rise

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Take time for yourself until you are you again.

New blog goes up Sunday, until then… SLAY on!

Take a pause and rise with a voice of a different tone.

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Whatever is good for your soul, do that.

New blog goes up Friday, until then… SLAY on!

State Of Slay Self Respect

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! If you are still trying, you have not failed.

SLAY on!

State Of Slay Stumble (1)

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! As dark as things might be, you never know how bright the light is that is waiting for you if you just hold on.

New blog goes up Sunday,  until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Thankful (1)

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life.

SLAY on!

State Of Slay Just Say Yes

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! Most important thing in life?  To remain teachable.

New blog goes up on Tuesday, until then…SLAY on!

State Of Slay Learn 1

Shine Bright

I was touched yesterday when a friend reached out to me with a hand drawn picture and a message of hope. She said her son had drawn it as a response to my involvement with a Valentine’s Day campaign from IMALIVE to send out a message of love to those who are struggling. I got involved initially to do just that, send out the message that you, or anyone, are not alone, that you matter, that your voice deserves to be heard, and I didn’t expect the young voice of my friend’s son to be inspired to take action. It reminds me that when we put out a message of hope, when we take action, when we open our own hearts, we may touch someone else’s, and that may inspire them to share their heart with others. I’ve written before about how we may touch people’s lives without realizing it, people we may not know, or may never have a conversation with, it’s about putting our best selves out to the world, showing the world, and people around us, who we are and what we stand for, letting our hearts shine bright, and when we do that that light may reach someone who is sitting in the dark.

When I stepped on this path, I was in a very dark place, so dark that there was only one tiny speck of light, like a penlight, off in the distance, but it was that light that I kept walking toward, even when I would lose sight of it, my life depended on it, so I kept trudging forward. It was during that time that it was pointed out to me that our light can get brighter when we help someone light theirs. No matter how low or dark we may be, there is always someone who is lower, or darker, or maybe they’re in the same place, but when we reach out to offer support, to lend a hand, or to just let them know we’re there, that dim light gets brighter, for both of us, and so as suggested, I worked to share that little bit of light I had, not really trusting it was enough to help anyone on their path, and as I did my light did get brighter, and as it got brighter I found the confidence to reach out to more people and eventually found my calling to be of service to those who may be struggling in the dark.

The best cure for any day when we get stuck in our heads, or in the “poor me’s” is to do something for someone else, it will get you out of self every time, and no matter how low you may feel, you always have something to offer someone who may be feeling lower. Or, at the very least, band together to give each other strength. It always seems, especially on social media, that the negative voices out there are the loudest, but we have the power to change that. Let’s make some positive noise out in the world, let’s love and support one another because when we do, we all rise. What can you do today to give back? What can you do to make someone’s day brighter? How can you spread love instead of hate? We never know how our actions can create a chain reaction of good, how what we do may inspire someone else to take action, and so on. We are all in this together, no one should walk alone, and here at STATE OF SLAY no one does, we all walk together on this path, we light the way for those who need it, we burn bright, and, we burn brighter together. SLAY on.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Have there been times in your life that someone’s light helped you walk through a dark place? Have you been that light for someone else? How did that make you feel? Have there been times when you felt you were in the darkness and by sharing the light you did have, your light got brighter? How can you spread more light in your life? What can you do to take action? All we can do is put our true selves out there, to shine bright, to offer the best of who we are with the best of intentions, how that is received is completely out of our hands, but in the end, light always beats out the dark. Let your light shine SLAYERS.

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you

F.E.A.R. – Run Or Rise?

F.E.AR. has two meanings, F**k Everything And Run, or Face Everything And Rise. I know before I walked this path the first one was my go-to method of operation, and if I didn’t run, I fought, it was almost better that I ran. It was not great. My whole life was run by fear, fear of not getting what I wanted, fear of having what I did have taken away, fear I was missing out, fear I would be found out, just fear, a thousands forms of fear. I didn’t realize until I started to get better, and started to not let fear run my life, how much control it had over me, how much it dictated what my decisions were going to be, how much it held me back from living my life and connecting with people.

You see, fear isn’t real. Fears are lies we tell ourselves, or those voices that talk to us, that bullshit committee that tries to keep us isolated and alone, fears are not facts, and as SLAYERS we make our decisions based on the facts, not the fear of them. We also use fears as excuses, excuses to not try something, or to take responsibility for something, or to not step out of our comfort zone, but fear isn’t our friend, it’s not protecting us, it’s holding us back, it’s preventing us from living the life we want for ourselves, and the life we can have if only we stop listening to our fears. Because when we do conquer them we do rise, we rise above them, and we rise above the place where fears held us back, and down, we move forward, and upward.

For me it was about contrary action, of acknowledging the fear, trying to identify where it was coming from, and then doing the opposite of what I wanted to do. Of doing what I knew to be right, or just, or what was going to move me forward. And that was scary, but it felt so good when I would it, when I would push through and realize that it wasn’t really that bad, or, had turned out better than I had, well, feared. I started to see how my fears weren’t real, they weren’t the truth, that by me walking through them I was becoming stronger, and clearer, and I was learning to trust myself more, and in doing that I felt a lot less fear.

Fear now for me is a sign I’m not taking care of myself, because when I am I have trust and faith that things are unfolding as they are supposed to and when I know that I’ve done the footwork, everything I can do to reach a goal. Settle, or make a situation clear, then I shouldn’t be having fear, fear is an old concept or idea that no longer serves me, an old behavior that pops up which I know to be irrational and not true, so the question I now ask myself is, why is it popping up, what do I need to address? And, that is a lot more manageable than the unmanageability of fear I lived with every day for most of my life. Now, I have tools to work through that fear, to know it isn’t real, and to not let it hurt me. Today I know that if I walk through my fear I will rise and by doing so I can help others do the same, to lead by example that we don’t need to live in fear, an example that was shown to me by countless people when I was ready to see it. We walk tall as SLAYERS, we don’t stand in our own way, we grab our swords and our shields and we trudge forward, through the fire, because on the other side of that fire, is paradise, a paradise where we take our life and power back. SLAY on!

SLAY OF THE DAY: What does fear mean to you? How does it come up in your life? Does it control your decisions and actions? Why? Why do you let it? What are you afraid of? Are those rational fears? Are they fears you can take action against and defeat? How so? Why aren’t you taking action against your fears? What’s stopping you? It’s time, SLAYER, that you rise above, that you look your fears in the eye and say no more, it’s time for you to walk through those fears and take your life back, it’s time to Face Everything And Rise.

S – self L – love A – appreciate Y – you