If where you’re at doesn’t fit, whisk yourself away to the places and people that do.
This one incredible life of yours should be a beautiful and amazing adventure, not a life sentence of regrets.
Toni O’KEEFFE 🌹❤️
If it doesn’t fit…
Category: follow your path
Put it all down
This might be a good day to put it all down.
If you’re carrying the weight of the past,
you’re not living fully in the present.
Whatever he, she or they, did or said to you, let it go. You are NOT the pain or burdens others placed upon you. Nor are you the opinions anyone has of you.
Put it down. Put it all down.
This weight is no longer yours to carry.
Some of it was NEVER yours to carry.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
———————————
~ Happiness is YOU!
It’s ;
~ YOU not judging and comparing yourselves to others and you accept yourselves as YOU are.
YOU seeing and appreciating the blessings (big and small) all around YOU.
YOU realizing happiness does not come from stuff, but from the attitude we (YOU) have about life.
YOU making the choice to be happy.
Happiness isn’t something we look for. Happiness is YOU.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
——————————————-
A wise soul will exercise curiosity
before judgement, ask questions
before criticizing, and attempt
to understand before making assumptions.
We all have it in us
to be wise, funky,
beautiful souls.
So let’s be funky!
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
—————————————
That emptiness you sometimes feel?
Perhaps it’s your soul creating space for;
new things,
new ideas,
new adventures,
new people,
to arrive.
This emptiness may feel like loneliness, sadness, a sense of wanting, or disappointment.
Don’t try and fill the emptiness, sit with it, feel it. Then invite it to leave. Use this feeling as an opportunity to open your heart, your mind to receiving something new.
There’s a season for all things and all people, to come in and out of our lives.
Let them come, and,
Let them go.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
——————————
In the
right light,
even the
darkest of
storms cast
a beautiful
light.
No matter what
you’re going through,
there’s light
behind this storm.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
———————————
We miss so much
as we rush through life.
If you knew
everything you
love today, would
be gone tomorrow,
including your family,
friends, your stuff,
your home, your pets,
would you slow down and
live differently?
would you look
at the world differently?
would you act differently?
It all will be gone, all of it,
love it all exactly like that.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
——————-
“Thank you for the good times, the bad times and the learning and growing we did together. I’m wiser, stronger and kinder because I had this time with you.”
Let these be your parting words as you walk away from ANY personal, professional or intimate relationship that’s come to an end.
If they you hurt you, let you down, caused you pain ~ forgive them. Learn from it.
The hate, disappointment, anger, fear, or regret you carry, feeds your pain, not theirs.
Walk away with a grateful heart knowing you’re wiser, stronger and kinder because of the time you spent together.
Even if it was painful, be grateful that this lesson is over.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
——————————-
Life will hurt.
Nature will heal.
If you want
to hurt less,
you know
where to go.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
————————————
Look at you,
enjoying life,
finding joy,
laughing, spending
time with people
who lift you up,
loving yourself,
letting go
of all that
toxic stuff.
Way to go!!!
Oh, this isn’t you?
Why not?
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
—————
Pain has purpose.
let it hurt,
let it heal
then,
let it go.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
———-
At any moment,
in any day,
you can stop,
and decide to
do things differently.
to live differently,
to love differently,
to care for yourself
or others
differently.
You have more
control over this
grand adventure
than you realize.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
—————————-
Want to heal
the heart,
the mind,
the body,
the soul.
slow your pace,
slow your breath,
Step into nature
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
—————-
Don’t waste your energy creating anger, hate, doubt, jealousy,disappointment, physical pain
Use it to create warmth, kindness, tolerance, self love
Thank you for not giving up❤️
To the artists, dancers, singers, musicians, composers, poets, writers and creators~ who were told “you’re not good enough” and told to give up your creative dream and get a real job……..
THANK YOU for NOT giving up!
You add the colour, the music, the passion, the words, the fun and the inspiration our world so desperately needs right now.
Your creative gifts are the tether we cling to as our world dangles in peril.
Some of the most creative minds including; Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, JK Rowling, Elvis Presley, Fred Astaire, Walt Disney, and many more, were told to give up their creative dreams ~ thankfully they didn’t listen.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
Everything you need❤️
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 ~🌹❤️
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 