Act As If....

Act as if it already happened! Because that's what sets the tone for your future and where you want it to go. 

            I don’t know about you, but these last few weeks in my life have felt rather surreal.  We went from daily life to wondering if the folks passing us in the grocery store are someone we know because their faces are covered up in masks.  I had the idea yesterday to write my name and a smile on my mask.  We have a new normal folks and it’s here to stay for a while. How are you going to make the best of it?

            I seem to be going through the different stages of grief. The first week home, my son and I were like okay this isn’t so bad, we can hang in our jammies and eat all day.  My son told me that he’s trained his whole life for this.  He loves being online with his friends all day.  Week 1 went by in a blur, as did Week 2.  By Week 3, I started to have feelings of grief and disbelief.  I was mourning and didn’t even know it.  I was mourning that I couldn’t just run to the grocery store for something quick. It felt kind of like when my son was a newborn and you have those pangs of not being able to go anywhere suddenly or quickly because you have the car seat, baby, diapers.  Things have to be thought out in a much more hygienic way.

            We settled into a new routine at the start of this week.  It was while I was lying in bed last night that I got a very clear message that simply had three words to it. “Act As If…”.  What the heck does that even mean Universe?  Act As If…… I’ve since woken up, had my coffee and sat down with my journal to explore that a bit more in detail.  What my interpretation is, don’t wait for the hard stop.  Don’t wait to do things until this “time in history” is over.  Start doing life differently now.

            If we stay in action, our days will become more productive.  If we stay in action, we can start moving our lives toward what we want to be when we come out of all of this.  It’s not going to be that we just wake up one day and everything goes back to “normal”. I’m here to tell you folks that that is not going to happen. It may be more of a gradual re-awakening.  Businesses we once loved, may be no more.  It may make space for other things to come in that we love more.  All we can do during these days is to create our own future.  One of my favorite sayings is, “If you don’t know what the future holds, then create the future yourself.”.  Say that out loud and think about how empowering that is.

            I love to help folks. I love to help them shift their mindsets, businesses, futures, etc.  With that in mind, I’ve decided to offer a six-week program called “Act As If”.  I want to be here for you during this time of homebound days.  By keeping you accountable to your goals/dreams, you can stay on track to step out of this trying time in history and into your new normal.  Who do you want to be when this is all over?  What would you have done differently if you knew this was going to happen?

            Six weeks of weekly phone calls, energy clearings, and constant email support for you during a time when you may be starting to think that things will have to be different.  Different times mean different operating systems.  Our weekly phone calls will be 30 minutes of accountability, downloads and next right steps.  I’m doing a similar program with my coach and it has been immensely helpful for keeping me on track and for those days when I do veer off track, it resets me rather quickly.

If you want to know more or are interested, reach out to me via Messenger.  You can email me at pwalker2650@gmail.com.

Until My Next Adventure,

Trish Walker

Park City, UT

From This Day Forward!

It was a big, big day.  It's Election Day 2016. Regardless of the outcome, it's been quite the journey.  The signs went up six months ago.  It's been a long six months of opinions, accusing, non-support etc. I tried to stay put today and not go out to much.  However, real life gets in the way.  As I made my way into a restaurant to pick up a sandwich, a young man came at me and said, "Well, who did you vote for?".  His co-worker told him that that was rude and to not ask me.  Thanks for coming to my rescue sir.  The person originally asking the question told me that he wasn't going to bother voting because it didn't matter anyway.  I told him that's one way to look at it but to please not complain because not voting doesn't give him that option.

It's been a day full of wonky energy.  People yelling at family members because they didn't vote for who this person thought they should vote for. People saying they won't judge, but then do judge.  Through it all I have sat back and observed.  I've observed some really bad behavior but also some beautiful behavior.

I've set my Facebook feeds up for high vibe folks for the most part.  Their posts today were beautiful.  One in particular by Michael Franti talked about love.  How we need love right now but more importably how love needs us right now.  It was a feel good watch.

By this time tomorrow, I will know who our new president will be.  As relieving as that sounds, I know that there will probably be six more months of whining, attacks and just plain stupidity.  It's up to me how I react.  It's up to me to make my space high vibe.  It's up to me to make the choice to not hang around folks who try and mudsling and bring into my world a bad energy.  Even if it includes family, it's okay to make the choice to not be a part of their every day.

P.S.  It's the day after and we all know who won.  I woke up to blazing headlines, fear (not mine), again hatred, etc.  A light went off in my head.  I can do this differently.  I can not get sucked into the rhetoric.  From this day forward, I am going to take on a light way of doing things.  I truly feel that this country needed a wake-up call.  It came in the form that it did, whether you think it is good or bad.  The fact that so many people didn't vote but are still complaining is a testament to what I am referring to.  I spoke to my son at great lengths this morning about how we can walk away from the drama.  We can decide that from this day forward, we will put our energies into the good.  When you put energy towards something, either negative or positive energy, it still gives that entity power.  In the case of either candidate, this current mood of the country was going to happen.  We can just trust from this day forward that the good will rise up and that people will start to pay attention to what we need to do to prepare for the next election so that we are not in this situation again.

