Learning to Love

Life can be full of busy activities that keep us moving from one task to another, eating on the run, multi-tasking, and trying to fit everything we need to do in each day. But what does it all really mean? We do more and more, but have seemingly less and less.

The only thing that TRULY matters is our capacity and ability to love, and to love unconditionally.

This is the GREATEST thing there is and it is the source of our greatest empowerment. When we choose to live and walk in love, we are functioning from and in a source that is so far beyond us and our imagination, that without it, we can do nothing that will pass eternity's test.

I have had the pleasure of experiencing this this type of love though the life of my beloved dog, Shalom, who passed away yesterday on July 15, 2012. My heavenly Father, used her to teach me 3 very important things:

What it means to love
How to love
How to love unconditionally

I wanted to share a little about her and her life with you. We can all learn from her example.

Until next time,
Eva

My Beloved Shalom

Moment by moment is how we move from one point in time to another usually giving no particular notice to how time is passing until one fateful day, time almost stands still, while we come face to face with the realization, a beloved loved one will move on without us.

Sunday, July 15, 2012 late in the afternoon, was my time to face that realization. My MOST beloved dog, Shalom, a full bred Rottweiler, passed on. She was 9 years, 1 month, 1 day young. She was so full of life and love, a true joy to be around. She was the one that truly taught me what it means to love, how to love, and how to love unconditionally because she exemplified these qualities each and every day of her precious life, without fail.

Shalom was born on June 14, 2003 and I welcomed her into my home 2 weeks, and 5 days later. She took immediate possession of my heart and she will always live on in my heart.  Her bright eyes, playful and loving personality, and protective nature, brought me great comfort and joy through the years. I thank God He trusted me enough to entrust her care to me. I am forever grateful to have known and loved Shalom and her unconditional love and look forward to seeing her and her sister again one day, God willing.

I give my promise to carry on her legacy:

To love unconditionally and forgive easily

To live life with heartfelt passion and joy

Thank you Father God for such a huge blessing.

All my love,

eva

  

The Journey of Process

Getting from one point to another isn't always a straight line. Sometimes it's by design, while at other times it's by the choices we make along the way, either way, our life's journey's often resembles a meandering winding road that does not seem to get us where we want to be.

The process that takes place while we are meandering from point a to point b, can be an interesting one. Sometimes we are learning about ourselves and sometimes we are working through parts of ourselves that need to be refined. When we are in "process" mode, we are also gathering those precious golden nuggets that help us see how the pieces of our life's puzzle fit together: The tapestry of our uniquely special life.

Every person is special, because everyone has value and purpose. There are people who have always had a clear vision of who they are and what they want to do and they go after it. Others still, do not have a clear vision and because of that, find themselves lost or parked by the side of the road.

It is in the process that we learn and grow. Learn to enjoy the journey of process (as tough as it is)  because it will lead you towards your signature destiny!

Until next time,

Evan :-)

True Empowerment

There are certain events, situations, or circumstances that occur in our life that when they come, we reply with "What in the world was THAT?"

I had such an occurrence recently. This particular occurrence came out of left field and when it was over, left me feeling very very broken AND brokenhearted. This is a delicate, vulnerable, and dangerous place to be, because depending upon OUR response to the situation, will determin if we choose to live empowered OR allow ourselves to be placed under arrest and locked up within our self.

The decision that was placed before me, after many tears, was to either choose to forgive and continue to love (live empowered) or choose to break relationship with a family member (live in own self-imposed prison of unforgivness).

The test of true empowerment is to choose to forgive and continue to love. The decision to forgive is a conscious decision to stop feeling ill feelings toward a person. It can be done and I have once again in my life chosen to forgive.

A life lived by loving and forgiving, is a life full of riches.

Live, Love and Forgive those who have hurt you....

Until next time,

Eva :-)

New page added: health and beauty

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know I have added a new page called health and beauty. Please check it out!

Eva

The Starting Line

On your mark, get set, go! These are the words we hear at the beginning of a race of runners. Fortunately, living an empowered life is not a race, however, there are other similarities that correlate to running a race. There are so many areas in our life that we can identify where we are not as empowered as we could be. Areas such as our health, finances, relationships, career, well you get the idea.


On your mark:
Iidentify an area you are ready to take responsibility in.

