State Of Slay

Find Your Purpose

It took a major event in my life to find my purpose, and even after that it took some time, and a lot of reflection, to finally land on why I was here, and why I had I survived insurmountable odds to still be here. Before that my purpose had always been self-serving, it was always all about me, what I wanted, what I wanted to achieve, and looking back, with that being my main purpose it doesn’t surprise me that I felt lost, empty, and well, purposeless with that purpose. I realized, after nearly loosing my life on a Malibu beach, that my purpose was to be of service, to give back, and once I figured that out and accepted it, my life became much fuller and richer. That purpose eventually manifested into this blog, and into some incredible new friendships. Everyone has a purpose, sometimes it takes us some time to figure out what it is, but we all have one. We all have something different to offer, we all excel at different things, we all are drawn to specific areas, or perhaps a calling, we are all meant to be shining in our own way. So, if you’re feeling like you haven’t found yours, how do you find it? There is a much easier way than the way I did.

1) Take Action – I know, that again, you know I’m all about taking action, but hear me out, when we take action we get a clearer sense of things, we get first hand knowledge of what we like, who we like, and how to get what we want. We learn from that. I’m also all about trying new things, so when we put ourselves out there and try new things, again, we are learning about ourselves, what we like, what we’re great at, what interests us. The experience of doing is the reward, but we also gain knowledge and through that comes clarity, and with clarity a sense of purpose.

2) Act From You Heart – our head likes to get in the way, it likes to over think and make things difficult, act from your heart, let your heart guide you and show you the way. Don’t question it, just do it. There’s a reason you’re drawn to certain things or people, you are where you are supposed to be, and uncensored by your head telling you differently. When you lead with your heart you are leading with passion, you are leading with love, and through that you will explore and find things that you enjoy and that inspire you. Your heart is your best tool to access your passion and true purpose.

3) Keep An Open Mind – you may have more than one purpose, your life doesn’t have to only have one, there may be a few, don’t let the idea of finding the one big purpose stop you from finding your passions. Maybe your passions and pursuing them are your purpose, maybe you are meant to reach people in a few different ways or areas. Go after your passions, and when you do you’ll be living a full passionate life full of purpose. Many times the feeling of lacking purpose comes from not living a life full of passion, when you add more passion, or things you are passionate about, you are living a purposeful life.

The purpose of all of our lives is to live life to it’s fullest, to embrace it, to experience it, explore it, we are all here to learn and to love, that is the greatest purpose of all, but within that, and while we’re doing that, another purpose may present itself, and if and when it goes, jump in with passion, there is no better life than one you feel connected with and one you feel you have something to offer. Ask yourself deep down what fires you up, what excites you, what motivates you, now get in there and find your purpose.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you feel a sense of purpose? Do you struggle to find your purpose? What do you think is stopping you? What excites you? What motivates you? What challenges you? What gives you the most back? When you think of a place where you feel whole, where you feel excited and energized, where is that place? Where, in your area or community, can you get involved with something like that? How can you participate and engage? Challenge yourself this week SLAYER to take action, to follow your heart, and find your passion, or, at least try, you never know where an open mind and passion might lead you. SLAY on.

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

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! You have the patience, the strength, and the passion to achieve your ambitions, your goals and your dreams. All you need to do now is try.

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

State Of Slay Try

Just Try

Anyone who follows STATE OF SLAY knows I’m big on taking action, without it, we stay stuck, and nothing changes. It can be daunting to start something new, to start a new project or task, or maybe try something we’ve never tried, perhaps by taking contrary action. But I encourage you to just try. There’s no harm in trying, and really, life is a series of us trying new or different things with varying success. It’s just about the act of trying. If we don’t try we don’t win. We don’t know. We never change, or grow. I used to be afraid to try new things, thinking it was safer to just stay where I was, even though I wasn’t happy there, and wasn’t fulfilled there, it felt safe, because I knew it. It took a lot for me to try something new, it almost took my life, and it was scary to start, scary to step out of the routine I had been living in, scary to not know what the results would be, but, I did it, and the more I did it, the less scary it became, and even though things didn’t always work out the way I would want them to, many worked out in ways I couldn’t have imagined, and in ways that helped me grow. At the end of the day it’s just about jumping off that cliff and trying, but unlike cliff jumping, if things don’t work out the way you had hoped, you can always try something different, and chalk that up to a learning experience.

