Author Archives: admin
Reflections in Color….
Green is “Evergreen”, growing freely here in the Northwest, growing majestically, strong and tall, surviving and thriving year after year no matter the season.
Green is Freedom.
Purple, the dominant flower color, growing in my yard in several varieties year after year is also the color once so rare it was only for the richest and for kings.
Purple is Royal, Abundant and Bold.
As my world this spring turns vibrantly wild with green and purple I am reminded to stand tall, be bold and know my own resilience – be evergreen, be bold and vibrant, be free, be me – always.
A Small Star
One of my morning reflections from my Art Journal and a clip from one of my favorite songs by Jana Stanfield….
No matter how seemingly insignificant or small,
what you think and what you have to say matters.
Shine on — because someone is always listening.
Letting Go
Equus Magic – lesson from the horse.
Do you ever hang on to things? I don’t mean things like – old love letters, stuffed animals you’ve had since you were three years old or your first car that hasn’t run in 20 years. I mean things like anger, depression, hurts, grudges and less than positive attitudes. Do you sometimes hang on so tight that whatever it is completely envelopes you and steals gargantuan blocks of your time? — I have.
Last fall while participating in another Equus Workshop, I was given yet one more bigger than life lesson from these 4 legged teachers. The horses always provide just the right learning experience at just the right time. Call it universal energy, karma, coincidence, luck of the draw or fate. — I call it EQUUS MAGIC.
Being around horses for more years than matter, one of the very first things I was taught was to NOT hold onto the rope when the horse shy’s, rears or pulls away. Always give slack so you don’t get your arms pulled out of the socket or the skin ripped off of the palms of your hands. In a tug of war you will always lose against the mighty beast. And, yes I’ve been there and done that also.
On to my lesson…
Things had been going very well throughout the weekend. I was grounded, centered, in tune – having a wonderful time playing and communicating with the horses. Then came the “boundaries” exercise – I’d been working on this and was eager to show my Equus Coaching Instructor and workshop leader the progress I’d made since our last clinic. As we were circling the arena horse in hand, start – stop, establish space and boundaries, start – stop, lead – stop, jog – stop. All of a sudden the horse REARS-UP…… I felt the skin on my right middle finger melt as the rope pulled over it. I was asked what happened and reminded to Let Go of the rope. I took a deep breath, checked in with my feelings and thoughts, all settled down and clear, we start again. Jog forward a few steps and boom, up she goes again – no rhyme or reason – just because? Once again the instructor questioned what was happening and reminds me again to Let Go of the rope. This time I’m thinking to myself – “I know, I know – I’m not holding on to the rope – it happened so fast the rope was just pulled out of my hands – there was no time to even think about letting go, it is just gone.” So, once again I took a moment to settle down, take a deep breath and check what is going on inside and move on through the exercise. Then I notice two spots bleeding on my left hand.
We finished the exercise and I was once again reminded to LET GO of the rope when the horse spooks etc. I left the arena thinking to myself “I know, I know, I know and feeling disappointed I had “failed to do it right.” — Yes, there was lots of self judgment going on…….
The rest of the day goes very well, more fun exercises and games to play, with one exception – the word’s “LET GO” kept ringing in my head, and I keep answering “I know, I know.”
At the end of the workshop, we all gathered around the fire pit to reflect on and share what we were going to take away from the last 2 days of body work, coaching, horse exercises, sun, fun and relaxation. My heart was full as I listened to the others around the circle sharing their wonderful experiences. My turn was coming and my mind was blank. So much had happened, how could I choose one thing, and then, which one? Then as I glance down at my left hand there was a major power surge and the light bulb went on. “LET GO, Janene, LET GO.” The message wasn’t about letting go of the rope, it was about letting go of all those “things” I was holding onto in my life, the anger, the disappointments, the frustrations and the judgments. By constantly holding on to these things I was not moving forward in my life or living with a sincere simile on my face. I was frustrated and unhappy because I was continually dwelling on things I had no control over. I was hurting no one but myself.
The bottom line: in this life the only things that I can control are my own actions and my own thoughts.
In all the workshops, training and events I’ve attended – this is the only horse that I had seen rear up, not once but twice. I finally got the message – LET GO.
Playing With Horses
Short video introducing Equus Coaching and playing with horses.
For more information contact me:
http://www.insidethemirror.com/Contact.aspx
Faith – Part 1
Faith –
- belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof
- a system of religious belief, or the group of people who adhere to it
- a strongly held set of beliefs or principles
- allegiance or loyalty to somebody or something
A one time I had faith that I would/could move mountains. I knew what I believed, not necessarily why I believed it, but I believed. I believed in God, his Son, and something called the Holy Spirit. With God all things were possible. I believed. I didn’t question, at least not out loud. I had no real reason not to believe. Everyone around me believed, at least that’s what I thought. We all attended the same church so wasn’t that enough? I believed because I didn’t know anything else. Everyone that was in authority over me; my parents, pastor, church, school, husband, everyone that I was surrounded by “believed” the same thing.
The rules were pretty simple –
- Believe that God is the one and only – divided into three – Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God loved us so much he wanted to provide a way for us to get out of our sinful nature so he sent his son to become the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus died on the cross as that sacrifice.
- Ask Gods’ forgiveness, believe and accept that Jesus died for that forgiveness and you are on your way to heaven.
- No drinking
- No movies
- No dancing
- And depending on the household – no cards, no TV, no rock music.
- And by the way, we are the only ones that have it right… some may be close but not quite.
I should clarify here. I believed #1 and #2. The rest of the rules I had my doubts, but because of all the authority that ruled my life I grudgingly followed; not always happily, but those were the rules.
