The purpose of changes and transition –

There have been some major evolutions happening in my life this past year. I feel like every single facet of my existence has been touched by change. All of it! There’s been so many evolutions that I believe I too have changed because of them. As humans do, we tend to appreciate our blessings and situations a little more after we’ve had an opportunity to see them in a different light. Sometimes we must first come very close to losing something we cherish, before we can see how valuable it really is to us. Is this true for you too?

I have been blessed with many opportunities to see just how wonderful my life is, after several lessons through joy allowed me to realize this! After experiencing a whirlwind campaign life; I am much more inclined to thoroughly enjoy quite weekends with my loved ones and evenings to myself. I now have time to make a home cooked meal, clean the house and even exercise, now that my schedule isn’t jam packed with campaign responsibilities. My life was like a soup. It was up to me to add spice to a dull dish, since I am the cook, right?! When I decided to add more excitement and flavor to my days/life, I changed the dish and it changed me.

Having the experience of being excessively busy, has helped me re-find the joy in my everyday tasks that once seemed boring. My perspective of working from home has shifted. I always knew I was blessed to do so, yet after this last year, I feel like my definition of work has changed and that my career has benefitted from my attitude adjustment. I very much enjoy my routine and the peaceful life now; when not long ago, there were days it made me mad with monotony! My career has allowed me to help others in my community and this brings me much joy and fulfillment. It just took me a bit to realize it!

My one and only child, moved out last Summer and that was also a huge life changer. I always knew she was going to go! After all, that’s why we raise our children the best we can. So they can be their best when they go out into the world. Yet, I miss her so much sometimes that I find myself texting, calling and making up silly questions just to hear from her. This has allowed me to appreciate the time we get to spend together much more, and I make it as special as I can.

The truth about my marriage was that we weren’t doing so hot, for a bit, last year. I mean that’s marriage for you; some years are easier than others. There is always love, but the friendship and bond we had built needed maintenance and I wasn’t able to give it the time it deserved for a while. The campaign was a wonderful distraction from our problems, but it also kept us from resolving our issues sooner than we did. I cannot blame the election for any troubles, that would not be fair or true.

It just so happened that the election occurred during this life lesson in marriage. I considered this time challenging, but we came out stronger for it. That was worth the experience and change of perception as well. I love my husband dearly. He is my best friend. This experience has helped me see just how much I treasure him and our relationship. This was a blessing inside the lesson through joy.

Even my friendships seem to have been touched by my change of perspective over the last year. I have learned to allow others leeway for humanness and I now freely give the benefit of the doubt. I have learned to love others as they are, unconditionally and without trying to push my ideals upon them. I have come to see my own quirks as something that may seem eccentric to others, but i’ve also learned to accept and love myself because these qualities are what make me special. I have learned this is what makes my loved ones special too!

I have learned that with age comes wisdom and that I have a whole lot of learning left to do! I believe I was also learning to love myself as I love others. This last year of my life has been a year of transformation, movement and growth that needed to happen. I am so thankful for all these lessons through joy, even if they may not have always seemed joyous at the time. Life has a beautiful way of bringing you full circle, to want what you need that helps you become who you are supposed to be.

I am love. You are too.

Wishing you the magical soulful healing you need right now to be the best you can be.

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@EmyMinzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

*Photo taken in Princeton, MN – homegrown old fashion vining petunias!

Are you already there?

 

“There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” Dr. Wayne Dyer ~

We as humans have a lot of things in common. Like the desire to always want more or get something better than what we already have. Though, even once we get more of what we wanted, we start all over again. The need to want more and have better just seems to keep growing. So, when is what we already have, enough? I think it becomes enough once you learn to be thankful for what we already have and practicing appreciation for how blessed we truly are.

If we have a wonderful marriage and family who loves us unconditionally, why do we complain about their antics instead of speaking to the good they bring to our lives? Do we spend the time maintaining those relationships or is it always the other persons’ job to appease? Do you make others responsible for your happiness or blame them if you are not happy? Do we expect others to entertain us and keep us content?