Life is all about taking chances, taking risks, and adjusting to things as they change, those changes are a good thing, it means we are pushing ourselves, we are flexible in our thoughts and actions, we are riding the waves of life as they come in to our lives. Living our lives to be safe typically doesn’t bring us happy results, it tends to leave us feeling like we’re living life on the sidelines watching everyone else win around us. But we can win to, we just have to jump in and play the game. And so what if we lose. Everyone, no matter how successful, no matter how great of a person, no matter how smart, talented, or prepared, will lose at some point, everyone, so what you are you afraid of? We’ve all been losers and we’re still here to talk about it, and we’re still trying, and still jumping in the game. The circumstances will never be perfect, so stop waiting for something that isn’t going to happen, just start, jump in. Jump in with wild abandon, jump in with passion, with excitement, with everything you’ve got, maybe even jump in with others and do it together. No matter what the outcome you’ve already won, you’ve tried, you’ve tested the waters and took a leap, that in itself is a win. And speaking of winners, stick with the winners, stick with those people are taking chances, who are going after their dreams, who are inspiring others, those are the people you want to surround yourself with, let them inspire you, encourage you, set your soul of fire to get moving and take action. Those are the people you want around you, stay in the middle of those people as you take a leap of your own.

There are always reasons not to do something, but most of the time they are just bullshit, they are just that voice in our heads that tells us we don’t deserve it, we won’t get it, or we don’t know what we’re doing, tell those voices to quiet down and watch, watch you try. Besides, those voices are lying to you, those voices are scared, those voices have no place in our life today, they’re just telling us an old story that no longer applies to us, we’re changing our story, we’re telling the narrative we want to tell, one of success, of excitement, of an ever expanding world around us. Let people know what you want, what you’re doing and see if you can build up a strong army around you of like-minded people who are all willing to raise each other up to bigger and better things. As SLAYERS we pick up our swords and soar, we stand tall and go after our dreams and we make it happen. Don’t let old ideas get in your way or negative self-talk, show those voices what you’ve got and why you’re strong. SLAY on.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Does your negative self-talk get in the way of you trying new things or going after what you want? What do they tell you? Why are those voices wrong? Write down all the ways that they’re wrong. How can you overcome them? What gets in your way of starting something new? How can you work around it? How can you take action today to work towards a goal you have? Take action on that SLAYER, on step at a time, and before you know it, you will leap farther than you ever could have imagined.

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

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! It is OK to doubt what you have been taught to believe, only you can say what’s right for you, learning to trust yourself and listening to your own instincts will guide you to the place you are supposed to be, a place where you can be your true self.

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

State Of Slay Instincts

Trust: It Starts With You

I have always had an issue with trust. I have never really trusted people. I’ve always wanted to, but have always been wary of their words, motivations and intentions. It wasn’t until stepping on this path that I realized that first and foremost, I didn’t trust myself. Just like with others, I had given myself reason to question my own words, motivations and intentions, because I had done things I had said I would never do, I had done things that harmed myself and I certainly didn’t always have my best intentions in mind before taking action. When I realized that I had broken my own trust I thought, how in the world can I learn to trust myself when I view myself as untrustworthy? The answer was to start being accountable to myself in my thoughts, actions and words, to figure out who I was and what I stood for, and stick with that, to not waver, even if it was the harder route, or the tougher path, to honor myself and my word no matter what. When I starting to do that, I was able to trust, and when I was able to trust myself, I could begin trusting others.