As years went by and I started to finally start thinking for myself (yes, I finally broke from under the spell) I really began paying attention to what was going on around me, things that were always there but I never took the time to integrate into my thoughts. Hypocrisy was the biggest elephant in the room. I grew up with it – “Do as I say not as I do”, prayer only at dinner; scream, shout and fight the rest of the time. We still followed the rules, but as far as everyday life and knowing or learning who God was didn’t happen. I found that more and more of those people I thought believed the same things and went by the same ‘rules’ weren’t following those ‘rules’. They went to movies, they danced, they even had a drink or two and they listened to other than ‘Christian music’ Hummmm…
Now, I’m not sitting back and saying that I blame my ‘Not knowing,’ my ‘Not understanding,’ or my ‘Not anything’ on everyone else; I believe I was on my own search – quietly inside – noticing and filing away, very slowly putting pieces in a box that one day I would eventually finally start putting together.
Jump ahead – light years and I went through a ‘ring of fire’ that shook me to the very core of that belief system. A system that said “If I had enough faith God would make things right – he would fix everything and all would be well.” I came to a place where I didn’t have enough faith to stay in the situation I was in and that by doing so God would make everything alright. I failed my faith. I didn’t believe. I put God on the shelf because I couldn’t face that failure. I still believed in God; a being that holds life in his hands; something that is beyond our understanding our comprehension; a holder of the universe; an energy that is all being — GOD. But beyond that, I was leaving it all on the shelf. I had too much fear and forgiveness to uncover before I could start building any belief system or faith again.
Failure
When Thomas Edison was asked about the number of FAILURES he encountered in his quest to develop the electric light bulb, his reply —
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Failure is usually seen as:
- something that falls short of what is expected, required or hoped for,
- a decline of breakdown in the performance,
- inadequate growth, development or production.
The word FAILURE as one of the “F” words that should not be included in our language, especially when speaking in polite society, or when searching for our true self.
“Failure” Banish it, erase it, forget it, delete it, and remove it as far away as possible from your vocabulary. Change the very thought.
From this day forward we are going to use Thomas’ example; anything that is seen as falling short of expectation, a breakdown in performance, inadequate growth, development of production will become a stepping stone, another successful step or rung in your ladder to achieving your goal.
Each of these steps will become marks of achievement to be celebrated. Every rung will provide you with exceptional data, experience or information to bring you closer to meeting your mark.
Failure – bah.
Learning experience – YES.
The next time you encounter something that isn’t going the way you had planned, change the thought of failure to something of thanksgiving and gratitude for what you have just learned.
Here’s to learning new things.
The ‘F’ Words . . .
Yes, the F*****ing ‘F” words that hinder, obstruct, strap, engulf and surround us in our every days lives.
Words like: Fear, Faith, Family, Failure, Finances, Fortune, Forgiveness, Fitness, Freedom, Food, Forgetfulness, Friendship, Feelings, Firsts, Fun, Future and Focus, Fight, Flight and Freeze.
While each of these words can constituted good feelings and warm and fuzzy connotations, they also can bring your breathing to hyperventilation, and your demeanor to its knees.
Stay tuned as we go through each of these “F” words and see what they reflect and what they can teach from the inside.
Janene
In the Beginning
This is only the beginning of my new adventure and passion:
- being faithful to my True Self
- helping others regain sight of their own True Self
- and, sharing the joy of PLAY along the way.
In this fast paced, electronic, always connected world we have forgotten how to relax, stop, listen, and enjoy what is around us and what we can do with our mind, imagination and body if given a moment to do so.
The Inside the Mirror web launch party was just that – a day to step back, relax and play. Really PLAY. Here are some video clips and photos of the party.
Click below to see the fun-
Launch Party
Don’t worry if you missed it…there will be more to come.
Just for fun: Take out your box a crayons and a blank sheet of paper and let you inner Van Gogh loose… don’t analyze, plan or figure – just put the color on the paper and see what mysteries unfold…. When you’re done – tape your masterpiece on the fridge and admire it. (Don’t you dare judge.) After a day or two, sit back and take a long look, see what comes to mind. Send me an email and let me know the outcome — any thoughts, feeling, memories, emotions… I’ll be waiting.
Happy coloring,
Janene
Welcome to Inside the Mirror
Welcome to Inside the Mirror where my wish for each and every one is to see their TRUE REFLECTION. True Reflection is the essential self, the person you were born to be, the unique, one-of-a-kind, open, honest and authentic; the real you.
Seeing my own True Reflection is something I try to do each and every day. Sometimes it’s taking a moment while brushing my teeth looking in the mirror. Sometimes it’s paying close attention to those around me, noticing the reactions and interaction based on my verbal and non-verbal presentation. It also means spending quiet time in internal reflection working through problems and issues that have risen.
Your True Reflection is to love and accept your whole self, following your hearts desires and dreams and most importantly being true to you.
I begin this new journey of sharing myself, my ideas, and expertise in finding and following my dreams by dedicating True Reflections and Inside the Mirror to my children Traci, Troy and Trevor. I could not ask for more love, forgiveness, understanding, and support than they have shown and continue to bestow on me each and every day. They are my TRUE REFLECTIONS. Like they say – sometimes the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Traci, Troy and Trevor are living mirrors that reflect back to me the good, kindness, loving, giving, generous, warm hearted, faithfulness, determination and dedication that I have tried to instilled in them. They are also my worst critics, that tend to reflect back to me the very worst that I see in myself. Children are like that; yeah they are.
I continue this dedication to my husband Donnie. I so appreciate your continued support, kicking my ass when it is needed and staying out of the way when I decide to charge full steam ahead. You are always there to pick me up, encourage me, and get me back in the saddle. You allow me to walk around with my head in the clouds but always keep one of my feet on the ground. I love you. Thank you for being you. The one person I know who really sees his True Reflection.
Let the party begin…