Archive for the ‘Authenticity’ Category

A Moment of Truth

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

A PathOnePinky.com member Barb sent in this lovely prose recently, and has granted us permission to share it with the community.

“My Truth”

pain, heartache, anxiety and loss are all life’s way of inviting me to grow
it requires me to name my sorrows,
to identify and explore their cause,
to see their manifestation,
to acknowledge the fear and sadness in my response
to what has become a inconsolable longing inside.

I cannot console what I am not willing to acknowledge;
what I am not willing to name.
I can not know what I am not willing to explore
and I cannot heal what I am not willing to release.

suppressing, hiding, denying, avoiding, minimizing,
pretending and stifling are the architects of
my sorrow, my suffering.
suffering comes from resisting, restraining,
confining.

healing comes from listening, releasing,
letting go, disarming, opening, speaking my truth,
naming what scares me,
exploring the root of my fear(s), telling my stories.

healing comes from presence.
awareness.
a willingness to relinquish
the past.
forgiveness.
healing comes each time I am
present in the moment,
each moment I claim what is true for me.
the moments I speak and write, laugh and cry from my heart
the moments I practice transparency,
the moments I am visible and vulnerable,
the moments I admit I don’t know,
the moments I quit pretending,
the moments I am playful
or serious or tender
the moments I know the difference.
the moments when I trust,
and embrace the complexities of my life and
especially my loves.

I choose the moments,
this moment.
now,
to heal
to be whole
to be authentic
to see the possibilities,
set aside expectations
and to love without conditions.

Thank you so much for sharing, Barb.

Do you have a moment of truth you’d like to share? An “Aha!” moment, an epiphany, or just a quiet realization? Share it here.

Wisdom From Phil

Monday, May 18th, 2009

chooseday

Remember Phil from Australia, who boldly shared his pink-painted pinky picture with the world? He has even more pinky wisdom to share this week.

My Favorite Day of the Week: Chooseday!

As I wake up every morning I realize that everything that I am about to do on this day will be done as a complete choice on my part.

Yes… everything!

Because I realize that, I do my best to choose wisely, and here are some of my favorite choices:

I choose to feel and be perfectly healthy;
I choose to feel and be worthy of respect;
I choose to feel and be happy and full of joy;
I choose to feel and be loved and appreciated;
I choose to feel and be worthy of the best in life;
I choose to feel and be abundant in every aspect of my life;
I choose to feel and be grateful for how I experience life; and
I choose to understand that what I get out of life is in direct proportion to what I contribute to life; and the people in it!

Making a conscious choice to actually feel and be these things is quite empowering, because ultimately it’s our feelings about who we are, and where we’re at in life, which can make all the difference!

We can talk about it and we can think about it, but when we can actually feel it, it becomes a very satisfying part of us.

And, most importantly, it becomes a sustainable part of us!

If we remember that every day CAN be a chooseday, and get into owning our choices from the time we first awake, then we CAN develop new habits of feeling and being more content and satisfied with who and what we are!

Please remember that this is another process which requires practice and patience at times, and the end results are worth the effort!

Practice makes perfect. So, no matter where you are in the world, choose today as the “first day of the rest of your life”, to commit to a practice. You watch, try this everyday and your life will bloom in ways you could not imagine.

Join this community and watch your life change in ways that you could/would not imagine.

It works.

www.OnePinky.com

Your Daily Routine

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Recently at OnePinky.com we had a discussion on daily routines, and how important it is to establish daily habits to make them permanent features in our lives.

OnePinky sisters had lots of positive routines, rituals and daily habits to share.

Danielle writes so beautifully on the message board:

Every day I wake upbuddha

Smile at my children

Smother them with kisses -

Give my husband a wet one.

Every day I brush my teeth, drink tea, exercise

I work, have lunch, call a friend

Smile, chase 2 boys, try not to yell

Every day I thank God for my amazing life

For my family, my friends, my joy, possibility.

I try to laugh often, I always read something inspiring, most days I write.

Every day I nourish my body with healthy food, kind thoughts, exercise and rest.

Every day I remember that I am choosing LOVE.

I personally love your routine, gal! Gorgeous expression and beautifully written.

Thank you for sharing, Danielle.

What daily rituals or routines do you have?

