Sometimes we are on a roll in our lives where everything feels like it’s going really well and flowing effortlessly. And then we add something new – something that is out of the norm from our every day life. We stretch a little bit out of our comfort zone and expect things to continue flowing. And sometimes they do.  But sometimes we come across obstacles where we didn’t expect them to be. Sometimes we even come across road blocks that seem to be right in the way of reaching our dreams. When this happens, take a look at these obstacles and notice where they are coming from and what messages they are conveying. Are they coming from fear – is our ego stepping in and warning us that it might be scary to try new things? Are they coming from outdated beliefs that we have about achieving success and finding true happiness? Or maybe we haven’t stretched our adventure muscles in awhile and just need more practice.  Over the past week, I have been writing my book, and I have stumbled upon many obstacles – some that I had a feeling would show up and others that I’ve been surprised by. And while I recognize them for what they are (old fears and distractions coming up to keep me comfortable), I still have to work through them and move them aside. This dream is too big to allow anything to stand in my way. I was listening to a powerful telesummit yesterday with Jack Canfield where he was talking about how we can live our ideal life – even with the obstacles. He brought up the great point that we are always going to have obstacles – but our response to these obstacles is entirely our choice. We get to choose our thoughts, which means we also get to choose our outcome. So the next time we are reaching for our dream and we come across an obstacle – take some time to go within and try to get to the bottom of the message it brings up. And then thank it for showing up and teaching you more about yourself, and either push through it or go around it. Keep moving forward. We are all learning lessons every day. And with each lesson, we are all getting closer and closer to our truest self – our divine soul. And every obstacle and road block is helping us do just that. They are also great tools to show us just how passionate we are about achieving our dreams and living our ideal life. Every obstacle we push through and every barrier we eliminate leads us closer to our dreams.

Have you ever embarked on a wonderful new adventure that you were super excited about, and just when you really started to get into it with both feet in – fear stepped up and started listing all of the reasons why it’s probably not a good idea for you to do this after all and tries to get you to see how much safer it would be for you to just step back into your comfort zone?

When this happens, what if we took some time to listen to what fear has to say? 

It’s there to protect More

It is wonderful to surround yourself with loving friends and family who cheer you on and support you in everything you do.  I feel blessed that I have a great support system. I have a wonderful husband who loves me and boosts me up no matter what I do. I have a loving mom who has always been there for me and allowed me to always be myself. And I also have supportive friends who love me and honor me. Their love means the world to me. And it’s easy to sometimes rely on their support rather than look within and be my own cheerleader.  And I started thinking about what would happen if we were each our own biggest cheerleaders? Rather than looking for love and support outside of ourselves, what if we turned inward and began to cheer ourselves on instead? =&0=&

=&0=& A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about our happiness levels being the average of how happy our top few friends were. This is so interesting to me, and it really brought home the fact that we are all so sensitive to the energy around us. (You can read more about this here.) Because we are like sponges and tend to take on other people’s moods and emotions, I think it’s a good idea to be careful about who we let into our inner circle.   By surrounding ourselves with friends and loved ones who give us energy instead of take it away, we fill ourselves up by being around them instead of feeling depleted.  By surrounding ourselves with friends and loved ones who are positive and grateful, we raise our own vibration to meet theirs – and being more positive and more grateful is such a wonderful way to experience life! By surrounding ourselves with friends and loved ones who are filled with happiness and pure love, we become happier and love flows more easily.  *** I know that it’s not always easy to weed out your friends and family who don’t feed your soul. I know that ties run deep, and it can be hard to loosen the grip that they have on you.  But I also know that your happiness is worth it. You deserve to be happy and positive and radiant and grateful. And if you are surrounding yourself with anyone who isn’t on this same path, it is only making it that much harder for you to be on yours.  Spend some time today thinking about who is in your inner circle. Do they feed you or drain you? And then begin the process of only allowing into your circle those who support you and feed your soul. You are special, and your inner circle is a sacred space. Be conscious about who you allow in. And then celebrate being with those who celebrate you, who are happy, who support you, and who radiate love.