Only we know what are true intentions are, and only we can hold ourselves to stick to those intentions. It’s about being consistent, and yes, it’s OK to realize what we thought we wanted isn’t at all what we wanted, or needed, and head off in a new direction, it’s about being honest with ourselves and learning to listen to our ‘gut’ as it were, the voice that guides us and tells us when we’re headed in the right direction, with the right people. Don’t know what voice I’m talking about it? Then perhaps it’s about getting to know yourself, truly knowing yourself, warts and all. Who are you? What do you want? Who do you want it with? How are you going to get there? Start a relationship with yourself. Learn about yourself. Ask yourself the tough questions. And, don’t be afraid of the answers. The answers are you. As I keep saying over and over, when we know the facts we are safe, so never be afraid of what comes up, it’s you, and if you don’t like it, change it, or trust that you are exactly where you are supposed to be in that given moment. If something is coming up, it’s coming up for a reason. The relationship you have with yourself is the most important relationship you will ever have, and learning who you are allows you to figure out how you want to interact with the world, who you want to be, and from there learning to trust yourself. You can’t trust someone you don’t know, there are too many question marks. So, how do we fill in the answers about ourselves where there may be blanks?

1) Slow Down – stop keeping yourself busy, take some time for you, and stop over-scheduling yourself to keep yourself busy, give yourself time to catch up to yourself and check in to see how you’re doing and what’s going on.

2) Get Quiet – once you’ve slowed down, find some quiet time. Does that scare you? It doesn’t have to, and, the more you do it the more you’ll crave it. If you are afraid or reluctant, ask yourself why, that’s a good place to start. Connect with your truth. What’s it telling you?

3) Own Who You Are – no one knows you as well as you do, or at least as much as you’re privy to. So much importance is placed on what other people think of us sometimes, it doesn’t matter, what matters is what you think of you, and if that’s not positive, what can you do to change that? Take back your power, owning who you are gives you power, you may not be perfect, but you are you, and you are the best you you can be. If you’re not, why not? How can you work towards a you you would be proud of? Fight for you, you’re worth it.

4) Question Yourself – continuously check in, ask yourself what you want, how can you get it, who you are, who the people are you’ve chosen to be in your life, keep asking, things may change, and that’s OK, but only you can get the true answers to what’s happening inside, and what makes you tick.

5) Connection To A Higher Power – find a connection to something greater than yourself. Whether you call that God, or The Universe, or nature, or whatever that may be for you, connect with it and listen, because along with your inner voice comes the faith and guidance from something that may help you on your journey, and may give you comfort when that journey becomes difficult.

6) You Are Not Alone – this one goes two-fold, if you’ve found a connection to something bigger than you you’re halfway there, but along this journey of self-trust you’re also becoming a friend to yourself, that ensures you are never alone.

7) Don’t Let Others’ Fears Become Your Own – it’s easy to listen and take on what other people are saying and letting that stop, or paralyze you from doing what you are drawn to do, you are only accountable to yourself, not what other people are saying, again, this is about trusting yourself, so follow your path, and not the one laid out by someone else who may not have your best intentions at heart, or truly know you. Stand tall in who are you and what you want to do.

8) You Can Do It – if you’re practicing the principles above you’re well on your way to finding the trust within yourself and the more you start to realize that everything you’ve been looking for you have inside, you’ve just need to ignite that fire. Believe, and trust.

When we are accountable, to ourselves and to those around us, we not only learn to trust ourselves but we also learn to trust the people in our lives. And if we’ve chosen the right people to surround us, then we have no reason not to trust them, and we continue to build trustworthy relationships. SLAY on.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you have trouble trusting people? If so, why? Do you trust yourself? If not, why? How do you think you can find more trust within yourself? Do you consider yourself trustworthy? If not, why? How can you change that? What are 5 acts that you can work on this week to begin to trust yourself? Do them SLAYER, self-trust is the foundation to a stronger healthier life, if you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust? It starts with you.

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

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! The comeback is always greater than the setback. Never give up.

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

State Of Slay Courage

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYER! We all suffer defeats, but we must not them defeat us. We can’t change what happens to us, but we can choose not to be reduced by it.

SLAY on!

