his infinite wisdom writes:

A few more spider bite lessons – just in time for Halloween

Lesson #1: Never say never. I meant it when I said that I have too many important goals and responsibilities to undertake another long Grand Canyon trek, especially solo, but I can see the day coming where there are so many Certified Values Coaches who are so much better than I am that no one will even miss me if I disappear into The Canyon for a week or so.Lesson #2: Never make important decisions based on pessimistic assumptions when you are feeling bad. That’s when you’re most likely to say “Never again” when “How might I…” would serve you better.

Lesson #3: Never assume that things will just work themselves out if you leave them alone – especially when it comes to your health.

Lesson #4: Never take your blessings for granted. The doc who took care of me at Flagstaff Medical Center also does medical mission work in underdeveloped countries. She contrasted Hondurans who walk miles to be seen and are thankful for whatever care can be given to them with Americans who throw a fit if they have to wait half an hour to be seen, and then aren’t given a magic pill that will make everything better without them having to put any personal effort into it (e.g. by quitting smoking, getting exercise, or changing their eating habits).

Lesson #5: Never be afraid to admit to your failings and weaknesses, because two good things might happen. First, you might have people reach out a helping hand (as I did yesterday). Second, your example might inspire others to have a new perspective on their realities and responsibilities. Yesterday I was especially touched by the emails I received from people who described their own “spider bites” and what they intended to do about them.

Lesson #6: Never allow venom to toxify your heart – turn it into venomade. Ever since my Lasik misfortune, I have struggled with anger at a clinic where I was given a dishonest sales pitch instead of an honest diagnosis, where they carelessly carved the wrong prescription into my corneas, and then negligently failed to help me cope with the adverse consequences of that surgery. That anger has been poisoning my soul, and was the emotional baggage I wanted to leave behind the last time I hiked Grand Canyon.

I’ve had more than a thousand people request my special report on questions you should ask before submitting your eyes to Lasik surgery. I will never tell someone to not have Lasik – that is a personal decision, and one that many people are happy with. But making it a part of my personal mission to help people be sure they are being their own most effective advocate and that they are asking all the questions that I wish I would have asked has done a lot to help me get over personalizing my own outcome – to turn that venom into venomade.

So Joe, thank you for sharing your words and wisdom.

My dear Leah, Australia is known for their venemous spiders. Beware and at the same time, know that even spiders have gifts to offer us. Bless the people and bless the tiny creatures.

Live, Learn and Let Go and Happy Halloween to all of you who celebrate it.

Love, xo,

Laura

Day 57 – Happy Birthday Ann Pogue, Check Her Out Pinky’s!

Laura Fenamore — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:29:25 +0000

Happy Birthday Today to Dear Ann Pogue!!!

Super Woman that she is.

My dear friend Jana Stanfield introduced me to Ann some years ago and I knew she was a treasure from our first hello!

Today is Ann’s Birthday, October 28th and in honor of her birthday she wrote this delightful piece for us Pinky’s that I want to share….

Here it goes. And before you even read what she has to say, don’t you all want to smile with Joy looking at Ann’s face and gorgeous smile!?

What is perfection?

What is perfection? What is normal? These are questions I ask myself regularly, the latter especially! I have long since disliked the word “normal!” It cannot be defined because there are far too many personal and individual definitions for such a word. Normal to me is not normal to the next person and so on. My truths are just that…mine and mine alone.

My definition of perfect as it relates to body image would be being comfortable in that center of knowing who you are, knowing your worth, being comfortable with who you truly are, being comfortable in one’s own skin, exuding self confidence, and that inner knowing that the imperfections one might see on the outside are also perfect because it’s those things that make us special and unique individuals. As cliché as it may sound, I wholeheartedly believe that TRUE beauty shines from within…true beauty emanates from the inside out! That inner light that shines so brightly from within, the Spirit with which a person lives, is just as beautiful to me, if not moreso, than say, the highest paid supermodel on the planet!

To me, what makes a person beautiful is not what they look like on the outside, but their heart and who they truly are on the inside. I’ve heard it said that, “If you know someone’s story, you will love them.” If only we could get past the societal perceptions of beautiful and perfect, and take the TIME to truly get to the HEART of what makes people tick, I think this world would be a much happier place!

I AM Ann Pogue…and here is a little bit about what makes me tick…

Entering into this world with the birth defect Spina Bifida and having FAR surpassed my life expectancy of ONE WEEK (if that!), all the while surviving and THRIVING through more than 65 surgeries (with the next one coming up in a matter of weeks!), I am now gratefully staring in the face my thirty-third year on this Earth (in just two days!) And I say, bring it on!! I’m grateful every single day to have the opportunity to embrace life in this perfectly imperfect world!! That’s not to say that I don’t regularly face challenges, but who doesn’t?! It’s what you do with those challenges, and how you handle them, that makes all the difference! When we can come from a place of embracing this perfectly imperfect world, as well as our own experiences, our lives can become a lesson from which others can learn. All I’ve ever wanted is for my life to make a difference…

I am PROUD to be perfectly imperfect! (Most days! )

“I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.”–Leo C. Rosten

“Life is no brief candle to me. It is a splendid torch…and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.”–George Bernard Shaw

Happy Birthday Dear Ann,

You are loved!

Laura and the OnePinky.com community