Until My Next Adventure,

Trish Walker

Are you ready to say yes to your soul by shifting your perspective to create something extraordinary? I invite you to contact me via email at pwalker2650@gmail.com to discuss how I can help you to make your next chapter better than your last.

Please also follow me on my Facebook Page: Trish Walker or via Twitter (Trish Walker@50foraYear).

My New Normal: Excitement for the Future!

I am working a new process here today.  My husband is moving out of the house.  It's been a few years coming and I woke up this morning and said, it's here. It's really here.  I am at a crossroads and can do one of two things:  I can sulk and live in fear or I can rock this.  I am going to take the other path and build myself up to my highest vibration. It's been a long run, a long cycle, but we are both going into this new phase with the understanding that we will still be in a relationship (hopefully happy and healthy) where we can co-parent our child. As I sit here at my desk, I realize that I am letting go of an old story and getting ready to build a new one.  It's exciting, it's scary, but most of all it's just that, a blank slate.  I get to put the words on there that I want. I get to decide my experiences, feel those feelings and make my own decisions.  It feels a wee bit overwhelming right now to me, so I am going to take a moment to focus on self-care and love for myself and our child.

I can't tell you how appreciative of my husband I am (I need to come up with a term for this new reality but am stumped at the moment).  He has given me my child, financial stability for years and just always has been there.  Why then, do you ask?  We also have been caught in a gerbil wheel of enabling each other to not be our best selves. It was when I finally became uncomfortable in my dysfunction that I discussed with him our need to go our separate ways.  For once, he agreed with me.

As I navigate my new normal, I am going to keep going back to my "roots".  My spiritual practices each morning, my work-outs, and my having fun.  It can get easy to get caught up in what others think you should do: drama, blaming, etc.  However, in this one, we are 50/50.  We both have verbalized that we wish no drama.  In fact, I'm not sure folks will even know what is going on because it has been that low key.  I love this.  I love this new way of thinking and not conforming to what society deems a separating couple's way to act.  How cool is this?

I'm looking forward to my new future.  It will have it's ups and downs, but the tools I am acquiring are giving me strength like I have never had before.  I spent a good part of today wallowing in a feeling that I don't think I have felt before. Was it sadness, grief, fear, or something else?  I'm just not sure.  I reached out to someone today and they said to keep moving.  Stay active and keep moving so those old thoughts and patterns keep moving out of my body.

Again, I look forward to my new future, new adventures and this life that I am now living! For each day, I am grateful.

"The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless your forgive the situation, unless you realize the situation is over, you cannot move forward."  - Steve Maraboli

Until My Next Adventure,

Trish Walker

Are you ready to say yes to your soul by shifting your perspective to create something extraordinary? I invite you to contact me via email at pwalker2650@gmail.com to discuss how I can help you to make your next chapter better than your last.

Please also follow me on my Facebook Page: Trish Walker or via Twitter (Trish Walker@50foraYear).

Looking at Life Through New Eyes

This past week has been a series of ups and downs.  I'm moving ahead in my business but seem to have trends of going backwards in other areas.  It's almost as if there are forces out there that say, look how good she is doing, we better throw her a curveball. What I realized after a while is that perhaps I'm the one throwing out the curve ball. I'm the one that is making the choice to accept the part in drama.  This just has to stop. I can make the choice to either participate in the distraction or walk away from the distraction. Case in point, yesterday was Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms, step-moms, etc. out there.  My day was wonderful.  Cards, gifts, getting waited on and slipping under the covers to read my latest novel while it poured rain out.  Then, the drama showed up.  (Cue the music for Jaws here.)

I had sent out a group text to all the mothers in my family in the morning, wishing them a great day.  I got back the usual responses, "You too!", "Have a wonderful day.", then the one showed up that triggered me.  It came from a relative who has devoted her life deep into religion.  The text showed up with a bible verse of some kind.  Now mind you, I'm not against religion, I just choose to do it in my own way.  She chooses to do it in her own way and makes sure that not only does everyone know, but tries to judge us when we don't get onboard her bus.  It started me down a path of how dare she, who does she think she is?  It took me awhile and a few phone calls with my tribe to bring it back down to not judging or basically doing the same as her.  She is entitled to her opinions/thoughts, it's just when she tries to put it on others that it irritates me.

I had a great phone call this morning with one of my ladies!  She has been in a similar position and summed it up by saying that this relative is a salesman (the religious one in the family).  She thinks she is here on Earth to sell this program and won't rest until everyone is on board the train.  No matter what I might say to this person, she won't hear it.  Again, her prerogative.  What I have to decide is, do I jump in the fray or remove myself from the situation?  I'm going to choose to remove myself from the situation.

