Mirrors and Bridges
The Transformation Company
Digging Up Buried Dreams Part 1
What do dreams, thoughts and emotions have to do with each other? Everything.
It is crucial that we see the connection and use that knowledge to look deep inside our hearts until we find that forgotten dream.
What did you want to be when you were growing up? What did you love to do?
For me, I loved to write songs and poetry. By the time I was in college, I had two huge binders full of my writing. Then, I threw them all away along with my dream of becoming a writer. I went over 20 years, with that dream buried deep inside my heart. But God, so lovingly put me in front of women who poured life into me and helped me resurrect the buried dream.
The same can happen for you. You may be asking yourself, how in the world am I going to dig up the dreams I buried so long ago? That’s a great question. Let me show you how.
In honor of mental health awareness month, I will teach you a process I call a MOOD Check-up. Remember I said there was a connection between our thoughts, emotions and dreams?
For us to dig up our buried dreams, we must get our heart and our head in alignment with the dreams God placed inside. We must do what we are called to do now and remove obstacles standing in our way.
The M is for MASTER.
Master means subject, ruler or reigning.
We should be the master of our home, schedules and our own body. Just like it craves food, our body craves order and balance. When there is balance, then we can step into our purpose. Our purpose (why we are on this earth) doesn’t change. Our calling (titles – how we carry out our purpose) does change. It is connected to our dreams and influenced by our thoughts and emotions.
We will see more peace, prosperity and joy in our life when we walk in our calling and master of our life. In this season, you could be called parent, caretaker, teacher, speaker, employee, student, entrepreneur, volunteer, artist or friend.
I fought against my calling to be a writer and am embracing it now.
Master and own the calling and title you have been given in this season. We looked at M for Master and ruling in the authority you have been called. Now, let’s look at the next part in the MOOD Checkup.
O is for OBSTACLES.
An obstacle is anything that stunts our growth and stops us from moving forward.
According to Professional Organizer Tracy McCubbin, in her book called Making Space Clutter Free, clutter blocks are a type of obstacle and they all start with a story. If we repeat the story over and it over, it becomes a belief and we can develop deep emotional attachment to our stuff.
The items in our home can affect our mood and we are no longer can see the truth behind the clutter. We become clutter blind. The items become both mental and physical obstacles and keep us from living completely free. They steal our joy, peace and our dreams because they weigh us down.
How do we win the clutter battle? First, we purge some of the items, one small space at a time. Start in the room you spend the most time. Then, do one drawer at a time before moving on to the next. Next, decide what to toss, donate or keep the items. Lastly, organize the items by sorting them into groups or containers. Even just 15 minutes a day can make an impact on your space.
If you feel you are not able to do it yourself, grab a friend or family member to assist or hire a coach. If you would like support on how to discover your calling on your life or master your schedules, clutter or any other obstacles, I would love to talk to you.
We have a monthly journaling and planner club and community of people who are wanting to make this year the most productive year of their life and master obstacles in their life.
We have talked about the connection between our dreams, emotions and thoughts and two parts of the MOOD checkup process. We will cover the last two parts next month. Follow my blog and sign up for my newsletter to get more tools to transform your life.
I would love to hear how you are walking in your calling and mastering obstacles in your life or any questions that you may have. Comment below.
Photo provided by Canva.
Your Story Matters: Have The Courage To Share IT
I spent the rest of the day crying, begging for another shot at life.
Ever been on your knees, on the bathroom floor asking God for a do over and in desperate need of hope?
That was me, a little over four years ago, looking for one glimmer of light to hold on to after losing what I thought was the job of my dreams. I was embarrassed and did not want to tell my husband that I screwed up any chance that the interviewers would choose me and let a great job slip through my hands. How could I do that and be so selfish? I could not even look at myself in the mirror.
A Bad Day
God let me cry that day. I know He was there because His promises in His Word say that He will never leave me. But this time, I did not feel His presence. I felt alone and empty inside, broken in a million pieces, like a mirror shattered on the floor. The pain was intense. It ripped through my body in waves. At times, it choked the life right out of me.
In my brokenness, I cried out to Him and said, “God, please don’t let this be the last chance I have at a great job. I am sorry I messed it up all up. I want a job that I love going to, a job where I make a difference in the world, my dream job.”
A Ray of Hope
About a week later, I attended a Health and Wellness Women’s conference. When the last speaker started talking, I found myself having the urge to run up on stage. Strange, I had never felt that before.
