Your body, soul, and spirit are creative forces because they were created. Creativity is your essence, purpose, responsibility, and gift (both to give and receive).

To create means to bring something into existence, and you are doing this all day with your imagination, language, and responses and reactions. Creating is easier than you think because you are already always doing it.

Now, the question is, since you are already creating with your thoughts, words, and actions, what do you want to be bringing into being? If more love, generosity, kindness, presence, abundance, equity, joy, success, or anything else good is the answer, practice focusing on thoughts of this quality, disciplining yourself to speak words of this quality, and take actions or non-actions from this intention. This is a big practice, yet you are a big person.

What would you like to focus on creating today?

Today is not a means to get to tomorrow or to fix yesterday. Today is your life.

Living fully in the present is the best way to impact both the future and the past. Your body wants to forgive, it wants to create intuitively, it wants to contribute, and it wants to thrive. If you give it a chance to, by letting go of the “shoulds” of that which has passed and that which has not come, it will learn to guide you in making loving choices that take care of you now and always.

What would it feel like to live your life today?

Only a select few people will remember you after you die, yet many more will remember you while you are alive.

Legacy is not something you focus on to impact how people will perceive you later; it is a tool to support you in making a difference today for the billions of people you are interconnected with.

What would it be if you had to choose one word to be remembered for at the end of your life? Could you use each moment you feel challenged today as an opportunity to express that word?

The initial inspiration is likely wearing off if you have hit an obstacle or feel defeated. The energy of the beginning is behind you, and the promise of the end feels far away and out of reach.

If you choose, you can practice being excited that you are in a process and let that boost your spirits. Being down is part of a non-linear process, and you might be down right now, yet it’s on your way to up.

Would you be willing to appreciate yourself for being on a journey when many others never leave the safety of the known?

We are social beings. We feel best when we are able to be uplifted and supported by community. However, being “social” can feel extremely stressful when we feel like we are judged, excluded, or othered.

In order to be great at being social, we each must become great at being in solitude. When we cultivate space within ourselves to retreat to, we can do the deeply personal work of reconnecting to our intentions, desires, and purpose; releasing what keeps us heavy and focusing on what we choose.

Solitude is essential for thriving community. How can you create space for that relationship with your Self today?

I rush to get there, thinking it will make me happy when all I have done is miss my day, week, and life.

I rush through the motions, thinking I need to get through it all to keep it all together when all I have done is create a mess of partially completed tasks.

I rush, thinking there is better than here and now, yet I never get there in my rush.

What if I try presence, patience, and wholeness instead?

Focused, dedicated work is not a means to an end; it's the portal to the heart of present-moment happiness. In a world teeming with distractions, the art of focusing is not a tool for productivity but a conduit for joy and fulfillment.

Immersion into a task is what transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Deep engagement is akin to a meditative state, where the noise of the external world fades away, and we can tap into our power beyond our reasoning mind. This is where creativity and innovation flourish, nurtured by undivided attention. The benefits of such focused work are not fleeting; it's a profound experience that elevates our lives.

Our happiness stems from a deep alignment between our actions and inner knowing. When we can stop resisting the intensity of hard work and instead surrender to it, we allow the friction we experience to generate the heat we need to transform.

Where is it time for you to go to work so you can be happy?

We are so obsessed with resisting things that we have to choose to hold pictures in our minds of things that may not even happen and then worry about them so we can spend our energy resisting them.

We keep pictures of the past ready and available in our minds to prove that the new opportunity we are blessed with today is not as good as it seems. If we can resist, we can stay “safe” in the known, which is the riskiest place to be if growth and contribution are essential to us.

The way out is simple, yet it takes profound dedication. When you notice yourself resisting, make a new choice and come back to the freedom of the present moment by relaxing in your body and asking what you would do if you had no resistance. Do that thing and allow your creativity to begin to flow. Do this as often per minute, hour, or day as needed.

Productivity is doing the correct work, not a bunch of work.

Words associated with productivity in the dictionary are creative, generative, and fertile. When connected to our essence, these words are gifts inherent to the human spirit. They are qualities we lose our ability to harness when we become busy, stressed, or disconnected from our intentions and greatest desires.

To be the productive, prolific contributor you are meant to be, where do you need to stop believing you are just a cog in the wheel, a victim of your to-do list, or a lost possibility? What if all of your “responsibilities” were lifted off of you, and you could focus on being creative, generative, and fertile? What would you be excited to produce then?

Your circumstances and titles don’t even need to change for your productivity. Your context can change everything.

I have the ability to be inspired because I am human.

When I want to be moved from the inside out to take action rather than force myself with sheer willpower, it is an opportunity to become still and let myself feel what breaks my heart. And if I want to let my soul ache, I don’t have to look far. There is suffering happening everywhere.

As I allow the sorrow or anger to enter through the cracks of my broken heart, I can feel powerful sensations in my body, urging me to find a better way. My mind starts to narrow in on what I should fight against- violence, division, hatred, apathy, oppression, or maybe fear. Having something to fight against can be powerful, yet not as powerful as having something to stand for.

