Mother's Day & Creative Menopause

Happy Mother's Day to the women and men that have given birth to goodness in this world beyond the physical realm (ie children). Mother Nature has no gender. Nature is simply our nature. It's in all of us - both men and women. All creation must be mothered and fathered though religion has taught us to only honor The Father. You don't have to create a day to honor something that you should honor ever day.

Many men and women are dealing with creative menopause. Menopause literally means the permanent physiological, or natural, cessation of menstrual cycles that women face in the biological realm. Our creative spirit approaches menopause every time we say "no" to a great idea. Ideas impregnate us at unique times for unique reasons to carry within and then ultimately give birth to. But after constantly aborting those ideas by saying "no", we bring creative menopause upon ourselves.

Oftentimes we blame our careers for killing our creativity. False. Our creativity is just going to our careers. At work we're expected to create value which our company captures as money, pays us in a salary, and then takes a profit. If you aren't creating value, they won't continue paying you.

We are all have a mother and father in us for we all came from a mother and father. In this divorce-driven society, I've seen single mothers successfully raise beautiful children because they were able to access the father in themselves. I'm not saying that's cool, but masculine energy is in women and feminine energy is in men.

Therefore, today, I'm not honoring a particular gender. I'm honoring anyone who has given birth to a child or idea seeded in them by Spirit.

Thank you all,

Two 1/2s Don't Make 1 Whole

...Two halves make a "hole". Mathematically it's true. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1. But spiritually, the equation doesn't stand.

Sometimes when we fall in love, we start to say things that sound sweet like "You're my other half" or "You complete me". Well, if someone completes us, then what happens when they leave. Are we incomplete?

Complement and complete are two separate things. Two things that are complete are complementary, but two things that are complementary aren't necessarily complete. There is a difference between having a matching socks that complete a pair and having two matching socks with holes that complement each other. The complete and complementary pair are useful; The complementary only socks should be throw away.

When we enter relationships with the half-and-half mindset that someone will complete us and make us whole, oftentimes we breed co-dependency instead of partnership. In co-dependent relationships, it isn't about our growth, our partners growth, or the growth of the relationship. It's simply about sustaining where we are instead of sustaining growth. The pattern is falling in love, not getting what we need, and then resenting that person when we knew from the beginning that the relationship was founded on our desires instead of the divine. A divine foundation is the only place from which Good creation can grow.

When 2 whole people coming together, a third being is formed. In this case, 1 + 1 = 3. Biologically, we see this manifest when a man and woman come together to create a child. In the business world we see this manifest when two business partners come together to form a corporation. The third being creates space for true partnership, where the 2 people (complete in and of themselves) can grow together through the third entity.

Whole doesn't = perfect; We all have room for growth. Whole = not wanting. When people are actively seeking a relationship, it's usually because they are wanting. We don't necessarily want "someone", we want "something" that we thing someone can give us, and anyone who can give me that something is on the ballot. The way the Universe works, whole-people tend to attract whole-people and half-people tend to attract half-people. Therefore, if we want a whole-istic and healthy partnership, we must seek to be whole first, healing from the past and opening ourselves to new possibilities.

The Santa Claus SyndromeAs a child, I remember sleeping by the fireplace on Christmas Eve in hopes that I would catch Santa Claus squeeze his way down the chimney without getting a speck of black soot on his red velvet suit and without breaking my new Nintendo on the way down. Though my house had 4 doors, many windows, and a garage, I assumed that the chimney was the only way Santa could deliver. Despite practically sleeping in the fireplace through Christmas morning, I never caught Santa Claus come down the chimney, eat the Oreo cookies, or drink the 8-hour old milk. Somehow...some other way, my presents found their way under the tree.

In life, we limit the way the Universe can deliver its gifts to us. Many of us have our own 5-year plan...you know...the get married by 30, house by 35, and multi-millions by 40 plan. We assume that we're going to get what we want, the way we want it, exactly when we want it. By doing so we limit all the possible ways our good can come to us just like a child limits all of the possible ways Santa Claus can deliver its gifts.