I started out today with feeling like there were tentacles trying to pull me down a few energy levels.  However, I quickly realized that I have the resources within me to not go down that path.  It's taken a lot of years and lots of new tools, but I'm happy to report that it is getting easier and easier.  The outlook for this week is that it is going to rock!!!

Until My Next Adventure,

P.A. Walker

Are you ready to say yes to your soul by shifting your perspective to create something extraordinary? I invite you to contact me via email at twalker.wellness@gmail.com to schedule a complimentary 30 minute consultation to discuss how we can work together to make your second half of life better than your first.

Please also follow me on my Facebook Page: The Second Half or via Twitter (Patricia A. Walker@50foraYear).

Signs from the Universe

As I sat down this morning to write this blog post, it occurred to me that I had no clue what I was going to write about today. I just knew it would flow through me. This is a first of sorts. I liken it to just putting it out there. I am trusting the universe to take over the reins and give me a voice. Today has been unique. I have had an outpouring of phone calls and messages from people that I haven’t heard from in a long time. These are folks that I have chosen to take a step back from. They didn’t fit into what I have been moving forward into. They are not bad people, just not on the same path as I.  I was questioning why all of sudden did they all reach out on the same day?

As the voice mails and emails appeared , I thought to myself that I should sit and figure out what was going on. What is the pop quiz that the universe was putting to me this first day of the week? I finally got it. I realized after seeing several posts pop up on facebook and sitting on what was happening, it is about going within. Why were these messages so bothersome to me? Why was it irritating to me that someone close to me was once again self-sabotaging himself? I pulled out the proverbial “mirror” and said, why was I irked? It hit me. I am irked because I made the conscious decision to be irked. I was spending my precious energy trying to figure out the behaviors of others. Do you know what this did for me? It gave me the luxury of time spent away from my dreams and visions. If I spent it on others, then I wouldn’t have to go out into that uncomfortable world of the unknown.

When I realized all of this, I kind of got a little excited. I realized that I had a choice here. I could continue going down that path, or I could forge ever forward to do something that felt uncomfortable to me. I could move one step ahead today to get myself closer to my dreams. I could do a huge thing today to get even closer. Bottom line was that it was all in my power.  There are times where, of course, the behavior of others will still affect me. It’s only natural, but what I can do is be there for them with compassion. I can ask them, what would playing a bigger game look like to you?

I ask you the reader, if you have had a situation that you keep re-visiting to get away from the bigger picture. If you do, what will things be like in one year, five years, ten years if you don’t take action now?

"We are our choices." - Jean-Paul Sartre

Until my next adventure,

P.A. Walker

The Circle of Influence

As I continue on with my new decade I keep having the feeling that my past no matter what I try and do, just keeps following me. I can resist it but it will persist. Case in point, I have been working on my circle of influence.  I keep hearing that you are the sum total of those five people that are closest to you. When I first heard that and looked around, I was kind of aghast and started really working on myself. I was attracting certain types of people that didn’t fit with my definition of success for myself. I was around some folks that were not very uplifting. Did I do this because I wanted to feel better about myself?  Most likely the answer is yes. After making this realization, I set about surrounding myself with some like-minded folks.  I went on retreats, took classes and did a whole lot of reading.  I sat down today for the first time and realized I had done just what I set out to do. I have succeeded in surrounding myself with a great group of people who are not only always there for me, but also uplift me.  So what is the problem? The problem is that my past keeps giving me pop quizzes. It keeps having people appear to throw me tests on how far I have really come.

After spending yet another lunch time with someone who just doesn’t want to look inside, I had had enough. I blurted out, "If you don’t change something, than why do you think anything is going to change?"   She stopped, looked at me and just keep babbling on with those words that I have forbidden my kid to ever use, “Yeah but….”. It was at that moment that I realized that not only did I have the tools to work myself out of this situation, but that I was ready to actually use them. I looked at her and again muttered, but louder this time, “If you don’t change anything, how do you expect this situation to ever change?”. I then got up and told her that I had to go and turned and walked away. This was a huge first for me. It might not have been the proper way to handle the situation, but in my gut, I think she may have gotten the message. Why do I sometimes continue to go back into these toxic situations that I know are not good for me to be in?  Simple, fear of letting the other person know how I feel and fear of conflict.

It has taken me a long time to get to this point of having these tools, but I know they work now and I certainly will not hesitate to use them if the situation arises again. In the meantime,  I made a point to reach out to my newest circle of influence folks and let them know how much I appreciate each and every one of them. I appreciate that they have come into my life at just the right moment and I truly thank them for that!!

I question if any of you have been in this same situation and how you handled it.

I leave you with a link to a great blog called The Evening Cup.  In this particular post, Nicole Taylor gives her readers some great advice!

http://theeveningcup.com/3-reasons-let-go-wrong-people/

Until My Next Adventure,

P.A. Walker