Tomorrow Will Take Care of Itself

Do you trust the process of life?

Yes? Don't be so quick to answer... Let me get more specific.

You just lost the job you'd held for 20 years. You could barely afford your mortgage working 70 hours a week and, now, you don't even quality for 8unemployment not to mention you have a $650.00/month car note that has to be paid if you're going to get to and from job interviews.

Do you trust the process of life?

Or what if you've been trying to get pregnant for 6 years? You've tried everything, exhausted your savings, annihilated your 401(k) and took out a second mortgage on your home, all for 3 tries at In Vitro Fertilization that all failed. You're broke, your marriage is falling apart, and still no baby. Did I mention you're 38?

Do you trust the process of life?

Or what if your entire life, up until now, has been one disappointment after another? For every step you took forward, life pushed you two steps back. Every time you got a new job with some promise, you got assigned a nasty boss or mean co-workers and when promotion time came around, you were always passed up. You live in the same one bedroom apartment with two cats and a dog and you haven't been on a date in years. Your life feels like the Movie "Ground Hog Day" and, no matter how hard you try, nothing seems to get better without getting much, much worse right afterwards.

Do you trust the process of life?

It's so simple to say 'yes' when asked the question but the truth of your answer is not when life is all sunshine. It's when your smack dab in the eye of the storm. Your lesson in every obstacle is to take hold of your vision and use your power to see opportunities, not obstacles.

Every fallback is your golden opportunity to make a comeback. Failure is a result you now know how to achieve and, therefore, can choose not to experience again. When you know the equation of losing, it means you also know that the equation of winning is something entirely different.

Stop replaying all of your mistakes. Learn from them and do something different and, no matter what, no matter what comes, no matter how you feel, and no matter what it "looks" like, know that the universe always conspires in your favor.

Cultivate faith so, even in the tough times, when asked "Do you trust the process of life?", you can answer "Yes!" and really mean it.

Strong Women Aren't Noble; They're Brave

I've always had mixed feelings about the word "strong", especially when seated next to the word "woman." Too often, I've seen people make strength the reason why women endure abuse, stress, anxiety, unhappy marriages, unfulfilling careers, and so on.

Notice that we never say "He's a strong man" as if it's some extraordinary feat. His maleness, in society's eyes, assumes strength but it's not a strength that cripples or burdens. On the contrary, when we call a woman strong, it is almost always in the context of her overcoming some horribly burdensome experience. Whether it's raising 6 kids on her own or working 3 jobs while going to school at night or getting out of an abusive relationship, we call her strong as if it's some sort of medal she's earned.

If that's a medal, disqualify me from the race. There is no strength in allowing others to treat you with less love, respect and honor than you deserve. There is no strength in living small so others feel big. There is no strength in taking hits to your soul, in not being able to pursue your life's purpose, in taking care of everyone else at your own expense. There is no strength in being noble if noble costs you your life.

So I say this with all honor and sincerity and faith in the spirit of women everywhere. Strong women aren't strong because they're noble. They're strong because they're brave. Strong women know what they want and who they are... or they're avidly in pursuit of finding out. They don't apologize for being themselves. They don't feel shame for making mistakes. They teach people how to treat them and they look at others with the same amount of love, respect and hope that they hold for themsleves.

Strong women say yes when they want to say yes and no when they want to say no. They are patient with themselves and others. Strong women try new things and keep around them other strong women because they know that there is more than enough for all.

Strong women know they're own souls, listen to their inner wisdom and go by what people do, not what they say. Strong women show before they tell. They love without expecting it in return but they always love themselves first.

Strong women know that their greatest achievements in life are the products of love and forgiveness. The more of each they give, the more they receive. Strong women live in the present moment because the past is gone and the future is being created now.

Above all else, strong women don't have to be strong all the time. They accept and love themselves for who they are, where they are and nothing anyone else says or does changes that. That's a strong woman in my book and she's inside every single woman in existence.

Isn't it time you called her forth?