It’s usually on birthdays and holidays that we are reminded just how much we are loved – whether it comes from that one person who gives us just the words we need to hear, or many who send us a ‘happy birthday’ line or a funny GIF.
I experienced a beautiful tidal wave of so much love and support this past Thursday. Thank you for that!
I felt deeply loved, appreciated, and supported. And perhaps because I didn’t rush through that feeling, but took it in with deep, slow, grounding breaths, a beautiful knowing showed up. I didn’t always feel loved, appreciated, and supported. A gentle inner voice formed the thought. Love was always there… what was different was me.
Friend, it is such a gift to be on this side of a healing journey! It is so good to be free of fear and doubt that tells us we don’t deserve the love shown to us. To be able to lean in and relax into love and to receive it freely is that seemingly elusive treasure humans seek.
I pray every one of you experiences this deep knowing that you are appreciated, loved, and supported right now.
There are several pieces to this. It’s not enough to have someone tell us or show us they love and appreciate us. WE have to believe it and receive it.
Believing we are loved starts with the awareness of who we really are and how we are an important part of the whole creation.
From there, we start feeling a connection with nature, with the sun and the moon, and everything in between. Feeling connected brings a sense of belonging and we fall in love with Life itself. From there, we begin to be aware of how everything in Creation returns appreciation, love, and support back to us. Even people 🙂
The thing is that this journey can’t be forced. Each of us makes it at our own pace.
What slows us down are many distractions from the world we live in.
It’s usually on birthdays and holidays that we are reminded just how much we are loved – whether it comes from that one person who gives us just the words we need to hear, or many who send us a ‘happy birthday’ line or a funny GIF.
I experienced a beautiful tidal wave of so much love and support this past Thursday. Thank you for that!
I felt deeply loved, appreciated, and supported. And perhaps because I didn’t rush through that feeling, but took it in with deep, slow, grounding breaths, a beautiful knowing showed up. I didn’t always feel loved, appreciated, and supported. A gentle inner voice formed the thought. Love was always there… what was different was me.
Friend, it is such a gift to be on this side of a healing journey! It is so good to be free of fear and doubt that tells us we don’t deserve the love shown to us. To be able to lean in and relax into love and to receive it freely is that seemingly elusive treasure humans seek.
I pray every one of you experiences this deep knowing that you are appreciated, loved, and supported right now.
There are several pieces to this. It’s not enough to have someone tell us or show us they love and appreciate us. WE have to believe it and receive it.
Believing we are loved starts with the awareness of who we really are and how we are an important part of the whole creation.
From there, we start feeling a connection with nature, with the sun and the moon, and everything in between. Feeling connected brings a sense of belonging and we fall in love with Life itself. From there, we begin to be aware of how everything in Creation returns appreciation, love, and support back to us. Even people 🙂
The thing is that this journey can’t be forced. Each of us makes it at our own pace.
What slows us down are many distractions from the world we live in.
We spend our youth trying to find our place under the sun – with very little guidance on how not to get lost in the process. We listen to our career advisors, we compare our grades with our peers.
Then, as adults, we compare our paychecks or the size of diamonds on our engagement rings. We try to keep up with our jobs, mortgages, raising families, and showing up all put together at church on Sunday mornings, constantly checking if we are doing – and being – enough.
We practice this routine of having to do better and be better so much that when Love says I love you the way you are right now, we don’t know how to take it in.
We get really good at criticizing and pushing ourselves. Treating ourselves with kindness and compassion feels selfish, and self-care and self-love become bad words. On our birthdays and special occasions, when we get showered with love, appreciation, and support, we say a quick ‘thank you’ and keep keeping busy. It’s safer, right?
Around my 40th birthday, I decided I was done with treating myself poorly. I had spent my best years being too hard on myself, and hating so many things that I didn’t know how to fix: like being too sensitive, disorganized, always late, hyper-creative, too ambitious, too emotional, etc (the list went on and on).
At that point, I had been in therapy for several years and had finally healed many of the wounds that were causing me to resent parts of myself. As I removed different filters that were distorting my awareness of who I was, I learned that I am not my thoughts, my actions, my feelings, my personality.
I learned that I’m not who I had been told I should be. I worked with a coach to change many of my thought patterns, habits and behaviors, and through this process, I learned what to do with different feelings and emotions. No longer letting my thoughts convince me I was bad or never enough, I began to take in all the different miracles and gifts life brought to me daily – and feel incredibly grateful for each one.
Gratitude then triggers more grace, which opens up our pores and cells so we are able to receive all the Love that is constantly available to us – and shows up through nature, through synchronicities, through raindrops, and rainbows, handwritten cards, and random emojis received in text messages.
We spend our youth trying to find our place under the sun – with very little guidance on how not to get lost in the process. We listen to our career advisors, we compare our grades with our peers.
Then, as adults, we compare our paychecks or the size of diamonds on our engagement rings. We try to keep up with our jobs, mortgages, raising families, and showing up all put together at church on Sunday mornings, constantly checking if we are doing – and being – enough.
We practice this routine of having to do better and be better so much that when Love says I love you the way you are right now, we don’t know how to take it in.
We get really good at criticizing and pushing ourselves. Treating ourselves with kindness and compassion feels selfish, and self-care and self-love become bad words. On our birthdays and special occasions, when we get showered with love, appreciation, and support, we say a quick ‘thank you’ and keep keeping busy. It’s safer, right?
Around my 40th birthday, I decided I was done with treating myself poorly. I had spent my best years being too hard on myself, and hating so many things that I didn’t know how to fix: like being too sensitive, disorganized, always late, hyper-creative, too ambitious, too emotional, etc (the list went on and on).
At that point, I had been in therapy for several years and had finally healed many of the wounds that were causing me to resent parts of myself. As I removed different filters that were distorting my awareness of who I was, I learned that I am not my thoughts, my actions, my feelings, my personality.
I learned that I’m not who I had been told I should be. I worked with a coach to change many of my thought patterns, habits and behaviors, and through this process, I learned what to do with different feelings and emotions. No longer letting my thoughts convince me I was bad or never enough, I began to take in all the different miracles and gifts life brought to me daily – and feel incredibly grateful for each one.
Gratitude then triggers more grace, which opens up our pores and cells so we are able to receive all the Love that is constantly available to us – and shows up through nature, through synchronicities, through raindrops, and rainbows, handwritten cards, and random emojis received in text messages.
And that, my friend, makes life beautiful…and such a gift!
Thank you for being you – know you are appreciated, loved, and supported!
Here is my birthday wish for you:
My birthday wish is
for you to learn to listen to your heart.
Really listen.
Not think you are listening,
not speak for it,
but learn to silence your thoughts
and let it guide you.
It will show you how to love.
How to accept yourself,
how to grow,
and how to heal.
It will help you see the beauty
within you
and around you.
You will never look at yourself
with self-hatred or resentment then.
You won’t shame yourself
or anyone else any more.
You will know compassion.
You’ll see miracles in everything –
in fireflies and puppy eyes,
in a child’s smile and
in the faces of random people you meet.
In raindrops and rainbows
and in deep blue skies.
You’ll fall in love with love each morning and
fall on your knees in gratitude each night.
You’ll celebrate each moment of your life
like an Olympian or a rockstar
who’s given a life time achievement award.
You’ll grow old and know you’ve lived
the life of your dreams.
The storms and losses and hardships
won’t break you because
your heart will comfort you
with deep knowing
that Love is always there.
Inseparable.
Eternal.
Present.
Even if it takes you a while, it’s ok.
Some of us have a lot of healing to do
before we are able to trust our hearts again.
Be gentle and patient with yourself.
Reach out for support.
And know I love you.
And that, my friend, makes life beautiful…and such a gift!
Thank you for being you – know you are appreciated, loved, and supported!
Here is my birthday wish for you:
My birthday wish is
for you to learn to listen to your heart.
Really listen.
Not think you are listening,
not speak for it,
but learn to silence your thoughts
and let it guide you.
It will show you how to love.
How to accept yourself,
how to grow,
and how to heal.
It will help you see the beauty
within you
and around you.
You will never look at yourself
with self-hatred or resentment then.
You won’t shame yourself
or anyone else any more.
You will know compassion.
You’ll see miracles in everything –
in fireflies and puppy eyes,
in a child’s smile and
in the faces of random people you meet.
In raindrops and rainbows
and in deep blue skies.
You’ll fall in love with love each morning and
fall on your knees in gratitude each night.
You’ll celebrate each moment of your life
like an Olympian or a rockstar
who’s given a life time achievement award.
You’ll grow old and know you’ve lived
the life of your dreams.
The storms and losses and hardships
won’t break you because
your heart will comfort you
with deep knowing
that Love is always there.
Inseparable.
Eternal.
Present.
Even if it takes you a while, it’s ok.
Some of us have a lot of healing to do
before we are able to trust our hearts again.
Be gentle and patient with yourself.
Reach out for support.
And know I love you.
Music
The night before my birthday, I sat down with my journal and reflected on where I’m at. I put our last YouTube live concert on, and because of the sweet music we played, I felt like I was back in Croatia singing with my dad’s band. Good times 🙂
The night before my birthday, I sat down with my journal and reflected on where I’m at. I put our last YouTube live concert on, and because of the sweet music we played, I felt like I was back in Croatia singing with my dad’s band. Good times 🙂
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AND live your dream life.
Get weekly emails, exclusive content. special offers and
event updates directly to your inbox.