I call it the Santa Claus Syndrome and the Chimney Constraint. The Chimney Constraint occurs when a person erroneously expects big gifts from God to fit down their own narrow planned path. While we stare at the chimney with our backs to the tree, mad that Santa has yet to come, little do we know that our gifts are already under the tree awaiting us. We must recognize that everything is in-possible to the universe and the channels (opportunities, people, information, etc) by which God can reach us are infinite. Be careful what you wish for; the Universe will always give you exactly what you ask for, though it may come later than expected, perhaps an after-Christmas sale. Step back from the chimney and observe the gifts already sitting under the highly decorated tree that is you.

Mary Christ-Mass Eve!

Hi,

My name is Jullien Gordon and I am a success-aholic. I am drunk with the desire to succeed and my favorite drink is Security 151. I realize that I've been trying to avoid my fear of not having and being average. I like security because I'm really insecure. I believe in God, but I'd trust God a lot more with a couple million dollars in my bank account! The more money I make, the less I think I need God. I admire the poor for their faith. After trying and trying and failing and failing, I know that security is not the cure for insecurity. God is.

Who the hell am I to think that I'm better than anyone else? In the past, I have falsely attributed all of my success to myself. In all honesty, I was lucky to be born unto the family I was born to, the place and time I was born in, and to have all of the opportunities I had. I had absolutely no control over these things.

I think that that is why I'm addicted to success. I know that I've been blessed with so much more than the average person and therefore there is this never-ending pressure to be above average to myself, to my family, to my peers, and to others. I fear being the one with all the potential in the world that never realized it.

My own desire to succeed is killing me. I haven't even defined what success is for myself so I wouldn't even know if I achieved it or not. I want to stop chasing this distant and elusive thing called success and learn to make daily decisions that are in line with my heart and my purpose. I'm coming to realize that success is a road, not a destination, and that I take a step forward on the road "of" success (not on the road "to" success) every time I make an authentic choice.

Thank you for welcoming me to the Success-aholics group. I look forward to your support in helping me overcome my addiction.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the concept of writer’s block. You may have even experienced it before. Writer’s block is the inability to freely express yourself through writing. In life, many of have a disease called liver’s block. By liver, I don’t mean the body part, I mean you, the person living your life. There are 3 reasons why liver’s block persist in our society:

1. No space and time to create

Sometimes writers go live in a cabin for a couple of months so that they can have some peace and quiet without and within. When we’re in the chaotic world, there is no time for that. We spend almost 60% of our waking hours working for someone else, another 20% preparing to get there and back (ie dressing, driving, dining), leaving only 20% of our time to do what we want.

2. No ink

To be honest a lot of us are just out of ink. We live our lives getting to one day be instead of being to one day get. Passion is the liquid of life, but we have killed off the very thing that inspires us by silencing the small voice within. Every time we say no to our dreams, they get quieter and quieter. By the time we are ready to live them, they are mute and it's too late.

3. No blank paper

When I think of someone with writer’s block, I imagine a whole bunch of crumpled up pieces of paper in a nearby garbage can. That’s okay! A blank piece of paper means an opportunity for a fresh start. Oftentimes, the piece of paper we are looking at is filled with old stuff and red ink from the past. Ball it up. Let it go. And throw into the hoop of the past where it belongs.

I think we can all agree that change is constant. Therefore, the creation story never ends because creation always is. The real question is who is writing your chapter of our collective story? Each day is a blank sheet of paper that we can write/live what we want. If you’re not writing your own story, then who is?

Deadlines…Deadlines…Deadlines. Every day there is one more to add to our to do list. Life is more than a series of met deadlines and checked off to do lists. Instead of using the word “deadline”, use “lifeline”.

Do you remember playing the Cruisin’ USA video game when we were younger? In order to keep on racing, you had to reach certain checkpoints within the allotted amount of time. You wanted to get there in time because it would allow you to see new parts of the course that you never saw before. It was like a “lifeline”. In our daily lives, we use word “deadline” a lot. I think it stems from our competitive, fast-paced culture and our belief in Darwin’s survival of the fittest.

Imagine viewing your next assignment like the race game. Instead of seeing it as a sprint to the next checkpoint, think of it as an opportunity to explore uncharted territory in the near future if you excel. Keep in mind that when you excel at something you don’t like, you’ll attract more of what you don’t like. We kill ourselves and stunt our own growth when we willingly accept things without being vocal about our goals, passions, and needs. When you are passionate about the assignment, it becomes a lifeline; there is no such thing as a deadline when you feel alive. There is only one deadline in life that truly matters and it is meaningless if you never truly lived.