State Of Slay Resiliency

Rocking Resiliency

How many times have we heard the quote “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s how you get up” by Vince Lombardi? I got knocked down a lot, and I got up a lot, and then I stopped. I just stopped getting up. I let every knock knock me to the ground and I just stayed there. I believed I belonged there, I didn’t want to be there, it didn’t feel good there, but my head told me I was exactly where I was supposed to be. So I stayed. Alone. In the darkness. It wasn’t until my life was literally on the line that that little tiny spec of light and fight in me reached out for help, and that was enough to pull myself up off the floor. It sometimes takes all of our strength to get up, but we do have the power to not give up and continue to go after our dreams and overcome our challenges. And the beauty is, we don’t have to do it alone, I didn’t, I had a lot of hands help me along the way, and still do, and in many ways you all lend me yours every day, even if you don’t realize it, to give me that extra strength when I need it, because sometimes I do need it. Resiliency is the ability to get back up even when things did not go as planned, it’s not dwelling on our perceived failures, it’s about acknowledging our situation, learning from it, and moving on. So, how do we do this?

1) Perspective – resilient people look at obstacles in their way as challenges, they don’t take them personally or let them stop them from moving forward and continuing to work toward their goal. They look at the obstacles as lessons and an opportunity to grow or look at a situation in a new way, or different angle. When we think of our obstacles in these terms it allows us to navigate around, or use this new information to build on what we already know to get the result we’re looking for. Turn these seemingly negative things into something that will make us better, brighter, and faster.

2) Promise – resilient people make a promise to themselves and commit themselves to their goals and to the betterment of their overall being. This pledge gives them a reason to get out of bed every day, to continue to push forward, to grow, to learn, and to live as their true selves. It extends to every area of their life, from work, to friends, to relationships, to their community, they are committed to engaging in these areas and contributing in ways that show their commitment and love for themselves and those around them.

3) Personal Direction – resilient people focus their energy on what is in their control, not wasting their energy on uncontrollable events, which leads to feelings of loss, hopelessness, and powerlessness. They stay on track by sending their energy towards those things they can change, improve on, or learn from in their own lives, and within their community, not getting lost in the chatter of outside things that can take them off course. They stay committed to their own path, and keeping their goals in mind.

These three areas keep things pretty simple. And, life can be simple if we choose to it be, focusing on the things that matter to us and not getting sucked into the vortex of other people’s issues and problems that we have no business getting involved with. It is always nice to lend a hand, or some advice, when asked, or if you think we can be of service, but not so much that it takes us off track and keeps us from living our life and moving us forward. If we are questioning our own resiliency, and perhaps our reasons for it, it is best to stay focused on our own personal direction before jumping into someone else’s.

Resiliency also goes back to self-care, something I’ve talked about quite a bit. But it’s one of those blocks of our foundation that is necessary to be resilient. Are we eating enough, or the right foods, are we getting enough sleep, are we exercising, are we doing things to give back to ourselves, things we love, things that add light to our lives, are we finding time to reflect and listen to ourselves? All of these things contribute to our resiliency. Without self care our resiliency tank will be running on empty. We have the power to come back from insurmountable places, if we can find the fire within to give us the energy to move on, the fire burns in each and everyone one of us, can you find yours? If not, how can you fan the flames so you can burn bright?

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you consider yourself resilient? If not why? If so why? List some examples. What can you do to make sure you have what you need to be more resilient? How has your self-care been? Where can you do better? Where have you done better? What stops you from trying new things, or from moving forward? How can you overcome this? We are capable of anything, it’s all in how we choose to see it, make sure we’re setting ourselves up to rock our resiliency and give ourselves the tools we need to pick ourselves up and get what we want from life. SLAY on.

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

You Don’t Have To Repeat The Past

Looking back before I stepped on to this path my life was a series of repetitious bad decisions. I kept doing the same things and expecting different results, the true definition of insanity. How were things going to change if I wasn’t? Well, they weren’t. I was proud of my stubbornness, and my ego was holding me back by telling me I knew better, it was all of you that were wrong. But in truth, I was stuck in a cycle that was never going to get me to where I wanted to go, I was so stuck I couldn’t even see where I could go, my blindfold of bad decisions kept me from seeing that I had other options, it was my choice to continue to make the same bad decisions over and over, even though I had the power to change that.

