Not every race will be won,
Not every dream will come true,
Not everyone you love, will love you back.
Not every goal will be reached.
Run anyway,
Dream anyway,
Love anyway.
Reach anyway
Every step in the wrong direction,
every dream that fades,
every love thats lost,
every unfulfilled goal.
puts you on the path towards
what and who is meant for you.
Nothing you do is ever wasted, nothing.
There is wisdom, lessons and growth in everything, even the most painful of things.
Toni O’KEEFFE 🌹❤️
Surrender is not about giving up.
It’s about courage, trust and acceptance.
To surrender does not mean marching into battle and surrendering to your enemy. It means, mindfully making a decision, trusting you’ve made the right decision, then, having the courage to accept the outcome and the consequences.
When we fully surrendered to life we’re able to;
~ take on new challenges and follow our dreams, without the interference of ego, trusting and accepting we’re where we’re meant to be, even if that place is painful.
~ to let go of the need to be in charge, control an outcome, prove we’re right, or attempt to be better than anyone else. Rather, we seek to be better than we were the day before.
~ to recognize we’ve done all we can, we’ve put forth our best effort, given it our all, and then, we allow life to unfold as it’s meant to unfold.
The ability to surrender takes enormous courage, patience, and wisdom. When we surrender, we’re trusting, accepting and loving our self, exactly as we are.
Surrender is perhaps the most mindful, expression of courage and self love a human being can display.
Drop your sword. Let go of the people, things and attitudes that are dark clouds blocking your beautiful light.
Life is more peaceful when we surrender and stop seeing everything as a battle.
Toni O’KEEFFE 🌹❤️
I wish you Love ~
My wish for each of you is LOVE. Real LOVE. A Love that is kind, respectful, comforting, brings you joy and extends beyond a single day, a box of chocolates and some roses each year.
I wish you a LOVE that allows you to feel safe and secure in who you are and inspires you to grow into the best version of yourself. A LOVE built on soul-to-soul connections, with no expectations, only an enduring appreciation, acceptance, respect and admiration for the beautiful, perfect and unique soul YOU are.
But more than that, I wish YOU a LOVE of self, where YOU see yourself as worthy and deserving of all that is beautiful and good. A self-LOVE that allows YOU to be kind and gentle with your heart as you surrender to and inhale, this epic journey called life. A self-LOVE that offers you the absolute knowing you are a beautiful work in progress, a perfect heart under construction and an amazing, magical, being destine to do great things, even if they’re small things. And with this perfect LOVE flowing around you, I hope you reach into the world, sharing all that you know and make the world a better, softer, gentler and more loving place to be.
Yes, that’s the kind of LOVE I wish for you – not just on Valentines day, but every-single-day.
Toni O’KEEFFE~🌹❤️
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~🌹❤️
… to arrive at a place where the soul is calm and at peace with the storms its walked through,
…to hold no anger or regret,
… to carry a deep love and gratitude for the ones who have shared the journey, even if what was shared was painful,
…to love and be loved authentically,
…to sit in silence with the messiness of the world beside me and still be okay.
Ah yes, this is where I’m going…
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹 ❤️
Let’s dance ~
You may be sent into the lives of others to help them find a way through the heaviness of their pain or the turmoil in their life.
They may not understand or appreciate the meaning of your presence, help them anyway.
Plant seeds of kindness, compassion and wisdom all around them and hope the seeds take root and grow.
No matter how strong, brave, smart or tough we think we are, none of us can do this alone. We’re not supposed to.
We’re at our best when we show up for each other to offer comfort, create laughter, provide light, offer healing and love. In fact, when we’re helping others, we realize, we’re really helping ourselves.
And maybe that’s what this human journey is all about, just showing up for each other, without expectation, because it feels so good when our messy, yet amazing little souls are entangled in this colourful cosmic dance.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
We’ll all look back one day.
Will you like what you see?
Will you see yourself meeting others
along their path and offering them
kindness, compassion, positivity and love?
Will you feel content knowing you used the gifts you were given to live your best life?
Were you able to conquer your fears, negative emotions and your own stubbornness before your happiness and the happiness of others was sabotaged?
Did you say the words you wanted to say,
see the oceans, deserts, mountain tops and other marvels your heart hoped it would?
Did you take care of yourself so you were able to travel the highways and take the adventures that had been calling out to you?
Did you learn to appreciate how absolutely amazing you are?
Did you thank the ones who brought comfort to your journey?
Did you offer forgiveness to others and more importantly, to yourself?
Did you let love in when it was offered?
Did you release the people, judgment, opinions and things that poisoned your journey, so you could grow into the masterpiece you were meant to be?
Are you settled and at peace with the memories you’ve left in the hearts and minds of those who loved and cared for you?
Can you look back on all of it with a grateful heart, and understand what it was you were here to do?
If you answered no to any of the above, the good news is, you’ve still got time.
We’ll all look back one day.
Will you like what you see?
I hope you do❤️
Toni O’KEEFFE ~🌹❤️
After every life storm, look for what’s left behind.
Don’t dismiss the experiences or relationships you’ve had with anyone who’s come in-and-out of your life. Even if these relationships or experiences were brief or messy, they contained messages, learning, gems of wisdom and personal growth meant just for you.
Sometimes the greatest treasure is found amongst the rubble.
Toni O’KEEFFE ~ 🌹❤️
~ Toni O’KEEFFE
We all need quiet, healing spaces where we can be still, clear our minds and listen to whatever the universe wants us to hear.
Places to unpack our emotions and sort through our thoughts without the noise and buzz that constantly calls to us from our chaotic human world.
Places we can pause, hit reset, then walk away with settled hearts, peaceful minds and contented souls.
You deserve to find a place of peace which does exactly that, and I hope you do❤️.
Love Toni 🌹❤️
Individual freedom would imply you are not tied or tethered to anyone or anything. You are free to go, do, say or be whatever you want.
But, that’s not exactly the reality of the world we coexist in. We are individual human threads, interwoven across the colourful patchwork we call humanity.
None of us are completely free, nor will we ever be (well, until, you know😇).
We are connected, whether we like it or not.
When the fabric at one end of the patchwork is torn, it affects us all and there is potential for ALL OF US to unravel.
It’s to our collective benefit ~ whether there’s a war, a pandemic or natural disaster~ to rally and support the piece of the patchwork that’s damaged or suffering. There’s a shared responsibility for “the whole”, to which we all benefit and to which we all have a responsibility. Bee’s get it🐝.
We spend a lot of time espousing our individual freedoms and rights, but not a lot of time teaching children (or ourselves) about our individual responsibilities and interdependence.
Despite what the song says, we are “NOT” Born Free. We are born into a hive that is completely interdependent and reliant on social cooperation. What happens to one of us, affects all of us.
“Bee” kind to each other and this beautiful, sort-of-happy, hive that is our shared home.
Love
Toni 🐝❤️🐝