When I want to fight against hate, I am being inspired to fight for love. When I want to fight against apathy, I am being inspired to fight for compassion and empathy. When I want to fight against division, I am being inspired to fight for creativity, collaboration, listening, and wholeness. The inspiration allows me to keep my eyes and energy focused on what is possible and what is life-giving, moving me into action that leaves me feeling fulfilled in the long run. It sometimes feels easier to rely on outer forces to motivate me because then I don’t have to feel the bigness of life, yet it is only in my willingness to let my heart break and go deep within that I can be truly content.

To be inspired, let your heart break, which is the essence of being human.

The moment you become mean you become just as “wrong” as the other person.

Wisdom and discernment can help us see the truth without needing to go down there by becoming mean.

Stay kind and give your energy to what serves you and others.

Mediocrity always tries to tear down potential and excellence.

As you work to create something meaningful, people will try and stop you. Please embrace this as a sign that you are moving into a new level of your contribution, not as a sign to question your conviction.

The only way mediocrity can win is if you give up or lose your cool. Stay focused, trust what you know, and keep going.

If you failed, something about what was happening wasn’t working, which is great to embrace. Seeing the errors is vital and, therefore, a considerable success if you are playing a long-term game, which we all should be. You now have the opportunity to rebuild, knowing what you know now.

Our experience of long-term success is dictated by our willingness to course correct as soon as we notice something is off. As we grow, our ability and willingness to pivot and make new daily decisions becomes second nature. If we choose to, we can have fun scanning for failures and using them as opportunities to become stronger. When we do this, we give ourselves chances to reset again and again.

In every moment, there is potential for value or detriment.

The key lies in clarifying what you desire and how you aspire to grow. When you know what you want and you choose to believe it can happen, opportunities and pathways reveal themselves abundantly. Conversely, a hopeless outlook paints life with only challenges.

Living with this trust is fun. As your dreams and learning opportunities evolve, embrace your exact starting point and trust in your journey. Align with life, and it will align with you.

Clarity is scary because we must take responsibility and commit to a big life of growth, guaranteeing failure.

The good news is that the way to make it fun is to do it because it is fun. Nothing is more enjoyable or rewarding than becoming more focused and more effective at what brings you joy and the ability to contribute. You don’t need to do much to make it fun besides staying in it through the failures.

So, how do you get clear? It is a lifelong practice that unfolds inside of the courage to listen to yourself and get support from people who have been on the path longer than you.

Your most powerful adversary, and really the only enemy you need to face, is fear.

Fear is an expert shape-shifter, emerging to block us in unexpected ways. Fear is the thing that keeps you from exerting in that last five percent of work, the difference between leaving 100 percent on the field and falling just short. Fear is the thing that keeps us from ever even beginning, leaving our potential still inside of us. Fear is the thing that steals your focus and reroutes it to judgment of yourself and others, doubt of yourself and others, or worry about yourself and others. Fear tries with all its might to pit us against one another and hurt one another for fake versions of power, and it works because it is so sneaky.

However, our most potent weapon against fear is faith. Faith in our true essence, resilience, perfection under the imperfection, gifts, wisdom, and the unseen support around us. Faith is different than mere belief. Having faith means we take action in alignment with what we believe no matter what, regardless of circumstances. It is this unwavering steadfastness that can render us unstoppable.

The question is, are you willing to overcome the enemy by taking action in alignment with the Truth no matter what, regardless of the challenges? Or are you going to let fear’s sneaky tactics win?

The first phase of new can feel inspiring, exciting, and energizing. Momentum is on your side, and the hope of a new future propels you forward.

The second phase of new, however, is the one where you have begun, yet it starts to feel challenging or inconvenient, or you experience your first or fifth failure. This is the awkward, heavy, demotivating, and potentially frustrating stage of new. Your response at this critical juncture is pivotal; it reveals your potential for success. Giving up now means shutting the door on success, yet persisting through this challenging phase paves the way for eventual triumph.

Sometimes, completing something is a good choice. However, never do it during this transformational stage. Developing the will to stay committed when it's tempting to withdraw is key. If you can make it through this phase again and again, almost nothing can stop you.

You have already failed by not trying, not going for it, not doing your thing. Hesitating, letting your opportunities slip away, and staying comfortable do not compound into success.

You will still encounter failures when you venture into new territory – that's an inevitable part of your creative journey. However, the only way to elevate your chances of success is to take action.

You already have failure. Why not give yourself the chance to succeed?

New goals will only work if you are willing to do one of two things or both:

1. Look at what is underneath what is evident that is keeping you from having already succeeded at the new thing. It would have already happened if you had addressed everything in the way.

2. Take action in alignment with your goal no matter how much you don’t want to, knowing that the reward (being more of your true self) only lives on the other side of the action.

Not only do we need to do these things once, we need to do them every day and multiple times a day. We will only be happy if we embrace our human design, which is continued growth. Growth is both the journey and the destination, and a loving relationship with worthwhile discomfort is the access to the path.