For me, it took things getting really bad before I was even open to the idea that it was possible for change. My best decisions brought me to a place where it literally was a matter of life and death that I make positive changes in my life, and, break the cycle. As we grow up we learn certain things, we pick up things we see, hear, and experience and start to build up who are we, what we stand for, and how we’re going to operate, and unless someone, or something, teaches us something different, we tend to stay stuck in those ways, sometimes for a lifetime. I was forced to find different ways to live, healthier, more positive ways, and even though it was tough to undo a lifetime of behaviors that no longer served me, in fact, probably never had, when I finally did, it was like that blindfold got lifted off my eyes and I saw a brand new world. Life is not something that happens to us, we have the choice in how we react to it, and how we choose to engage with it. We can hit the reset button at any time and choose not to repeat the past.

Let’s start here, make a list of the areas in your life that you are not happy with, not happy with any of it, write it all down in a column. Now, write next to each item how you can do things differently, even if it’s something you don’t want to do or it makes you squirm, just write it down. Now think about those things you’re not happy with, and visualize yourself taking the opposite action, visualize the result being different than it has been in the past. How does that make you feel when you think about it? How do you make that feeling a reality?

1) Take Action – it’s always about taking action. Make a conscious effort to make better choices for yourself and stick to it. Make yourself accountable for those actions. Call yourself out. When we are accountable and vocal about what we are working towards you are more likely to follow through.

2) Conquer Fear – let go of the fear of doing something different, or upsetting someone for not doing what’s expected. The only fear you should have is staying in the same place, staying stuck, but walking through fear to get to a better place is worth it, just do it and see what happens.

3) Know You Are Worth It – you are worth fighting for, your wants and needs are valid, so take the action you need to get it. Find your own self value and know that each step you take to make your life better is worth it, because you are. Believe you deserve the things you want.

4) Allow Yourself To Make Mistakes – we all make mistakes, especially when trying something new, so don’t quite or beat yourself when you make a mistake, or if it doesn’t go the way you had wanted it to. Keep going, keep moving forward. Learn from your mistakes, let them make you stronger, smarter, better, just keep going.

5) Recognize Your Victories – allow yourself to celebrate your wins. When we make changes for the better let yourself celebrate that, feel good about that, shine. We’re undoing years, or a lifetime, of old behavior, every victory, no matter how small, is a victory and a step in the right direction.

6) Write Down Your Progress – keep a journal so you can track your progress. Write down your wins and losses and the circumstances around them so you can see your own growth, or the areas where you keep stumbling, recognizing your patterns is going to give you the map that you need to navigate around them and to chart new courses of action.

7) Persistence – keep going, keep doing it, don’t celebrate so much that you fall back into old behaviors or think you can stand down and coast, it takes a lot of work to break a pattern, and a lot of repetitious behavior of doing the opposite of what you had been doing to make it stick, keep practising and keep moving forward. Be patient with yourself.

This is a lifetime practice of making changes for the good, as we grow and learn we will find new things to focus on, patterns to break, we start to fine-tune and hone our behaviors and lives so they work in conjunction with our hopes, dreams, and goals, not against them. I can assure you it is possible, I am proof, it just takes a desire to do so, and some work. Roll up your sleeves SLAYER.

SLAY OF THE DAY: Do you see negative or unhealthy patterns in our life? What course of action can you take to change them? Why haven’t you in the past? Are these patterns serving you? My guess is not if you are listing them as unhealthy or negative. How can you make the changes you need to make to break your patterns and live a healthier more positive life? Write them down. Start to make a conscious decision SLAYER to take action in these areas, to do the right thing for you, and to make the changes you need to start a new cycle, a cycle that allows you live a life you want, and one your are proud of. SLAY on.

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

Slay Say

Good morning SLAYERS!  Conflict will happen, it’s how we choose to respond to it that matters.  Practicing healthy conflict allows us to get into a solution, and offers us an opportunity to learn about those around us, and ourselves.

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

State Of Slay Conflict