Stranger, is what happened next. I heard a voice. Not out loud, but in my head, say, “You can do that.” “What? No”, I said, “I could never do that.” Almost instantly, I heard “Yes. You can and you will.”
After the conference, I scheduled a call with the speaker. She is also a life coach and an author. Three words that I had heard before, but never all together: Speaker, Life Coach and Author. I really liked the sound of that. Those words felt like home to my soul.
She asked me what I wanted to talk about during our clarity session. I said, “I see a picture of a bridge on a wall in a room. I am talking to someone privately, but I am not sure what I am talking about.”
A New Start
And that was the beginning of our Genesis story, the story of how Mirrors and Bridges got started. It was born out of the desire for wanting something better for my life and the life of my family. It was conceived in pain, at the bottom of a bathroom floor.
Mirrors and Bridges, llc was born on April 1, 2020, at the start of a global pandemic that changed the future of our world as we know it forever.
What is your Genesis story? What pain have you endured in your lifetime that you can use for good? Your story matters. It matters because you matter. There is no one else in this world like you. No one with your abilities, strengths or talents. You and your life stories are unique. The world needs to hear your stories of endurance, hope and courage. They will bring light into the world and lift us up when we need it most.
Four years ago, I needed you. I needed to hear your story because, I lost all hope in mine.
We all have a story. Have the courage to tell yours!
If any of this radiated in your heart and inspired you in any way, I would love to hear about it. I would also like you to join our Mirrors and Bridges Community. You can find me on social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/melonieabenjamins
Photo credit: shot by Ireland on unsplash.
3 Ways to Make Habits Stick
Have you ever reached the end of the year wondering why you could not reach some of your goals? Me too. That is why I am committed to making this year the most productive year of my life. And you can too. Join me as we learn the tools needed to make habits stick and crush our goals every time. This simple, three step process has made all the difference in my life.
Without structure or a framework, it will be easier to give up and give in to distractions. We cannot haphazardly throw our goals in the air and see what sticks.
So how do we make habits stick?
We schedule time to do these three things: reflect, plan and connect.
1. Reflect
In order to reach our goals, we need to take time to think. Take time to focus on our thoughts, desires, passions and identify what we want to accomplish. Reflection brings new ideas, purpose and buried dreams to the surface and helps weed out distractions.
- Reflection can include prayer & meditation. Spending time alone with God has made all the difference in my life and business.
- Reflection could include journaling our day, looking back on where we spend our time and seeing if what we did brought us closer to our goals.
2. Plan
After reflecting on how we spend our time and getting direction, we need to plan a course of action that gets us closer to achieving our goal. If we spent all day yesterday reading books (guilty as charged), hopefully today, we will take action on what we learned.
When I think of the goal achieving process and making habits stick, I think of gaps. There could be a learning gap, a resource gap, a skill or growth gap. We fill the gaps by planning time in our schedule to do tasks that move us closer to our goals.
- Plan according to energy levels and learning gaps. Adding new tasks and routines to our schedule requires more energy and time. A good rule of thumb is to remove two commitments for every new one.
- Plan for down time in our schedule and reward ourselves when we reach a goal. This helps to prevent burnout and encourages self-care.
3. Connect
Connecting to resources is crucial in making habits stick. Resources are the bridge we need to achieve our goals. The bridge represents our external walk, a pathway that crosses over barriers to a future destination.
- Resources could include learning new skills by taking a class or reading a book. Use the knowledge learned to break down your goal into tiny achievable steps.
- People are valuable resources. Participating in networking events or joining online groups geared to your profession (life coaching) or the personal results you want (organizing tips), will give you support as you navigate through the process to successfully achieve your goals.
Let’s reflect to see what is working and change what is not working, plan for learning gaps and our next steps and connect to resources that will get us quickly to our goals.
I am a certified life coach and organizational specialist and founder of Mirrors and Bridges – The Transformation Company. We transform your mental and physical spaces. We study your life or business and remove blocks that are keeping you from achieving your goals. We create systems to help you work more productively and effectively. We provide success tools and services that save time and money so that you can reflect, plan and connect to a better life.
If your life feels out of order, or if you don’t see the results you were hoping for, reach out to our company. We have different classes, resources and one on one coaching programs that can support your growth over the next year. Please check out our store or services to see which tools work best for your life and schedule a call today.
https://mirrorsandbridges.com/shop/
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I would love to know which tips you are interested in trying or have tried in the past to connect to your goals and make habits stick. Please let me know in the comment below.
Photo credits: Emma Matthews on Unsplash
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