Get set:
Make a plan of action(goal) that includes where you are in this area and where you want to be once you have achieved empowerment. Here is an example of how to do this. Make a SMART goal.

S-
state your goal in specific terms. Don't just say I want to loose weight, as an example, state how much.

M-
is your goal measurable?

A-
is your goal attainable?

R-
Is your goal realistic?

T-
Is your goal time specific?


Write out your goal using the above five areas.  For example, "I will loose 10 pounds within one month."

Once you have written out your goal, test is against SMART.

Is the goal specific? Yes loose 10 pounds
Is the goal measurable? Yes, by using a scale
Is the goal attainable? Yes, depending upon the person
Is the goal realistic? Yes, once again depending upon the person
Is the goal time specific? Yes, one month.

When you have reached your specific goal, a sense of empowerment will happen. You will feel encouraged and energized!

Let me know how this works for you!!!!

Until next Time,
Eva :-)

Energizer Bunny

Remember the commericals with the energizer bunny? The bunny just keeps going, and going, and going, and going.. well you get the idea!

When we have made the decision to change those aspects of of life that are hindering our empowered lifestyle, it is important to continue in the courageous mindset that first enabled us to make changes. Why is this important? Because we will encounter some measure of resistance or discouragement while we are working toward an empowered life. In this times, we will need to stay connected with why we are wanting to live empowered:

We don't want to live in a victim mentailty, or live closed off to new ideas and ways of living. When we are open, we can receive those inspirations that help energize us toward positive change. So the next time you feel discouraged, just imagine yourself as the human energizer, and keep going, going, going until you have reached the place of your desired empowerement!

Feel free to share by writing a comment! I look forward to more interactions with you!

Unitl next time,

Eva :-)

Courage

Did you know it takes a certain amount of courage to live an empowered life? Yes, it does! When we identify areas in our life where we are not empowered, we must DECIDE to make a change. Making a decision to change something takes initiative and courage because this is the stage of change that many of us go back and forth on. It's like we are in a tug-of-war with ourselves.

You know, in a way we are in a tug-of-war! The old thing we are wanting or needing to let go of is not going without a fight, so in order to see change manifest in this area, we must use MORE force to make and sustain the change.

This is where courage comes in. Courage is defined as the "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." The words "persevere" and "difficulty" are noteworthy. It takes consistent perseverance in the process of change because you will no doubt encounter difficulty as you are working toward your desired result.

So let's join hands and encourage each other as we are all in the process of change!!!


Until next time,

Eva :-)

Empowered

What does it mean to be "empowered?" One definition of empower is, "to give official authority, or power to." There are a lot of people living their lives is various stages of dis-empowerment because at some point in their life, they have have either willingly given or had their power (authority) taken from them. 

So what does this look life in our life? When we are operating in a dis-empowered mode, we are closed off, doubting, negative, etc. For example, when we say, "we can't do this or that" "I'm not good enough," etc, we are operating from a dis-empowered mode or state. When we are operating from an empowered state, we are, open, creative, positive.

Let's illustrate this. Close your hand into a fist. Now using your other hand, try to poke your finger into the fist. You can't, right? The closed fist represents a dis-empowered state.  Closed, unable to receive new ideas. NOW, open your fist and take your other hand and poke around. The open hand represents an empowered state, open and receptive to new ideas. Yes, do use discernment in the new ideas!

The choice is yours. It always was. You can live in a closed off, unreceptive state, or be willing to open yourself up to empowering you to be, "YOU."

What are your thoughts? Please share!

Until next time,
Eva :-)

Hello World!

Hello World!!!

How are you all of doing? Life is full of gifts, surprises, twists and turns, isn't it? It seems like when we think we have the answers, life says, "nope you don't." Then there are times we don't think we know what to do, and life says, "yep, you do, you just don't want to do it!"

This blog is about empowering you to "be bold enough to be you." People are all too often measuring themselves against others only to feel let down because they don't feel like they are good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, thin enough, etc. YOU were created to be here for this time and you do have value and purpose.

I would like to see this blog as a forum to help each other build one another up, to strengthen one another. We are going to talk about a variety of topics that help US live our lives empowered.

This is only the beginning, many more updates are on the way!

I invite you to come along on this journey!

Eva :-)