Saturday, March 28, 2009

GREETINGS FRIENDS!!

Sorry to have fallen off the blogging train. So much has happened in the last couple of months that I became more than a bit sidetracked. When I last wrote I was having serious physical challenges and was deciding what to do about my full time job. Well, the challenges persisted and I decided not to return to my job.

I’m working with a life coach, Lisa Dalton. Her web site is www.rockyourlifecoach.com (check her out, she’s fabulous!) She made a very astute observation. She said “Dinah, it seems like you need to make a decision between making a living and making a life because you don’t have the physical strength to do both!” That was a pivotal statement for me. As much as I valued my work, I had to admit that she was right. I was a vocational counselor for people with disabilities. I sincerely enjoyed my clients. However, my physical stamina at 45 is not what it was at 25 and it was time for a change. She then said something like “Dinah, the choices and decisions here are pretty simple. They’re not easy, they’re simple when you look at them honestly.” –Another pivotal statement! ‘Simple’ and ‘easy’ are vastly different concepts that I/we routinely confuse.

Yes, I needed to leave my job so that I could take care of and rebuild my body and preserve what I have. That was pretty clear to anyone who knew me. However, as simple and clear as that choice was, it was not at all easy. My job was part of myself definition. It was part of me. Leaving it felt like I was walking away from part of myself.

I found myself wondering about what many people with life changing disabilities wonder about…
“What will I say to people when they ask me what I do for a living?”
“Will people think I’m lazy?”
“What will I do with my time?”
…and on and on….

Well, I’ve been off of work for about 3 months now. Job number 1 has been about healing. I’m no good to any one unless I take care of myself. I’m exploring my options with my life coach. I’m opening up to the possibility that I can be more than my previous definition of who I thought I was. I’m big on reframing things in my head when I realize a thought doesn’t serve me. Why look at myself as “less than” because I needed to make a life change? Why not see this as an invitation from Universal Wisdom to shed previous limiting definitions and become “more than”!! I’m more than a job title. I’m more than a self imposed definition. I/WE are possibilities in motion when we allow ourselves to be that!

I invite you to open up to your own possibilities regardless of where you think you are in life. You too are more than your self-talk and so much more than your current definitions of who you think you are. Possibilities abound for all of us when we can open our eyes and say yes! –It’s so simple and practicing it can make it easier every day.

Blessing to you!
dinah

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dinah....you ROCK!

As the person with whom you share the credit for the shifts you have had recently (it is so HER and not me that made that happen!) I want to applaud you for stepping up into your life and choosing your strength, your gifts and your faith to let go of what you needed to so you can be free to serve in an even bigger way than you have. Your book is *awesome* and this time gives you the opportunity to reach even more people that can benefit from your message.

You personify one of my favorite quotes for your willingness to embrace who you are: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?” ~Marianne Williamson

Rock on, my friend!
~Lisa