Do you keep a gratitude, or blessing journal? Do you move your body a certain way each day—perhaps start your morning with yoga?

Do you meditate, visualize positive things happening to you and set a daily intention? And then let it go?

Do you have one routine you do each day that you could share with the OnePinky sisters?

Perhaps you have a ritual everyone else could benefit from? We would love to hear about it.

Please share your daily routine here.

And know you are blessed.

xo,
Laura

Patience and Wisdom

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

patienceLisa, a dear OnePinky.com Body Image Revolution member, shared this with me and I wanted to share it with you all.

Patience and wisdom are crucial components in the Body Image Mastery program. Many people expect change overnight. If I could wave my magic wand and POOF your troubles would go away, believe me I would… in fact, I have a magic wand on my desk and I wave it all the time, praying for it to bring light and patience down on my students.

What I can promise is that YOU can make your troubles go away by changing your thoughts, your perspective, and your story.

I know and you know that change is an inside job. It must come from inside of you, not inside of me…and it will if you stay with the inner work.

Take a look at these two! Which one are you? The one who digs in, unafraid and always ready for more? Or always sitting on the sidelines, watching someone else get what you want, afraid to reach out and grab it?

Share your stories here in the comments section.

Today, can you pinky promise to be patient with yourself? Can you promise to listen to the wisdom of your body as it guides you throughout the day and tells you what it needs?

I think that this dog has that patience. And this skunk has that wisdom. Perhaps together they would make a pretty good team…

Just like you and your body.

The Not-So-Graceful Aging of Barbie

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Happy 50th Birthday, Barbie! As a tribute, we here at OnePinky thought we’d issue a photo of you without the plastic (double plastic?) surgery, the induced vomiting, the airbrushed photos, and your team of makeup artists. In short, since we are big on authenticity here, the REAL YOU!

barbie

Easy on the bon bons, Barb!

If Barbie were a real woman, she would be five foot nine, and her measurements would be 36-18-33. (The average American woman’s measurements are 40-34-43.) She wouldn’t even have enough body fat to have a menstrual cycle—I guess they didn’t think about that when they made the Mommy-to-Be Barbie!

“One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always looks great doing it.” –Paris Hilton

The probability of getting a body like Barbie’s? 1 in 100,000. And those who might actually manage to do so would put their health at serious risk. With backs too weak to stand up straight and properly support their torsos, and only enough room within their bodies to hold half a liver and a few inches of colon, these women would die of malnutrition.

Bodies like that should be pitied, not envied.

“You know what children do with Barbie dolls. It’s a bit scary, actually.” –Cate Blanchett

Barbie is a legitimate concern when it comes to children—especially young girls. Studies have linked her to causing eating disorders, and girls between the ages of 5 and 7 who viewed photos of Barbie report less self-esteem and a greater desire to be thin that girls who did not.

“I think they should have a Barbie with a buzz cut.” –Ellen DeGeneres

OnePinky member Sara recently told me that she gave her Barbies buzz cuts as a kid! “I cut off their hair, dyed it with kool-aid… I threw them in trees. Man, I was mean to my Barbies! I even wrote stories about them where they always lost in apocalyptic battles.”

“There were times when I hated my nose. But you grow up and you start to recognize that maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that you weren’t born Barbie.” –Anjelica Huston

However, I must say a few things personally, when I was a little girl, my Barbie play was some of the happiest memories of my childhood. I was swept away in the fantasy of what could be while I was so miserable. So as horrible as the message is for many young girls and women, I actually treasure my Barbie moments as a kid playing with Missy, Ann and Jeannie, my best childhood friends.

Do you have a Barbie story to share?

Do you love Mattel’s plastic sweetheart?

Hate her?

Did you ever want to BE her?

Do your kids have Barbie dolls?

Share your answers in today’s comments please. We need them.

And one more thing from me. While it is true that Barbie has sent the wrong message out to many, we live with these statistics looming in the background. (And as funny as the photo is, on some level, it is not funny at all.)

We have work to do on many levels.

An astounding two-thirds of American adults, including 65 million women are overweight or obese – a rise of 10 percent in just a decade. If we keep up this fat epidemic, according to a new study, all adults in the US (yes that is everyone!) will be overweight or obese in 40 years. OnePinky.com will change these statistics if we spread the word and get more women involved.