Everything you need;
to live your best life,
is in here ❤️
not out there…🌍
Your heart
and soul,
they know
the way,
they have
the answers,
they carry
your truth,
Slow down.
Breathe.
Listen.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
Everything you need❤️
Category: follow your path
Get Messy~
In the end, nothing will hurt
more than;
~ the paths not taken,
~ words not spoken,
~ wounds that didn’t heal,
~ moments lost,
~ joy never found,
~ a life not lived.
We’re here to take a few chances, have a colourful adventure or two, learn about ourselves, the planet and everything around us. To fully feel the highs and lows of this unique human journey. Don’t waste it. Be brave, bold, and curious as you own this thing called life!!
Yup you’ll make mistakes, you’re supposed to. You’ll get hurt, don’t let that stop you. You’ll get knocked down, eventually you’ll get back up and, you’ll get messy, oh well 🤷🏻♀️.
Be fearless, have fun and laugh till it hurts. Everyone of us is a student of life, and everyone of us will mess up, so, forgive those who hurt you, forgive yourself for the times you’ve been less then perfect. Face your fears with all the courage you can muster.
When you exit this ride, I hope your hair is a mess, your knees are wobbly, you’ve lost your hat, the wind has kissed your face so many times your cheeks are raw and, your final thought is “wow, that was amazing, absolutely frickin’ amazing, let’s do it again.”
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
You can get unstuck~
The day may come when the people, things and habits you’re used to, no longer fit or feel like you. Embrace the calling to let these things go and move on.
We’re not meant to stay stuck in the same place or the same mindset.
When water stops flowing it can become stagnate, foul, murky and toxic. If we stay stuck in the same place or mind set for too long, we can also become stagnant, foul, murky and toxic.
Our minds are meant to be exercised and fed. When we’re not grazing on new knowledge, new vistas, new opportunities or new adventures, we can get stuck.
We’re meant to flow, to move forward, to have new experiences, learn new things, challenge our own thinking, and grow.
Change can feel overwhelming and it might feel easier to stay in the box we know. Human beings do this all the time. We stay in uncomfortable relationships, uncomfortable situations, uncomfortable jobs, uncomfortable communities, uncomfortable shoes and uncomfortable behaviours and habits that add little joy to ours lives, because it’s familiar, it’s what, or sometimes “ALL”, we know.
But, once you rise, step out of your comfort zone, stretch your enthusiasm, move beyond your fear and shake off the old, you’re ready to take on the new.
Don’t waste your one beautiful life and your curious and hungry mind, remaining stuck in one place. The place that feels familiar may not be the place you belong.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
***If you need help getting unstuck, reach out for support🙏🤗
You’re not broken ~ you’re beautiful ~
Stop believing anyone who tells you you’re broken. You’re not, you’re absolutely beautiful.
You might hurt and have scars, but the pain you feel is growth, not brokenness.
Our life experiences aren’t supposed to feel, look or be the same as everyone else. So lets stop judging ourselves against the lives we see others live.
Your life journey might be painful because it’s about falling down and learning to get back up.
My journey might be filled with grief and heartache so I can understand loss and then comfort and have compassion for others when they experience it.
My neighbours journey might be about tolerance, acceptance and compassion, so they can become advocates for diversity and understanding.
We’re all going to fall and get hurt along the way, it’s part of the journey. Our hearts might get heavy and our spirits might crumble but, these are the experiences and emotions we’re meant to “grow” through.
Each stabbing ache, each crushing disappointment, every loss or painful fall from grace, provides us and those who bear witness to our lives, the opportunities to learn and transform. This pain shouldn’t break us, it should makes us stronger and wiser.
If you perceive your life as broken because you’ve been knocked down a few times, then you’ll feel broken. However, if you perceive your life as an amazing classroom, where you’re constantly learning and growing, then, you’ll greet each day with curiosity and excitement. You’ll become stronger and better equipped to deal with the tough stuff when it comes along. Let your scars be a reminder of how far you’ve come.
