Category Archives: Joyful Journey

Less Than Perfect, More Than Magnificent

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

On Being Brave

I am not change adverse.  I change all the time, jobs, homes, cities, states.  Sometimes people view that as being brave.  Sometimes people view it as being weak.  It is all perspective.  We are who we are and those who try to define us really have no say in the matter.

I am who I was in sixth grade, just taller and I’d like to believe smarter.  I’m still the same person who would get sick on the first day of school, just with the ability to hide my nervousness better.  I’m still the same person who craves stability, just with the knowledge now that we have very little control in this life no matter how much we’d like to pretend we do.

I am almost always nervous or scared on some shadow level.  I am brave though because I am the only one who knows it.

The Joy In Taking On “Drastic” Changes

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

A beautiful, talented, under utilized, under appreciated friend said yesterday she is making “drastic changes.”  My response to that is “YAY!”  Sometimes we need to jump to rise up out of our funk.  I think a post from Dr. Bryan Schuetz says it best.  The good doctor’s post include the following (some I’ve paraphrased.)

As Jack London said:

“I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Need help getting ready to jump?  1) Know your dream.  2)  Protect your dream.  3) “Live your dream as if your life depends on it, because it really does.” ~Dr. Bryan Schuetz

If you’d like to get Dr. Schuetz’s daily quotes, check out  www.daily-motivational-quote.com .  Two things about it…it is free…and the quotes and posts are good.

Easy Formula For Greatness

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

Easy formula to do great things…

“If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission”. ~Eddie Colla

“It’s just about controlling your own fate. If you make your success contingent upon the approval of others, you’re kinda following the formula for failure. There are few great achievements in the history of the world that were not, at first, met with doubt or fear or both. For every person who achieved something great, there were 100 who told them it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done.” Eddie Colla

 

If They Knew, Would You Do It?

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

“Govern thy life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one, and read the other.”  ~Thomas Fuller

The true test of character comes from how you think and act, regardless of who is around to witness it.  Many of us have two types of behavior, one equals who we are.  The other equates to what I like to call our ‘show pony face.’

As you get ready to jump into another week it might be worth thinking about how you present yourself.  Are you true to who you are?  Or are you on the path of performance?  Are you spouting inspiration and pulling from others’ lives?  Or are you living a life that will inspire others to be inspired?

Rarely is life ‘one or the other’ when it comes to how we represent ourselves.  It is worth considering however just where on that line you stand.

Change Is Good (Not Always Easy, But Good)

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

I came across the picture and quote below today.  Is it time to pull the trigger on some change action you’ve been thinking about and/or discussing?  The truth is that there is no amount of discussion, thought or planning that will guarantee what you want.  The only way to find out how it ends, is to start down the path.

 

Your Decision = Your Consequences

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

Your Decision = Your Consequences

The above statement sums up life.  Your risks equal your rewards.  You actions result in your triumphant or sometimes failure.  So if 10% of people will not like us no matter what we do, why should we care what they think? We shouldn’t.  Let them get off their own butts and make their own decisions and take their own risks instead of criticizing ours-those of us risking something, producing something, trying something, etc. everyday.

Go For It! It Is All Perspective After All

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

More and more lately I’ve been talking with fabulous people who are working in amazing jobs and loving it!  These are jobs they are crazy passionate about and jobs most of us would think ‘oh, I can’t do that, I wouldn’t make enough.’  Some of these fabulous people are making a ton of money and some are making a decent amount and some are even working a second job to fuel their ability to do what they love.

My question of the day is this…  Have you traded passion and “right work” (work that is good for you and the world) for a job that makes you money to buy stuff that will end up in the junkyard one day?

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a Kate Spade purse and deeply enjoy rocking out a good pair of shoes.  Having said that I’m also willing to live low-end house wise to experience and work in a high-end, magical, amazing, changing the world job. In the big picture it isn’t a tradeoff for me as it fits perfectly with me and my values even if it doesn’t fit with others.  All I sacrificed was believing others know more about me than I do.  It is all perspective after all!

It is tough to pick passion and decide being a change agent is more important than another or nicer car.  And we’ve often been programmed to prioritize what we have over what we contribute.  Is it possible to have it all.  Yes.  But the trick is not getting sucked into the need to “earn a living” over “making an amazing difference.”  As I mentioned I’ve had a lot of conversations lately proving the two are not mutually exclusive.

The Most Unpopular Blog Post In The World

Posted on by Denise Dahl, Epiphany Planning & Development, LLC

I’m not sure which is a bigger disservice, when we are told that life is meant to be easy or when we are told that our lack of success is because we aren’t tuned into ourselves.  Both make it sound like life is this magical and easy path we meander down.  We hear these messages from some religious folks, from self-help gurus, etc.  It shapes and provides us a double whammy of encouraging less hard work and blaming ourselves for not being able to make it happen easily and effortlessly.  Like if your fairy godmother didn’t show up and make your dreams come true you are a loser.

Don’t get me wrong, life is incredible and beautiful but it is hard work sometimes and sometimes painful.  Teddy Roosevelt once said, “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”  And most people would agree he had a pretty cool life.  I doubt Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Jesus, Jane Addams, Clara Barton,  Ida B. Wells Barnett, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, Gandhi, Buddha, etc. would have had the lives they had if they had entrenched themselves in seeking the mellow easy path that is so often preached and marketed to us today.

I feel life is more along the lines of Stephen Covey’s quote, “We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations.”  Key word “push” meaning there is effort involved.  Effort beyond paying someone to tell you or make you feel your life is groovy.

Sure you can seek the easy out…but you will be seeking for a long time to no avail.  While we are accustomed to thinking good things come to those who wait…I say good things come to those who get off their bums and seek and conquer.

So you can be passive and let others feed you what seems convenient or you can take the following advice…

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.” - Socrates

“He who begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.” - Horace

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” - Helen Keller

Either way you will learn a lesson.  The question is what lesson and result do you want?!