Author: Emy Minzel

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Why I count my blessings

April 5, 2018April 5, 2018 Emy Minzel

I am grateful for the abundance of blessings in my life. I am thankful for the relationships I cultivated over time and the new ones just seeds of beginnings. When I think about these people I have surrounded myself with I realize how blessed I am to have them in my life. I am grateful for the choices I have made to get me where I am today. Life has not been thorn free roses, but I have been rewarded with millions of dollars’ worth of love throughout my life and I believe that helped me shape you I am.

The life I have lived has led me to gain experiences unique to me, every soul I met had a role in my existence. Even the dogs I have fostered, rescued, transported, or unfortunately failed… positive and negative have had a significant influence on the character I hold today. Same can be said about all my relationships some have grown while some have failed to thrive, I know it takes two to have relationships, so I take some responsibility in those friendships I have lost now I work to cherish the ones I have.

Being grateful seems to increase the abundance of blessings that come my way. Or maybe it just makes them clearer for me to see and accept as truth? When you go around complaining about everyone and everything naturally you look for more things to complain about. The same is true when counting your blessings. When you go about your days being grateful for everything and everyone in your life, the more you will see things to add to your list of abundant every day miracles.

As the world turns around us, we have duality of good/bad, light/dark, happy/sad etc… so that we have contrast to compare our experiences. We would not know the deep sense of loss without great love, we wouldn’t appreciate the sun if it never rained. This is how life cycles us through the phases we grow through as we age; all of our experiences shape our perceptions of what to be thankful for. We appreciate what we have when we learn from what we’ve lost. Sometimes we see the beauty in life because we’ve seen ugly parts too.

I am grateful for my family, friends and others that love me and support me.

I am grateful for love expressed in little ways that say ‘I love you’ with no words.

I am grateful for the support I feel that allows me to brave and adventurous.

I am grateful for the inclination inside that nurtures my endless quest for knowledge.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to express myself through the creativity I have been blessed with.

I am grateful for being able to love myself in a way that I feel it to be true in my mind, body and spirit.

I am grateful for all these things because I have had experiences that have been the opposite. Remember this today as you go through your daily routine, the things you complain about maybe affecting the things that you appreciate because that is where you are putting your energy. I propose we put a little more effort into appreciating what we love today! And the next days too. 😉

What are you thankful for? Do you write down or even acknowledge blessings every day? I try to be thankful for at least five things a day, which is easy, so then I start looking for more! Contemplate this; Does thinking of your complaints make you happy? Does counting your blessings make you mad?

What mood/energy would you rather carry around in your body, mind and spirit to share with the world today?

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

A Starfish Story

April 3, 2018April 3, 2018 Emy Minzel

Sometimes you just need one person who believes in you, your heart, your intentions and your dreams to help you keep moving forward when everyone else is telling you all the reasons you shouldn’t. My person has been my Adventure Sister and soul sister Stacy. From the moment we met Stacy has helped me come out of my shell, not only by going on adventures, but growing together in a mind, body, spirit kind of way.

I feel more confident in who I am, because I had a mentor to show me how to fully embrace who I was as a person, to love my mind, body and quirky spirit. She celebrated the attributes I once thought of as negative like ‘stubbornness’ and helped me reframe this to ‘persistent or determined’, which led to setting goals, and then achieving them.

Stacy consistently encouraged me to level up in all areas of my life, she Yoda’d me or coached me through self-esteem issues that were keeping me from being brave enough to be authentically me. She encouraged me to remember who I really am inside, what do I really believe? What do I really stand for? Do your actions match? She asked me hard questions, called me out and encouraged me to be authentic in her own kind way.

Adventure Sister Stacy and I have a strong soul connection, like sisters we have special relationships. She taught me that what’s more important than having someone else believe in you; was that I must believe in myself. Very big sister like advice, I am sure I have heard it many times in many ways. She was an example of what it looked like to own your uniqueness and passions to make them feel like they were the best part of your magical charm. Which is, of course, true!

I have wanted to write a book for a very long time but never had the confidence to try, I would tell Stacy about my dream of being an author for years. It took Stacy suggesting we write a book together before I was brave enough to try. I thought that I needed someone to hold my hand to hold me accountable to go through with it. The moment we decide to write a book together, we set a goal of 3-5 pages per week. Every week, we surpassed this goal swiftly.

The first book “Lessons through Joy” was written in about four months. Our other stories flowed so freely, we continued to write and write some more. We ended up with enough chapters to fill a three-book trilogy. I was doubting myself, looking for approval from others instead of just believing in my own abilities. When I put effort into it I found out there was nothing to be fearful of, only my own doubts kept me idle.

It has been a wonderful literary adventure with my dear friend, we have had the most amazing journey just to get where we are today. Our three book proposals are almost complete and will be ready for submission to publishing companies by the end of the month. We are both full of excitement and anticipation for what the future may hold, yet we know whatever happens will be as it should. We feel blessed to be going through this amazing journey together.

When I learned how to believe in myself fully I realized that no matter what happens I will be okay. If we sell a few books or if we sell a few million books… I know that I will be proud of myself for trying. I will be happy that I found the confidence to attempt a shot at making my dream reality, instead of being too scared to give it a go. That’s what I know. Stacy does too.

It was my sister Stacy that encouraged me to run for State House of Representatives when the opportunity arrived. She reminded me to believe in myself, she reminded me to own my authentic self by putting my political passion to work in real and tangible ways. “The Universe gave you this gift of opportunity, don’t you want to go down the path to see where it leads?” Leaving it to sound like an adventure, because she knows I love adventures.

