Lifted, By My Girls! — The Archives — Formerly Vented Uplift

  Well, it’s January 12th…did you fail at your New Year's resolutions already and you feel like shit about yourself? Or is that just me for like the past 30 years of my life?? Except for this year…because at 3 in the morning, an hour after I went to sleep, I woke up with a thought…New Year, New Me is complete shit! I call these little moments of thought my download from God. It's the things that I need to hear and understand to become a better version of myself. And this thought was just what I needed to break those crazy ideas in my head that have been placed there by society, TV, and the perfect people on Instagram...oh and let's not forget the number one guilty party...me! So the thoughts continued in my head as I tossed from side to side. Who came up with this crazy notion that once we wake up on January 1st that we could be a new person??? Like WTF? (And no, I didn’t give up cursing for the new year.) First off, most of us will be slightly hungover or tired in the morn...

There is a growing number of loved ones in my life who have passed away and as time goes on, there’s been a beautiful shift in how I relate to their love.    The first big loss was my maternal grandmother.    She passed away on Valentine’s Day 13 years ago.    I was in London visiting my brother at the time and I believe it was her way of always reminding us how much she loved us. Each of my closest loved ones who have passed on have a way of connecting with me from the other side.  The number 919 shows up when my grandmother is reaching out to me.  Her birthday was 9/19.  With my paternal grandmother, blue jays show up on my fire escape or follow me around in the park.  She loved watching the birds hanging out at the feeder in her backyard.  These are reminders that I am still loved even if I can’t be with them here on the earth plane. When my stepmother, Linda, passed away last spring, she came to me in a ...

Here are a few of the lessons I've learned about fear.  Fear is easy. Fear is isolating. Fear is debilitating. Fear is destructive. Fear is learned. Fear is inevitable. Fear is normal. Fear is unifying. Fear is helpful. Fear is protective. Fear is powerful.  Fear is not forever.  We are often afraid to speak up. We're afraid to ask for help. We're afraid to sing in public. We're afraid of math. We're afraid of standing up for what's right. We are afraid of all of these things, because we've been taught to be afraid. We are afraid of someone's response. We're afraid of what people will say. We are afraid of how people will judge us. We are afraid that someone will use our weaknesses and our emotions against us. We are afraid someone will post that hideous photo of us and that someone will turn it into a meme (or is that just me?). The more that you can latch on to some perspective regarding fear, the less afraid you become. We let fear control so much...