Did you catch Powerball Fever last week? It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the largest jackpot in history.

Even with extremely slim odds of winning, part of the fun was dreaming about what to do with 1.5 billion dollars. Because we all believed we were going to win, right?
 
I hardly ever play the lottery. I only think about it when the jackpot gets really high and it is splattered all over the news. But when I do, I have always felt compelled to buy my tickets at one particular place. I have no idea why. It's not a place I normally go. In fact, I never go there except to buy powerball tickets. 
 
About 2.5 miles from my house sits a Speedway Station. It is out of my way for gas or to drop in for convenience items, but at lottery time it calls to me. I have to get my tickets there and only there. I have been doing so for at least 7 or 8 years.
 
I followed my normal protocol at the start of this frenzy too. Only no one hit the numbers the first couple of rounds so the jackpot grew. That's okay I thought, it's going to happen, just keep playing. 1.5 billion dollars. That is more money than I can really wrap my head around. I kept thinking maybe it would be better to win a smaller, more manageable amount. How does one stay anonymous or handle such a life changing event? These are problems I was willing to confront. Maybe it would be better to just win one of the million dollar payouts instead of the giant Mack Daddy prize. Am I the only person who thinks this way? Probably.
 
Anyway, when Wednesday rolled around, I decided to run out at lunch and get my tickets while at work...about 40 miles away. I chose a Speedway, hoping it wouldn't matter that I was cheating on my normal place. The chances of winning are so slim anyway, what does it really matter!
 
Thursday morning rolls around and I hear there are 3 winners, none in Ohio. Oh well, move on.
 
Then a few hours later I see something about one of the few million dollar winners being from Centerville, Ohio (my hometown). OMG, that is awesome, but please do not let that ticket be from MY Speedway!!
 
I quickly open the article and yep, there it is, MY Speedway sold one of the million dollar tickets! Wooooooohooooooooo! I sure hope it went to someone I know, because it sure as hell wasn’t me.
 
What I learned is: No matter how much I say it to other people, no matter how much I know it intellectually and no matter how much I doubt myself. I absolutely must trust my intuition. I knew that Speedway station was going to sell a major winning ticket at some point. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how much, but I definitely knew deep down that it would happen and it would happen there. Yet I didn’t buy my ticket there for the biggest jackpot in all of history because I didn’t really trust my own intuition.
 
So that, my friends, is my takeaway. I do not believe I was meant to be Centerville’s newest millionaire. I believe I was meant to learn this lesson: Trust yourself, believe in yourself, when you know something in your gut you know something in your gut, do not doubt it.
 
So now I have to find a new place to buy my lottery tickets, or not. And I will go make my own millions, or not.
 
I have to see what my intuition says!!!
 

"A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles" ~Unknown

Here come the holidays!

As much as I anticipate the holiday season and look forward to this time of year, it seems I always forget just how much work it takes to create a nice experience for all involved.

I wish I could pluck my holiday visions right out of my head and make them a reality.

Sadly, the cozy family gathered peacefully around a fire cheerfully chatting it up in a perfectly decorated house with a nice spread of food does not quite match what actually happens.

Somehow my visions and memories never include all the planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, crowds, lists, lines, time crunches, spending, and family logistics involved in the season.

Equipped with my "life coaching, limiting-belief busting skills" I headed to the grocery store on Saturday to get my Thanksgiving shopping done.

Success! It was completely stress free.

Sunday it was time to tackle the cleaning. Most years I host Thanksgivng at my house and this year is no exception. I had to get things ready.

Okay, not gonna lie, as I was vaccuming up dust bunnies the thoughts started creeping in. "Why do I have to do this?", "Why can't I just show up at someone's house and plop myself down and enjoy a fully cooked meal for once?"

Don't get me wrong, I do truly enjoy cooking and having people over and it's just easier logistically to accomodate both sides of the family at my house, but getting everything ready is not my favorite.

Back to vaccuming...suddenly I hear a loud crash in the kitchen. 