This, my friends, is how my soul sister Yoda’s me into being a more confident, goal setting, dream chasing, adventurer… because that is authentically me. Stacy was the person who believed in me, encouraged me, and helped me when I was a starfish beached on the shore. She saw that being stuck in the sand was not where I was supposed to be, she kindly nurtured our friendship and led by example what it means to be the change you wish to see in the world.

I feel blessed to have such a great person in my life that I get to call my friend. For more Yoda like wisdom, follow Adventure Sister Stacy Crep’s blog too! Please feel free to follow her at stacycrep.com she is an amazing person.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Curveballs or Divine Guidance?

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 Emy Minzel

How do you react when you find yourself in a situation you never expected? Out of the blue you may find out you are expecting a bundle of joy, or you lose a job only to find an opportunity that suits you better anyways. Maybe you go through a rough break-up to later be blessed by Cupid’s arrow walking into a room full of strangers. Before you know it, a new exciting and healing romance blooms into your life filling your heart with hope. Sometimes you look up at the heavens and think “Whoa, how did that happen?” I believe it is divine guidance.

I have found those days in my life that change everything to come in my future, are scary, exciting, and uncertain. Yet, they have made my whole life better, like finding out I was expecting a baby. I was scared, excited and uncertain, and it changed the direction of my life for the better. I grew up quickly, I put my baby first, I put my drive to succeed for our future prosperity second on the list and started moving forward with purpose.

Several years ago, in my early twenties, I quit a job that paid me well, but I never felt appreciated. In an expression of setting boundaries and demanding respect for myself, I walked out and quit. I was scared because that was not the in the plan that day, but also certain I deserved to be treated better.

It took me a few months, but I found a job that paid me much more, I enjoyed working there and it is where I met my husband! It was uncomfortable to be in limbo of uncertainty and unknowing if I was going to be okay or not. For some reason, I just knew I could not take this disrespect anymore and the universe supported this decision by rewarding me with a better situation.

This brings me to where I am today. I have decided to put myself ‘out there’ in a very public way. As a semi-introverted person this takes a good amount of courage and gumption. Attributes that I learned while adventuring to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and through living the adventure that is my life. I learned I can do more then I think I can, I learned I am smarter then I thought, I learned I am brave and strong. I have learned a great deal about what I can do, by doing things I never thought I could or would.

How we act when life throws us a curve ball is what determines our future. We can be fearful, drag our feet or go kicking and screaming. Or we can choose to trust that God/Universe sent this revolution because you needed it, dig in and move forward. After being endorsed by the DFL, I found myself a little scared, excited and unsure of the path that lay before me. I choose to fully embrace the opportunity to hopefully represent my community for the greater good with my whole being.

When I decided “Yes, thank you Universe for this amazing opportunity,” is when synchronicities started to happen, I could not believe how effortlessly everything was falling into place. Extremely qualified and wonderful people appeared to help me and support every step of this journey.

The first day I made my stump speech I mentioned my grandmother was my hero. Moments later I met a woman who worked with my grandma for 10 years! Her presence was kind and very supportive which helped me move forward to the next convention. By the next week I had acquired a campaign team that helped reinforce and verify that this is the path for me.

I had been asking for a big map of my district for about a week, I had mentioned it again the morning we were heading to a local pizza and politics meeting for dinner. When we walked into the pizza place the first woman to greet me was holding a giant map of my district and asked me if I would like to have it along with a very generous campaign donation I was not expecting. My heart swelled.

I had no choice but to look up at the heaven’s and say “Thank you. I know you are helping me, thank you for listening!” I have felt as if this whole political adventure has indeed been divinely guided. The less energy I give to the fear of unknown, the more synchronistic happenings appearing as if by magic or miracles.

My life experiences taught me to referred to life’s curve balls as divine guidance from now on. I trust them.

When have you experience divine guidance in your life? I would love to hear your stories!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

* I saved this picture off of the internet many moons ago, if it yours I will gladly give you the photo credit. – Emy

What does success look like?

March 29, 2018March 29, 2018 Emy Minzel

I believe success is defined by a subjective point view. What one person consider successful, another may disagree because they view what success means differently. Some people believe lots of money, cars, houses, boats, and toys of all kinds means you are successful in life.

Is that true for everyone? I don’t think so.

Yes, money and all the things it can buy will help you live a more comfortable life. There are plenty of people who have all the money they need and all the stuff they ever wanted, and yet, they’re emotionally miserable because they may not have what they truly need. I believe people need things that cannot be bought and paid for like time, family, dear friends, connection with others, and the feeling of belonging. These ‘free’ things, that are often disregarded when talking about success, are more important then they get any credit for.

I believe being happy and content in the life you live is success. If you can look in the mirror and say “hey, you did your best today. I still like you. You were kind to everyone and everything. Your friends and family still love you” then today was a success! I believe that having a roof over my head, food on the table, love and a purpose to get up in the morning (even on days the only good reason to get up is to feed the dogs I adore and love so much it may be beyond normal)… this is what truly fills my heart when it comes down to it. To me, that is success.

Even when funds seem tight, I still consider my life successful because I have worked hard on being the kind of person I view as successful, which is kind, compassionate, adventurous, smart, and ambitious. I’ve been working on myself to be the best person I can be, and it has been paying off mind, body and spiritually. I decided to set goals for myself and keep them, I decided to forgive myself, I decided to love and respect myself, I decided to treat my body better. I try every day to meet these goals and that feels great.

I have wonderful family and friends that love me through the mistakes or miscommunications. I feel as though I have a wonderful support system of loved ones, which in turn has taught me to try and be as supportive to others as I feel supported. Being thankful for the people, pets, opportunities and situations that bring me joy and allow me to be authentically me help me feel successful.

How do you view success? What does it look like to you? Go kick butt by being you today! Success is what you make of it.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister