Life Lessons In Latte Art

Not every day is beautiful, and despite my efforts to remain positive in love and light, there are some days when my strength, belief and determination wavers - and the battle is lost. I had one of those days yesterday. 

Of course, we all have bad days. The difference for me is that I now look for a reason and a purpose to mine. And sometimes, it's the most RANDOM trigger, an insignificant detail, a hidden clue that delivers the most powerful message. Yesterday it was this latte macchiato. ***Let me be clear that I do not, nor have I ever, attempted to make latte art. When an image appears on a drink I'm making, it's always completely by accident. (And I apologize to you good customers of Starbucks who've had to wait for your drink because when it happens, I am compelled to stop everything and take a picture).

So about this arrow. There are two things that I came up when I spent time ruminating on this message. One was something one of my mentors happened to say last night: "if you don't have vision, you don't have a future. And without a future, you're doomed to be stuck in the past."  Here I am on this journey, headed somewhere incredible, and I've been too chicken shit to write out my big scary goals for 2016.  I need to finish hiding behind the excuses I've been using to procrastinate, so that I can actually nail it down, be committed to my vision, and stop looking back,

repeating the mistakes of my history. 

The other part of the message is that a bow and arrow needs to be pulled back in order to be shot forward. It's OKAY to have a bad day. To be stuck in a moment. To be uncomfortable and feel unhappy. That this too is part of the plan. Why? Because we need balance. Light needs the contrast of dark to appear. And sometimes you get dragged back in order to launch yourself forward. Not to remind you of mistakes you made in the past, or even to pull you down for the sake of it, but in those moments you grow. You learn. You dig yourself up out of that grave, scratching your way through with all that you have: your faith, your hope, your sheer will, your dirt-caked fingernails. Along the way, you build more strength then you ever thought you were capable of. And then you soar. And you share. Because it's your purpose. And your story. And your gift.

It's mine to give.