I read something recently that was very poignant, not only in love but every relationship we are blessed with. It said. “Everyone is always looking for the perfect partner. Yet nobody seems to try and be the perfect partner.”

Are we holding ourselves up to the same standards we hold our loved ones too?

Happiness is an inside job. When it comes right down to it. If you take away all our money, jobs, titles or stuff…. All we ‘have’ to give others and ourselves is love. When you think about it harder; the thing that brings us the most happiness is love!

A piece of our own hearts as currency. To give love is to receive love, it’s simple but complex. Have you heard of the love languages? We all differ in how we can feel and receive love. What makes me feel loved is different than how my husband needs to be treated to feel loved.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I recommend reading The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. The love languages are: Words of affirmation, Acts of service, Receiving gifts, Quality time and Physical touch.

I found it very helpful in doing my part to maintain a happy marriage. It helped me learn that the way we are able to feel and receive love is different for everyone. But my point is that, no matter where you are in life, the grass is always greener on the other side if you aren’t watering your own lawn. You may find that once you start tending to and nurturing your life, you are able to see just how blessed you really are!

Here is an example: Do we expect our husbands to always cut the grass or shovel the snow while giving nothing in return? How do we show our appreciation for doing his part in taking care of the household duties? Do they need a present or what if we tried to make his favorite supper that night? Would this be a fair give and take exchange of energy and love?

If acts of service aren’t your husbands/partners love language, you may want to try a different approach and buy him a present, sing his praises or maybe even give him a back rub instead.

When we want more happiness, love, opportunity, or success, it helps if we appreciate what it is that we already have. The Universe/God is listening to your vibrations and does not deliver your opportunities when you aren’t appreciating the ones already in your lap!

If you aren’t thankful and appreciating your life as it is, or taking steps to improve it, it just not going to change. As it goes, the Universe delivers more of what you are asking for. If you are perpetually complaining, it’s going to give you more to complain about. If you are forever giving thanks and counting your blessings, it would pose to think you will get more of what you are thankful for.

When you are frustrated and tested, remember that the more you look for the good in the situation the more likely it will turn out good. Your life may not be perfect. But if you take a closer look and see you have love in your heart, family, and friends, a safe warm place to sleep, food on the table and a way to provide this security… you are already there!

You are already at the point in life where you can choose to be happy!

Psst… remember, the feeling is the prayer!

“There is no way to happiness. Happiness it the way” – Dr. Wayne Dyer

Wishing you the magical soulful healing you need right now to be the best you can be.

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@EmyMinzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

Taken for granted

Today I am up in northern Minnesota in Beaver Bay for a fall weekend wedding. I am attending this wedding with my daughter, who is in the ceremony. The bride is a young woman I have known since she was born, the year before my daughter. I am so excited to see her walk down the aisle in such a beautiful setting. The trees are at their peak color and look like Candy Corn on the shores of beautiful Lake Superior. The weather is chilly, but the scenery and company are amazing.

Wedding day

On the way up to the North Shore with my daughter, we stopped in Duluth for some food, then decided to take our time to see a few sights. We stopped at the Split Rock Light House, so we could take a hike down to the rocky shores of our beautiful Great Lake. My daughter said she had never been to Duluth and it was her first time to see Lake Superior.

Split Rock Light House

This realization made me feel like I had failed my daughter somehow! I am from northern Minnesota on the Iron Range side. We have always gone to visit family, just skimming by Duluth/Superior area, to get to where we were going on holidays or family reunion trips. Yet as close as we had been, I had never taken her to see the majestic and stunning scenery of what the North Shore of Lake Superior had to offer.