I ran in to see what happened to find the dog had pulled a pot of chili off the stove. It was a small pot, leftovers from my son's lunch, but still enough to make a big mess in my freshly cleaned kitchen.

It was at this point where my old self would have lost it. Snapped. Done.

Have you ever cleaned splattered chili off cabinets, rugs and every other imaginable surface in the kitchen? Me either! My son, being the nice kid he is (and the one who left the pot on the stove) started cleaning it up, so I maintained my cool and went back to vaccuuming dust bunnies.

No need to make a scene, just move on to the task at hand.

That's when it happened.

I almost sucked it right up the vacuum hose. The earring I lost a year ago. While at work.

Right there on the floor at the edge of a bookshelf was my missing earring. How was this possible?

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” ~Eckhart Tolle
​
Given to me by a friend many years ago, these were my go-to earrings. I wore them most days. Devestated when I discovered it was missing, I searched all over my office, in the hallways, the office restroom, and even my car. It was cold out that day and I was wearing a scarf. Fishhook earrings can easily slip out if you don't have a back on them which I did not at the time. It was simply gone.

In the time between then and now, my house has been thoroughly cleaned. Surely it would have been sucked up if it was under the bookcase (how could it possibly get there anyway?), but it was laying in plain sight, it was not actually under the bookshelf when I found it.

Weird.

I am choosing to take it as a reminder to pause and appreciate what the holidays are really about, spending time with family in my cozy warm house. Forget the rest. To remember what I am grateful for and to not sweat the small stuff, who cares about spilled chili when we are lucky enough to have chili in the first place.

Who cares about planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, crowds, lists, lines, time crunches, spending, and family logistics if we don't appreciate what we do it all for. The people we love.

I am grateful.

When we are grateful and we acknowledge what we have, we open the door for good things to happen. Try it. Pay attention. See what happens.

How that earring made its appearance at that exact moment doesn't really matter, I got the message.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"There are only two ways you can live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can love can do that." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

We are all who the world has been waiting for, all of us. It is up to us to be the change we want to see in the world.

It is time to turn up our inner light and let it shine. It is time to drive out the darkness. It is time to crank up the love.

Friday was a horrible day for Paris and for the world. Our collective hearts are breaking at the horror and senseless tragedy.

You may be scared, you may think terrorists are lurking around every corner waiting to strike again. This is what they want. 

How do we win?

By refusing to succumb to fear. By shining our light into every dark corner. By helping others. By bringing our biggest, brightest, most authentic selves forward.

Good always triumphs over evil. Always. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but in the end good will prevail.

We may feel helpless to conquer terrorism as individuals, but we are not helpless when we rise together.

We start by facing our own fears. What are you afraid of? What are you not facing in your own life? 

What scares you? What keeps you from being your authenic self? What are you hiding from?

For me, I spent years in a career that made me miserable simply because I was afraid to make a change. What if I left and didn't make enough money? What if I didn't make the right decision and ended up regretting it? Little did I know my biggest regret was wasting years of my life worrying about it instead of taking action.

Most of all, I was afraid of what people would think. I kept telling myself I didn't know what I really wanted to do with my life and I really talked myself into believing it. 

The truth is, deep down I really did know. I was just scared of the answer. It seemed too hard to make it a reality. It wasn't an easy path. I had to do work. Hard work. What would people think about me being a Life Coach?

Fear stops us from living.

When I started to get really clear with who I am and what I believe, the pieces started falling into place. 

It's been over a year since I officially opened my Life Coaching practice and I couldn't be happier. My clients are amazing, strong, brave people who are showing up and making big changes in their lives. They fill my heart with gratitude.

I was born to help people as a peacemaker and lightworker in this world. Maybe you were too. I've overcome my fear about what people think. Maybe people have made fun of me or laughed or thought I would surely fail.

Truth is, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. 

People around the world are waking up, they are seeing that love and peace are what matters. 

I challenge you to examine your own life. What are you hiding from? Where are you feeling stuck? Start there, as Mr. Rogers says...look for the helpers.

​As John Lennon says "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you join us and the world will live as one."