So relax, inhale the lessons, exhale and live the learning. No matter what people tell you or what you see in the mirror, you’re not broken. You’re both a beautiful student and teacher in this insanely wild and wonderful classroom called life. And, you’re right where you’re supposed to be, bumps, bruises, dents, scrapes, scars and all.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~ 🌹❤️
Not all empty spaces need to be filled~
From time-to-time many of us feel an emptiness, a lacking or void we think we need to fill in order to be happy.
We exhaust ourselves chasing happiness, chasing love, searching for meaning, chasing more of this or more of that, buying stuff to try and fill the emptiness or the sense of “lacking” in our lives.
Trying to fill this emptiness with material possessions, temporary companionship, drugs, alcohol, and busyness, almost never works. These things might mask what’s going on beneath the surface for a short period of time, but, they rarely lead to sustained fulfillment.
Perhaps this sense of emptiness is not something that needs to be filled, but something that needs to be FELT.
Perhaps this space within the ether of our chaotic human mind, is actually a waiting room that’s meant to be left wide-open, allowing old feelings, attitudes and pain to leave, and new feelings, thoughts and peace to arrive. A space we visit to lance our wounds, release our tears and the stifled ache of pent-up grief, pain, loneliness, remorse or sadness until we understand “it” and find the lesson in “it”. A space to purge the ugliness of what’s hurt us in the past and let “it” go – creating space for new things, new purpose, new meaning, to arrive. A space where we push the darkness out, and let the light in.
When the ache of emptiness or lacking creeps in, rather than trying to fill it, try to feel it. Take a walk, exercise, journal, open up and start talking to someone, go into nature, sit quietly and meditate. It doesn’t matter which path you take to get to this space, what matters is that you arrive, and when you do, you ask your pain what it’s trying to teach you. Then listen, feel, and release the things that no longer serve you or bring you peace. The answer(s) may not come right away. You may need to visit this space several times. When the answers begin to arrive, thank your pain for the lessons, then let it go. As it leaves, visualize new energy, new purpose, new feelings of wellness and hopefulness arrive. Then go out and live this one beautiful life you’ve been given.
This concept may sound abstract, however, if you’ve been feeling the ache of emptiness within, and what you’ve been doing to fill the void has not been working, what have you got to lose? other than the ache of the emptiness that haunts you.
Perhaps not all empty spaces are meant to be filled, perhaps they’re meant to be felt.
Toni O’KEEFFE~🌹❤️
Be still and listen ~
Be still ~
Close yours eye ~
Slowly inhale ~
Hold ~
Now, let your shoulders drop and the muscles across your neck and brow loosen and relax as you slowly exhale.
As you release your breath, imagine all pain, stress, anger, jealousy, fear, fatigue, regret or sadness, melting and floating away.
Let it all go.
These uncomfortable emotions and physical discomfort are often sent to wake us up. They remind us to stop wasting time on the wrong people and the wrong things. They are calling us to to live, create, explore and love in ways that lift us up, not break us down.
If each day is a repeat of the day before and you’re not fully living, your mind, body and spirit will send you messages through feelings of discontent, fatigue, tension and illness. Listen to those messages.
My Dad used to say, “learn something, create something, observe something, meet someone or go somewhere new everyday, it’ll keep life interesting.” He was right.
We never know when we’ll take our last breath. Don’t waste this day, this life, this moment on things and people that bring you down.
You deserve happiness and joy. You have this one, big, colourful life. What wild and wonderful things are you going to do with it?
Don’t die with your hopes, dreams, desires, words, art, music, love, passion still in you. Open your heart and unleash your magic into the world.
Now, be still and listen, where does your mind, body and soul want you to go?
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
- photo Paul Zizka
You, that’s what’s important
Every day, the rest of the world,
will try to tell you;
~ who you should be,
~ what you should do,
~ where you should go,
and what’s important.
DON’T LISTEN.
Look in the mirror, see that face?
That’s what and who’s important.
The dreams pounding in your chest,
the adventures waiting to be had,
the roads calling you to travel,
the art-music-poetry, whatever it is,
that’s urning to be born,
~ this is your souls desperate plea to live.
Listen to that.
Toni O’KEEFFE~🌹❤️
The Whimsey Angel 