Beaver Bay

I am a Boundary Waters girl, I like to rough it, because I enjoy the peace and solitude that comes with being in the middle of God’s country. My daughter is not a ‘roughing it’ kind of girl. She likes plumbing and the internet with a warm bed to sleep in. It had never occurred to me that I had never brought her to this more populated, yet still environmentally beautiful, area that Minnesota has to offer.

What stuns me even more is that it took me 25 years to realize that I had taken the Minnesota, I had grown up knowing, for granted! I had not found the time to share my experiences with my daughter when she was younger. As I expressed my thoughts to my daughter I said:

“I feel like I somehow failed you as a Mother! I did not show you ‘why’ I love Minnesota as much as I do. I took it for granted, somehow thinking you just didn’t enjoy the outdoors as much as I do.”

My heart felt so heavy at this realization. Yet I was thankful to have the opportunity to be in the moment, standing on the boulders of Lake Superior, with my favorite person on the Planet.

She said. “Mom, to be fair, I probably would not have appreciated it or enjoyed it as much as I am now.”

My eyes filled with tears I did not let fall. I did not want her to see me so emotional about my inner strife. We were in fact having a great time exploring and enjoying the large waves crashing around us, as we carefully navigated the rocky shores of Lake Superior.

Danica on Lake Superior

 

Instead I told myself. “This has got to change! I need to take initiative to show my baby girl; ‘why’ I really do love Minnesota as much as I do.”

From this moment forward, I will not take for granted the beauty of the State I love so much. We have plans to explore Minnesota together a lot more often now. It is because I love Minnesota so much that I am willing to change my comfortable life working from home to go work in St. Paul at the Capital.

My goal is, and always has been, to protect the Minnesota we know and love for future generations.

My goal is to work to protect and restore the nearly 50% of Minnesota’s waters that are already too polluted to eat the fish from. My goal is to protect our waters from further pollutions like the mining proposals that could devastate the Northeastern Region on Minnesota.

I totally know that Northern Minnesota is not ‘in my district’ as the central Minnesota Representative of 15A. But as a State Representative, I would get a vote.  I get a voice and a say and I am going to use it to protect ALL of Minnesota. So that I can spend more time showing my daughter the beauty Minnesota truly holds. Before our Lake resources are taken for granted and spoiled for the future. You can bet your butt I will fight my heart out for the blessings of my district as well.

My goal is to not make the same mistake, I had made with my daughter, and allow a whole State to take for granted the natural beauty and clean water we have been blessed with. My goal is to remind others of what we stand to lose if we proceed with the usual money hungry politics; bending to the will of forgein industry that does not respect or care what happens to Minnesota.

I will remind you that Sulfide-Copper Mining has a 90% failure rate with its contamination containment areas around the world. Leading to 500 years of pollution. Basically forever.

Five Hundred years of generation after generation not allowed to play on the shores of our beautiful great Lake Superior. Never will Adventure Sisters Stacy and I be able to Adventure in the BWCA without worry of getting sick. Multiple Generations before the most visited National Park in the Nation, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, will be able to again host the millions of nature lovers that come to seek the peace and solitude of God’s Country. Well past yours, mine and any of our grandchildren’s lifetimes, before it’s safe again to use.

All because we took our biggest blessing of fresh water for granted for the promise of (maybe a) couple hundred jobs. Like stepping over a $100 bill to pick up a quarter. It just does not make sense to me. I refuse not to learn from this life lesson! I must learn from this heart-breaking and eye-opening experience of taking things for granted with my daughter.

Although I was sad to learn this lesson, it was delivered to me in the kindest way possible. A lesson through Joy, a blesson. I was having a fabulous time, spending girl time with my only child when Spirit kindly guided this realization to me for a reason. I must remember to count my blessings and move forward, vowing to not let this happen again.

Danica split rock outlook

Adventure on my friends. Remember do not take your blessings of family and healthy environment for granted. We would and will truly miss them when they’re gone.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

EmyforHouse.com

@emyminzel

@EmyforHouse15A

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com