Avenue of the Unknown

When the path ahead, the answers, are not so clear, your body gets overwhelmed by fear, angst and other negative emotions. We then become paralyzed by fear of this unknown path and end up sitting in the space of no action because that is way more comfortable than diving into the avenue of the unknown.

But what if we took some sizeable step into that path instead? What if, even if we couldn’t see where it was leading, we took some type of step, the step that feels right for right now? Would we fall into the big dark black abyss? Maybe. Would we die? Likely not.

It’s okay not to know exactly what to do right now. It’s okay to guess at what that next step might be. You’re probably not going to die with whatever step you do end up taking, and when you take a manageable step towards something, even if you don’t know what that something may be, you’re putting yourself out there to be in flow with the Universe. You’re showing the world, instead of just telling it, that you are ready to manifest change. Manageable can be anything that pushes you outside your comfort zone, but doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the end result. If you’re looking for a new job, it could be beginning the search in fields that interest you, it doesn’t have to mean quitting your day-job right now. If you’re wanting a change in location but moving terrifies you, it could mean booking a trip to a city that interests you and trying to set up a few interviews while you’re there. You’re throwing things out there, just to see what may stick. All we have to do is take a small step towards that manifestation, and the Universe will be by your side, supporting you.

If we instead stay hidden in the safety of our own shadow, we block the Universe out. It doesn’t have a way to help us. It can’t push you into action, you have to do something to show you’re going to take it seriously, to show the Universe that you want to work with the it, be friends with, and flow through life happier than you were before. I promise you the Universe wants to help you. There is a flow there, just waiting for you to jump in, but there is nothing the Universe can do to help throw you into the flow if you aren’t willing to take a step towards it.

Ask the Universe questions to help you better understand your path, where you are right now. Be open to the ways in which the Universe will respond to you. Once you open yourself up to the possibility that the Universe is your friend, once you cultivate an appreciation for the flow of the Universe and jump right now, that’s when you really start living.

Let’s go, jump in, your life is waiting to be lived.

Forgiveness

We all have the ability to forgive. 

The ability to feel forgiveness in your soul and allow your body to accept forgiveness is a strength not a weakness. When you accept forgiveness you set yourself free. You liberate your body, making room for other life to enter – happy life, joyous life, magical life can take the space in your body instead of the non-forgiving grudge that was taking over before.

When you forgive that doesn’t mean the pain goes away. That is okay. Choose forgiveness anyway because your heart, your body, doesn’t want to live in that pain, or be defined by that pain. And you don’t have to be. When you choose forgiveness you are choosing love. You are choosing you and your own happiness above all else. The pain can be worked through, and little by little you will release the pain of your experience and you will see beauty again. The beauty is allowed to shine through when you are not clouded by the tight grasp you have on your anger.

I know, trust me, I understand. Something happened to you that is unforgiveable. But what if you chose to forgive anyway? What if you choose forgiveness and your life moves forward positively, in sync with the Universe because you’re not allowing the pain, the anger, the unforgiving nature to define you anymore?

Choose LOVE.

Choose YOU.

Forgive and watch your heart open to a lighter, brighter more colorful and magical world.

Love A Stranger

The world is full of beautiful souls. Of strong souls. Of individual souls. Of inspiring souls and of soulful souls.

We all begin as strangers. The connection between two people when they first meet is real. There’s those people you first meet and become best friends with. The people you instantly dive deep into and feel like you’ve known them for years. Then there are people you first meet that you just know are not going to be an everlasting friendship. People that you cannot see eye to eye with, people that make the hair on your arm, or your intuitive red flag go up because there’s just something not right. That’s ok. Move along. There’s someone else a few people down the sidewalk that you easily could find everlasting love with. No matter what the first impression experience is, we all start out as strangers.

When you first meet a stranger, you have no idea what to expect. It could be the worst conversation you’ve ever had or the best. Regardless, we all have the ability to make a connection to the soul next to you. No matter what our background is, where you come from, who you know or what you believe, we all have the ability to grow into something more beautiful than what you’ve ever known or believed possible.

It all begins with a single soul and the desire for connection. There’s endless opportunities to connect. It could be about adventure, about travel, about the world views, fears, about what you love doing, what you hate doing, what angers you to your core and what makes you fly.

If we keep an open mind we can all find a love within ourselves for the next person. We don’t have to love everyone, but you can find a common ground love.

If we come from this place, the place of honest connection and real, truthful love, then maybe we could lesson the worlds pain. Maybe the hate on innocent souls, the pain we experience when losing someone we love, wouldn’t happen.

Strangers. If we could all find something to connect on, maybe we could save the world from ourselves a little. Maybe, just maybe, we could empty out the hatred that fills some souls and replace it with love.

The Best Advice For A 20something As Told By A 20something

Most 20-somethings experience a momentous transformation after college called the quarter life crisis. Our experiences with this crisis vary significantly based on when they occur, how we handle them, where we move to, who we break up with, who/when we marry, and so on. Here I’ve gathered the best advice for a 20something as told by a 20something. These are people who have experienced this phase first hand, and whether it helps to hear you’re not alone or pushes you forward on a new path, here’s to hoping this gives guidance to at least one of you.

KEJAL

"If something scares you, that's usually a good sign you should do it."

"Always try to look your best. You never know when you'll run into a former or future love."

"Anyone who tells you that you can't do something can go eat a bird-shit sandwich."

NICK

Move - Nobody should end in the same place they began - live, love and laugh someplace new. At least once in your life, pack up and move to some place different. It's amazing how much you find out about yourself when you wander new places with new people. You can't grow if you don't give yourself the room. 

Create - Whether collaboratively or by yourself, be responsible for creating something beautiful at least once a year. Art is a big small word and something that everyone should experience firsthand. It could be something written, painted, sewn, built, or said - just as long as it’s something you are proud of.

ANONYMOUS

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.”
― Frank Zappa

People will always justify their choices to you when you are doing something different. Let them, for their sake. But, don't let ANYONE tell you there is a way to live life. The happiest people have invented their own way. 

Oh, and watch Blackfish.

KATHERINE

WEAR SUNSCREEN! - You never think you'll get wrinkles but when you do, it's quite a blow to that invincible ego.

Save your money - At the age of 28, I realized if I wanted to continue buying cute jackets and shoes, I would live with my parents forever. Not ideal.

If you don't like where you’re at in life, be brave and make the change. Move. Change jobs. Travel. Go back to school. It's scary, but you only get one life and you might as well spend it being happy!

GERARD

Sometimes, it’s just time to “grow up”. A little bit, at least.

Post-graduation, I lived with college friends, in my college town, enjoying copious happy hours with my social circle still in close proximity. Subsequent to say, the supposed transition into “adult hood” was non-existent. And then people starting moving away - they got into graduate school, began cohabitating and became serious about their jobs. My weekend warrior posse was shrinking and Friday nights were no longer an assumed night out. I knew at some point the remnants of undergraduate debauchery was going to dissipate but when it did, it was like someone flipped a switch. It took me by surprise. I guess, sometimes it’s just time to “grow up”. A little bit, at least.  

 DYLAN

"Avoid making life decisions based on the regrets of others." –D. Campbell

TREVOR

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"

 Take a chance. I like to think of it as the basketball player who is waiting to be discovered but was always told by his coaches not to shoot because he wasn’t good enough. Suddenly the game comes down to him and he finds himself with the ball at the last second. It's an internal struggle of what he's been told for so long, versus having the confidence in himself to do something different – something high risk but high reward.

"Eat every cheeseburger"

A fun way of saying "Carpe diem." Get out there, get uncomfortable, taste things you don't think you like, look at things you don't normally want to see. How do you know you don't like it until you try it?

If you don’t eat every cheeseburger, you won't know why one is better than the other.

STEFANIE

Appreciate your FAMBAM.  Spend more quality time with your parents.  Ask them lots of questions. Don't skip family dinners in fear of missing the "Party of the Year". The bar can wait. Just stay home with the A-Team tonight.  In the end, they are the ones that matter and have always had your back. Trust me, every moment is worth it.

LYNDSAY

Advice that I wish I would have known..... Honestly, I hold firm in the idea that all things come to us when we are ready to hear them and as we need them. I think the experiences and/or 'mistakes' we may have made in the past have all helped shape us into the brilliant humans we are today. Learning and growing is forever so I do not know if any advice would have done me well earlier than when I was ready to receive it. We just have to trust the path and know that we are walking in the exact footsteps we are supposed to be carving out. Sometimes trusting that path can seem nearly impossible when navigating the waters of the 20something lifestyle. I suppose, if I had to choose one thing I wish I would have known, deeply known, it would be this - all experience is happening in exactly the time, place and space it is supposed to be happening and that you are okay. Then maybe I could have sat more comfortably in knowing that all things work out as they are supposed to. Every experience just adds to the perfect culmination of exactly the being we are supposed to be in this time; the present. The only thing we have.

The "Single and Just Fine Thank You Very Much" Wave

The first wave of marriages happens in our early to mid-twenties. These are the people who have been dating since high school, college or just after. It includes the lovers who have stood the test of time, the homemakers, the “I know what I want in life” couples, and maternal/paternal individuals who want kids at an early age.

The second wave is the early-thirty-somethings. These are the people have yet to have found a soul shattering love, people who’ve had relationships in their twenties with people they thought they would marry, and the people who find it crucial to explore a deep sense of self before falling in love again. These people attend the first waves weddings solo, they are living with roommates and/or potentially picking up to travel the world.

People say there’s a pattern that occurs with both sets of waves and that it’s a revolving door. Apparently some from the first wave will find themselves getting a divorce, while others start having babies and begin life as first time parents. The second wave are potentially playing catch-up to get their life back on the track they believe it’s supposed to be on, or find themselves married to Mr.Wrong because they were in too much of a hurry to fit the timeline in their head.

In today’s world we are waiting longer and longer to get married, have families and settle down – we’re traveling the world before getting jobs, living in our parents home to save money, getting married later in life, and having babies way before a ring is even in the picture. We are no longer forcing ourselves to fit the linear path of societal expectations and yet at the same time it can be difficult to feel confident about where you stand in life if you don’t find yourself fitting into a societal wave. Or if you are in a wave but choosing not to make decisions that others see as coming next for you in life like buying that house in the suburbs or having babies.

Regardless of where you find yourself fitting in, watching everyone around you make these major life changes can cause restlessness and uneasiness about the path you have chosen.

Instead of living in fear that the waves are shaping and crashing without you and wrestling with the lack of understanding in your intention for the next phase of life – make yourself aware. Begin meditation classes, or perform your own act of serenity so your intention is put out into the universe. By doing so, even just saying it out loud – “I need guidance towards what’s next for me”– the solution will make itself present when you are ready to hear it.

Listening to your instinct gives you the real answers. Separate fact from fairy-tale and stay sane when you’re watching all your friends move forward in a wave. Whether you’re struggling with your next career move, coupled-up, single and looking, or single and just fine, thank you very much – putting your intention out there will give you peace with where life is supposed to be taking you.

By listening you’ll find the guidance you are looking for.